NEES@UNR

PAST, ON-GOING AND UPCOMING PROJECTS

Past Projects:	Collaborative Research: Using Nees as a Testbed for Studying Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction

Current Projects:	NEESR-SG: Seismic Performance of Bridge Systems with Conventional and Innovative Materials

Upcoming Projects:	NEESR-SG: Seismic Simulation/Design of Bridge Columns under Combined Actions

Collaborative Research: Using Nees as a Testbed for Studying Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction

Project PI(s)

M. "Saiid" Saiidi, Professor (UNR)

David Sanders, Associate Professor (UNR)

Research Assistant(s)/Post-Doc(s)

Nathan Johnson (UNR)

Sponsor

National Science Foundation (NSF)

A substantial improvement in capability of the research community to study the earthquake response of civil engineering systems has been achieved through the establishment of NEES. The primary objectives of this project are two folds: (1) to demonstrate how researchers from multiple universities can conduct collaborative research using a network of experimental facilities distributed around the country and utilizing the advanced NEES information technology tools to collect, communicate, and archive large volumes of data, and (2) to conduct high quality studies of soil-foundation-bridge structure systems. Click here for more ...

NEESR-SG: Seismic Performance of Bridge Systems with Conventional and Innovative Materials

Project PI(s)

M. "Saiid" Saiidi (UNR)

G. Fenves (UC-Berkeley)

A. Elgamal (UC-San Diego)

A. Mirmiran (Florida Int'l U.)

I. Buckle (UNR)

Other Senior Participants

A. Kiremidjian (Stanford
G. Pekcan (UNR)
Pam Cantrell (UNR)

Research Associates

S.M. Zadeh (UNR)
Zhenyu Zhu (Florida Int'l U.)

Research Assistant(s)/Post-Doc(s)

Liangcai He (PhD, UCSD)
Robert Nelson (MS, UNR)
Melissa O'Brien (MS, UNR)
Pooya Saraband (PhD, Stanford)
Patrick Wilson (MS)

Research Associates

Kelly Doyle (UNR)
David Hills (UNR)

Sponsor

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Due to the complexity of structural performance during strong earthquakes and the highly nonlinear response of structural systems, computer simulations have to be verified with experimental data to establish their reliability. Calibration of computer simulation tools requires data on models that realistically represent not only structural components, but also the interaction among them and system response. The scale has to be sufficiently large to replicate both the macroscopic and microscopic structural response. This is particularly important for Performance-Based Design (PBD) in which localized damage can be the performance criterion. While the research community has successfully studied different aspects of component behavior, it has not been able to experimentally evaluate the system behavior because of the lack of large-scale testing facilities, high capacity testing equipment, and the necessary information technology (IT) infrastructure. Click here for more ...