The University of Bristol and TRaC, the testing and certification house, have formalised their partnership with the appointment of TRaC’s Chris Stone as an honorary consultant in the Department of Civil Engineering at Bristol University.
TRaC's Chris Stone
The organisations together provide a seismic qualification service located in the UK that can determine and confirm the ability of a wide range of equipment destined for deployment anywhere in the world, to survive earthquake events.
TRaC can offer Seismic Qualification by Analysis, Test or a combination of the two to verify the resilience of structures and equipment with respect to earthquake vibration and shock. The University’s Bristol Earthquake Engineering Laboratory (BEELAB) has a triaxial earthquake test facility that can subject test samples to an accurate simulation of earthquake acceleration waveforms.
TRaC can work with the relevant Design Authority to produce a seismic Qualification Test Plan (QTP), which may involve Finite Element Analysis, Physical Testing or both. The Physical Test facilities at BEELAB include a 3m by 3m, 6-axis shaking table which can carry a payload of up to 15 tonnes.
Although the UK is not generally thought of as an earthquake-prone region, certain facilities – such as nuclear plant, power, oil, gas and defence and telecommunication installations – nevertheless have to demonstrate that they can withstand earthquakes. Chris Stone regularly lectures on the practical considerations of earthquake testing, based on his experience of seismic qualification test programmes on equipment that is currently in service in seismically active regions around the world.
