CG lab - Gustave Eiffel University

The geotechnical centrifuge is used to study the behaviour of geotechnical structures, such as foundations, offshore anchors, embankments or supports, in small scale models. The loads are exerted in flight with the help of jacks, the teleoperator robot or the earthquake simulator, remotely controlled from the control room. The results obtained can be directly transposed to full-scale structures, using similarity relations, and make it possible to observe and understand the physical phenomena and to validate numerical simulations. The only equipment of its kind in France, it is one of the largest centrifuges in the world (radius 5.5m, 2t loadable, maximum centrifugal acceleration 100×g). Inaugurated in 1985, it has evolved by accommodating a robot in 1996 and an earthquake simulator in 2005, and by integrating digital control. The geotechnical centrifuge is a versatile tool for observing and understanding the behaviour of geotechnical structures (in a scale model) under complex loads in the context of parametric studies. The experimental data obtained by following certain rules of similarity, with controlled boundary conditions, can be compared with the usual design rules, with full-scale structures and with analytical or numerical models.