The geotechnical centrifuge provides researchers with a unique capability to investigate a wide range of engineering problems, including transportation infrastructure efficiency (e.g. highways, railroads and bridges), and resilience of infrastructure (e.g. dam, levee and pipeline) to natural and man-made hazards. The centrifuge recreates full-scale stresses at all points in a small model by increasing its self-weight by a factor of N, by rotating that model to N times Earth’s gravity. Then, the system response is observed and measured. Recent development of the geotechnical centrifuge at the UofSC, the only centrifuge facility in the state and one of a few centrifuge facilities in the Southeastern United States.
Centrifuge Facility at the University of South Carolina
This centrifuge is a 1.5-m radius, Genisco 1230-5 with symmetrical dual baskets. Each basket has approximated usable payload dimensions of 500 mm in depth, 500 mm in width, and 600 mm in height. Recent upgrades of the UofSC centrifuge include a 15 HP-AC electric drive system for efficient speed control of up to 4,200 RPM, fiber optic communication system, 4-channel rotary joint capable of transmitting high pressure fluid and air, National Instruments data acquisition system, customized LabView data acquisition software, in-flight onboard camera system, state-of-the-art earthquake shaker, and a laminar container. The shaker is a high-performance servo-hydraulic centrifuge shaker capable of applying 1-D horizontal base input accelerations to centrifuge model container. The UofSC centrifuge has a wide range of sensors for use, including miniature pore pressure sensors, differential pore water pressure, laser displacement sensors, LVDTs, load cell, bender element, heat dissipation sensor and accelerometers. The centrifuge is also equipped with advanced in-flight capabilities including air-water cylinder system for air-water testing; CPT and T-Bar for shear strength measurement.
Past and ongoing centrifuge modeling research studies at the UofSC include the investigation of seepage flow behavior through fine grained materials, the initiation and progression of internal erosion phenomena, the centrifuge cone penetration tests in unsaturated soils, the effects of wetting-drying paths on shear strength of unsaturated soils, and seismic behavior of gravelly soils.