PEER-TSRP Funds 11 Full Projects

PEER has continuing funding from the State of California related to the seismic performance of transportation systems. This funding supports the Transportation Systems Research Program (TSRP), the purpose of which is to lessen the impacts of earthquakes on the transportation systems of California, including highways and bridges, port facilities, high-speed rail, and airports. In September 2017, PEER issued a request for proposals, Solicitation PEER TSRP 17-01 for one- and two-year projects aligned with the current TSRP research priorities and vision.

In response to Solicitation PEER TSRP 17-01, 47 outstanding proposals were received, covering 16 different issues in the broad domains of: Geotechnical Engineering (G), PBEE of Bridge Systems (S), PBEE Methodology (M), PBEE Tools (T), and Areas of Application (A). All proposals were grouped into two categories: 13 seed proposals of $50,000 total budget or less and 34 full proposals of more than $50,000 total budget. Each proposal received three independent reviews from members of the PEER Research Committee. Based on the priorities of the pre-set strategic plan, pre-defined evaluation criteria that was specified in the RFP, and factors such as the level of engagement of as many of the PEER core institutes as possible, 17 new projects were recently approved: 6 seed projects and 11 full projects listed below, comprising a total of 17 projects funded for over $1 million.

Two of the 11 full projects are collaborations of PEER core campuses. One project is a collaboration between PEER core campuses Stanford University and UNR, and another project is a collaboration between a PEER core campus, UC Davis, and a member of PEER Business and Industry Partnership (BIP) program, Forell/Elsesser Engineers. Awarded projects will be listed soon on the PEER-TSRP website at http://peer.berkeley.edu/transportation/projects/.

PEER thanks all the PIs who submitted proposals. There are plans to have the PEER-TSRP RFP released annually in the fall, and possibly biannually with another release mid-spring.

The following is a list of the 11 funded full projects, in addition to the six seed projects that were announced in November 2017.

Funded Full Projects

Title: G1: Liquefaction triggering and effects at silty soil sites
PI: Jonathan Bray, University of California, Berkeley
Amount: $84,482

Title: T4: Modeling Bay Area transportation network resilience
PI: Jack Baker, Stanford University
Amount: $95,017

Title: S1: Aftershock seismic vulnerability and time-dependent risk assessment of bridges
PI: Henry Burton, University of California, Los Angeles
Amount: $68,753

Title: S2: UNR-Stanford Collaboration: Stanford – Accounting for earthquake duration in performance-based evaluation and design of bridges
PI: Gregory Deierlein, Stanford University
Amount: $76,796

Title: S2: UNR-Stanford Collaboration: UNR – Accounting for earthquake duration in performance-based evaluation and design of bridges
PI: David Sanders, University of Nevada, Reno
Amount: $78,782

Title: T1: Development of a database and a toolbox for regional seismic risk assessment of California’s highway bridges
PI: Ertugrul Taciroglu, University of California, Los Angeles
Amount: $49,806

Title: S3: Dissipative base connections for moment frame structures in airports and other transportation systems
PI: Amit Kanvinde, University of California, Davis
Amount: $49,658

Title: T3: A Systematic computational framework for multi-span bridge PBEE applications
PI: Ahmed Elgamal, University of California, San Diego
Amount: $99,874

Title: T3: Towards next generation p-y formulations – Part 2: Statistical assessment of uncertainties in key components of soil resistance functions
PI: Anne Lemnitzer, University of California, Irvine
Amount: $53,492

Title: A1: Tsunami debris: Simulating hazard and loads
PI: Patrick Lynett, University of Southern California
Amount: $43,349

Title: S3: Post-earthquake fire performance of industrial facilities
PI: Erica Fischer, Oregon State University
Amount: $50,000