Hurricane recon deployments 101

Note: This podcast interview was recorded before the CFS10 shake table tests, which took place in June and July of 2025.In this episode, earthquake engineers Tara Hutchinson, of UC San Diego, and Ben Schafer, of Johns Hopkins University, explain how they collect data from the CFS10 shake table tests. 750 sensors monitor the 10-story steel-framed structure as it is subjected to simulated earthquakes; sensors range from accelerometers to drones filming video. Partners in CFS10 instrumentation include the California Strong Motion Instrumentation program and CalTech, who installed valuable sensor systems on the structure. Hutchinson and Schafer discuss data from non-structural components, vital for understanding building re-occupation, and they cover important nuances – such as data from prior component testing, including hybrid simulations – which are necessary precursors to large-scale shake table testing – which validate earlier findings.Expect to hear initial findings from CFS10 testing in September 2025, when Hutchinson and Schafer will be presenting papers. Data from the CFS10 tests will be publicly available on the NHERI DesignSafe Data Depot within a year. Although it can take years for engineering research to be adopted into official building codes, Hutchinson and Schafer explain that engineers in the earthquake-prone state of California are quicker to adopt peer reviewed findings. 

Note: This podcast interview was recorded before the CFS10 shake table tests, which took place in June and July of 2025. In this episode, earthquake engineers Tara Hutchinson, of UC San Diego, and Ben Schafer, of Johns Hopkins University, discuss the long-term nature of seismic engineering research. The CFS10 structure currently on the UC San Diego shake table represents over a decade of steel-framed component testing. On the strength of that research, Hutchinson and Schafer built the CFS10 structure to ten stories, four floors above current building code. That’s an unabashed goal of the landmark CFS10 project: to advance building code for steel-framed buildings in seismic zones.

 Note: This podcast interview was recorded before the CFS10 shake table tests, which took place in June 2025 at UC San Diego. The landmark NSF-funded Cold-formed Steel 10 research project, CFS10, is evaluating the seismic performance of tall buildings framed with sheet steel members and modules. The capstone test: a 10-story CFS building on the UC San Diego shake table.CSF10 lead investigators Tara Hutchinson, professor of engineering at UC San Diego, and Ben Schafer, professor at Johns Hopkins University, provide the details on cold-formed steel: Cold-formed steel is formed at room temperature.It’s strong, light, and has a low carbon footprint.Most U.S. sheet steel is produced from recycled material.Many industries rely on CFS as a light, strong building material. The CFS10 project culminates decades of research by Hutchinson and Schafer, including projects with two-story and 6-story buildings, which they discuss in detail.LEARN MORE: Tara Hutchinson’s CFS shake table videos https://www.youtube.com/@TCHutchinson Cold-formed steel for seismic resilience? It’s on the tablehttps://designsafe-ci.org/community/news/2025/may/cold-formed-steel-for-seismic-resilience-its-on-the-table/ Official CFS-NHERI: 10-Story Building Capstone Test Programhttps://cfs10.ucsd.edu/ DesignSafe Radio interview with Ben Schafer, May 2025https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwKAiwBOGS4 Learn more about cold-formed steel: Cold-Formed Steel Research Consortiumhttps://cfsrc.org/ Cold-formed Steel Engineers Institutehttps://www.cfsei.org Build Steel, the steel-framing industry association https://buildsteel.org

University of Florida Professor and research engineer Nina Stark dives into the logistics of post-hurricane data collection. In 2024, as part of the Nearshore Extreme Events Reconnaissance (NEER) team, Stark deployed to the west coast of Florida before and after Hurricane Helene. As she tells her story, we understand how reconnaissance deployments work – with so many uncertainties -- and how anyone can get involved. Stark urges students and early-career researchers to join an Extreme Events group and connect with members.

Specializing in geotechnical engineering and coastal science, Nina Stark studies soil mechanics and soil responses to coastal and riverine stresses -- like hurricanes and related flooding. During hurricane season, you will find her in the field, collecting perishable data with NSF-supported extreme events reconnaissance teams. Today, she talks about recon missions, the importance of good datasets, and the types of data EER teams collect, including erosion, scour and sediment deposition, and water levels. 

Johns Hopkins earthquake engineer and cold-formed steel researcher Ben Schafer introduces the NHERI CFS10 project underway at the NHERI UC San Diego shake table facility. Tara Hutchinson, Schafer’s co-PI on the project, is a research engineer at UC San Diego. (We will meet Hutchinson in an upcoming episode.) The CFS10 shake table experiment caps off a long-term collaboration between NSF researchers and industry. The goal: to understand seismic performance of taller cold-formed steel buildings. The structure on the shake table mimics an apartment building or hotel; it exceeds current height and system limits – which will help the team understand how far engineers can go designing for CFS structural elements, subsystems, and non-structural elements, like stairs, gas lines and sprinkler systems. The CFS10 shake table tests are slated for early June, 2025. Follow along on the UCSD live cameras: https://nheri.ucsd.edu/live-cams

The seemingly outsized strength of cold-formed steel is not well-known. In this episode, earthquake engineer Ben Schafer, Johns Hopkins University, describes a research-industry collaboration with the automotive industry resulting in code changes for high-strength sheet-steel. Sheet steel has also been successfully tested in flooring systems. The upcoming CFS10 shake table test at UC San Diego is the high-rise building test for cold-formed steel. Schafer addresses misconceptions that structural engineers have regarding CFS: Basically: cold-formed steel looks too thin to be strong. However, with high-strength sheet steel, deformations do not correlate to lack of strength, which is something that automotive and aircraft engineers have long understood.

Meet Johns Hopkins University engineer Ben Schafer, authority on cold-formed steel (CFS), also known as sheet steel or thin steel. Schafer explains that CFS is both strong and ductile – and therefore a remarkably high-performance structural framing material. Builders use CFS in a variety of ways – including as building-frame members, much like timber. Schafer’s research centers on CFS as structural framing to resist wind and earthquake loading. Thin and lightweight, CFS members comprise relatively little material; in the US, all cold-formed steel is made from recycled materials.

Research engineer Erica Fischer wraps up by noting that engineers, such as those in the NSF NHERI natural hazards community, are working on multiple fronts to leverage their skills and knowledge to reduce damage from future urban-wildland conflagrations.Follow Erica Fischer on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/fischererica/And on the X platform:https://x.com/erica_fischer

On the policy level, states first must define and map the wildland-urban interface; then states formally define risk-categories and mitigations required. Examples: clearing combustible material within five feet around the house and updating roof and siding with non-combustible materials. Fischer details these steps and ways research engineers seek to simplify risk-reduction for homeowners.