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^$adv13
^For Release Monday, April 13, and Thereafter
^An AP Evergreen Exchange
^Skagit County company makes one-of-a-kind earthquake simulator
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^AP Photo MVE101 of 4-9
^By MIKE NEMETH= ^Skagit Valley Herald=
BAY VIEW, Wash. (AP) Klaus Cappel stands about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs maybe 135 pounds. He has been around 78 years.
Yet, when he puts his shoulder into it, he can move a 57,000 pound object.
But there's a catch. The object, built to exacting specifications down to thousandths of an inch, is affixed to a massive steel base like a helicopter prop and turns on a massive 33-inch bearing .
Cappel knows this trait well. He designed the machine, a one-of-a-kind earthquake simulator that stands two stories tall and decodes for scientists the subsurface influence of a massive shaker.
Ask Cappel to explain his device and he can launch into a discussion of physics, calculus fundamentals and enough insider jargon to rattle even the most intellectual audience. Or not. In addition to brilliant inventor, he happens to be a soft-spoken man who delights in a good joke.
``You never put eggs and strawberries in the bottom of a shopping bag,'' he said when his initial comments produced perplexed looks.
His machine does more than determine that eggs scramble and strawberries liquefy at 200 times the force of gravity while being shaken at a force equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 7.1. But the analogy works.
The unit, which weighs about 100,000 pounds when fully assembled, will be shipped in pieces to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to be a centerpiece of the Peoples Republic of China's new technical center this month. The $1.6 million outfit is a production of Team Corp., which is based at the Port of Skagit County's Bayview Business and Industrial Park.
Assembly will take months. Finished, the unit will tower two stories but only the high-tech top will show. The rest will be buried underground in a circular air-tight concrete bunker.
The shaker-centrifuge will assist researcher in determining how earthquakes affect bridges, tunnels, dikes, weirs, roadways, foundations and hillsides, said Bruce Kutter, a professor at the University of California at Davis and director of the Center for Geotechnical Modeling. He worked as a consultant on the project.
``A very impressive machine,'' he said.
The centrifuge simulates gravity; the shaker simulates earthquakes. What makes this unit more interesting is its ability to shake in two directions simultaneously. Kutter said his facility in Davis, Calif., has a similar earthquake simulator, but it shakes only in a single direction. Other such simulators also exist but, because of the high cost, most can be found at institutions of higher learning.
Cappel, from Madison, Ala., can be thanked for devising the technology for what he and his colleagues have dubbed a two-axis shaker. In 1962, he developed the patent till used in flight simulators around the world. The same patent also was employed in the fabrication of the famous Jurassic Park dinosaurs. He said he also has devised a method to shake such a unit in three directions, or a triple axis.
``I have a patent on that but it's never been tried,'' Cappel said. ``I give it a couple of years and somebody will ask for it. Every such addition you put in creates more design problems and more cost.''
Bob Tauscher, president of Team Corp., seconded the cost part. Yet, he vowed his company would have no problem meeting the challenge should it be asked. He said news has leaked.
``We're already getting inquiries,'' he said.
Kutter said simulators are important because every part of the world has its own soil problems. Only through specific testing can builders, engineers and planners calculate construction accordingly. He said through these methods, new buildings and construction, even in Kobe, Japan, which experienced a magnitude 7 earthquake more than three years ago, have shown surprising resilience.
Much of the simulator's structural fabrication was completed nearby at EDCO Inc., a custom metals and plastics fabricator. Carter Lahrmann, EDCO lead machinist, said it ranks as the most significant piece of equipment he has worked on.
A few weeks ago, Cappel and Team officials cranked up the centrifuge to a fraction of its potential. It moved soundlessly. Don Wick, executive director of the Economic Development Association of Skagit County, which wooed Team Corp. five years past, called Team a world leader.
Lahrmann looked pleased. Cappel beamed.
``Pretty wild, huh?'' Lahrmann said.