Time Step Optimization For Distributed Hybrid Simulation Between University Of California – Berkeley And University Of Auckland

Abstract

A new real-time hybrid simulation laboratory at the University of Auckland has facilitated the first distributed hybrid tests from New Zealand. Hybrid simulation is an emerging dynamic testing technique, capable of linking finite element and physical substructures, geographically distributed at laboratories worldwide, to create a structural representation unachievable by a single laboratory alone. Structural seismic response is investigated through a simultaneous and linked regime over the internet, using numerical solutions to the equations of motion. In these first-of-a-kind distributed tests, the University of Auckland hosted a finite element model of a one-story, one-bay frame linked with the University of California-Berkeley’s micro-NEES experimental column. A long simulation time step was chosen for the initial tests, where parameters investigated included both linear and nonlinear behavior and varying packet size to optimize network performance. Following this first successful distributed test series, faster simulations were performed to find an optimal simulation time step without compromising the test results. These first distributed tests performed mark an important milestone for a new mode of international collaborations between the US NEES and New Zealand