Santa Clara University

Laboratories

The Civil Engineering Laboratories contain equipment and facilities to support research and teaching in materials engineering, structural engineering, stress analysis, soil mechanics, geology, transportation engineering and surveying, environmental quality, and hydraulics.

The Computer Simulation Laboratory maintains Windows-based personal computers that are used extensively in course assignments, design projects and research. Commercial software packages in all the major areas of civil engineering are available on the systems with full documentation available to students.

The Concrete Testing Laboratory contains facilities for mixing, casting, curing, and testing concrete cylinders and constructing reinforced concrete test specimens.

The Environmental Laboratory is equipped with instrumentation needed for basic chemical and biological characterization of water, wastewater, and air samples. Several pilot-scale treatment systems are also available.

The Geology Laboratory is equipped with extensive rock and mineral samples as well as topographic, geologic, and soil maps.

The Hydraulics Laboratory is shared with the Mechanical Engineering Department. It contains a tilting flume that can be fitted with various open-channel fixtures.

The Soil Mechanics Laboratory contains equipment for testing soils in shear, consolidation, and compaction and for other physical and chemical tests. Field testing and sampling equipment is also available. A complete cyclic triaxial testing system with computer control is used for both research and instructional purposes.

The Structures and Materials Testing Laboratory is equipped with three universal testing machines and a closed-loop MTS hydraulic system. These machines/systems are used for testing a variety of construction materials and assemblies under both psuedo-static and dynamic loading. Complementing this equipment are a series of digital and analog instruments, and high-speed data acquisition and control systems.

The Surveying Laboratory has a wide variety of equipment, such as self-leveling levels, transits, the odolites, and electronic distance-measuring devices available for instructional purposes.

The Traffic Laboratory has electronic volume counters that are used in studies to classify vehicles and measure their speeds in user-specified ranges and periods of time. This equipment is used for instructional and research purposes.