EAGER/Collaborative Research: Aeroelastic Real-Time Hybrid Simulation for Wind Engineering Experimentation

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This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) will explore the feasibility of Real-Time Hybrid Simulation (RTHS), used for earthquake engineering experimentation, for experimentation for other natural hazards such as extreme wind loadings. RTHS is a cyber-physical systems approach to structural engineering analysis where experimental and numerical components are interfaced to provide the system-level response of a structure that is challenging to test in its entirety. This approach allows complex structural behavior and loading conditions, difficult to model computationally, to be captured experimentally while the remainder of the structure, which can be accurately represented numerically, is simulated to provide increased accuracy and efficiency in the test. To extend RTHS to include aeroelastic testing, aerodynamic RTHS (aeroRTHS) will be explored through tests at the boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT) at the University of Florida's (UF) NSF-supported Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Experimental Facility (EF). The aeroRTHS framework will facilitate the rapid creation, investigation, and validation of the next generation of mitigation strategies by fully capturing the complex fluid-structure interaction in structures needed to investigate the aeroelastic response from wind hazards. The successful realization of the aeroRTHS framework will contribute to the reliability and resilience of the nation's infrastructure by enabling the investigation of an increased number of windstorm hazard mitigation approaches applied to more realistic situations in a non-destructive, cost-effective manner. A cyber-physical systems workshop will be organized and hosted at the UF NHERI EF, in conjunction with other cyber-physical projects utilizing the EF, to facilitate the use of aeroRTHS throughout the wind and seismic research communities. A report summarizing the workshop will be archived in the NHERI Data Depot (https://www.designsafe-ci.org/). This project will provide advanced training to graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Connecticut and Clarkson University through their involvement in the research and aeroRTHS experimentation at the UF NHERI EF. The goals of this project are threefold: (i) to explore the feasibility of RTHS to include aerodynamic testing, (ii) to accelerate the adoption of aeroRTHS advanced testing techniques through implementation in the BLWT at the UF NHERI EF, and (iii) to train a broad spectrum of researchers to utilize aeroRTHS for future research efforts. Numerous technical challenges will be addressed in this research to enable RTHS to be beneficial for aerodynamic/aeroelastic experimentation. These challenges include: actuator compensation; stability analysis; and limitations imposed by the size of the computational substructure, the increased time scale of wind tunnel models, and the type and number of sensor measurements. Achieving these three goals will help accelerate the adoption of RTHS for multi-hazard applications, thus broadening the impact of these advanced testing methodologies within the natural hazards research community. Specific guidelines for equipment, software, and methods needed to conduct aeroRTHS tests will be developed and disseminated at the cyber-physical systems workshop and through a report archived in the NHERI Data Depot. These guidelines will be suitable for investigators interested in employing RTHS for wind applications at the UF NHERI EF or at any other wind tunnel facility.