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MAST Laboratory

MAST system is housed in the MAST laboratory building on the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The MAST laboratory building features a test bay where the MAST system and the strong wall and floor reaction system is located, and a control room, located immediately east of the bay, where experiments can be monitored and carried out.

Also available is a staging area for construction and demolition of the test specimen. The office areas for staff and visiting researchers, and also a conference room with a capacity for 14 people, are located on the south side of the building.

Facility Dimensions

Area	Dimension	Map
Test Bay	35 x 35 ft
Staging Area	35 x 35 ft
Loading Bay Area (one standard size semi-trailer truck)	12 ft wide x 45 ft long
Loading Bay Door	12 ft wide x 16 ft tall

Equipment

The MAST Lab is equipped with a 50-ton overhead crane and a 3-ton overhead crane for moving construction materials and specimens in the test bay and the staging area. Also available are a 32 ft Scissorslift (loading capacity 600lb), a 24 ft Scissorslift (loading capacity 500lb), and a 9000 lbs capacity forklift. High pressure air ducts for power tools are available through out the facility.

The MAST Lab owns hand tools, power tools and construction equipment that are available for researcher use. Major equipment is listed below. Please contact MAST staff for a complete list of tools, or to check availability of a specific item.

• a wide range of hand tools including hammers, screwdrivers, wire cutters and strippers, standard wrenches and torque wrenches, a torque multiplier, etc.
• power tools including a circular saw, band saw, miter-saw, cut-off saw, grinders, a magnetic drill, hand drills, Hilti construction drill, etc.
• pneumatic tools including an impact wrench, chipping hammer and jackhammers
• Lincoln DC600 electric welder with wire feed and arc-gouging. oxy-acetylene cutting torch
• a frame scaffolding system, with components to build nine 5ft tall levels of 5 ft wide by 7 ft long by frames
• EFCO Super Stud framing members

Use of any tool or equipment in the MAST lab is subject to the guidelines specified in the MAST site access and safety policies.

The MAST Lab does not provide equipment for batching or mixing concrete. Concrete cylinder and steel coupon testing is available at the U of MN Structural Engineering Lab, subject to a recharge fee.

Office & Conference Room

Staff offices and conference room are located on the south side of the building. The office area has furnished cubicles for use by visiting researchers. There are on-site printers, a copier, a scanner, and a fax machine. High-speed network connections (both wired and wireless) are available as well. General office supplies such as pens and paper are also available. The conference room is equipped with a projector, a projection screen, and teleconferencing equipment. The room accomodates 14 people.

The MAST Laboratory does not provide computers for visiting researchers. Visitors are encouraged to bring in their own desktop or laptop computers. MAST Laboratory staff are available to assist the researchers and project personnel with setting up and configuring their computers.