Material characterization is a vital step toward achieving maximum pavement life. ORITE operates an impressive array of laboratory test equipment to determine the engineering properties of paving materials such as asphalt concrete, Portland cement concrete, aggregate and stabilized base, and subgrade. Some of this equipment includes:
- MTS hydraulic loading devices
- Resilient Modulus Device to evaluate mechanical properties of asphalt concrete mixes
- Multiaxial machines
- Direct shear tester
- Georgia Wheel Tester to perform accelerated tests on the rutting stability of asphalt concrete mixes
- Beam fatigue device to determine long-term fatigue resistance to loading of asphalt concrete mixes
ORITE has extensive equipment and facilities designed to study and solve a myriad of transportation infrastructure and environmental issues:
- Mobile Civil Infrastructure Laboratory (large truck with laboratory and field testing equipment inside)
- Portable Seismic Properties Analyzer (PSPA)
- Lightweight Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD)
- DriveSafety driving simulator with Seeing Machines head tracking system
- Accelerated Pavement Load Facility (4200 square foot facility to simulate traffic loads under controlled environment) Located on Ohio University’s Lancaster Campus.
- Centrifuge with 30 foot diameter arc – 200 gravity
- 25 ton Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT) Truck
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) – down hole and near surface
- Pipe crawlers for inspecting conduits
- Data Acquisition Systems for infrastructure response, 10 dynamic and 30 static
- Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP)
- One Million Pound Load Cell Facility
- SUPERPAVE Equipment for Asphalt Testing
- Environmental engineering equipment, including scanning spectrophotometer, high-performance liquid chromatographer, atomic absorption spectrometer, and ion chromatographer
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Facility
- Field vehicles (Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck, Chrysler Magnum, box truck, Ford F150 pickup truck)