Finite Element Analysis: The Gorkha Earthquake

Geologists’ warnings regarding Nepal being vulnerable to dangerous earthquakes came true on the morning of the 25th of April last year, when what is now known as the Gorkha Earthquake demolished and permanently erased villages and buildings from existence. What were heritage buildings were reduced to rubble and homes became heaps of bricks and broken chunks of cement. Over the years many civilizations have fallen pray to the power of the mighty earthquakes and vanished from the face of the earth, as man did not have knowledge or resources to construct buildings. Seismic activity envelops everything in its ambit – as did the 7.7Mw intensity moving of the plates in the early hours of 1935 in what was called, ‘Little London’ – Quetta. Within seconds a once flourishing city ceased to exist…
In addition to being enthralled by the case study that required creating the dam’s profile in ANSYS and studying its material properties as well as various types of loads that acted on the structure after meshing it, I grasped the fundamental purpose of the Finite Element Analysis. Needless to say that my work introduced me to the challenges of conceptualizing, creating and constructing structures that could resist and outlive seismic shocks and boasted of longevity. Also, I had found my calling –arriving at novel methods of contributing to mitigate the effects of earthquakes and its implications on existing as well as future structures by becoming a student of earthquake and structural