Sami Masri, professor of civil/environmental & aerospace and mechanical engineering, has interests that include the modeling and control of nonlinear dynamic systems. Not surprisingly, thinks “smart structures” —those that can actively resist damage rather than passively withstand it — will be among the star innovations of the future.

Masri uses an experimental shake table located in the basement of Kaprielian Hall to simulate earthquakes and help him design artificial neural networks that can be used to detect damage hazardous conditions in structures, such as buckling, bending or swaying. By first gathering vibration measurements on “healthy” system, such as a real bridge, then simulates comparable vibration measurements in his artificial network to determine how much damage would be caused by a very strong earthquake, wind storm or hurricane.

“We have an international reputation in what’s called ‘smart structures,’” says Masri, who holds joint appointments in the departments of civil and environmental engineering and aerospace and mechanical engineering. “The idea behind it is to embody some of the biological features of the human body in buildings and bridges, to make them respond to an earthquake or some wind loads or hurricanes in an active way, so they can adjust to their properties and be less susceptible to damage. It’s a very big stretch to go from the research to the hardware.”

In addition to monitoring the condition of Los Angeles’s Vincent Thomas Bridge, Masri and a group of civil engineering graduate students have worked on other novel projects to make city treasures more earthquake-proof. The team applied engineering techniques during retrofitting of the Getty Museum to mitigate the effects of an earthquake and safeguard the museum’s priceless collection of artifacts.