Abstract
The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) experimental facility at the University of Texas (NHERI@UTexas) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). NHERI@UTexas contributes unique, large-scale, hydraulically-controllable mobile shakers and associated instrumentation to study and develop novel, in-situ testing methods that can be used to evaluate the needs of existing infrastructure as well as optimize the design of future infrastructure. The ability to test existing infrastructure under actual field conditions bridges the gap in the transformative tools needed for the next frontier of resilient and sustainable natural-hazards research. Further, these unique facilities are available to any NSF-funded research. The field shakers and support equipment are described. Examples of on-going and future projects in three key areas of investigation that NHERI@UTexas is targeting are presented. These examples includes: (1) performing more accurate 2D/3D subsurface geotechnical imaging up larger depths, (2) characterizing liquefaction resistance and nonlinear dynamic behavior in situ soils, and (3) developing in-situ methods nondestructive soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) studies.
Highlights
The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Program is the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) program for the continued development and operation of a network of large-scale facilities used to support natural hazards engineering research
The science plan of NHERI@UTexas is focused on three main challenges
Note that the imaging data for the results presented below, and published in Tran et al (2020), were collected as part of a NHERI@UTexas user workshop that was held in Newberry, Florida
Summary
The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Program is the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) program for the continued development and operation of a network of large-scale facilities used to support natural hazards engineering research. Future research is needed using the more powerful, low-frequency, active-source mobile shakers of NHERI@UTexas to extend the depth range of FWI for both ground motion studies and subsurface anomaly detection. Over the past 16 years, the NEES /NHERI@UTexas mobile shakers have been used to initiate and continue development of a generalized, staged-loading approach by which G-log γ and pore-water pressure–log γ relationships can be measured in situ This type of in-situ parametric testing is needed: (1) to understand the limitations of the empirical approach, and (2) because many geotechnical materials cannot be readily, or cost-effectively, tested in the laboratory. While scaled and idealized laboratory experimental research programs are needed to better understand structural behavior, the NHERI@UTexas equipment provide capabilities to test complex, in-situ structurefoundation-soil systems in a range of soil conditions. Smaller-scale structural specimens can be designed considering the shakers’ force vs. frequency output capacities if non-linear behavior is of interest
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