The link above is one of the live Web cams showing construction of a masonry structure that engineers will shake later in the month in order to learn how to devise better seismic retrofit schemes to make buildings safer. A media advisory is in the works...the test is tentatively scheduled for Monday January 26. Let me know if you want more info. Read about the most recent tests on the shaketable here. Video here.
With its one-of-a-kind facilities, the Englekirk Structural Engineering Center at the University of California, San Diego is enabling structural tests that have never been possible before. The Center is equipped with the world's first outdoor shake table adjacent to the country's largest soil-structure interaction facility, allowing researchers to perform dynamic earthquake safety tests on full-scale structural systems. The Center's blast simulator will be used to study the effects of bomb blasts and test new technologies to harden buildings against terrorist bomb attacks. A defining element of the Englekirk Center is strong collaboration with industry, and 45 companies and organizations among southern California's building industry participate on an advisory board and support research at the Englekirk Center.
