January 22, 2008

Technology

University of Toronto’s Rock Fracture Dynamics Laboratory opens

New computer technology helps construction industry better understand critical infrastructure

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Research done at a new high-powered University of Toronto laboratory will help the construction industry understand how fractures can weaken the infrastructure it builds.

“We will now better understand the importance of fractures and how they reduce the strength and change the behaviour of rocks and other materials,” explained Paul Young, U of T civil engineering department chairman.

Young recently introduced the new Rock Fracture Dynamics Laboratory at the university to researchers and developers of the lab. The new lab allows researchers to perform stress experiments on samples, such as concrete and rock, and model the results in real time, at greater depth.

“We will be able to listen to fractures grow,” said Young.

“We will be able to see how cement, as well as rock, reacts [to fractures] and measure that growth. This will help the construction industry understand better what happens with critical infrastructure.”

U of T teamed with Dell Canada and Microsoft Canada to have the two technology leaders develop a high-performance computing cluster that will power the laboratory’s research. The cluster consists of a group of network servers connected to a single, high-powered computer, which will perform trillions of calculations per second.

Computer clusters like this have been used in areas of chemical and medical research.

Dell and Microsoft delivered systems that U of T researchers can use with ease, allowing researchers to what they do best — research, noted Young. Researchers in the past mentioned to the computer companies that IT (information technology) maintenance and building was getting in the way of research, consuming up to 70 per cent of their time.

The new computing system will be able to measure energy release that creates a fracture, an amount of energy equal to that released when the tip of a lead pencil breaks, explained Young. The new lab will have the capability to test samples of bridge sections and this will provide critical new data for engineers and builders.

“We will be able to record the data continuously and understand the failure process better,” said Young.

The calculations of fractures in sample materials like a concrete slab will also result in an immediate image for researchers to study.

“We get an image seconds to minutes after an experiment,” said Young. “In the past, it would be six months later [after an experiment] when we would interpret and go through data.”

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