lUniversity at Buffalo SEESLCUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Epicenter of Innovation
MTS helps a pioneering university lab pursue advanced civil structural testing and simulation.

C US T OM E R CH A LLEN G E

Over the last three decades, the University at Buffalo (UB) Structural Engineering andEarthquake Simulation Laboratory (SEESL) has played a prominent role in the advancement ofcivil structural engineering. It has done so through a combination of superior-quality education,
pioneering research, and helping various industries establish codes, standards and test methods.
SEESL currently supports a broad range of operations. The facility sets aside space for theMultidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering and Research (MCEER) and the GeorgeE. Brown, Jr., Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). It also supports UB
educational and research initiatives and serves external clients for commercial and research
purposes. Areas of specialization include structural vibration testing, dynamic testing, material
static tests, structural control testing and validation of nonstructural components, such as
HVAC systems and suspended ceilings, as well as lifeline systems such as electrical substations.
Testing of added clamping system
in 5-story structure“I’m not sure we would have gotten to where
we are today without the presence and supportof MTS. Our partnership with MTS has been
excellent for the last three decades, and we hope
it will be much longer.”— Dr. Andrei Reinhorn
Clifford C. Furnas Professor of Structural Engineering“We have achieved a long list of industry firsts, but we are equally proud of the talent thisfacility has produced,” said Dr. Andrei Reinhorn, a professor in the UB Civil, Structuraland Environmental Engineering Department and founder of the SEESL facility. “In my31 years here, I’ve seen more than 400 engineers graduate, many of whom have establishedadvanced civil and seismic test labs of their own throughout the world.”
SEESL constantly strives to provide more realistic simulations with the massive forces,displacements and specimen sizes involved. “Many of the structures we examine arebigger than our laboratory, which limits us in terms of the size of items we can test,”
Reinhorn said. “So, one of our ongoing challenges is finding better ways to provide themost accurate simulation in the test lab, while also containing costs.”

Founder, Structural Engineering and Earthquake
Simulation Laboratory (SEESL)
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

“I’ve appreciated my ability to directly accessexperts in earthquake simulation and static anddynamic testing, and MTS has always hadtalented engineering staff at the applications,systems engineering and facilities planning levels.”— Mark Pitman
Technical Service Manager
Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation
Laboratory (SEESL)
University at Buffalo, The State University of New YorkM T S S OL UT IO NSince 1983, MTS has provided SEESL with the configurable technology required to adapt
quickly to new test requirements, along with the readily available testing expertise required
to help SEESL test engineers explore new research methods. This longstanding partnershiphas empowered SEESL to continually identify new techniques for improving civil structuraland seismic simulation accuracy.
SEESL completed a major upgrade in 2004, which tripled the facility’s size and integrated
a host of advanced new test equipment supplied by MTS: two 6DOF shake tables tocomplement an original 5DOF shake table; large-scale dynamic and static actuators; ageotechnical laminar box; and networked MTS FlexTest® controllers. The two MTS 6DOF
shake tables can be combined to support tests of very large specimens, including full-sized
bridge spans up to 40 meters in length. MTS and SEESL also jointly developed a unique

be certain.

CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Large-scale, shake table test of container crane

Shake table test of steel structure with advanced braces (zipper frames)“The configurability of our shake tables has
opened a new world of possibility for us interms of testing and experimentation,” saidMark Pitman, Technical Service Manager at
SEESL who has collaborated with MTS for
27 years.

An example of this support is SEESL’s
collaboration with MTS in its early explorationof hybrid simulation technology, which
simultaneously combines the mechanicaltesting of substructures with computermodels of the remainder of the structure.
This technique provides an effective meansof understanding how seismic events will
impact a civil structure, without having toinvest in the lab space and test equipment
necessary to test the entire structure.

According to Pitman, such innovation ismade possible through both the versatility
and precision of the MTS test equipment, as
well as the readily available domain expertiseof MTS field engineers.

“Hybrid simulation has proven essential for
us to keep test specimen sizes manageable
while more accurately characterizing thelarger structure to which the specimenbelongs,” Reinhorn said.

facility for nonstructural component
simulation, composed of a two-story shake
table with strokes of +/- one meter andvelocities of up to three meters per second.

“I’ve appreciated my ability to directly accessexperts in earthquake simulation and staticand dynamic testing, and MTS has always hadtalented engineering staff at the applications,systems engineering and facilities planninglevels,” Pitman said. “MTS has provided alevel of technical support and field engineeringthat I consider second to none.”lMTS Systems
14000 Technology Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344-2290 USA
Telephone: 1-952-937-4000
Toll Free: 1-800-328-2255
E-mail: info@mts.com
Internet: www.mts.com

C US T OM E R BEN EFI TS

Reinhorn and Pitman agree that MTS has
been essential to helping SEESL establish
and maintain its strong global leadership
position in civil structural engineering. The
partnership has created a highly capable andconfigurable foundation on which SEESL
engineers can confidently pursue new testing
methods that support their educational,
research and commercial testing objectives.
“The flexibility of the test equipment reallyfrees us in terms of exploration, because it
gives us ability to get creative and pursue

new innovations,” Pitman said. “We may bepioneers in research and experimentation,
but that is due in large part to the fact thatMTS has been such an excellent guide.”“This lab flexibility also benefits us froman education and mentoring perspective,
because it allows us to standardize our test
software and hardware to simplify learning,”
Dr. Reinhorn added. “Students can focus
more on understanding experimental
methods and less on trying to master thetest equipment itself.”
In addition, SEESL receives Routine
Maintenance from MTS, which Pitmancites as another critical element to theSEESL success story. “The uptime weexperience due to the periodic regular
maintenance, calibration and repairs has
allowed us to keep our MTS equipment
operational with minimal downtime,” hesaid. “We currently have five or six projects
running in parallel every day of the week,
each in a different stage of preparation.”
Dr. Reinhorn looks forward to further
great results from SEESL and MTS in thefuture. “I’m not sure we would have gotten
to where we are today without the presence
and support of MTS. Our partnership withMTS has been excellent for the last three
decades, and we hope it will be much longer.”

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