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WATCH: UCSD puts 10-story building through earthquake simulation
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Researchers at UC San Diego on Monday put a 10-story, cold-formed steel building to the test, simulating how the structure would move in the midst of a major earthquake.
The experiment, dubbed 'CFS10,' is the latest to utilize the university's so-called 'shake table,' one of the largest earthquake simulators in the world and the only one of its kind in an outdoor setting.
Engineers have used the simulator for more than two decades to understand the ways buildings are impacted by seismic activity, guiding the development of new construction techniques and design particulars that improve their earthquake resiliency.
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'These large-scale shake table tests are very important because they are the ultimate level of validation of new earthquake protective systems, new types of buildings and how to make them resist earthquakes,' Joel Conte, professor of structural engineering at UCSD, said at Monday's test.
According to UCSD, researchers were interested in putting a cold-formed steel structure through the trial to determine whether current height limits for these kinds of buildings could be increased. Current building codes in the U.S. cap these structures at six stories.
Over the past 40 years, cold-formed steel, which is made from recycled steel, has increasingly become a more popular building material, serving as a substitute for timber. UCSD researchers say this is due in large part to its low cost, adaptability and fire resilience.
'We are able to test new ideas and push the boundaries of what we're doing in structural design,' Tara Hutchinson, a professor in the UCSD Department of Structural Engineering and one of the project's leaders, said in a May release announcing the test.
'Cold-formed steel is a great example of a promising light-weight, sustainable, and highly durable material, ideal for use in regions of high seismic hazard and for construction of tall buildings,' she continued.
To replicate one of these buildings on the shake table, UCSD engineers in partnership with Johns Hopkins University used a variety of methods, including the stacking of pre-fabricated floors on top of each other — almost like stacking Lego blocks.
Above: FOX 5/KUSI report on April 15, 2025 behind the scenes of the UCSD shake table.
'Non-structural' components like fire sprinkler systems and stairs are also placed throughout the building to evaluate how these elements would be impacted by the movement of an earthquake.
Per UCSD, the movement of the shake table mirrors motions recorded from prior earthquakes in California's history, like the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
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Once researchers finish collecting data from this part of the experiment, the building will be put through a series of additional tests to monitor how the building structure would fare if an earthquake sparks a fire.
Hutchinson said before the simulation that the researchers were anticipating the building to remain structurally sound through each scenario despite sustaining some damage, mostly in the highest magnitude earthquake they planned to simulate.
While this appeared to have played out, researchers said any data they collected from the experiment would be invaluable towards bettering design engineering — from addressing weaknesses in computer modeling to vulnerabilities in the building itself.
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