Calibration Tests of a Shaking Table Apparatus for Testing Large Scale Geotechnical Models

A new shaking table apparatus consisting of a shaking table connected to a servo-hydraulic actuator, a large flexible soil container and an automated system for soil deposition, has been set up at the University of Messina and sev- eral calibration tests have been carried out. The paper describes the results of those aimed at (i) calibrating the soil deposition system and (ii) checking that the servo-hydraulic control system is capable to accurately reproduce a prescribed acceleration time-history at the shaking table platform, regardless the amplitude, frequency and energy content of the desired motion.