Half-underground shelter with segmented foundation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing evacuation shelters are costly, time-consuming to construct, and not easily accessible for ordinary households, particularly those below average income, and do not adequately address the needs of vulnerable populations during natural disasters like the Nankai Trough Great Earthquake, with issues such as instability, size restrictions, and difficulty in evacuation due to ground subsidence and mobility challenges.
Innovation Solution
A half-underground evacuation shelter with a reinforced concrete and iron plate structure, connected to a house's foundation, featuring a fireproof steel door and jack system, designed to withstand tsunami pressure and secondary disasters, allowing for quick evacuation and self-sufficiency for up to three days, with a compact size to reduce construction costs and regulatory burdens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional underground shelters are constructed, then safety against tsunamis and earthquakes is improved, but construction cost and construction period increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The shelter is divided into a above-ground portion and a below-ground portion that can be constructed separately. The below-ground portion utilizes the existing building foundation, eliminating the need to construct a complete underground structure from scratch, thereby reducing construction time and cost while maintaining safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The shelter structure is merged with the existing building foundation. The below-ground portion of the shelter integrates with the building's foundation structure, allowing simultaneous construction purposes and reducing material costs and construction period while ensuring structural integrity against disasters.
2Quantity of substance
If large-sized shelters are constructed to accommodate more people, then evacuation capacity is improved, but construction cost and regulatory complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The shelter extends in the vertical dimension by utilizing the below-ground space. The below-ground portion provides additional evacuation capacity without increasing the above-ground footprint, avoiding trigging stringent building regulations while maximizing accommodation capacity within available space.
3Reliability
If complete underground shelters are constructed, then protection from tsunamis is improved, but accessibility and evacuation speed deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The shelter is segmented into above-ground and below-ground portions with separate access points. The above-ground portion provides immediate accessibility for rapid evacuation, while the below-ground portion provides enhanced tsunami protection, allowing users to choose the appropriate entry point based on the disaster type.
Solution Approach 2:
The above-ground portion serves as an intermediary space between the outside environment and the below-ground protected space. It provides a transition zone that maintains accessibility while protecting the main shelter space, enabling quick evacuation without requiring direct access through submerged areas.
4Reliability
If shelters are constructed away from existing buildings to ensure safety, then disaster protection is improved, but construction cost and land requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The shelter is merged with the existing building foundation and structure. By utilizing the building's foundation as part of the shelter structure, the need for separate land acquisition and independent foundation construction is eliminated, reducing overall construction cost while maintaining adequate safety distances through strategic positioning of the shelter portions.
Data Source
AI summary
The purpose of the present invention is to reduce costs and building time, address the safety of shelter main body against a tsunami, ensure water pressure resistance against a tsunami caused by a Nankai Trough Great Earthquake, provide the safety required when using an evacuation shelter, provide favorable livability, and shorten evacuation time. A shelter main body 3 is a structure made of reinforced concrete; slopes 3a are provided to two sides of the exterior of the shelter main body 3. Surplus soil is provided to the slopes 3a, the surface is covered with concrete, the shelter main body 3 is reinforced with a plurality of H-section steel members 3b, an opening 4 is provided to an above-ground part, and an outside door 5 and inside door 6, which constitute a double structure fireproof steel door for opening and closing the opening 4, are provided, thus forming a structure for withstanding tsunami pressures.