A list of laboratories and facilities can be viewed here.

Environmental Laboratory

The Environmental Laboratory is used for both teaching and graduate research. Students get the opportunity to work on the biodegradation of contaminants, waste water treatment technologies, determination of organic and inorganic contamination in soil and water, air and water quality monitoring and exhaust gas emission analysis.

 

Fluids and Hydraulics Laboratory

The Fluids and Hydraulics Laboratory is a unique facility dedicated to fluid related teaching and research activities. Specialized equipment and infrastructure facilitate hands-on laboratories for the faculty’s undergraduate and graduate programs while at the same time provide opportunities for research and outreach.

One of the specialized pieces of equipment is the tow tank facility. It is 170 feet long, 14 feet wide and 8 feet deep, can generate low frequency three-foot peak to peak regular and irregular wave profiles that include up to 1.2 Hz multiple spectrum secondary waves; it also boasts a carriage facility for towing models. This ensemble provides a unique setting to study the hydrodynamic effects of vessels, moorings, wharves, vortex induced vibrations and other related marine structures and interactions.

One of the major research programs housed in the fluids and hydraulics laboratory is the Virtual Environment for Knowledge Mobilization Project’s fast rescue craft simulator. It is a training facility that simulates harsh ocean environments in a controlled setting. This reduces the costs and risks associated with this type of training exercise and allow the research group to study other characteristics such as human factors.

The laboratory also contains an open-channel flume tank; a deep tank for pressure testing, an erosion table and a multi-phase flow loop.

 

Hibernia Enhanced Oil Recovery Laboratory

To support research and identify new ways to optimize oil recovery, the Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) and the Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) invested $1.635 and $1.7 million respectively for the creation of a state-of-the-art enhanced oil recovery research facility at Memorial University's St. John's campus. In 2012, Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) invested further $11.8 million in laboratory equipment and research for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), enabling a new area of research in the province for the first time.

"We are working with the university to develop enhanced oil recovery research capacity and capability in the province," said Jamie Long, president, HMDC. "Our ultimate goal is to increase oil recovery offshore Newfoundland and Labrador."

EOR refers to techniques that can be used to increase the amount of crude oil extracted from an oil field. Advanced EOR methods are not currently in use in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore industry.

The new laboratory equipment will be used to examine various EOR techniques in the context of application to Newfoundland's harsh offshore environments. EOR implementation is complex, and successful applications will require significant laboratory research and field testing. The research project represents a significant addition to Memorial's capability in upstream oil and gas technology.

 

Mechatronics Laboratory

The Mechatronics Laboratory is an interdisciplinary field of study that combines three engineering disciplines – mechanical, electrical and software engineering. Collaboration of these three disciplines allows for complex designs to be thoroughly evaluated and researched at the systems level prior to being constructed. Robotics, factory automation, automotive systems and other advanced hybrid technologies are all mechatronics-based.

This is one of the faculty’s newest laboratories and offers state-of-the art bench and test equipment.

 

Multiphase Flow Lab

The Multiphase Flow Laboratory supports the research and development needs of the province's oil and gas sector. Real-time information of the individual flow rates of oil, water, and natural gas is essential for improved reservoir management and maximized recovery. Laboratory facilities include a flow loop B and a 65-metre re-circulating open circuit system constructed of 3-inch diameter PVC pipe.

Process Engineering Laboratory: The Process Engineering Laboratory is the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s newest laboratory. Each piece of equipment contained in this lab is dedicated to providing an understanding of the fundamental unit operations of industrial processes. Weather it is making oil and gas related products, perfumes, butter or ice-cream, these process have common elements. The laboratory provides an opportunity to piece-wise disseminate the elemental and underlying process used to create the aforementioned products and provides a foundation to apply the concepts of all levels of manufacturing.

Liquid, heat and mass transfer, as well as other unit operations, form the basis of the process engineering labs. Some of the exciting pieces of equipment are the Gas Absorption, Liquid liquid extraction unit, Permeability and Fluidization, Tubular Reactor, Reverse Osmosis, Crystallization unit, Distillation Column and the Solid liquid extraction unit.

 

Structures Laboratory

The Structures Laboratory is by far the largest laboratory on campus, and contains a multitude of specialized equipment whose primary function is destructive testing. Part of the engineering world relies on this type of testing to investigate maximum performance capabilities. These tests include tension and compression loading under both static and dynamic conditions.

The laboratory provides a highly adaptive operational environment. Some of the laboratory’s main features are two 10-tonne overhead cranes, 40 (verify) foot ceilings, a 3,000psi 75hp (verify) hydraulic system and a three-foot thick reaction floor that is used to secure custom load frames for testing.
Current research initiatives involve the research and development of novel testing methodologies of both steel and concrete frames for ships and offshore structures.

 

Thermal Laboratory

The thermal laboratory is home to a variety of undergraduate equipment used to demonstrate thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid dynamics. It is also home to several research facilities that house specialized equipment used to investigate material properties under controlled pressure and temperature conditions.

Two of the main pieces of equipment used to demonstrate thermodynamic cycles are the boiler (steam) and refrigeration (vapour) systems. The steam cycle is facilitated with the use of a boiler system. It is a small scale version of the cycle that could be used in a thermal-electric generating plant. The refrigeration cycle and associated demonstration replicates a model of the vapour cycle used in a home refrigerator, an air-conditioner and a heat pump.

This laboratory is also equipped with an engine dynamometer, used for measuring many of the operating dynamics of engines, such as power and torque output, fuel consumption rates, temperature distribution, efficiently and other performance indicators.

One of the major pieces of infrastructure is a walk-in refrigeration unit. It is 12’ wide, 14’ long and 12’ high and can maintain temperatures as low as -30 degrees C. Inside the refrigeration chamber is a computer controlled (load and position) high pressure MTS load frame. As well, there is a 10,000 psi pressure intensifier and associated tri-axial confinement chamber that can be installed and synchronized with the load frame. Ice machining capabilities are also available for ice cylinder preparations.