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Lab

Laboratories

at BUILD in Aalborg
The laboratories at the Department of the Built Environment are of international standard and are used for research, in teaching and for consultancy jobs. The experimental approach to the research is characteristic to a number of the engineering disciplines with which we work.
State-of-the-art measurement equipment
With our state-of-the-art measurement equipment, we can measure systems and phenomena under completely controlled conditions.
Cooperation
We offer companies help to study specific problems and to collaborate on research and innovation.
Production
In our workshop, we can produce prototypes and measurement equipment ourselves for the laboratories and for field research.
Off-site research facilities
In addition to the laboratories at the department, we also have a number of off-site research facilities across the country that are also a part of our research and teaching.

Cooperation

If you are interested in cooperating with us in connection with research in our laboratories, please feel free to contact us. 

Concrete research

Measurement and study of basic properties of concrete constituent materials and fresh, hardening and hardened concrete.

Structural research

We test new building materials and study how construction elements behave under various loads, and use the results afterwards in the design of structures. We perform measurements by fatigue tests, fracture mechanics, static and dynamic loads and more.

Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical classification experiments, consolidation and triaxial experiments, test setup with pressure tank for offshore measurements, experiments with bucket foundations and monopiles, geological classification.

Energy and Indoor Environment of Buildings

We research within the development of new materials and building elements for lowenergy and sustainable building, new ventilation systems and the knowledge about airflows in buildings and intelligent facade solutions. We also study indoor environment and health in buildings.

IT in Buildings

We support research and teaching in the use of information technology and the building processes. We have a range of software for modelling, coordination and analysis of e.g. the building installations, location-based planning and construction and showing of models in Virtual Reality. We also have Virtual and Augmentet Reality equipment.

Building Material Characterization

The laboratory has state-of-the-art equipment to determine the thermophysical properties and the heat-air-moisture transport characteristics of materials, especially in sustainable building materials.

Ocean and Coastal Engineering

We research in waves and hydrodynamic modelling with specific focus on wave energy, offshore wind turbines and coastal engineering.

Chemical analysis

Our state-of-the-art equipment is used for analysis of environment samples and for quantification of heavy metals and xenobiotic organic connections in complex matrices. We analyse e.g. the chemical composition of gas samples, of pollutants in water, soil and sediment samples and of various building materials such as concrete and mortar.

Microplast

Our microplastics laboratory is equipped with two µFTIR imaging systems, an ATR-FTIR, a pyrolysis-GC-MS system, single particle ICP MS and various other instruments needed for microplastics analysis. The equipment provides the fastest scanning of microplastic available today, as well as the highest resolution currently attainable by FTIR technology. This infrastructure positions our lab amongst the world’s largest laboratories for analyzing microplastic in environmental matrixes.

Environmental Hydraulics

We can study stationary and non-stationary flows. In the 15 meters long tiltning flume, we can control both the slope and flow. In the recirculation flume, we can study both flows and particle behavior. In the laboratory, we have state-of-the-art measurement equipment such as LDA to measure flows.

Traffic Research

The laboratory includes measurement equipment and special programmes for collecting and processing of traffic data. Among other things, we have video cameras with hard drives and power supply, which enables long-term recordings of traffic flow, a radar used for 3-dimensional detection of traffic flow, portable magnetic traffic counters for vehicle counts and speed measurements at specific locations and computers with special software suitable for processing a large traffic data quantity.

Weather and climate observatory

We measure the climate – especially precipitation. The observatory has two X-band dual-pole weather radars; one in St. Restrup and one at Thomas Manns Vej, which each has a measurement range of 50 km. In addition, we have a number of laser disdrometers that can measure and classify the precipitation according to its physical state (snow, sleet, hail, rain, etc.) as well as drop size and speed. There are also a number of traditional tipping bucket rain gauges and 2 climate stations.

Virtual Flow

The laboratory consists of 35 individual workstations with 140 cores in total, which each can be used individually or together in a cluster, and is used to simulate flows in water and air. We calculate e.g. how combined sewer overflow works and how this can be improved and simulate e.g. wind movements through a city in order to evaluate the local wind climate around tall buildings.

Off-site research facilities

The sewer research station (Frejlev), the Stormwater research detention ponds (Låsby), the SUDS and stormwater detention research facility (Sønder Tranders), Aalborg Weather Radar (St. Restrup), the BEWARE facility in Aalborg for research of urban runoff from impermeable surfaces, Field stations for research on runoff from permeable surfaces (Lystrup)