Facilities

We have extensive laboratory facilities to support our hands-on approach to engineering education. The labs are used for both instruction and student projects, which include independent studies and thesis research.

Bio-Environmental Engineering Laboratory (13-111)

Current Equipment

  • ENVE 443 Bioenvironmental Engineering I: Covers technologies used in bioremediation of contaminated waste sites.
  • ENGR 581-583 Biochemical Engineering I-III: A three-quarter lecture-lab sequence in biochemical engineering.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) Laboratory (13-113)

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the holistic process of creating and managing information for a built asset. Based on an intelligent model and enabled by a cloud platform, BIM integrates structured, multi-disciplinary data to produce a digital representation of an asset across its lifecycle, from planning and design to construction and operations.

Chevron Environmental Protection Engineering Laboratory (13-114)

EPEL is equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instruments for analyzing trace concentrations of important environmental contaminants.

  • Gas and liquid chromatography: used for the identification and quantification of toxic organic compounds
  • Ion chromatography: used for analyzing anions and cations in solution
  • UV-Vis Spectrophotometer: Used for a variety of wet-chemical analyses

Club Room (13-118)

All of our computer labs have the latest versions of engineering modeling software such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, MODFlow, EPA-SWMM, ArcGIS, and more. Our computer labs are also open to all CE/ENVE students when there is no class scheduled. Open lab hours are posted each quarter so students may utilize these spaces.

Graduate Computer Laboratory (13-119)

This room is saved just for our graduate students so that they have room to study and work without disruption. No classes take place in this room. It is equipped with several computer workstations for grad students to utilize whenever they like. 

 

Advanced Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory (13-121)

AGEL is outfitted with sophisticated modern geotechnical laboratory test equipment as well as field testing equipment. The lab also houses an extensive geotechnical engineering library donated to the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department by Willy Norup of Geodex International.

  • Triaxial Device: Used to evaluate static and dynamic soil behavior
  • Simple Shear: Used to assess the liquefaction potential of soil
  • Portable devices that can be used to take comparative measurements in the field

Power Engineering Construction Co. Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory (13-123)

The Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory is equipped with several state-of-the-art instruments that are used to determine the hydraulic and mechanical properties of soils. Equipment is also used to evaluate the engineering characterization of soils and rocks and test for the strength and compressibility of foundations, embankments, and earth-retaining structures.

  • Index Property and Soil Classification: Includes sieves and sieve shakers, Atterberg limits equipment, specific gravity equipment, expansion index devices, hydrometers, and relative density
  • Motorized Direct/Residual Shear: Allows for rapid characterization of the shearing behavior of soils
  • Triaxial Test Apparatus: Applies sophisticated boundary conditions to represent accurate stress histories, confining conditions, pore water pressures, and loading conditions for geotechnical construction projects
  • Flexible Wall Permeameter: Used to test low hydraulic conductivity soils under appropriate effective stress conditions

Pavement and Advanced Materials Laboratory(13-125)

The Pavement and Advanced Materials Laboratory houses several state-of-the-art pieces of equipment used for asphalt binder and asphalt mix testing. Also, has equipment used for testing the strength of CMU (concrete masonry unit) walls and reinforced concrete construction. 

  • The Dynamic Shear Rheometer
  • Gyratory Compactor
  • Rolling Thin Film Oven
  • NCAT Pavement Permeability
  • Los Angeles abrasion

Hal Cota Air Measurements Laboratory (13-201)

The Air Measurements Lab includes a 2,100-square-foot indoor space with 7 large workbenches and a deck area with 1,600 square feet of outdoor experimental space. The lab is also a smart room with a projector for lab-prep lectures and student presentations with seating for 22 students.

  • High-volume ambient air samples for PM2.5, PM10, and total suspended particulate
  • Flow measurement and calibration equipment
  • EPA Method 5 sampling train and sampling stack
  • Continuous ambient gas monitoring equipment (NOx, SOx, and ozone)
  • Sound pressure level meters and noise testing equipment

Cannon Corporation Water Resources Laboratory (192-136)

The Hydraulics Laboratory gives the opportunity for graduate students to teach the intro water resources lab in this room and is equipped with hydraulic benches. This can be used with a variety of modular accessories to instruct students in different aspects of hydraulic theory. 

  • Weir Flow Measurement: demonstrates the principles and applications of flow measurement in an open channel
  • Pipe Flow Measurement: introduces the principles and applications of flow measurement in pipes
  • Discharge Through an Orifice: uses a small container with a circular orifice at the bottom that discharges material freely into the atmosphere
  • Rainfall-Runoff Simulation and Hydrograph Model: designed by students as a senior project, it simulates rainfall on a rubble concrete catch basin from which runoff results and a hydrograph is determined

Computer-Aided Design Laboratory (192-205)

All of our computer labs have the latest versions of engineering modeling software such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, MODFlow, EPA-SWMM, ArcGIS, and more. Our computer labs are also open to all CE/ENVE students when there is no class scheduled. Open lab hours are posted each quarter so students may utilize these spaces.

Computer Design Laboratory (192-208)

All of our computer labs have the latest versions of engineering modeling software such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, MODFlow, EPA-SWMM, ArcGIS, and more. Our computer labs are also open to all CE/ENVE students when there is no class scheduled. Open lab hours are posted each quarter so students may utilize these spaces. This room is also used for the ENVE Senior Design class and features many past senior design projects for both CE and ENVE in posters around the room.

Environmental Engineering Chemical Wet-Laboratory (192-209)

EECWL is a 2,000-square-foot space with 24 student workstations. Each student in a class has work-bench space and access to a sink and equipment used in a particular lab. The lab is also a smart room with a projector for lab-prep lectures and student presentations.

  • Gas Chromatograph with Mass Spectrometer: used to identify hundreds of thousands of different chemical compounds
  • Phase-Contrast Research-Quality Microscopes: equipped with high-quality digital cameras to allow image capture
  • Ultraviolet/Visible Spectrophotometer: measures intensity as a function of the wavelength of light

Civil Engineering Materials Lab (13-115 and 116)

This lab has lots of Concrete compression testing machines as well as a wet room, and storage for different concrete aggregates. Concrete Canoe and graduate students also use this lab quite a bit. Timber, concrete, rebar, and other important civil engineering materials are tested in this laboratory as part of the lower-level civil courses.

 

 

 

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