Workshop on Simulating Earthquake Strong Ground Motions on Large Geotechnical Centrifuges

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This action is for the support of a workshop to discuss the simulation of earthquake strong ground motions using geotechnical centrifuges. Geotechnical centrifuge modeling is a means of testing physical models of earth structures - such as embankments and dams - in the laboratory: it does this by correctly simulating the effect of gravity-induced stresses on the strength and stiffness properties of soil. These stresses increase with depth, just as water pressure increases with depth below the surface. Subjecting an N-th scale earth model to N times the acceleration due to gravity yields the correct gravity-induced stresses. The state-of-the-art in geotechnical centrifuge modeling has progressed rapidly during the last decade. Especially important is the fact that during this decade, a new generation of geotechnical engineers has been trained with an appreciation of, and experience in using, this method. An exciting development has been the recent use of geotechnical centrifuges to simulate earthquake-induced strong ground motions. This development has the potential to make a dramatic contribution to earthquake hazard mitigation. The objective of this workshop is to explore the issues involved in adding an earthquake simulation capability to the three large national geotechnical centrifuges at the University of California at Davis, the University of Colorado at Boulder and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Participants include representatives from academe, federal and state agencies, industry, and from major geotechnical centrifuge installations in foreign countries. The workshop is to be held at the University of Colorado at Boulder on 12-13 February 1990: a report summarizing the discussions, conclusions and recommendations will be distributed following the workshop.