Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure: Experimental Facility with Large, Mobile Dynamic Shakers for Field Testing 2021-2025

自然灾害工程研究基础设施（NHERI）由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）支持，作为一个分布式、多用户的国家设施，为自然灾害工程研究界提供研究基础设施，包括地震和风力工程实验设施、网络基础设施（CI）、计算建模和仿真工具、高性能计算资源和研究数据。以及教育和社区外展活动。NHERI最初由项目招标NSF 14-605和NSF 15-598资助，自2015年以来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）的独立但协调的五年研究基础设施奖运作。有关NHERI资源的信息可在NHERI门户网站（https://www.DesignSafe-ci.org）获得。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）中发挥作用。NHERI实验设施将为nsf支持的研究和教育奖励提供对其实验资源、用户服务和数据管理基础设施的访问。该奖项将在2021年1月1日至2025年9月30日期间继续支持位于德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的NHERI实验设施。通过该奖项，研究人员将有机会获得大型移动式动力激振器和相关仪器，用于自然灾害工程的现场实验研究。这些大型移动振动筛可用于研究和开发新的地下成像和确定原位土壤特性的原位测试方法，评估现有民用基础设施对自然灾害的脆弱性，以及优化未来基础设施的设计。这些进步将使社区更能抵御地震和其他自然灾害。虽然小型到大规模的实验室测试可以提供有价值的研究数据，但仍然需要对各种各样的基础设施进行现场测试，这些基础设施已建成，处于其当前状态。该设施的设备将支持现场测试，并允许在关键领域开发研究工具，如三维（3D）地下成像（应用于快速堤防评估和空洞/空洞检测）和无损检测（应用于先进的土壤液化评估和建筑物和桥梁的土壤-基础-结构相互作用研究）。这些领域的进步将引领国家走向具有弹性和可持续基础设施的下一个前沿，这将造福社会，并支持经济、智力和科学的持续增长。在该设施进行的研究中产生的实验数据将存档在NHERI网站门户的数据仓库中。该设施将举办年度用户研讨会，并将为本科生举办研究体验。该设施将使研究人员能够解决三个主要挑战，使原位测试取得进展，如果完成，可以改变恢复和建立更具弹性和可持续发展的社区的能力。这三个主要挑战是：(1)显著提高浅至深（大于1000米）二维（2D）和三维地下成像的精度和分辨率；(2)复杂岩土材料的非线性动力响应和抗液化特性的现场表征；(3)发展快速的原位无损结构评价方法和土-基础-结构相互作用研究方法。虽然更侧重于应对地震灾害，但解决这些挑战的能力也将影响多灾害的恢复能力。例如，执行快速2D和3D地下成像的挑战将直接适用于国家现有堤坝系统的优先修复，其中许多系统目前无法抵御传统的洪水，飓风风暴潮或地震。自然灾害研究的下一个前沿要求工程师为复杂问题开发实用的解决方案，这将需要在广泛的实际现场条件下测试民用基础设施系统。这种现场测试可以使用该设备的移动动力激振器和相关仪器来完成。此外，为了发展更具弹性和可持续性的社区，该设施将开展外联活动，以吸引和培养多元化和有才华的未来工程师群体，他们能够应对人口快速增长所面临的挑战，这些挑战是由面临自然灾害风险的老化基础设施所支撑的。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 support for the NHERI Experimental Facility located at the University of Texas at Austin from January 1, 2021, to September 30, 2025. Through this award, researchers will have access to large, mobile dynamic shakers and associated instrumentation for field experimental studies in natural hazards engineering. These large mobile shakers can be used to study and develop novel, in-situ testing methods for subsurface imaging and determining in-situ soil properties, evaluate the vulnerability of existing civil infrastructure to natural hazards, and optimize the design of future infrastructure. These advances will result in communities that are more resilient to earthquakes and other natural hazards. While small- to large-scale laboratory testing can provide valuable research data, there remains the need to field test a wide variety of infrastructure, as constructed, in its current state. The facility's equipment will support in-situ testing and allow for research tools to be developed in critical areas such as three-dimensional (3D) subsurface imaging (with applications such as rapid levee evaluation and void/cavity detection) and non-destructive testing (with applications such as advanced soil liquefaction evaluation and soil-foundation-structure interaction studies for buildings and bridges). Progress in these areas will lead the nation to the next frontier of resilient and sustainable infrastructure, which will benefit society and support continued economic, intellectual, and scientific growth. Experimental data generated from research conducted at this facility will be archived in the Data Depot on the NHERI web portal. The facility will conduct annual user workshops and will host Research Experiences for Undergraduate students. The facility will enable researchers to address three main challenges to making in-situ testing advancements that, if accomplished, could transform the ability to rehabilitate and build more resilient and sustainable communities. These three main challenges are: (1) significantly improving the accuracy and resolution of shallow-to-deep (greater than 1,000 meters) two-dimensional (2D) and 3D subsurface imaging; (2) characterizing the nonlinear dynamic response and liquefaction resistance of complex geomaterials in-situ; and (3) developing rapid, in-situ methods for non-destructive structural evaluations and for soil-foundation-structure interaction studies. While more heavily weighted toward addressing earthquake hazards, the ability to solve these challenges will also affect multi-hazard resiliency. For example, the challenge of performing rapid 2D and 3D subsurface imaging will apply directly to prioritizing rehabilitation of the nation's existing levee systems, many of which are currently not resilient to traditional flooding, hurricane storm surges, or earthquakes. The next frontier of natural hazards research requires that engineers develop practical solutions for complex problems, which will necessitate testing civil infrastructure systems over a wide range of actual field conditions. This in-situ testing can be accomplished using the mobile dynamic shakers and associated instrumentation of this facility. Additionally, to develop more resilient and sustainable communities, the facility will conduct outreach to engage and cultivate a diverse and talented group of future engineers who can address the challenges that face a rapidly growing population supported by aging infrastructure at risk 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.