FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHERI's SimCenter PBE Application Now Integrates Functional Recovery Simulations
Latest release leverages Arup's open-source REDI Seismic Downtime Model, expanding the capabilities and user-base for resilient seismic design.
October 20, 2023, Berkeley, CA — The NHERI SimCenter's open-source performance-based engineering (PBE) software application simulates the impact of a natural hazard event on a building or structure. In its latest release, SimCenter has seamlessly integrated Arup's open-source REDi Seismic Downtime Model, expanding PBE earthquake simulations to include functional recovery computations.
With this integration, simulations in PBE go beyond calculating earthquake damage, repair costs, and environmental impacts. Access to Arup’s official REDi model now enables PBE users to assess the time it takes to perform repairs to a damaged structure that correspond to key milestones in the services it provides – such as shelter – and later to regain its original functionality before becoming fully repaired.
Being able to quantify the time it takes for damaged buildings to reach these milestones extends the benefits of simulation results — for practitioners and researchers alike. Now engineers and designers can evaluate the resilience of their building designs, and researchers can investigate the recovery of buildings and communities after earthquakes, by leveraging the transparency of the open-source PBE Application.
A research-to-practice advance
Incorporating open-source REDi capabilities into the PBE Application is a far-sighted move that provides the significant step towards building a hazard-to-recovery simulation workflow. The SimCenter team demonstrates how researchers and practitioners, working together, can leverage their respective strengths to accelerate innovation and support community resilience. As the simulation and modeling hub for the NSF-funded NHERI network, the SimCenter and its augmented PBE Application will expand the number of users who understand and deploy functional recovery simulation.
“We are thrilled to see these aligned efforts take shape. Arup’s release of open-source REDi has enabled us to integrate the first open-source functional recovery simulation engine in the SimCenter PBE Application,” said Adam Zsarnóczay, associate director for research outreach at the SimCenter. "This coordination underscores SimCenter’s commitment to driving innovation, supporting open science, and bridging research and practice in the realm of engineering simulations and disaster resilience."
Read details and download the PBE Application at the NHERI SimCenter website:
About SimCenter: The NHERI SimCenter, comprised of researchers and experts in natural hazards engineering and social sciences, provides researchers and practitioners access to next-generation computational modeling and simulation software tools, user support, and educational materials needed to advance their capability to simulate the impact of natural hazards on structures, lifelines, and communities. The SimCenter is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (1612843 & 2131111). More information about the NHERI SimCenter can be found at https://simcenter.designsafe-ci.org.
About Arup: Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of designers, consultants and experts working globally. Founded to be humane and excellent, Arup collaborates with clients and partners using imagination, technology, and rigor to shape a better world.