Via Pruned: At the University of California San Diego, (UCSD) the NEES program (Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation )

has built a very large “shake table.” From NEES/UCSD:

The UCSD LHP Outdoor Shake Table is being developed at the Field Station at Camp Elliott, a site located 15km away from the main UCSD campus. The shake table, acting in combination with equipment and facilities separately funded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which include a large laminar soil shear box and two refillable soil pits, will result in a one-of-a-kind worldwide seismic testing facility.This unique facility will enable next generation seismic experiments to be conducted on very large structural and SFSI systems such as full-scale buildings, single and multiple column bridge bents in a laminar soil box, utility/lifeline structures such as electrical sub-stations, nuclear containment casks, and seismic isolation systems. Moreover, the proximity of a soil pit to the UCSD LHP Outdoor Shake Table will allow hybrid shake table-soil pit experiments to be conducted. UCSD is convinced that this innovative piece of NSF equipment in conjunction with the Caltrans SFSI facility will add unique testing capabilities to NEES and consolidate the leadership of the NEES collaboratory as the predominant earthquake testing consortium in the world.

The NEES/LHP Outdoor Shake Table is a 7.6m wide by 12.2m long single DOF system with the capability of upgrading to 6-DOF. The specifications for the first phase of the facility are a stroke of ±0.75m, a peak horizontal velocity of 1.8 m/s, a horizontal force capacity of 6.8MN, an overturning moment capacity of 50MN-m for a 400 ton specimen, and a vertical payload capacity of 20MN. The testing frequency range will be 0-20 Hz. Although this table is not the largest of its kind in terms of size in the world, the velocity, frequency range, and stroke capabilities make it the largest table outside Japan and the world’s first outdoor shake table. The facility will add a significant new dimension and capabilities to existing United States testing facilities with no overhead space and lifting constraints.