Natural hazards engineering plays an important role in minimizing the effects of natural hazards on society through the design of resilient and sustainable infrastructure. The DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure has been developed to enable and facilitate transformative research in natural hazards engineering, which necessarily spans across multiple disciplines and can take advantage of advancements in computation, experimentation, and data analysis. DesignSafe allows researchers to more effectively share and find data using cloud services, perform numerical simulations using high performance computing, and integrate diverse datasets so that researchers can make discoveries that were previously unattainable. This paper describes the design principles used in the cyberinfrastructure development process, introduces the main components of the DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure, and illustrates the use of the DesignSafe cyberinfrastructure in research in natural hazards engineering through various examples.

As part of the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Research (NEESR)-Grand Challenge Project Simulation of the Seismic Performance of Nonstructural Systems, an experimental program was carried out to evaluate the seismic responses, failure mechanisms, and fragilities of cold-formed steel framed gypsum partition walls. Understanding the seismic behavior of building interior partition walls is important because damage to these nonstructural components can initiate at relatively low story drift levels, potentially degrading the overall functionality of the building and contributing toward earthquake economic losses. To this end, in-plane quasi-static and dynamic tests were conducted on 36 partition walls constructed using common construction details. Variables examined on the 16 configurations tested include framing thicknesses, stud connections to top and bottom tracks, wall intersection details, and partial height walls among others. In addition, new details are proposed to increase the dr...

Bearings used in the seismic isolation of buildings can be subjected to large horizontal deformations combined with high axial loads from overturning forces during strong shaking. Elastomeric bearing design requires an evaluation of the critical load capacity under this combined loading to ensure stability. To better understand and estimate the capacity of elastomeric bearings, a comprehensive experimental program was carried out to examine bearing stability using two quasi-static and one dynamic loading procedures. The first method to evaluate the bearing critical load follows previous experimental research, where a single elastomeric bearing is held at prespecified horizontal displacements while increasing the axial load until the critical load is achieved. In a second method implemented here, a similar setup is used to apply a constant axial load followed by increased horizontal displacement until the stability limit is observed. This second method is shown to be an accurate and more direct app...

A novel three-dimensional (3D) seismic isolator combining the quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) system in the vertical direction with the friction pendulum system in the horizontal direction is presented and applied to a moderately tall building model. The isolation system dynamic properties are first assessed in vertical and rotational directions separately using a simplified 3D model based on an equivalent analytical method with the frequency-amplitude functions and displacement transmissibility curves. The effectiveness of the 3D isolation system is then verified through numerical time history analysis of a tower building with a bottom podium modeled in OpenSees including a new numerical element representative of the 3D isolators implemented in the software. A comparison of the dynamic response is made between a fixed-base model, a 2D isolated model with friction pendulum bearings in the horizontal direction only, and the novel 3D isolated model. The input excitations consist of strong earthquake shaking and low-amplitude field recorded metro vibration. Results demonstrate that the 3D isolator can effectively reduce the seismic actions in three directions compared with the fixed based model and the 2D isolated model. The overturning movement can be controlled within safe limits under maximum considered earthquakes. In addition, the 3D isolators can significantly decrease human discomfort from high frequency environment vibration.

The failure of suspended ceiling systems is one of the most widely reported types of nonstructural damage in large-span spatial structures after an earthquake. In an effort to mitigate this damage in future events, this study evaluates the seismic performance of suspended ceilings attached to rigid and flexible supporting structures subjected to strong earthquake shaking. Full-scale shake table experiments are carried out on suspended ceiling sections with components and installation following the requirements of the Chinese national codes. A system with a hinge in the middle of the hanger rod is proposed to limit the transmission of vertical vibration from the flexible supporting structures. In the experiments, notable damage is observed in the suspended ceilings due to both horizontal and vertical excitation. The supporting flexible structure is found to increase the vertical response of the suspended ceiling. When the hanger rod includes a hinge in the middle, the vertical response to some extent decreases compared with that with a normal hanger rod. The failure of the grid results from the failure of the clips of the main runner and cross runner, the cross runner, and the brace runner. Control of component-installation and clip quality plays an important role in the vulnerability of in-service suspended ceiling systems.