Phase I Project: Hybrid Simulation Framework

http://neesforge.nees.org/projects/simcor/

Project Overview

A hybrid simulation framework (HSF) is a vital component of collaborative research among geographically distributed experimental facilities. In recent years, there has been enormous investment in constructing unique experimental sites across the U. S. as part of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) project. Also there are many state-of-the-art experimental facilities around the world such as the E-Defense Shake Table in Japan (http://www.bosai.go.jp/sougou/sanjigen/3De/index.htm) and the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (http://elsa.jrc.it/). By developing a uniform framework for a multi-site hybrid simulation, these independent facilities can be utilized for large-scale experiments which were not readily possible in the past due to limitation in experimental equipment and lack of infrastructure and standardization for data communication and control between these geographically distributed facilities.  

There have been several hybrid simulations conducted in the past. The simulation framework, however, was developed only for a specific structural model and a specific experimental setup. In recent years, there was an attempt to develop a standard communication protocols, such as NEESgrid Teleoperation Control Protocol (NTCP, http://it.nees.org/software/ntcp/index.php) and common hybrid simulation framework such as UI-SIMCOR (Kwon et al., 2005) or OpenFresco (Schellenberg and Mahin, 2006). 

Recently, the HSF project was established to enhance UI-SIMCOR so that it is easily adaptable and customizable for various experimental setups. To achieve this objective, the architecture of UI-SIMCOR has been completely restructured using an object-oriented approach so that the flow of data is transparent and adding new experimental site or analytical model are extremely simple. Also, the main body of analysis algorithm (-OS scheme, Didier and Pierre, 1997) in UI-SIMCOR has been modulized which enables users to easily implement new integration algorithm. In addition, thin enhanced UI-SIMCOR provide improved Graphic User Interface (GUI) to monitor the data from remote sites at each step and also to control the flow of the experiment. 

To verify and demonstrate the efficacy of the recently enhanced UI-SIMCOR, a three-site hybrid test were conducted using Mini-MOST 1 at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), and NEES at University of California at Berkeley (UCB).

Project Staff

Faculty Investigators

Billie F. Spencer, Jr., Nathan M. Newmark Professor, Managing Director, NEES@UIUC Simulation Facility, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61820, (217) 333-8630, Email: bfs@uiuc.edu

Amr Elnashai, Bill and Elaine Hall Endowed Professor of Civil Engineering, Director of Mid-America Earthquake Center, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61820, (217) 265-5497, Email: aelnash@uiuc.edu

Post-Doctoral Assocaites and Graduate Students

Oh-Sung Kwon, Graduate Research Assistant, UIUC, okwon2@uiuc.edu

Kyu-Sik Park, Post-Doctoral Researcher, UIUC, kspark@uiuc.edu

Project Schedule

Project Initiation: August, 2006

Project Termination: December, 2006

Full project report is available at: http://neesforge.nees.org/docman/view.php/21/22/HSF_Report.pdf