Weiss Technik UK win exciting new project at University of Sheffield!

Weiss Technik UK are proud to have been selected by the University of Sheffield as the turnkey supplier of a new multi million pound test facility incorporated into the “Laboratory for Verification and Validation” (LVV); which is a major new acoustics and vibration testing facility funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council(EPSRC), and the University of Sheffield.

The (LVV) will be a new facility providing a unique capability for vibration and acoustic testing of substantial structures, sub-structures and components under environmentally realistic conditions. The environmental chamber within the LVV will be unique due to its size and versatility in environmental and vibrational experimental capabilities. The central component will be the 345m³ (volume) walk-in complex with the ability to control temperature (-55°C to +50°C), humidity (10-80%RH), wind (0-50 mph) and will also simulate rainfall. The temperature and humidity controlled chamber will consist of three individual rooms. Temperatures and climate in each room may be independently controlled which will allow efficient use of the test space and enable multiple tests to be run simultaneously. One of the chambers will contain a 2m x 3m, 3-axis hydraulic shake table, with two further mobile single-axis electrodynamic shakers being provided for use in any of the chambers; this will allow the full range of dynamic and acoustic testing planned for the chamber. All of the integrated vibration equipment is protected against the extremes of temperature in order to be compatible with the chamber’s operation.

The environmental chamber will be housed within a substantial new laboratory space allowing ambient state testing of full-scale systems and structures. The primary aim of the facility is to give the UK a world-lead in verification and validation (V&V) research. It is intended that the research conducted within the facility will play an important role in allowing increased trust in validity of computational models, such that much of the design through to prototyping cycle for development of new structures may ultimately be transferred into a virtual, computational environment.

Weiss Technik UK, along with our turnkey partners, Servotest Ltd , PES Ltd and CetraTEQ Ltd, has worked with the university on this project since 2014, offering advice and budgetary information prior to the project going out for competitive tender.