The curriculum requires that all students obtain firsthand experience in the use of a wide range of modern experimental equipment. The purpose of the laboratory instruction is to complement the theoretical and analytical coursework and to verify the fundamentals learned in the courses. The department's laboratory facilities are located in the Civil Engineering Laboratory Building and the Civil Engineering Building, which are equipped to carry out a broad spectrum of sophisticated research and instruction in virtually all aspects of civil engineering.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) Laboratory. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) Laboratory is a computational laboratory that provides a network of advanced graphic workstations and a full suite of building and infrastructure modeling, remote sensing data analysis, energy simulation, data mining, and software development software packages to both graduate and undergraduate students for learning computational tools that will be indispensable to their future career. The laboratory allows the students to design and engineer building and infrastructure systems in a highly collaborative and interactive manner and to analyze their performance as it provides the basic network structure for data synchronization and information sharing. The laboratory will also provide continued education opportunities related to BIM to the general public.
CEE Computing Laboratory. Undergraduates use this
facility extensively for course and laboratory work and computer
graphics. The laboratory is equipped with the latest personal computers.
There is an ample number of printers and plotters. More than 40
software packages are available for computer-aided design, construction
engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and water
resources. The laboratory is updated continually as computer technology
advances.
Concrete Materials Laboratory. This laboratory has facilities for instrumentation and testing for failure of reinforced and prestressed long-span beams, columns, connections, and large-panel slabs. The equipment includes a 1,000,000 lb. capacity compression tester; a 650,000 lb. capacity girder and frame tester for testing simple and continuous girders; a 350,000 lb. capacity slab, pipe, and frame tester; two Hewlett-Packard 100-channel data acquisition and processing systems; a 20 x 25-foot temperature- and humidity-controlled environmental chamber; and facilities for rapid freezing and thawing tests.
Environmental Engineering Laboratory. This laboratory is equipped for performing basic and analytical work for the analysis of water and wastes and the unit processes associated with treatment. Molecular level and advanced analytical chemical measurements are available for complex environmental samples, including water and air matrices. The equipment includes quantitative PCR, PCR, fluorescent microscope, high-pressure liquid chromatograph, a total carbon/total nitrogen analyzer, gas chromatographs, mass spectrometer within trap detection (LCMS), a total carbon/total nitrogen analyzer, gas chromatographs, total organic carbon analyzer, atomic absorption analyzer, pH meters, centrifuges, constant-temperature water baths, incubators, ovens, laminar flow hoods, an exhaust hood, various mixing devices, and pumps.
Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics Laboratory. This laboratory contains state-of-the-art equipment for student instruction. Three multipurpose hydraulic benches are equipped with attachments designed to demonstrate the basic principles of mass, momentum, and energy conservation and transfer. A tilting flume is available for similar experiments and demonstrations. Apparatus to study sediment transport hydrology and water quality also is available.
Large-Scale Structures Laboratory. This laboratory features a 25 x 50-foot reaction floor having tie-down points designed to resist uplift forces of 30 kips each. A five-ton bridge crane spans the floor. "Erector set"-type fixtures are utilized to provide maximum flexibility for testing a variety of full-scale structural components. Hydraulic jacks with capacities of up to 100 tons are available for application of structural loads. An MTS Closed Loop Electrohydraulic Test System capable of more than 125,000 lb. of force and velocities of up to 350 in. per minute is available for the application of dynamic and repeated loads.
Nondestructive Evaluation and Soil Dynamics Laboratory. This
laboratory is equipped to perform field evaluation of infrastructure
and geotechnical systems. The infrastructure evaluation is supported by a
wide range of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) equipment: from acoustic
and electrical to electromagnetic and electrochemical systems. The
geotechnical system evaluations concentrate on study wave propagation
characteristics through soil and rock, the basic dynamic properties of
particulate materials, and the interaction between foundation structures
and underlying soils. A cross-hole apparatus are available for
subsurface investigation.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Laboratory. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) lab is a joint lab with the BIM (Building Information Modeling) lab. The lab hosts 10 Windows and 8 UNIX workstations with advanced configurations for large-scale parallel computing. The lab computers include prevailing transportation software such as HCS and CORSIM from McTrans, Synchro, SimTraffic, and Warrants from TrafficWare, VISSIM, VISUM, and Vistro from PTV America, and planning software such as CUBE classroom version and TransCAD demo version. Matlab and ArcGIS are also installed for transportation modeling and visualization. The computers are supported by Oracle data servers that hosts a rich set of transportation data sources such as vehicle trajectory data, CCTV traffic video data, planning data, and social network data. The lab is used to support the course projects on traffic operations and transportation planning and the research on Transportation Big Data Analytics and Transportation Network Modeling.
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering Laboratory. This laboratory contains up-to-date equipment for the performance of soil identification and classification tests and for the determination of physical, hydraulic, and mechanical properties. The equipment includes standard as well as back-pressured consolidometers; direct, triaxial, and laboratory vane shear strength devices; and various permeameters. An automatic triaxial testing system also is available.
Solid Mechanics Laboratory. This laboratory is equipped to determine the strength and physical properties of engineering materials. There are universal testing machines, with a maximum capacity of 60,000 lb. for tension and compression tests; a torsion machine; Brinell and Rockwell hardness testers; an impact machine; beam-testing rigs; and strut buckling apparatus.
