DesignSafe Radio

Working with the NHERI SimCenter and DesignSafe, the CHEER team is developing a software framework called Stakeholder-based Tool for the Analysis of Regional Risk, or STARR. STARR modeling extends regional loss models like R2D, INCORE, and Hazus to include a focus on decision making. STARR models describe the complex and often conflicting ways that stakeholders in vulnerable coastal areas make decisions. Stakeholders are households, insurers, and government agencies. If policies can account for positive outcomes for all stakeholders, they’re more likely to be implemented and sustained.

Learn more about the CHEERHub https://www.drc.udel.edu/cheer/

Read about the NHERI-CHEER partnership https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2024/july/nheri-partners-cheer-hub-hurricane-decision-making-framework/

HAZUS developed by FEMA

https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/products-tools/hazus

INCORE developed by NIST

https://www.nist.gov/community-resilience/center-excellence

NHERI SimCenter R2D tool

https://simcenter.designsafe-ci.org/research-tools/r2dtool/

CHEERHub’s NSF award summary

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209190&HistoricalAwards=false

CHEERHub on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/cheer-hub/posts/?feedView=all

Rachel Davidson is an accomplished academic and research engineer. Discover more about her career and work: https://ccee.udel.edu/faculty/rachel-davidson/

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Rachel Davidson is a research engineer at the University of Delaware and principal investigator for the “Coastal Hazards Equity, Economic Prosperity, and Resilience Hub,” or CHEERHub. The five-year, $16M, NSF-funded, multi-disciplinary research network is tackling the complexity of coastal resilience by focusing on stakeholder decision making. Davidson introduces CHEER and explains why so many good ideas for managing disaster risks do not get implemented.

Learn more about the CHEERHub https://www.drc.udel.edu/cheer/

Read about the NHERI-CHEER partnership

https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2024/july/nheri-partners-cheer-hub-hurricane-decision-making-framework/

CHEERHub’s NSF award summary

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209190&HistoricalAwards=false

CHEERHub on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cheer-hub/posts/?feedView=all

Rachel Davidson is an accomplished academic and research engineer. Discover more about her career and work:

https://ccee.udel.edu/faculty/rachel-davidson/

Mentoring at UC Davis

How do geotech students gain experience? Laura Luna and José Luis Caisapanta discuss the UC Davis Geotechical Graduate Student Society, a nationally respected mentoring program. In an intentional “laddering” fashion, grad students new to the UC Davis program learn from more experienced grad students and – in turn – pass their knowledge to undergrads and K-12 students. Luna and Caisapanta share their experiences as members of the GGSS.

UC Davis GGSS website:

https://ggss.ucdavis.edu/

Geo-Institute winning video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BUQo3zy_mTY

NHERI at UC Davis website:

https://ucdavis.designsafe-ci.org/

Center for Geotechnical modeling on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucd-cgm/

Follow the Center for Geotechnical modeling on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=center%20for%20geotechnical%20modeling

Civil engineering grad students from NHERI UC Davis join Dan Zehner to discuss research at the renowned Center for Geotechnical Modeling, a geotech lab equipped with a nine-meter centrifuge. Master’s student Jose Louis Caisapanta describes soil experiments with the centrifuge – which can deploy a shake table during its 50G spins. PhD student Laura Luna explains building physical models in the centrifuge. She uses resulting data to create a computer model that will predict soil behavior beneath a structure during an earthquake.

About the equipment and people at the NHERI UC Davis laboratory:

https://ucdavis.designsafe-ci.org/

Discover research, events, lab photos and more on the CGM Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063111107077

Follow NHERI UC Davis on Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucd-cgm/

CGM Director Jason DeJong on DesignSafe Radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

In our final episode with FIU meteorologist Erik Salna, we learn about the Wall of Wind Challenge, an annual event for high school students. NHERI researchers provide a specific wind mitigation challenge. Student teams design and build a protective structure, and then get the chance to test their designs in the Wall of Wind. It’s an exciting competition, which is judged by engineers who are Wall of Wind alums! See below for links to the 2024 event and Salna’s template for conducting this popular STEM competition for high schools.

NHERI Wall of Wind website: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/

2024 Wall of Wind Challenge, cool video and the winning designs: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2024/june/2024-wall-of-wind-mitigation-challenge-high-school-teams-design-test-productive-wind-barriers/

Overview of the WOW Challenge event for educators, including a technical library: https://www.ihrc.fiu.edu/outreach-education/wall-of-wind-challenge/

The NSF NICHE facility, the future of wind engineering at FIU: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/facilities/experimental/niche/

Follow the Wall of Wind on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FIUWOW

Follow Erik Salna on X

@ExtremeWxExp

FIU-based meteorologist and educator Erik Salna relates some unusual but important WOW experiments to test the effects of wind loading on civil infrastructure such as construction cranes and electrical power towers. One unique project used flying debris in the wind tunnel to derive an algorithm for determining wind speeds in video captures.

Wall of Wind debris experiments to build an algorithm that will calculate wind speeds from social media-derived video: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2053935&HistoricalAwards=false

Research on transmission towers: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1751844&HistoricalAwards=false

Research on construction site equipment in windstorms: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1635378&HistoricalAwards=false

See the WOW in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkI0UjmFFDs

Visit the NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind website for details on research underway: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/

Follow FIU Extreme Events Institute on X: @FIUExtremeEvent Follow the Wall of Wind on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FIUWOW

Meteorologist and educator Erik Salna provides nitty-gritty details on the gigantic, NSF-funded wind research lab called the Wall of Wind, or WOW. Located at Florida International University in Miami, the WOW facility is part of the NSF-funded NHERI network. Each of WOW’s 12-fans are six feet in diameter and weigh nearly 15,000 pounds. Powered up together, the 720HP electric motors can reproduce category 5 hurricane wind speeds, 157MPH.

See the WOW in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkI0UjmFFDs

Visit the NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind website for details on research underway: https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/

Follow FIU Extreme Events Institute on X: @FIUExtremeEvent Follow the Wall of Wind on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FIUWOW

UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez is moving his bio-inspired snakeskin piles into industry practice. The novel pile-surface employs “frictional directionality” characteristic of snakeskin. Field trials provided better than expected results, and Martínez is now working to get his new design into the hands of practicing geotechnical engineers. Much of his NSF-supported research took place at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling; the project is part of the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center, the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, at Arizona State University.

Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/

Learn more about the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University https://cbbg.engineering.asu.edu/

Engineering researchers use centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling facility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/

Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro

Follow the NHERI Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/10006311110707

UC Davis professor Alejandro Martínez explains how biogeotechnical engineers leverage solutions from lifeforms like worms, trees, and bacteria. It starts with fundamental, cross-disciplinary work with biologists. Then, at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM), centrifuge tests fill an important gap between laboratory ideas and full-scale field tests. For instance, by replicating ground stress and increased gravity in a centrifuge, geotechs can model and test designs at greater soil depths and across soil types. The NHERI CGM facility functions as a testbed for the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) called the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, CBBG, based at Arizona State University.

Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis: https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/

Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro

Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles: https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/

Using centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

Follow the Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/100063111107077/

Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research? Contact us: [email protected]

Geotechnical engineer Alejandro Martínez joins us to discuss a new and multidisciplinary engineering subfield called biogeotechnics. “Bioinspired” research examines and mimics ways that plants, animals and bacteria successfully interact with soil. For example: how tree roots successfully resist wind loads. “Biomediated” research uses biological elements to improve soil. For example, byproducts of certain bacteria can cement and desaturate soil — potentially preventing liquefaction in susceptible areas.

Read up on Professor Martínez’s research at UC Davis:
https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/martinez/

Follow Alejandro Martínez on X: @MartVAlejandro

Background info on Martínez’s snakeskin-inspired piles:
https://www.designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2022/august/piles-inspired-snakeskin/

Using centrifugal force to study natural hazards at the NHERI at UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLTdPaOUFk

Follow the Center for Geotechnical Modeling on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Center-for-Geotechnical-Modeling/100063111107077/

Questions about NHERI or NHERI extreme events research?
Contact us: [email protected]

Keywords: biocementation, biodesaturation, liquefaction, biogeotechnics, geotechnical engineering, ground improvement, soil improvement