***SPECIAL EDITION***
April 19, 2001
EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH REVEALS NEW INFORMATION
For more information on these science news and feature
story tips, please contact the public information
officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070.
Editor: Cheryl Dybas
This is the second in a series on National Science
Foundation earthquake-related research. NSF supports
research through: multi agency cooperation under the
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program; NSF
Science and Technology Centers; Earthquake Engineering
Research Centers; and other interdisciplinary research
and educational activities.
Contents of this News Tip:
Computer scientists at the University of California,
Berkeley (UCB) are using the latest in high-speed
networking to develop new computational tools for
modeling earthquakes and other phenomena.
The NSF-funded project, called SimMillennium, is directed
by professors David Culler and James Demmel. They
are designing a networked "testbed" in which scientists
like UCB’s Gregory Fenves, assistant director of the
Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center (PEER),
can have instantaneous access to shared data at gigabit
speeds-one billion bits per second-for creating earthquake
simulations. Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Sun and Nortel
Networks have made significant corporate donations
to the project.
The testbed's pool of inter-connected resources is
a "managed as computational economy" that adapts automatically
to changing user demand, system configuration and
component failures. SimMillennium is leading to improved
algorithms and programming environments not only for
seismic modeling, but also for simulations in such
fields as astrophysics, economics and civil engineering.
[Tom Garritano]
For more information on SimMillenium, see: http://millennium.berkeley.edu/
For more information on PEER, see: http://peer.berkeley.edu
Top of Page
Hospitals are among the most crucial operations after
an earthquake. But existing hospitals could require
extensive retrofits of their buildings, foundations
and contents--and even the soil underneath--to ensure
they will remain standing and able to meet emergency
needs. Hospitals pose unique challenges because they
house sophisticated diagnostic and treatment systems.
At the NSF-supported Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research, based at the University at Buffalo,
N.Y., a team of engineers and social scientists is
taking on the challenge. They are identifying hospitals'
vulnerabilities to seismic events, using data from
the 1994 Northridge, Calif., earthquake and the results
from experimental and analytical research. Then, they
will evaluate advanced retrofit technologies and new
structural designs and determine their relative costs.
The researchers are focusing first on two regions:
California, where a new law requires hospitals to
meet certain performance standards following earthquakes,
and the eastern United States, where hospital administrators
are evaluating whether seismic retrofits should be
a budget priority. California and New York state health
officials are participating in the studies.
Lessons learned in the hospital study can be used to
improve the performance of less complicated critical
facilities as well. [Amber Jones]
Top of Page
In California, children playing with LEGOs could be
preparing for a future in earthquake engineering.
Seismic simulation is normally a topic for advanced
graduate students and full-fledged researchers, but
a project at the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research
Center at the University of California at Berkeley
has brought younger students into the fold. A competition
last year pitted local elementary, middle and high
schools against one another to design LEGO structures
that could withstand seismic forces.
After receiving some basic training in the fundamentals
of construction, more than 800 students in grades
3-12 competed in teams to form LEGOs into secure miniature
buildings. The structures were tested on an earthquake-simulating
shake table at the University of California at Irvine,
then headed for a wider competition on simulators
at other institutions.
"When the shake table gets going, the students get
terribly excited," said UC Irvine engineering professor
Gerry Pardoen. "We plan to repeat the program this
year. If we can inspire even one student, it will
be a success."
The program, a joint effort of the Pacific center,
the University of California at Irvine and the Structural
Engineers Association of California, is trying to
excite younger students about careers in earthquake
engineering. [Amber Jones]
Top of Page
|