1) High stiffness, high capacity load frame 2) Pressure control for cell and back pressure 3) Test cell (either a high pressure triaxial cell or a Hoek cell). Each of these components has a number of options depending on the stresses required for testing and the required sample size The GDS 8 channel serial pad is used for data acquisition. This 16 bit device has 8 computer controlled gain ranges specifically designed to suit transducers used in a testing test i.e. +/-10mV, +/-20mV, +/-30mV (load cells) +/-100mV, +/-200mV (pressure transducers) +/- 1V, +/- 5V, +/- 10V (displacement transducers)
The system is controlled by the user’s PC running Windows? and GDSLAB software. GDSLAB enables multiple devices to be connected and so data acquisition as well as additional controllers may be added to the setup at any time as required. The operator chooses the type of test from a test menu (eg U-U, C-U, multi-stage, CRS, K0, stress path etc) and then enters the test parameters (of cell pressure, back pressure, testing rate and so on) and test termination conditions. The test then proceeds automatically with all test data being saved to a file. Tests can proceed overnight and during weekends and holidays. The computer directly controls the cell pressure, back pressure and testing rate. In addition to logging these parameters to the PC hard drive, the computer also logs axial displacement, axial load, pore pressure and volume change. Of course, additional transducers may be easily configured and logged during the test.
Technical specification
- Load Frame range: 100kN to 500kN - Cell and Back Pressure Range: 8MPa – 150Mpa - Triaxial Cells pressure rating: 1.7MPa – 128MPa - Available sample sizes: 38mm – 300mm