At Lehigh, our faculty strongly believes that students gain a better understanding of structural behavior when they witness it for themselves. That is why Structural Behavior Laboratory is a required course for M.Eng. students during the six-week summer session.
In this innovative class, students learn how structures behave by actively participating in the destructive testing of full-scale structural members.
The class conducts at least six experiments, which may include:
- Under-reinforced, over-reinforced, and shear failures in reinforced concrete beams
- VIDEO: Compression and bending/compression failures in concrete columns (also view on sidebar)
- Bending in concrete two-way slabs
- Tension failures of bolted steel connections and welded steel connections
- Plastic hinge formation in steel continuous beams
- Plastic hinge formation in steel moment frames
Students prepare for each lab experiment by performing calculations to predict failure load and failure mode. They complete the experiment by documenting their predictions, observations, and conclusions in a lab report. The work imparts practical new insights into structural behavior and failure modes.