The NHERI Equipment Facility at UC Davis is housed at the Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM). The CGM has a long history of providing users, both national and international, with access to world-class geotechnical centrifuge modeling facilities for research on the performance of soil and soil-structure systems affected by earthquake, wave, wind and storm surge loadings.

Geotechnical centrifuges enable the use of scale models to investigate nonlinear, stress-dependent responses of soil masses that are many times larger than is possible on the world’s largest 1-g shaking tables. The centerpiece of our facility is one of the largest centrifuges equipped with a shaking table in the world, which enables researchers to perform experiments with a holistic-level of complexity that is not possible with smaller scale centrifuges.

The experimental facilities at UC Davis include: (1) a 9-m radius dynamic geotechnical centrifuge, (2) a model preparation room for the 9-m radius centrifuge, (3) a 1-m radius dynamic geotechnical centrifuge, (4) a model preparation room for the 1-m radius centrifuge, (5) an electronics and calibration shop, and (6) the Geotechnical Modeling Facility building.

Visit the CGM website to learn more about the facility's people, history, and vision (cgm.engr.ucdavis.edu).