Following the visit of the Japanese delegation to the CGS headquarters, Dr. Taku Obara, a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) expert, was welcomed to the Center's earthquake engineering laboratory. On this occasion, Dr. Raouf Bencharif presented the facilities and equipment of this major infrastructure, notably the shaking table. As one of the most powerful in Africa and Europe, it features dimensions of 6.1 m × 6.1 m, six degrees of freedom, and a payload capacity of up to 60 tonnes-force.
Furthermore, Dr. Bencharif introduced him to the experimental setups used within the CGS–JICA partnership for testing bare frames, as well as frames infilled with hollow brick masonry and reinforced concrete. These tests, conducted on 1/2 scale models, were subjected to pseudo-dynamic loading.
