About NHERI DesignSafe

Resources for Natural Hazards Researchers

DesignSafe is a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure that is part of the NSF-funded Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) and provides cloud-based tools to manage, analyze, understand, and publish critical data for research to understand the impacts of natural hazards. The capabilities within the DesignSafe infrastructure are available at no-cost to all researchers working in natural hazards.

Highlighted Functionalities

  • Data Sharing, Curation and Publication: Upload, organize, and describe your data in the DesignSafe Data Depot - quickly share it with collaborators, make it available to the general public, or formally publish it with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
     
  • Integrated Data Analysis: Data stored in the Data Depot can be analyzed and visualized in the DesignSafe cloud (no download required) through the Tools & Applications.  Matlab and Jupyter are available for data analysis, and can be run interactively or in batch mode.  Visualization tools for a wide variety of applications are also available.
     
  • Access to High Performance Computing (HPC): Take advantage of the supercomputers at TACC to perform large-scale simulations using programs such as OpenSees, OpenFoam, and ADCIRC.  You can then analyze the simulation output in DesignSafe using the data analysis tools and publish the resulting data in the Data Depot. 
     
  • Support for Reconnaissance Data: Through the DesignSafe Recon Portal find datasets/resources from reconnaissance efforts associated with natural hazard events.  Use the Hazmapper tool to integrate geotagged photos, GPS tracks, and field observations into a single map that resides in the cloud, is published in the Data Depot and Recon Portal.
     
  • Collaboration Tools: Use the channels within the DesignSafe Slack team to discuss your data and coordinate resources with your virtual community of collaborators.

How do I start? If you're new to DesignSafe, start by creating an account and exploring the DesignSafe features listed above. Check out the DesignSafe User Guides to find detailed documentation. If you can’t find a feature that you need or have ideas to enhance, please submit a ticket at designsafe-ci.org/help.

DesignSafe Organization

DesignSafe is operated by a multi-disciplinary and multi-organizational team composed of natural hazards researchers, cyber infrastructure (CI) experts, and software developers. The management team consists of the PI and co-PIs, who represent the natural hazards research community, and staff from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), who represent the CI/software development team. The management team oversees the overall administration of the project, as well as Use Case Teams, Implementation, and Community Engagement. The full management structure is depicted below.