The pin can be moved to various radii can be placed on the plate to simulate different
amplitudes of earthquakes. A motion sensor will collect the data and measure the
acceleration at different amplitudes. This aspect will be talked about more thoroughly in
the experiments section.
We predict that we will be able to simulate seismic waves of different amplitudes
and in three directions of motion. The amplitudes and frequency are determined by the
radius at which the pin is located and the rotations per minute (RPM) of the motor. The
motion of the shake table will be equivalent to a simple harmonic oscillator, as pictured
in Figure 4, will create a sinusoidal motion. A simple harmonic oscillator is where the
restoring force is proportional to the displacement. The equation for a simple harmonic
oscillator is