CAREER: Passive Seismic Protective Systems for Nonstructural Systems and Components in Multistory Building

这个教师早期职业发展（CAREER）计划奖的目的是通过隔离装置和耗能机制，在地震事件中保护基本多层建筑物内的关键设备和部件。这一目标将通过理论分析和实际环境下的全尺寸实验室测试来实现。具体的研究任务是：（1）检查被动系统设置保护关键设备和部件的能力;（2）确定保护措施的最佳特性;（3）确定和评估被动系统在不同类型的地面运动下的性能极限的适用性;（4）利用纽约州立大学布法罗分校的NEES设施验证设备-无源系统布置;（5）实施分析、设计和实施保护措施的框架。该项目旨在填补目前关于地震期间控制多层建筑物内设备和组件行为的多个变量之间相互关系的知识空白。预期的贡献包括验证高性能平台，从而可以直接预测设备和部件的性能，并以具有成本效益的方式实施保护措施。研究和教育计划包括系统实施的行业合作和旨在促进科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）中代表性不足的群体参与的综合教育计划。实施这项研究产生的地震保护方案将减少地震期间和之后基本设施的脆弱性，如医院，数据中心，应急响应中心，发电厂、运输管理中心和电信中心。 设想的地震保护方案是灵活的机制，通过减少加速度和控制变形和位移，控制或避免建筑物的基本设备及其组件的地震损坏。该研究将通过验证保护基本设施设备和部件的高性能选项，直接满足地震工程界的关键需求。由此产生的分析、设计和实施准则将促进和便利对基本设施中使用的设备和部件采用地震保护。该研究有可能大大推进当前的非结构鉴定实践和脆弱性测试方法。该项目的多方面教育计划旨在通过将霍华德大学的学生聚集在一起，为学生提供工业接触和跨学科经验，鼓励K-12学生通过在华盛顿，华盛顿特区地区开展外展活动来追求科学和工程职业，激发本科生和研究生对K-12外展的兴趣，并将研究和课程结合起来。

The objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to protect through isolation devices and energy dissipation mechanisms critical equipment and components within essential multistory buildings during earthquake events. This objective will be accomplished through theoretical analysis and real-environment, full-scale laboratory tests. Specific research tasks are aimed at (1) examining the ability of passive systems settings to protect critical equipment and components; (2) identifying optimal characteristics of the protective measures; (3) identifying and evaluating the applicability of performance limits of the passive systems under different types of ground motions; (4) validating the equipment-passive systems arrangements using the NEES facility at the University at Buffalo SUNY; and (5) implementing a framework for analysis, design, and implementation of the protective measures. This project aims to fill current gaps in knowledge regarding interrelationship among multiple variables controlling the behavior of equipment and components within multistory buildings during an earthquake. The expected contributions include the validation of high-performance platforms that permit straightforward predictions of performance of equipment and components, and cost-effective implementations of protective measures. The research and education plans include both industry cooperation for systems implementation and a comprehensive education program aimed at promoting participation of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).Implementing the seismic protective options emerging from this research will reduce the vulnerabilities during and after an earthquake of essential facilities, such as hospitals, data centers, emergency response centers, power plants, transportation management centers, and telecommunication centers. The envisioned seismic protective options are flexible mechanisms tailored to control or avoid earthquake damage on a building's essential equipment and on its components, by reducing accelerations and by controlling deformations and displacements. The research will directly address critical needs of the earthquake engineering community by validating high-performance options to protect equipment and components of essential facilities. The resulting guidelines for analysis, design, and implementation will promote and facilitate the adoption of seismic protection for equipment and components to be used in essential facilities. The research has the potential to significantly advance current nonstructural qualification practices and fragility testing methodologies. The multi-faceted education program of this project aims to increase participation of underrepresented groups in STEM by bringing together students from Howard University to provide industrial exposure and interdisciplinary experiences for students, inspire K-12 students to pursue science and engineering careers by conducting outreach activities in the Washington, D.C. area, motivate undergraduate and graduate student interests in K-12 outreach, and integrate research and coursework.