Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research (CCEER)
The College of Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are pleased to announce the Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research (CCEER) is celebrating 25 years of earthquake engineering research.
The Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research was formally established in 1984. Early research efforts were devoted to testing full-scale bridges in the field. However, with the completion of the high-bay structures laboratory in the Harry Reid Engineering Laboratory in 1992, recent efforts have used high performance shake tables to study the seismic behavior of numerous structural and geotechnical systems.
Today the Center comprises two research laboratories, one in geotechnical engineering and the other in large-scale structural systems. Almost 20 academic, research, and administrative faculty, research scientists, and technicians are affiliated with CCEER, and about 30 doctoral and masters students are engaged in research projects under the Center’s umbrella. Total research funding in 2009 was about $3.5 million. In its 25-year history the Center has published more than 160 technical reports which describe the results of these activities. Through these and other publications, CCEER has become well known for its work in advancing seismic safety, particularly in the area of highway bridges.
The Large-Scale Structures Laboratory is a member of the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) established by the National Science Foundation in 2004. As a NEES Equipment Site the Laboratory is equipped with four, large-scale, high-performance shake tables.
Through the Center’s shared-use policies, research is carried out for federal and state agencies, the private sector and non-profit organizations. In addition to highway bridges, the Center’s current research efforts include the study of non-structural components in buildings and alternative building materials.
