Purdue’s large scale testing facility

bowen lab

Purdue has a large scale civil engineering testing facility with over 50.000sqft of testing area indoors.  The floor is 14ft thick and supported by 5ft diameter piers reaching a 45ft depth! Capable of a 1,000,000lb load with only .1″ of deflection.

The building was built several years ago and allows researchers to test large scale structural models.  Purdue houses one of the most advanced and largest testing facilities in the world.

You can view the testing lab from their webcam anytime.  I’m always surprised to see how much can change in a day.  Or check out the time lapse of a 3 story concrete large scale model.

Boiler up!

Author

Article Categories