About the Engineering laboratories
The National Infrastructure Laboratory is dedicated to improving the efficiency of major infrastructure.
You'll have access to it for project work and at other points in your studies, depending on your choice of course and modules.
It contains 5 separate labs:
- Geomechanics lab: Used for testing the properties of geomaterials such as soil and rock, and for the assembly and testing of field instrumentation.
- Large structures testing lab: Features a 30 metre by 15 metre strong floor. Used for testing structures, components and materials at a range of scales up to full scale.
- Testing and structures research lab: Used for testing materials across loading scales, length scales, temperature scales and strain rates. Non-destructive techniques such as image analysis allow you to measure damage and defects.
- Geotechnical centrifuge facility: Allows accelerated scale modelling of geosystems such as earthworks and foundations. The centrifuge spins scale models to accelerations of up to 130 times Earth’s gravity.
- Energy lab: Hosts research into renewable generation and urban energy performance.
