Reaction Wall, European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA)

The central feature of the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) is the Reaction Wall. It consists of a reinforced concrete vertical wall and a horizontal floor rigidly connected together to test the vulnerability of buildings to earthquakes and other threats to structural stability.

Reaction Wall at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA)

Priority topics of the Reaction Wall

1. Design and retrofit for resilience (modular construction, damage-free structures, influence of non-structural elements, cumulative damage, ageing construction)
2. Safety of building infrastructure against multiple hazards
3. Multi-functional building envelopes
4. Structural glass

Definition and conditions of access

Access to the research infrastructure is granted on the basis of Access Units (e.g. days or weeks of use, hours or sessions of beam time, processing time and gigabytes of data transmitted, etc.). Access Units are specific to the type and nature of each JRC research infrastructure that provides access.

For the Reaction Wall, the Access Unit corresponds to a ' Day' of experimental activities, e.g. to perform tests to fulfil the objectives of the project. These activities typically involve the use of the structural control system and the data acquisition system of the laboratory connected to the loading system and to the instrumentation.

• Estimated total number of Days allocated to the call: 16
• Average number of Days per Project: 8*
• Estimated costs excluding consumables and expenses:
  • Research infrastructure operated by JRC staff: 2776 € / Day
  • Research infrastructure operated by users: Not possible

* Approximately 8 Days allocated in 2018 and 8 Days allocated in 2019

Options for the allocation of intellectual property rights:

• The JRC and the entitled party (person or organisation that has been granted access) become co-owners in equal shares of all raw data, treated data and documentation data developed with respect to the access;
• or, if requested,
• Raw data, treated data and documentation data will be solely owned by the entitled party. The JRC receives a non-exclusive, royalty free, unlimited and world-wide license to use (meaning in particular to access, exploit, adapt, merge, translate, copy and store) the raw data, processed data and documentation data in all fields of exploitation. Where relevant, the license will include all the data / information necessary to replicate the tests.

Eligibility criteria

• The Lead User Institution and User Institutions ( see definitions in the Framework) must be from an EU Member State, candidate country or country associated to the EU Research Programme Horizon 2020.
• The Lead User Institution must be from a university, research or public institution, or from a Small-Medium-Enterprise (SME).
• Ethical considerations in accordance with EU Law, in particular Art. 19 of Regulation (EU) 1291/2013, and applicable laws and regulations in the EU Member States.
• The proposal submission form is complete and complies with the instructions.

Selection criteria

Any proposal will be scrutinised in accordance with weighted selection criteria such as:

• Scientific implementation
• Access to SMEs and new Users
• Strategic relevance to the JRC
• Strategic importance for Europe

How to apply

The proposal must be prepared by using the template given in Annex 3.1 of the Framework.

During preparation of the proposal, applicants are encouraged to:

• Read the " Framework of Access to Joint Research Centre physical Research Infrastructures" and its annexes.
• Contact the research infrastructure at JRC-OPEN-ELSAec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-OPEN-ELSA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) to assess feasibility aspects related to the capacity of the research infrastructure.

The proposal should be submitted to JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JRC-RI-OPEN-ACCESS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) by the closing date of the call.

Communication of the assessment of proposals:2018-03-09 00:00:00

Related Content

Selection Criteria Background Documents

The 6 Priorities of the European Commission

JRC Thematic Focus Areas