Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 5.33. UCD(left),and RPI (right)in-flight robots
andthesub-structuretestingfacilityatOxfordarebeinglinkedundertheUK-NEESpro-
grammefundedbyEPSRCtoatuneofUS$1million.Thecompletionofthisnetworking
activity will enable distributed testing to happen between these centres in the UK. The
UK-NEESwillalsobelinkedtoUSA-NEESwhichisexpectedtoleadtostrongcollabo-
rationwithpartnersintheUSA.SuccessofthisUK-NEESmayspawnanEuropean-wide
network between shaking table facilities at JRA in Italy and elsewhere, the geotechnical
centrifuge facilitiesand the field monitoring sites at Thessalonica, Greece.
6. International collaboration
6.1. LARGE TESTING FACILITIES WORLDWIDE
As discussed by Pinto et al. (2006), in a recent report edited by Taucer and Franchioni
(2005) areview of theexistingtestingfacilitiesforearthquake research and qualification
is provided. In another report, Taucer (2005) discusses enhancement of existing facili-
ties in order to address new scientific topics in earthquake engineering. A summary of
theworldwideShakeTable(ST)facilitiesisrevisitedhereinforillustration(Figure5.34).
AquicklookatFigure5.34showsthatthereisaquitebalanceddistributionofexperimen-
tal facilities between American, Asiatic, and European continents, which would indicate
that the research communities are backed by a suitable set of experimental facilities,
which provide support to the progress on understanding and advancing earthquake resis-
tant design and practice, training, and education worldwide. However, it is known that:
(a)mostoftheinfrastructuresareessentiallyconcentratedinasmallnumberofcountries,
namely USA, Japan, andItalyand(b)alargepart of theearthquake research community
does not have access tothose facilities.
6.2. EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE ONCOLLABORATION
In Europe, the earthquake engineering laboratories initiated an enlarged collaboration
at the beginning of the 1990s, as a direct consequence of financial support from the
