ISSN: 1945-7553
CODEN: JTEVAB
Page Count: 9

A Universal Panel Tester

Hsu, TTC
Professor, University of Houston, Houston, TX

Belarbi, A
Assistant professorresearch investigator, Department of Civil EngineeringGraduate Center for Materials Research, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO

Pang, X
Research engineer, Southwestern Laboratories, Houston, TX

(Received 1 October 1993; accepted 17 June 1994)

Abstract

A universal panel tester was built at the University of Houston to test reinforced concrete panel elements subjected to any combination of in-plane and out-of-plane forces. The forces are applied by 40 in-plane hydraulic jacks of 250-kip (1120-kN) capacity each and 20 out-of-plane hydraulic jacks of 140-kip (630-kN) capacity. The sophisticated hydraulic system makes it possible to simulate any complex stress condition in a panel.

Keywords:
biaxial testing, data acquisition, deformations (strains), hydraulic jacks, loads, membrane element, panel, reinforced concrete, shell element, triaxial testing, test facility, wall

Paper ID: JTE10397J
DOI: 10.1520/JTE10397J
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