Earthquake Engineering - Testing

Earthquakes are catastrophic events that cannot be predicted. Yet, we must ensure that buildings, infrastructures and critical equipment for power generation and telecom are reliable during earthquakes, also in regions where earthquakes are not common.

Our offer

At RISE we have long-standing experience on how structures react to seismic events. The department of Chemistry and Applied Mechanics operates a test bed able to perform seismic tests of objects up to 2 tons. The test bed is combined with numerical simulations to offer a large window of services for the evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of equipment, buildings and infrastructures at different scales.

Testing

Seismic tests have been performed at RISE since the 1980’s, when the institute's name was SP. Nowadays the laboratory of the Chemistry and Applied Mechanics department, in Borås, owns accreditation for many international seismic test methods and standards, approved by SWEDAC.

Our primary equipment is a biaxial 4-DOF shake table with +/- 200 mm displacement range in each direction, necessary for correct earthquake simulation. We test objects up to and above 1.5 tons, depending on the height of the centre of gravity and the required earthquake severity. A larger uni-axial shake table can be used to test larger and heavier test objects in the horizontal direction.

RISE also has a shake rig in Kista, Stockholm, that is primarily used for seismic testing of telecom equipment, according to the Telcordia standard.

Most of the test assignments that we conduct are for the seismic qualification of safety-critical equipment for nuclear power generation, electrical power distribution and telecommunication. Get in contact with us, we are ready to formulate tailored-made experimental solutions that suit your needs!