"Mesa Vibratoria" Will Help Prepare Future Peruvian Engineers

Located along the South American west coast and circumscribed by the Andean mountains on the east, Peru is a nation that experiences high seismic activity. For this reason, seismic resistant structures are paramount for Peruvians. Consequently, their civil engineers have accepted the challenge imposed by Mother Nature and therefore universities and research centers are preparing future engineers with the latest technologies for this purpose. The most recent acquisition of Universidad Federico Villarreal in Lima, Peru for the Civil Engineering Faculty has been the Quanser Shake Table II, so their students can run simulations of actual earthquakes.

I had the privilege of traveling to Peru for an on-site installation and training on the "mesa vibratoria" at the university, where I met Professor Omart Tello and his students. Professor Tello teaches Seismic Resistance Engineering to Civil Engineering students in their final year. It was clear that these students were very excited and motivated to learn how to operate the Shake Table II system. On the fist day of training, they quickly learned to set up and run the experiments using the two distinct methods: using the Graphical User Interface that Quanser provides for running Shake Table II experiments, and using QUARC/Simulink models. In the following day, the training was focused on recording results for further analysis and downloading and running other earthquake files from the PEER Strong Motion database.

Professor Tello (second from the left) and his team have many plans for using
the Quanser Shake Table II for teaching, as well as research.

Professor Tello plans to use the Shake Table II in various projects the students are working on, one of them being the development of a seismic isolator. Their projects include the addition of the Quanser Active Mass Damper (AMD) to the system. I'm confident that with this new resource for the Civil Engineering labs, students at Universidad Federico Villarreal will further expand their knowledge and research capabilities.

Quanser Shake Table Used for Validation of Sloshing Research

Free-surface dynamics of liquids in tanks subjected to acceleration - also known as sloshing - is an issue touching on many real life applications, including fluid transportation and shipping, as well as design of vibration absorber devices.

Researchers from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile and Rice University, USA, studied the problem using the finite element analysis, based on solving the Navier-Stokes equations of incompressible fluids using a monolithic solver. To validate the numerical results, the research team used Quanser Shake Table II to control the motion of a rectangular tank with ultrasonic sensors.

Experimental setup with the Quanser Shake Table II loaded with the instrumented tank:
table controllers and ultrasonic sensor

The results of the team's research work was published in the December 2013 issue of the Computational Mechanics journal, in the article titled "Finite element computation and experimental validation of sloshing in rectangular tanks."

For more details on how researchers use Quanser platforms for control systems research validation, visit our website's Research Papers section or download the whitepaper The Quanser Platform for Control Systems Research Validation.

WEBINAR: Earthquake Simulation and Analysis

The structural dynamics and analysis topics are an important part of the engineering undergraduate and graduate curriculum in various engineering disciplines. Hands-on experiments, such as Quanser shake tables and smart structures seem to be particularly effective for teaching these topics, offering students a valuable extension of highly theoretical courses. Precise, robust, and flexible, they also meet the needs of researchers for reliable, low maintenance and cost-effective devices.

Join the webinar "Earthquake Simulation and Analysis with the Quanser Shake Table II" on Wednesday, March 19, 2 pm EDT and learn from Quanser engineers about the most popular of the shake tables product line, the Shake Table II, developed in cooperation with the University Consortium on Instructional Shake Tables (UCIST). The webinar will introduce you to:

• Solution overview - Shake Table II hardware, peripherals, and PC software options
• Running the experiments using the Shake Table II Software
• Running the experiments through the Quanser's QUARC Rapid Control Prototyping software
• Simulating earthquakes using the PEER Strong Motion Database data
• One-Floor Active Mass Damper (AMD-1)
• Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the structure acceleration data
• Other shake table offerings: Shake Table I-40 and the XY Shake Table III

Seats are limited - register today!

Quanser Hexapod Helps in Development of a Seismic Isolator at BarcelonaTech

A research group at The Polytechnic University of Catalonia's (also known as BarcelonaTech) Control, Dynamics and Applications Lab (CoDAlab) led by Dr. Francesc Pozo works on a system that can help better protect buildings and infrastructure from earthquakes. The roll-n-cage (RNC) anti-vibration device placed between the building and the ground can reduce motion induced in buildings and bridges by earthquakes or other vibration sources. To model the RNC device, Dr. Pozo and his group uses Quanser Hexapod. Watch this video from their lab:

In this application, the researchers attached a force-torque sensor to the upper plate of the Hexapod. The sensor measures the force and torque of the ball placed on the sliding surface. The group developed two control algorithms to control the position of the ball and place it in the middle of the platform as quickly as possible: a standard PID control and a fuzzy-logic control.

"I consider Quanser as one of the leading companies in the field of design and manufacture of systems to help instructors to teach," says Dr. Pozo, "but these devices can also be used to test control algorithms." His research group is using several other Quanser devices, such as Shake Table II to generate a horizontal motion to modeland identify a MR damper attached to the Shake Table surface.

To learn more how Quanser platforms can help you validate your control research, download this whitepaper.

NEES Chooses Quanser Testbed to Help Judge Bridge Competition

When a leading earthquake engineering organization conducts a national structural bridge competition for undergraduate engineering students, then uses your products to help the judges determine which is the most seismically sound bridge, you might be excused for feeling a little proud.

That’s exactly what happened last May when the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) held their K’NEX Bridge Competition in Oakland, California. 

With a Quanser Shake Table II system as the testbed, five student teams subjected their 1.5-meter long K’NEX bridges to the seismic simulations of a number of powerful, recorded earthquakes. The team from Oregon State was declared the winner, but all participating teams were the beneficiaries of the competition.

The Quanser Shake Table II (center, under plywood base) was selected to be the testbed that simulated real-life earthquakes at the K’NEX Bridge Competition in May, 2013.  

(Photo courtesy of NEES.)

 Student competitions like this one are excellent learning opportunities because they closely resemble real-world engineering practice. Students have to work with tight deadlines, prescribed materials and other predetermined parameters, just as industry engineers do.

The student team from Oregon State University proudly stands next to their bridge, which was judged most seismically sound at the competition in Oakland. California.  (Photo courtesy of NEES.)

This type of competition fits naturally into the pedagogical approach Quanser has long championed - hands-on learning. We support this approach by offering over80 hands-on, hardware-in-the-loop experiments to engineering educators in controls, robotics and mechatronics. Naturally we couldn’t have been more pleased when a leading organization like NEES, which is dedicated to “developing the next generation of earthquake and tsunami engineers”, chose Quanser lab equipment to help them test, educate and encourage students of earthquake science. NEES’s choice reflects their belief in our shake table’s ease of use, accuracy and reliability.

Confucius said it best more than 2500 years ago: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Hands-on education and quality learning tools that Quanser provides are advancing that philosophy today - and helping to educate the global engineers of tomorrow.

The Versatile Shake Table I-40: Small Size, Big Impact

The most compact of our three seismic platforms, the Shake Table I-40 can make a sizable impact, both in your lab and at outreach events. Its versatility is the reason why.

The ST I-40 can be used as a portable, tabletop platform for simulating earthquakes and evaluating active mass damper performance. Students will find it a useful, hands-on tool to help them understand the dynamics of real-world structures. Outside the lab, the ST I-40 also doubles as a lightweight, traveling demonstration platform that can bring outreach programs to life and get children thinking about careers in engineering and science.

The Quanser Shake Table I-40 is a single-axis platform for simulating earthquakes and evaluating active mass damper performance.  It is used in undergraduate labs and outreach programs. 

At 7.6 cm high, 57.5 cm long, 12.7 cm wide, and weighing just 5.9 kg, the ST I-40 is easy to set up, even in space-challenged labs. Powerful for its size, it can accelerate a load that weighs 1.5 kg up to 1.0 g. When the ST I-40 is connected to our One-Floor Active Mass Damper, students can perform structural engineering analysis or develop a controller that reduces the deflections of the building while the table is running an earthquake simulation.

The Quanser one-floor Active Mass  Damper can be connected to the ST I-40  to perform structural engineering analysis or develop a controller that reduces a building's deflections during an earthquake.

Good Vibrations for Professors and Students

At the University of Cincinnati’s School of Aerospace Systems, Professor Kelly Cohen has taken full advantage of the ST I-40’s versatility. He uses it to teach vibration control to his undergraduates. He has also integrated the ST I-40 within a remote lab setup that offsite students can use. Once they log on, they can tune different control parameters, view the measured response on the graphical interface and examine the results in real time via webcam. Professor Cohen can also view their data once it’s saved.

An Exciting Outreach Tool

Professor Cohen has put the ST I-40 to work in outreach programs as well, demonstrating earthquake simulations to elementary and high school students. We also have been bringing the ST I-40 to schools and science fairs for years, both on our own and working with science literacy groups such as Let’s Talk Science. 

The ST I-40 is an excellent outreach tool.  Here it is part of an interactive earthquake simulation  presented to schoolchildren by Let's Talk Science.

For professors and for students of all ages, the impact of the ST I-40 can be both far-reaching and real. This versatile and portable earthquake simulator can play a significant role in undergraduate engineering labs. The fact that it is also an exciting demonstration device that can encourage K-12 students to consider studying engineering and the sciences - well, that's just an added bonus. 

Why Do So Many Professors Consider the Shake Table II Essential To Their Labs?

In two previous blog posts about Quanser shake tables, we introduced the shake table family and then featured the largest of our offerings in this category, the Shake Table III.  In this blog post we cast the spotlight on the Shake Table II.

The most popular of all Quanser shake tables, the Shake Table II is found in university engineering labs all around the world.  A heavy load, bench-scale, single-axis shaker, this table features a wide surface that can easily hold a number of structures and accommodate complex as well as simple experiments. These factors, along with its convenient portability, make the Shake Table II particularly useful in teaching and research labs. Read on to see how it is being put to work today.

The most popular member of the Quanser Shake Table family, the bench-scale Shake Table II simulates earthquake movements along a single axis and can move a substantial 7.5 kg load at 2.5 g.  It features a wide surface that  can accommodate several structures and increase the complexity of your experiments.

University of East London, London, UK:  Easy to use, portable and ideal for teaching

Students from more than 100 countries attend the University of East London, and many of the students who study civil engineering return to countries that are affected by seismic activity. Dr. Mihaela Anca Ciupala, Program Leader at the university’s School of Computing, Information Technology and Engineering (CITE), is very pleased with the learning opportunities made possible with Quanser’s Shake Table II.

The table is used in a number of study areas, including the determination of natural frequencies in multi-DOF structures, and the seismic response of building frames. The Shake Table II provides students with valuable, hands-on experimental experience along with a better understanding of the theoretical concepts presented in CITE’s Civil Engineering courses. It has also enabled research in such areas as seismic response of base-isolated structures and soil-structure interaction.

Dr. Anca Ciupala cites several reasons the Shake Table II was added to their lab. “It’s ideal for teaching purposes because it is easy to use, accessible, portable. And since it has simple software operation, it helps a large number of students to understand and complete projects in a relatively short time.”

University of Alaska, Anchorage, USA:  Provides a real world model that makes abstract seismic concepts easier to understand

Alaska has felt the terrible effects of at least one catastrophic earthquake in the past, and with an eye to preventing serious damage in the future, Professor Zhaohui Yang of the University of Alaska’s Department of Civil Engineering wanted to help the general public experience a vivid demonstration the nature of seismic destruction.

To that end, he and his students created a series of mini-laboratories to showcase structural and geotechnical aspects of earthquake damage, including the effects of a mass damper on a one-story building, as well as the effects of liquefaction on a one-story building. According to Professor Yang, these simulations “provided a real-world model to an otherwise abstract concept, making these concepts easier for the general public to understand.”

The Shake Table II served Professor Yang’s purposes because “it can accurately mimic seismic activity and test building seismic performance”.  The Shake Table II’s small scale and portability offered additional advantages, since it is simple to work with in the lab and easy to transport to public demonstration sites.

The Shake Table workstation consists of (from right to left)  the blue Shake Table II; on top of it is the one-story Quanser-made model structure, which is connected to the power module in the center of the photo; MATLAB software can be seen on the computer screen.  (University of Alaska photos)

Tongji University, Shanghai, China: Worldwide popularity makes it ideal for collaborative projects

Professor Haibei Xiong, Dean of Tongji University’s College of Civil Engineering, acquired Tongji’s first Shake Table II in 2006 and two more in 2012. The shake tables are used for teaching, conducting structural experiments, and especially for student structural competitions. They use QUARC^® with MATLAB^®/Simulink^® software, and an active mass damper for demo purposes.

Professor Xiong finds the shake tables worthy additions to their lab for several reasons.  To begin with, the shake tables’ small scale means students can do experiments easily and safely. There is no additional maintenance cost, so a lab assistant isn’t needed.

She appreciates the fact that QUARC’s open architecture control software, working with MATLAB/Simulink, makes it easy to control several tables at the same time. That capability made the school decide to acquire additional Shake Table II’s. This allows them to conduct multi-point shaking experiments on a bridge structure, and also work on shaking a bigger structure with several small shake tables.

The fact that many civil engineering schools in China are doing collaborative work with universities in North America that use the Shake Table II is another reason for the Quanser Shake Table II’s popularity and presence at Tongji University. The school plans to acquire an additional two Shake Table II’s in the near future. 

Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA: Sheer convenience of complete system provides true flexibility

Professor Shirley Dyke is professor of mechanical engineering and civil engineering, at the School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.

She uses the Shake Table II and an Active Mass Damper Controller to teach Structural Dynamics to her first year graduate students. Specifically the Shake Table helps demonstrate the dynamics of building structures.  A key reason the Shake Table has a place in her lab is simple convenience. “The system consists not only of a shake table, but includes accelerometers, test structures, data acquisition and a computer to record data and control the shake table itself,” she says. “It gives us desired flexibility in performing experiments.”

In 1999, Professor Dyke was one of the founders of the University Consortium on Instructional Shake Tables (UCIST), a group whose goal was to introduce earthquake simulators into classroom teaching.  In fact, the Shake Table II was built in cooperation with UCIST, and UCIST now recommends it as a turnkey solution for teaching structural dynamics to civil engineers.

Cornell University, New York, USA:  Brings earthquake simulations to life in the classroom

Professor Anthony Ingraffea believes that his students grasp structural dynamics concepts better when those concepts are brought to life through real world earthquake simulations in the classroom. Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering uses a Quanser Shake Table II for that reason.

Typically Professor Ingraffea organizes students into teams that design and build model structures, then test the structural integrity of their designs in a big “shake-off”. The Shake Table and the simulations effectively mimic the real world and bring theory to life for the students.  Professor Ingraffea feels that the Quanser Shake Table II has motivated five generations of Cornell freshmen to better understand the theory of structural dynamics.

University of California, Davis, California, USA:  An essential tool for education, research and outreach

The Shake Table II is a very popular lab tool at University of California, Davis, according to Nima Tafazzoli, postdoctoral researcher in the school’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It’s used for teaching, research, and outreach.

At the undergraduate level, it helps professors teach classes and seminars in civil and environmental engineering. At the graduate level, it demonstrates the response of single or multiple degrees of freedom structures subjected to earthquakes. As a research tool, the Shake Table II is involved in several projects at Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering when dynamic load is required to be applied to the system. The Shake Table II has also been featured in outreach programs, and is an essential tool in entry in the national seismic design competitions.  UC Davis chose the Shake Table II because it is easy to set up, use and transport, without requiring the work of a group of lab assistants. They find it an engaging way to demonstrate the actual behavior of structures and see it as safer to use than most lab equipment, especially with inexperienced students.

Stay tuned to our blog for another post in this Shake Table series. For more information about Quanser Shake Table solutions, click here.

What Makes the xy Shake Table III Attractive To Professors?

In a recent blog post we talked about our Shake Tables and how they help undergrad students grasp complex concepts of structural engineering more quickly and thoroughly. Today, let’s focus on the largest member of the Quanser Shake Table family.

One reason professors choose the XY Shake Table III is its usefulness in demonstrating the principles of structural dynamics to their students through hands-on experiments that bring theory to life. When you consider its ability to accommodate large model structures and big loads, and its flexibility in the research lab, it’s easy to understand why many professors find it such a perfect match for their lab.

As the largest member of the Quanser Shake Table family, the xy Shake Table III moves along two axes and can handle heavier loads. It is designed to accelerate loads of up to 100 kg at 1 g while providing high acceleration and velocity for a lab’s customized structures. 

Dalian University of Technology, China: a dedicated xy table with high performance

As a member of Dalian University of Technology’s Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering in China, Professor Luyu Li uses the xy Shake Table III to conduct earthquake engineering research. One of his areas of interest involves conducting nonlinear vibration seismic performance tests on steel structures.

He became interested in xy table motion when he was working on his PhD, when he began using a Quanser Shake Table II. At one time, he stacked two Shake Table II’s together to achieve the desired xy motion. At Dalian University, he was looking for a dedicated xy table with higher performance (heavier loads, weight bearing, higher acceleration, and greater stroke) compared to the stacked ST II arrangement and decided on the xy Shake Table III. 

Key factors that led to his choosing the xy Shake Table III were its easy-connect capability, its compatibility with the Simulink environment, which he finds very suitable for control applications, and its high bandwidth using linear motor actuators. In addition,  the xy Shake Table III came as a complete workstation, with Quanser data acquisition devices, accelerometers and QUARC^® control design software for MATLAB^®/Simulink^®.

Cal Poly Pomona, USA: a dynamic addition to its structures laboratory

Professor Felipe J. Perez is an assistant professor in CSU Pomona’s Civil Engineering department. He is currently using the xy Shake Table III to assist with undergraduate student projects and competitions, such as the Seismic Design Competition. There are plans to use the Shake Table as part of an existing structures laboratory to demonstrate dynamic characteristics of different structures.

Professor Perez finds Quanser’s strong commitment to supporting his needs more than exceeded his expectations. 

A university-built customized structure is about to be tested on the Quanser xy Shake Table III by Professor Felipe J. Perez in his Civil Engineering lab at CalPoly Pomona.

Universidad Mariano Galvez de Guatemala, Guatemala: a shake table that meets their teaching and research needs

Professor José Carlos Gil of the Universidad Mariano Galvez de Guatemala tells us that their xy Shake Table III is used mainly to teach structural dynamics in structural engineering courses. Guatemala lies on a major fault zone and earthquakes are relatively common events. Fittingly, the university’s design course places special emphasis on building seismic-resistant structures.

The xy Shake Table III has been used to demonstrate topics such as dynamic amplification, vibration modes, and the influence of such aspects in the structure dynamic response. Its size and capabilities also allows the school to conduct structural research using scale models. The university acquired the xy Shake Table III after reading about it in an engineering publication. They realized it would help them reach their teaching objectives in structural engineering.

Stay tuned for more posts in this Shake Table series. For more information on Quanser Shake Table solutions, click here.

How Quanser Shake Tables Are Shaking Up Earthquake Engineering Instruction

How can you help your undergraduate civil engineering students grasp complex concepts of structural engineering more quickly and thoroughly? A sure way is to offer them engaging, hands-on lab experiments that leap past dry theory and bring seismic challenges to life.

According to a large and diverse group of professors, a new level of student engagement and understanding is achieved when they perform earthquake simulations with Quanser Shake Table technology and hands-on experiments in their labs.

These dynamic teaching tools can help everyone go beyond the conventional content of everyday theoretical courses. They help “shake things up” for students and allow them to develop an understanding of structural dynamics and earthquake engineering principles through hands-on experiments in addition to theory.

Three Shake Tables are available from Quanser.  

The Shake Table I-40: Compact, portable yet powerful, this single-axis shaker is suitable for simulation of earthquakes and evaluation of active mass damper performance. It is designed for use in undergraduate courses.

The Shake Table II: A heavy load shaker, this bench-scale table simulates earthquake movements along a single axis and can move a substantial 7.5 kg load at 2.5 g. It features a wide surface which can accommodate several structures and increase the complexity of your experiments.

The XY Shake Table III:  This is a heavy load dual-axis shaker that is ideal for advanced research in structural dynamics and earthquake engineering. It delivers high acceleration and velocity for a lab’s customized structures and can accelerate loads up to 100 kg at 1 g.



Quanser Shakes Tables are being used for teaching and research by professors all around the world, including many who work in regions affected by volatile seismic activity. Here’s how three professors are currently making use of Quanser shake tables. In future blog posts, we’ll focus on each individual shake table and offer further examples of what professors are accomplishing with them.

Shake Table I-40 at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Professor Kelly Cohen‘s Shake Table I-40 is put to work in a number of ways in the School of Aerospace Systems at the University of Cincinnati.  To begin with, he uses it to teach vibration control to undergraduate students in aerospace engineering. But Professor Cohen has also integrated the ST I-40 within a remote lab setup in which offsite students can log on, tune different control parameters, view the measured response on the graphical interface and examine the results in real-time via webcam. Professor Cohen can also view their data once it’s saved.  As if that weren’t enough, Professor Cohen incorporates the I-40 in outreach programs aimed at elementary and high school students interested in science and engineering.

The University of Cincinnati selected the Shake Table I-40 for its versatility, portability and open-architecture design. Professor Cohen appreciated the peace of mind that came with being able to acquire the ST I-40 as a turn-key system that included the shake table, a PC, software and in-house installation and testing.

Shake Table II at the University of California, Davis, California, USA

The Shake Table II is a very popular lab tool at University of California, Davis, according to Nima Tafazzoli, postdoctoral researcher in the school’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It’s used for teaching, research, and outreach. 

At the undergraduate level, it helps professors teach classes and seminars in civil and environmental engineering. At the graduate level, it demonstrates the response of single or multiple degrees of freedom structures subjected to earthquakes.

As a research tool, the Shake Table II is involved in several projects at Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering when dynamic load is required to be applied to the system.

The Shake Table II has also been featured in outreach programs that provide educational opportunities and information for a wide range of interest groups, including elementary through post-graduate students. What’s more, it is part of UC Davis’s annual entry in the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition held by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

UC Davis chose the Shake Table II because it is easy to set up, use and transport, without requiring the work of a group of lab assistants. They find it an engaging way to demonstrate the actual behavior of structures and see it as safer to use than most lab equipment, especially with inexperienced students.

XY Shake Table III at Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, China

As a member of Dalian University of Technology’s Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering in China, Professor Luyu Li uses the Shake Table III to conduct earthquake engineering research. One of his areas of interest involves conducting nonlinear vibration seismic performance tests on steel structures.

He was familiar with the Quanser Shake Table II from his PhD studies and at one time stacked two ST II’s together to achieve xy motion. He then acquired the xy Shake Table III because it was a dedicated xy table with higher performance (heavier loads, weight bearing, higher acceleration, and greater stroke) compared to the stacked ST II arrangement.

Besides the xy Shake Table III, Professor Li uses Quanser data acquisition devices, accelerometers and QUARC^® control design software with MATLAB^®/Simulink^®. Key factors that led to his choosing Quanser xy Shake Table III were its easy-connect capability, its compatibility with the Simulink environment, which he finds very suitable for control applications, and its high bandwidth using linear motor actuators.

Stay tuned to this blog for upcoming individual posts on the Quanser Shake Table I-40, Shake Table II and xy Shake Table III.  For more information about Quanser Shake Table solutions, click here.

Scaling Earthquakes - the Quanser Way!

Our Shake Table users are familiar with the earthquake scaling file called q_scale. This file has been around a long time, but it has been refined over the years. Special thanks to Dr. Eduardo Jausel from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his suggestions on the 'baseline' method and revised the source code.

So what does q_scale do exactly? Given an earthquake acceleration record, q_scale computes the position that the shake table must track in order to obtain the same accelerations - while keeping it below the maximum position specified. This enables an earthquake to be replayed on a bench top shake table and still obtain the same accelerations as recorded.

Take the Northridge earthquake for example. As with many other tremors, the recorded acceleration record can be downloaded from the PEER Ground Motion Database. At a certain measurement station, the peak acceleration and displacement of Northridge reached 0.60 g and 16.9 cm. The trajectory recorded at that station is shown in the two left-hand plots in the figure below under 'Recorded Acceleration' and 'Recorded Position'. 

When processed by q_scale, the acceleration amplitude is maintained (notice the peak acceleration is kept at 0.60 g) and the displacement is scaled-down to 3 cm (i.e. the specified maximum position). The position and acceleration records from q_scale are shown on the right-hand side in the above figure under  the Table Acceleration and Table/Scaled Position plots. Notice that in order to keep the same acceleration, the duration of the tremor is shrunk down from 40.0 sec down to 16.8 sec.

Using ground motions from actual earthquakes makes the lab more interesting. Motivation is key and students would rather see their building stand up to the Northridge earthquake then a pre-defined sinusoidal.

- Mitch Levis, Manager, Curriculum

Quanser at 2010 Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Toronto

This past week, we had a chance to display a few of our shake tables at the 9th US National & 10th Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Toronto. It was a great opportunity to speak with many instructors and researchers who are using the shake table as part of their teaching and projects.

For the first time EVER outside of Quanser's headquarters, we had the Hexapod, our 6 DOF motion platform on display. Many attendees stopped as they passed, mesmerized as they watched the Hexapod play out the Northridge Earthquake of 1994 in x, y, and z directions. We also added some random yaw, pitch, and roll signals to give a more realistic effect.

Also on display were the Shake Table II and the Shake Table I-40. These systems are much more portable and great for teaching structural dynamics. You can see a few videos of the shake tables below. Enjoy!

Demonstration of Quanser's Hexapod, 6-DOF motion platform at the 2010 Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Toronto

Quanser's Shake Table II is used by many universities for teaching, research and outreach activities

Webinar on Learning and Teaching with Teleoperated Instructional Shake Tables

Building upon tools developed within the NEES effort, the University Consortium on Instructional Shake Tables (UCIST) has developed a series of exercises to allow the students to perform remote experimentation using Quanser’s bench-top shake tables. Prof. Shirley Dyke, the founder and director of UCIST presented this project recently in a webinar. You can watch the recorded version to learn about the exercises and associated lab manuals developed based on these remote experiments and to see interesting demos that’s shows how Quanser’s Shake Table is operated remotely.

The main goal of this project is to provide opportunities for students worldwide to use tele-operated shake tables for learning (currently only 5 or 6 Shake Table in U.S. are tele-operated). Students can also see a direct link between engineering and real world applications. The project uses Quanser’s Active Mass Damper and a tele-operated Quanser’s Shake Table to introduce and demonstrate the real-life application of structural engineering concepts in the 2nd semester freshmen course.

In the remote experimentation students are able to operate a Shake Table over the internet, view live video and stream data on the local computer. This is achieved through developing an Real-time Data View interface. Students also learn more about MATLAB and various cyberinfrastructure tools.

Capabilities of this remote experiment have been well received by students. To assess the effectiveness of this teaching approach, 805 students were surveyed and the results show that all major indicators of learning increased over time. Any class size and class level can benefit from this remote hands-on platform.

Contact Prof. Dyke and UCIST at sdyke@wustl.edu to test the tele-operated Shake tables yourself!

NEES Webinar Learning and Teaching with Teleoperated Instructional Shake Tables

We would like to invite you for the NEES Webinar: Learning and Teaching with Teleoperated Instructional Shake Tables on Monday, August 31, 2009 at 9:00-10:00am Pacific/ 10:00-11:00am Mountain/ 11:00am-12:00pm Central/12:00-1:00pm Eastern.

Using Quanser's Shake Table II and utilizing tools developed in cooperation with the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), the University Consortium of Instructional Shake Tables (UCIST) has developed a series of exercises to allow your students to perform remote experimentation using bench-top shake tables. In this one hour NEES webinar you will

• learn about the exercises and associated lab manuals developed based on these remote experiments
• see demos of these remote experiments, including operating and viewing live experiments while downloading streaming data and video
• have an opportunity to discuss the assessment survey, assessment results, and benefits of this approach to learning and teaching.

After this webinar you will be able to use these exercises, shaketable, and assessment tools in your classroom (for freshman undergraduate through graduate levels) to enhance your students' understanding of fundamental concepts in earthquake engineering and structural dynamics. An ever-growing network of universities is being developed to share these instructional shake tables and experiments to benefit future civil engineers, decision-makers and stakeholders. Your students will be able to take advantage of this technology to remotely operate shake tables housed at other universities, offering a wider variety of structural dynamics experiments.

Registration is free and open to all interested parties. To REGISTER for this Webinar, please click here.

Shaking Down the House

The Annual Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition, run as a part of annual meetings of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), is gaining more and more popularity every year. In 2009, 17 teams of undergrad students from U.S. universities participated and for the next year even more teams are expected. The event helps connect students with problems of real-life engineering and gives them tremendous motivation in their studies or research.

In this competition, participating student teams are required to construct a building-like structure. Their structure are then placed on Quanser’s Shake Table that simulates an earthquake. A panel of judges determines the winning team based on the structures’ performance.

This year, Sunny Ray, an engineer and academic solutions advisor from Quanser was appointed as a judge. For him, the highlights of the competition included the ‘final shake-down’, where teams can choose to shake their structures until they collapse and experiencing the students’ enthusiasm first-hand. Watch the short video to see how much fun learning can be.

Shake Table I - 40 - A New Addition to Quanser Shake Table Collection

The sleek, compact, and powerful Shake Table I – 40 is a new addition to the Quanser line of seismic devices. The system is 7.6 cm high, 57.5 cm long, 12.7 cm wide, and weighs 5.9 kg – thus it can be used as a portable, tabletop shaker solution. Although compact, this table is able to accelerate a load that weighs 1.5 kg up to 1.0 g. The top stage is mounted on a high-quality, low backlash linear guide with a total travel of 40.0 mm (i.e. ± 20.0 mm) and is driven using a high torque direct drive motor. When operating, the stage movement is extremely quiet.

This can also be used with the One-Floor Active Mass Damper in order to perform structural engineering analysis or develop a controller that reduces the deflections of the building while, for instance, the table is running an earthquake.

The Shake Table I -40 can be run on a PC with the QuaRC control software. This can be done either through Matlab/Simulink or using the STI-40 Software shown below. The STI-40 Software enables users to quickly get started and command signals such as sine wave, chirp, and sample earthquakes all through an easy-to-use GUI. Only QuaRC and the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine, which is free to download, are needed to run this program (no need for Matlab/Simulink). This software can even be published to a website for users to log on and control the table remotely.

- Mitch -

(Note: Shake Table I - 40 is scheduled for release in March 2009)

Shake Table II Software

The Shake Table II has been the most popular of the Quanser shake tables over the years and it has now been made easier to use. The Shake Table II Software is available now and shown in the image below. It allows users to command various signals to the seismic table such as sine wave and chirp as well as sample earthquakes, e.g. Northridge and Kobe. In addition, this program automatically initializes the amplifier and calibrates the table before running any signal. Engineers and scientist can therefore get their Shake Table II moving by double-clicking on an icon!

The GUI was designed using LabVIEW and the position controller running on the STII is implemented in QuaRC. To use this software, Shake Table II users need the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine, which is free to download, and QuaRC (no need for Matlab/Simulink).

In addition, this software can be used in a remote configuration. That is, the STII can be connected to a remote PC, such as the Quanser WEECS system, and controlled from a host PC/laptop through a cable or wireless network.