Center for Earthquake Engineering Simulation

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Director:   Ricardo Dobry

Associate Director: Tarek Abdoun

Associate Director for Training and Outreach: Victoria Bennett

The Center for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (CEES) is a multi-disciplinary research center committed to providing researchers a state-of-the-art facility to conduct analytical, experimental, and multi-disciplinary research. The facility is a multi-hazard mitigation site with a capability to support research for mitigation of other natural hazards. The facility is now a home to tele-participation tools, including state-of-the-art telecontrol and teleconference rooms. The CEES center is also home to a 2-directional earthquake simulator, 2-degrees of freedom and 4-degrees of freedom in-flight robots and state-of-the-art Data Acquisition (DAQ) software.

The facility is used for innovative research, including use by Rensselaer faculty and outside researchers working on campus, or via tele-participation tools. Since 2004, the CEES facility has participated in over 35 major research projects for both NSF and industrial users, which focus on:

• the seismic response of pile foundations to liquefaction,
• the effect of blasting on tunnels and earth embankments,
• the centrifuge modeling of levees, retaining walls, tailings dams, slopes, and offshore structures,
• the development of advanced sensors and tools for centrifuge and existing in-flight robots,
• the numerical modeling and analysis of buildings subjected to seismic loads, and
• field monitoring and assessing of levee and flood-control infrastructure system.

 Affiliated Faculty: T. Abdoun, V Bennett,  R. Dobry, M. O’Rourke, M. Symans, S. Uchida, M. Zeghal, T. Zimmie

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