Highlighted Equipment

The Multi-Axial Subassembly Testing (MAST), designed by the chair of Prof. Stojadinovic, enables quasi-static cyclic tests and hybrid simulations of full-scale structural elements and sub-structures under computer-controlled 6-degree-of-freedom mechanical boundary conditions. It comprises 8 servo-hydraulic actuators reacting against the strong floor and reaction towers and one modular steel cross-head. In the long configuration, the cross-head dimensions are 15x12 m², while its core is approximately 5x4 m². The vertical clearance under the cross-head is approximately 4.5 m. The system is capable of applying up to 10 MN of vertical force, up to 4 MN in one and 2 MN in the other horizontal direction, and moving the specimen up to horizontal drift ratios of 7%. 

The Large Universal Shell Element Tester (LUSET), commissioned by the chair of Prof. Kaufmann in 2017, enables large-scale testing of reinforced concrete shell elements with dimensions of 2.0x2.0 m (2.20x2.20 m including connector blocks) and a variable thickness of up to 0.45 m. Well controlled, arbitrary load combinations (e.g. homogeneous or linearly variable loading by all 8 independent stress resultants of a shell element) can be introduced along the four edges of the specimen by means of 100 hydraulic actuators, equipped with spherical hinges at both ends, acting on twenty independent loading yokes. Each of the five yokes per specimen edge is loaded by one out-of-plane actuator (capacity +0.9/-1.2 MN), and four in-plane actuators (capacity +1.2/-1.4 MN per actuator), positioned at an inclination of 1:2 with respect to the outer normal of the element. More than 30 experiments were carried out in LUSET to date (12/2019).

The servo-hydraulic Multi-Axial Dynamic Simulation Table (MAD-Sim), operated by the Chair of Structural Mechanics and Monitoring (Prof. Chatzi), will be used for dynamic and hybrid testing of structural and mechanical components. The facility is intended to be placed within a climatic chamber simulating field environmental conditions.

Specifications:

• Test area 2.2 m x 2.2 m
• Specimen mass <1 t
• Dynamic range 0.8...100 Hz
• Displacement +/- (140x110x120) mm
• Velocity +/- (1000/900/1000) mm/s
• Max payload acceleration (1000 kg @ 500 mm +/- (8.5x6.5x8.0) g)