Centrifuge Workshops

The UC Davis NHERI Experimental Facility hosted the 2024 Centrifuge Users Workshop on October 10-11, 2024. The workshop was a hybrid remote/in-person event similar to the previous year. The mornings of both days comprised presentation and discussion sessions for both the remote and in-person participants. The afternoons comprised working sessions for in-person participants. The presentation/discussion sessions in the mornings covered (1) the NHERI centrifuge facility science plan and capabilities, (2) principles of centrifuge modeling, (3) centrifuge test design and planning, (4) external user experiences, and (5) example research projects. Links to PDFs of the morning presentations are provided below. The working sessions for in-person participants in the afternoons focused on proposal development and included interactive sessions on (1) further developing a research vision, (2) designing and planning a centrifuge test program, and (3) writing a proposal for research using the NHERI centrifuge facility.

  • Facility science plan and facility tour (Jason DeJong and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Principles of geotechnical centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Example research project (Katerina Ziotopoulou) (PDF)
  • Proposal planning and budget (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • External user experience (Mohammad Khosravi) (PDF)
  • Example research projects (Alejandro Martinez) (PDF)
  • DesignSafe (Craig Jansen) (PDF)
  • Data example (Katerina Ziotopoulou) (PDF)

The UC Davis NHERI Experimental Facility hosted the 7th Centrifuge Users Workshop on October 12-13, 2023. The workshop was a hybrid remote/in-person event similar to the previous year.  The mornings of both days comprised presentation and discussion sessions for both the remote and in-person participants. The afternoons comprised working sessions for in-person participants. The presentation/discussion sessions in the mornings covered (1) the NHERI centrifuge facility science plan and capabilities, (2) principles of centrifuge modeling, (3) centrifuge test design and planning, (4) external user experiences, and (5) example research projects. Links to PDFs of the morning presentations are provided below. The working sessions for in-person participants in the afternoons focused on proposal development and included interactive sessions on (1) further developing a research vision, (2) designing and planning a centrifuge test program, and (3) writing a proposal for research using the NHERI centrifuge facility.

  • Facility science plan and facility tour (Jason DeJong and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Principles of geotechnical centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Example research project No. 1 (Alejandro Martinez) (PDF)
  • Proposals - Budgets and work plans (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • External user experiences (Jiarui Chen) (PDF)
  • Centrifuge test design and planning (Jason DeJong) (PDF)
  • Data example [Tim Cockerill (PDF) & Katerina Ziotopoulou (PDF)]

The UC Davis NHERI Experimental Facility hosted the 6th Centrifuge Users Workshop on October 13-14, 2022. The workshop was a hybrid remote/in-person event.  The mornings of both days comprised presentation and discussion sessions for both the remote and in-person participants. The afternoons comprised working sessions for in-person participants. The presentation/discussion sessions in the mornings covered (1) the NHERI centrifuge facility science plan and capabilities, (2) principles of centrifuge modeling, (3) centrifuge test design and planning, (4) external user experiences, and (5) example research projects. Links to PDFs of the morning presentations are provided below. The working sessions for in-person participants in the afternoons focused on proposal development and included interactive sessions on (1) further developing a research vision, (2) designing and planning a centrifuge test program, and (3) writing a proposal for research using the NHERI centrifuge facility.

  • Facility science plan and facility tour (Ross Boulanger and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Principles of geotechnical centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Example research project No. 1 (Katerina Ziotopoulou) (PDF)
  • Proposals - Budgets and work plans (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • External user experiences (Mohammad Khosravi) (PDF)
  • Centrifuge test design and planning (Jason DeJong) (PDF)
  • Example research project No. 2 (Alejandro Martinez) (PDF)

The UC Davis NHERI Experimental Facility hosted virtually the 5th Centrifuge Users Workshop on October 28-29, 2021. The workshop inlcuded a virtual tour and lectures describing the capabilities of the centrifuge facility, various research opportunities and challenges, guidance on preparing research proposals, and details about planning, budgeting, and scheduling of experimental programs. Breakout sessions provided opportunities for discussion of specific research details or questions posed by participants. The program, with links to PDFs of presentations where applicable, was as follows.

  • Facility science plan and facility tour (Ross Boulanger and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Principles of geotechnical centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Example research project No. 1(Katerina Ziotopoulou) (PDF)
  • Proposals - Budgets and work plans (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • External user experiences (Mohammad Khosravi) (PDF)
  • Centrifuge test design and planning (Jason DeJong) (PDF)
  • Example research project No. 2 (Alejandro Martinez) (PDF)
  • Breakout sessions for consultation on research concepts, experimental designs, and proposal development (Bruce Kutter (PDF), Ross Boulanger (PDF), Dan Wilson (PDF), Rick Fragaszy)

The UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling / NHERI Experimental Facility hosted an International Workshop on "Frontiers for Hypergravity Experiments and Model Tests" in December 2020 with support from the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) Technical Commitee on Physical Modeling in Geotechnics. The objectives of the workshop were to: (1) identify and make the case for new, underutilized, and emerging areas of research across engineering and the sciences that might benefit from the use of a centrifuge, and (2) identify the facility and instrumentation needs for these new areas.

The UC Davis NHERI Experimental Facility hosted the 4th Centrifuge Users Workshop on Friday, May 10, 2019 at the University of California at Davis. The program, with links to PDFs of presentations where applicable, was as follows. 

  • Introductions and UC Davis facility (Ross Boulanger and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Facility tour (Dan Wilson, Bruce Kutter, Ross Boulanger, and various researchers)
  • Using the centrifuge in research projects (Ross Boulanger) (PDF)
  • Principles of centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Lunch panel & discussion (PDF)
  • Proposal planning and NHERI (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • UC San Diego Shaking Table (Joel Conte) (PDF)
  • Working with NSF (Joy Pauschke) (PDF)
  • Introduction to sensors and data acquisition (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Break out sessions (Ross  Boulanger, Bruce Kutter, Dan Wilson)
  • Concluding remarks and workshop evaluation forms

The 3rd Centrifuge Users Workshop was held on May 18, 2018 at the University of California, Davis, CA. Information presented at the workshop included the following presentations.

  • Introduction (Ross Boulanger and Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Tour and poster session (Dan Wilson and various researchers)
  • Principles of centrifuge modeling (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Lunch panel session on experiences of new faculty (Katerina Ziotopoulou and Alejandro Martinez)
  • CPT and liquefaction example (Ross Boulanger and Kate Darby) (PDF)
  • Research planning (Jason DeJong) (PDF)
  • Working with NSF (Joy Pauschke) (PDF)
  • Proposal budget and planning (Dan Wilson) (PDF)
  • Breakout session A: soil structure interaction (Bruce Kutter) (PDF)
  • Breakout session B: liquefaction (Ross Boulanger) (PDF)
  • Concluding remarks and workshop evaluation forms

The 2nd Centrifuge Users Workshop was held on May 12, 2017 at the University of California, Davis, CA. Information presented at the workshop included the following presentations.

The 1st Centrifuge Users' Workshop was held on January 22, 2016. Information presented at that workshop included the following PDFs.  

Participants in the 2017 Centrifuge Users' Workshop

Photograph: participants in one of the Centrifuge Users Workshops gather by the 9m radius centrifuge