Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission for its founding and directed by the former Ministry of Railways, the National Engineering Laboratory for High-speed Railway Construction Technologies housed in the School is jointly operated by the Central South University in conjunction with the China Railway Group Corporation, the China Academy of Railway Sciences, and the third Railway Survey & Design Institute Group Corporation. Comprised of five specialized laboratories, it is now equipped with 12 sets of large-scale testing systems, including the shaking table customized for high-speed railway testing.

(1) The Shaking Table Testing System for High-speed Railway

System configurations: (i) the shaking table dimensions of 4m*4m, (ii) array spacing of 6 to 25 m ( with stepless adjustable capability), (iii) 6 degrees of freedom in three dimensions, (iv) double linkage, (v) full-load capacity of 30 tons, (vi) peak acceleration of 0.8g, and (vii) service frequency of 0.1 to 50 Hz.

Features: the capabilities to (i) simulate multi-dimensional and multi-point earthquake inputs applied to railway bridges, track foundations, and the structural components of railway station buildings; and (ii) test the passenger comfort levels of high-speed railway.

(2) The Wind Tunnel Testing System for High-speed Railway

System Configurations: (i) the low-speed test section of 12-m width, 3.5-m height, and 18-m length with the wind speed ranging from 0 to 20 m/s, the air turbulence of less than 0.8%, the flow angle of less 1°; (ii) the high-speed test section of 3-m width, 3-m height, and 15-m length with the wind speed ranging from 0 to 94 m/s, the air turbulence of less than 0.3%, the flow angle of less 0.5°.

Features: (i) the wind tunnel is characterized by its large scale test sections and high flow quality; (ii) the wind tunnel is suitable for the experiments for bridge wind engineering, train aerodynamic, structure wind engineering and wind environment.

(3) The dynamic testing system for Railway Track-Foundation model

System configurations: (i) the model dimensions of 28-m length, 13-m height, and 6-m width, (ii) full-scale single-track railway model, (iii) 5 loading frames, (iii) 5 actuators for each of the 4000-kN and 2000-kN capacity levels, (iv) the maximum displacement of 50 mm, and (v) the service frequency of 0.1 to 50 Hz.

Features: the capabilities to test (i) the permanent deformations accumulated in track foundation layers, (ii) the dynamic behaviors of track structures and track transition zones (bridge or culvert approach), and (iii) the effects of different treatment measures on the dynamic behavior of track foundation.

(4) The Testing System for Environment Simulation

System Configurations: (i) environment scenarios simulated include atmosphere, solution, soil, dynamic and static loading; (ii) model dimensions of 10-m height, 4.5-m length and 3-m width; (iii) the maximum dynamic load of 500 kN, (iv) the gas concentrations of 20±2% for CO2 and 10± 2% for SO2; (v) the relative humidity of 40 to 98%; and (vi) the temperature of 20 to 60℃.

Features: the capabilities to conduct model tests on concreate materials, structural components, structure models, substructures, and structural formations that are subject to the combinational application of aqueous solutions, soils, alternating cyclic humidity and temperature changes, and alternating external static and dynamic loadings.