Baumann Energy Dissipating Rebar Couplerâ„¢

Votes: 1
Views: 4669

Earthquake Safety

The Baumann Energy Dissipating Rebar Couplerâ„¢ (BauEDRCâ„¢) will be used to rapidly construct all types of earthquake resistant concrete structures such as school buildings, bridges, apartment and office buildings.

The BauEDRCâ„¢ could also be used to construct blast resistant structures.

Benefits of the BauEDRCâ„¢

The BauEDRCâ„¢ can be used to rapidly connect precast and poured-in-place concrete structural members such as columns and beams.

Besides being a very efficient device for connecting structural concrete members, the BauEDRCâ„¢ will also reduce the lateral earthquake force that these structures must be designed to resist. These BauEDRCâ„¢ structures can safely be designed to resist up to 60% less lateral force than structures with conventional rebar couplers.

Novelty

A U.S. Patent has been granted to Hanns U. Baumann S.E. who is searching for funding to manufacture and test BauEDRCâ„¢ prototypes on the shake table at University of California San Diego, in order to obtain an Evaluation Report from the International Code Council (ICC).

Application of BauEDRCâ„¢

The BauEDRCâ„¢ will be used in seismic regions, worldwide, to reduce the amount of material and time required to construct all types of earthquake resistant structures such as schools, homes, business structures and civil structures such as bridges.

Market Potential of the BauEDRCâ„¢

Once tests are completed and an Evaluation Report (ER) has been issued by ICC, the BauEDRCâ„¢ will be very marketable in all seismic regions because of the time and material savings that the BauEDRCâ„¢ will provide to the building industry.

Design Concept

The BauEDRCâ„¢ is designed to make reinforced concrete structures more ductile without causing damage to the structure.

A ductile structure, during an earthquake, forms plastic hinges that absorb energy.

The BauEDRCâ„¢ acts in a similar way to dissipate energy without causing damage to the structural members.

BauEDRCâ„¢ Manufacture

Every BauEDRCâ„¢ will be manufactured and tested according to the requirements of the ICC ER which requires an ANSI approved independent third party audit of the ongoing Quality Assurance Program and unannounced inspection visits during the manufacture of the BauEDRCâ„¢.

Cost of BauEDRCâ„¢ Compared with Conventional Rebar Couplers

The BauEDRCâ„¢ will cost about 25 % more to manufacture than conventional rebar couplers that do not dissipate energy during an earthquake.

However, the structures with BauEDRCâ„¢ designs will require significantly less material than the structures without BauEDRCâ„¢ designs.

Voting

Voting is closed!

  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Hanns Baumann
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Engineer/Designer
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    never
  • Hanns's favorite design and analysis tools:
    Imagination, ETabs
  • For managing CAD data Hanns's company uses:
    None
  • Hanns's hobbies and activities:
    Beach Volleyball and Helping Inventors
  • Hanns is inspired by:
    Other Inventors/Researchers
  • Patent status:
    patented