Clement Barthes, Lab Manager

Thursday, March 24, 2016, Clément Barthès, Ph.D, PEER–UC Berkeley Lab Manager, led a group of thirty ASCE-SEI engineers and students on a tour of the PEER Earthquake Simulator Laboratory.

Tour guests were treated to lunch while Clement gave a brief presentation on wireless remote sensors to monitor bridge dampers. After lunch, the lab tour began with a visit to the high capacity (4 million pounds) universal testing machine (UTM) which is used to perform various tension and compression tests.

Visitors learned how experimental testing is conducted and watched a demonstration of the damper testing machine.

Damper Testing Machine

Outdoor Yard Specimens

The tour included a visit to the outdoor yard that features specimens from past testing programs.

Chuck James, NISEE librarian

Chuck James, NISEE librarian, also gave a short historical overview of the lab and the digital library that attracts visitors from around the world.

For more information about the labs, visit PEER’s earthquake simulator laboratory website or send an email to peer_center@berkeley.edu.