Our group's experimental work takes place in three adjoining laboratories, plus field! Below is a list of our tools for research.

We have seven pieces of triaxial apparatus with each own complete driving and monitoring system. Many of them are driven by a Megatorque Motor; a motor which allows an extremely fine and accurate control through a sophisticated servo-system. They operate on Windows-based software in fully automated manners. Optional devices such as LDTs (Local Displacement Transducers) and bender elements may be mounted to the specimen to measure small-strain stiffness.

HCA permits complex stress conditions to be applied to a soil specimen. With clever loading schemes, the direction of the three principal stresses and their individual magnitudes can be manipulated at our will. This is a unique advantage in investigating soil's anisotropy, for example. Characterisation of soil behaviour under general stress conditions through HCA testing is arguably one of the most advanced mechanical studies in geotechnical laboratory.

Our pair of direct shear apparatus also have Megatorque Motors for horizontal loading. The vertical loading is also computor-operated via EP regulators, allowing either constant-stress or no volume change condition. Recently we have added an optional set of confining rings to achieve more uniform simple shear deformation modes. A newly designed pedestal allows installing a suction probe when testing unsaturated soils (this project has been undertaken in collaboration with Dr. Apiniti Jotisankasa of Kasetsart University, Thailand).

Five oedometers in our laboratory all have a Megatorque Motor for  Constant-Rate-of-Strain (CRS) loading. They are capable of achieving extremely slow rates of compression, which are comparable to those observed in field. One of the oedometers has a chamber in which the temperature may be controlled between -30 and +80oC. These features of the oedometers are useful in investigating loading rate effects and thermal effects on soil's consolidation behaviour.

Our arm-type geotechnical centrifuge, with its effective radius of 1.5m, is just the right size for routine testing. The maximum attainable acceleration is 150 G. Introduced less than 10 years ago, new capabilities have been added for each new projects.

We have a suite of field testing tools. They include an electric cone, seismic cone, conventional Dutch cone, field vanes, penetration balls of two different sizes. Our portable rig allows our team to reach depth of 30m in soft clay on our own, without hiring specialist machines.

X-Ray Diffraction machine is capable of indentifying mineral compositions of soils. By scanning a soil sample, fundamental information concerning the soil's physical properties and geological origin is obtained.

And, there are lots more of bits and pieces!