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Overview
PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP The committee organized the workshop into a series
of keynote presentations, breakout sessions, and plenary
The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake
sessions. Six keynote speakers were tasked with articulat-
Engineering Simulation (NEES), supported by the National
ing, through their presentations and associated white papers
Science Foundation (NSF), is an important component
(Appendix B), a vision that would help guide discussions
of the National Earthquake Hazards Reductions Program
among the workshop participants. Each speaker discussed
(NEHRP). NEHRP is a coordinated effort across four federal
a key component of earthquake engineering research—
agencies to address earthquake risk in the United States.
community, lifelines, buildings, information technology,
Since 2004, NEES researchers have produced significant
materials, and modeling and simulation—and considered
advances in the science and technology for earthquake loss
four cross-cutting dimensions—community resilience, pre-
reduction that would not have been possible without the
event prediction and planning, design of infrastructure, and
network’s experimental facilities and cyberinfrastructure.
post-event response and recovery. Breakout sessions were
By Fiscal Year 2014, NSF will have supported 10 years of
the primary mechanism for brainstorming, analyzing, and
NEES operations and research.
documenting responses to the workshop questions outlined
As part of NSF’s preparation of plans for Fiscal Year
in the task. Four breakout sessions were structured along
2014 and beyond, NSF sought input from the broad earth-
the cross-cutting dimensions, and one breakout session
quake engineering community on “Grand Challenges in
organized participants along disciplinary lines—buildings,
Basic Earthquake Engineering Research,” with one consider-
lifelines, geotechnical/tsunamis, and community resilience.
ation being that the program after 2014 need not be focused
Each breakout session included a moderator, who served as
on—or limited to—existing facilities. At the request of NSF
the leader and chief spokesperson for the breakout group, and
(see Statement of Task, Box S.1), the National Research
a committee member who served as rapporteur.
Council (NRC) hosted a two-day workshop to give members
of the community an opportunity to identify grand challenges
SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP DISCUSSIONS
and to describe networks of earthquake engineering experi-
mental capabilities and cyberinfrastructure tools that could
This report summarizes the major points and ideas
contribute to addressing these challenges.
expressed during the workshop. It is not intended to be a
comprehensive summary of all topics and issues relevant to
WORKSHOP PLANNING earthquake engineering research. The observations or views
contained in this report are those of individual participants
An NRC steering committee was established to organize
and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop
the workshop, which was held on March 14–15, 2011, at
participants, the committee, or the NRC. Therefore, refer-
the NRC’s Beckman Center in Irvine, California. Work-
ences in the report to workshop “participants” do not imply
shop participants included 37 researchers and practitioners,
that all participants were polled or that they necessarily
drawn from a wide range of disciplines, to focus on the two
agreed with the particular statements. In addition, the grand
key questions in the task statement. In addition, observers
challenge problems and networked facilities discussed in
from NSF, NSF contractors, NEHRP, and the current NEES
the following sections were suggested by breakout group
Operations Center attended the discussions. Altogether, there
participants and they do not represent conclusions or recom-
were 52 workshop attendees, including the committee and
mendations of the committee or the NRC.
NRC staff (Appendix C).
1
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2 GRAND CHALLENGES IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING RESEARCH
BOX S.1
Statement of Task
The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), as a component of the
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). In Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, NSF will have supported 10 years of NEES operations and research,
and seeks an evaluation of next-generation U.S. needs for earthquake engineering research beyond 2014. A National Research Council committee will
organize a public workshop on the Grand Challenges for earthquake engineering research, to bring together experts to focus on two questions:
1. What are the high-priority Grand Challenges in basic earthquake engineering research that require a network of earthquake engineering experimental
facilities and cyberinfrastructure?
2. What networked earthquake engineering experimental capabilities and cyberinfrastructure tools are required to address these Grand Challenges?
The workshop will feature invited presentations and discussion. The committee will develop the agenda, select and invite speakers and discussants, and
moderate the discussion. Workshop participants will be asked to describe the experimental infrastructure capabilities and cyberinfrastructure tools in terms
of requirements, rather than by reference to any existing or specifically located future facilities.
In responding to the foregoing questions, workshop participants will also be asked to consider future technical and conceptual advances with the potential
to influence future earthquake hazard research, such as early warning systems, new materials, sustainability, high-performance computing and networking,
modeling, sensor and monitoring technologies, and other factors identified by the committee. The committee will prepare a report summarizing discussions
at the workshop; the report will not include findings or recommendations.
Grand Challenges in Earthquake Engineering Research 1. Community Resilience Framework: A common
theme noted by participants was that the earthquake
Grand challenges in earthquake research are the prob-
engineering community currently lacks an interac-
lems, barriers, and bottlenecks in the earthquake engineer-
tive and comprehensive framework for measuring,
ing field that hinder realization of the NEHRP vision—“A
monitoring, and evaluating community resilience.
nation that is earthquake resilient in public safety, economic
Such a framework could apply innovative method-
strength, and national security” (NEHRP, 2008). As such,
ologies, models, and data to measure community
they define frontiers in basic earthquake engineering research
performance at various scales, build on the experi-
that would be needed to provide transformative solutions for
ence and lessons of past events, and help ensure that
achieving an earthquake-resilient society.
past and future advances in building, lifelines, urban
Thirteen grand challenge problems emerged over the
design, technology, and socioeconomic research
course of the workshop. The committee has summarized
result in improved community resilience. Such a
t hem in terms of five overarching Grand Challenges,
framework also could advance our understanding of
described below, in order to capture interrelationships and
both the direct and indirect impacts of earthquakes
crossovers among the 13 problems and to highlight the inter-
so that community-level interactions and impacts
disciplinary nature of their potential solutions. Participants
can be better characterized.
noted that grand challenge problems do not stand alone;
they are complex, and this complexity exists not only within
2. Decision Making: Another sentiment reiterated
earthquake engineering but also in earthquake engineering’s
during the workshop was that current research
position among other competing social challenges. As such,
findings related to community resilience do not
addressing a grand challenge problem involves consideration
a dequately influence decisions and actions on
of a variety of barriers—economic, regulatory, policy, soci-
the part of key decision makers, such as private-
etal, and professional—along with the scientific and tech-
sector facility owners and public-sector insti-
nological solutions. The five overarching Grand Challenges
tutions. Communities typically build based on
are intended to serve as useful focal points for discussions
traditional standards, and when affected by major
among stakeholders and decision makers planning future
earthquakes, they respond and recover based on
investment toward achieving a more earthquake-resilient
intuition, improvisation, and adaptive behaviors
nation.
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3
OVERVIEW
that are drawn from the individuals available to retrofit of the built environment’s most vulnerable
p articipate. Consequently, the lessons learned sectors would help ensure a safer environment and
in one community and event rarely translate to a more resilient community.
the next community affected. Participants sug-
5. Design Tools: Participants suggested that develop-
gested that achieving earthquake resilience could
involve a community-based, holistic approach that ing and exploiting new emerging materials and
includes decisions and actions that are based on innovative structural concepts and integrating them
overarching goals, a clear understanding of the within design tools could dramatically improve
built environment, rapid and informed assessment the performance of all types of infrastructure and
data, and planned reconstruction and recovery. increase earthquake resilience in ways that are also
Mechanisms for motivating action could include sustainable. There is a wide range of sustainable,
d eveloping incentives to promote community highly resilient, new materials that can offer op-
development and pre-event planning; simulation- portunities to significantly change the way infra-
based decision-making strategies for use in com- structure is designed and constructed. Harnessing
munity development, pre-event planning, in early the power of performance-based earthquake engi-
response post event, and through the long-term neering could achieve a resilient infrastructure that
recovery process; state-of-the-art decision-making incorporates these innovative new materials and
tools that will lead to more efficient resource allo- structural systems.
cations; and methodologies and tools that allow
decision makers to compare different strategies
Networks of Facilities
for post-earthquake reconstruction and long-term
pre-earthquake mitigation. The second goal of the workshop was for participants to
identify the general requirements for networked earthquake
3. Simulation: Participants noted that knowledge engineering experimental capabilities and cyberinfrastructure
of the inventory of infrastructure components and tools associated with addressing the grand challenge prob-
points of connection between different infrastructure lems. The suggested experimental facilities cover testing and
types is lacking within the earthquake engineering monitoring over a wide range of scales, loading regimes,
community. They identified a need for scalable tools boundary conditions, and rates on laboratory and field (in
that autonomously create an accurate database of all situ) specimens. Cyberinfrastructure tools are also important
infrastructure components, including points of inter- for capturing, analyzing, and visualizing experiments and for
dependency with other infrastructure components. supporting the advanced simulations discussed in the work-
Empowered with this complete mapping of an urban shop. Participants described 14 facilities that could contribute
region’s infrastructure systems, powerful simulation to solving the grand challenge problems:
technologies could model the time and spatial im-
1. Community resilience observatory: Such an ob-
pacts of a seismic event at all length scales spanning
from the component scale to the regional scale, and servatory could encompass interlinked facilities that
from disaster response to community recovery. function as a laboratory without walls, integrating
experimental testing and simulations with a holistic
4. Mitigation: A large earthquake or tsunami in a understanding of communities, stakeholders, deci-
highly populated region of the United States would sions, and motivations.
cause massive damage to the built environment and
2. Instrumented city: An instrumented testbed in a
communities in the region, and the resulting social
and economic consequences would cascade across high-risk, urban environment could provide invalu-
the country, particularly if major energy, transporta- able data about the performance of the commu-
tion, or supply hubs are affected. Key characteristics nity and allow unprecedented research on studying
of this Grand Challenge include developing strate- decision-making processes for development and
gies to measure, monitor, and model community calibration of comprehensive, community models.
vulnerability, motivations, and mitigation strate-
3. Earthquake engineering simulation center: Such
gies, and establishing mitigation solutions for the
community’s most vulnerable sectors. Participants a center could bring together earthquake engineer-
suggested that mitigation solutions could be based ing researchers with experts in algorithm develop-
on the use of a new generation of simulation tools ment, computational and statistical methods, and
and design solutions coupled with up-to-date infor- high-end computational and cloud development
mation available from distributed sensing systems. methodologies to enable transformative advances
Development of better approaches for renewal and in modeling and simulation.
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4 GRAND CHALLENGES IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING RESEARCH
4. Earthquake engineering data synthesis center: experiments could enable a significant throughput
of SSI experiments to help advance knowledge of
Such a center could offer the research community
this crucial component of earthquake engineering.
a large-scale database system for ingesting data
sources from a variety of sensor types including
10. Large-scale shaking table: Testing complete
imaging, remote sensing, video, and information
structures or full-scale subsystems in multiple
management systems.
directions could provide fundamental knowledge
5. Earth observation: Earth observation systems for understanding the response of actual construc-
tion and the contributions of lateral and gravity
could provide an integration of continuous and
load resisting systems and non-structural systems,
multi-sensor (e.g., aerial, satellite, and unmanned
validating post-earthquake evaluation methods for
aerial vehicle) observations of communities at
damaged structures.
various scales for the purpose of characterizing the
physical attributes of communities and monitoring
11. Tsunami wave simulator: Such a revolutionary
the effects of earthquakes (e.g., damage assessment
new facility could combine a tsunami wave basin
and recovery).
with the capability to shake the ground to simulate
6. Rapid monitoring facility: Such a facility could liquefaction and subsidence.
provide the earthquake engineering community
12. Advanced structural subsystems characterization
with a suite of highly portable sensing and data
facility: Such a facility could test full-sized or close-
acquisition tools that could be rapidly deployed to
to-full-scale subsystems and components under fully
structures, geo-facilities, and lifelines to monitor
realistic boundary and loading conditions, to repli-
their stability after seismic events.
cate the effects of corrosion, accelerated aging, and
7. Sustainable materials facility: Partnering with fatigue, and have the capability for multi-axial load-
ing, high-temperature testing, and high pressures.
material science facilities could lead to the de-
It could enable the development of more accurate
velopment and testing of new construction grade
structural models needed for characterization of
materials that are self-healing, capable of energy
subsystems, components, and materials.
capture, or ultra-high strength, and to understand
the use of sustainable materials for earthquake
13. Non-structural, multi-axis testing facility: A
engineering applications. A sustainable materials
h igh-performance multi-axis facility could be
facility could test these materials under the condi-
developed with the frequency range and levels of
tions they may experience when used in construc-
motion to investigate and characterize the perfor-
tion accounting for the influence of aging and
mance of non-structural elements (e.g., partitions)
degradation.
a nd other content (e.g., shelving, information
8. Networked geotechnical centrifuges: Networked t echnology equipment, lighting, electrical and
mechanical equipment) in three dimensions within
geotechnical centrifuges, each including innova-
a building or other infrastructure.
tive capabilities for robotic manipulation and ac-
tuation within the centrifuge container during the
14. Mobile facility for in situ structural testing: A
experiment, could allow new types of experimental
suite of highly portable testing equipment in such
modeling of landslides (including submarine land-
a facility could include shakers, actuators, sensors,
slides), liquefaction, and tsunamis.
and high-resolution data acquisition systems that
9. SSI shaking table: A large-scale, dynamic shaking could enable structures, lifelines, or geotechnical
systems to be tested in place.
table designed for soil-structure interaction (SSI)
