Ecomaterials

Construction Materials Laboratory

The Construction Materials Laboratory, created in July e, 2002, is a unit of scientific research and service delivery to the community, and belongs to the Department of Civil Engineering of University of Minho.

Construction Materials Laboratory covers destructive and non-destructive testing of construction materials such as fresh and hardened mortars and concrete and the assessment of their durability and mechanical properties. The equipment housed in Construction Materials Laboratory will allow the characterization, development and testing of high performance sustainable materials for a wide variety of applications in the construction industry.

The main objectives of Construction Materials Laboratory are as follows:

•Support pedagogically different teaching projects of the Department of Civil Engineering, namely the Integrated Master on Civil Engineering and postgraduate studies (International Master in Sustainable Built Environment and Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering) in the area of construction materials;

•Participate in scientific research projects in the areas defined in the CTAC strategic program, namely in that who are framed in the Ecomaterials thematic line.

•Develop activities of consultancy and service delivery to the community;

•Develop training course.

The Construction Materials Laboratory performs various tests in the following areas:

•Admixtures for concrete

•Aggregates;

•Mortars and concretes;

•Hydraulic and aerial lime;

•Injection pastes;

•Cements and additions;

•Wood;

•Ceramic materials;

•Paints and varnishes

Main Equipments

CompactRIO control/acquisition system

The CompactRIO system (cRIO) is a DAQ system with an incorporated computer (with its own operating system) capable of dedicatedly running one single LabVIEW program at a time. The cRIO has standard memory and an integrated real-time processor for control, data logging, and analysis, and able to run the program at much higher speed than a laptop (which is multitasking). The cRIO uses Ethernet to connect to its peripherals which enables it to communicate data fast. The cRIO connects to the electronic hardware via reconfigurable I/O field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology.

Available NI modules:

NI cDAQ-9172: legacy NI CompactDAQ chassis (without an incorporated computer)
NI cRIO-9074: integrated 400 MHz Real-Time Controller and 2M Gate FPGA
NI 9205: 32 channels, ±10 V to ±200mV, 16-bit analog input
NI 9234: 4 channels, ± 5 V, 24-bit, SW selectable IEPE & AC/DC
NI 9237: 4 channels, 24-bit, half/full bridge analog input
NI 9263: 4 channels, ±10 V, 16-bit analog output
NI 9421: 8 channels, 24 V, sinking digital input
NI 9472: 8 channels, 24 V, sourcing digital output

These pieces of equipment were acquired with fund that result from specialized services carried out by this Research Group to the Centre for Waste Valorisation.

Construction Materials Laboratory

The main objectives of Construction Materials Laboratory are as follows:

• Support pedagogically different teaching projects of the Department of Civil Engineering, namely the Integrated Master on Civil Engineering and postgraduate studies (International Master in Sustainable Built Environment and Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering) in the area of construction materials;

• Participate in scientific research projects in the areas defined in the CTAC strategic program, namely in that who are framed in the Ecomaterials thematic line.

• Develop activities of consultancy and service delivery to the community;

• Develop training course.

The Construction Materials Laboratory performs various tests in the following areas:

• Admixtures for concrete

• Aggregates;

• Mortars and concretes;

• Hydraulic and aerial lime;

• Injection pastes;

• Cements and additions;

• Wood;

• Ceramic materials;

•Paints and varnishes.

About CTAC

The Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC) is a research unit of the School of Engineering of University of Minho (UMinho), recognised by the “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Foundation for Science and Technology), associated to the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC), with whom it shares resources and namely human resources.

Currently CTAC aggregates 37 researchers holding a PhD of which 27 are faculty professors of the Civil Engineering Department. Read more

Ecomaterials

Construction Materials Laboratory

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