Geotechnology

The Geotechnology Lab allows partners to conduct research in civil infrastructure systems. It enables the application of complex stress or strain paths to characterise saturated and unsaturated soil properties and facilitates dynamic multiaxial loading with a range of amplitudes and cyclic frequencies. The lab also uses bender elements to determine the isotropic and anisotropic shear modulus of soils.

Equipment

  • Dynamic triaxial loading frame
    • Allows for contaminated soil testing, observation of soil properties at different depths and simulation of soil and liquefaction analysis during an earthquake.
  • True triaxial apparatus (TTA)
    • Fully upgraded for unsaturated soil testing and currently used to investigate the effect on sub-base soils of cyclic loading from high-speed rail trains.
  • Large diameter (500mm) consolidation cell
    • Used for consolidation tests such as the effect of loading on concrete columns installed on soft soils, long term creep and other foundational simulations.

Capabilities

  • General soil mechanics
  • Soil dynamics
  • Unsaturated soil testing
  • Soft soil stabilisation
  • Large physical modelling