National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering
Encyclopedia
NCREE

Type: Non-Profit Organisation
Established: 1980
Director: Tsai, Keh-Chyuan (蔡克銓)
Faculty: 100
Address: No.200, Section 3, Xinhai Rd,
Taipei 106, Taiwan
Tel: +886-2-6630-0888
E-mail: admin@ncree.org.tw
Website: http://w3.ncree.org/


National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) (國家地震工程研究中心) is an organisation found in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. Since Taiwan is located on the ridge of the Eurasian
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...

 and Philippine
Philippine Plate
The Philippine Sea Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines...

 tectonic plates, it is highly seismic. The biggest earthquake in Taiwan in more than a century was 21 September 1999, also known as the Chi-Chi earthquake which measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.

NCREE was established in 1980 by the National Science Council
National Science Council
The National Science Council is the main governmental promotion and funding body for science research in Taiwan, Republic of China. It is a governmental body under the Executive Yuan.-External links:* *...

 (NSC), and they are working together with the National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University is a national co-educational university located in Taipei, Republic of China . In Taiwan, it is colloquially known as "Táidà" . Its main campus is set upon 1,086,167 square meters in Taipei's Da'an District. In addition, the university has 6 other campuses in Taiwan,...

 (NTU), as well as being part of the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL, a non-profit organisation established in June 2003), whose purpose to improve efficiency between research institutions, and they are trying to decrease the impact of earthquakes on various structures.

They have published books and printed reports with all their findings. This is to try raise public awareness. They also hold international seminars, make videos, and hold a design construction competition every year.

Aims

NCREE is aiming to improve seismic resistant designs for all constructions and to provide feedback to the engineering community through research and development. The Center was built for researchers to collaborate and check their theories by doing various experiments.
Their goals are:

- Establish and provide research facilities.

- Develop and improve the seismic engineering database.

- Create and carry-out regulations relating to seismic design code
Design code
A design code is a document that sets rules for the design of a new development. It is a tool that can be used in the design and planning process, but goes further and is more regulatory than other forms of guidance commonly used in the English planning system over recent decades...

s.

- Co-ordinate and Integrate academic institutes and related industries.

- Introduce, Develop and Educate on seismic-resisting technology.

Facilities

NCREE's seismic stimulation laboratory has international standard facilities, such as eighteen sets of static hydraulic actuators and six sets of dynamic hydraulic actuators.

Seismic Stimulation Shaking Table

The Tri-Axial Seismic Stimulator, or Shaking Table
Earthquake shaking table
There are several different experimental techniques that can be used to test the response of structures to verify their seismic performance, one of which is the use of an earthquake shaking table...

, can produce earthquake ground motions in six degrees of freedom, with motion in 3 axes.

The shaking table is 5m x 5m and has a mass of 27 tons. It can take models of large scale buildings weighing up to 50 tons, and the square shape of the table provides large bending and torsional stiffness
Torsion (mechanics)
In solid mechanics, torsion is the twisting of an object due to an applied torque. In sections perpendicular to the torque axis, the resultant shear stress in this section is perpendicular to the radius....

.

Small-scale or full-scale models are placed on the shaking table. To prevent the instrument vibration on surrounding areas during experiments, the shaking table has a vibration isolation
Base isolation
Base isolation, also known as seismic base isolation or base isolation system, is one of the most popular means of protecting a structure against earthquake forces...

 system, including 80 dampers, 96 airbags and air springs, and a reaction mass (16m x 16m x 7.6m, weighing about four thousand tons.)

Under the table are twelve actuators, which produce the shaking movement in six degrees of freedom. There are four actuators for each axis, and the hydraulic power is provided by two electrical pumps and three diesel pumps. The weight of the shaky table and the model is balanced by four static supports.

By doing these experiments, engineers can understand a structure's response to an earthquake. The results will show how stable the building is during earthquakes, and it will also accelerate the development of seismic isolation and minimize the damage caused by an earthquake.

Reaction Wall and Strong Floor

The Reaction Wall and Strong floor make it possible to test multiple full-scale structural experiments. The wall can be used to perform seismic tests by using experimental methods, such as traditional quasi-static tests, cyclic loading tests and pseudo-dynamic tests.

The wall is L-shaped and has 4 sections: 15m x 15.5m, 12m x 15.5m, 9m x 12m and 6m x 12m.
The strong floor is a reinforced block of concrete 60m x 29m x 1.2m. The compressive strength of the concrete for both the reaction wall and the strong floor is 350 kg/cm2

During experiments, full-scale and large-scale constructions are mounted onto the strong floor. Hydraulic actuators then exert forces on the test objects, making it possible to see the resistance of various structures and performances of seismic isolators and energy dissipaters. The experimental data has helped proved that seismic theories can be applied, and are a reference to earthquake resistant building designs.

Research Activities

Building Engineering Studies

- Seismic evaluation and retrofit
Seismic retrofit
Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent experiences with large earthquakes near urban centers,...

 technologies of existing building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

s.

- Development of advanced innovative construction.

- Revision of building seismic design codes
Building code
A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...

.

Bridge Engineering Studies

- performance-based design of bearing systs in bridges.

- Seismic evaluation and retrofit technologies of existing bridges.

Structural Control and System Identification Studies

- Studies on structural health monitoring and structural control
Vibration control
In earthquake engineering, vibration control is a set of technical means aimed to mitigate seismic impacts in building and non-building structures.All seismic vibration control devices may be classified as passive, active or hybrid where:...

.

- Seismic evaluation and retrofit technologies for high-tech industrial structures.

Geotechnical and Strong Ground Motion Studies

- Studies on earthquake prediction
Earthquake prediction
An earthquake prediction is a prediction that an earthquake of a specific magnitude will occur in a particular place at a particular time . Despite considerable research efforts by seismologists, scientifically reproducible predictions cannot yet be made to a specific day or month...

 models.

- Establishment of geological databases for strong motion stations of the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

- Seismic behaviour of the investigation of soils in the large bi-axial shaking table
Earthquake shaking table
There are several different experimental techniques that can be used to test the response of structures to verify their seismic performance, one of which is the use of an earthquake shaking table...

 shear box.

Earthquake Scenario Studies

- Establishment and application of geotechnical earth science hazard database.

- Development of Taiwan seismic scenario database and its applications.

- Development of Taiwan Earthquake Loss Estimation System.

Experimental Technology Studies

- Collaborative experiment technology using the Internet.

- Application of optical fiber sensors in civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

 structures.

Information Technology Studies

- Establishment of an earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering is the scientific field concerned with protecting society, the natural and the man-made environment from earthquakes by limiting the seismic risk to socio-economically acceptable levels...

 database.

- Integration of numerical and experimental stimulation.

Educating

To educate people about earthquakes, there are published books, printed reports, international seminars and videos.
NCREE also holds IDEERS and ITP to raise public awareness.

IDEERS

IDEERS stands for "Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools" and is held every year by the British council in Taipei, NCREE and the Bristol University. It is a science-based project with a competition developed by the Earthquake Engineering Research Centre of the Bristol University. The students participating are undergraduate students majoring in civil engineering related subjects and high school students. Students entering the competition will make their models using cheap materials which then will be put on the tri-axial seismic simulator (shaking-table). Models will be shaken to destruction, and the best-designed models will win prizes.

ITP

ITP stands for The International Training Program (for Seismic Design of Structures and Hazard Mitigation) and is held by The National Science Council (NSC) and the Democratic Pacific Union. It is a short-term workshop to train government officials and engineers from different countries (In 2006, thirty-three people attended from fourteen different countries). The Program will try to improve the disaster-preventing technology and the earthquake-resisting ability of those countries and try reduce the impacts and losses caused by major earthquakes.

See also

  • Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
    Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
    The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is a leading technical society in dissemination of earthquake risk and earthquake engineering research both in the U.S. and globally. EERI members include researchers, geologists, geotechnical engineers, educators, government officials, and building...

  • International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology
    International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology
    International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology is an international earthquake engineering and seismology institute based in Iran. It was established as a result of the 24th UNESCO General Conference Resolution DR/250 under Iranian government approval in 1989...

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