System and Process Assessment Research (SPAR) Laboratory

Directed by Co-PI Genda Chen

Housed in the Butler-Carlton Hall for the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CArEE), the SPAR Lab (see Fig. 1) was originated in 2014 as the result of extensive research collaborations over the previous 15 years among the departments of civil engineering, electrical engineering, material science and engineering, computer science, and chemistry. The SPAR Lab provides the capability of exploring both scientifically intriguing and pragmatically challenging solutions to aging infrastructure problems and supports conceptualization, development, experimentation, and implementation of key measurement technologies. The SPAR Lab pioneers the “lab-on-sensor” concept and unique calibration of sensors to address a multitude of assessment and maintenance issues faced today both nationally and internationally. The equipment in the SPAR Lab is particularly useful in condition assessment of structural and mechanical systems, including bridges, roads, pipelines, offshore platforms, nuclear reactors, and other large-scale civil infrastructure.

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Fig. 1 Snapshot of the SPAR Lab

The SPAR Lab features the following specialized equipment:

• A distributed strain and temperature measurement system (up to 25 km in distance) based on the Brillouin and Rayleigh scatterings of light as it propagates through a single-mode optical fiber,
• An ultra-high sensitivity and high frequency response acoustic sensing system (up to 1 km in distance) using an optical fiber with a distributed air and mechanical amplifier for acoustic wave,
• A complete line of the development, fabrication, calibration, analysis, and application of grating-based fiber optic sensors, including the home-integrated CO₂ laser based automated sensor fabrication system fully computer-controlled with in situ monitoring capability,
• A fully integrated loading/sensing or corrosion/sensing calibration system, and
• Multiple measurement devices (acoustic, electromagnetic, magnetic, optical, and radar) for complete assessment of structural behaviors, including cracking, yielding, buckling, fatigue, corrosion, and scour.

Additionally, the SPAR Lab features the following equipment:

• Co-aligned Dual VNIR and SWIR Sensor with two Integrated Hyperspectral Cameras (Headwall Photonics Inc.)
• DASnovaTM Fiber Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing System (Sentex Instrument LLC)
• SM125 Interrogator (Micron Optics)
• 16-channel si255-16-ST/160-NO Interrogator (Micron Optics)
• AQ6370C Optical Spectrum Analyzer (Yokogawa)
• Neubrescope NBX-7020 (Neubrex)
• Agilent 83437A Broadband Light Source (Agilent)
• S5FC1550S-A2 Benchtop Superluminescent Light Source (THORLABS)
• RSV-150 Laser Vibrometer (Polytec)
• 2020i NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner (NextEngine Inc.)
• Samos Micro II Acoustic Emission System with 16R and 8F Sensors (Physical Acoustics)
• Land Magnetometer G-857 (Geometrics)
• Digital Magnetometer DM-050 (STL)
• SIR 3000 Ground Penetrating Radar (Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc.)
• Rapid Chloride Test (Germann Instruments)
• CANIN+ Corrosion Analyzing Instrument (Proceq)
• Interface1000E Potentiostat/Galvanostat/ZRA (Gamry Instruments)
• PHS-25 Potential of Hydrogen (pH) Meter (Made in China)
• 3541-0030-150T-ST Clip-on-Gage (Epsilon Technology Corp)
• 3541-0020-500T-ST Clip-on-Gage (Epsilon Technology Corp)
• High-temperature Furnace (Made in China)
• Thermostatic: Kewei DH-250 (Made in China)
• PosiTest AT-M Manual Adhesion Tester (ABQIndustrial)
• MTEST200VT Micro-tensile Tester (GATAN)
• PI 85L SEM PicoIndenter (Hysitron Inc.)
• 562 ULTRAlign Precision Linear Stage (Newport)
• ILS100HA High Performance Linear Stage (Newport)
• RVS80CC Rotation Stage (Newport)
• ESP301-2N Motor Controller/Driver (Newport)
• Instron 5965 Low Capacity Load Frame (Instron)
• Instructional Shake Table II (Quansar)
• Electrodynamic Exciter K2075E040 (The Modal Shop, Inc.)
• Synergy P High Speed Data Acquisition (Hi-Techniques)
• Desktop Workstation Precision T7600 (Dell)