The geotechnical engineering facilities at URI include a wide range of equipment and resources to support both research and teaching activities. The facilities include an advanced soil testing laboratory, Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) rig, pile and anchor load testing equipment, a geotechnical field test site on the URI campus, surface wave testing equipment, access to marine vessels and coring equipment, and access to numerical analysis software. Meet our faculty and more information on the URI Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Advanced Soil Testing Lab
Capabilities include triaxial stress path testing with flow pumps, measurement of shear wave velocity using bender elements, both incremental load and constant-rate-of-strain consolidation tests, and cyclic direct simple shear and constant normal stiffness tests.
Seismic Cone Penetration (CPT) Rig
Student preparing the 10-ton, URI CPT rig to perform seismic cone testing.
Pile and Anchor Load Testing Equipment
Pile load tests on groups of helical anchors at the URI Allen Harbor Educational Facility.
Geotechnical Field Test Site at URI
Vertical load testing of a prototype anchor system at the URI’s Geotechnical Field Testing Site located at Peckham Farm.
Surface Wave Testing Equipment
MASW testing equipment deployed on the crest of the Gainer Dam in Rhode Island.
Access to Marine Vessels, Coring, and Survey Equipment
Students on a field trip to the Block Island Wind Farm.
URI R/V Shanna Rose
Deploying a shallow water piston corer in Narragansett Bay.
Gravity Coring from the URI CT-1
Student preparing a gravity core for deployment as part of a dredging study at Quonset Point, RI.
Geophysical Surveying Equipment
Deploying the URI pontoon vessel to perform a multibeam survey for scour studies around bridges in Rhode Island.
Drones and Advanced Surveying Equipment
Students performing a beach survey using RTK-GPS surveying equipment. These surveys were used to groundtruth LiDAR and Photogrammetric surveys completed using drones.
Numerical Analysis Software
FLAC 3D model of a reticulated micropile system (courtesy of Paul Sauco)