Construction of a three-dimensional, large-scale shaking table and development of core technology

In 1995 the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake disaster occurred in the Japanese city of Kobe and its vicinity, and more than 6000 people were killed as a result of the collapse of buildings. This was a clear demonstration of how very strong ground motion in the area near a seismic fault can cause severe structural damage beyond that which is usually estimated. It also emphasized the importance of earthquake engineering research in solving such problems as why and how structures collapse in real conditions. In response to this disaster, the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) and the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese Government (STA) planned to build a three-dimensional, full-scale, earthquake-testing facility as one of the core research facilities for earthquake disaster prevention. It is hoped to be able to carry large-scale structures and to simulate the process of dynamic collapse using three-dimensional, strong earthquake motion. For this purpose, the NIED and the STA began to develop large actuators and related components in 1995 and completed them in 1998. Through this development and testing, the design and manufacturing techniques of a large actuator system were successfully achieved. After that, the NIED and the STA began the design and construction of the new facility in the fiscal year of 1998. The construction work is now in progress in Miki City, near Kobe, Japan. It is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of 2005. In this paper, we summarize the performance and features of this new facility and the results of the technical developments.