Earthquake shaking table

An earthquake shaking table, also called a shake table, is a test device used to verify the seismic performance of structures and of soil or rock slopes. Scaled slopes, structural models or building components are fixed to a platform and shaken with a wide range of simulated ground motions, including reproductions of recorded earthquake histories, often until the specimen fails. Video records and transducer data are then used to interpret how it behaved. Modern tables usually have a rectangular platform driven in up to six degrees of freedom by servo-hydraulic or other actuators, while the earliest shake table, built at the University of Tokyo in 1893 to categorize types of building construction, ran on a simple wheel mechanism. The tables are also used to qualify vehicles and components against vibration standards, and for teaching in architecture and structural engineering.