Contact

Dr. Benjamin W. Schafer (PI)

Professor and Chair

Dept. of Civil Engineering

Johns Hopkins University

Phone: (410) 516-6265

Email: schafer@jhu.edu

About CFS-NEES

NEES-CR: Enabling Performance-Based Seismic Design of Multi-Story Cold-Formed Steel Structures

Lightweight cold-formed steel (CFS) framing is a unique and effective building solution for low and mid-rise structures, but one in which much remains to be understood for the system to achive its full efficiency and for modern performance-based seismic design methods to be fully enabled.

The goal of this research is to generate the knowledge needed to increase the seismic safety of buildings that use lightweight CFS for the primary beams and columns, and enable engineers to account for complete building performance in predicting the response of these buildings to earthquakes.

This award is an outcome of the National Science Foundation (NSF) 09-524 program solicitation "George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Research (NEESR)" competition and includes Johns Hopkins University (JHU)(lead institution) and Bucknell University (subaward). This project will utilize the NEES equipment site at the University at Buffalo (UB), State University of New York. Link to the NSF announcement.