Enabling role of hybrid simulation across NEES in advancing earthquake engineering

Abstract

Hybrid simulation is increasingly being recognized as a powerful technique for laboratory testing. It offers the opportunity for global system evaluation of civil infrastructure systems subject to extreme dynamic loading, often with a significant reduction in time and cost. In this approach, a reference structure/system is partitioned into two or more substructures. The portion of the structural system designated as 'physical' or 'experimental' is tested in the laboratory, while other portions are replaced with a computational model. Many researchers have quite effectively used hybrid simulation (HS) and real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) methods for examination and verification of existing and new design concepts and proposed structural systems or devices. This paper provides a detailed perspective of the enabling role that HS and RTHS methods have played in advancing the practice of earthquake engineering. Herein, our focus is on investigations related to earthquake engineering, those with CURATED data available in their entirety in the NEES Data Repository.