1. NEESgrid: The national collaboratory for earthquake engineering
Thomas A. Finholt School of Information University of Michigan

2. Outline The field of earthquake engineering
The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES)
NEESgrid – cyberinfrastructure for earthquake engineers
Challenges and prospects

3. The field of earthquake engineering

4. Bhuj, India. One of the towers of this apartment complex totally collapsed,and the central stairway leaned on another building of the complex Photo courtesy of Dr. J.P. Bardet, University of Southern California

5. The earthquake engineering community
Research
University-based
Funded by NSF and industry
Focus on simulation
Physical models (e.g., reduced scale specimens)
Numerical models (e.g., finite element analysis)
Practice
Professional firms
Structural engineering (e.g., earthquake remediation)
Formulation of uniform building codes
Lifelines (e.g., ensure survival of roads, gaslines, power distribution)

6. Shake table: Nevada, Reno

7. Reaction wall: Minnesota

8. Centrifuge: UC Davis

9. Wave basin: Oregon State

10. The George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES)

11. George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation
NSF Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction award (MRE)
$82 million,
$10 million for system integration (NCSA, ANL, USC-ISI, Michigan, Oklahoma)
$2 million for consortium development (CUREE)
$60 million for new equipment sites
3 shake tables (Buffalo, Nevada-Reno, UCSD)
2 centrifuges (RPI, UC Davis)
5 reaction walls (Berkeley, Buffalo, Colorado, Illinois, Lehigh, Minnesota)
3 field test (Texas, UCSB/USC/BYU, UCLA)
1 lifeline (Cornell)
1 tsunami (Oregon State)

13. NEESgrid – cyberinfrastructure for earthquake engineers

14. The Atkins report: A brief summary
Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument.
Sir Humphrey Davy
Quotation source: Thomas Hager, Force of Nature, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995, p 86 Image source: Sir Thomas Lawrence, circa 1821, National Portrait Gallery, London

15. All via high-performance networks
Synchronous communication
Asynchronous communication
Researchers
Synchronized data
Synchronized data and images
Data discovery
Teleoperation
Teleobservation
All via high-performance networks
Facilities
Data
Automatic archiving
Simulation codes
Hybrid experiments

16. Technology involved
Telecontrol and data transmission (USC ISI and ANL)
NTCP
Globus/OGSI
Collaboration services (Michigan)
CHEF/Sakai
Telepresence systems (ANL)
Electronic lab notebook (ANL, PNNL)
Data and metadata
Data repository (NCSA)
Project browser (Michigan)
Metadata description (Stanford, USC)
Numerical simulation (UCB, Mississippi State)
Deployment, operations, and support (NCSA)
Videoconferencing (Internet2 Commons)
Prototyping (Washington University)

17. NEESgrid interface

18. Multi-Site, On-Line Simulation Test (MOST) July 2003
UIUC
Experimental Model f1 m1 f2
Colorado
Experimental Model
NCSA Computational Model m1 f1 f2
SAC Consortium Benchmark Structure

19. Multi-Site, On-Line Simulation Test (MOST)
UIUC
Experimental Model
Colorado
Experimental Model
m1, q1 F2 F1 e =
f1, x1 f2
NEESpop
NEESpop
SIMULATION
COORDINATOR
UIUC MUST-SIM
Dan Abrams
Amr Elnashai
Dan Kuchma
Bill Spencer
and others
Colorado FHT
Benson Shing
NEESpop m1 f1 f2
NCSA
Computational Model

20. MOST Column Test Specimens
Illinois Test Specimen
Colorado Test Specimen

21. MOST participants over time (CDT)
Start time
Sever reboot
800 steps in viewer
Test completed

22. Post-experiment rating of MOST success (n=22)

23. Use of H.323 videoconferencinga
NSF LAN meetings b c d
UNR Demo
a = initial ES-TF meeting; b = ES-TF meeting time changed; c = succession to new ES-TF chair; d = change to biweekly ES-TF meetings

24. Challenges and prospects

25. Challenges Costs incurred by developers are often borne by users
Generalized solutions can be too heavy
Inertia
Research practices evolve more slowly than technologies
Cultural conflicts
Engineering perspectives VS. computer science perspectives

26. Charles King’s “horseless carriage” (1896) Detroit, Michigan
Prospects
Attempts to apply new technology are often framed in terms of familiar technology
First efforts are often awkward hybrids
It is hard to know where the seeds of greatness might lie...
Charles King’s “horseless carriage” (1896) Detroit, Michigan
Source: American Automobile Manufacturers Association,

27. Relevant URLs neesgrid.org nees.org www.scienceofcollaboratories.org
crew.umich.edu
si.umich.edu