Bamboo in a trench: IIT Kanpur patents a quiet shield against shaking ground

Traffic, trains and construction send vibrations through the soil that can rattle buildings, disturb residents and upset sensitive equipment. Two researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur — Dr Priyanka Ghosh and Sreyashrao Surapreddi — have patented a disarmingly simple defence: underground barriers filled with bamboo. Buried in trenches between the vibration source and the building, the bamboo-filled walls interrupt the waves travelling through the ground. Bamboo brings strength, light weight and local availability to a job usually done with costlier conventional materials, making the system a potentially eco-friendly and affordable option for vibration screening. IIT Kanpur has made the technology available for licensing, so the quiet can spread.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation