The EUCENTRE Foundation has three independent laboratories dedicated to experimentation in the field of civil engineering and in particular earthquake engineering. The large and continuous investments in experimental equipment allow the EUCENTRE Foundation to represent one of the most complete and performing reality in the world.
The ShakeLAB, inaugurated in 2006, has (a) a mono-axial shaking table measuring 5.6 x 7 meters and acceleration up to 6 g which allows seismic simulations on full-scale structures, and (b) a bearing system for tests on structural and seismic isolation devices with five degrees of freedom with maximum vertical load of 50,000 kN and horizontal speed up to 2.2 m / s and finally of (c) a 3D strong floor-reaction wall system that allows the execution of pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic tests on large structural prototypes.
The 6DLAB, inaugurated in 2017, has (a) a multi-axial shaking table, which will soon reach 9 degrees of freedom, with dimensions 4.8 x 4.8 meters dedicated to the study of the seismic performance of non-structural elements and plant elements and (b) a system for testing dampers and large dynamic restraints with maximum force up to 4,400 kN and maximum speed of 1.1 m / s.
The MobiLAB consists of a system of mobile equipment that allows to carry out static and dynamic tests directly on real buildings and infrastructures, allowing the vulnerability assessment or the calibration of numerical models.
Product Sheets:
– Realisation of experimental tools for earthquake engineering
…assessment of structures, structural elements and anti-seismic devices…
The three Laboratories and the multi-year skills of the researchers working at the EUCENTRE Foundation allow to offer, for example to public bodies or private companies, complete research and collaboration packages with experimental activities ranging from the characterization of the material, to the element or prototype, up to the complete structural system in real scale.
The research activities carried out at the Foundation are periodically described in the Papers and Issues of Progettazione Sismica, the magazine published by EUCENTRE.
On the YouTube channel it is possible to find some videos of particularly significant experiments carried out in the Foundation’s laboratories and thanks to the news section and the social channels Linkedin and Facebook it’s possible to be constantly updated on what is being realized.
Furthermore, in the Products & Services tabs of each Department it is possible to find a detailed list of what the EUCENTRE Foundation is able to offer in the various areas of expertise.
…and non-structural elements thanks to the innovative 9 degrees of freedom simulator
For some years now, the EUCENTRE Foundation has decided to expand its fields of study and research, traditionally focused on structures and structural elements, to that of non-structural and plant elements.
6DLAB was born in 2017 with this in mind and currently has a shaking table with 6 degrees of freedom capable of performing triaxial seismic qualification tests according to the main internationally recognized standards.
A further and very recent investment will make it possible, in the first months of 2021, to modify the shaking table making it a simulator with 9 degrees of freedom: an upper trellis controlled by four hydraulic actuators will in fact allow to simulate the inter-floor movement, one of the main causes of failure of non-structural elements, and therefore to reproduce in the most realistic way possible the state of stress of an element installed on any floor of a building.
The upgrade project was entirely developed by the researchers of the EUCENTRE Foundation who, thanks to skills in various engineering fields, are also able to create and offer to public and private laboratories complete test systems for the study of structures, components and non-structural elements.
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