Composites make hospital quake safe

Composites make hospital quake safe US

LEGISLATION

hospitals

to

be

requiring

made

earth-

quake safe is opening up opportunities for composites. In one project

Composite

Solutions

Inc (CSI), San Diego, is teaming up with Ace Restoration of Fullerton,

California,

form the seismic Kern

County

to

retrofit

perof the

Medical

Centre

near Bakersfield,

California.

the

retrofit

hospital’s

gramme,

expected

to

In

corrosion

and

install. Composites significant minimize

to

provide and the

The retrofit medical

meet the California requiring to meet ments.

project

is part of

centre’s plan to requirements of Senate Bill 1953

all acute care facilities strict seismic requireUnder

have been targeted by the state legislature for mandatory earthquake retrofit over the next few years. According to the California Healthcare Association

it could

this

Composite

cost $10 billion

for the necessary

ist

retrofits.

legislation

construction

Howard

special-

Building

Corp

(HBC) of Costa Mesa, California, to focus on providing seismic strengthening solutions

to

healthcare

agencies

and medical centres. The joint venture will be called HBC Composite Solutions LLC. CSI’s composite technology is licensed Powell

facility, says CSI. the

earthquake safe. In alone, 473 hospitals

ture with

are prone

will

must be

cost

difficult

cost savings disruption to

California

of buildings

pro-

strengthen the lower level columns of the hospital instead of steel jackets which

made

CSI has also announced that it is forming a joint ven-

US$4 million, lightweight composite ‘jackets’ will be used to

to

thousands

from the Charles Structural

Lee

Research

Laboratories

at the

of California,

San Diego.

University

CSI; tt?1: +l-858-459-4843; fax: +I -858-459-0210; e-mail: info@~CompositeSolutionsInc.com; HBC; fax: +I -714-444-3446;

e-

mail: [email protected].

cased boosters

launch satellite A NATIONAL Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite has been successfully launched by a Lockheed Martin Titan IV B rocket powered by two solid rocket motor upgrade (SRMU) boosters. Graphite epoxy composites were

used

for

the

three-seg-

ment motor cases, which have a lower inert weight than the steel-cased boosters used before despite being larger and carrying more solid propellant. The boosters, manufactured by ATK Aerospace Propulsion Company of Magna, Utah,

USA, are 34.2 m long diameter of 3.2 m. Titan

IV B launch

with

a

vehicles

are capable of boosting up to 21.7 tonnes into low-earth orbit or more than into geosynchronous

5.7 tonnes orbit 22

300 miles above the earth. This launch was the second of three scheduled

Titan IV B missions for this year and the

eighth supported by SRMU boosters. ATK Aerospace Propulsion Company; tel: +I-612 931-6000; fax: +l-612 931-5920; website: www.atk.com.

THE ENQUIRY NUMBER

FOR THIS ADVERTISEMENT

October

2000

IS 329

REiNFORCEDplastics

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