The European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) offers two facilities as part of the programme for open access to JRC research infrastructures:
- the world’s largest Hopkinson bar facility (HopLab), which is used to study materials and structural components to very fast dynamic loads, such as those due to blasts and impacts, where knowledge of the material behaviour under high strain-rates is necessary; and
- the ELSA Reaction Wall (Europe’s largest), which is used to test the vulnerability of buildings to earthquakes and other threats to structural stability.
ELSA Laboratories
The HopLab facility is used for the study of materials and of structural components to very fast dynamic loads. This HopLab facility is the world’s largest Hopkinson Bar, extending for a length of more than 200 meters.
The ELSA Reaction Wall is used for tests on full-scale specimens for the safety assessment of structures against earthquakes and other natural and man-made hazards.