Large-scale triaxial apparatus
Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, Ljubljana / Slovenia
Scope
Traffic Load Simulator is a part of the large-scale triaxial apparatus at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG). Its main purpose is to enable mechanical testing of various geomaterials and their interaction among themselves. Thanks to the very high accuracy level of load/displacement control and measurements, characterization of material (e.g. stiffness, damping etc.) at very small strain ranges are possible.
With some limitations mentioned in the following paragraphs, the facility enables testing of geomaterials in triaxial, direct shear and simple shear mode. Furthermore, custom made loading of the specimen (e.g. principal stress rotation) is possible.
Specifications
An overview of the systems, utilities and equipment that are available for the large-scale triaxial apparatus is given below together with a brief description of their technical specifications.
| Overview of the apparatus setup | ||
|---|---|---|
| Loading frame | Enables prismatic specimens, maximum height of 80 cm and cross section 40 cm x 40 cm | |
| Axial loading piston | Hydraulic piston with capacity 100 kN (or 200 kN), max displacement 800 mm | |
| Horizontal loading piston | Hydraulic piston with capacity 200 kN (or 100 kN), max displacement 100 mm, load is applied at the bottom of prismatic specimen | |
| Confining pressure | Confining pressure is applied by means of a partial vacuum, as back pressure, up to 85 kPa | |
| Vacuum system | Down to 850 mBar vacuum available | |
| Confining frames (simple shear) | 17 rigid confining aluminium frames with a height of 3 cm each (specimen with height of 51 cm and cross section 40 cm x 40 cm) | |
| Loading frames for direct shear | Upper and lower load frames for specimen installation (each frame with height of 20 cm and cross section 40 cm x 40 cm) | |
| Utility for submerged friction tests | Additional frame to enable submerged direct shear tests | |
| Segment of car wheel | Fixed on the vertical piston to simulate vertical loading by the car wheel | |
| Load control and data acquisition system | LabView based system, internally developed | |
| Workshop | For the design and manufacturing of necessary tools, instruments etc. to be used in the test. | |
| Facility Details | |
|---|---|
| Name | Large-scale Triaxial Apparatus |
| Short Name | Large-scale Triaxial Apparatus |
| Owner | Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG) |
| Location | Ljubljana/Slovenia |
| Website | http://www.zag.si/en/equipment |
| Contact | stanislav.lenart@zag.si |
| Head of facility | Stanislav Lenart |
| Construction year | 2014 |
Image Gallery
General arrangement of the testing device
Set-up for friction test between two types of submerged geomaterials
Loading frame when direct shear mode
Set-up during simple shear test
Prismatic specimen for triaxial test