The Laboratory
Find out about our unique lab – how we use it, and how you can.
Professor Julian Murton in the Permafrost Laboratory
What the lab is and does
Our laboratory contains a cold room designed to simulate permafrost (ground that remains at or below 0°C for two years or more) and seasonal frost (ground that freezes for a few weeks or months in winter).
The lab simulates freezing and thawing processes and structure development on natural materials – soil, rock, peat – and artificial materials such as concrete, brick and asphalt.
How we use the lab
Our lab experiments speed up geological or engineering time to simulate multiple years of freezing and thawing over much shorter periods. We control and monitor environmental conditions and repeatedly image structure development to show rates of change.
Our latest research has focused on imaging of rock freezing and thawing, with novel geoelectrical and acoustic techniques, in collaboration with the British Geological Survey and the Technical University of Munich.
We have also investigated the microcracking to macrocraking transition in rock using micro-CT scanning and acoustic methods.
How you can use the lab
We welcome enquiries from industry, universities and other organisations about hiring our laboratory.
We also invite contact from potential collaborators in the international permafrost, engineering geology and sensor technology research communities.
Please email Professor Julian Murton at j.b.murton@sussex.ac.uk with enquiries, and read more about the functions of the lab below.
Key features
Our lab has a number of unique features to facilitate permafrost research, including:
- A custom-built cold room measuring 3.2 metres wide x 3.5 metres long x 2.5 metres high. The room contains two moveable tanks which can hold rock or soil. We can tilt one of the tanks to a near vertical position to simulate cliffs, and make other adjustments to suit your needs
- A dual freezing system where air and permafrost can be controlled to temperatures as low as 20°C for weeks to months
- Two thermal climate cabinets (900 and 400 litres) with an operating range of 40°C to over 100°C and 10-98% relative humidity for rapid small sample testing
- Automatic data logging technology for recording temperature, heave, liquid water content and acoustic emissions, and remote access to monitor equipments.
Our lab facilities enable our researchers and laboratory users to perform functions such as:
- Conducting long-term experiments using continuous data logging, simulating 30 or more winter-summer cycles of freezing and thawing
- Designing and producing bespoke equipment for freezing and thawing experiments
- Rock cutting, drilling and instrumentation, and rock strength testing
- High-resolution photogrammetry to visualise surface change.
Instrumented rock blocks in the cold room of the laboratory
Contact
Email Professor Julian Murton at j.b.murton@sussex.ac.uk with enquiries about collaboration or hiring the lab.