The reaction structure of the LEDA research centre: Development and design

In the last twenty years, the field of earthquake engineering experienced a noticeable improvement. The results of experimental and theoretical researches have contributed to the development of modern technical codes, which provide innovative solutions for the structural assessment and new design approaches. Despite this large amount of improvements, several open questions are still open, and the need for large scale testing has been deeply proved and discussed. A new research facility, namely the Laboratory of Earthquake engineering and Dynamic Analysis (LEDA), has been recently completed at the University of Enna "Kore". This research centre, funded with a grant from Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, includes several laboratories operating in the fields of structural engineering and dynamics. The most attractive features of LEDA are the wide range of tests that can be performed and the simultaneous presence of a high capacity strong floor - reaction wall system and of two six-degrees-of-freedom shaking tables, so that the complementarity of both traditional techniques (pseudo-dynamic and dynamic tests) can be fully exploited and advanced hybrid testing method can be explored. In this paper the features of the main research facilities in LEDA are briefly presented. Furthermore, the design procedures of the reaction structure, built in order to perform large scale static and pseudo-dynamic testing, are described and discussed