Learned Hall Structural Testing Laboratory
The Learned Hall Structural Testing Laboratory, which has been actively operated since its opening in the 1970s, has 4,000 ft2 of open laboratory area with a clear height of 30 ft. There is a 20-ton traveling crane for transporting specimens and equipment. The strong floor has anchor points spaced 3 ft on center that support loads of up to 100,000 pounds at each anchor location. The laboratory has three MTS hydraulic power units with rated flow capacities of 90, 30, and 20 gpm to supply hydraulic oil to testing equipment. A Flex-Text II CTC control system capable of managing up to four actuators is available for cyclic and dynamic testing of full-scale structural components within the test bay. Reaction frames are available for testing approximately full-scale bridge systems as well as structural components. The Learned Hall Structural Testing Laboratory also has three digitally controlled self-reacting hydraulic testing machines with capacities of 60,000 120,000 and 600,000 pounds in both tension and compression.
Testing equipment is shared between the laboratories and with Marshal G. Lutz Fracture and Fatigue Laboratory. This shared equipment includes two 55,000-pound, one 110,000-pound, two 220,000-pound, and one 330,000-pound MTS hydraulic actuators. The actuators, which have stroke lengths of between 10 and 40 inches, are equipped with single or dual servovalves with rated flow capacities of up to 90 gpm. A Power-Team hydraulic loading system is also available that includes rams with several different load ratings, including four 100-ton dual acting rams. For data acquisition, the laboratories share multiple National Instruments data acquisition systems that can be configured to be used independently or jointly and a non-contact infrared based data acquisition system for recording deformations of both small and large-scale specimens.
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For more information, please contact any of the following professors:
- Dr. Caroline Bennett at 785-864-3235 or crb@ku.edu
- Dr. William Collins at 785-864-0672 or william.collins@ku.edu
- Dr. David Darwin at 785-864-3827 or daved@ku.edu
- Dr. Andres Lepage at 785-864-6848 or alepage@ku.edu
- Dr. Remy Lequesne at 785-864-6849 or rlequesne@ku.edu
- Dr. Jian Li at 785-864-6850 or jianli@ku.edu
- Dr. Matt O'Reilly at 785-864-9017 or oreilly3@ku.edu
- Dr. Elaina Sutley at 785-864-2345 or enjsutley@ku.edu
