First-of-its-kind UK research facility employs advanced MTS test and simulation technologies to gain critical insight into the dynamic underground environments of urban infrastructure.
Open for testing in 2022, the National Buried Infrastructure Facility (NBIF) was built by the University of Birmingham as part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), a government-funded alliance of universities and industry tasked with advancing the sustainability and resilience of infrastructure and cities. Its specific mission is to facilitate research, innovation, education, and training in the areas of buried infrastructure-ground interaction, soil stabilization and improvement, geophysical sensing, pipeline detection and assessment, tunneling and trenchless technologies, and more. Data gleaned from experiments at NBIF provide critical insight to those confronting the challenges of massive urban growth, including civil engineers, architects, construction firms, and material and component suppliers, as well as government policy makers, urban designers, and consultants.
The first facility of its kind, NBIF offers a controlled and repeatable laboratory setting for underground research, featuring a unique movable floor, an array of static and dynamic actuators, state-of-the-art controller and software technology, and sophisticated hydraulic power generation and distribution.
A large Movable Floor comprises an array of fifty custom-engineered servohydraulic linear actuators, each capable of independent vertical travel of ±150 mm, to accurately simulate sub-surface motion phenomena such as heave and settlement.
An assortment of seven long-lasting MTS DuraGlide Servohydraulic Linear Actuators can be deployed in groups above the test pit, or individually in portal frames, to simulate static or dynamic surface loading phenomena.
A FlexTest Controller & AeroPro Software enable precise control of the NBIF hydromechanical infrastructure and test actuators, providing test engineers the freedom to define and execute both standard and highly custom test profiles.
Three SilentFlo Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) have the capacity to drive all fifty-seven test actuators simultaneously, and feature next-generation lab safety, energy efficiency, health monitoring, and system integration options.
