Welcome to the web site for Dr. Andre Barbosa’s research group. The group focuses on the development of experimental testing programs and numerical tools and techniques geared towards improving structural performance and resilience of the built environment to multiple hazards. Studied within the group are earthquakes, fire, and tsunami hazards. Structural materials which are addressed are reinforced concrete, timber, and steel.
Dr. Barbosa’s research interests include:
- development and testing of innovative structural systems,
- performance-based earthquake/fire/tsunami engineering,
- multi-hazard reliability and risk-based engineering assessment and design,
- high-performance and high-throughput computing.
Latest News
- Mass timber with BRBs enables resilient, low-damage seismic performance.It was a pleasure to work on this research and paper with Gustavo Araujo, Barb Simpson, Ludovica Pieroni, Tu Ho, Gustavo (Fernando) Orozco, Byrne Miyamoto, and Arijit Sinha. Special thanks to the graduate students Tanner Field, Steven Kontra, Patricio Uarac, and Kristian Walker from Oregon State University for their help with instrumentation and testing. The support provided by the TallWood Design Institute, particularly Phil Mann, the laboratory technical manager, and Mark Gerig, the laboratory technician, was also essential throughout the experimental program. Acknowledgment is extended to Brandt Saxey and Zac Vilmar from CoreBrace for their help in designing the BRBs …
- New Publication Alert! (Feb. 28, 2025)Our latest research presents a Methodology for Virtual Damage Assessment (VDA) and First-Floor Elevation Estimation, with a case study on Fort Myers Beach, Florida, following the devastation of Hurricane Ian (2022). 🌪🏚 📄 Title: Methodology for Virtual Damage Assessment and First-Floor Elevation Estimation: Application to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, and Hurricane Ian (2022) 👥 Authors: Sebastião Appleton Figueira, Mehrshad Amini, Daniel Cox, and André R. Barbosa 📌 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/NHREFO.NHENG-2310 🔍 What’s in the study? ✔️ We developed a Virtual Damage Assessment (VDA) methodology using pre- and post-storm street-level and aerial imagery to assess structural damage on a scale from DS0 …
- Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment: A Ten- and Six-Story Shake-Table Test Building Case Study (Feb. 08, 2025) New publication alert! This one is on a Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) case study for the #NHERI #TallWood and #NHERI #Converging #Design Ten- and Six-Story buildings tested on the shake-table at the NHERI@UC San Diego facility. The open access publication is available here: 10.13073/FPJ-D-24-00030R1.
- Drones measure earthquake-induced structural displacements of the roof of a 6-story full-scale mass timber shake table test (Feb. 01, 2025)We are thankful for the collaboration on a payload project led by Tara Hutchinson‘s research group on the use of UAVs to measure earthquake-induced structural displacements of the roof our 6-story NHERI Converging Design phase 2 testing. See recent publication on the topic here.
- Rigorous Tests Show Resilience of Tall Mass Timber Buildings (Dec. 13, 2024)Read more about this article on the Oregon State University College of Engineering website here. KEY TAKEAWAYS Mass timber construction has proven itself to be both earthquake resistant and sustainable. Mass timber rocking walls have been shown to allow the construction of highly resilient mass timber buildings. Oregon State has played a key role in the development of advanced mass timber elements. If damaged, mass timber buildings can be quickly and easily repaired.
Updated CV (May 5, 2025):