Laboratory facilities

With a large central testing hall of about 1000 m² and numerous testing equipment, the Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research is one of the biggest laboratories internationally. The infrastructure comprises, for example:

• A unique central testing hall (15 m x 60 m) for large-scale load testing.
• Numerous equipment for testing of various building materials such as cement, aggregates, concrete, masonry, reinforcement, etc.
• Test machinery with a capacity up to 10000 kN in compression and 2500 kN in tension.
• A large number of hydraulic jacks for static and dynamic loading tests.
• Special equipment for measurements and data acquisition.
• Climate rooms and freeze chambers.
• Test configurations for durability tests and microscopic investigations.
• Equipment for sampling and testing in situ (including deterioration diagnostics).
• Equipment for non-destructive testing.
• Numerous equipment for the calibration of loading test machinery, prestressing jacks, etc.

The unique testing hall of the Magnel Laboratory

The most important part of the laboratory is the large central testing hall. The main element in this hall is the test floor with following overall dimensions: 63.1 m x 15.1 m x 3.5 m. This test floor consists of two concrete slabs (height : 0.7 m each) prestressed in two directions and connected by heavily reinforced cross-shaped concrete columns. The whole constitutes a large and stiff box-shaped element which is completely independent from the building itself. The test floor can withstand vertical loads up to 1000 kN every 1.20 m and horizontal forces of 1000 kN per running meter at a level of 1 m. This basic element, together with specially designed steel frames and a set of hydraulic actuators, offers the opportunity of performing full-scale tests on a wide range of concrete construction elements.