Hyundai Steel leading earthquake-resistant market

By Yoon Ja-young

With frequent occurrences of large-scale earthquakes worldwide, including the most recent quakes in Japan and Ecuador that took many lives, construction materials to minimize or prevent earthquake damage are drawing attention throughout the world.

The global steel industry thus has been focusing on developing products that have stronger resistance to earthquakes, and Hyundai Steel has been at the forefront of these efforts.

The steelmaker developed an earthquake-resistant H-section for architectural structures, Steel H-Section New (SHN), in 2005, based on its top electric arc technology, and has been supplying it to markets both domestic and overseas.

The product improves the safety of buildings during an earthquake by absorbing shock as well as facilitating earthquake-proof design by allowing buildings to move as intended by the designer. It also improves the reliability of welding compared with ordinary sections thanks to its optimum alloy ratio.

The domestic sales of SHN have been growing explosively, from 400 tons in 2006 to 477,000 tons in 2015. Architectural designs using earthquake-resistant materials in their construction are also increasing.

However, the country’s buildings still lack earthquake-resistant designs and materials. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, only 25 percent of the 284,409 buildings in Seoul that should be earthquake-resistant have actually been designed and built to be so as of last June.

With the revision of the construction law last September, the government strengthened regulations pertaining to earthquake resistance. Now, buildings that are over 500 square meters in gross area must incorporate earthquake-resistance in their architectural design, while previously it was applied to buildings of 1,000 square meters or larger in gross area. However, most of older buildings are still vulnerable to earthquakes. Adding to these concerns is the low ratio of earthquake-resistant designs in school buildings and public facilities.

To enhance the earthquake resistance of these buildings, which is directly related to public safety, as well as expanding earthquake-resistant architectural design, Hyundai Steel has been supplying SHN at the same price as its ordinary products, taking into account that small construction projects aren’t likely to use SHN if it is more expensive than ordinary products.

Thanks to the efforts of Hyundai Steel which has the biggest market share in these products, the adoption of the earthquake-resistant architectural H-section has been increasing in construction work around the country and the world.