PEER Reports

A set of Neoprene isolation bearings remaining from a 1981 shake table test series conducted at the Earthquake Simulator Laboratory at the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (now the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center) were retested in 2012. The new test series was conducted at the NEES site at the Richmond Field Station, University of California, Berkeley. The retest program had the dual purpose of determining the changes in the isolation properties, namely, the horizontal stiffness and equivalent viscous damping, and to study the behavior of the isolators at dynamic...

Following an agreement between the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the First Planning Meeting for NEES/E-Defense Collaboration on Earthquake Engineering Research was held in 2004. This meeting laid the groundwork for an initial joint research program related to improving understanding of seismic effects and reducing the seismic vulnerability of bridges and steel buildings. The emphasis of the program was to conduct experimental research using the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake...

Human and economic losses caused by earthquake-induced soil liquefaction underscore the importance of assessing liquefaction hazards, both by determining whether a soil is likely to liquefy and by estimating consequences these events may cause. Numerical simulations have proven to be useful for these purposes. Reliable numerical analysis requires that constitutive models represent the in situ soil behavior as well as general loading and drainage conditions. For this purpose, comprehensive verification and validation studies of material models are imperative for successful...