Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Civil structures are complex indeterminate systems that are subjected to a combination of loads over their service lives (e.g. live, wind, earthquake). To understand how structures behave under combined loads and extreme events and ensure accurate, efficient, and safe designs, researchers rely on experimental testing. The most comprehensive approach to conduct these experiments is to test a structure in its entirety at full-scale, however, this is time consuming and costly. Alternatively, researchers have traditionally relied on component-level experiments, in which a subassembly of the complete system is tested with idealized boundary conditions and loading. This overly simplistic approach seeks to establish a complete understanding of component-level behaviour but leaves significant knowledge gaps surrounding system-level structural performance that lead to inefficient designs, higher costs, and possible safety risks. To address this challenge, hybrid simulation has the potential to transform the way that civil structures are studied by combining experimental testing and computer modelling. This allows critical subassemblies of a structure whose behaviour is not well understood to be tested in the lab under realistic loading and boundary conditions that include the influence of the rest of the structure established through numerical modelling. Multiple physical tests can be connected to a common computer model to form a distributed hybrid simulation network, enabling accurate physical testing of a larger portion of the structure. This represents a cost-effective alternative to testing of a complete structural system that can advance our understanding of how complex structures behave under combined and extreme loads, at the component- and system-levels, leading to more accurate and cost effective designs with reduced levels of risk. This NSERC RTI proposal aims to transform the discovery, innovation, and training capability of the Structures Laboratory at Queen's by supporting the purchase of a hydraulic controller and software package to enable multi-element hybrid simulation. Moreover, the purchased equipment will be connected to the GeoEngineering Laboratory at Queen's to form a distributed hybrid simulation network. The network will be the first of its kind in Canada, with the unique ability to: (1) test multiple full-scale subassemblies in one facility, (2) include complex soil-structure interaction in the hybrid simulation, and (3) combine hybrid simulation with the latest in distributed sensing technologies. This unique network is expected to make major advances in our fundamental scientific understanding of the full-scale behaviour of civil structures and offer cutting-edge hands-on training opportunities for HQP. The rich training environment combines expertise in structural and geotechnical engineering that will foster innovation and collaboration and will prepare HQP with marketable skills for careers in industry or academia.