Materials and Mechanics Laboratory

Photo of students and lab technician during materials steel testing

The CSEE Materials and Mechanics Laboratory provides space for civil engineering students to develop an understanding of the strength and durability of different materials.

Materials Lab

  • Students enrolled in CIE 327, Civil Engineering Materials, a requirement for all civil engineering students, receive coordinated lecture and lab time. If students learn about the strength of concrete in class, they will mix their own concrete and test its strength in the lab.
  • Machines in the materials lab test the strength of concrete, polymers, steel and wood.
  • Civil engineering undergraduate students learn in the same labs graduate students use for research. The shared workspace gives undergraduates an opportunity to observe projects they may one day work on.
  • The department will enhance student experience beyond strength tests, as it adds durability tests to each of the four materials over the several years.

Location

  • The materials and mechanics lab is located at 102 Ketter Hall. Several experiments associated with CIE 327, Civil Engineering Materials, take place in the structures lab located at 103 Ketter Hall.

Updates

2017-18:

  • The department will equip the Materials & mechanics Laboratory with a new experiment: the rapid chloride permeability test. Undergraduate students will learn, and experience firsthand, the durability of the concrete they create as chloride penetrates it.

2015-16

  • Engineering curriculum changed, and made the Materials & Mechanics Laboratory exclusive to CSEE.