Improvement of the current universal testing machine with a new microprocessor console provides digital load readout with peak hold indicator, computer input of a specified stress, strain, deflection or load rate, and computer output of loadings, stresses and deflections during the test. This improved basic laboratory equipment will enhance undergraduate education in civil engineering by exposing students to a state-of-the-art indicating and control system. This system will approximate industrial practice. The enhanced material will particularly benefit students in the understanding of: fundamental of engineering materials and engineering soil tests where students perform numerous tests on steel concrete and rock like materials using the universal testing machine.
