High-Performance Concrete and Structures Laboratory

Critical innovations in the area of high-performance concrete in recent years include the development of highly durable concrete, impact-resistant concrete, microdefect-free concrete, fiber-reinforced concrete, fly-ash concrete, high-performance carbon fiber-reinforced concrete and high-strength fiber-reinforced plastics, among others. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), we have installed six closed-loop hydraulic MTS and Instron testing machines with capacity ranging from 25,000 to 1 million pounds in our state-of-the-art laboratory and testing facility. In our high-bay structural concrete lab, we test full-scale, 12-ft.-long columns with automated closed-loop hydraulic testing machines; our reaction walls enable us to simulate lateral loads from both wind and earthquakes. The recent addition of two new civil engineers, Matthew Adams and Matthew Bandelt, who are expert in advanced concrete materials, further expands our programs into research on the fatigue and durability of high-performance, fiber-reinforced concrete and microstructures of high-performance concrete using scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes. Past and ongoing funding for our research comes from government agencies such as the NSF, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as from private partners such as Public Service Electric and Gas and SCG of Thailand