UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling

The Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) at UC Davis provides users access to world-class geotechnical modeling facilities, including 9-m and 1-m radius centrifuges with shaking tables, to enable major advances in the ability to predict and improve the performance of soil and soil-structure systems affected by earthquake, wave, wind and storm surge loadings. The center currently operates as a national shared-use Equipment Facility in the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Natural Hazards and Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) network. Geotechnical centrifuges enable the use of scale models to accurately represent nonlinear, stress-dependent responses of soil masses that are many times larger than is possible on the world’s largest 1-g shaking tables. The centerpiece of our facility is one of the largest centrifuges equipped with a shaking table in the world, which enables researchers to perform experiments with a holistic-level of complexity that is not possible with smaller scale centrifuges. More information can be found under our website.