Research Facility
Spanning from conventional geotechnical testing to more advanced material characterization, our GeoRL hosts many testing facilities for geomaterials testing and characterization. We collaborate with Howard's and external research groups various research projects, including collaborators from the departments of chemistry, biology, and mechanical engineering.
Universal Testing Machine (UTM)
-Preparation of Consolidated Samples.
-Tensile Testing of Geosynthetics
Leica Laser Confocal Microscope
-Materials' surface roughness
-Facture surface morphology
-Contact area under load
-Hydrogel coating and thickness
Thermomechanical Triaxial Cell
-Soil triaxial testing under different temperatures (heating/cooling, freezing/thawing)
Hitachi Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
-Materials imaging
-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS)