Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.
Fujita Corporation

Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. (Headquarter: Osaka City, President: Naotake Ohno, referred to as "Daiwa House" hereafter) and Fujita Corporation (Headquarter: Shibuya-ku Tokyo, President: Takuji Ueda, referred to as "Fujita" hereafter) jointly developed a seismic support material named "Dual Core Brace"; a buckling-restrained steel plate with square steel pipes. It is applicable not only for large distribution warehouse but also for high-rise, mid-rise and low-rise buildings. We begin using it in March 2015.

The technique was certified as a seismic support member by the General Building Research Corporation of Japan on January 22nd, 2015 (GBRC Performance Verification No. 13-21).*1

The Dual Core Brace is an advanced version of the steel buckling restrained brace also jointly developed in February of 2014. Now it can be used in wider range of applications as a seismic support material. We added high-strength steel on seismic part, and structural rolled steel*2 and low breaking point steel material*3 on the core part (flat steel). The improved structural members and joint shapes resulted in more flexibility in component design and advanced construction characteristics of the joint. In addition, buckling will not occur 4 under compressive force from earthquakes, as the central part is sandwiched with a restraint member (square steel pipe) and un-bonded member (friction reducing material). It absorbs the energy from repeated earthquakes5 with excellent seismic performance. As the Brace absorbs the energy from quakes, it decreases the building's deformation by 20% - 50%. Therefore it prolongs the life of building with less damage on main structural part such as pillars and beams.

We will continue working jointly for technological development and will actively involve in product development by making use of each other's strength.

*1 performance verification is issued for newly developed construction technique with independent performance reviews.
*2 steel member used for reinforced concrete and steel structure buildings
*3 steel member with lower yield point (strength) and more toughness (elongation) than usual structural steel
*4 a phenomenon where a little pressure bends long and narrow material with compressive force
*5 from our experiments, about 20 earthquakes with intensity 6 upper

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Fujita Corporation
Public Relations Office
Tel. +81-3-3402-1911
Fax. +81-3-3404-8477
Email. info@fujita.co.jp