Experimental Validation of LLNL Finite Element Codes for Nonlinear Seismic Simulations (Progress, Year 1 of 2)

Shake table tests were performed on a full-scale 7-story slice of a reinforced concrete building at UC San Diego between October 2005 and January 2006. The tests were performed on the NEES Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table (LHPOST) at the Engelkirk Structural Engineering Center of UCSD. The structure was subjected to four uniaxial earthquake ground motions of increasing amplitude. The accelerations measured at the base of the structure and the measured roof displacements have been provided by UCSD. Details of the building construction have also been provided by UCSD. The measured response of this structure was used to assess the capability of the homogenized rebar model in DYNA3D/ParaDyn [1,2] to simulate the seismic response of reinforced concrete structures. The homogenized rebar model is a composite version of the Karagozian & Case concrete model [3]. Work has been done to validate this material model for use in blast simulations, but seismic simulations require longer durations. The UCSD experiment provides full-scale data that can be used to validate seismic modeling capabilities