Sandia Geomechanics Department

Geomechanics Laboratory Facilities

Servo-controlled stiff loading machine (5 MN, 1MN)				Normal load/torsion testing machine (1 MN/10 kN-m)
High pressure intensifier system (1 GPa)				Servo-controlled loading machine (0.1 MN) with an environment chamber for temperature control
Thermal expansion measurement (up to 1,000°C, 2.5 cm diameter and 10 cm length)				Split Hopkinson /Kolsky bar with temperature control enclosure for intermediate strain rate testing (2.5 cm sample diameter)
Thermal-conductivity measurement (5 cm diameter, 2 cm" thickness)				Pressure vessels (70 MPa to 1 GPa, up to -65°C, maximum sample diameter 15 cm)
Triaxial creep apparatus (1/E10 /s strain-rate resolution)				True triaxial cell
Nondestructive testing facility - realtime acoustic emissions location system				Nondestructive testing facility - P/S wave velocity measurement bench
Sample preparation facility				Wire-saw for fabrication of fracture in the rock

Geomechanics laboratory is one of the DOE's User Facilities available for use by U.S. industry, universities, academia, other laboratories, state and local governments, and the scientific community in general. User Facilities are a unique set of scientific research capabilities and resources whose primary function is to satisfy Department of Energy (DOE) programmatic needs, while being accessible to outside users.