Experimental Steel Bridge

Steel Bridge: A 3-dimensional steel truss spanning 12 feet will be monitored by both hard-wired and wireless data collection devices while being arbitrarily loaded by a long-stroke dynamic shaker imposing vertical vibration. The unique feature of the bridge is the ability for any element to be removed and replaced with elements possessing a smaller cross-sectional area, thus representing damage in the truss. The ability to impose controlled damage to the truss enables testing of damage detection algorithms and bridge monitoring strategies.

Experimental Building Model

Dynamic Building: A 7-Story building model will be used to measure the structural response under diverse loading conditions.  This building model coupled with the capabilities of both the uni-axial shake table and sensors can provide ideal testing scenarios for educational and experimental modal analysis.

6-DOF Shake Table

6-DOF Shake Table: A 4 ft x 4 ft, six degree-of-freedom shake table with a one-ton payload and ≈ 6 inches of stroke in each of the x-, y-, and z-directions. The complex motion generation capabilities of the shake table will enable testing and monitoring of the structural response of scale models and components in a controlled environment.

Vertical Dynamic Shaker

ELECTRO-SEIS APS 113 Shaker: A long stroke electrodynamic shaker used for exciting and studying the dynamic response characteristics of structures in a given frequency range.  The shaker has a driving frequency range from 0-200Hz with a maximum peak to peak stroke of 6.25 inches.  The shaker is able to drive structures at their resonating frequencies in a multiple of test configurations making it a versatile asset to the SIMLab.

Shake Table

Quanser Shake Table II: A 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft uniaxial shake table with 2.5 g maximum acceleration (7.5 kg payload) and a +/- 3 inch stroke. The shake table can move in with any arbitrary uniaxial motion, from sinusoidal to the recreation of historic earthquake records.  Additional shake table information.

Quanser Active Mass Damper: A one- or two-story building model controlled by an active mass damper.

Wireless Sensors

Imote2 + SHM-A Smart Sensors: Fifty smart sensor nodes incorporating the Imote2 smart sensor platform and the SHM-A multi-metric sensor board.

National Instruments Data Acquisition System

National Instruments CompactDAQ: A data acquisition system with 20 channels of 24-bit acceleration measurement, 16 channels of strain measurement and 8 channels of general analog input.

Accelerometers

PCB Piezotronics ICP Accelerometers: 20 high sensitivity uniaxial accelerometers with magnetic mounts and a single high resolution, low noise reference accelerometer.