Spring Break
CSU puts wood structures to the test
EMILY LANCE
Issue date: 12/11/06 Section: News
An 1,800 square foot, 40-ton home in Buffalo, N.Y., violently shook, the victim of a simulated 6.7 magnitude earthquake.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was the largest wood structure ever to be tested for how it would fare during an earthquake - and CSU researchers have now begun a six-month data-analyzing process.
The test, performed at the University of Buffalo structural engineering and earthquake engineering laboratory, featured full-scale ground motions in three directions (triaxial motions), a feature most earthquake tests lack.
The simulation was similar to the 1994 Los Angeles-area quake.
Sensors were installed inside the house to gather information about how each component of the building behaves. They're connected by cyber grid, allowing data to be viewed by the public within five months.
This four-year, five-university NEESWood project is designed to provide engineers with data about how to improve performance of wood frame structures during earthquakes.
Two students and one professor do tests and designs for larger wood structures that can survive earthquakes and improve earthquake monitoring from the University of Buffalo, Texas A&M, Cornell University and Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
John van de Lindt, associate professor in civil engineering, is the lead supervisor in the CSU NEESWood project.
"The final product is to develop a new design concept," van de Lindt said.
The main goal was to get a baseline for computer modeling, taking a step closer to the ultimate goal of the four-year project to reduce annual financial loss for wood frame structures and enable taller structures during an earthquake.
The NEESWood project is funded by Congress, and CSU received more than $1.24 million for the study.
To use the money more efficiently, the team is working on a software project to simulate the potential movement of a building during an earthquake without the use of a very costly shake table test.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was the largest wood structure ever to be tested for how it would fare during an earthquake - and CSU researchers have now begun a six-month data-analyzing process.
The test, performed at the University of Buffalo structural engineering and earthquake engineering laboratory, featured full-scale ground motions in three directions (triaxial motions), a feature most earthquake tests lack.
The simulation was similar to the 1994 Los Angeles-area quake.
Sensors were installed inside the house to gather information about how each component of the building behaves. They're connected by cyber grid, allowing data to be viewed by the public within five months.
This four-year, five-university NEESWood project is designed to provide engineers with data about how to improve performance of wood frame structures during earthquakes.
Two students and one professor do tests and designs for larger wood structures that can survive earthquakes and improve earthquake monitoring from the University of Buffalo, Texas A&M, Cornell University and Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
John van de Lindt, associate professor in civil engineering, is the lead supervisor in the CSU NEESWood project.
"The final product is to develop a new design concept," van de Lindt said.
The main goal was to get a baseline for computer modeling, taking a step closer to the ultimate goal of the four-year project to reduce annual financial loss for wood frame structures and enable taller structures during an earthquake.
The NEESWood project is funded by Congress, and CSU received more than $1.24 million for the study.
To use the money more efficiently, the team is working on a software project to simulate the potential movement of a building during an earthquake without the use of a very costly shake table test.
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