Virtual Laboratory for Earthquake Engineering

This page is a starting point for Virtual Laboratories for Earthquake Engineering (VLEE). The VLEE is a project of the Smart Structures Technology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Funding for the VLEE is provided by the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at SUNY-Buffalo.

The purpose of these Virtual Laboratories is to provide an interactive framework for students and practitioners to gain fundamental understanding and intuition regarding a wide range of topics in earthquake engineering.

Virtual Experiments

The following virtual experiments are currently available:
(Tip: Hold down "Ctrl" key and click "Help" button on the Virtual Labs if you use a popup blocker.)

	Structural Control using TMDs and AMDs: This virtual experiment allows you to compare the effect of using two different control systems to reduce structural response of an "uncontrolled" structure subjected to earthquake excitation. The two control systems, chosen because of the widespread interest in this class of systems, are the tuned mass damper (TMD) and the hybrid mass damper (HMD). For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the simulator.


	Linear Base Isolation: This virtual experiment allows you to study the effectiveness of base isolation to reduce the seismic demands on a structure. The simulator models a building as a single degree-of-freedom system with linear isolators For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the experiment.


	Nonlinear Base Isolation: This virtual experiment allows you to study the effectiveness of base isolation to reduce the seismic demands on a structure. The simulator models a building as a single degree-of-freedom system with various types of nonlinear isolators. For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the experiment.


	Nonlinear Two Story Building: This virtual experiment allows you to conduct nonlinear dynamic analysis for a two story building. The building is modeled as a two degree-of-freedom system with various types of nonlinear models for each story. For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the experiment.


	Nonlinear Multiple Story Building: This virtual experiment allows you to conduct nonlinear dynamic analysis for a multiple story building. The building is modeled as a multi-degree-of-freedom system with various types of nonlinear models for each story. For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the experiment.


	Experimental Structural Dynamics: This virtual experiment allows you to conduct virtual experiments of shear building models. This software utilizes a multi-story shear building model as the test bed and computes various spectral characteristics of the building based on the structural responses obtained through the linear/nonlinear dynamic analysis For more detailed information, click here or on the help button after you launch the experiment.

Note that at least Netscape 4.0 or MS Explorer 4.0 is required to run these Simulators. Depending on the speed of your connection, the Simulators may take a minute or so to load. After loaded, network speed will not affect simulator performance.

Any questions or comments regarding these animations may be directed to Prof. B.F. Spencer, Jr. at bfs@uiuc.edu.

Page designed by Erik A. Johnson (JohnsonE@usc.edu) .