Rubber bearings to protect buildings in earthquakes

Mathematicians at the University of Manchester are working on a theory that could make buildings 'invisible' to earthquakes.

Writing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Dr William Parnell has shown that by cloaking components of structures with pressurised rubber, powerful waves, such as those produced by an earthquake, would not 'see' the building-they would simply pass around the structure, prevent serious damage or destruction.

“We showed theoretically that pre-stressing a naturally available material – rubber – leads to a cloaking effect from a specific type of elastic wave. Our team is now working hard on more general theories and to understand how this theory can be realised in practice,” said Dr Parnell.