Collaborative Research: Improving USAR Preparedness Using Simulation Technology

摘要：当建筑物因灾难性事件而倒塌时，碎石堆中不可避免地会形成稳定的空洞。这些空洞是结构和非结构元素下降的结果，它们以一种有利的方式相互作用，创造了受害者可以找到庇护的空间。由于多达三分之一的建筑物倒塌受害者被发现在这样的空间中，本研究的主要目的是使用最先进的有限元模拟来调查它们是如何形成的，以及在什么条件下形成的。其他次要目标是：1)创建有效的培训工具，基于经过验证的有限元模型和虚拟现实可视化工具，可用于培训USAR人员；2)开发知识，形成公共教育和意识项目的基础，以帮助未经训练的临时救援人员以及城市搜索和救援工作队在倒塌的建筑现场更有效和安全地运作。这项研究将由密歇根大学土木与环境工程系和特拉华大学灾害研究中心合作进行。更广泛的影响：提议的研究成果将对建筑规范协会、建筑师、工程师和其他涉及建筑施工的专业人员有价值。研究结果将帮助他们选择基础设施设计、空间功能相互关系、建筑搜索和救援政策的制定、员工培训和其他事项，以最大限度地提高建筑倒塌期间和之后的生存能力。此外，研究结果也将对指导和改进联邦、州和地方各级应急志愿者小组和搜救小组在建筑物倒塌现场的行动有很大的好处。同样重要的是，该项目将协助美国国家科学基金会开展其正在进行的计划工作，以展示健全科学的实际意义，以及社会学和工程学跨学科合作的重要成果。项目成果也将构成由对灾害社会学具有重要意义的工程科学指导的诱发社会变革的扩展例子。

IMPROVING USAR PREPAREDNESS USING SIMULATION TECHNOLOGYSherif El-Tawil and Benigno AguirreAbstract: When a building collapses due to a catastrophic event, stable voids are inevitably formed in the rubble pile. These voids occur as a result of falling structural and nonstructural elements that interact together in a favorable manner to create spaces in which victims may find shelter. Since as many as one third of all building collapse victims that are rescued are found in such spaces, the primary objective of this research is to use state-of-the-art finite element simulations to investigate how, and under what conditions, they are formed. Other secondary objectives are to: 1) create effective training tools based on validated finite element models coupled with virtual reality visualization tools that can be used for training USAR personnel, and 2) develop knowledge that could form the basis of public education and awareness programs to help untrained, impromptu rescuers as well as urban search and rescue taskforces operate more effectively and safely at a collapsed building site. The research will be conducted as a collaborative effort between the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan (UM) and the Disaster Research Center (DRC) at the University of Delaware. Broader Impact: The products of the proposed research will be of value to building code associations, architects, engineers, and other professionals involved in building construction. The results will help them make choices of infrastructure design, space-function interrelationships, the creation of building search and rescue policies, staff training, and other matters to maximize survivability during and in the aftermath of building collapse. Moreover, the results will also be of great benefit in guiding and improving the operations of emergent groups of volunteers and SAR taskforces at the federal, state, and local levels at sites of building collapse. As importantly, the project will assist the NSF in its ongoing programmatic efforts to show the practical implications of sound science as well as the important payoffs of interdisciplinary cooperation in sociology and engineering. Project results will also constitute an extended example of induced social change guided by engineering science of importance to the sociology of disasters.