Department of Civil Engineering invests in structural testing machine

August 17, 2016

The Department of Civil Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University has signed a contract to buy a tailor-made multi-functional structural testing machine for advanced structural research.

“The introduction of this machine will further expand the research activities of the department and will generate and enhance collaborations with other research institutions and the department’s industrial partners,” said Chee Seong Chin, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering.

The machine (see image below) is expected to be installed in the basement of the Engineering Building at XJTLU, allowing experimentation with this device to begin in early 2017.

“This testing frame allows the investigation of the engineering behaviour of full-scale structural elements,” explained Guobin Gong, Lecturer and Lab Management Officer in the Department. “This device also allows the testing of three-dimensional structures after the full expansion.”

Another special feature of the machine is the inclusion of a self-adjusting loading system, which allows automatic computer-controlled testing space changes, reducing the requirements for labour-intensive and time consuming manual work.

The machine has a vertical compressive loading capacity of 500 tons, with a vertical tensile capacity of 200 tons, in addition to a horizontal compressive capacity of 100 tons and horizontal tensile capacity of 60 tons. The overall dimension of the equipment is 10m x 8m x 5.8m, with a testing height of up to three metres, allowing testing of normal building structures at half to full scales.

August 17, 2016