Facilities
Geotechnical Mobile Lab
The new mobile lab has arrived.
Vision for the lab
Geotechnical construction projects will be built with specifications and processes that allow maximum effciency and creativity on the part of the contractor, use acceptance criteria that ensure responsible use of public funds, and maximize value by increasing the performance life of roadways.
Objectives for the lab
- Better understand the engineering properties of soils that relate to performance in highway construction and have a high degree of reliability for agencies and contractors.
- Improve earthwork construction quality and efficiency through the use of current and emerging construction equipment and intelligent construction technologies.
- Develop improved laboratory and field-testing technologies and procedures for verification testing.
- Test and field measure the properties of soils that relate to performance and use this knowledge to develop methods of quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) for geotechnical applications.
- Provide field training opportunities to contractors and public agency personnel.
Benefits being sought
- Increased productivity and efficiency
- Reduced construction costs
- More responsible use of public investments
- Greater reliability
- Improved performance
Testing equipment
New soil tests:
- GeoComp Load Frame and Hydraulic Loading Hardware for Resilient Modulus/Cyclic Triaxial Testing
- Pine Brovold Gyratory Compactor
Conventional soil tests:
- Automatic Soil Proctor Compactor
- Relative Density Vibratory Soil Compactor
- 300 psi Air Compressor
- Rapid Soil Processor
- Large and Small Lab Drying Ovens
- 12 qt Hobart Soil Mixer
Other facilities
CTRE offices
The PGA’s office is within CTRE’s 14,000-square-foot office suite in the ISU Research Park, roughly three miles from both the Iowa State University campus and the Iowa DOT’s headquarters in Ames, Iowa.
Olson Soil Mechanics Laboratory
The Gerald and Audrey Olson Soil Mechanics Laboratory provides support for advanced soil mechanics testing.
Spangler Geotechnical Laboratory
The 4,000 square foot Spangler Geotechnical Laboratory includes drilling and test equipment for in situ characterization of soil engineering properties.
Materials Analysis Research Laboratory (MARL)
MARL provides researchers the capability to conduct elemental materials analyses by x-ray fluorescence to determine the chemical makeup of cements, fly ashes, limestones, and other pavement materials.
Iowa DOT Materials Laboratory
Certified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials, this lab provides equipment and expertise for materials quality
verification and specification compliance testing, as well as pavement performance
testing.
Page last updated: April 20, 2007
