Past Projects

Overview: There is a critical need to understand the response of agricultural support systems and rural infrastructure under extreme loads and to evaluate how these systems contribute to the resilience of rural communities. The overall objective of this project is to develop preliminary numerical models for the dynamic repsonse of critical agricultural systems, including steel grain bins.

PI: Christine Wittich

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) via Nebraska Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NE-EPSCoR)

Duration: April 2019 - September 2020

Products:

• Loken, A., Wittich, C.E., Brito, L., and Saifullah, M.K. (2020). Digital reconnaissance and performance assessment of rural infrastructure in 2018 natural hazards. ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001460.
• Wittich, C.E. and Loken, A. (2019). 2018 Natural Hazards Digital Reconnaissance Database. DesignSafe-CI. [Dataset]. DOI: 10.17603/ds2-33tb-3657.
• Yanez Gonzalez, G., Saifullah, M.K., and Wittich, C.E. (2019). Resilience of rural infrastructure: shake table tests of scaled silos. Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences, Lincoln, NE.
• Brito, L. and Wittich, C.E. (2019). Response of agricultural components and resilience of rural communities to natural hazards. ASCE Structures Congress, Orlando, FL.

Overview: The primary objective of this project is to develop predictive models for the response of manufactured houses to dynamic loads, such as earthquakes and disasters, accounting for the range of possible installation techniques.The primary anticipated outcome of this project is an analytical relationship between the probability of failure of a manufactured house and the intensity of the extreme load (e.g. maximum wind speed).

PI: Christine Wittich

Sponsor: University of Nebraska Layman Foundation

Duration: May 2018 - April 2019

Products:

• Loken, A., Wittich, C.E., Brito, L., and Saifullah, M.K.. (2020). Digital reconnaissance and performance assessment of rural infrastructure in 2018 natural hazards. ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001460.
• Saifullah, M.K. and Wittich, C.E. (2020). System identification and performance of manufactured housing in the US. 2020 National Earthquake Conference, Poster Presentation, San Diego, CA, March 4 – 6.
• Wittich, C.E. (2019). Response of manufactured houses to extreme loads. Keynote Speaker at the 2019 Nebraska Manufactured Housing Association Annual Meeting and Convention. Council Bluffs, IA, May 17.

Overview: On Friday, June 1st, 2018, an RV caught fire on the I-80 WB shoulder causing damage to the pavement, barrier rail, north face of the bridge pier, steel elements of the superstructure, bridge deck, and utilities attached to the bridge. The primary objective of this project is to collect highly detailed point clouds of the damaged and undamaged structural elements and quantify substantial out-of-plane deformations.

PI and Co-PIs: Richard Wood (PI, UNL Civil and Environmental Engineering), Christine Wittich (Co-PI)

Sponsor: HDR Engineering (via Nebraska Department of Transportation)

Duration: November 2018 - March 2019

Products:

• Mohammadi, M.E., Wood, R.L., and Wittich, C.E. (2019). Non-temporal point cloud analysis for surface damage in civil structures. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information. DOI: 10.3390/ijgi8120527.
• Liao, Y., Mohammadi, M.E., Wood, R.L., and Wittich, C.E. (2019). Post-fire damage geospatial assessment via point clouds of a highway bridge structure. Structural Health Monitoring Applications Case Studies Archive.

Overview: The primary objective of this project is to monitor the response of nearby structures during the controlled implosion of a pair of 13-story buildings on UNL's campus. Accelerometers recorded the motion of nearby buildings as well as in the free field.

PI: Christine Wittich, Richard Wood (Co-PI)

Sponsor: University of Nebraska-Lincoln (start-up)

Duration: November 2017 - December 2018

Products:

• Devkota, K., Wittich, C.E., and Wood, R.L. (2020). Case study on the dynamic effects of blast and collapse loads on nearby buildings at the roof level. ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001501.
• Fang, C., Linzell, D.G., Wood, R.L., and Wittich, C.E. (2020). Monitoring and modeling implosion of a 13-story reinforced concrete building. 6^th International Conference on Protective Structures, Oral Presentation, Auburn, AL. (Postponed).
• Devkota, K., Wittich, C.E., and Wood, R.L. (2019). Full-scale 13-story building implosion and collapse: effects on adjacent structures. ASCE Structures Congress, Orlando, FL.
• Devkota, K., Fang, C., Wittich, C., Wood, R., and Linzell, D. (2018). Full scale 13-story building implosion: monitoring, observations, and modeling. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference, Oral Presentation, Cambridge, MA.
• Several invited talks (see Dissemination)

Overview: Systems of unanchored, or freestanding, structures are highly vulnerable to sliding and/or overturning when subject to seismic excitation. In an effort to further understand these structures, over 400 individual shake table tests were conducted on multiple geometric and material configurations of these structures. The results validated a multi-physics model for the three-dimensional response of these systems. This project formed the basis of the PI's dissertation.

PI: Christine Wittich (under advisement of Professor Tara C. Hutchinson (UC San Diego))

Sponsor: IGERT Mini-grant for Graduate Students through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (Training in Engineering and Education in Cultural Heritage at UC San Diego)

Duration: July 2012 - December 2015

Products:

• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2015). Shake table tests of stiff, unattached, asymmetric structures. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics. DOI: 10.1002/eqe.2589.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2017). Shake table tests of unattached, asymmetric, dual-body systems. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics. DOI: 10.1002/eqe.2860.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2018). Rocking bodies with arbitrary interface defects: analytical development and experimental verification. Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics. DOI: 10.1002/eqe.2937.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2017). Experimental validation of a multi-physics model for the seismic response of freestanding structural systems. 16^th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile, January 9-13.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2014). Development of a rocking-period centered protocol for shake table testing of unattached stiff components. 10th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Anchorage, AK, July 21 – 25.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2018). Rocking structures supported on surfaces with defects. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference, Oral Presentation, Cambridge, MA, May 29-June 1.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2017). Shake table tests of freestanding single and dual-body systems. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference, Oral Presentation, San Diego, CA, June 4-7.
• Two technical reports in the UC San Diego SSRP Series; and
• Best poster award in Jacobs School of Engineering Research Expo.

Overview: This project aimed to quantify the rigidity of common mounting systems for large statue-pedestals systems in museums. Experimental modal analysis and system identification were conducted for statues within the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The results were compared to numerical predictions using high-resolution geometric data acquired from laser scanning (LiDAR). Recommendations for seismic mitigation were provided in the case of weak restraints.

PI: Professor Tara C. Hutchinson (UC San Diego) with graduate research support from Christine Wittich

Sponsor: NSF-IGERT, NSF-MRI, with collaboration from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Museum Conservation Insitute of the Smithsonian Institute, EQX Global, and Forell/Elsesser Engineerings, Inc.

Duration: July 2014 - June 2015

Products:

• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2016). Experimental modal analysis and seismic mitigation of statue-pedestal systems. Journal of Cultural Heritage. DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2016.02.001.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2015). Dynamic characterization and 3D reconstructions of massive human-form archaeological statues for earthquake loading. 43rd Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Siena, Italy, March 30 – April 3.
• Wittich, C.E. (2016). Seismic response and mitigation of statue-pedestal systems utilizing modern mounting techniques. Plenary speaker at the International Mountmakers Forum. Cleveland, OH, May 4.

Overview: This project consisted of post-earthquake reconnaissance efforts following the Mw 6.1 American Canyon (South Napa) Earthquake on August 24, 2014. The first phase of reconnaissance included drone-based aerial imagery for a variety of sites including red-tagged structures, residential blocks, and highway bridges. The second phase incorporated laser scanning (LiDAR) for the documentation of unattached statues and other objects.

PI: Professor Tara C. Hutchinson (UC San Diego) with graduate research support from Christine Wittich

Sponsor: NSF-IGERT, Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, Center for Interdisciplinary Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

Duration: August 2014 - December 2014

Products:

• Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., Lo, E., Meyer, D., and Kuester, F. (2014). “The South Napa Earthquake of August 24, 2014: Drone-based Aerial and Ground-based LiDAR Imaging Survey.” In G.S. Kang and S.A. Mahin (Eds.), PEER Preliminary Notes and Observations on the August 24, 2014, South Napa Earthquake. PEER Report No. 2014/13. Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Berkeley, CA.
• Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., Lo, E., Meyer, D., and Kuester, F. (2014). The South Napa Earthquake of August 24, 2014: Drone-based Aerial and Ground-based LiDAR Imaging Survey. Structure Systems Research Project Report Series. SSRP 14/09. Department of Structural Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA.
• Meyer, D., Hess, M., Lo, E., Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., and Kuester, F. (2015). UAV-based assessment of cultural heritage sites following the 2014 South Napa earthquake. Digital Heritage International Congress, Granada, Spain, September 28 – October 2.

Overview: This project focused on a field survey of culturally significant stone statue-pedestal systems in Florence, Italy. Geometry and mass properties of these structures was obtained using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanning as well as using advanced computer vision techniques (structure from motion or SfM). The resultant three dimensional digital reconstructions were utilized for highly accurate geometric parameters and the prediction of the seismic response of individual statues.

PI: Christine Wittich (under advisement of Professor Tara C. Hutchinson (UC San Diego) through NSF-IGERT International Experience for Trainees Program)

Sponsor: NSF-IGERT International Experience for Trainees

Duration: July 2011 - December 2012

Products:

• Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., Wood, R.L., Seracini, M., and Kuester. F. (2016). Characterization of full-scale human-form culturally important statues. ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000508.
• Wittich, C.E. and Hutchinson, T.C. (2013). Computing geometric and mass properties of statues for rigid body rocking analysis. ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, June 23 – 25.
• Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., Wood, R.L., and Kuester, F. (2012). A method for an integrative documentation and characterization of culturally important statues for seismic analysis. 4th Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Cultural Heritage, Lemesos, Cyprus, October 29 – November 3.
• Wittich, C.E., Hutchinson, T.C., Wood, R.L., and Kuester, F. (2012). Survey and Characterization of Culturally Important Statues in Florence, Italy. Structural Systems Research Project Report Series. SSRP 12/10. Department of Structural Engineering, University of California, San Diego. La Jolla, CA.