The National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded $5 million to researchers at the University of Arkansas to develop a center for large-scale testing of seismic systems. The purpose of the new center is to facilitate testing of those systems to improve the performance of civil infrastructure — such as buildings and bridges — in the event of an earthquake.
The award allows for the purchase of large hydraulic loading equipment, materials testing equipment, state-of-the-art data acquisition devices and key upgrades to the existing facility, the Grady E. Harvell Civil Engineering Research and Education Center (CEREC).
Gary Prinz, professor of civil engineering and director of CEREC, is the award’s principal investigator. Cameron Murray, an associate professor of civil engineering, is the co-principal.
In their proposal, the researchers noted the importance of having advanced structural testing facilities to guide infrastructure improvement, highlighting that the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California created $20 billion in infrastructure damage and an estimated $40 billion in economic loss, in addition to dozens of fatalities. While that earthquake spurred research to improve structural systems through large-scale experimentation, that was 30 years ago.
“When it comes to natural disasters from seismic activity, learning from experience is extremely costly,” Prinz said in a press release. “Learning through controlled testing in a laboratory setting allows for more rapid progress and the development of new seismic solutions that can lead to more resilient, cost-effective infrastructure.”
Success of the project will be measured by the resulting competitive research grants awarded, the successful training of graduate and honors students to use the equipment and by the implementation of the new equipment in research projects during the first five years of ownership.
The equipment is expected to transform the capabilities and capacity of the facility, aiming to make CEREC a nationally-competitive structures laboratory.
CEREC was opened in 2021 to ensure in-state capacity for full-scale structural testing and as a teaching laboratory, which had not previously existed in the state of Arkansas. Since its opening, researchers affiliated with the testing center have won more than $21.5 million in research awards.
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