Professor Astroza has been awarded a new Fondecyt Regular Research grant. This 4-years project will study the vulnerability of onshore wind turbines in seismic areas, combining impacts of concurrent wind and earthquake demands, repeated significant earthquakes over turbine’s lifespan, potential structural deterioration from extreme operational and environmental conditions, and the influences of soil-structure interaction (SSI).…

Our group recently awarded a FOVI-ANID research grant to build an international network of researchers in the field of earthquake engineering. The project aims to conduct pioneering research for earthquake risk assessment, integrating experimental data measured during previous seismic events and information generated through nonlinear finite element models, with advanced statistical techniques from the field…

The paper entitled “A simplified tri-linear model for monolithic exterior shear keys failing in sliding shear” has been published in the journal Structures. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Probabilistic seismic assessment of multispan RC highway bridges considering SSI and chloride-induced corrosion” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

We are thrilled to report that Brian Cagua successfully passed his candidacy exam and is now considered a PhD Candidate.

Our continuing education program “Structural Design of Industrial Facilities” received the “2022 Best Program Award” of the Universidad de los Andes. This program covers theory, concepts, and applications to real projects of industrial facilities. The instructors are recognized structural engineers including Raomn Montecinos, Miguel Medalla (M.Eng., PhD(c)), Carlos Peña (M.Eng., PhD(c)), Cristian Urzua (MSc), and…

The research team composed by professors Rodrigo Astroza (UAndes), Marcos Orchard (Universidad de Chile), Constanza Ahumanda (UChile), and Francisco Hernández (UAndes) was awarded a IDeA Advanced Technologies grant to continue the development of a technology for structural damage diagnosis and prognosis of onshore wind turbines.

The paper entitled “Data-driven analysis of crustal and subduction seismic environments using interpretation of deep learning-based generalized ground motion models” has been published in the journal Expert Systems with Applications. Find out more information here.

The documentary was about natural hazards and prof. Astroza was interviewed to share the Chilean experience in earthquakes, seismic design, and society awareness.

The paper entitled “ Bayesian model updating implementation in a five-story building ” has been published in the special issue Structural Identification and Damage Evaluation by Integrating Physics-Based Models with Data of the journal Buildings. Find out more information here.

Our group is conducting research about moonquakes, specifically proposing a method to generate synthetic time series representative of quakes recorded on the moon by the Apollo mission back in the 60’s and 70’s. The undergraduate student Nelson Fernandez is working on this topic in collaboration by professor Daniel Gomez from the Universidad del Valle –…

Professor Astroza taught the class “Seismic design and analysis of nonstructural components” in the Master Program in Civil Engineering with specialization in earthquake-resistant structures at the Department of Civil Engineering of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.

The paper entitled “Uncertainty Quantification in Constitutive Models of Highway Bridge Components: Seismic Bars and Elastomeric Bearings” has been published in the special issue Seismic Research on Bridges and Engineering Structures of the journal Materials. Find out more information here.

The School of Civil and Geomatic Engineering at the Universidad del Valle, located in Cali-Colombia, invited professor Astroza to teach a course on Model updating based on stochastic filtering. During his 1 week stay, professor Astroza also gave a seminar about finite element model calibration and Chilean experience on earthquake engineering.

The paper entitled “Two-dimensional simulation of the seismic response of the Santiago Basin, Chile” has been published in the journal Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Find out more information here.

This recognition is awarded by the Chilean Engineers Institute to the best graduating student of the 2021 class. Congratulations Jose Tomas!  

The proceedings of the 9th edition of the International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures (EVACES2021) have been published by Springer in the series Lecture Notes of Civil Engineering. The book includes contributions in the areas of testing, sensing, monitoring, and control of civil structures. The book was edited by the following…

The paper entitled “Test Data-Informed Nonlinear Finite Element Model Updating and Damage Inference of a Shake-table Tested Bridge Column considering Bond-slip under Multiple Earthquakes” has been published in the Journal of Earthquake Engineering. Find out more information here.  

The paper entitled “Adobe mixtures reinforced with fibrillated polypropylene fibers: Physical/mechanical/fracture/durability performance and its limits due to fiber clustering” has been published in the journal Construction and Building Materials. Find out more information here.  

The paper entitled “Soil–basement interaction effects on the seismic response of tall buildings with basement levels” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Probabilistic characterization of a high-cycle accumulation model for sands” has been published in the journal Computers and Geotechnics. Find out more information here.

Dr. Francisco Pinto joined our research group in March, 2022. He is conducting research in different topics related to eathquake and structural engineering, incluidng soil-structure interaction, seismic response of aging bridges, and effects of scour in the response of structures subjected to earthquakes.

The paper entitled “A Bayesian approach for fatigue damage diagnosis and prognosis of wind turbine blades” has been published in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. Find out more information here.

This week, we started the 3rd version of the continuing education program “Seismic design of industrial facilities”. The instructors are structural engineers Dr. (c) Carlos Peña, M.Sc. Cristian Urzúa, Ph.D. (c) Miguel Medalla, Ramón Montecinos, and Dr. Rodrigo Astroza. In this program, we cover topics related to seismic design and analysis of steel structures, silos,…

The paper entitled “Statistical analysis of the modal properties of a seismically-damaged five-story RC building identified using ambient vibration data” has been published in the Journal of Building Engineering. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “A experimental study of a cable-pulleys spring-damper energy dissipation system for buildings” has been published in the Journal of Building Engineering. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled A Lifecyle assessment of a low-energy mass-timber building and mainstream concrete alternative in Central Chile” has been published in the journal Sustainability. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Bayesian updating and identifiability assessment of nonlinear finite element models” has been published in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Modeling the loss of vibration energy in buildings to elastic-waves using high-fidelity FE modeling and absorbent exterior boundaries ” has been published in the Journal of Earthquake Engineering. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Seismic fragility assessment of Chilean skewed highway bridges” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

Felipe and Benjamin Guajardo joined our research group last August. Felipw will be working on structural heatlh monitoring of wind turbine blades and Benjamin on probabilisitic seismic analysis of bridges.

The 1st version of the online course on Performance based seismic design started on July 22, 2021. A total of 21 engineers from different Latin American countries (Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Chile) are participating and the instructors are the engineers David Ugalde (Ph.D.), Miguel Medalla (M.Eng, Ph.D. ©), Mario Lafontaine, and Rodrigo Astroza (M.Sc.,…

The 2nd version of the online course on Seismic design of industrial facilities started last April. A total of 30 engineers are participating and the instructors are engineers Carlos Pena (M.Eng, Ph.D. ©), Miguel Medalla (M.Eng, Ph.D. ©), Cristian Urzua (M.Sc.), Ramon Montecinos, and Rodrigo Astroza (M.Sc., Ph.D.). In this course, the following topics are…

The paper entitled “Time variant system identification of superstructures of base-isolated buildings” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.  

The research team composed by professors Rodrigo Astroza (UAndes), Marcos Orchard (Universidad de Chile), Sebastian Rivera (UAndes), and Constanza Ahumanda (UChile) was awarded a FONDEF IDeA in Two Stages grant to continue the development of a technology for structural damage diagnosis and prognosis of onshore wind turbines.

The paper entitled “Bayesian inference for calibration and validation of uniaxial reinforcing steel models” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.  

Former MSc student, Marias Birrell, was awarded a 4-year ANID (Chilean National Agency for Research and Development) scholarship for conducting doctoral studies at UANDES. Matias completed his MSc in Infrastructure Systems in July 2020 and joined the PhD program in March 2021.    

The paper entitled “Seismic response analysis and modal identification of a full-scale five-story base-isolated building tested on the NEES@UCSD shake table” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

Professor Astroza wrote a column in La Tercera newspaper about seismic resiliience in Chile. Read the opinion column (in Spanish) here.

The paper entitled “Bayesian parameter and joint probability distribution estimation for a hysteretic constitutive model of reinforcing steel” has been published in the journal Structural Safety. Find out more information here.

The research project is led by Professor Erick Saavedra-Flores from the Department of Civil Engineering of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile and the co-PIs are Professor Gerardo Araya-Letelier from the School of Civil Construction of the Universidad Catolica de Chile and Professor Rodrigo Astroza from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the…

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences celebrated the 2020 graduation ceremony on Thursday December 3, 2020. The degree in Civil Engineering was awarded to the following former students of our group: Isabelle Fett, Carolina Suarez, Paulo Guzmán, Alfredo Gutierrez, and Sebastian Schellman. Isabelle Fett also received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, which is given…

The members of the evaluation panel are responsible for assisting technically the High Councils of the Chilean Agency for Research and Development (ANID) to select the different research initiatives of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT).

This recognition is awarded by the Chilean Engineers Institute to the best engineer thesis of the year. The title of Jose Martin thesis was “Wind turbine blades: design and implementation of a testing system and modal identification.” Congratulations Jose Martin!

The paper entitled “ Real-time thermal dynamic analysis of a house using RC models and joint state-parameter estimation” has been published in the journal Building and Environment. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Biopolymer-Waste Fiber Reinforcement for Earthen Materials: Capillary, Mechanical, Impact, and Abrasion Performance” has been published in the journal Polyemrs. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Parameter estimation of resistor-capacitor models for building thermal dynamics using the unscented Kalman filter” has been published in the Journal of Building Engineering. Find out more information here.

On July 20, 2020, Matias Birrell defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled “Bayesian parameter estimation for reinforcing steel constitutive models”. He graduated with maximum distinction (maximum grade 7.0). His work focused on a comprehensive probabilistic analysis of three state-of-the-art reinforcing steel models, including modified Giuffre-Menegotto-Pinto (GMP), Dodd-Restrepo modified by Carreño, and the GMP modified by Zsarnóczay…

Prof. Astroza has been appointed as Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences effective May 1, 2020. The main accountabilities include: Provide strategic leadership and advice to faculty on academic issues. Co-ordinate faculty search-and-selection processes. Foster the development of academic leadership. Promotes and supports research programs. Assist faculty with…

Professor Astroza has been awarded a Fondecyt Regular Research grant. In this 4-years project novel approaches to simulate the response of structural systems subjected to multiple hazards during their service life, including recurring earthquake events, local scour, and aging effects will be developed. The project will focus on reinforced concrete structures with chloride-induced corrosion as…

The paper entitled “Adaptive Kalman filters for nonlinear finite element model updating” has been published in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Auto-regressive model based input and parameter estimation for nonlinear finite element models” has been published in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. Find out more information here.  

The paper titled “Bayesian nonlinear finite element model updating of a full-scale bridge-column using sequential Monte Carlo” led by PhD candidate Mukesh K. Ramancha from UC Sam Diego and co-authored by professor Astroza from UANDES and professors J.P. Conte, J.I. Restrepo, and Todd, M.D. received the “Best Paper Award in the discipline of Model Validation…

On January 29, 2020, after two years in the graduate program, Juan Castiglione defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled “Calibration of nonlinear dynamic models using the unscented Kalman filter”. He graduated with maximum distinction (maximum grade 7.0). Juan’s work focused on two different problems: 1) The first one dealt with updating nonlinear finite element (FE) models…

Professor Astroza was the recipient of the Best Researcher Award of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the Universidad de los Andes. This award is given every other year and recognizes one faculty member for outstanding research accomplishment and for his/her contribution to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

On Saturday, November 30, 2019, we held the 2019 version of our annual BBQ. This year, 25 former and current students attended this annual event, which is already a tradition of the Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering research group @ UANDES.  

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences celebrated the 2019 graduation ceremony on Wednesday November 27, 2019. The degree in Civil Engineering was awarded to the following former students of our group: Daniel Bunster, Ismael Cisterna, Nicole Diaz, Jose Martin Gutierrez, Juan Francisco Hillmann, and Sebastian Rodriguez. Congratulations and the best wishes in your professional…

The paper entitled “Shear bond behaviour of elemental composite beams with different configurations” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Bayesian updating of complex nonlinear FE models with high-dimensional parameter space using heterogeneous measurements and a batch-recursive approach” has been published in the journal Engineering Structures. Find out more information here.

The article “A dual adaptive filtering approach for nonlinear finite element model updating accounting for modeling uncertainty“, ublished in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing in 2019, was highlighted in the website Advances in Engineering. This research was part of the civil engineering thesis of Mr. Andres Alessandri and was developed in collaboration with…

From July 5 to July 19, 2019, Professor Yong Li from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Alberta (Canada) visited the Universidad de los Andes. During his visit, we continue our collaboration in the fields of structural and earthquake engineering. Professor Yong Li with members of our research group.

From June 21 to July 5, 2019, Professor Astroza visited the University of Alberta, located in Edmonton, Canada. He worked in different research collaboration topics with Professor Yong Li and his research group.

The paper entitled “Uncertainty quantification and propagation in the modeling of liquefiable sands” has been published in the Journal of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. Find out more information here.

Daniel Bunster, Jose M. Gutierrez, Francisco Hillmann and Sebastian Rodriguez successfully defended their thesis. Congratulations !!! The titles of their research thesis are: Daniel Bunster. Recursive system identification of linear time variant dynamic systems. Francisco Hillmann. Propagation of uncertaitny in nonlinear finite element models under seismic excitation. José Martín Gutiérrez. Wind turbine blades: design and…

The paper entitled “Information-theoretic Approach for Identifiability Assessment of Nonlinear Structural Finite Element Models” has been published in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics (ASCE). Find out more information here.

The research project is led by Professor Cesar Pasten from the Department of Civil Engineering of the Universidad de Chile and the co-PIs are Professor Sergio Ruiz from the Department of Geophysics of the Universidad de Chile and Professor Rodrigo Astroza from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences of the Universidad de los Andes.…

The paper entitled “Effects of model uncertainty in nonlinear structural finite element model updating by numerical simulation of building structures”, co-authored by the former undergraduate student Andres Alessandri, has been accepted for publication in the journal Structural Control and Health Monitoring. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Performance comparison of Kalman−based filters for nonlinear structural finite element model updating” has been published in the Journal of Sound and Vibration. Find out more information here.

Grant awarded to professor Astroza and collaborators.

The paper entitled “A dual adaptive filtering approach for nonlinear finite element model updating accounting for modeling uncertainty”, co-authored by the former undergraduate student Andres Alessandri, has been published in the journal Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. Find out more information here.

The EERI Board of Directors selected the paper “Landmark Data Set from the Building Nonstructural Components and Systems (BNCS) Project” (Earthquake Spectra, 32(2), 1239-1259) by E. Pantoli, M. Chen, T.C. Hutchinson, R. Astroza, J.P. Conte, H. Ebrahimian, J.I. Restrepo, and X. Wang, as the Outstanding Earthquake Spectra Paper of 2016. The Earthquake Spectra Editorial Board…

The paper entitled “Bayesian optimal estimation for output-only nonlinear system and damage identification of civil structures” has been published in the journal Structural Control and Health Monitoring. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Pretest nonlinear finite-element modeling and response simulation of a full-scale 5-story reinforced concrete building tested on the NEES-UCSD shake table” has been published in the Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE. Find out more information here.

The paper entitled “Time-variant modal parameters and response behavior of a base-isolated building tested on a shake table” has been published in the journal Earthquake Spectra (EERI). Find out more information here. Abstract This paper presents the identification of the instantaneous modal properties and the experimental response of a full-scale five-story base-isolated RC building tested…

UAndes participated in competition organized by Kyushu Sangyo University (Japan).

Two former members of our research group received important awards.

Research/technology transfer grant awarded to professor Astroza and collaborators.

The proceedings of the 7th edition of the International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures (EVACES2017) have been published by Springer in the series Lecture Notes of Civil Engineering. The book includes contributions in the areas of testing, sensing, monitoring, and control of civil structures. The book was edited by the following…

EVACES, the International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures is a premier venue where recent progress in the field are presented and discussed by experts from all over the world. Seven successful editions of EVACES have taken place in Bordeaux, France (2005), Porto, Portugal (2007), Wroclaw, Poland (2009), Varenna, Italy (2011), Ouro…

Professor Astroza was awarded a Fondecyt Initiation in Research grant.