Active beam joint brace

Abstract

The Active Beam Joint Brace (ABJB) is an improvement or a compliment to the current technology of protecting steel beam structured buildings such as tuned mass dampers near the top floors of sky scrapers and large shock absorbers to reduce sway due to high winds and earthquakes. The ABJB can be also used in any type of structure i.e. bridges. It is positioned near the joint of two of the beams and therefore does not interfere with the placement of doors and windows. There are two embodiments of the ABJB: The basic ABJB reacts to any distortion of the protected beam joint and applies a counter force to the two beams in than joint. The smart ABJB is also able to forecast some of the remaining wave forces in an earthquakes duration (from the first wave forms) and proactively apply counter forces (i.e. a Rayleigh Wave). It may also adjust the frequency, magnitude and direction in combination with the other ABJB's in the structure based on the properties of the external force on the structure. Additional sensors, such as strain gauges, wind speed sensors, wind direction sensors and accelerometers can be used to gather more data about any distortion of the beam structure which can then be utilized with an intelligent algorithm to forecast and proactively resist the beam structure from distorting due to external forces.