Flexi Section

The National Geotechnical Centrifuge Facility is an integral part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering. It includes the University of Western Australia, the University of Newcastle, the University of Wollongong, the University of Queensland, Monash University and the University of Adelaide.

The NGCF is hosted at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at the University of Western Australia.

The NGCF aims at developing state-of-the-art solutions, based on centrifuge modelling, for challenges associated with offshore and onshore geotechnical engineering. The driving force behind the NGCF is Christophe Gaudin whose vision and energy have contributed greatly to making the NGCF what it is today.

BY THE NUMBERS

1989
200
8
$6.5M

OUR MISSION

The mission of the NGCF

Academic Service Serve the academic and industry geotechnical engineering communities nationally and world-wide.
Support Research Support research and advance knowledge in soil behaviour and foundation engineering.
Develop Solutions Develop and provide solutions for geotechnical design.
Assist in Training Assist in the training of the next generation of geotechnical engineers.

The NGCF currently operates the only geotechnical centrifuge facility in Australia and runs an impressive three geotechnical centrifuges: a 3.6 m diameter fixed beam centrifuge, a 1.2 m drum centrifuge and a new 10 m diameter centrifuge. This makes the NGCF the only geotechnical modelling facility in the world with three centrifuges operating on a daily basis.

Centrifuges spin reduced-scale geotechnical models to high acceleration levels to replicate the same stresses in soil samples as those found in the field, hence achieving similarity between model and field conditions. As geotechnical behaviour is strongly stress dependent, this is an important similarity to get correct such that meaningful observations and measurements can be made on the centrifuge model. Scaling laws are then used to interpret the centrifuge model results at field scale, such that the centrifuge results can be used as an input in geotechnical design, or to demonstrate geotechnical behaviour and mechanisms that can then be reflected in analytical or numerical approaches.

The centrifuge facility at the NGCF is supported by a team of operators, software, electronic and mechanic engineers and operates on average 275 days a year.

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Beam Centrifuge
DRUM CENTRIFUGE
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DRUM CENTRIFUGE
C72 BEAM CENTRIFUGE
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C72 BEAM CENTRIFUGE

Our Team

Meet our specialists

Over the last three years, the centrifuge facilities at UWA have been helping more than 80 academics and PhD students in Australia and worldwide in geotechnical research covering a wide range of soil-structure interaction and soil behaviour issues.

The NGCF has been established to continue this success story, and to create a foothold for centrifuge modelling in addressing the next generation of challenges facing onshore and offshore geotechnical engineering.