Development and assessment of spectrally matched records for linear and nonlinear analyses of structures, systems, and components in nuclear facilities (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
This research project addresses critical gaps in current regulatory guidelines related to the development and evaluation of ground motion sets used as input for the dynamic time-history analyses performed during the seismic design and assessment of nuclear facilities.
Seismic Assessment of Informal Reinforced Concrete Houses in Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico String Motion Program)
The 2020 South West Puerto Rico earthquake sequence devastated communities, collapsing at least 80 structures and damaging over 10,000 homes, mostly single-family dwellings with vulnerable ground floors ("soft-story"). Displaced residents faced significant hardships, with 8,000 forced to leave their homes and over 40,000 seeking disaster assistance. This project delves into the seismic resilience of these "informal" reinforced concrete houses, built without formal engineering plans. The main objective is to perform a seismic assessment of these structures and evaluate the applicability of current rehabilitation recommendations based on the incorporation of concrete shear walls.
The University of Puerto Rico Fellowship Program in Earthquake Engineering for Nuclear Facilities (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
Research topics include: non-linear soil-structure interaction, seismic earth pressures on embedded structures, strong motion duration effects, generation and structural effects of near-source pulse-like spectrum-compatible earthquake records
UPRM Faculty Development Program in Structural Engineering for Nuclear Facilities (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
This faculty development program is designed to provide two outstanding junior professors with the resources necessary to establish a strong foundation in research, teaching and professional service related to the structural design and analysis of nuclear facilities.
The University of Puerto Rico Fellowship Program in Nuclear Structural Engineering (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
The 4-year fellowship program will support four students to pursue PhD degrees in civil engineering with specialization in the analysis and design of structures of nuclear power plants. The technical training of the fellows will comprise selected structural engineering courses with modified content, student seminars, and dissertation topics relevant to the nuclear structural engineering community.
Evaluation of Signal Processing Based Methodologies for Damage Detection in Civil Infrastructure (Department of Homeland Security / Puerto Rico Strong Motion Program)
The main objective of this research is to calibrate, further develop and partially validate current signal processing based damage detection techniques using experimental data. Different test set-ups will be design based on existing test-beds available at the Advanced Hazards Mitigation Laboratory at the University of Connecticut.
The primary objective of this project is to develop a model-free signal-processing-based methodology for rapid damage detection in civil structures subjected to earthquake excitations. Advanced mathematical techniques for the analysis of nonlinear-nonstationary signals are engaged to develop algorithms capable of identifying the occurrence and severity of damage from examination of the structural response.