Test facilities
Our division develops and maintains a test site with various test specimens and facilities for the development, test and validation of non-destructive test methods in various fields of civil engineering. The site is continuously being extended. Access for partners from research and industry is provided.
View on pile test site in summer 2008
Pile test site
The site includes 10 bored piles (diameter 60 cm, length 8.5 m to 12 m, some with artificial flaws) with detailed documentation. Experiments with various test methods can be performed. Some of the piles have built-in strain gages or access tubes for crosshole sonic logging. Cased boreholes in the vicinity can be used for methods as parallel seismic or borehole radar.
The work performed at the pile test site so far includes:
3D-view on test piles, flaws and boreholes
Parallel seismic measurements for length determination at BAM TTS
Foundation slab
In the RuFUS project a foundation slab with varying geometry and reinforcement ratios was designed, built and documented in detail. The slab is used for experiments concerning thickness determination and validation of test methods. It can be equipped with automated scanning systems for various methods (e. g. ultrasonics, impact echo, radar), which allows high accuracy and high resolution measurements.
Foundation slab with BAM scanning system for ultrasonic measurements
3D-view of foundation slab with varying thickness and reinforcement ratio
Delivering a 40 ton Spandauer Damm bridge girder to BAM TTS (Berlin, demolition in summer 2008)
Bridge elements
In cooperation with the Federal Highway Research Institute two girders of the recently replaced Spandauer Damm bridge in Berlin have been brought to the test site. The girders are investigated in detail with several test methods and will be maintained for long term documentation. The elements will be used for validation of new test methods in comparison with existing data sets and destructive measures.
Validation of ultrasonic thickness measurements at a BAM concrete test specimen
Other objects
The test sites offers several other test specimens and elements for various purposes. Among them are specimens of concrete railway track systems, elements with different pretensioning methods, as well as objects with artificial flaws, honeycombing, reinforcement variations or voids.
Other test specimens are available at the labs on the BAM headquarters site in Berlin (large scale concrete specimen, wall made from historic masonry).
Subsoil
The open space and boreholes at the BAM TTS allow geophysical experiments for soil and groundwater investigations. The near surface sediments are mainly sandy, but with layers of silt, peat and other glacial and post glacial sediments. The groundwater table is around 3 m below surface. In cooperation with several research institutes measurements with resistivity, spectral induced poarisation (SIP), electromagnetic, seismic and ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods have been performed, surface and borehole based. Borehole logs and cone penetration test (CPT) sounding data are available for calibration. A geophysical borehole lab run by the University of Potsdam is currently implemented.
Combined CPT/VSP/Downhole measurement for subsoil investigation (cooperation BAM, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig, Potsdam University)
Comparison of geophysical results (shear wave velocity from downhole measurements) with CPT tip resistance
Service
Back to BAM Test Site Technical Safety
Division 8.2
Dr. rer. nat.