Press Releases
Inside the Largest Outdoor Earthquake Simulator in the World
June 13, 2023
We’re taking you underground and inside the largest outdoor earthquake simulator in the world. You’re about to learn how this high-performance shake table is powered and equipped with smart-control technology that can simulate the most devastating earthquakes in modern history. Full Story
Tallwood tests UC San Diego Shake Table media day May 9 2023
May 8, 2023
Links for Tallwood Project media day. Full Story
Tallest full-scale building ever built on an earthquake simulator put to the test at UC San Diego this spring
April 5, 2023
A 10-story building made of cross-laminated timber will be tested on one of the world’s two largest earthquake simulators at the University of California San Diego this spring. Known as the Tallwood project, it is the tallest full-scale building ever to be constructed and tested on an earthquake simulator, or shake table. The tests are scheduled to start in late April. Full Story
University of California researchers work to learn from Turkey quake
February 15, 2023
Teams of researchers from California are heading to Turkey and Syria to survey the damage from last week's 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Much of the data collected will be shared with scientists and engineers at some of University of California campuses. UC San Diego will use the data in its "shake table" project. Full Story
2022 Research Highlights
December 20, 2022
From tools to track the origin and spread of COVID-19, to making homes safer in earthquakes, to using smartphones as diagnostic tools, researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering pioneered important work in 2022. A few highlights of our outstanding research this year are here. Full Story
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A big machine for earthquake safety reopens at UC San Diego
July 20, 2022
The NSF director visited and inaugurated the UC San Diego earthquake simulator, one of the two largest in the world. Full Story
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World's largest outdoor earthquake simulator undergoes major upgrade
June 9, 2021
A major upgrade to the world’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator reached a milestone mid-April when the facility’s floor--all 300,000 lbs of it--was put back into place. When completed this fall, the simulator will have the ability to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy to make structures and their residents safer during strong shakes. Full Story
Major Upgrade Under Way at the World's Largest Outdoor Shake Table
December 14, 2020
Earlier this year in San Diego, two giant cranes lifted the 330,000 lb. steel floor, or platen, off the world’s largest outdoor shake table, revealing a complex network of pipes, wires and catwalks. This was the first step in a major $16.3 million upgrade to the seismic simulator funded by the National Science Foundation. Over the next 10 months, the facility will undergo major construction. When completed in October 2021, the shake table will be able to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy. Full Story
Joel Conte Named to the Eric and Johanna Reissner Chair for Structural Engineering
June 2, 2020
Structural engineering professor Joel Conte was named to the Eric and Johanna Reissner Chair in the Department of Structural Engineering at UC San Diego. Conte is the principal investigator for the operation and maintenance of the world’s largest outdoor shake table located at the UC San Diego Englekirk Structural Engineering Center at the University of California San Diego. The facility, which is also the second largest shake table in the world overall, is currently undergoing a major upgrade funded by the National Science Foundation. Once upgraded, the shake table will be able to reproduce all six components of ground motions experienced during earthquakes. Conte is the principal investigator on the $16.3 million upgrade grant. Full Story
UC San Diego at Epicenter of Earthquake Research
October 21, 2019
From the world’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator to an international network of seismic stations, UC San Diego is a living laboratory for seismic safety. Researchers across campus are trying to improve the understanding and detection of earthquakes; provide immediate information about damages sustained after an event; and improve the safety of structures to better withstand major earthquakes. Full Story
World's largest outdoor shake table receives $16.3M from NSF for upgrades
October 15, 2018
The world’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator, operated by structural engineers at the University of California San Diego, has received a $16.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to upgrade the facility to expand its testing capabilities. The funds will enable the simulator, also commonly known as a shake table, to more realistically recreate the motion of the ground during strong earthquakes. Full Story
Earthquake Shake Tests at UC San Diego Toward 20-story Earthquake-safe Buildings Made from Wood
July 18, 2017
Engineering researchers are putting a two-story wooden structure through a series of powerful earthquake simulations at the University of California San Diego shake table this week. The goal is to gather the data required to design wood buildings as tall as 20 stories that do not suffer significant damage during large earthquakes. Full Story
Shake, Burn and Learn
December 20, 2016
On a recent afternoon, two Jacobs School engineers equipped with 3D glasses stood in front of a towering 12’ digital reproduction of a six-story building, projected onto a curved wall of screens. They had tested the building a few weeks before, putting its light-weight steel frame through a series of increasingly powerful earthquake and fire tests on the world’s largest outdoor shake table at UC San Diego. Now researchers were zooming in and out of the building’s digital twin to assess damage. Full Story
WPI to Conduct Fire Tests Aimed at Better Understanding Post-Earthquake Fires in Cold-Formed Steel Buildings
June 28, 2016
A team of researchers from the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) will be conducting burn tests aimed at better understanding the effects of post-earthquake fires on cold-formed steel-framed buildings and assessing various methods for preventing appliances and broken gas mains from igniting fires during quakes. Full Story
Six-story steel frame building undergoes seismic and fire testing on world's largest outdoor shake table
June 13, 2016
A team of engineers is testing a six-story, lightweight steel-frame building on the world’s largest outdoor seismic shake table this month at the University of California San Diego. The goal is to better understand how cold-formed steel structures withstand earthquakes and the fires that may follow. This is the tallest cold-formed steel-frame structure to ever undergo tests on a shake table. Full Story
World's largest outdoor shake table gets $5.2 million from National Science Foundation
September 24, 2015
The University of California at San Diego has received a $5.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to run the world’s largest outdoor shake table for the next five years. The table, which can carry structures weighing up to 2,000 tons, can replicate the ground motions of most of the world’s largest earthquakes. It has been used since 2004 as a resource for NSF-funded researchers from around the nation to test innovative technologies and designs for seismic safety of new buildings and retrofitting techniques for existing structures. Full Story
Structural seismic design expert Nigel Priestley dies
January 6, 2015
Nigel Priestley, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Structural Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, passed away peacefully on Tuesday Dec. 23 in Christchurch, New Zealand, surrounded by his wife, Jan, and children, after a long battle with cancer. Full Story
UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Launches Center for Extreme Events Research
December 19, 2014
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have launched a new center of excellence focused on developing better ways to protect buildings, bridges, dams and the rest of the built infrastructure, as well as the human body, from extreme events such as blasts from terrorist attacks, mining explosions, car crashes, sports collisions and natural disasters such as landslides and earthquakes. Full Story
Learning by Shaking
December 3, 2013
Over the past seven years, more than 7,000 sixth-graders from 26 schools in San Diego County built their own structures and got to test them on small shake tables at the Jacobs School of Engineering. It’s all part of the Earthquake Engineering with K’NEX Outreach Program run by the UC San Diego chapter of the Society of Civil and Structural Engineers. Full Story
UC San Diego Shake Table, Robot Win Best of What's New Awards from Popular Science
November 13, 2013
The biggest outdoor shake table in the world and a robot designed to move along utility lines have received Best of What’s New awards from Popular Science, the world’s largest science and technology magazine. The two projects are featured in the magazine’s December issue, now on newsstands. Full Story