The Department has a provision of laboratory facilities, valued at over RMB 10 million, covering the core subjects of structures, materials, geotechnics, hydraulics and environment, to support teaching and research activities.
The key laboratory facilities and equipment include:
Structures
Five tonne gantry crane, two tonne forklift and cherry picker
Structural testing frames for a range of scales: desktop, ¼ model and full-scale testing
Range of concrete mixing facilities, up to one tonne mix capacity
Vibrating table for concrete compaction
Curing tank with circulating pump heater/thermostat
Concrete grinder and diamond saw
Reinforcing bars bender and cutter
TecQuipment frames for the investigation of: Bending moment in a beam (STR2); Shear force in a beam (STR3); Deflection of beams and cantilevers (STR4); Unsymmetrical bending and shear (STR7); Pin jointed frameworks (STR8); Buckling of struts (STR12); Model scale earthquake shaking table laboratory facility.
Materials
Two computer controlled universal testing machines, 10 and 30 tonne capacity
One compression testing machine, 300 tonne capacity
Universal servo-pneumatic testing machine
Marshall hammer
Brookfield viscometer
Environmental chamber
Humidity cabinet with nebuliser and five shelves, 112 litre capacity.
Geotechnics
Six standard oedometers including both UK and USA standard cell sizes, and provision for dial gauge or transducer measurements
Two standard direct shear apparatus allowing shear of circular samples, measurements by dial gauge
Ring shear, Bromhead design, measurements taken via transducer
Two open top permeameters designed in house by Dr Kamnis and Dr Wilkinson
Four Triaxial cells 0 – 1.7MPa capacity
Point load testing rig
Sampling Equipment: Mini borehole coring rig and 5m hand auger
Hitachi TM3000 tabletop scanning electron microscope
Nikon petrological microscope with stepping motor controlled stage for 3D surface measurements
1.3m arm geotechnical centrifuge.
Hydraulics
Hydraulic benches for: hydrostatic pressure; Reynolds experiment; pitot tube; momentum equation; Bernoulli’s equation; friction losses; local losses; water hammer; flow through orifices; flow observation; three metre open channel
Five kg/hr fast pyrolysis rig
Hydrodeoxygeneation rig
Thermal spraying booth
Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics benches
Compressed air specific heat capacity measurement
CO2 critical state measurement
Centrifugal fan performance
Air flow streamline observation
Heat transfer
Integrated pump performance test
Multi-level boundary layer development test
Wastewater treatment benches
Sedimentation tank
Radial flow sedimentation tank
Aeration tank
Biological filtration tank
Activated sludge tank
Dissolved oxygen and oxygen demand (BOD/COD) meters.
Environment
Brenauer-Emmett-Teller Nitrogen Adsorption Specific Surface Area Measurement Instrument (H-200-BET-A)
Elemental Analysis Instrument for C,H,N (Elementar Vario Macro)
Hot/Cold Fibre Extraction Unit for Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin Fibres (FT355-350)
Rapid Pyrolyser for Biomass Samples (Pyroprobe 5200)
Gas Chromatography – Mass Selective Detector for Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis of Semi-Volatile Compounds (GC-MSD 7890/5975)
Simultaneous Thermal Analysis Instrument for Thermogravimetric Analysis and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (Netzsch STA 449 F3)
Nano-Particle Size Distribution Analysis Instrument (Winner 801).
The Department has a provision of laboratory facilities, valued at over RMB 10 million, covering the core subjects of structures, materials, geotechnics, hydraulics and environment, to support teaching and research activities.
The key laboratory facilities and equipment include: