An overview of seismic testing needs in Europe: towards a new advanced experimental facility

This paper presents a synthesis of the activities carried out in the framework of the European project EFAST (design study of a European Facility for Advanced Seismic Testing) to determine the general characteristics of a new European world-class facility for earthquake testing of structures. To this end the demands for the necessary testing to support the modern seismic engineering research have been investigated and compared to the actual capabilities of European laboratories. The outcome is the determination of performance objectives and requirements in the gross. On the basis of the needs assessment carried out during the first phase of the project and taking into account the technological advances in both experimental techniques and equipment (hardware and software) for seismic testing, a modern facility for experimental seismic research should be composed, mainly, of a high performance shaking tables array and a large reaction structure where both traditional (pseudo-static/dynamic) and innovative testing techniques (e.g. real time hybrid testing) can be applied and combined. A tentative layout of the facility is also proposed and issues related to the best utilization of such a laboratory are discussed.