Buildings
Clayco Advanced Construction and Materials Laboratory (ACML)
The ACML houses four construction and materials laboratories to provide cutting-edge equipment and training for students, preparing them for careers in the design and construction world.
Research Equipment
Mixing Equipment
Twin Mixer Batch Plant
A planetary counter-current, high-shear mixer with maximum filling capacity of 1 m3 and maximum output capacity of 0.75 m3 is available for full-scale tests. The mixer can provide intensive and efficient mixing and homogenization of batch materials with high output of constant quality concrete, even for the most diverse mix designs.
Eirich Intensive Mixer (150L)
The Eirich intensive mixer separates the transportation of the mix from the actual mixing process which results in numerous process advantages. The mixing pan can be arranged either horizontally or at an optimized angle of inclination to suit particular requirements.
Mortar and Cement Paste Mixers
ASTM-compliant mixers (20L and 5L) for mixing hydraulic cement pastes and mortars of plastic consistency. A mixer includes a bowl positioning adapter, a stainless steel bowl, and one flat stainless steel beater for mixing heavy materials. The mixer operates on principle of planetary action—beater reaches every part of the batch, rotating on its axis in opposite directions as it moves around the bowl. The mixers thoroughly blend, mix and aerate all ingredients for consistent, predictable finished batches.
Rheometers / Workability
ConTec 5 Viscometer
The ConTec Viscometer 5 is a coaxial cylinder rheometer, able to measure the rheological properties of a large range of concretes up to a maximum aggregate size of 16 mm, and can be easily extended to accommodate larger particles. The rheometer consists of a bucket serving as the outer cylinder, rotating on a base plate, and a stationary inner cylinder, divided into two parts: the top part registers the torque, while the bottom part eliminates the complicated 3-D flow effect. The incorporated software is used to set the testing parameters, to save and to perform an initial interpretation of the data.
ConTec 6 Viscometer
The ConTec Viscometer 6 is the smaller version of the ConTec Viscometer 5, measuring the rheological properties of mortars with a dmax = 5 mm. The principle of operation is similar as the ConTec Viscometer 5.
Fann Viscometer 35
The Fann Viscometer 35 is a true Couette coaxial cylinder rotational viscometer. In this viscometer, the test fluid is contained in the annular space or shear gap between the cylinders. Rotation of the outer cylinder at known velocities is accomplished through precision gearing. The viscous drag exerted by the fluid creates a torque on the inner cylinder or bob. This torque is transmitted to a precision spring where its deflection is measured and then related to the test conditions and instrument constants.
ICAR Rheometer
The ICAR rheometer is a portable concrete rheometer, also based on the principle of the coaxial cylinders. The inner cylinder is equipped with a vane and the rheometer can accommodate concretes with a maximum aggregate size of 25 mm. The ICAR rheometer will be transformed into a tribometer by replacing the vane by a smooth cylinder. This instrument is used to characterize the influence of new materials on concrete rheology, and to optimize mixture proportions so that the resulting concrete flows readily but is resistant to segregation.
Environmental Chambers
Alkali–Silica Reaction (ASR) Environmental Chamber
Automated system for testing according to ASTM C1293.
Temperature: 38°C to 60°C.
Temperature sensor accuracy: ±0.2°C.
De-Icing Salt Scaling Environmental Chamber
Automated system for testing according to ASTM C672.
Temperature: -18oC to 23oC.
One cycle per day.
Humboldt Elite Series Freeze-Thaw Cabinets
Automated system for testing according to ASTM C666A.
Specimen: 1 Reference + 16 prisms (75 x 75 x 355 mm).
Dimensions: 0.9 m x 2.2 m x 1.1 m.
Temperature: -18oC to 4oC.
Six cycles per day.
Carbonation Chamber
This chamber can simulate various environmental conditions including:
Carbon dioxide concentration: 0% to 20%.
Temperature: 40oC to 120oC with 0.5oC precision
Relative humidity: 0% to 100% with 3% precision
Testing Frames
MTS Model 315 Load Frame Assembly
4.600 kN (1.000 Kip) compression
2.300 kN (500 Kip) tension
100 mm (4.0 in.) stroke
Test space height with adapter plates: Max. 1160 mm (45.7 in.). Min. 1060 mm (41.7 in.)
Test space width: 686 mm (27 in.)
Stiffness: 10.5×109 N/m (6.0×107lb/in.)
Non-Destructive Testing
ConCure ZoneCure System
A system to measure the temperatures, temperature differences and maturity values during hardening of a structure at critical locations. ZoneCure allows strength estimation at an early age as well, provided the strength-maturity relationship for the concrete mixture used in the structure has been established and programmed into the software.
Impact Echo
This system is designed to determine the condition and thickness of concrete, wood, stone, and masonry structural members when voids, honeycomb, and/or cracks are suspected. IE investigations can also be performed to predict the strength of early age concrete if the member thickness is known. Lastly, the IE method will provide information on the depth of a flaw or defect, in addition to mapping its lateral location and extent. An advantage of the IE is that only one side of the structure needs to be accessible for testing. The Freedom data PC provides stress-wave based NDT condition evaluation of concrete, masonry, asphalt, wood and other construction materials, as well as seismic testing of soil and rock. This platform provides complete data processing capability for all test methods.
Micro II PCI-8 Acoustic Emission System
8 channel digital data acquisition acoustic emission system that resides on a full-size PCI card. Through the high performance PCI bus and Direct Memory Access (DMA) architecture, significant AE data transfer speeds can be attained (up to 132 Mb/sec.), assuring a wide bandwidth bus for multi-channel AE data acquisition and waveform transfer. Digital acquisition circuitry virtually eliminates drift, thereby achieving high accuracy and reliability..
PROCEQ Resipod
The PROCEQ Resipod is a fully integrated 4-point Wenner probe, designed to measure the electrical resistivity of concrete in a completely non-destructive test. It is the most accurate instrument available, extremely fast and stable and packaged in a robust, waterproof housing designed to operate in a demanding site environment. Surface resistivity measurement provides extremely useful information about the state of a concrete structure, such as the likelihood of corrosion and the corrosion rate.
RSV-150 Remote Sensing Vibrometer
The RSV-150 Remote Sensing Vibrometer is designed for point-and-shoot condition monitoring and testing the dynamics of structures from a distance. By use of laser Doppler interferometry, contact sensor installation is eliminated.
Material Characterization
Ultrapyc 1200e Pycnometer
The Pycnometer is used to determine true volume and density of powder materials by employing Archimedes’ principle of fluid displacement and gas expansion (Boyle’s Law).
Tinius Olsen Automatic Blaine Apparatus
This apparatus is to determine Blaine fineness of powder materials, one of the basic physical characterizations of powder materials. The Blaine fineness of powder materials has significant influence on workability and rheology of cementitious materials, including concrete.
ICT-100R Gyratory Compactor
The gyratory compactor is used to test the compatibility of aggregate and low workable concrete. It is equipped for various types of laboratory compacting including research, mix design, and specimen preparation.
Rapid Air-Void Analyzer
An automated measuring system for analyzing the air content, and distribution in hardened concrete, which is of importance when evaluating the freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. The system can replace the manual tests performed as described in ASTM C457. It consists of a computerized control unit, a digital color camera, and a microscope objective mounted on a moving stage, and an analysis software package.
Germann Instruments AVA 3000
Used to measure the size distribution of small air bubbles and the air-void parameters of fresh concrete, permitting quality control and optimization of concrete performance when exposed to cyclic freezing and thawing.
Creep Frames
Used to test the creep of high-strength concrete. (15 available)
Calmeterix I-Cal 8000 Isothermal Calorimeter
The I-Cal 8000 is an 8-cell Isothermal Calorimeter designed to test cement paste, mortar or even real concrete in compliance with ASTM C1679 (“Standard Practice for Measuring Hydration Kinetics of Hydraulic Cementitious Mixtures Using Isothermal Calorimetry”). Precision sensors measure the heat flow generated by the early hydration reaction of cement as the ambient temperature around the samples is controlled by Calmetrix’s CalCommander software interface.
Calmetrix F-Cal 4000 Semi-Adiabatic Calorimeter
The F-Cal 4000 is a portable calorimeter with four sample channels that emulates the curing conditions of concrete flatwork. It is ideal for quick testing of concrete in field conditions. F-Cal 4000 enables testing of up to four cement, mortar or concrete simultaneously, in standard 4″x8″ (100 mm x 200 mm) cylinders or in any container of equal or smaller size.
Calmetrix P-Cal 1000 Semi-Adiabatic Calorimeter
The P-Cal 1000 is a high performance semi-adiabatic calorimeter with high efficiency insulation to achieve close to adiabatic conditions. The P-Cal 1000 can be used to test concrete, mortar or paste in a standard 4”x8” (100 mm x 200 mm) cylinder or any standard container that fits inside. Because of its ultra-high performance insulation, it closely mimics the conditions encountered in the core of mass concrete applications.
Geneq Automatic Concrete Cylinder End Grinder
Automatic grinder grinds specimen ends plane and parallel. This unit can grind three 100 mm x 200mm (4” x 8”) test cylinders or two 150 mm x 300 mm (6” x 12”) test cylinders simultaneously, and has an adapter for 100 mm x 200 mm (4” x 8”) test cylinders.