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Test Your Innovation

NUI Galway have world-class research facilities, including:

  • Alice Perry Engineering Building ‘living laboratory’ a world-class teaching and research facility for engineering, where live data sets from over 4,000 sensors, measuring structural, environmental and energy performance, are provided for use in the development of full-scale research in building performance engineering.
  • Large Structures Testing Laboratory consists of a 375 m2 state-of-the-art high-bay space. Structural testing of prototype building envelope components under static and fatigue loading. Racking test frame for timber wall panels.
  • Concrete Technology Laboratory includes a concrete material testing laboratory for the determination of physical and durability properties of materials (including concrete, mortars, cement, and aggregates), as well as simulated weathering and corrosion tests.
  • Timber Engineering Laboratory hosts a range of testing machinesand two state-of-the-art climate-controlled chambers. A mechanical timber grading machine, an acoustic timber grader and two rainfall simulators are also available.
  • Additive manufacturing and material testing laboratories include polymer (Material Extrusion, Vat Photopolymerisation and Powder Bed Fusion), metal (Powder Bed Fusion) and composite (Carbon, & glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite) additive manufacturing equipment. Material testing equipment for range of tests including tensile, compression, bending, fatigue, torsion, high temperature low cycle fatigue, micro-test stage.
  • NUI Galway National Water Research Facility enables full-scale trials for new technologies, operational practices and digital tools for the design, construction and operation of water and wastewater treatment facilities. The facility has hosted numerous research projects funded directly by industry, Enterprise Ireland, EU (e.g. INNOQUA) and the EPA. The site has been central to the development of 5 patents, a spin-out company and a number of commercial licences as well as enabling companies demonstrate and test new technology. 
  • Various living laboratories on NUI Galway campus, including (i) Alice Perry Building database that continuously retrieves 1-minute data from >1800 sensors, (ii) Aras de Brun retrofitted building with wireless LORA-Wan sensed building and database, (iii) new Human Biology and Lifecourse Science buildings with smart concrete structures that have embedded sensors relying real-time performance data and (iv) GEOFIT GSHP Thermal Energy Generation System.
  • ICHEC (The Irish Centre for High-End Computing) at NUI, Galway is Ireland's national centre for High-Performance Computing (HPC) providing e-infrastructure, services and expertise to academia, industry and the public sector.

TCD is equipped with state-of-the-art Civil Engineering laboratories, which include a structural testing laboratory, a geotechnical laboratory, an environmental laboratory, a material testing laboratory, and a specimen fabrication workshop. These laboratories are equipped with physical and analytical testing equipment for testing of construction materials, soils and structures under static and dynamic loading, as well as structural monitoring instrumentation (e.g. servo-hydraulic testing equipment, soil mechanics testing equipment, TRSYS01 system, loggernet software, heat flux pads, thermocouples). Furthermore, in support of its research activities, TCD houses one of the largest hubs of R&D infrastructure in Ireland on its campus, targeting strategic priorities that are staffed by dedicated research staff. Furthermore, Trinity Centre for High Performance Computing employs experienced researchers and technical staff with expertise the areas of Numerical Modelling, Risk Analysis, Molecular Dynamics, Supercomputing/High Performance Computing, Visualisation, Systems administration and Linux Training.

TCD’s strategic E3 initiative in ‘Engineering, Environment, and Emerging Technologies’ is an ambitious project to expand research and education activities across three of its Schools - Engineering, Computer Science and Natural Science - to tackle the challenge of sustainable technological development. With E3, TCD promotes a society where the interdependence between technological innovation and our natural capital is advanced by world-leading research, education and entrepreneurship. E3 will help position Ireland at the forefront of fields of research in STEM disciplines that are crucial for future economic competitiveness, including a modern and forward-looking construction sector. It will educate and train engineers and scientists for employment in existing and new technology sectors and equip them with the skills and attributes to lead in the creation of new businesses.

UCD School of Civil Engineering, School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy and School of Mechanical Engineering have significant laboratory and research facilities across many disciplines of construction research, including:

  • Heavy & Light Structures Laboratoriesconsisting of hydraulic actuators and data acquisition, electromechanical actuators and data acquisition.
    • Dynamical Systems and Risk Laboratory includes bespoke measurement chains connecting electrodynamic shaking facilities with multi-sensors analog channels, along with edge-computing facilities. Extensive benchmark datasets and laboratory experimental setups (e.g. for scaled testing of structures, pipelines etc.), along with in-house software and analyses methods (e.g. real-time monitoring, image processing) are also available.
    • Concrete and material testing laboratory, Laser cutter and 3D printing facilities.
    • UCD Centre for Irish Towns is a trans-disciplinary research centre focusing on towns on the island of Ireland.
    • Energy Institute - Appliance testing, heat pump and gas boiler assessment, Energy Analytics Lab, and Thermal testing and energy efficiency monitoring facilities.

UCC hasextensive lab and research facilities, including:

  • Pouladuff Laboratories enclosing an area of approximately 1,000 m2. The facility includes Materials and Concrete lab (95m2); Clean Materials lab (27m2); Lightweight Structures lab (78 m2); Heavy Structures lab (190 m2); Fluids lab (152 m2); Architecture Projects lab (140 m2); Energy labs (125 m2); Geotechnical lab (88 m2); Technician’s workshop and offices. 
  • Sustainable Futures Lab for collaboration; meetings; and engaging with enterprise partners. This is equipped with seating for 30-40 people. It includes State-of-the-art AV system, 4 x interactive LCD touch screens and conference calling facilities.
  • A ‘living lab’ investigating indoor air quality in the Iris Ashley Cummins Building in UCC; access to data from thousands of industry based sensors across multiple building systems on a number of industry partner sites; mobile energy, temperature, RH, CO2 sensing devices; custom building sensors; state of the art computational facilities; and data analytics development stack in operation using various open source platforms.
  • MaREI Centre for Energy, Climate & Marine Beaufort Building – MaREI offers world class testing infrastructure, state-of-the-art structural laboratories, novel prototypes and measurement equipment that allow the systematic identification and reduction of development risks through a structured TRL development cycle.
  • Environmental Research Institute brings together 400 researchers from 20 different scientific disciplines with expertise in the broad research platforms of climate action, environment, sustainable energy, sustainable materials and circular economy.

Finally, ConstructInnovate enables access to METABUILDING Open Innovation Platform, providing innovators with technical support of experts and/or access to adequate services, test-beds and demo buildings across Europe, to reach higher TRLs for their technologies.