Researchers Studying Earthquake Protective Systems at
U.C. Berkeley |
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As one of only a few universities in the United States that have spurred the development and implementation of earthquake protective systems for civil engineering structures, Berkeley has a long reputation for innovative research. This continues today, with a number of faculty, staff, and students involved in protective systems research.
Faculty
- Egor Popov continues to study slotted bolted connections for use as friction dampers in braced frames as well as in steel moment resisting connections.
- James Kelly was one of the earliest proponents of seismic isolation and passive damping technologies in the United States and continues to be active in research and consulting in these areas.
- Stephen Mahin conducted the first investigations of the Friction Pendulum System and is currently the Principal Investigator of the Coordinated Caltrans-EERC Protective Systems Research Program.
- Gregory Fenves is interested in modeling approaches for structures incorporating protective systems, particularly bridges, and is co-PI of the Caltrans-EERC program.
- Nicos Makris has studied a wide range of active, semi-active, and passive protective systems while at SUNY Buffalo, Notre Dame, and now at Berkeley. He is also a co-PI of the Caltrans-EERC program.
- Sanjay Govindjee studies constitutive models for elastomeric materials and shape memory alloys.
Staff
- Andrew Whittaker is involved with research and code development for structures with supplemental dampers and isolation devices.
- Ian Aiken has conducted extensive experimental research on seismic isolation components and systems as well as on structures incorporating passive dampers.
- Peter Clark has studied the behavior of isolated structures under extreme ground motions as well as modeling approaches for elastomeric bearings.
Students
- Eric Anderson is studying the sensitivity of the response of bridge models to variations in modeling complexity, type of isolators/dampers, and ground motions.
