Consultancy and testing

Bristol Earthquake and Engineering Laboratory Ltd (BEELAB)

‌‌BEELAB is the University of Bristol's commercial engineering testing service. It gives industry access to the University's testing facilities — including its shaking tables, electrodynamic shakers, strong walls and strong floor, and servo-hydraulic actuator suite. Testing programmes are delivered by specialist engineers from the Geotechnics, Earthquakes and Structures research group, and income from its work supports university research.

Seismic qualification testing

Seismic qualification tests on mechanical, electrical and electromechanical equipment for the nuclear, power, telecommunications and building services sectors, using the University's suite of servo-hydraulic shaking tables — the UK's primary multi-axis seismic test infrastructure. Each programme runs from test planning and input synthesis through to testing and a final report.

Structural, vibration and fatigue testing

The shaking tables reproduce the vibration environments that structures, equipment and goods experience in road, rail and other transport; electrodynamic shakers support fatigue testing under repeated transient and aerodynamic loading; and the strong walls and strong floor allow static and quasi-dynamic testing of large structural components and assemblies. Test inputs are developed from measured data or design specifications, so each test reflects the conditions the item will meet in service.

Dynamic testing of structures

Outside the laboratory, BEELAB carries out impact testing and in-situ dynamic monitoring of full-scale structures to support integrity and safety assessments. Its consultancy record includes work for leading engineering firms in the UK and overseas, on dams, long-span bridges and nuclear installations.

Geotechnical testing 

The Geomechanics Laboratory offers a wide range of equipment for advanced soil testing, including dynamic triaxial and cyclic simple shear apparatus. Small strain stiffness can be determined via bender element measurements and local strain transducers. The interface machine (winged direct shear machine) has been widely used for interface testing, especially for pipelines, at low stress levels with improved accuracy in friction measurements. The meso-scale pipe/cable–soil interaction apparatus can be used to investigate long-term friction between structures and the soil. The cubical cell and hollow cylinder apparatus offer multiaxial testing capabilities.