How would you feel if you were subjected to 75Gs of centrifugal force? Well, at least you would know what the soil feels like in some of the cutting edge geotechnical modeling being done at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM). This article is a fascinating overview of the history of the lab, and the types of geotechnical experiments they can run using the 9 meter radius centrifuge. It can spin a 5-ton payload at 90 revolutions per minute! No other lab in the world can boast those numbers. [Source: Read the full blog post from the College of Engineering at UC Davis. Image: UC Davis]
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Randy,
While the UC Davis lab is impressive I believe the USACE Centrifuge Research Center in Vicksburg Mississippi dwarfs this lab. From their website “At the maximum payload of 8.8 tons, the maximum gravity permitted would be 150 g’s. At the maximum gravity of 350 g’s, the maximum payload permitted would be 2 tons.”