Research Labs and Resources

Construction Safety Research Lab

Construction safety research is conducted both in on-campus laboratories and on construction sites.

• Coming Soon in 2025: A new construction and transportation lab is being designed and built that contains a 3D motion capture system (20' x 20' x 14') and a construction equipment simulator with Caterpillar D8T bulldozer cab. This new equipment will interface with our current and upgraded moving-base driving simulator and moving-base large vehicle simulator. Supporting these systems will be biometric instrumentation that includes eye-tracking, galvanic skin response, and electromyogram monitors.
• Given the complex, large-scale, and unique nature of construction projects, safety research is conducted on on-going construction sites and in architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) offices located throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to monitor and record work practices, worksite conditions, and worker behavior in actual, real-world settings.
• For work zone safety research, safety research is conducted using actual work zones in field laboratory settings. In addition, the driving and biking simulator lab provides an opportunity to model construction work zones within an interactive environment. The simulator allows for studying the interaction between passing traffic (driver behavior) and construction operations to examine worker exposures to safety hazards and safety performance of traffic control measures.
• For research on construction safety related to temporary and permanent structures, the structural engineering research lab, and the wood engineering lab, are available for use.

Construction Engineering Research Lab

Multiple labs across the OSU campus provide the opportunity to conduct high-level and full-scale construction engineering research related to structures and materials. Civil and Construction Engineering and Wood Science and Engineering have multiple structures and materials labs available for use. Additionally, construction sites located throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest are utilized to study construction operations, temporary structures, and construction materials in use.

Field Data Collection Resources

In addition to the equipment available in the labs, our research capabilities are supported by a wide variety of equipment for field research. The equipment is selected to allow for the collection and analysis of multiple types of data associated with construction research.

Environmental surroundings sensors:

• Extech EA 30 wide range light meter (2)
• Extech HD 600 sound meter
• BAFX Products - Decibel Meter, 30-130 dBA range
• Etymotic dosimeters (2)
• Sensorcon carbon monoxide sensor
• VLike MS6508 Digital temperature/humidity meter
• Temtop M2000 2nd Generation Multi-functional Air Quality Detector (2)

Biometric sensing and eye-tracking:

• Shimmer3 GSR+ (galvanic skin response and photoplethysmogram signals) (2)
• Shimmer3 ECG Unit
• Tobii Pro glasses 3
• Mobile Eye-XG

Drones:

• DJI Matrice 300 RTK with Zenmuse P1 Camera payload
• DJI Mavic 2 Pro

Smart work zone devices:

• Ver-Mac Pro Series 25 Light Solar Powered Smart Arrow Board Trailer
• Work zone location marker - GREEN/START marker
• Work zone location marker - RED/END marker

Location sensors:

• Columbus P-1 Professional GPS Data Loggers (3)
• Garmin eTrex 20x handheld GPS units (2)

Speed sensors:

• NC-350 BlueStar Traffic Analyzers (4) and NC-200 Portable Traffic Analyzers (13), manufactured by MH Corbin/Vaisala
• Bushnell Velocity Radar Speed Gun

Laser scanners:

• Topcon IP-S2 mobile laser scanner and truck
• Leica P50 terrestrial laser scanner

Virtual Reality:

• Oculus Quest Headsets
• HTC Vive Pro

Cameras:

• Zenmuse P1w/ 35mm lens for DJI Matrice
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V 18.2 MP camera
• Nikon Z50 DSLR camera
• Nikon D5200 DSLR camera
• Sony HDR-CX190 video camera

Personal protective equipment:

• Researcher personal protective equipment (PPE) and apparel for construction work zones and jobsites
• Illumagear Halo Lights (3), HLPC-03A

Other:

• Laser distance meter, and measuring wheels
• Tascam DR-05 portable digital audio recorder
• Laptop computers along with requisite hardware and software to operate computers and equipment
• Generac CP3250 portable generator
• Raven GEN6500E portable generator
• Turning Technologies Response Card RF clickers (18)

Last updated: August 2023