Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering

Construction Engineering and Management – Facilities

Facilities & Resources

Construction Engineering and Management (PhD Only)

 

Facilities & Resources:

CM Interns at Colorado State University

In addition to computer labs, students in this program may also utilize the following Construction Management facilities:

  • Mortenson Center for Virtual Design and Construction
  • Haselden Preconstruction Learning Lab
  • Kiewit Heavy Civil Lab
  • CAPA Asphalt Lab
  • Industrial Sciences Lab (welding, framing, electrical systems)

The Mortenson Center for Virtual Design and Construction is located in 118 Guggenheim Hall and serves as an interactive and virtual learning environment for students to learn techniques and capabilities of specific modelling programs and experience the power of these tools in construction and beyond. Mortenson Construction contributed the funds and design for the space to create a learning environment that encourages collaboration and access to the latest technology.

The Haselden Preconstruction Learning Lab is located in 116 Preconstruction Center and serves as a collaborative space where students can work with plans, scheduling, estimating, and other projects. Haselden Construction contributed the funds and design for the space as part of the full Preconstruction Center remodel project in 2009.

The Kiewit Heavy Civil Lab is located in 101 Industrial Sciences Lab and serves as a hands-on space for the study of soils in the construction environment as part of the heavy civil construction focus. Kiewit Companies contributed soil testing equipment, examples of aggregate identification, a concrete bell pier estimating illustration, small equipment models, and materials volume identifiers.

The CAPA Asphalt Lab is located in 100 Industrial Sciences Lab and serves as a hands-on space for the study of asphalt and paving materials. Through contributions from members of the Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association, the space is equipped with technologies and materials needed for the study of components used in road and heavy civil construction.

The Industrial Sciences Lab Building as a whole is equipped with all necessary tools and technologies for the study of framing, deconstruction, metal working, electrical systems, and other hands-on activities related to construction.

Also, the following Civil and Environmental Engineering laboratories are available for instructional and research purposes:

  • Structural Engineering Laboratory
  • Chester Smith Structures and Materials Laboratory
  • Concrete Materials Laboratory
  • Wood Utilization Laboratory
  • Harold H. Short Civil Infrastructure Systems Laboratory

The Structural Engineering Laboratory located at the Engineering Research Center is home to a uni-axial earthquake simulator (shake table) driven using 40 gallons of accumulation. The shake table boasts a 35,000 lb actuator with 180 gpm hydraulic fluid flow and can reproduce some of the largest earthquakes recorded worldwide (e.g. Northridge 1994 M 6.7). The lab also contains the world’s first spatio-temporal hurricane wind load test facility with seven synchronously controlled dynamic actuators. The facility is currently being linked to state of the art wind tunnels for real time testing. The system is driven by the same hydraulic flow used for the earthquake shake table. The uniqueness of this facility lies not in the actuators, but in the numerical control algorithm that was developed to drive the system. The algorithm is being developed here at CSU using state of the art linear and nonlinear finite element methods. Additional resources available at the Structural Engineering Laboratory include a 24 x 100 ft strong-floor equipped with structural hold-downs, MTS actuators and associated controls, and testing frames constructed for full-scale testing of transmission poles, straight and curved glued-laminated and other beam members, straight and skewed bridges, guardrail systems, and other specimens as needed.

The Chester Smith Structures and Materials Laboratory and Concrete Laboratory on the main campus contain a wide range of testing equipment, including a 100-kip MTS closed-loop testing machine. The Wood Utilization Laboratory has been home to a wide array of research in wood engineering and includes a 50-kip Instron machine, a full-scale tension machine, and modem data acquisition equipment. Large-scale experimental work in structural engineering also includes field testing of bridges.

The Harold H. Short Laboratory for Urban Water Infrastructure Studies is dedicated to the study of water use management in urban areas, and research into management and uses of alternatives that will lead to better water use and reduced infrastructure costs. The lab is also a teaching lab for urban water systems analysis and urban storm water systems management.

Housed directly in the civil and environmental engineering wing of the Engineering Building are two computer laboratories which give students access to a wide variety of microcomputers ranging from state-of-the-art PCs to computationally powerful workstations. Computers in these laboratories are part of the local area network in the College of Engineering.