Development of a Multiaxial Geosynthetics and Fibrous Material Test Device

自1986年在土工合成材料和纤维材料工程领域建立独立的卓越中心以来，德雷克塞尔大学一直走在这一领域的前沿。德雷克塞尔下属的土工合成材料研究所(GRI)如今是致力于土工合成材料的领先研发机构。德莱克斯的土工合成材料和纤维材料实验室设施没有跟上该大学在这些领域取得的成就。目前，该大学的许多实验室设备都已过时。此外，研究人员现在认识到，该行业使用的许多现有设备并不能真实地模拟大多数土工布和工业纺织品的使用条件。为了在这些领域保持领先地位，并显著改善其实验室基础设施，该大学开发和购买最先进的测试设备至关重要。为了满足这一需求，该大学建立了实验室维护和设备升级计划。因此，该奖项的重点是开发和制造一种主要的测试设备，该设备将极大地提高土工合成材料和纤维材料研究人员的实验能力。这种高度通用的装置将能够评估土工合成材料和纤维材料在单轴、双轴或轴对称拉伸条件下的受限或非受限条件下的性能。该设备将能够在一定范围的应变率和频率(蠕变到地震率)和加载条件下执行单调和循环测试，这些加载条件与在一系列使用条件下经历的测试非常相似。

Drexel University has been at the forefront of geosynthetic and fibrous materials engineering since establishing separate centers of excellence in these fields in 1986. The Drexel-affiliated Geosynthetic Research Institute (GRI) is today the leading research and development institute dedicated entirely to geosynthetics. Drexel's geosynthetics and fibrous materials laboratory facilities have not kept pace with the University's achievements in these areas. Currently, many of the University's laboratory devicesare outdated. Moreover, researchers are now recognizing that many of the existing devices used by the profession do not realistically simulate the in-service conditions of most geotextiles and industrial textiles. To remain a leader in these fields, and to significantly improve its laboratory infrastructure it is critical that the University develop and acquire state-of-the-art test equipment.Attempting to address this need, the University established a laboratory maintenance andequipment upgrade program. Accordingly, this award focuses on development and fabrication of a major test device that will greatly enhance the experimental capabilities of geosynthetic and fibrous materials researchers. This highly versatile devise will be capable of assessing geosynthetic and fibrous material behavior under confined or unconfined conditions in uniaxial, biaxial, or axisymetric tension. The device will be able to perform both monotonic and cyclic tests over a range of strain rates and frequencies (creep to seismic rates) and under loading conditions that closely replicate those experienced over a range of in-service conditions.