By Emenyeonu Ogadimma, University of Sharjah

A newly granted United States patent unveiled an innovative energy-dissipation device designed to protect buildings, infrastructure, and sensitive equipment from earthquakes, strong winds, and man-made vibrations.

Granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in December 2025, the invention represents a significant milestone toward developing affordable, reliable, and power-independent systems capable of safeguarding structures exposed to extreme forces.

“Earthquakes, strong winds, and even everyday vibrations from trains or machinery can cause serious damage to buildings, bridges, and sensitive equipment,” explains inventor Prof. Moussa Leblouba, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Sharjah. “Traditional solutions to this problem, such as fluid-based dampers or deformable metal devices, tend to be expensive, prone to leakage or permanent deformation, and often require complete replacement after a single major event.”

Prof. Leblouba’s invention takes a fundamentally different approach. The device consists of a hollow cylinder filled with solid steel balls and a central shaft fitted with short rods that extend outward like the branches of a tree. It is purposefully engineered to overcome the shortcomings of current seismic-protection technologies.

These devices, he notes, often fail precisely because earthquakes knock out the power they depend on. “Our device needs no power at all; it works through pure physics, through friction; it is passive.”

According to the patent report, the invention “relates to an energy dissipation device and system, comprising a hollow cylinder adapted to be filled with solid balls, and a longitudinal” member of shaft equipped with short rods protruding radially from it.

“The shaft having rods is movably disposed of within the hollow member, and solid balls are filled and secured in the cylinder thereafter, such that two ends of the longitudinal member extend outside of the hollow member, and the rods and solid balls remain within the hollow cylinder.”

Elaborating on his invention, Prof. Leblouba, whose research focuses on structural dynamics, seismic protection, and resilient infrastructure, said, “When the attached structure vibrates, the shaft moves back and forth inside the cylinder, and the rods push through the densely packed balls. The friction generated between the balls and the rods absorbs and dissipates the vibration energy.”

Simple and low-cost device with huge practical benefits

There is a clear takeaway from Prof. Leblouba’s newly invented apparatus: it is simple, practical, and highly user-friendly. The device is constructed from a small number of ordinary, affordable components—a cylinder, a shaft, steel balls, and short rods—that can be assembled on-site without specialized expertise.

More importantly, the device is exceptionally reliable. “Because it requires zero electrical power, it cannot be rendered inoperative by a power outage during the very disaster it’s designed to withstand. Every component is individually removable and replaceable, so if one part is damaged, you don’t need to discard the whole device,” Prof. Leblouba said in his demonstration, highlighting the invention’s practical advantages.

The system is also versatile. It can be easily tuned to suit different structures and load types, from a high-rise building in a seismic zone to sensitive military or scientific equipment, simply by adjusting the number, size, and arrangement of the rods and steel balls.
“What excites me most is the simplicity,” he said. “The components are ordinary: steel balls, a shaft, and a cylinder, but the way they work together is effective. In our tests, the device achieved an effective damping ratio of about 14%, which is very promising for a purely passive system.”

“One of its most compelling advantages is that it can be retrofitted into existing structures since it doesn’t need to be designed into the building from the start,” Prof. Leblouba added.

Affordable, easy to install, and accessible, the device provides a viable solution for low-income countries. “I believe the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the device make it particularly attractive for deployment in developing regions with high seismic risk.”

A technology with wide-ranging applications

Energy dissipation systems are essential to modern engineering, especially as urban development expands into seismically active and climate-vulnerable regions. Yet many existing systems are costly, difficult to maintain, or reliant on power sources that may fail during disasters. Prof. Leblouba’s invention addresses these challenges directly.

A defining feature of the device is its ability to recover its original shape after a major event. “It returns to its original position once the shaking stops,” Prof. Leblouba maintained. “That’s a major advantage over many metallic dampers.”

The device offers broad applicability. In civil engineering, it can be installed in buildings, bridges, and towers to safeguard them against earthquake forces and wind-induced vibrations. It is equally relevant for infrastructure such as electrical and communication installations, where even minor vibrations can disrupt service.

“Beyond construction, the technology can be applied to vehicles, aircraft, aerospace vehicles, and ships to dampen unwanted vibrations. It is also well-suited for protecting sensitive scientific instruments and military equipment from shock and vibration,” Prof. Leblouba said.

Originally developed for earthquake-resistant construction, the technology now demonstrates a wide range of real-world applications. These include buildings, bridges, towers, and electrical and communication infrastructure, as well as vehicles, aircraft, ships, aerospace systems, and sensitive scientific or military equipment.

Future Work: From Patent to Practice

Building on promising early laboratory results, Prof. Leblouba is now preparing to advance from controlled experiments to more realistic testing environments. To date, the system has demonstrated consistent performance across displacement amplitudes of 1 to 5 millimeters, achieving an average effective stiffness of approximately 5 kilonewtons per millimeter—an important benchmark for devices designed to reduce structural damage during seismic events.

The next phase of development will scale the device for larger structural applications and subject it to realistic seismic loading, including shake-table tests using small-scale structural models. In parallel, the research team is refining the device’s internal configuration to optimize its performance under diverse operating conditions.

“The next phase of research will focus on scaling the device for larger structural applications and testing it under realistic seismic loading conditions, including shake-table tests with small-scale structural models,” Prof. Leblouba emphasized.

He added that the team will investigate variations in the number, position, and shape of the rods, as well as the size and material of the balls, to enhance energy dissipation for specific structures and loading scenarios.