Department of Civil Engineering » University of Toronto

This large-scale universal testing machine can apply tension / compression loads up to 5,400 kN (1.2 million lbs.), on specimens up to 6.5 meters (22 ft.) high, and 18.3 meters (60 ft.) long. This testing machine can be used to carry out a variety of tests on materials and assemblies such as wire ropes, concrete beams and steel trusses.

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MTS Mobile Testing Machine

This large-scale universal testing machine can apply tension / compression loads up to 2,650 kN (0.6 million lbs.), on specimens up to 3 meters (10 ft.) high. It is capable of being moved around the Sandford Fleming Structures Laboratory using a series of air pads and can be bolted to the strong floor at any location.  When coupled with the Strong Wall and various portable actuators, large, "three-dimensional", structural sub-assemblies can be tested.

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MTS Stiff Frame Testing Machine

This high stiffness testing machine has a capacity of 4,500 kN in compression.  It can used for tests on specimens such as high strength concrete and rock samples requiring a machine with high stiffness capable of capturing post peak behaviour.

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MTS 1000 kN Testing Machine

This universal testing machine can apply tension / compression loads up to 1,000 kN (220,000 lbs.), on specimens up to 1.8 meters (6 ft.) high. It is capable of being moved around the Mark Huggins Structures Laboratory using the 10 ton overhead crane.

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MTS 245 kN Testing Machine

This universal testing machine can be used for smaller experiments and is also ideally suited for materials testing such as ASTM tensile coupons.

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MTS Portable Actuators

Two 350 kN capacity and two, 250 kN capacity portable actuators can be used in either of the two laboratories for a variety of specialized applications.  They are normally used in conjunction with the Meccano loading frames and/or the Strong Wall and Strong Floor in the Sandford Fleming Structures Laboratory.  The 1,000 kN actuator from the Column Test Frame can also be dismounted and used in this manner.

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Shell Element Tester

The Shell Element Tester, utilized for studying the behaviour of very large reinforced concrete elements subjected to in-plane and out-of-plane forces, was initially designed in 1984 under the direction of Professor M. P. Collins and Professor P. Marti. The testing facility is unique in various aspects. It is the only facility of its kind capable of testing full scale shell elements subjected to all 8 possible force components.

This piece of equipment houses 60 hydraulic jacks, 40 in-plane, which have a capacity of 1000 kilonewtons (kN), and 20 out-of-plane, which have a capacity of 500 kN. Specimens up to 1.5 m square by 0.4 m thick can be accommodated. The SET can be used to apply bending, shear and torsional loading to regular and high-strength reinforced concrete elements, and has been used to test components of nuclear power plants and concrete offshore structures.

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Shear Panel Tester

The Shear Panel Tester which is used to apply arbitrary in-plane stresses to thin reinforced (or prestressed) concrete panels in order to determine realistic constitutive models which can later be used by nonlinear finite element programs.  This tester which includes 38 - 10,000 psi hydraulic jacks and its own control apparatus was the first of its kind in the world (first used in 1979) and has since been emulated by various research laboratories in the United States, Japan and England.

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Column Testing Frame

This specially constructed frame, on extended loan from the University of Houston, houses a 4500 kN hydraulic jack for the application of axial loads and a 1000 kN servo-controlled actuator for the application of transverse loads.  This frame is capable of testing specimens that are up to 4 m long while the transverse dimensions are limited by laboratory space and the strength of the materials used in the specimen.  A major upgrade of this frame is currently underway which will increase the axial load capacity to 9,000 kN.

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Hydraulic Testing Facility

The Hydraulic Testing Facility is a 2.6 m diameter, 4.3 m high pressure vessel which can generate a sustainable water pressure up to 300 psi, equivalent to a water depth of approximately 200 metres. This facility can be used to carry out tests on various materials and assemblies, such as high-strength concrete and model offshore structures.

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Riehle 60 kip Testing Machine

This is a general purpose screw driven universal testing machine with a capacity of 267 kN (60,000 pounds) which can test specimens up to 1.9 m (6.2 feet) long.

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Instron 10 kip Testing Machine

This is a general purpose screw driven universal testing machine with a capacity of 45 kN (10,000 pounds) which can test specimens up to 0.6 m (2 feet) long.

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Strong Floor / Reaction Wall

The Civil Engineering Structural Testing Laboratories house two strong floors, one with an associated reaction wall (Sandford Fleming Structures Laboratory). These items when combined with a diverse range of moveable steel reaction frames, beams, columns and various hydraulic jacks (up to 2 million pound capacity) and actuators, provide for systems capable of loading large two- and three-dimensional structural sub-assemblies in infinitely variable formats. Examples of test capabilities include full scale steel trusses (40 ft. long), two-storey reinforced concrete frames, precast concrete slabs, hollow structural steel (HSS) connections, and transmission pole tests.

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Full-Scale Meccano Set

The Meccano system is a set of moveable steel reaction frames, beams, columns, braces etc. that can be assembled in almost limitless configurations and used in conjunction with other testing apparatus to apply loads to almost any structural component or subassembly.

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Machine Shop

The Machine Shop provides services to the entire Department in addition to the Structural Testing Facility. At present two full time machinists are employed and major equipment includes 4 milling machines, 5 lathes, 2 radial drills, 4 pedestal drills and 3 saws.

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Welding Bay

The Sandford Fleming Structures Laboratory contains a modern welding bay capable of flux-cored, gas-shielded (MIG/TIG), submerged arc and stick welding processes. This welding bay is serviced by its own five ton capacity overhead crane.

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