The laboratory occupies a surface of 3,700 square feet that is divided into three areas: a support area of 700 square feet, an area for testing structures or small and medium components of 1,000 square feet and an area of 2,000 square feet where testing at a full scale will be developed. Besides machinery, the support area includes an MTS frame capable of applying up to 50 kips in compression or tension. This frame is configurable for testing both statistics and dynamic materials.

Some of the machinery present at the laboratory consists of:

  • A Riehle machine with a capacity of 400 kips to test efforts in compression, flection, beam tension, columns, and slabs.
  • Two compression machines; one with up to 2,000 pounds of boost and the other with up to 2,000 to 600,000 pounds of boost to do testing of compression, flection, beam tension, columns and concrete slabs, wood, and steel.

The area where small and medium components are tested contains a unidirectional seismic simulation platform. The shake table consists of a steel plate of 8’x 4.5’ supported by a welded framework of structural beams. The steel platform that carries the structural model is above four low friction linear sliding bearings. This earthquake simulation facility is capable of reproducing sinusoidal signals, white noise, randomized, and earthquake excitation. This part of the laboratory also hosts the compressed air cannon which is used in wind related projects.

This portion of the laboratory where testing is done to full-scale components and where scale reduced models can be developed, has a strong surface of 40’x 20’surrounded with two sides of 30’strong walls. Very close to the wall system of the strong surface, reaction frames are available for testing of structural specimens. A 5-ton capacity mobile crane enables the movement of materials and structural components within the laboratory.

The laboratory also has six MTS servo-controlled actuators ranging in size from 11 Kips (+/-3 inches stroke) up to 110 Kips (+/-6 inches stroke). These actuators are used for experiments in structural components.  Four PC based systems for the acquisition of data at a high speed (with a total of 144 channels) are available to record data (two National Instrument System with LabView Software and two with Daisylab software). The laboratory is also equipped with a number of instruments for dynamic testing including load cells, transducer, and accelerometers. In addition, an impact hammer is also available for the use during dynamic testing.

The Laboratory of Materials, which is located next to the Laboratory of Structure, provides additional support through its facilities which include a Tinius Olsen Universal Testing Machine of 600 kips and a Forney Universal Testing Machine of 1,200 kips of capacity.