Study Techniques & Materials Used in Industry


Our state-of-the-art labs are designed for hands-on learning and practical experience with industry-standard equipment and methods. These facilities help to provide you with practical experience in testing materials, analyzing structures, surveying, and studying transportation systems, equipping you with the skills needed for real-world engineering challenges.

 

photo of Civil and Environmental Engineering student labs.

Geotechnical Lab

The Civil and Construction Engineering (CCE) Department operates a 2500-square-foot lab facility dedicated to civil and construction material testing. This lab is fully equipped to conduct most of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard test methods related to soils, aggregates, Portland cement concrete, and other construction materials.

  • The Geotechnical Lab supports the following standard experiments:

    • ASTM D422 - Particle-Size Analysis of Soils
    • ASTM D698 - Moisture-Density Relations of Soils Using 5.5-lb Rammer and 12-in. Drop.
    • ASTM D854 - Specific Gravity of Soils
    • ASTM D1140 - Amount of Material in Soils Finer than the No.200 (75-mm) Sieve
    • ASTM D1556 - Density of Soil in Place by the Sand-Cone Method
    • ASTM D1557 - Moisture-Density Relations of Soils Using 10-lb Rammer and 18-in. Drop.
    • ASTM D1558-10 - Standard Test Method for Moisture Content Penetration Resistance Relationships of Fine-Grained Soils
    • ASTM D2166 - Compressive Strength, Unconfined, of Cohesive Soil
    • ASTM D2216 - Laboratory Determination of Water (Moisture) Content of Soil
    • ASTM D2434 - Permeability Test for Soils (Constant/Falling-Head Method)
    • ASTM D2435 - Standard Test Method for One-Dimensional Consolidation Properties of Soils
    • ASTM D2487 - The Unified Soil Classification System
    • ASTM D2488 - Description and Identification of Soil
    • ASTM D3080 - Direct Shear Test of Soils Under Consolidated Drained Conditions
    • ASTM D4253-00 - Using a Vibratory Table
    • ASTM D4318 - Liquid Limit, Plastic Limits, and Plastic Index of Soils
    • ASTM D4647 - Standard Test Methods for Identification and Classification of Dispersive Clay Soils by the Pinhole Test
    • ASTM D7128-05 - Standard Guide for Using the Seismic-Reflection Method for Shallow Subsurface Investigation

Location: L1 Materials Lab Building, Located behind the Civil Engineering Technology, Building L, Room L1-102

Materials for Civil & Construction Engineering Lab

The Materials for Civil & Construction Engineering Lab is equipped to evaluate the performance of common construction materials, including concrete and pavement. 

  • The lab supports the following standard experiments:

    • ASTM C29 - Bulk Density (鈥淯nit Weight鈥�) and Voids in Aggregate
    • ASTM C31 - Making and Curing Concrete Test Specimens in the Field
    • ASTM C39 - Compressive Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens
    • ASTM C78 - Flexural Strength of Concrete (Using Simple Beam with Third-Point Loading)
    • ASTM C109 - Compressive Strength of Hydraulic Cement Mortars
    • ASTM C117 - Materials Finer Than 75-渭m (No.200) Sieve in Mineral Aggregates by Washing
    • ASTM C127 - Specific Gravity and Absorption of Coarse Aggregate
    • ASTM C128 - Specific Gravity and Absorption of Fine Aggregate
    • ASTM C136 - Sieve Analysis of Fine and Coarse Aggregates
    • ASTM C138 - Unit Weight, Yield, and Air Content of Concrete
    • ASTM C140 - Sampling and Testing Concrete Masonry Units and Related Units
    • ASTM C143 - Slump of Hydraulic-Cement Concrete
    • ASTM C172 - Sampling Freshly Mixed Concrete
    • ASTM C191 - Setting Time of Hydraulic Cement by Vicat Needle
    • ASTM C231 - Air Content of Freshly Mixed Concrete by the Pressure Method
    • ASTM C305 - Mechanical Mixing of Hydraulic Cement Pastes and Mortars
    • ASTM C469 - Static Modulus of Elasticity in Compression
    • ASTM C496 - Splitting Tensile Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens
    • ASTM C566 - Total Evaporable Moisture Content of Aggregate by Drying
    • ASTM C702 - Reducing Field Samples of Aggregate to Testing Size
    • ASTM C805 - Rebound Number of Hardened Concrete
    • ASTM C1064 - Temperature of Freshly Mixed Portland Cement Concrete
    • ASTM D75 - Sampling Aggregates

Location: L1 Materials Lab Building, Located behind the Civil Engineering Technology, Building L, Room L1-100

Strength of Materials Lab

The Strength of Materials Lab is equipped to study the performance of laboratory testing and analysis techniques used in the determination of the mechanical behavior of materials under load. Emphasis will be on the elastic conditions of equilibrium, compatibility and material behavior. 

Location: Engineering Technology Center, Building Q, Room Q-135

Surveying I Lab

The Surveying I Lab consists of an assortment of state-of-the-art equipment, such as theodolites, electronic distance meters, electronic total stations, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite receivers, and optical alignment devices to gather any topographic information. The lab deals with the measurement of angles, distances, elevations, horizontal and vertical location using total station and level in the fields.

Location: Civil Engineering Technology, Building L, Room L-125

Transportation Engineering Lab

The Transportation Engineering Lab exposes students to a variety of traffic studies commonly conducted in the field, including spot speed study, turning movement counts, vehicle delay study, parking study, saturation flow rate study, queue length study, headway study, traffic compliance study, and verification of Poisson distribution. In addition to the field studies, the students will learn how to conduct traffic analysis and simulation using traffic analysis software (HCS+ and Synchro/SimTraffic).