Onyemelukwe While experiencing an unprecedented growth in student enrollment, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Structural/Geotechnical Group (SGG) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) have been developing research and education programs with limited and insufficient testing facilities. The university has committed to construction of a sizable laboratory for large-scale testing of structural members and systems. This award will permit acquisition of a structural test system and a data acquisition system for the new facility.
This equipment will significantly enhance the large-scale structural testing facility and will allow the SGG to conduct static, fatigue, and pseudo-dynamic tests on large-scale components and sub-assemblies. The new system will also allow the SGG to conduct integrated research studies combining both analytical and experimental work using in-house facilities. In addition to serving as its primary research function, the new large-scale structural testing laboratory will have a secondary educational purpose. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be engaged in some of the research projects. Interesting research projects will also be integrated into appropriate classroom settings and instructional programs. Easy access to such a laboratory facility at UCF will afford students the opportunity to better visualize some of the subjects taught in the classroom. ***
