seismic engineering research infrastructures for …

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME

Capacities Specific Programme

Research Infrastructures Project No.: 227887

SERIES SEISMIC ENGINEERING RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES FOR

EUROPEAN SYNERGIES

Workpackage WP1

Deliverable D1.2 – Web portal, including plan for its maintenance and operation beyond the project end

Deliverable/Task Leader: University of Patras

Revision: Final

July, 2013

D1.2 –Web portal, including plan for its maintenance and operation beyond the project end

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ABSTRACT

The development of the SERIES web portal (www.series.upatras.gr) started from the outset

of the project (i.e. March 2009). The first release was accomplished on month 6, in line with

the Description of Work (see Deliverable D1.1). It was continuously upgraded throughout the

project both in terms of content and structure. The layout of the website was updated on July

2010, and again on November 2011, following the more recent trends in web design (user

friendly layout, easier navigation, quick links etc).

The aim of this deliverable is to describe the current content and structure of the portal,

to present milestones in the portal development, as well as a plan for its operation and

maintenance after the project end. The portal will remain in use after the end of the SERIES

and will be updated as needed.

http://www.series.upatras.gr/


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s

Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under grant agreement n° 227887

(SERIES).


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DELIVERABLE CONTRIBUTORS

UPAT Nikolaos Avouris

Ilias Kotinas

Christos Fidas

Stathis Bousias

Dionysis Biskinis

Georgios Tsionis

Vassia Vayena

JRC Pierre Pegon


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CONTENTS

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix

1. Structure of the Web Portal .....................................................................................................1

1.1 Home Page ......................................................................................................................1

1.2 Highlights, News Pages and quick links ........................................................................3

2. Project Overview Webpages ...................................................................................................4

2.1 About SERIES ................................................................................................................4

2.2 Consortium .....................................................................................................................5

2.3 Project Objectives ...........................................................................................................6

2.4 Progress Beyond the State of the Art ..............................................................................8

2.5 Methodology and Work Plan ........................................................................................12

2.6 Transnational Access (Overview) ................................................................................15

3. Transnational Access Webpages ...........................................................................................17

3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................17

3.2 Lab Access ....................................................................................................................17

3.3 TA Proposals (Submission and Evaluation Procedure) ................................................19

3.4 Overview of the Facilities Offering Transnational Access ..........................................21

3.4.1 AZALEE Shaking Table ..................................................................................21

3.4.2 EQUALS Shaking Table ..................................................................................22

3.4.3 EUCENTRE Shaking Table & Bearing Tester ................................................23

3.4.4 JRC Reaction Wall ...........................................................................................25

3.4.5 IFSTTAR Centrifuge .......................................................................................25

3.4.6 LNEC Shaking Table .......................................................................................26

3.4.7 Turner Beam Centrifuge ..................................................................................27

3.5 TA research projects .....................................................................................................28

4. Webpages on Networking Activities .....................................................................................31

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................31

4.2 European Integration ....................................................................................................32

4.3 Experimental Database .................................................................................................34

4.4 Telepresence .................................................................................................................35

4.5 Distributed Testing .......................................................................................................37

4.6 Lab Qualification ..........................................................................................................38


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4.7 External links ................................................................................................................39

5. Webpages on Joint Research Activities ................................................................................41

5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................41

5.2 Novel Actuators ............................................................................................................42

5.3 Sensing, Data Processing and Modelling .....................................................................44

5.4 Testing for SSI and Wave Propagation ........................................................................46

6. Dissemination Webpages ......................................................................................................49

7. SERIES Web Forum and Data Access Portal .......................................................................54

8. Internal pages .........................................................................................................................55

9. Plan for the maintenance of the web portal beyond the project end .....................................57


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List of Figures

Figure 1-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (upper part) ................................... 2 Figure 1-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (middle part) ................................. 2

Figure 1-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (lower part) ................................... 2 Figure 2-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “About SERIES” webpage ............................. 4 Figure 2-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Consortium” webpage .................................. 5 Figure 2-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Project Objectives” webpage ........................ 6

Figure 2-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Progress beyond the state of the art” page .... 8 Figure 2-5: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Methodology and workplan” webpage ....... 12 Figure 2-6: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Transnational Access” webpage ................. 15

Figure 3-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Lab Access” webpage. ................................ 17

Figure 4-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Networking” webpage ................................ 31 Figure 4-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “European integration” webpage (upper part)

.................................................................................................................................................. 32

Figure 4-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “European integration” webpage (lower part)

.................................................................................................................................................. 33

Figure 4-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Experimental Database” webpage .............. 34 Figure 4-5: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Telepresence” webpage .............................. 36 Figure 4-6: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Distributed Testing” webpage .................... 37

Figure 4-7: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Lab Qualification” webpage ....................... 38 Figure 5-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Research” webpage..................................... 41

Figure 5-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Novel actuators” webpage .......................... 42

Figure 6-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Dissemination” webpage ............................ 49

Figure 6-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Documents” webpage ................................. 51 Figure 7-2: Screenshot of the SERIES “Data Access Portal” .................................................. 55 Figure 7-3: Screenshot of the SERIES homepage after a SERIES partner logs in. “Internal

pages” and “My TA-proposals” (for USP members only) appear on the main menu bar ....... 56


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1. Structure of the Web Portal

1.1 HOME PAGE

The aim of the web portal is to serve as the central contact point for the project and the main

reference point for research infrastructures in earthquake engineering in Europe during the

project and indefinitely afterwards. The intention of the portal was to offer educational and

dissemination material, information on transnational access, workshop details, telepresence in

experimental activities, a pool for scientific knowledge (including that generated during the

project), information on the qualification of research infrastructures, access to the distributed

database, etc. The portal comprises of public pages and internal pages (i.e. accessible only to

SERIES beneficiaries and the External Scientific Committee). In the following, public pages

will be presented first and internal ones further on.

The development process of the web portal focused on the aforementioned objectives

and the structure of the portal essentially follows the structure of the project itself. This is

reflected in the main menu items at the top of the webpage (see Fig. 1-1):

“About SERIES”: Overview of the SERIES Project

“Networking”: Dedicated to the Networking Activities of the Project

“Lab Access”: Information on Transnational Access Activities

“Research”: Focus on the Joint Research Activities of the project

“Dissemination”: Presentations and information from the project workshops and

training courses, important documents including all public deliverables, Joint

brochure on TA activities.

“Forum”: Access to the web forum

“Data Access Portal”: Access to the SERIES Data Access Portal developed under

WP2/NA1 (http://www.dap.series.upatras.gr/)

http://www.dap.series.upatras.gr/


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Figure 1-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (upper part)

Figure 1-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (middle part)

Figure 1-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the home page (lower part)


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1.2 HIGHLIGHTS, NEWS PAGES AND QUICK LINKS

Below the menu bar, a photo slide show with pictures from the SERIES TA facilities is active

on the top right hand corner, with the option to switch to “Highlights” (i.e. most recent

important news items) and “Map” (a map marking the location of all 23 SERIES

beneficiaries). In the middle, there is an RSS feed redirecting to the news pages.

The latest news of the SERIES Project appear on the homepage, listed in chronological

order (the most recent ones at the top of the list). News pages are regularly updated, marking

important news related to the Project such as: Workshop announcements, Training Courses

announcements, Transnational Access developments, releases of important documents,

presentations of meetings/workshops/training courses, important developments in the web

portal etc.

Right below, quick access is offered to important TA and dissemination information. The

subitems, spread in 4 columns, are the following: Transnational Lab Access, Telepresence,

Experimental Database, and Dissemination. Towards the end of the homepage, access is

given to “Highlights”, “quick links” (SERIES Workshops, TA Proposals, Training Courses),

a “map” with the location of SERIES beneficiaries pinned throughout Europe, and the “news

archive”. Essentially, the home page gives a quick overview of what the project is about,

upcoming workshops/courses and important developments.


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2. Project Overview Webpages

2.1 ABOUT SERIES

This page provides a brief overview of the SERIES Project. The aim of the page is to give a

quick description of all the key points of the Project, which are then described in more detail

in the corresponding pages (links redirecting to Transnational Access, Networking and Joint

research are active).

Figure 2-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “About SERIES” webpage

The text on the page “About SERIES” reads:

“European seismic engineering research suffers from extreme fragmentation of research

infrastructures (RI) between countries and limited access to them by the S/T community of

earthquake engineering, especially that of Europe’s most seismic regions. A 23-strong

consortium of the key actors in Europe’s seismic engineering research (including 3 industrial

beneficiaries) addresses these problems in a sustainable way via a 4-year programme of

activities at an annual cost to the EC less than 1.35% of the total present value (€190m) of

the RIs’ material resources.

The scope covers all aspects of seismic engineering testing, from eight reaction wall

pseudodynamic (PsD) facilities and ten shake table labs, to EU’s unique tester of bearings or

isolators, its two major centrifuges and an instrumented site for wave propagation studies.

Transnational Access is offered to a portfolio of world class RIs: EU’s largest PsD

facility, four diverse shake tables and the two centrifuges.

http://www.series.upatras.gr/consortium

http://www.series.upatras.gr/consortium

http://www.series.upatras.gr/lab-access


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Networking sets up a public distributed database of past, present and future test results,

installs distributed testing capabilities at all PsD labs, fostering development of up-and-

coming ones at Europe’s most seismic regions, drafts and applies protocols for qualification

of RIs and engages the entire European community of earthquake engineering via the best

possible instances: the European Association of Earthquake Engineering, EU’s seismic code

makers and their national groups, the European construction industry, as well as all relevant

S/T associations or networks.

Joint research engages all labs, exploring and prototyping novel actuators (combination

of electro-dynamic and hydraulic ones) for better control of fast tests or special applications,

new sensing and instrumentation systems, data assimilation in equipment-specimen models

for better test control and optimisation of testing campaigns, as well as experimental studies

of soil-structure interaction at all types of testing facilities.”

2.2 CONSORTIUM

On this page, the 23-member Consortium is presented (logo of each partner, full and short

name of organization, country). Links redirect to the official site of each partner.

Figure 2-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Consortium” webpage

http://www.series.upatras.gr/networking

http://www.series.upatras.gr/research


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2.3 PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Figure 2-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Project Objectives” webpage

The main objectives of SERIES are presented in this page: Networking Activities,

Transnational Access Activities, and Joint Research Activities, the basic fields of the project,

are treated separately. The text on this page reads:

“This project aims at bridging the two gaps of RTD in experimental earthquake engineering

and structural dynamics: (a) between Europe and the US or Japan, and (b) between

European countries with high seismicity but less advanced RTD infrastructures on one hand

and some more technologically advanced but not so seismic Member States on the other. It

will do so by integrating the entire European RTD community in earthquake engineering via:

1. A concerted program of Networking Activities, fostering a sustainable culture of co-

operation among all research infrastructures and teams active in European earthquake

engineering:

A distributed database of test results, pooling data from the beneficiary research

infrastructures and others, accessible and maintained by a virtual research community

after the project’s end;

Telepresence and geographically distributed concurrent testing at the research

infrastructures;

Standards, protocols and criteria for qualification of RTD infrastructures in

earthquake engineering;


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Enhancement of human resources by training new users and beneficiary

technical/research personnel in courses on good practices in operation and use of

research infrastructures;

Co-coordination and collaboration with national, European and international related

initiatives and support to the deployment of global approaches to research in


Dissemination to the entire European S/T community of earthquake engineering via all

relevant national, European or international organisations, networks or bodies;

Clustering and co-ordinated actions amongst related European and national projects;

International Workshops and other targeted actions, to integrate the earthquake

engineering community of the highly seismic regions of the Balkans and Turkey.

2. Co-ordinated Transnational Access of Users to a world class portfolio combining:

EU’s four largest earthquake Shaking Tables, each one with diverse capabilities:

the TAMARIS laboratory of CEA/Saclay (FR), the EUCENTRE/TREES Lab in Pavia

(IT), LNEC in Lisbon (PT) and the Bristol University Earthquake and Large Structures

Laboratory (UK);

EU’s largest Reaction Wall and Pseudodynamic testing facility (ELSA) at the JRC,

Ispra;

Unique Centrifuge Test facilities at LCPC in Nantes (FR) and Cambridge

University (UK).

3. Joint innovative Research toward new fundamental technologies and techniques promoting

efficient and joint use of the research infrastructures, in three areas where the beneficiaries

excel at world level:

Concepts, technical requirements and prototyping for new-generation electro-dynamic

actuators (including coupling with hydraulic ones) for high-performance, enhanced-

quality real-time testing;

Instrumentation and sensor techniques for improved sensing and test control.

Dedicated software for data collection, processing and communication, serving current

needs for model calibration and interpretation of structural response. Use of data

assimilation and model updating to develop virtual models of the equipment-specimen

system, in combination with recent advances in control, to reduce calibration pre-tests,

optimise instrumentation and improve the quality results;


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New capabilities and techniques for experimental study of soil-structure-interaction

and seismic wave propagation phenomena, currently insufficiently covered by

experimental research infrastructures at world level.”

2.4 PROGRESS BEYOND THE STATE OF THE ART

Figure 2-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Progress beyond the state of the art” page

The key actors in Europe’s earthquake engineering research are engaged in the SERIES

Project. Moreover, the biggest European seismic testing facilities participate in the

consortium, some of them offering Transnational Access for research on earthquake

engineering. The SERIES Project provides the framework for progress on earthquake

engineering research beyond the state of the art. The corresponding webpage, “Progress

beyond the state of the art”, focuses on this aspect, providing information on the project’s

main fields (NAs, TAs, JRAs). The text on this webpage reads:

“Progress beyond the State of the Art”:

Individually none of Europe’s research infrastructures has the critical mass of people and the

broad range of experimental capabilities and expertise needed for major breakthroughs in

the State-of-the-Art of earthquake engineering: the JRC has a Reaction Wall and

Pseudodynamic testing facility unique in Europe and among the largest worldwide, but lacks

Shaking Table capability or a Centrifuge Test facility, which are vital for earthquake

engineering research.


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Such capabilities are offered in the comprehensive portfolio of research infrastructures

mobilised in this project, which includes:

Europe’s two world class Centrifuge facilities;

ten Shaking Table laboratories of diverse and complementary technical capabilities;

seven more Reaction Walls for Pseudo-dynamic testing, complementing the one at JRC

as satellites for geographically distributed testing and, being up-and-coming, adding to

a dynamic map of European research infrastructures in earthquake engineering;

EU’s largest seismic tester of bearings and isolation/dissipation devices;

an instrumented site, with well-documented topography and soil characteristics, as a

natural laboratory for site effects and wave propagation phenomena.

Networking Activities (NAs):

The networking activities of the project will enhance the services provided by the research

infrastructures, transcending their current extreme fragmentation, through the following:

The creation of a very large virtual European research laboratory, through

telepresence and geographically distributed testing at the participating research

infrastructures.

Wide sharing of data and knowledge across the field of earthquake engineering and

between academia, research and industry, through a web portal and distributed

database, to be maintained and enhanced well beyond the end of the project.

A better structure and integration at a European scale of the way similar research

infrastructures operate, developing synergies and complementarities between them and

fostering their joint development in terms of performance and access.

Common European standards and protocols for similar research infrastructures and

qualification criteria for European research infrastructures in earthquake engineering.

Enhancement of human potential, by training beneficiaries’ technical and research

personnel on good practice in operation, use and maintenance of research

infrastructures and seismic qualification of industrial components and equipment and

offering courses to new users on the use of the research infrastructures.

Co-coordination of related national and European initiatives, to develop a European

approach to research in earthquake engineering.

Collaboration with international research infrastructures of excellence, to support the

deployment of a global approach with regard to research infrastructures.

Co-ordination with, and follow up of related FP7 projects, for synergies.


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Promotion of up-and-coming new research infrastructures, especially in highly seismic

but less technologically advanced areas, so that they can emerge in the medium- to

long- term as earthquake engineering research infrastructures of pan-European

interest.

The networking activities will also foster a culture of co-operation between the

participants in the project and the S/T community benefiting from the research

infrastructures, by engaging the entire European community of S/T and practice in

earthquake engineering in the RTD activities of the beneficiary infrastructures, via multiple

and very effective means of outreach.

Transnational Access Activities (TAs):

The project’s transnational access activities will use transparent, fair and impartial peer-

review process to select talented European researchers with good ideas and provide them

access and in-person use at a portfolio of high-performing world class research

infrastructures, comprising:

EU’s largest Reaction Wall and Pseudodynamic testing facility (ELSA) at the JRC,

Ispra,

Unique Centrifuge Test facilities, the largest in the EU, at LCPC, in Nantes (FR) and

Cambridge University (UK),

EU’s four largest earthquake Shaking Tables, each one with diverse capabilities, at the

TAMARIS laboratory of CEA, in Saclay (FR), LNEC, in Lisbon (PT), EUCENTRE, in

Pavia (IT) and the Bristol University Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering

(UK), and

EU’s largest Seismic Tester for Bearings and Isolation Devices also at the

EUCENTRE.

Joint Research Activities (JRAs):

The State-of-the-Art in experimental earthquake engineering RTD and the services

offered by the infrastructures will be advanced through joint research activities (JRAs) in

three areas where the beneficiaries excel at world level.

1. Dynamic testing for earthquake engineering requires high precision application of

discrete and distributed dynamic loads, ranging from several MNewtons (e.g. for PsD testing

of full-scale structures) to few kNewtons (e.g. in small-scale tests in a centrifuge). The


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baseline of JRA1 is the current use of servo-hydraulic actuators for the application of large

dynamic loads.

Several new actuator technologies (e.g. linear electrical actuators and morphing

composite materials) offer the potential for improving the fidelity and scope of dynamic

earthquake engineering testing. The aim of JRA1 is to use this potential and position

European laboratories so that they can offer users better experimental opportunities through

these technologies.

JRA1 will conclude with prototyping a hybrid actuation system of linear electrical

actuators and linear servo-hydraulic ones to improve their high-frequency fidelity.

2. JRA2 will investigate and then promote, after their calibration/validation in various

tests of different levels of complexity, new types of sensors, control techniques and modelling

tools capable of enhancing the measurement of the response of test specimens and improving

the quality of test control. It will also develop numerical simulation tools, integrated with

data processing, databases and visualisation, for improved design of test campaigns,

including the equipment and for enhanced interpretation of test results, taking also into

account foundation and the soil.

The current baseline, consisting of classical few point/local measurements in seismic

testing, cannot serve the current needs of Performance-based earthquake engineering which

emphasise structural damage. JRA2 will exploit recent advances in optical fibres, optical

sensors, wireless communication, Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and

information technologies – software frameworks, databases, visualisation, Internet/grid

computations - to serve these needs and significantly enhance seismic testing of complex

structural systems. Remote measurements will be investigated and advanced, for use when

direct contact with the specimen should be avoided, e.g., for safety of the instrumentation at

specimen collapse.

3. Soil-structure interaction (SSI) during earthquakes refers to several phenomena

related to the response of structures caused by the flexibility of the foundation soils, as well

as to the response of soils and embedded facilities caused by the presence of structures.

Modelling SSI requires not only the introduction of additional degrees of freedom, but often

also physical simulation of wave propagation, duly accounting for the non linearities that

depend on the induced strain level. The baseline in design, analysis and testing of structures

is to ignore SSI: the structure is considered fixed to the ground and the free field motion is

directly applied to its base. The obvious additional complication in laboratory testing of a

complete structure-foundation-soil system is a major reason why SSI has received very little


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experimental attention and very few results are available for calibration of numerical

models.

Experimental large-scale testing (large shaking tables, field observations, reaction wall

testing) and small-scale testing (centrifuge, small shaking tables) will not only help calibrate

numerical methods of analysis, but will also shed qualitative and quantitative light into the

nature and significance of these nonlinear phenomena. JRA3 aims at providing Europe’s

experimental facilities with the "tools" to carry out such novel experiments.”

2.5 METHODOLOGY AND WORK PLAN

Figure 2-5: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Methodology and workplan” webpage

The methodology and the work plan applied in order to meet the objectives of the Project are

described on this webpage. The content of the page is pasted below:

Methodology and work plan:

The work plan comprises a set of intertwined and synergistic networking, transnational

access and joint research activities. The three WPs of networking activities of the project

have a two-pronged strategy, aiming at:

establishing a seamless and sustainable platform of co-operation between the

European research infrastructures in earthquake engineering, developing synergies

and complementarities between them and fostering their joint development in terms of

performance and access, and


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reaching out to Europe’s widest possible community of science and technology (S/T)

and practice in earthquake engineering, to spread the RTD outcomes of the research

infrastructures, increase awareness of their capabilities and attract users to benefit

from them during and after the project.

The platform of co-operation between the research infrastructures will comprise:

A corporate web-portal, serving as the central contact point for the project and the

main reference point for research infrastructures in earthquake engineering in Europe,

during the project and indefinitely afterwards. It will provide education and

dissemination material, information on transnational access, workshop details,

telepresence in experimental activities, repository of scientific knowledge (including

that generated during the project), information on the qualification of research

infrastructures, etc., and most important, access to the distributed database.

A distributed database of experimental information, whereby the data stay at the

individual facility and a communication protocol ensures their transfer to the end user

in a common language and format. It will contain experimental data and all supporting

documentation: data generated by the research infrastructures during the project

(transnational access included), past data from the very research infrastructures and

from literature (converting them to the database format) and new data uploaded in the

future. It will soon become the world’s largest source of experimental information in

earthquake engineering. It will provide real-time access to data generated during

experimental campaigns and on-line access and interaction through telepresence and

distributed testing.

Capability for geographically distributed concurrent testing at several research

infrastructures, enlarging their individual capabilities and profiting from their

complementarities. It will encompass all research infrastructures possessing Reaction

Walls and PsD testing capabilities, large or small. Compounded with training of

beneficiaries’ technical and research personnel on advances in testing and good

practice in operation of research infrastructures, it will pave the way for up-and-

coming ones to develop further in the framework of a dynamic map of research

infrastructures in Europe.

A common protocol for qualification of earthquake engineering research

infrastructures in Europe.

Europe’s S/T and professional earthquake engineering community will be fully engaged, via:

the European Association of Earthquake Engineering (through KOERI);


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the CEN Subcommittee for drafting and maintaining the European Standard for

seismic design;

the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP);

the European Earthquake Protection Initiative (EEPI);

the International Federation for Structural Concrete, fib;

the project’s four international open Workshops, organised in seismic South-Eastern

Europe

liaison with relevant national and international networks.

Seven WPs of transnational access to a world-class portfolio of complementary facilities,

namely to EU’s largest reaction wall and PsD lab, its four largest shake tables, its two

largest centrifuges and the largest seismic tester of bearings, will be offered free of charge,

along with the full infrastructural, logistical, technological and scientific support. Users of

access will be attracted, selected and trained through the networking activities; they will also

disseminate their RTD results to the widest possible audience through them. Tests conducted

during transnational access will systematically use telepresence and on a pilot basis

distributed testing, both established in the networking activities. More important, it is mostly

in such tests that new techniques to be developed by the project’s joint research activities will

be tried on a pilot basis, calibrated and validated.

Fundamental technologies or techniques for efficient and joint use of the research

infrastructures will be promoted in three WPs of joint research activities in areas of world-

excellence of the beneficiaries:

Concepts, requirements and prototyping of new-generation electro-dynamic actuators

(including coupling with hydraulic ones) for high-performance, high-quality real-time

testing.

New instrumentation and sensing techniques for improved test control and

measurement at high frequencies; dedicated software for data collection, processing

and communication for distributed testing and simulation at virtual facilities

integrating different infrastructures.

New capabilities and techniques for experimental study of soil-structure-interaction

and seismic wave propagation phenomena, currently insufficiently covered by

experimental research infrastructures at world level.”


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2.6 TRANSNATIONAL ACCESS (OVERVIEW)

Figure 2-6: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Transnational Access” webpage

Transnational Access Activities are one of the key features of SERIES. Talented young

researchers were given the opportunity to access world-class experimental facilities and

produce high-end research on seismic engineering. This webpage gives a short overview of

the Transnational Access activities and provides links to the portal pages that present TA in

more detail. It reads:

“Transnational Access (TA) to a portfolio of world class research infrastructures is offered

to selected talented European researchers. Users are given access to the infrastructures for

the design of the test specimen and the instrumentation, for the execution of the tests and for

the processing and interpretation of results. The facilities available for Transnational Access

include shaking tables, reaction walls, centrifuge infrastructures and bearing tester system.

Users are integrated into the scheduling of the infrastructure during the execution

programme of each project, from the design and construction of the test specimen, to

instrumentation, experimental testing and interpretation of the experimental results,

receiving from the staff of the infrastructure all the technical and scientific support needed to

carry out their project. A user support team is allocated to each user on a daily basis, to

develop and execute the test programme, including appropriate technicians for test model

fabrication, instrumentation, etc.

Prospective users are advised to consult the open calls for proposals about the

availability of TA infrastructures. The lead user and the majority of the users in a



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team should be working in an institution in a EU Member State or EU Associated country,

but other than the one where the TA facility is established.

The User Selection Panel has selected 27 TA Research projects according to specific

criteria”.

http://www.series.upatras.gr/TA_projects

http://www.series.upatras.gr/ta-proposals


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3. Transnational Access Webpages

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 3-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Lab Access” webpage.

This part of the web portal is dedicated to the Transnational Access opportunities offered

within the framework of the SERIES Project. It was essential to have this page ready from

the beginning of the Project in order to inform prospective users about TA opportunities and

modalities. The webpages under the main menu item “Lab Access” give important

information on the benefits of Transnational Access through SERIES, explaining the

procedure for submitting a proposal, the evaluation process and the User Selection Panel

evaluation criteria. A quick overview of the seven facilities offering Transnational Access is

also provided (with a direct link to the website of each respective facility, for further

information). An overview of important information related to the 27 selected TA projects is

also presented.

3.2 LAB ACCESS

The text on this page reads:


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“Transnational Access (TA) to a portfolio of world class research complementary

infrastructures is offered to selected talented European researchers. Users are given access

to the infrastructures for the design of the test specimen and the instrumentation, for the

execution of the tests and for the processing and interpretation of results. The lead user and

the majority of the users in a team work in an institution in a EU Member State or EU

Associated country, but other than the one where the TA facility is established. The following

facilities offer Transnational Access:

the AZALEE shaking table, Saclay, France;

the reaction wall of the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment, Ispra, Italy;

the shaking table and bearing tester system at EUCENTRE, Pavia, Italy;

the shaking table of the Earthquake and Large Structures Laboratory (EQUALS),

Bristol, UK;

the large 3D shake table at LNEC, Lisbon, Portugal;

the IFSTTAR geotechnical centrifuge, Nantes, France;

the Turner Beam Centrifuge, Cambridge, UK.

Users are integrated into the scheduling of the infrastructure during the execution

programme of each project, from the design and construction of the test specimen, to the

instrumentation, experimental testing and interpretation of experimental results, receiving

from the staff of the infrastructure all the support needed to carry out their project. A user

support team is allocated to each user on a daily basis, to develop and execute the test

programme, including appropriate technicians for test model fabrication, instrumentation,

etc.

The infrastructure facilities are well prepared to host external researchers. During their

stay, external researcheres are integrated with the permanent staff, from whom they receive

technical and scientific assistance. Following the necessary training, users are able to fully

participate in the test preparation, execution, data acquisition and interpretation.

The services that are given to users having access to the shaking table (ST), bearing tester

system (BTS), reaction wall (RW) and centrifuge (CG) infrastructures are:

technical assistance in the definition and design of the test model and of the

experimental set-up, in order to adapt the testing programme to the characteristics of

the infrastructure;

fabrication of reduced (ST) to full (RW) scale test models;

http://www.series.upatras.gr/AZALEE

http://www.series.upatras.gr/JRC

http://www.series.upatras.gr/EUCENTRE

http://www.series.upatras.gr/EQUALS

http://www.series.upatras.gr/LNEC

http://www.series.upatras.gr/LCPC

http://www.series.upatras.gr/TBCentr


19

preliminary destructive or non destructive tests for material properties identification

of the test model (ST, BTS and RW) and of the soil models used in the centrifuges

(CG);

preparation of the models using automatic controlled sand pouring (EQUALS);

assistance in the design, calibration and implementation of the instrumentation,

providing, within the availability constraints of the sensor stock of the infrastructure,

state-of-the-art sensors, materials and components and the workmanship for their

installation;

data acquisition systems;

assistance in the choice of the input signals;

use of analytical tools to support the design of the specimen and test campaign;

photographic and video records of the test model before, during and after the test

campaign;

photogrammetric techniques (at the development stage) for tracing deformations of

structures (currently available only at the TAMARIS and ELSA infrastructures);

a computer network with access to large computer codes for static and dynamic

analysis of structures at the ST, BTS and RW infrastructures;

a data repository system accessible via Internet;

training of users in topics specific to their interest and to the project to which access

is offered, in areas related to the experimental activities of the infrastructure;

opportunity to collaborate with the international beneficiaries of the infrastructure;

safety training of users;

data processing, analysis and interpretation of the test results.

Read more about the current TA Research projects.

Prospective users are invited to consult the open calls for proposals, in the news category,

for updated information on the availability. Read more about the submission procedure of TA

Proposals.”

3.3 TA PROPOSALS (SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION PROCEDURE)

The aim of this page was to guide prospective TA user teams on how to submit TA proposals.

A template for the proposal submission and the possibility to submit proposals online were

available for as long as there were open calls. To avoid confusion, after the 5th

and last User

Selection Panel meeting (all TA facilities were fully booked by that point) the template and

online submission tool were removed and a relevant announcement was posted at the top of

http://www.series.upatras.gr/TA_projects




20

the page. Information on the evaluation criteria and the weight of each criterion is still

explicitly presented in a tabular form.

The current content of this page is pasted below (to read the previous version, see

Deliverable D1.1):

“Important update (Aug. 2012): All facilities offering Transnational Access are fully booked

until the end of SERIES. There is no availability for the submission of new proposals.

Submitted TA proposals were evaluated according to the following procedure:

Proposals for Transnational Access were submitted through this website using a common

template.

The lead user and the majority of the users of a proposal were required to work in an

institution in a EU Member State or EU Associated country, but other than the one where the

TA facility is established.

Prospective users first applied for an account and submitted their proposal after the

activation of the account.

Prospective users included in their proposal the following:

brief description of proposed research;

user organisations (main user, partner users) including CVs of principal investigator

and of other researchers;

appropriate Transnational Access facility (1st and 2nd choice);

total number of researchers in Transnational Access;

target schedule;

a slide presentation with the main points of the proposal (4-5 slides according to a

common template).

The submitted proposals were graded according to the following criteria and corresponding

weights:

Criterion for Selection* Weight (%)

Fundamental Scientific and Technical value and interest 10

Originality and innovation 9

Quality of proposing team(s), Number of users 9.5

Importance for public safety 7

Importance for European standardisation 7


21

Importance for European integration and cohesion 6

Importance for sustainable growth 5.5

Importance for European competitiveness 7.5

Importance and relevance to TA facility’s own S/T interests 8.5

Synergies and complementarities with other TA tests 5.5

Cost and feasibility according to TA facility 10

Previous use of TA facility by any in the user group 7.5

Availability of similar infrastructures in any of the users' countries 7

100%

*A minimum average grade of 6 per criterion was required for acceptance

Acceptance depended on the access days available at each facility. Successful user teams

signed a contract agreement with the corresponding facility, delineating the test program and

the specimen(s), estimating the length of user stays at the facility and the days of use. The

facility determined at a later stage in more detail the access days and the technical program,

after consulting the user. It is an obligation of the users to publish the knowledge generated,

first in interim and public final reports and then in Journal or Conference papers. The

contract defines the rights and obligations of the facility and the users, including provisions

for early termination.

Contact persons: M. N. Fardis, S. Bousias, D. Biskinis, G. Tsionis”

3.4 OVERVIEW OF THE FACILITIES OFFERING TRANSNATIONAL ACCESS

The seven SERIES beneficiaries that participate in the TA activities provide access to some

of the best experimental facilities in the world. Each TA facility has a separate webpage on

the SERIES portal, giving an overview of the facility capabilities and modalities. Direct links

to the official sites of the facilities are also provided.

The text of each respective TA facility webpage is pasted below:

3.4.1 AZALEE Shaking Table

“The TAMARIS infrastructure and its main shaking table AZALEE, to which access is

offered, belong to CEA’s Seismic Laboratory. The infrastructure’s equipment has been

upgraded recently, by installing a new digital controller for AZALEE.

mailto:[email protected]




http://www-tamaris.cea.fr/

http://www.cea.fr/


22

The AZALEE shaking table, with 100t allowable model mass, is the largest shaking table in

Europe. To date, tests with masses up to 92t have been successfully performed. The shaking

table is 6mx6m and 6 Degrees-of-Freedom (DoF), allowing testing specimens under

independent excitations of various types: sinusoidal, random, shock and time-history with 0

to 100 Hz frequency ranges.

Maximum accelerations of 1g and 2g in the horizontal and vertical directions,

respectively, can be applied to specimens with the maximum payload of the table. The peak

velocity of the shaking table is 1m/s, peak displacements are ±0.125 m and ±0.1 m in the

horizontal and vertical directions, respectively.

The services offered to users that make the infrastructure unique include a team of about

20 expert scientists and technicians working in earthquake engineering RTD projects, the

possibility for substructuring, a high quality control and acquisition system allowing

recording 256 channels, and a scientific computing and processing system (CAST3M) for the

definition and execution of tests and subsequent interpretation of results.

The areas of research supported by the infrastructure cover a variety of experimental

and analytical RTD projects, both in the nuclear and non nuclear fields, for equipment,

buildings and soil-structure interaction; both new and existing structures are addressed.

Assessment and retrofitting of existing buildings and equipment are of special interest for the

laboratory.”

3.4.2 EQUALS Shaking Table

“The Earthquake and Large Structures Laboratory (EQUALS) is part of the Bristol

Laboratories for Advanced Dynamics Engineering (BLADE) in the Faculty of Engineering at

the University of Bristol, UK. It houses a 15t capacity, 6 DoF earthquake shaking table

surrounded by a strong floor and adjacent strong walls up to 15m high.

The shaking table consists of a stiff 3mx3m platform, weighing 3.8 tonnes, with a regular

grid of M12 bolt holes for attaching to the platform body and for mounting of specimens. The

platform can accelerate horizontally up to 3.7g with no payload and 1.6g with a 10t payload.

Corresponding vertical accelerations are 5.6g and 1.2g respectively. Peak velocities are 1

m/s in all translational axes, with peak displacements of ±0.15 m.

The shaking table is accompanied by a set of 40 servo-hydraulic actuators that can be

configured to operate in conjunction with the shaking table, strong floor and reaction walls,

providing a highly adaptable dynamic test facility that can be used for a variety of

earthquake and dynamic load tests.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/civilengineering


23

Hydraulic power for the shaking table is provided by a set of six shared, variable volume

hydraulic pumps, providing up to 900 lt/min at a working pressure of 205 bar. The maximum

flow capacity can be increased to around 1200 lt/min for up to 16 seconds at times of peak

demand with the addition of extra hydraulic accumulators.

A special feature of the EQUALS facility is its digital control system, with world leading

features, including a ‘hybrid test’ capability (also known as ‘dynamic sub-structuring’) in

which part of the structural system of interest can be emulated by a numerical model

embedded in the digital control system, while only a sub-component need be tested

physically. Extensive instrumentation is available, including 256 data acquisition channels.

EQUALS has particular expertise in seismic testing of geotechnical problems. The

facility is equipped with two lamellar, flexible, shear boxes for geomechanics testing. One of

these is 6m-long, 1.5m-deep and 1m-wide; the other is 1.5m-long, 1m-deep and 1m-wide.

The EQUALS facility is supported by a multi-disciplinary group of academics

specialising in advanced dynamics and materials from across the Civil, Aerospace,

Mechanical Engineering, and Non-linear Dynamics fields, providing to users day-to-day

support, specimen fabrication and manufacturing, as well as shaking table operation,

electronics and instrumentation support. The Faculty has an extensive manufacturing

workshop equipped with numerically controlled machines, etc.

The research based on the EQUALS shaking table includes the response of cable-stayed

bridges, soil-structure interaction, the use of discrete damping elements in building

structures, base isolation systems, torsional response of buildings, masonry structures, steel

and concrete buildings, multiple-support excitation, travelling earthquake wave effects, non-

linear self-aligning structures, dams, reservoir intake towers, retaining walls and

strengthening systems with advanced composites.

EQUALS is particularly suited to testing of small- to medium-sized specimens in order to

investigate fundamental dynamic and seismic phenomena. EQUALS is sometimes used to

develop a large-scale experimental campaign that will be executed on a bigger shaking table,

such as those at CEA Saclay or LNEC Lisbon. The shaking table can be augmented by

additional actuators, to enable multiple-support excitation or travelling wave effects to be

explored.”

3.4.3 EUCENTRE Shaking Table & Bearing Tester

“The activities of the EUCENTRE benefit from one of the most advanced laboratories in the

world (TREES Lab – Laboratory for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering and

http://www.eucentre.it/


24

Seismology). The testing facilities available at the EUCENTRE TREES Lab consist of a large

unidirectional high performance shake table, a reaction system composed of two L-shaped

reaction walls and a strong floor and an advanced high performance bearing tester system.

The main specifications of the experimental facilities to which access will be offered are as

follows:

Shake table: Single degrees-of-freedom (uniaxial); 5.6mx7.0m in plan; payload range

70 to 140 tonnes, peak displacement ±500 mm; peak velocity 2.2m/sec; peak

acceleration with maximum payload 1.8g; maximum force 2100 kN; maximum

overturning moment capacity 4000 kNm (1000 kN at 4 m from the base); digital

control, reaction mass of 2350 tonnes.

Bearing Tester System: composed of a reaction frame, 4 degrees-of-freedom table and

11 actuators to control dynamically the table. Main performance characteristics are:

force capacity 2100kN horizontal and 5000kN vertical and displacement capacity

±580mm horizontal and ±75mm vertical, digital customized control. The bearing tester

system shares part of the hydraulic system with the ST and can be physically connected

with the shaking table to enhance its dynamic performance.

Hydraulic Power System: propulsion of actuators is provided by a mixed system

comprising eight pumps for a total continuous flow of 1360 lt/min and by seven groups

of accumulators capable of increasing the total flow to 11000 lit/min when running

dynamic tests on the shake table and up to 27000 lit/min when used with the BTS.

Outdoor flat concrete plate: (11mx28m) for specimen fabrication and demolition after

testing and transportation system (customised steel crane) with 110 ton payload

capacity.

Data Acquisition System: it includes a 250-channel system based on 18 bit hardware

and an advanced wireless system based on 8 high definition digital cameras.

Access to the shaking table will be given to projects focused on seismic risk reduction

involving dynamic studies on scaled or real scale structures, using concrete, masonry, steel

or wooden prototypes. Alternatively, tests can be performed on subassemblies or parts of

structures whose behaviour can be conveniently and separately investigated from the whole

structure. Users interested in shake table control issues may submit proposals for software

implementation, development and testing.

Access to the Bearing Tester System will be given for cyclic static or dynamic seismic

tests on bearings and seismic isolation devices, performance assessment and prototype study

and development. User activities can be oriented to traditional devices (rubber bearings,


25

dampers, pots, etc.) or to innovative devices, such as those based on pendulum (FPS, friction

pendulum system with single and double curvature), magneto-rheological, etc.”

3.4.4 JRC Reaction Wall

“The European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) operates a 16 m-tall, 21 m-

long reaction long, with two reaction platforms of total surface 760 m2 that allow testing real

scale structural models on both sides of the wall. The laboratory is equipped with 20

actuators with capacities between 0.25 and 3 MN and strokes between ±0.25 and ±1.0 m. The

hydraulic equipment is capable of delivering a flow of 1500 lt/min at a pressure of 210 bar.

The control system of the actuators allows development of different control and time stepping

strategies; for example, the continuous pseudo-dynamic test method with substructuring, that

permits testing elements of a large structure (such as a multi-span bridge), bidirectional

testing of multi-storey buildings (allowing simulation of torsional response), and testing of

strain-rate dependent devices (isolators or dissipaters) with substructuring.

Concerning the actual performance of experimental tests, the ELSA facility will offer the use

of the PsD method with substructuring techniques for the simulation of the seismic action on

large-scale structural systems, as well techniques for modal assessment and system

identification.

The services offered to users that make the ELSA infrastructure unique include the

competence and critical mass of its computational mechanics team; important links of

collaboration established with the main research institutions outside Europe (USA, Japan,

Taiwan, etc.) in earthquake engineering; and a comprehensive database containing the

experimental data generated by the infrastructure and already used for calibration and

adoption of European standards, mitigation of seismic risk for existing structures and

preservation of cultural heritage buildings.”

3.4.5 IFSTTAR Centrifuge

“The IFSTTAR geotechnical centrifuge has a capacity to place a 2 tonnes model at a

centrifuge acceleration of 100g. Its radius is 5.5 m and the platform of the swinging basket

that supports the model is 1.4mx1.1m.

Many different devices have been developed for the preparation and characterisation of

the soil beds (automatic hopper, consolidometers, on-board Cone Penetration Test (CPT)

and Vane test devices), for applying forces on the model during flight (actuators for loading

http://elsa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

http://www.lcpc.fr/en/presentation/moyens/centrifugeuse/index.dml


26

the models, electromagnetic hammer), and for measurements and observation (sensors, data

acquisition systems, transparent face container, cameras, etc.).

For earthquake simulation tests, a shaking table set is added in the basket of the

centrifuge so that a “horizontal” acceleration simulating the bedrock acceleration during the

earthquake is superimposed to the “static vertical” centrifuge acceleration modelling the

gravity.

The major characteristics of this device are:

maximum payload mass: 400 kg including the soil box (~ 120 kg);

maximum centrifuge acceleration: 80g;

maximum horizontal acceleration: 0.5 g prototype (for example 20g at 40 g gravity, 40

g at 80 g gravity);

maximum velocity: 1 m/s;

frequency range in broad band earthquake (“real earthquakes”): 30 to 300 Hz.

The services currently offered to users of the infrastructure include the competence of a

25 year old research team in centrifuge testing, the design of the experimental approach and

of the experimental set up, the soil preparation and the model manufacturing (either within

IFSTTAR capacities or through subcontracting).”

3.4.6 LNEC Shaking Table

“The Earthquake Engineering Research Centre (NESDE) at LNEC has a large 3D shake

table (LNEC-3G) located in a large testing hall with floor-to-ceiling height of 10m, enabling

testing of tall structures. An overhead crane with 400kN capacity allows transportation of

large specimens inside the testing hall, optimising the use of the facility concerning repeated

cycles of construction, installation and removal of large specimens from the table.

LNEC-3G has three independent translational DoFs, with rotational ones minimised via

a torque tube system. Under the horizontal cranks, passive gas actuators may enable peak

velocities up to 0.7 m/s. The command and control of the shake table is fully digital,

simulating specific motions expressed either as response spectra or as time-histories. The

acquisition system, allows up to 154 channels for measuring pressures, forces, accelerations,

displacements (LVDTs and optical), strains, etc.

LNEC’s current 3D shake table was designed specifically for testing civil engineering

structures and components up to collapse or ultimate limit states. A special feature is its

capacity in terms of payload (specimen weight 40 t), allowing testing of small real scale

http://www-ext.lnec.pt/LNEC/DE/NESDE/e_welcome.html


27

buildings (1-storey, 3D concrete frames have been tested) or larger buildings at smaller

scales (bridge piers and 4-storey buildings have been tested at 1:3 scale).

The 3D shake table is surrounded by three stiff reaction walls able to support large

horizontal forces, allowing seismic testing with substructuring by introducing additional

actuators between the reaction walls and the model to simulate the dynamic reaction of a

linear substructure on the model being tested on the shaking table.

The external users of the LNEC facility may count on the collaboration of LNEC staff,

which plays an important role in all phases of the experimental studies. Staff comprises

senior research officers, assistant researchers, doctoral students and technicians, working in

a multidisciplinary environment characterised by an important experience in research in the

different fields of earthquake engineering, both at national and European level.”

3.4.7 Turner Beam Centrifuge

“The Turner Beam Centrifuge facility at Cambridge has a balanced beam configuration that

can carry a payload of 1 tonne and can accelerate it to 150g’s (150 g-ton machine). The

working radius of the centrifuge is 4.125 m and the platform dimensions are approximately

1.0mx0.95m.

The earthquake actuation system on the centrifuge is the Stored Angular Momentum

(SAM) based earthquake actuator. The capabilities of the SAM earthquake actuator are as

follows:

100 gravity operation;

strong earthquake motions (up to 0.4g at bedrock level);

earthquake frequency of choice in the range of 1 to 5 Hz or a frequency sweep from 5

Hz to 0 Hz (equivalent prototype frequency);

0 to 1000 sec earthquake duration (equivalent prototype scale);

specialist model containers in the form of Equivalent Shear Beam or laminar model

containers;

capabilities to model soil layers up to 40 m depth;

both saturated and dry models can be tested to enable study of liquefaction or Soil

Structure Interaction problems.

Foundations of special structures, both on-shore and off-shore, are tested with

monotonic loading, cyclic loading or dynamic loading (earthquake loading in particular).

The Schofield Centre plays a major role in disseminating standardised methods of centrifuge

model making, particularly in the area of dynamic centrifuge modelling. New facilities are

http://www-civ.eng.cam.ac.uk/geotech_new/geotech.htm


28

being developed to carry out model saturation using high viscosity pore fluids that are

required to satisfy the scaling laws in dynamic centrifuge modelling.

The centrifuge facility has many in-flight and laboratory floor devices that were

developed over a long period of time for soil characterisation. In-flight CPT’s have been

used for in-flight soil characterisation and determination of boundary effects. Specialist

calibration equipment has been developed and maintained in-house to guarantee the highest

standards of instrumentation for high quality data retrieval. An automatic sand pourer has

been commissioned to prepare sand models of specified density and soil stratification.

Hydraulic consolidation rigs have been added to the centre’s facilities to prepare clay

soil samples of high quality with fully known stress history and user desired strength profiles.

In addition, the hydraulic slip rings of the beam centrifuge and the electrical slip rings have

been recently upgraded. A new fibre optic slip ring with very high bandwidth has been added

to enable high speed communication between on-board computers and the control room. This

enables high speed digital imaging to be carried out in-flight for the Particle Image

Velocimetry for analyses of digital images and the deduction of the displacement and strain

fields in soil models.

The centrifuge is supported by a mechanical workshop that maintains the centrifuge

model packages and makes specialist equipment on a test-specific basis, by an

instrumentation workshop that maintains existing instruments and by an electronic workshop

that maintains and develops data acquisition systems and signal conditioning junction boxes.

Further, a 2D robotic actuator can apply horizontal, vertical and moment loads on

structures in-flight. However, this actuator can only be used in non-earthquake tests at the

present time.”

3.5 TA RESEARCH PROJECTS

This page offers a quick overview of important information related to the 27 selected TA

projects. The table at the top of the page summarises the distribution of projects per TA

facility and the progress of delivered access days. Underneath, the title of each TA project,

the number of users and delivered access days, the current status of the project and the host

TA facility are listed in a tabular form. Final reports of TA projects and available videos from

tests are also provided.

Access to the respective webpage of each TA project is possible by clicking on the title

of the project (either in the table or the list that appears on the right hand side). All the

important facts, updates, the names/affiliation of users, and a summary of the research


29

conducted are given for each TA project separately. Links to watch videos, read final reports

etc are also available there.

Figure 3-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “TA Research Projects” webpage (upper part)

Figure 3-3: SERIES website, screen shot of the “TA Research Projects” webpage (lower part)


30

Figure 3-4: SERIES website, screenshot of a random TA project webpage (upper part)

Figure 3-5: SERIES website, screenshot of a random TA project webpage (middle part)

Figure 3-6: SERIES website, screenshot of a random TA project webpage (lower part)


31

4. Webpages on Networking Activities

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This part of the website is dedicated to the Networking Activities. The introduction page

contains a short description of the main objectives of Networking Activities, which are then

explained in more detail in the corresponding pages of the submenu (i.e. Distributed testing,

European integration, Experimental database, Telepresence, Lab qualification, and External

links).

Figure 4-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Networking” webpage

The content of the introduction page related to the Networking Activities is pasted below:

“NETWORKING

The concerted program of Networking Activities aims to foster a sustainable culture of co-

operation among all research infrastructures and teams active in European earthquake

engineering. It comprises:


32

A distributed database of test results, pooling data from the beneficiary research

infrastructures and others, accessible and maintained by a virtual research

community after the project’s end;

Telepresence and geographically distributed concurrent testing at the research

infrastructures;

Standards, protocols and criteria for qualification of RTD infrastructures in


Enhancement of human resources by training new users and beneficiary

technical/research personnel in courses on good practices in operation and use of

research infrastructures;

Co-coordination and collaboration with national, European and international related

initiatives and support to the deployment of global approaches to research in


Dissemination to the entire European S/T community of earthquake engineering via

all relevant national, European or international organisations, networks or bodies;

Clustering and co-ordinated actions amongst related European and national projects;

International Workshops and other targeted actions, to integrate the earthquake

engineering community of the highly seismic regions of the Balkans and Turkey.”

4.2 EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Figure 4-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “European integration” webpage (upper part)

http://www.series.upatras.gr/ebase

http://www.series.upatras.gr/telepresence

http://www.series.upatras.gr/distributed_testing

http://www.series.upatras.gr/lab-qualification

http://www.series.upatras.gr/training_courses

http://www.series.upatras.gr/workshops


33

Figure 4-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “European integration” webpage (lower part)

SERIES promotes the integration of the European Earthquake Engineering Community

at European and international level. Information about the scope of this integration and the

related initiatives within the SERIES project is given on this webpage.

Furthermore, released deliverables on European Integration are listed at the bottom of the

page.

“EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

The objectives of this networking activity are to integrate the European scientific and

technical community in earthquake engineering and to foster cooperation of research

infrastructures at the European and international level. This is achieved by:

transnational access to the partner research infrastructures;

collaboration with the top international research infrastructures in earthquake

engineering;

co-ordination with key international, European and national networks in earthquake

engineering;

interaction with other FP projects;

co-ordination of an Advisory Panel for a strategic research agenda on research

infrastructures in earthquake engineering;

organization of training courses;

high-level international workshops.

A framework for a structured and sustainable collaboration of the European research

infrastructures with research infrastructures of excellence in earthquake engineering outside

the EU is established. Exchange of ideas on technical problems, exchange of data, definition


http://www.series.upatras.gr/_links


http://www.series.upatras.gr/userfiles/file/Public_Deliverables/Deliverable_4_5.pdf




34

of common interests and potential topics for parallel research in future, strategies for co-

operation, adoption of common testing protocols and data formats will be facilitated by a

web forum. Summary Reports with the outcomes and conclusions will be published.

The objective of co-ordination with international networks of earthquake engineering

RTD is the exchange of information and synergies at the international level. The main aim is

to outreach to Europe’s communities of S/T and practice in earthquake engineering, to

increase awareness of the RTD capacity at the project’s research infrastructures, publicise

TA opportunities there and disseminate RTD results.

Synergy and interaction with other Framework Programme projects will embrace the

topics of the definition of the future European seismic testing facility (E-FAST), risk

mitigation for earthquakes and landslides (LESSLOSS), novel developments in structural

assessment monitoring and control (ACES), the creation of a network of research

infrastructures for European seismology (NERIES) and the systemic seismic vulnerability

and risk analysis for buildings, lifeline networks and infrastructures (SYNER-G).

A high level international Advisory Panel is set up to help develop a structure for

sustainable international collaboration of research infrastructures in earthquake

engineering. The Advisory Panel will guide and supervise a Strategic Agenda for

international collaborative research in earthquake engineering leading to a permanent

structure for the implementation of the Strategic Agenda and the management of

collaborative research programmes.”

4.3 EXPERIMENTAL DATABASE

Figure 4-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Experimental Database” webpage



http://efast.eknowrisk.eu/EFast/

http://www.lessloss.org/

http://www.aces.upatras.gr/

http://www.neries-eu.org/

http://www.syner-g.eu/

http://www.series.upatras.gr/userfiles/file/Public_Deliverables/Deliverable_4_5.pdf


35

One of the aims of the project was the creation of a distributed database with

experimental results from Earthquake Engineering research that will be available to the wide

Earthquake Engineering Community. Researchers can benefit greatly from an improved

dissemination of experimental results, which could subsequently have an important impact on

the mitigation of seismic risk. Deliverables released on the Distributed Database are listed at

the end of the page.

The current content of the page reads:

“EXPERIMENTAL DATABASE

The creation of the distributed database aims to improve the dissemination and use of

experimental results and to foster the impact of earthquake engineering research on practice,

innovation and earthquake risk mitigation.

This requires harmonisation and unification of the European databases in earthquake

engineering and the possibility of accessing, through a unique portal, the data stored at

different database nodes which are able to dialog with the central portal using a common

communication protocol.

The distributed database will greatly enhance the networking of European research

infrastructures by improving their capacity for data exchange, sharing and access, on-line

(for telepresence or distributed testing) and off-line (by uploading and/or downloading from

a repository).

A broad and solid base for the calibration of numerical models will be achieved by

enriching the database with data already available with the project beneficiaries or

elsewhere.

To access the SERIES Data Access Portal (DAP) click here. Further documentation,

guidelines and a user manual are provided in Deliverable D2.5 (read below).”

4.4 TELEPRESENCE

Telepresence is a very useful and powerful tool, which constantly develops. It provides

remote users with real time virtual access to experimental data and results during

experiments. Earthquake engineering research can benefit a lot from this tool. The aim of

SERIES was to implement telepresence to Earthquake Engineering laboratories and create

the platform for distributed testing. Released deliverables on telepresence are accessible at

the end of the page.

http://www.dap.series.upatras.gr/


36

Figure 4-5: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Telepresence” webpage

The content of this page is pasted below:

“TELEPRESENCE

Telepresence is the possibility to provide to remote users on-line access to the data during

the experiments and virtual access to the equipment, so as to allow collaborative decision-

making on the testing activities.

Telepresence will be implemented in all laboratories of the consortium appropriate for it and

feedback will be collected from its use during selected Transnational Access tests.

Telepresence will enhance the potential of carrying out more ambitious and complex tests by

optimizing the available resources in different facilities and will facilitate distributed

testing.”

Relevant deliverables are listed at the end of the webpage.




37

4.5 DISTRIBUTED TESTING

Figure 4-6: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Distributed Testing” webpage

The page reads:

“This activity focuses on tests involving concurrent use of geographically distributed

platforms (distributed testing), in particular when splitting the tested structures in sub-parts,

coupling physical tests and numerical models, and using substructuring algorithms.

To this end, there is a need to standardise the tools and protocols used for encapsulating the

experimental facilities into a software layer able to exchange on-line information. Guidelines

and proposals for advanced strategies in distributed testing and simulation for fast and real-

time testing will be provided.”

Links to deliverables on distributed testing and to the joint E-FAST/SERIES Workshop

on substructure and distributed testing (2010) are given at the end of the page.


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4.6 LAB QUALIFICATION

Figure 4-7: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Lab Qualification” webpage

One of the project’s objectives is to develop and implement a common protocol for the

qualification of structural testing laboratories which perform large-scale earthquake

engineering tests. The “Lab Qualification” webpage presents the work plan towards this

objective. Links to released deliverables and the relevant 2nd

SERIES Workshop (2010) are

provided.

The content of this page reads:

“LAB QUALIFICATION

This networking activity aims at creating the conditions and leading to the mutual

accreditation of structural testing laboratories specialising in earthquake engineering and

equipped for large scale testing. For the qualification, combination of two main requirements

on the laboratories is necessary: technical competence and quality assurance. The activity is

broken down into the following tasks:

evaluation and impact of qualification of experimental facilities in Europe;

assessment of testing procedures and standards requirements;

assessment of criteria for instrumentation and equipment management;

development and implementation of a common protocol for qualification.

The final objective of the mutual accreditation is to guarantee the reliability of testing in

each laboratory. In reliability implicit is repeatability, i.e., the principle that experimental

activities repeated on the same specimen in the same laboratory lead to the same result,

within certain tolerances and fixed conditions.


39

Besides establishing the general reliability of structural testing in Europe, a common

platform for qualification will significantly enhance the expertise of testing facilities, as a

result of the continuous benchmarking of similar laboratories.

The conclusions of the assessment of testing and instrumentation management

procedures will most likely lead to a critical analysis of the requirements imposed by official

standardization and accreditation organisations, national or European.

It is expected that the mutual accreditation of European research infrastructures in

earthquake engineering will enhance their standing with respect to their American or

Japanese counterparts, promoting a unified EU policy on acceptance criteria for products

and techniques.”

4.7 EXTERNAL LINKS

This page provides links to the websites of SERIES beneficiaries, international and European

networks for Earthquake Engineering, and other FP projects interacting with SERIES.


41

5. Webpages on Joint Research Activities

5.1 INTRODUCTION

Figure 5-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Research” webpage.

The infrastructures that participate in the SERIES project offer the state-of-the-art on

earthquake engineering RTD. SERIES aims at advancing this knowledge through Joint

Research Activities in three areas in which the beneficiaries excel at world level: i) New

actuator technologies, ii) New types of sensors, control techniques, modelling tools and

remote measuring techniques and iii) Experimental testing for soil-structure interaction (SSI)

and wave propagation. This introduction webpage contains a short description of the main

objectives of Joint Research Activities. More information for each one of the three research

areas is provided in the following pages.

The content of the introduction page on Joint Research Activities is pasted below:


42

“RESEARCH

The state-of-the-art in experimental earthquake engineering RTD and the services offered by

the infrastructures will be advanced through joint research activities in three areas where the

beneficiaries excel at world level.

Dynamic testing for earthquake engineering requires high-precision application of

discrete and distributed dynamic loads, currently using servo-hydraulic actuators. Several

new actuator technologies offer the potential for improving the fidelity and scope of dynamic

earthquake engineering testing. The aim is to use this potential and position European

laboratories so that they can offer users better opportunities.

New types of sensors, control techniques, modelling tools and remote measuring

techniques capable of enhancing the measurement of the response of specimens and

improving the quality of test control, will be validated. Numerical simulation tools, integrated

with data processing, databases and visualisation, will be developed for improved design of

test campaigns and for enhanced interpretation of test results.

Experimental testing for soil-structure interaction (SSI) will not only help calibrate

numerical methods of analysis, but will also shed qualitative and quantitative light into the

nature and significance of these nonlinear phenomena. This research activity aims at

providing Europe’s experimental facilities with the tools to carry out such novel

experiments.”

5.2 NOVEL ACTUATORS

Figure 5-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Novel actuators” webpage

http://www.series.upatras.gr/novel_actuators

http://www.series.upatras.gr/sensing

http://www.series.upatras.gr/sensing

http://www.series.upatras.gr/SSI_wave_propagation


43

The development of actuator technology over the past years can offer new potential for the

improvement of dynamic earthquake engineering testing. The aim of this joint research

activity was to explore this potential and provide laboratories with tools in order to benefit

from these new technologies. The page of the web portal dedicated to this activity gives a

description of the new actuator technology and highlights the work plan of SERIES towards

these objectives. Released deliverables on this subject and quick access to the 2009 SERIES

Actuators Workshop are available at the end of the page.

The content of this page is pasted below:

“NOVEL ACTUATORS

Several new actuator technologies (e.g. linear electrical actuators and morphing composite

materials) are coming to market and offer the potential for improving the fidelity and scope

of dynamic earthquake engineering testing. The overall aim of this joint research activity is

to evaluate this potential and to position the laboratories in this project so that they can offer

users better experimental opportunities through these technologies. This activity is divided in

three linked tasks.

The first task will produce a state-of-the-art review of the performance requirements for

earthquake engineering testing, reviewing current testing practice and examples as well as

envisioning new kinds of testing that might be enabled by the new technologies. Information

will be collated about the types and purposes of experiment, typical configurations and

performance requirements, advantages and pit-falls, techniques for performance

enhancement and optimisation, and reference publications, etc.

The second task aims at identifying and classifying candidate actuator technologies that

might satisfy these performance requirements and then at evaluating a small number of these

through desk studies and simple laboratory prototypes. The detailed technical evaluation of

the new technologies will be matched with the identified performance requirements so as to

guide the assessment of whether the devices could provide a useful extension to existing test

methods or offer a realistic chance of enabling new types of test. The next stage will be to

select one or two technologies (in additional to the pre-selected linear electrical actuator

technology) and to build a simple test-bed for each technology to assess the performance of

the system and to identify any problems.

The final task foresees the prototype design study for a hybrid actuation system that

combines linear servo-hydraulic actuators with linear electrical actuators, with the aim of

the latter improving the high-frequency fidelity of the former. The purpose is to understand


44

fully the potential of this system as a means of improving conventional actuation systems to

meet the requirements of advanced shaking table and reaction wall testing on large

structures. A further objective will be to extend the actual control scheme by developing and

implementing real-time, multi-processor schemes ensuring accurate synchronization, high

reliability, total safety and easy debugging and maintenance.”

5.3 SENSING, DATA PROCESSING AND MODELLING

Figure 5-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Sensing, data processing and modelling”

webpage

Earthquake engineering experimental testing can benefit a lot from new technologies on

sensors, control techniques and modelling tools. A more accurate and detailed measurement

of the test specimen’s response can be achieved, thus improving the quality of test control.

Relevant released deliverables are listed at the end of the page. This webpage highlights the

objectives of this joint research activity; it reads:

“SENSING, DATA PROCESSING AND MODELLING

The main objective of this joint research activity is the implementation and application of

new types of sensors, control techniques and modelling tools capable of enhancing the

measurement of the response of test specimens and improving the quality of test control. The

activity also aims at developing numerical simulation tools, integrated with data processing,

databases and visualisation, for an improved design of test campaigns and for enhanced

interpretation of experimental results.


45

New types of instrumentation (wireless, fibre optics and 3D visualization tools based on

several individual sensor measurements or digital video-photogrammetry) and techniques

for improved testing control and for measuring structural and foundation response (point

and field, local and global kinematic measurements, etc.) will be explored. Experiments at

different levels of complexity will be carried out to calibrate and validate the proposed

instrumentation and techniques.

Software will be developed for processing data from experiments on

structures/infrastructures and foundations, for database management and for detection of

errors generated by sensors or actuators. Modelling tools, data processing software and

databases will be improved with the ultimate purpose of better design of the testing

equipment and interpretation of experimental results. Requirements for data generated from

physical tests and conforming to the distributed database, will be identified, for calibration

and development of numerical models and for damage assessment. These numerical tools will

be integrated in a common software platform and system environment.

Regarding data assimilation and model updating, the scope is the improvement in

design of testing equipment and set up and of interpretation of experimental results, using FE

codes, data processing software and databases. Techniques to be employed will be based on

data assimilation to identify testing equipment and specimen by combining observational

data with the state of the dynamic system. Using sophisticated concepts and updating

techniques, a virtual model of the equipment, test facility and specimen will be built. This will

allow reducing the number of calibration pre-tests, optimising the number and location of

sensors and improving the quality of results.”

http://www.series.upatras.gr/ebase


46

5.4 TESTING FOR SSI AND WAVE PROPAGATION

Figure 5-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Testing for SSI and wave propagation”

webpage

A better understanding of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) and wave propagation is of great

importance in order to mitigate seismic risk. This joint research activity focuses on the

development of new capabilities and techniques to be applied in experimental studies of these

phenomena. The webpage that focuses on this activity gives a description of the work plan

and the objectives of the research conducted within SERIES. Links to relevant released

deliverables are provided at the end of the page.

The content of this webpage is reproduced here below:

“TESTING FOR SSI AND WAVE PROPAGATION

This joint research activity focuses on the development of new capabilities and techniques for

experimental studies of wave propagation and soil structure interaction (SSI) phenomena, for

surface and embedded structures. The work involves the use of reaction wall, shaking table,

centrifuges and field testing in developing the appropriate techniques for SSI assessment and

strong ground motion estimation intended for SSI studies.

Field testing for assessment of wave propagation and ground motion requires an

instrumentation scheme that allows to study radiation damping, complex impedance

functions, modification of the incident wave due to the structure etc. For this purpose, a 3D

testing array of accelerometers, strain gauges, pressure and displacement transducers should


47

be further developed and tested. This monitoring system will be calibrated through tests

performed in the Euroseistest experimental facility. A validation of the system will be

achieved through comparison with experimental and theoretical results and particularly with

data from free field experiments performed in USA and Japan.

SSI test techniques for centrifuge tests of shallow foundations on dry sand layers and on

layered soils will be assessed in terms of the quality of input acceleration, the response of the

foundation and the superstructure and the instrumentation used. Additionally, the data from

these tests will be used for quantifying the boundary effects due to the limited size of the

model container and for proposing ways in which these effects can be accounted for in

numerical models. The last phase of this task will integrate the response of shallow

foundations obtained from centrifuge tests as input motion into shaking table and PsD tests of

superstructures, paving the way to geographically distributed testing.

The results of tests on models including the soil will be used to develop a non-linear SSI

macroelement for shallow foundations, capable of reproducing the observed foundation

settlements and tilts and covering both cohesive and frictional soils. This macroelement will

be extended to dynamic loading conditions and it will be validated against centrifuge,

shaking table and field tests. Finally, the validated macroelement model will be used for

proposing recommendations for a test protocol for PsD testing including SSI.

The aim of implementing the Fast Hybrid Testing (FHT) technique is to enable full-size SSI

shaking table tests. More specifically, the following tasks will be implemented:

use of laminar boxes in strong motion testing;

investigation of the effect of boundary reflections;

application of FHT with the foundation and the soil simulated as a numerical

substructure and the superstructure as physical model on the shaking table;

application of FHT with the foundation and the soil modelled using a laminar shear-

box on a shaking table and a numerical model for the superstructure;

comparison of the results obtained by the two FHT alternatives;

investigation of fault rupture propagation using the fault rupture box and

development of a simplified methodology to compute the faulting-induced stressing on

foundations and structures.

Field testing techniques to assess SSI will be studied to propose the most efficient

techniques and to identify the critical SSI parameters. A monitoring system will be used to

investigate in real-scale the effects of SSI and of shock excitation on the response of the

structures at the Euroseistest facility. The results will be compared with results from


48

centrifuge and shaking table experiments as well as from numerical simulation. Finally,

numerical simulations will be compared with field evidence in order to investigate scaling

effects.

The synthesis of the previous tasks will lead to the integration of different techniques

for testing and assessing SSI for structural and geotechnical systems. The capabilities and

limitations of the various approaches will be examined and recommendations will be

proposed on how to incorporate SSI into current testing approaches. Synergies between the

various available testing procedures will be sought and emphasized.”


49

6. Dissemination Webpages

Figure 6-1: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Dissemination” webpage

The “Dissemination” section of the web portal is divided into five main pages:

i. Introductory page, which provides basic information about the 4 international

workshops and the 6 training courses that took place under SERIES,

ii. “Documents” page, where all (public) SERIES deliverables and links to order the

SERIES Workshop Proceedings are listed,

iii. “Joint brochure” page, where the joint brochure on TA activities is posted,

iv. “Training Courses” page, listing all training courses and redirecting to separate

pages for each respective one (registration instructions, the course programme,

announcements, presentations and videos, statistics on the attendees etc. are posted

there),

v. “Workshops” page, listing all SERIES Workshops and redirecting to separate

webpages for each respective workshop (the WK programme, abstracts,

announcements, presentations, guidelines to register etc are posted there).

The content of the introductory page is pasted below:


50

“DISSEMINATION

Four international workshops are planned so as to promote TA in earthquake engineering

and spread its RTD outcomes, to foster integration of the European earthquake engineering

RTD community and to increase its visibility as a world leader:

2009 International Workshop, "Opportunities for users to access European research

infrastructures in earthquake engineering", Iasi, 13-14 July 2009. The workshop

aimed to publicise the TA opportunities and capabilities of the project’s research

infrastructures. One day was devoted to the performance requirements of actuators in

seismic testing.

2010 International Workshop, "Role of research infrastructures in performance-based

earthquake engineering", Ohrid, 2 Sep. 2010. The workshop provided a forum for the

presentation of relevant RTD results of TA activities and for the discussion of the

progress in the qualification of research infrastructures.

2012 International Workshop, "Role of research infrastructures in seismic

rehabilitation", Istanbul, 8-9 Feb. 2012. The WK gave the opportunity to present RTD

results of completed TA activities and to enhance ties between the Turkish Earthquake

Engineering Community and SERIES partners.

Concluding Workshop. "Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructures", Ispra,

28-30 May 2013. An international workshop, organised jointly with US-NEES, to

present the main outcomes of the project’s NA1, JRAs, RTD results of TA projects,

and to listen to parallel developments at the international research

infrastructures/networks. The WK is dedicated in memory of Prof. R. Severn.

Free of charge training courses will be organized for enhancement of human resources

and EU-wide integration of methodologies in experimental RTD in earthquake engineering,

as well as new users. The audience will be research and technical personnel from research

infrastructures. The subjects will include the use of the TA facilities, advances in seismic

testing techniques, good practice in operation of testing facilities, maintenance of lab

equipment, seismic qualification of products and systems, etc.”


http://www.series.upatras.gr/iasi_workshop

http://www.series.upatras.gr/workshop_Ohrid

http://www.series.upatras.gr/workshop_Istanbul

http://www.series.upatras.gr/workshop_Ispra



51

Figure 6-2: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Documents” webpage

Figure 6-3: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Joint brochure” webpage

Figure 6-4: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Training Courses” webpage


52

Figure 6-4: SERIES website, screenshot of a random training course webpage (upper part)

Figure 6-5: SERIES website, screenshot of a random training course webpage (lower part)

Figure 6-6: SERIES website, screenshot of the “Workshops” webpage


53

Figure 6-7: SERIES website, screenshot of a random workshop webpage (upper part)

Figure 6-8: SERIES website, screenshot of a random workshop webpage (lower part)


54

7. SERIES Web Forum and Data Access Portal

Figure 7-1: Screenshot of the SERIES “Forum” webpage

The SERIES web forum, accessible through the SERIES portal homepage, was released on

month 11 (January 2010) with the intention to enable discussion on key issues of mutual

interest in experimental RTD and the exchange of ideas on technical problems. All SERIES

partners have access to it (same username and password as for the web portal, for

convenience) and external users can easily register (see Deliverable D4.6).

Regarding the Data Access Portal developed under WP2/NA1 (distributed database

aiming to improve the dissemination and use of experimental results and to foster the impact

of earthquake engineering research on practice, innovation and earthquake risk mitigation), a

2nd version of the DAP has been designed and developed to match the SERIES Web Portal

update, with the aim to provide a similar user experience in terms of visual design,

information architecture and interaction.

A new access control mechanism has been implemented with two levels of

permissions related to public or private published projects. Projects which are

published with a public flag can be accessed by any visitor of the DAP whereas

projects that are published with a private flag can be accessed only by certain

members of the SERIES consortium.

A new information presentation functionality of published projects has been

implemented embracing two complementary information presentation approaches

taken into consideration the hierarchical information presentation of the Exchange

Data Format.


55

A new main page of the DAP has been designed entailing a quick overview of the

available functionalities, including list of recent published projects, overview of the

Exchange Data Format and link to the user manual of the DAP.

More information on the DAP is available in deliverables D2.3 “Preliminary version of

Distributed Database and Data Access Portal” and D2.5 “2nd version of Distributed Database

and of Data Access Portal including user manual, documentation and guidelines”.

Figure 7-2: Screenshot of the SERIES “Data Access Portal”

8. Internal pages

Apart from public pages, the web portal also supports internal pages, accessible only

(controlled access) to SERIES partners and to the External Scientific Committee. Internal

pages include: 1) user profiles, 2) internal news (meetings, agendas, releases of minutes etc),

3) administrative issues (e.g. timesheets), 4) financial issues, 5) useful documents (e.g. EC

financial guides/reporting guidelines etc), 6) pages dedicated to each partner, each WP, the

Executive Committee, the External Scientific Committee, the General Committee, and the

User Selection Panel.

When User Selection Panel members, in particular, log in, an extra menu bar item “My

TA-proposals” is displayed. On this web page, TA proposals submitted to SERIES are listed,


56

with the option to sort them by e.g. title, proposal ID, review phase etc. Thus USP members

can easily keep track of submitted proposals and keep an organised record of proposal names,

lead users, and submitted files (one proposal file (pdf), following a specific template, and one

slide show (ppt) per proposal).

Internal pages were extensively used throughout the project, especially in terms of

keeping track of all meetings, agendas and minutes conducted per WP, as well as of the

decisions taken in General Committee and Executive Committee meetings. They have

substantially aided beneficiaries to build up a detailed archive of all SERIES meetings and

decisions taken from the outset of the project.

Figure 7-3: Screenshot of the SERIES homepage after a SERIES partner logs in. “Internal

pages” and “My TA-proposals” (for USP members only) appear on the main menu bar


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9. Plan for the maintenance of the web portal beyond the project end

The closing of the project is a landmark in what concerns the web portal development. By the

time the final report will be delivered, all public SERIES deliverables, TA final reports (one

report per project) and other TA material (e.g. videos), as well as a summary of the main

project results and achievements will have been uploaded to the website. From then on,

further news and announcements strictly concerning SERIES are expected to be more

limited, e.g. concerning the Concluding Workshop Proceedings, presentations of SERIES

outcomes in conferences, important publications, etc.

UPAT will remain in charge of preserving the portal in its current form. Regarding the

portal content, a discrete restructuring of the content is foreseen at the closing, so as to

promote important outcomes to the homepage (e.g. results of TA projects). Whenever a

SERIES beneficiary wishes to update the portal content after the project end, UPAT will

implement the changes. So, it is planned to regularly update the portal with news from

beneficiaries (workshops, seminars, training courses, activities, important publications and

developments, participation in other relevant projects etc.), in an effort to maintain the links

among partners and prolong collaboration.

With the end of the project there may be a shift of priority from the SERIES web portal

to the SERIES Data Access Portal. Depending on the human and material resources each

SERIES beneficiary can dedicate to this cause, all partners are expected to maintain the

database and update the content with new data on a voluntary basis (both from past and

current tests).

Thus the portal can continue serving as a reference point for SERIES partners, help

maintain ties among labs and continue the collaboration (possibly under new projects). For

future reference, the DAP has the potential to aid networking with the Earthquake

Engineering community at large with regard to data sharing with laboratories outside

SERIES. This has been underlined in the framework of collaborative efforts made during


58

SERIES (cf. Deliverable D4.9 for cooperation with other organizations, in particular with

US-NEES).

In any event, the SERIES web portal reflects the successful collaboration of a 23-strong

consortium of key actors in Europe’s seismic engineering research, interacting at the same

time through the TA activities with approximately 80 other organisations (mainly universities

but also industry professionals) from over 20 different countries. Deliverables, presentations,

publications and reports available at the web portal are the outcome of this collective effort.

The fact that the SERIES web portal makes this work available to the Earthquake

Engineering community worldwide for indefinitely afterwards, is an achievement in itself.