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Facilities

Nasa water recovery lab

Nasa Water Lab

The NASA Water Recovery lab allows researchers to explore space-related issues related to wastewater recycling in space habitats.  The lab includes bench-top wastewater treatment systems including the Texas Tech University-Water Recovery System which has been the main focus of wastewater recycling experiments for approximately 6 years.  Additionally, the lab contains other innovative micro-gravity compatible biological wastewater treatment systems, a reverse osmosis unit, ion exchange columns, and UV disinfection lamps.  In order to characterize the wastewater quality during experiments, the lab contains other analytical equipment including HPLC, GC, TN/TOC analyzer, IC for anions, GC/MS, pH meters.  Additionally, the lab contains general laboratory equipment such as balances, centrifuges, ovens, furnaces, and specialized extraction and distillation glassware necessary for basic water quality examination

 

Structures Lab

Structures Lab

The Structures Laboratory at Texas Tech University is capable of testing full-scale structural elements up to 18.3 m (60 ft) long. The test deck has a plan are of over 2,000 square feet, and is constructed as a three-compartment, heavilty-reinforced concrete Vierendell girder with a depth

 

 

 

 

 

 

asphalt lab

Asphalt Lab

Texas Tech Civil Engineering Department has made a very strong commitment to develop a state-of-the-art testing capabilities for bituminous materials.  Texas Tech has already acquired SuperpaveÔ Level I mix design capabilities and basic asphalt testing equipment.  The 1200 ft2 bituminous materials laboratory and the 1000 ft2 aggregate characterization laboratory house the following equipment.


Asphalt Concrete Testing:

  • Hamburg Wheel-Tracking Device (single wheel)
  • 60 ft3 Large Forced Draft Oven
  • 20-Quart Mechanical Mixer
  • 5-Quart Mechanical Mixer
  • Portable Gyratory Compactor (Pine Model AFG1A)
  • Bulk Specific Gravity equipment
  • Rice Specific Gravity equipment
  • Marshall Mix Design Test equipment
  • Koch Materials Abrasion/Raveling Test equipment

Bituminous Binder Testing:

  • Small 5 ft3 SuperpaveÔ Oven
  • Brookfield DV-II+ Rotational Viscometer
  • TA Instruments Dynamic Shear Rheometer
  • Asphalt Ductility and Elastic Recovery Tester
  • Spectrophotometer
  • Laboratory Shaker for Chemicals

environmental lab

Environmental Lab

The Environmental Sciences Laboratory (ESL) at Texas Tech University occupies nearly 3000 square feet of floor space and is stocked with the standard meters, balances, centrifuges, ovens, furnaces, incubators and specialized extraction and distillation glassware necessary for basic and advanced water quality examination. The ESL also includes gas and liquid chromatographs (GC-MS, GC-ECD, HPLC, GC and LC) atomic absorption units (graphite and flame), and an auto-analyzer. The lab is equipped to extract and quantify most environmental constituents including pH, fecal coliforms, total coliforms, bacteria, VOCs, semi-volatiles, organic acids, amines hydrocarbons, explosives, anions, catioins, metals, organic carbon, total nitrogen, and nutrients.

 

geotech lab

Geotech Lab

The soils and aggregates laboratory has all the necessary capabilities for soil characterization, soil compaction, soil consolidation and soil shear strength tests to be performend at different test stations simultaneously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

computer lab

computer lab

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Computer Laboratory includes 36 computers, equipped with engineering and related software such as ALBOG, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, EPANET, FLDWAV, GEO-Slope, Gstabl17, WaterCad, HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, MathCad, MatLab, McTrans HCS2000, Microstation, Modflow, LabView, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio, RISA-3D, Sap2000, and SigmaPlot.

 

 

 

 

Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

Wind Tunnel

The closed-circuit wind tunnel offers a 1.8 x 12.-meter test seciton capable of wind speeds up to 45 meters per second. The facility also hosts a tornado vortex simulator and a pulsed-jet wind tunnel to simulate thunderstorm downbursts. The Wind Science and Engineering Research Center (WISE) at Texas Tech University works closely with TechMRT to conduct transportation-related research such as design loading for traffic signals,