Facilities

General structural testing facilities and equipment

General material testing facilities and equipment

Specialised testing facilities and equipment

Environmental conditioning facilities and equipment

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General structural testing facilities and equipment

Servo control systems

• Kelsey Instruments 8 channel digital mode
• Losenhausen/Dartec 2 channel analogue mode

Servo control actuators

• Losenhausen 250kN 500kN 150mm stroke tension/compression
• Eland 10kN 600mm stroke 50kN 200mm stroke 130kN 400mm stroke tension/compression

Universal testing machines

• ESH 1000kN 100mm stroke tension/compression with thermal chamber to 200 C
• Amsler 100kN tension/compression 400kN 1000kN 2000kN compression
• Denison 500kN tension/compression

Strong floor

• Capacity 1000kN 4m wide by 10m long by 2.5m high crane 5t access 3m wide by 2.9m high

Strong frame

• Capacity 500kN frame 6.5m long by 4.5m wide by 4m high. Strong base area 25m by 21.35 m headroom 5m crane 2t access 5m by 4m

Sustained loading rigs for long term creep

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General material testing facilities and equipment

Universal testing machines:

• ELE 2000kN compression (cube-crusher)
• Hounsfield tensometer 20kN tension/compression

X-Ray diffraction:

• Siemens X-ray diffractometer

X-Ray fluorescence microscopy:

• Advanced scanning and transmission electron microscopy

Thermal analysis:

• Differential scanning and thermal calorimetry
• Graviometric analysis

Mercury intrusion porosimetry

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Specialised testing facilities and equipment

Multi-axial compression machine for concrete under elevated temperature

Recently constructed at the University of Sheffield, this unique device can deliver three independent principal stresses (up to 400 MPa) on 100 mm cubes.
The precision of the measurement system enables stresses and strains to be detected to within 0.2 MPa
and 10 microstrain respectively.

Fire spalling testing facility

Our existing fire spalling testing facility consists of: (i) a 36KVA three-phase transformer, (ii) a temperature controller, (iii) a heating element radiant panel, and (iv) a data acquisition system. The system can heat a concrete surface of 400 mm × 400 mm.

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Environmental conditioning facilities and equipment

Oxygen permeability apparatus:

• 6 cells for sample sizes 25mm 50mm 100mm 150mm diameter and 50mm thickness

Chloride permeability apparatus:

• 4 cells for sample size 50mm diameter and 50mm thickness

Porosity measurement apparatus:

• Vacuum saturation

Intermittent salt spray cabinet:

• Timer controls switching spray on/off. Purge rate controllable

Cyclic freeze-thaw cabinet:

• Programmable temperature -30 to 70 C by 0.1 C