CEPT University | Structural Engineering Laboratory

Structural Engineering Laboratory
About the Structural Engineering Laboratory

The structural engineering laboratory consists of three different laboratories:

Solid Mechanics Laboratory: Through Solid Mechanics, students learn about forces and their components, center of gravity and moment of inertia, which become the foundation for understanding and analyzing structural systems. The Solid mechanics laboratory presents students with the opportunity to understand the behavior of different mechanical equipment in space and relate them with the theoretical calculations.

Structural Failure, Repair and
Rehabilitation Laboratory: The Structural Failure, Repair and Rehabilitation (SFRR) Laboratory is dedicated to understanding the deterioration, damage caused to concrete structures over time, their causes, and the behavior of deteriorated concrete. To access the quality of existing concrete structures, Non-Destructive Tests (NDT) are carried out, to come up with adequate repair methodology and keeping the structure serviceable.

Earthquake Engineering Laboratory: The Earthquake Engineering Laboratory aims to enhance the students’ understanding of behavior of structures at the time of earthquakes and analyse the vibration in terms of acceleration.

1. Structural Engineering Laboratory

2. Non-destructive Testing Laboratory

3. Rebound Hammer Rebound Hammer is a Non-destructive testing instrument that provides a rapid indication of the compressive strength of the concrete. It measures compressive strength in the range of 10 to 60 N/mm 2 .

4. Rebar Locator Test Apparatus The equipment is used to find the position of steel reinforcement bars in concrete structures and to measure their concrete cover. It uses electromagnetic pulse induction technology to detect rebars.

5. Core Cutter The concrete drilling machine is used to take out the concrete core from the RCC element to measure the compressive strength of the concrete. It is a partially destructive test. The size of the UCL core drill bit is 70 mm.

6. Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Tester testing is used to determine the integrity and quality of structural concrete. This instrument can measure the travel time of sonic waves between 0.1 µs to 9999 µs. It is accompanied by transducers of 54 kHz & 150 kHz frequency with a cable length of 1.5m.

7. Drill machine This equipment is used for drilling holes in various materials, such as concrete, rocks, metal, ceramic wood, or plastic., to drive in screws and other small fasteners. They are made of high-quality materials and unique technologies require less maintenance.

8. Digital half-cell potential test instrument The equipment is capable of measuring half-cell potentials of reinforcing steel in concrete. The electrode cell used is copper-copper sulphate electrode. The range is 0 to ± 999 millivolt LCD voltmeter indicate the DC volt with a resolution of 1 millivolt. The role of the half-cell is to ensure constant reference potential.

9. Earthquake Engineering Laboratory

10. Vibration analyser 4 port-12 channel The signal analyzer system provides reliable and precise measurements for vibration monitoring and analysis applications. It is a portable USB 2.0 full speed voltage input data acquisition module (fully compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports) that can be used with either desktop or laptop PCs.

11. Small shake table This equipment is used to test structural models, scaled slopes, or building components, typically to the point of failure . The shake table will consist of a connecting rod, a vibration table, linear guideways and an eccentric cam. A circular mounting plate will be placed on the vibrating plate through a T-slot so that the test structure can be mounted at any desired angle relative to the angle of incidence of the base motion. The table will be able to generate harmonic motions of different amplitudes. The amplitude of base motions can be varied by changing the eccentricity of the cam. The maximum payload is 30 kg and gives a resolution of 1mm.

12. Uni-axial Shake Table The table size is 900 mm x 1500 mm, with a loading capacity of up to 2 tons. The shake table can be operated up to 15 Hz frequency, and displacement is achieved up to ± 100 mm.

13. Structural Analysis Models

14. Shear Force and Bending Moment Apparatus This apparatus demonstrates and investigates the bending moments and forces within a structure. It has a dimension of 158cm x 45cm x 60cm. The total beam length is 150cm with flexure. The beam dimension is 5cm x 5cm x 36mm. No. of spring balance is 2 each of 10 kg.

15. Column Apparatus This apparatus is used to study the behavior of different types of columns. The apparatus consists of four spring steel columns, which are put along a horizontal whiteboard. These four columns have different end conditions as below: Both end fixed (L/2) One end pinned and other fixed (L/ √2) Both ends pinned (L) One end fixed and the other end free (2L)

16. Two Hinged Arch Apparatus This model has a span of 100cm and rise 27cm. Both ends are hinged but one of the ends is also free to move longitudinally. A lever arrangement is fitted at this end for the application of known horizontal inward force for measuring the horizontal thrust. Along the horizontal span of the arch various points are marked at equidistant for the application of load. This being a statically indeterminate structure of the first degree. A dial gauge with magnetic base is supplied with the apparatus.

17. Curved Member Apparatus This apparatus is used to determine the strength of curved objects such as circle, semicircle and quadrant of a circle with straight arm. The apparatus consists of a steel bar which is used to make the different curved members viz. circle, semicircle with a straight arm, a quadrant of a circle and quadrant of a circle with a straight arm. The bottom ends of the members are fixed to the base. Under the application of load at free end, its horizontal and vertical deflection is measured with the help of a dial gauge.

18. Pin Joint Truss Apparatus The apparatus consists of 4 panels of a PRATT truss model. Load can be applied on each panel point. All tension members are provided with detachable springs so as to obtain appreciable deformation of a member. The direction of the diagonal members can be changed. Apparatus can b used to illustrate visually the nature of forces set up in various members of the truss.

19. Portal Frame Apparatus The apparatus is used to examine the horizontal reactions, fixing moments and direction of sway of two rectangular portal frames subjected to vertical loading. Portal frames have the primary objective of resisting lateral loads caused by wind acting on the walls.