Laboratory of Civil Engineering

Located in Building B1 (Floor S1) of the Campus Nord of UPC-BarcelonaTech, the Laboratory of Civil Engineering is part of the Transport Infrastructures & Territory section of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (DECA). It specializes in the testing and mechanical characterization of bituminous materials (bitumens, mastics and asphalt mixtures) intended for the construction of road surfaces. It has the necessary equipment to carry out not only the manufacture of specimens (impact, vibratory, roller and rotating compaction) but also their testing, both from conventional procedures (compression, indirect traction, plastic deformation, disintegration, dynamic modulus, flexural fatigue, etc.), as well as from our own tests (UCL, BTD, LCB, Fénix, EBADE). The two dynamic servo-hydraulic presses with thermostatic chambers allow carrying out the tests in a wide range of environments.

In addition, more efficient methods have been developed in the laboratory to evaluate the fatigue failure of bituminous mixtures and determine the service life of pavements, and study how to adapt bituminous mixtures to environmental conditions: reduction of manufacturing temperature and extended, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, recycling of aged mixtures, reuse of industrial waste and by-products, and increased durability.