The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) is a project funded under the National Science Foundation Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account. This cooperative agreement, awarded under NEES, establishes a NEES large high performance (LHP) outdoor shake table site at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and is an outcome of the peer review of proposals submitted to program solicitation NSF 01-164, "NEES: Earthquake Engineering Research Equipment, Phase 2." This outdoor shake table will be a 7.6 m x 12.2 m long single (horizontal) degree-of-freedom system. The table will have a peak horizontal velocity of 1.8 m/s, maximum stroke of +/-0.75 m, maximum gravity (vertical) payload of 200 MN, maximum overturning moment of 50 MN-m, force capacity of actuators of 6.8 MN, and a frequency bandwidth from 0-20 Hz. The major equipment for the LHP shake table facility consists of servocontrolled dynamically-rated actuators with large-servo valves, a large power supply, a vertical load/overturning moment bearing system, a digital three-variable real-time controller, concrete foundation and reaction mass, and weatherproofing system. The facility will be the only outdoor shake table in the U.S. and will enable large/full-scale testing of structural systems and soil-foundation-structure interaction that cannot be readily extrapolated from testing at smaller scale, or under quasi-static or pseudo-dynamic test conditions, as well as testing large-scale systems to observe their response under near source ground motion. The LHP outdoor shake table will be located 15 km from campus at the UCSD Camp Elliott field site. This two-acre site was selected so that the shake table could be used in conjunction with an adjacent soil pit and laminar shear soil box being provided by the California Department of Transportation. This site will allow room for multiple test specimens to be constructed and instrumented before placement on the shake table. A 177 kN rough terrain crane will be provided at Camp Elliott for loading, unloading, and everyday construction purposes. For heavier lifting capabilities, an 880 kN crane will be available on an as needed rental basis, with the individual experiment requiring the larger crane to cover this cost. This equipment will be operational by September 30, 2004, and will be managed as a national shared-use NEES equipment site, with teleobservation and teleoperation capabilities, to provide new earthquake engineering research testing capabilities through 2014. Shared-use access and training will be coordinated through the NEES Consortium. UCSD is providing $1,363,000 in cost sharing for this facility. UCSD will integrate this shake table equipment into its research program involving undergraduate and graduate students, Department of Structural Engineering curriculum, and K-12 and general public outreach. The University will also provide training opportunities for outside faculty, students, and practitioners through web-based tutorials and on-site training.
