W.C. English Laboratory

The English Geotechnical Research Laboratory was completed in December 2002 and dedicated in September 2003. Four named laboratories are housed in the English Lab. These include the James K. and Virginia W. Mitchell Soil Behavior Laboratory, the Ray and Carol Martin In Situ Testing Laboratory, the Virginia Geotechnical Services Interface and Models Laboratory, and the Thomas L. Brandon Strength and Compressibility Laboratory. Other facilities include the Arthur W. and Jerry S. McKinney conference room, the Surface Characterization and Imaging Laboratory, a humid room for the storage of soil samples, and offices for faculty and students.

This laboratory consists of 6,100 square feet dedicated to state of the art geotechnical testing and research. This lab is located outside the main campus and it’s dedicated mainly to research. Some of the equipment located in this laboratory includes but are not limited to:

• Ring shear devices to measure the residual shear strength of soils.
• A resonant column device to measure the dynamic properties of soil such as damping and stiffness.
• Cyclic direct simple shear and triaxial devices to measure the dynamic properties of soils.
• Devices to measure the permeability of saturated and unsaturated soils.
• Fully automated triaxial devices.
• Among others.