Hybrid simulation: An early history

This historical note reports on the early days of the development of an experimental method called “hybrid simulation.” As background, the seeds of this concept, initiated in the early 1970s by Japanese researchers, are presented first, followed by initial efforts (regarded as Stage I) to realize the concept of hybrid simulation and its first applications to explore the seismic performance of structures. The initial research in this now-seminal field of earthquake engineering began in the early 1970s by Koichi Takanashi and his coworkers at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo. Their highly notable efforts in laying the groundwork for hybrid simulation occurred in the mid-1970s through the early 1980s by Takanashi (for steel structures) and Tsuneo Okada (for RC structures). These two men and their coworkers first applied hybrid simulation to explore the seismic behavior, performance, and design of various types of building structures. In Stage I, this method was called “the on-line computer-controlled test” or “pseudo dynamic test” because the unique feature of the method was the combined test and simulation and the intentional slow loading in the test. Extension of the scope and application of hybrid simulation occurred largely between the early 1980s and the early 1990s (regarded as Stage II) in conjunction with the United States–Japan joint research project. A few notable efforts made around that period are touched upon briefly, including error propagation and suppression in multi-degree-of-freedom hybrid simulation, application of the substructure methodology to hybrid simulation, and real-time hybrid simulation.