The Research Unit of SDGEE disposes a large variety of laboratory and field testing equipment to perform any geotechnical, geophysical, geophysical, and seismic tests and surveys.
The infrastructure, estimated at 3 million EUR, spans an area of 450 m² and includes fully equipped laboratories, offices, lecture halls, and seminar rooms. It hosts a wide range of advanced soil and rock mechanics testing equipment, including two cyclic triaxial devices, resonant column devices (both torsion shear and fixed-free types), a bender element testing apparatus, and a large shear box device. Additionally, the facility is equipped with a one-dimensional shake table system featuring laminar boxes and fully instrumented devices.
The field instrumentation comprises a comprehensive range of advanced devices for geophysical exploration and structural monitoring. Key equipment includes the ELECTRO-SEIS® APS 420 Long-Stroke vibration exciter, various 3-axial accelerometers (borehole and surface), such as: CMG-5TB (Guralp) and HypoSensor FBA ES-DH, ETNA, ETNA2, FBA ES-T (Kinemetrics), GEO-A200 Compact Digital Accelographs (Geobit). Data acquisition is supported by high-resolution 24-bit digitizers (e.g., DM24), and a centralized 24-channel recording system (Obsidian).
For surface surveys—including refraction, reflection, SASW, MASW, microtremor measurements, site response evaluation, and structural health monitoring of buildings, bridges, and monuments—the equipment includes broad-band velocimeters, such as triaxial CMG-40T (Guralp) with 24-bit AD seismic recorders DAS-130 (Rektek), digital seismometers CMG-6TD (Guralp), a 24-channel StrataView seismograph (Geometrics) and a set of horizontal and vertical geophones with natural frequencies of 4.5 Hz, 14 Hz, and 50 Hz (Mark Products). For borehole surveys (Down-hole and Cross-hole), the facility utilizes wall-lock borehole triaxial geophones of 10 Hz natural frequency (Geostuff) and a wall-lock borehole hammer with oil pump (Bison), ensuring reliable and accurate subsurface investigations.