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Dual shake table at UB's earthquake simulation lab
The dual shake table located at the University at Buffalo's (UB) Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory. Shake tables help researchers understand how very large structures react to a wide range of seismic activity.
The Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory at UB will be a key node in a nationwide earthquake engineering "collaboratory"--the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). The network involves earthquake engineers and students located at different institutions sharing resources, collaborating on testing and exploiting new computational technologies. The goal of UB's NEES node project is to develop the most versatile earthquake engineering research facility possible, providing testing capabilities that will revolutionize the understanding of how very large structures react to a wide range of seismic activity, even when tested to complete failure. One new technique UB will explore is called real-time dynamic hybrid testing in which shake table and/or dynamic force experiments on substructures are combined in real time with computer simulations of the remainder of the structure. This will provide a more complete picture of how earthquakes would affect large structures without the need to physically test the entire structure.
The testing facility was developed with support from the National Science Foundation (grants CMS 00-86611 and CMS 00-86612), ICMS and the NEES program. [See related image Here.] (Year of image: 2001)
Credit: Courtesy University at Buffalo and MTS Systems Corporation
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