NATIONAL GEOTECHNICAL CENTRIFUGE FACILITY

IIT BOMBAY, INDIA

Courtesy to Prof. Viswanadham

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Technical Details of the Large Geotechnical Centrifuge
at IIT Bombay
 Radius from the axis of rotation to basket base : 4.5m
 Acceleration range at 4.25m radius : 10g to 200g
 Maximum payload at various g levels : g – level Payload
50 2500 kg
100 2500 kg
200 625 kg
 Rotational speed of Centrifuge arm : 46 to 205 rpm
 Configuration : Swing bucket at one end of the arm
and adjustable counter weights at
the other end
 Soil model size : 0.9 m x 1.0 m x 0.65 m
or, 0.7 m x 0.7 m x 0.8 m
 Basket base dimensions (clear) : 1000 mm x 1200 mm
 Run-up time : 6 minutes to reach 200 g
 Run-down time : 6 minutes from 200 g to 0 g
 Continuous run time : 5 days

Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Scaling Laws:
Quantity Prototype Model
Length n 1
Area n2 1
Volume n3 1
Velocity 1 1
Acceleration 1 n
Mass n3 1
Force n2 1
Energy n3 1
Stress 1 1
Strain 1 1
Mass density 1 1
Energy density 1 1
Time (dynamic) n 1
Time (diffusion) n2 1
Time (creep) 1 1
Frequency 1 n
Prof. J. N. Mandal, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay