Engineered Soils Research Group
Dr. Angel Palomino

Our laboratory facilities are located at the Civil Infrastructure Testing and Evaluation Laboratory (CITEL).  CITEL is a 56,000-square-foot space devoted to integrated materials and structures research and managed by Penn State University’s College of Engineering through the Thomas D. Larson Transportation Institute.  Facilities include a chemistry laboratory, fume hoods, a concrete mixing area, load frames for testing concrete and asphalt load response, curing chambers, a freeze-thaw chamber, an optical microscopy room, an impact testing lab for large-scale steel or concrete members, and all utilities required to support the work involved.  In addition to traditional materials preparation and testing capabilities for concrete, steel, soil, aggregate, and asphalt, CITEL houses sophisticated and specialized devices for pavements testing.

• Geomaterials Characterization - grain size distribution, Atterberg limits, specific surface
• Pore Fluid and Particle Suspension Characterization - pH, ionic conductivity, rheology
• High-Pressure Permeameter for accelerated measuring of hydraulic conductivity of fine-grained materials
• Triaxial Shear Strength Testing
• Freeze-Drying System for SEM sample preparation