A review of large-scale testing facilities in geotechnical earthquake engineering

Abstract

In this new century, new large-scale testing facilities are being developed worldwide for earthquake engineering research. Concurrently, the advances in Information Technology (IT) are increasingly allowing unprecedented opportunities for: (i) remote access and tele-presence during extended remote off-site experimentation, (ii) hybrid simulation of entire structural systems through a multi-site experimentation and computational overall model, and (iii) near-real time data archival, processing and sharing. In this paper, a representative set of such state-of-the-art testing facilities is presented. Attention is focused on geotechnical earthquake engineering applications including instrumented test sites, mobile and large-scale testing laboratories, and centrifuge testing. Using such facilities, a number of collaborative research efforts are also included for illustration. The potential for further worldwide joint activities is finally highlighted. © 2007 Springer.