Research and testing facilities construction work

Tender description

The supply, installation and commissioning of a motion platform shaking table, reaction mass actuators and associated equipment for the new National Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SoFSI) Facility at the University of Bristol. The supply (to include design, manufacture, delivery, installation and commissioning) of a new Shaking Table and Soil-Pit actuators, plus all ancillary equipment, for the new National Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SoFSI) Facility at the University of Bristol, plus an optional associated maintenance contract. The UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) is a consortium of 14 universities which have secured 138 000 000 GBP capital funding from EPSRC for infrastructure research. Bristol's unique world leading experience and expertise in control and actuation technologies, developed in Bristol's BLADE laboratories, saw it secure 9 600 000 GBP EPSRC funding to establish the UKCRIC National Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SoFSI) Facility (please note that the figures quoted here are the full project value, not the cost of the equipment being procured via this exercise). The SoFSI facility will address the clear research need to conduct well-controlled experiments on prototype, or near-prototype, scale dynamic testing of SoFSI specimens. The facility will comprise of a strong floor, reaction wall(s), a large soil pit/column, a versatile portfolio of actuator, control and instrumentation systems, and a rectangular, large capacity, single or bi-axial, shaking table, which can accommodate a state of the art laminar soil box. The SofSI facility will fill key gaps in understanding of the fundamental mechanics of these systems, which cannot be resolved using conventional, smaller scale, laboratory tests or prototype observations. This will provide greater insights into how our structures and infrastructure actually behave, which will ensure that they can be better designed and managed.