Safety Procedures for Labs

This lab is used in the Introduction to Environmental Engineering (CE 321) course, as well as upper-level electives such as Water Quality, Water Supply and Pollution Control, and Environmental Site Assessment. Together these courses focus on the assessment of environmental pollution and various methods of treatment. In CE 321, we take a “watershed approach” to a variety of point and nonpoint source issues (as is now common in practice), where environmental problems are viewed within the larger context of the watershed. In particular, we focus on assessment of environmental quality and sources of pollution in the Bushkill Creek Watershed adjacent to campus. This involves lab and field-testing, along with field trips to sites of environmental significance throughout the watershed and Easton.

The structures lab is the place where students build structural components and scale models of steel, concrete, timber, and masonry. The lab contains the equipment needed for structural fabrication, particularly in steel and concrete. Some recent student projects include the construction of model steel truss bridges, girder bridges, and suspension bridges, reinforced concrete beams and columns, a concrete floor system, a masonry arch, as well as numerous steel connections. Typically, these models and components are load-tested to failure using either hydraulic or gravity loading.