Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure: Experimental Facility with Large-Scale, Multi-directional, Hybrid Simulation Testing Capabilities 2021-2025

自然灾害工程研究基础设施(NHERI)由国家科学基金会(NSF)支持，作为一个分布式、多用户的国家设施，向自然灾害工程研究社区提供访问研究基础设施的机会，这些基础设施包括地震和风力工程实验设施、网络基础设施(CI)、计算建模和模拟工具、高性能计算资源和研究数据，以及教育和社区推广活动。NHERI最初由计划征集NSF 14-605和NSF 15-598提供资金，自2015年以来一直通过网络协调办公室、CI、计算建模和仿真中心以及实验设施(包括灾后快速反应研究设施)获得单独但协调的五年研究基础设施奖。有关NHERI资源的信息可在NHERI Web门户网站(https://www.DesignSafe-ci.org).)上找到授予NHERI的奖项有助于NSF在国家减少地震灾害计划(NEHRP)和国家减少风暴影响计划(NWIRP)中发挥的作用。NHERI实验设施将为NSF支持的研究和教育奖项提供对其实验资源、用户服务和数据管理基础设施的访问。该奖项将把利哈伊大学的NHERI实验设施从2021年1月1日续期到2025年9月30日。通过这一奖项，研究人员将获得该设施的实验资源，在多个方向进行准确的大规模模拟，以研究自然灾害对民用基础设施的影响，包括风和地震灾害下土壤-基础-结构相互作用的影响。在该设施进行的研究将促进社区自然灾害复原力方面的进展，因为实验数据和相关计算模型将用于验证新的结构概念，以进行设计和改造，以提高基础设施系统在自然灾害事件期间的性能。从该设施进行的研究中获得的数据将有助于更深入地了解影响民用基础设施和社区复原力的关键物理反应、脆弱性和因素。该设施将创造机会，通过自然灾害工程研究、教育活动和专业实践培养多样化的劳动力。教育和外展计划将面向各个层次的不同受众，吸引学生进入科学、工程和技术领域，同时也向工程界宣传、教育和告知基于绩效的自然灾害工程学的新发现和进展。在该设施进行的研究产生的实验数据将在NHERI门户网站上的数据仓库中存档。该设施将为潜在用户举办年度研讨会，并将为本科生举办研究体验。实验资源包括多方向反应墙、坚固的地板、伺服控制的液压执行器和先进的测试算法，将支持大规模、多方向的测试。这包括实时混合模拟(RTHS)，它使用实验室中系统中最不被理解的部分的物理模型，以及系统其余部分的基于计算机的数值模型，以使“系统”的定义能够扩展到远远超出典型实验室物理模型的规模。通过应用该设施提供的一种或多种测试技术，可以很容易地评估受自然灾害多方向需求影响的大型部件和系统的性能，所述测试技术包括：(1)混合模拟(HS)，其将大规模物理模型与基于计算机的数值模拟模型相结合；(2)地理分布式混合模拟(DHS)，这是位于不同实验室并通过互联网连接的物理模型和/或数值模拟模型的混合模拟；(3)RTHS，它是在物理模型和事件的实际时间尺度上进行的HS，例如地震、风灾或多种自然灾害；(4)地理分布RTHS(DRTHS)，它结合了DHS和RTHS；(5)动态测试(DT)，它使用高速伺服控制的液压执行器或其他方法，通过预先定义的力或位移历史在实时比例尺上加载大型物理模型，以表征其动态响应；和(6)准静态试验(QS)，它使用液压执行器加载大型物理模型，通过预定义的力和/或位移历史来表征其静态响应。该设施通过使用广泛的仪器和先进的传感器获得的高质量的系统级实验数据将为自然灾害社区提供宝贵和独特的资源，以开发和验证高保真计算模型，从而促进对民用基础设施应对自然灾害的知识和理解的进步。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a distributed, multi-user national facility to provide the natural hazards engineering research community with access to research infrastructure that includes earthquake and wind engineering experimental facilities, cyberinfrastructure (CI), computational modeling and simulation tools, high performance computing resources, and research data, as well as education and community outreach activities. Originally funded under program solicitations NSF 14-605 and NSF 15-598, NHERI has operated since 2015 through separate, but coordinated, five-year research infrastructure awards for a Network Coordination Office, CI, Computational Modeling and Simulation Center, and Experimental Facilities, including a post-disaster, rapid response research facility. Information about NHERI resources are available at the NHERI web portal (https://www.DesignSafe-ci.org). Awards made for NHERI contribute to NSF's role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). NHERI Experimental Facilities will provide access to their experimental resources, user services, and data management infrastructure for NSF-supported research and education awards. This award will renew the NHERI Experimental Facility at Lehigh University from January 1, 2021, to September 30, 2025. Through this award, researchers will have access to the facility's experimental resources to perform accurate, large-scale simulations in multi-directions to study the effects of natural hazards on civil infrastructure, including the effects of soil-foundation-structure interaction under wind and earthquake hazards. The research performed at the facility will promote advances in community natural hazard resilience, as the experimental data and related computational models will be used to validate new structural concepts for design and retrofit that will advance the performance of infrastructure systems during natural hazard events. Data acquired from research conducted at the facility will be valuable in developing a deeper understanding of the key physical responses, vulnerabilities, and factors that influence the resilience of civil infrastructure and communities. The facility will create opportunities to develop a diverse workforce through natural hazards engineering research, educational activities, and professional practice. The education and outreach programs will target a diverse audience at all levels and attract students into science, engineering, and technology, while also reaching out to promote, educate, and inform the engineering community about new discoveries and advancements in performance-based natural hazards engineering. Experimental data generated from the research conducted at this facility will be archived in the Data Depot on the NHERI web portal. The facility will conduct annual workshops for prospective users and will host Research Experiences for Undergraduate students.The experimental resources, which include a multi-directional reaction wall, strong floor, servo-controlled hydraulic actuators, and advanced testing algorithms, will support large-scale, multi-directional testing. This includes real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS), which uses physical models of the least-understood parts of the system in the laboratory, along with computer-based numerical models of the rest of the system, to enable the definition of the “system” to be expanded well beyond the size of typical laboratory physical models. The performance of large-scale components and systems subject to multi-directional demand from natural hazards can be readily assessed through the application of one of more of the testing techniques provided by the facility that includes: (1) hybrid simulation (HS), which combines large-scale physical models with computer-based numerical simulation models; (2) geographically distributed HS (DHS), which is a HS with physical models and/or numerical simulation models located in different laboratories and connected through the Internet; (3) RTHS, which is a HS conducted at the actual time scale of the physical models and events, such as an earthquake, a wind natural hazard, or multi-natural hazards; (4) geographically distributed RTHS (DRTHS), which combines DHS and RTHS; (5) dynamic testing (DT), which uses high speed servo-controlled hydraulic actuators or other methods to load large-scale physical models at real-time scales through predefined force or displacement histories to characterize their dynamic response; and (6) quasi-static testing (QS), which uses hydraulic actuators to load large-scale physical models through predefined force and/or displacement histories to characterize their static response. The high-quality, system-level experimental data acquired at the facility through the use of a broad array of instrumentation and advanced sensors will provide a valuable and unique resource for the natural hazards community to develop and validate high-fidelity computational models, leading to advances in the knowledge and understanding of civil infrastructure response to natural hazards.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.