Research Activities and Facilities

Research activities of the faculty encompass the major areas of civil engineering. Current research projects in structures and materials are in the area of structural dynamics, wind engineering, and the development of new building materials. Geotechnical research is concentrated in the areas of stabilization of waste materials for beneficial uses, in situ testing of soils, fiber-optic sensors in soils and evaluation of pavements. Some of the research investigations conducted in hydrology are on groundwater seepage and salt transport into the Indian River lagoon, the groundwater effects on stormwater retention/detention basin performance and the prediction of stormwater water quality from nonpoint sources using models. Research activities in the environmental area include water treatment using reverse osmosis and activated carbon, biomass production, degradation of consumer products, landfill and compost simulation and solid wastes management.

Laboratories for research and instructional activities are available in the areas of materials and structures, soil mechanics, solid waste, unit operations and interactive graphics. Other campus laboratories can be used by students conducting graduate research. The materials and structures laboratory is equipped with several universal testing machines for physical testing, and equipment and instrumentation for experimental stress analysis. The soil mechanics laboratory contains commercial equipment for evaluating the engineering properties of soils. The solid-waste analysis laboratory is equipped to analyze solid wastes, to degrade solid wastes under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and to process solid wastes by a variety of methods.