CEI. view . fall 2012
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WORLD-CLASS RESEARCH
Students and faculty members conducting research in the new Centre for Engineering Innovation
have facilities at their disposal that rival anything else on the continent.
“There are very few facilities in
North America that are able to do the
kind of testing that we can do,” says
Dr. Nihar Biswas, a professor in civil and
environmental engineering. “Students will
see how tests are done in real-life situations.”
Among the facility’s 80 research and
teaching laboratories are a thermal fluids
lab, an electric vehicle lab, a tribology
research centre, space for three wind
tunnels, a manufacturing design studio
paired with a reconfigurable assembly
line system, and a clean room for making
computer chips and other integrated circuits.
One of the building’s more fascinating
features is the new drop tower, which
materials engineering professor Bill
Altenhof MASc ’97, PhD ’99, says takes
the University’s research capability to
the next level.
More than 10 metres high, the tower’s
crane is capable of lifting more than 900
kilograms. Researchers who want to know
more about how certain materials behave
during collisions can drop giant masses
on to such parts as car doors or fenders,
which are placed below on the building’s
strong floor, which is about 1.1 metres thick.
By the time they hit the floor, they will be
travelling at a rate of about 45 kilometers
per hour.
“We’ve always needed higher-rated
testing facilities,” says Dr. Altenhof. “The
combination of all this equipment is really
going to put us on the map and attract
more industry.”
Altenhof recently received an $110,000
grant from the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council to purchase
a high-speed, digital image correlation
system, which consists of two cameras
capable of capturing 500,000 frames
per second. His research team will drop
materials from the tower and record precise,
highly detailed images of the materials as
they deform under pressure.
The knowledge they gain from those
images will provide a greater understanding
of new energy dissipation structures,
information that could be used for such
practical applications as automotive,
military, aerospace and personal safety
protection. Understanding how something
breaks down in a collision will help
manufacturers of cars, planes and
personal safety protection make better,
safer products.
A graduate student at work in the Advanced
Production and Design Recovery Lab.
Students have played a vital role in ensuring that the CEI teaching and research facilities suit their needs.
