Dynamic Load Simulator: Development of a Prototype

This technical note describes prototype development of a next generation of structural testing facility referred to here as a dynamic load simulator (DLS). The DLS simulates dynamic loading environment such as wind, waves, or earthquake effects, utilizing an electric or hydraulic actuator system instead of conventional facilities such as a wind tunnel, wave tank, or shaking table. Similitude requirements or the system capacity often preclude testing of large-scale models utilizing these facilities. In conventional test facilities continuous space-time variations of aerodynamic and hydrodynamic pressure fields and inertial loads are introduced to model the effects of wind, waves, or earthquakes. On the other hand, DLS provides discrete point loads utilizing a single- or multiactuator system to produce global dynamic load characteristics by taking into account the overall spatiotemporal correlation. A suite of typical loading protocols that includes sinusoidal, random correlated Gaussian, and non-Gaussian variations are simulated and verified experimentally utilizing single and dual actuator systems.