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.
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).
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.
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