NCSU CFL Beam Tested to Failure

From: ablongshape , Added: January 31, 2008

This test was carried out at NCSU's advanced Constructed Facilities Laboratory on January 31, 2008 at about 3pm. Here a new design for a major girder was being tested to failure. The design failure load for this beam was 130,000 lbs, and it failed (IIRC) at about 185,000 lbs. This is the load measured at each end of the beam, that is, the reaction at either end of the beam. When the video opens it pans to show the structural setup. The beams up close are the decking that rest on corbels hanging off of the main girder. The deck itself is composed of 4 double tee channels and one single tee channel. The load was transferred to the girder through the tee channels by the hydraulic jacks that are shown on top of the deck. The beam had been loaded and unloaded several times before this failure occurred. The final failure here was due to flexure at the middle of the beam span, where a corbel tore off the side of the girder. The system continued to hold a load even after this initial failure, and based off of the reactions from the people involved in the research it was a success. I apologize for the low quality as my phone camera isn't perfect. It's still kind of cool to get an idea of the equipment and the systems we have to test these things today. The motor/whistling noise you hear is the pump running that applied the load.