Laboratories
Transportation Research Laboratory
The Transportation Research Laboratory supports on-going research activities and externally funded projects in transportation systems planning and operations management. It is equipped with advanced computing capabilities, including a high-performance server network as well as cutting-edge software tools that are widely used in industry. The laboratory provides a rich hands-on and peer-to-peer learning environment for undergraduate and graduate students.
Contact: Khaled Abdelghany
Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory
The Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory has a fully-automated multipurpose testing machine that can be used to conduct triaxial, consolidation, flexible-wall permeability, swelling, and unconfined compression tests. The laboratory also has a fully-automated direct shear test machine. Traditional geotechnical testing equipment available includes sieve analysis, hydrometer, constant head/falling head permeameter, liquid and plastic limits, compaction, and relative-density tools. The facility houses high-performance Windows-based workstations, primarily used for research in multiscale computational modeling of soil-fluid-structure systems.
Contact: Usama El-Shamy
Structural Engineering Laboratory
The Structural Engineering Laboratory houses an axial load capacity frame of 100 kN for performing tension/compression testing. The facility also has a high-strength floor, capable of supporting scale structural experiments for research or classroom projects. To meet the increasingly critical need for monitoring and evaluation of structures, the laboratory supports transducer and data acquisition design systems. Students are provided with all of the necessary tools for an exhaustive monitoring system that can be used in the field or lab, including strain gauges, accelerometers, signal conditioners, and data acquisition equipment. This research group gives students access to leading software and high-performance computational tools used in research and industry, such as SAP2000, MATLAB, and ANSYS, to analyze and solve challenging structural and design problems.
Contact: Brett Story
Aqueous and Soil Chemistry Research Laboratory
The Aqueous and Soil Chemistry Research Laboratory is well equipped with environmental and analytical instrumentation. Water quality research instruments include a total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer, a UV-visual spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), a surface area analyzer, an ion chromatograph (IC), a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). In addition, the laboratory has access to other analytical facilities at SMU, including a scanning electron microscope (SEM), an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS), an elemental analyzer, a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), atomic absorption spectrometer (AA), a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM).
Contact: Andrew Quicksall
Environmental Research Laboratory
The Environmental Research Laboratory is equipped with numerous meters, probes, Nanopure water systems, ovens, fine and coarse analytical balances, autoclaves, shakers, rotators, centrifuges, fraction collectors, pumps and column equipment. The laboratory is also outfitted with high-performance PCs with various programming languages installed, including Mathcad, Matlab, Python. Students have access to simulation and modeling software widely used in research and industry. These software packages model fate and transport of contaminants in the subsurface environments, geochemical and multi-component reactive transport, including PHREEQC, PHT3D, GMS (Groundwater Modeling System), as well as numerous pre/post processing tools.
Contact: Kathleen Smits