Development of an Earthquake Ground Motion Simulator For Use in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Research

这个项目的目标是设计，制造，并在伦斯勒理工学院（RPI）土木工程系的新100g吨岩土离心机上安装地震强地面运动模拟器。由于大地震在时间和地理位置上都是意外发生的罕见事件，因此关于由此产生的强烈地面运动以及这些运动对地球结构的影响的数据记录很少。在RPI的新土工离心机上安装的模拟器将提供在实验室模拟这种地震引起的强地面运动的能力。虽然这不能取代大地震中急需的实地数据，但它确实为减轻地震危害提供了宝贵的信息。该装置将提供美国最大的此类模拟能力，并补充了几所主要大学中可用的小得多的单元。

The objective of this project is to design, manufacture, and install an earthquake strong ground motion simulator on the new 100 G-ton geotechnical centrifuge in the Civil Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Because large earthquakes are rare events that occur unexpectedly with respect to both time and geographic location, very little data has been recorded on the resulting strong ground motions and the effects of these motions on earth structures. The installation of the simulator on the new geotechnical centrifuge at RPI will provide a capability to simulate such earthquake- induced strong ground motions in the laboratory. While this does not substitute for the much needed field data from large earthquakes, it nevertheless does provide valuable information for use in earthquake hazard mitigation. This installation will provide the largest such simulation capability in the United States and complements the much smaller units available at several major universities.