Project Grant 2244696

This two-year Project Grant from the National Science Foundation, under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), provides $209,999 to the University of Utah to conduct collaborative research on the effect of vertical accelerations on the seismic performance of steel building components through experimental and numerical studies. The University of Utah will instrument a near full-scale ten-story steel building to be tested on a shake table in Japan to measure its response under three-dimensional seismic shaking. The experimental data will be used to develop finite element models to understand the behavior of beams, columns, slabs, and other components. The models will then be modified according to U.S. design standards to predict seismic performance. This research seeks to improve understanding of steel building performance in seismic regions and provide data on vibration effects, with findings to be published in reports and journals.