Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

In the context of its international activities the Oberndorfer company, which is based in Gunskirchen in Austria, has very often been faced with the use of double walls in areas with high seismic activity. The use of double walls using the lattice girder system is often only possible to a limited extent if at all. The reason for this is the linear mode of action of the lattice girder system, which prevents the integration in a sufficient length of the horizontal reinforcement cages necessary in the earthquake regions. Oberndorfer realised very quickly that a punctiform mode of action of a wall connection system can solve this problem. This gave birth to the idea of developing the “KAP wave system” as an earthquake wave, since this system (see the separate report in this issue) offers the ideal solution for this. The double wall can thus be used in countries with high seismic activity such as Japan, New Zealand, Italy, Turkey or Greece. The renowned, "Middle East Technical University" (METU) in Ankara, Turkey which specialises in earthquake calculations, was commissioned by Oberdorfer to conduct a corresponding scientific study in order to prove the suitability of double walls with the KAP wave system for use in regions with a high earthquake intensity. Extensive tests proved that the KAP wave is indeed outstandingly well suited.