An 1,800-sq.-ft. enclosure for seven 3- 20-ft. beds for slab-on-grade and pavement testing is the latest addition to the Donald G. Fears Structural Engineering
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An 1,800-sq.-ft. enclosure for seven 3- _ 20-ft. beds for slab-on-grade and pavement testing is the latest addition to the Donald G. Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. The beds enable slabs to be tested with full restraint at each end of a specimen, as top and bottom surfaces are exposed, respectively, to a controlled environment and soil temperatures and moisture. Cypress, Calif., fast-setting and shrinkage-compensating cement specialist CTS Cement Manufacturing Corp. funded the Advanced Concrete Research Laboratory with an eye to studying specimen shrinkage and curl.
Under mentorship of Assistant Professor and Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory Director Chris Ramseyer, Ph.D., P.E., five Civil Engineering and Environmental Science students dug footings, placed anchor bolts and slab rebar, erected primary and secondary steel structural elements, and secured wall and roof panels. The university subcontracted only electrical work and interior slab placement. Students and faculty have begun collecting data on initial Advanced Concrete Research Lab test slabs.