While the country is fascinated by recent volcanic tremors surrounding Mount St. Helens, there is a different kind of rumble these days coming from UB's Ketter Hall.
According to department officials, UB's Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory continues to break new ground each year in earthquake analysis, and the addition of a new simulator will re-enforce the program as a world leader in its field.
Operations director Andrei Reinhorn called UB's program "the most rounded program in the world," and said its high status means more students, faculty, and degrees offered with "enhanced educational possibilities."
Reinhorn, a principal investigator on the project, stressed that the real purpose of the program is to research protective systems for earthquake disaster prevention.
"It's a lot more than that. We do not make earthquakes. What we make are buildings, bridges and infrastructures safe for various types of conditions," said Reinhorn, who has been in the field for 32 years. "These conditions include all instances from those surrounding transportation to wind, and of course, earthquakes."
UB has had one of the premier labs of its type for the past 20 years and remains on the forefront of earthquake analysis with the addition of this new laboratory.
Reinhorn went as far as to say there were four types of earthquake research facilities.
"Small, medium, large, and Buffalo," he said. "There are no other schools in New York with this type of capability. Only one or two schools in the United States do."
Reinhorn added that the program's latest research would be of great importance because "this has not been done before."
Reinhorn said he credited the program's success with its unique testing methodology - a revolutionary hybrid, integrated simulation.
With the new addition, the earthquake facility has been expanded from approximately 3,000 square feet to 13,000 square feet, incorporating a monstrous strong floor, large reaction wall, a trench for two movable shake tables and a 40-ton crane that spans the width of lab.
The construction took over two years to complete.
With the added machinery, the program's 500 collaborating members will have access to all of this engineering facility's data via tele-observation and tele-operation equipment, officials said.
"This laboratory provides support to different services such as the planning organization on campus, the industry, the nation and other schools," Reinhorn said, referring to the 15 major experimental research installations networked through UB's new system.
The laboratory also works with professional organizations such as the American Concrete Institute, National Steel Bridge Alliance and local contractors to research structural safety during earthquakes, officials said.
