Facilities

Center for Maritime Systems
The Center for Maritime Systems (CMS) continues the nearly 75-year old tradition of the Davidson Laboratory in employing the experimental method to solve complex problems that are otherwise intractable. This approach has been extended to include the physical and numerical modeling of ocean and vessel dynamics, as well as full-scale prototype testing and ocean field observations. 

The CMS is a truly unique research and education center that combines the fields of naval architecture, coastal and ocean engineering, physical oceanography, and marine hydrodynamics to create a trans-disciplinary enterprise that can address both the highly-specialized issues confronting each discipline, as well as the more complex, integrated issues facing natural and man-made maritime systems.

Davidson Laboratory

Stevens Institute of Technology’s involvement in maritime issues dates to the founding family, who among other achievements pioneered advances in steamship and propeller design in the early 1800’s and built the Yacht America, famous for initiating the America’s Cup competition in 1851. This nautical tradition continued with the founding in 1935 of the Davidson Laboratory, still one of the world’s leading facilities for naval architecture research. It is worthwhile to note that the laboratory’s renowned towing tank complex is presently undergoing a major renovation that will expand the existing tank to 320 feet long, 16 feet wide and 8 feet deep. When combined with improved instrumentation, glass walls for viewing and photography, and public access improvements, the facility will further enhance the Laboratory’s contributions to fundamental and applied research in ship design, hydrodynamics and ocean engineering.

New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium
Stevens is a member of the consortium which was established to provide resources for the conduct of marine science and engineering research in New Jersey coastal waters. The consortium maintains three research vessels, ranging from 25 to 60 feet in length, together with an extensive suite of oceanographic instrumentation, which is available for use by Stevens faculty and students, In addition, the consortium operates field stations at Sandy Hook and Seaville, N.J. finally, the consortium serves as a focal point for bringing together diverse specialists to attack substantial interdisciplinary problems in the marine environment. Our faculty and students have participated in several of these large studies undertaken by the consortium.

Materials/Structures Laboratory
The Materials/Structures laboratory is equipped for State-of-the Art materials testing. Major equipment includes: A universal 400,000 lb. tension testing machine, a computerized data acquisition system, beam loading frame, freeze-thaw testing apparatus, Versa test compression machine, and high-pressure flexible wall permeameters and environmental testing chambers. Current studies include high strength concrete, fiber reinforced concrete, use of byproducts in concrete production, and durability of materials in construction.

Center for Environmental Systems
The Center for Environmental Systems (CES), a unique synthesis of the professional and academic worlds, is dedicated to applied, interdisciplinary research for the solution of pressing, real-world environmental problems. Through advanced knowledge and in-depth professional] expertise, CES is recognized as a leader in the development, evaluation and implementation of new environmental technologies.

CES research specialties include waste treatment processes-, soil and Groundwater remediation; computer modeling of contaminant transport and fate in surface, coastal and ground waters; ocean and estuary environmental hydrodynamic measurements, and commercial, industrial, and residential water conservation.

A major component of CES is Stevens Environmental Associates (SEA), which is a partnership between member companies and Stevens. SEA supports continuing education activities (seminars and short courses), which are made available to Stevens students, and assists with research projects. These activities give students a better understanding of the needs of the profession before they graduate by exposing them to typical issues that are not normally covered in an academic setting. The center maintains a research vessel, the R.V. Phoenix, named after the first ocean-going steamboat built by Col. John P. Stevens. The R.V. Phoenix is a twenty-five-foot outboard-powered cabin cruiser equipped for environmental studies in the Hudson estuary and adjacent coastal ocean.

Environmental Laboratory
James C. Nicoll, Jr. Environmental Laboratory (JNEL) is a new, state-of-the-art facility, administered by CES, provides diversified research services for the development, testing, transfer and implementation of innovative environmental technologies. It has multi-media capabilities for wastewater, liquid waste, solid waste and air studies. Its role is to offer services to industry, government and environmental professional organizations ranging from short duration, highly specialized testing, to long-term applied research studies. JNEL's capabilities cover a broad range including waste stream characterization, process feasibility and waste minimization studies, regulatory acceptance testing for product certification, and environmental compatibility testing of new products.

The laboratory includes a large high-bay process testing laboratory for conducting process experiments and an analytical laboratory equipped with fully automated instrumentation including gas chromatography/ion-trap mass spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector, and atomic absorption spectrophotometer with both graphite furnace and flame capability.

Keck Geotechnical/Geoenvironmental Laboratory

The Keck Geoenvironmental Engineering Laboratory is a fully equipped new facility for state-of-the-art computer automated geotechnical, as well as environmental, testing of soil and water media. Some of the major equipment available includes: X-ray diffraction capabilities for mineralogical characterizations; scanning electron microscope for surface morphological studies; zeta potential meter for solid surface charge analyses; integrated wet chemistry facilities to accommodate any type of physicochemical and environmental soil testing, such as particle and pore size distribution, surface area, cation exchange capacity, batch and sequential extraction, oxide content, consolidation, triaxial and direct shear strength testing, flexible and rigid wall permeameters, and CBRs; durability chambers for simulating environmental stresses, such as freeze and thaw, wetting and drying, salt fog and acid rain exposure, as well as other accelerated weathering field conditions; and full sample collection and specimen preparation set-ups.

Some of our current studies involve: testing for the environmental and engineering properties of fly ash, incinerator ash, and other industrial waste-by-product materials to evaluate their use in construction applications; evaluate the properties of dredged materials for reuse in transportation projects; treatment and management of hazardous wastes, focusing on heavy metal and petroleum hydrocarbon immobilization in geoenvironments; study of the fate and transport of contaminants in the subsurface; surface enhancement of currently used industrial wastewater filtration media; development of leaching protocols; etc.