Capstone to the Cold-Formed Steel-Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (CFS-NHERI) Program
The “CFS10: 10-Story Cold-Formed Steel Building Shake Table Program” newsletter, issued on October 29, 2024, reports significant progress in construction at University of California San Diego (UCSD).
The foundation, featuring steel transfer plates connected to the shake table, was installed in September. Initial construction included laying the first CFS track and conducting a shake table tuning procedure, selecting over 30 test motions from past earthquakes, including notable ones from Loma Prieta and Northridge.
Construction, led by Clark Construction, commenced on October 14. The building is being stick-framed at story one, with wall and floor panels constructed offsite by AWCI member Standard Drywall Inc, and with half of the east room constructed as 3D volumetric modules on-site, while the west room will be panelized wall by wall. The team encourages following the construction updates through newsletters and social media, and a live webcam provides ongoing visibility of the project’s progress.
As noted in the newsletter, AWCI member company Raymond is the lead framing team, installing studs and walls and other AWCI and SFIA member companies are supporting the effort as well. AWCI member Nevell Group stepped in at the last minute, after another panelizer dropped out, and is providing many of the prefabricated panels for the project.
Of note: A “shake table” is a large, mostly underground, piece of equipment big enough to build a building (or in this case, a “slice” of a building) on, and through huge hydraulic actuators, it shakes the building. A triaxial shake table can move the building horizontally in both directions (East-West and North-South) as well as vertically. This test is called CFS10 because it is framed with cold-formed steel and it is 10 stories tall. The actual shaking and testing will likely happen during summer 2025, but the start of the construction and testing progress is what is being reported here. Review the full newsletter PDF.
For more information, review the CFS Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) web page, with the project overview and the latest news is at the UCSD CFS 10 web page.