Structural Engineering Facilities
The Department of Civil Engineering has two off-campus research facilities that that are dedicated to structural engineering research. The facilities are equipped with state-of-art equipment and instrumentation to support research activities.
The Wind Load Test Facility
The WLTF is a 10,000 sf laboratory housing one of the largest atmospheric boundary wind tunnels in the country. Our current research focus is on the wind loading of buildings within suburban neighborhoods. In addition, the WLTF possesses an instrumentation and model shop area, actuators and fabrication workshop that are used for constructing test specimens.
As part of this scientific effort, the Wind Load Test Facility (WLTF) at Clemson University has been playing its part through wind engineering and structural engineering research of hurricanes and low-rise buildings. The facility was founded in 1991 with federal funds obtained from FEMA under the Stafford Act as part of the post-Hurricane Hugo mitigation effort. Since that time, research at the Wind Load Test Facility has made great contributions to improving building codes and increasing our understanding of wind forces.
The Wind Engineering and Structures Laboratory
The Wind Engineering and Structures Laboratory (WESL) supports experimental research related to the performance of buildings, bridges and other structures. The lab has an indoor test area with nearly 4000 ft2 of floor space for testing of full-scale building components, a 5000 ft2 outdoor reaction slab for testing large structural systems, and an outdoor reaction frame for testing long structural members in bending. In addition, the lab serves as the home base for mobile instrumentation lab for testing highway bridges. The lab is equipped with hydraulic and screw-drive actuators for applying loads, BRERWULF for applying static and fluctuating air pressures, an air cannon for missile impact studies, a universal test machine for testing small components and data acquisition equipment to measure and record data (stresses, loads, accelerations and deformations).
