NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

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This action funds Andrew Robert Burton of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to conduct a research project in Engineering during the summer of 2013 at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan. The project title is "A Patterned Thin Film Sensor for Damage Detection in Steel Frame Connections." The host scientist is Masayoshi Nakashima.The destruction caused by recent earthquakes has demanded new methods for performance monitoring of critical infrastructure. Paramount to this goal of post-event damage assessment is reliable, quantitative data for informed structural safety characterizations. This project addresses this challenge through the development of patterned carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film sensors tailored to detect specific failure modes in steel frame connections. These thin film sensors are being created in the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor by patterning CNT-polymer films on parylene substrates using optical lithography and then instrumented through other processes common to microelectromechanical systems. These patterns are being designed for electrical sensitivity that is specific to damage behaviors experienced by steel frame connections under seismic loading. The films are being tested at Kyoto University on a partial-scale steel test frame. They are epoxy bonded to the frame connections and then connected to wireless sensor networks for data acquisition. A large-scale shake table is used to simulate a seismic event on these frames. Data is collected from these sensors during and directly following the event and the sensor signals from each test is being analyzed in relation to the observed structural damage. This project provides two highly-valuable results as CNT thin films will reach a scale necessary for practical civil infrastructure applications and the need for rapid post-seismic damage detection will be addressed.Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, this project will spark subsequent partnerships facilitating transnational human connections that provide the basic infrastructure for global research. Most immediately this will aid both societies in the shared ambition for increased public safety through performance characterization of critical infrastructure. Following completion, the project will strengthen engineering understanding, far beyond those involved, through presentations and educational outreach by the Fellow.