Structural & Materials Laboratory
The Structural Dynamics and Materials Laboratories are part of the Center for Infrastructure, Energy, and Space Testing (CIEST). The showcase of the Structural and Materials Laboratory is the Fast Hybrid Testing laboratory (FHT). The FHT laboratory specializes in real-time hybrid simulations. In this innovative simulation paradigm a substructure is physically tested in the laboratory floor while a complementary one is numerically analyzed by a finite element. Both simulations are tightly coupled and run at increments of 1/1,024 of a second.
The FHT laboratory includes extensive computational and archiving facilities, and the laboratory supports interactive remote participation of experimental research. The FHT laboratory is open for use as a national laboratory for researchers and for contract testing by private companies interested in conducting real-time (or pseudo-dynamic) hybrid simulations of structures subjected to earthquakes, wind, and other extreme loadings.
The Structural and Materials laboratory includes three MTS universal testing machines for tension and compression testing of structural and geological materials, with capacities of 22 kN, 500 kN, and 4.5 MN. The laboratory also includes standard laboratory materials for preparing and testing concrete and steel.