Casting and spraying trials.

TSE has over 2000 m² of outdoor facilities for casting and spraying concrete specimens, or fabricating large specimens in steel or timber. Culverts are available for inverted spraying to examine stickiness of shotcrete, and a 300 m² slab for casting of panels and beams. The external facilities also include a weigh bridge for accurate dispensing of concrete from a source truck to mini-agitators to facilitate consistency of concrete supply between batches. Combined with accurate weighing of admixtures and fibres, this permits dosage rates to be dispensed to better than 1% accuracy between batches of concrete.

ASTM C-1550 Round panel test

The ASTM C-1550 round panel test was invented and developed by Dr. E.S. Bernard and TSE remains the centre of worldwide research on issues related to this test. Research is currently being undertaken into use of C-1550 derived data for the design of shotcrete linings and tunnels and mines, precast concrete applications, and slabs-on-grade. The C-1550 test configuration can also be used for specimens across a large range of sizes apart from the standard 75 mm thick specimens. Inter-laboratory trials involving ASTM International and six labs around the world are currently in progress with work co-ordinated by TSE.

Quality Assurance testing based on C-1550 panel tests was pioneered by TSE on the M5 East motorway tunnel project in 2000-2001 and TSE has since led the implementation of panel-based QC for fibre reinforced shotcrete throughout Australia. Relationships between results of the C-1550 panel test and beam test data have been developed by TSE so data from either test method can now be used in tunnel lining design.

ASTM C-1609 beam test

The ASTM C-1609 beam test replaced the well-known C-1018 beam test in February 2006. This test has been used extensively by TSE for research and QC work in the area of FRC slabs-on-grade. Results obtained from C-1609 and other beam tests have been related to slab performance, and design methods of FRC slabs-on-grade and precast applications are currently under development at TSE. The facilities at TSE are among the very few available internationally that fully comply with C-1609 requirements for high load-train stiffness and closed-loop control.

Specialized Tests

Numerous special tests of the mechanical properties of concrete are available or can be developed at TSE. These included Double Torsion Beams, Centrally-loaded Beams, and 'Super'-RDPs. The majority of tests involve specimens that are substantially larger than used in most other laboratories because research has shown that large specimens result in reduced within-batch variability compared to smaller specimens. Work is currently in progress to develop panel-based fatigue specimens for the determination of fatigue limits on pavement concrete, very large ring beams for the investigation of restrained drying shrinkage, and creep tests for the examination of flexural creep in cracked FRC/FRS.