Professional structural engineers have conducted a large number of seismic simulation shaking table tests for building structures using EPS Cement Sandwich Panel, and the test results are very encouraging. During the test, a full size model house built with EPS Cement Sandwich Panel was put on the seismic shaking table, and simulated earthquake intensity was gradually increased up to grade 8 and even grade 9. The test result showed that the whole structure remained intact, no major wall collapse happened, and only very minor fine cracks appeared on a few panel joints. The lightweight feature of EPS Cement Sandwich Panel reduces the total mass of the whole building by more than 40 percent compared to traditional brick concrete structures. According to seismic mechanics theory, the seismic inertial force that acts on a building is directly proportional to its total mass. This means the seismic force that the EPS Cement Sandwich Panel building needs to bear during an earthquake is less than 60 percent of the force that a traditional heavy brick building faces. The panel to panel connection system is also specially designed with flexible metal fittings, which can absorb and dissipate part of the seismic energy when the building is shaken, instead of making all the impact force concentrate on one single point. This flexible connection structure greatly improves the overall seismic ductility of the building. In many real earthquake events that happened in recent years, buildings constructed with EPS Cement Sandwich Panel survived the strong earthquake without any major damage, while many nearby traditional brick houses collapsed completely. This real world performance has fully proven that EPS Cement Sandwich Panel is one of the safest building materials for earthquake prone areas.
