NEES Consortium Operation: FY 2005 - FY 2014

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NEES Consortium, Inc., through this cooperative agreement, will manage, operate, and maintain the national George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) infrastructure during FY 2005 - FY 2014. This infrastructure consists of (1) Consortium headquarters led by an Executive Director, (2) 15 shared use, state-of-the-art earthquake engineering experimental research sites located across the U.S., and (3) an information technology (IT)/NEESgrid cyberinfrastructure. The equipment sites and cyberinfrastructure provide a user-friendly, collaborative, accessible, and data-rich experimental and analytical infrastructure for research, education, and technology transfer across the earthquake engineering field. The equipment sites include single (outdoor), dual, and triple shake tables; geotechnical centrifuges with in-flight biaxial shakers and robotic tools; a tsunami wave basin; large laboratories for testing structures, soil-foundation-structure interaction systems, and lifeline systems; mobile geotechnical and structural testing field equipment; and two permanently instrumented field sites in southern California. The NEESgrid cyberinfrastructure seamlessly integrates the 15 equipment sites and their telepresence capabilities, a national curated data repository, web-based collaborative tools, access to leading edge compute resources, and open-source computational tools such as OpenSees. This cyberinfrastructure will enable hybrid testing methods (coupled computational and physical simulations) as well as multi-site distributed experimentation. Technical staff at Consortium headquarters, the equipment sites, and the NEES cyberinfrastructure center will help potential and funded investigators discover and use NEES resources. The Consortium will coordinate training courses on equipment site and IT usage, visiting scholar programs, development of curricular materials, research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) and research experiences for teachers (RETs), seminars for practicing engineers, and K-12 and public outreach. The capabilities provided by the NEES infrastructure will enable researchers in the U.S., along with collaborators abroad, to address the research problems outlined in Preventing Earthquake Disasters - The Grand Challenge in Earthquake Engineering - A Research Agenda for the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) [National Research Council, National Academy Press, 2003] to advance fundamental knowledge and develop new technologies to address a compelling national need - earthquake loss reduction. Through separate awards, NSF will fund individual investigator, small group, and grand challenge projects to conduct research using the NEES infrastructure. Through the Consortium, the U.S. is well positioned to establish a strong world leadership role in earthquake engineering. This award is for five years, and will be reviewed annually, under a cooperative agreement between the National Science Foundation and NEES Consortium, Inc. The award is renewable once, without recompetition, for an additional five years, subject to satisfactory review of performance and availability of funds. The maximum duration of the award is for ten years. Towards the end of this final award period, NSF will evaluate the needs of, and appropriate future investments in, the national infrastructure for earthquake engineering. Information about Consortium activities, including equipment site and NEESgrid cyberinfrastructure capabilities, equipment site scheduling, and training opportunities, will be posted at nees.org. This award is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).