Planning meeting for NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Research Program scheduled for December 11-13, 2013

The large E-Defense shaking table facility in Japan has recently reopened following nearly a year of inactivity while major upgrades were installed. These upgrades permit the facility to simulate large 3D earthquake motions having durations up to 40 minutes or more. This new capability provides unique opportunities to improve understanding of seismic response due to long-duration ground motions, such as those associated with subduction zone faulting or cascading fault ruptures.

The Annual Planning Meeting for the NEES/E-Defense Collaborative Earthquake Engineering Research Program has been scheduled during Wednesday-Friday, December 11-13, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan.

The meeting will include a field trip to the E-Defense laboratory. During the visit, participants will learn about various upgrades, and witness an interesting test where a 1/3-scale model of a modern steel moment frame building structure will be tested to collapse. The majority of the meeting will be devoted to learning about plans for use of the upgraded facility by E-Defense and other Japanese researchers, reviewing progress on various recent and on-going NEES/E-Defense research projects, and discussing and establishing the foundations for future NEES/E-Defense collaborative research projects.

The specific topical areas to be discussed at the meeting include: (1) high-performance reinforced concrete structures; (2) seismic isolation and structural control; (3) geotechnical engineering issues (focusing now on underground structures); (4) tall buildings; and (5) monitoring and condition assessment of structures and soil-structure systems. Two overarching themes will also be discussed: (a) other needs, opportunities and priorities for future near and long-term US-Japan collaborative research, and (b) numerical simulation of seismic performance. Various possible forms of collaboration are possible in this program, including participating in Japan initiated test programs, developing concepts for joint US-Japan tests, developing payload tests, conducting analyses utilizing test and sensor data, carrying out supporting tests in the US using NEES facilities in conjunction with Japanese partners, etc. This meeting will provide opportunities for the interaction among US and Japanese researchers needed to plan such collaborative projects.