HERA has recently made a decision to assist the commercialisation for a seismic damage-resistant system for modular steel structures developed by Dr. John Jing in his PhD thesis.
He’s received this opportunity through a HERA research scholarship fund, starting his PhD study in 2009.
Supervised by Prof Charles Clifton, he has developed a base isolation solution achieved by a unique rubber sliding joint system located in each storey of modular light steel framed buildings.
The following advantages can be seen in potential commercial application:
- The system enables structures and sliding joints to remain fully elastic during a major earthquake event. This reduces the cost for post-earthquake recovery
- This system prevents adverse failure mechanisms under seismic action, e.g. soft-storey at lower levels
- The results of John’s research provides a clear theoretical basis for design engineers to achieve a solution in daily structural analysis
- The concept will support modular construction for light steel framed buildings
As the main funding provider, we have IP rights in this innovation and after performing an evaluation, have agreed to explore commercialisation in co-operation with the inventor. As a first step, we’ll be providing support for a preliminary patent registration and assisting the IP inventor in performing a feasibility study regarding market opportunity and a cost comparison with other seismic resistant solutions.
Interested in being part of the commercialisation of this idea?
Contact our Senior Structural Systems Engineer Dr Jing Cao to discuss further.
