Combined (VHM) Loading Apparatus

A combined VHM loading apparatus has recently been developed in-house (Sakellariadis 2021). The system has three fully de-coupled degrees of freedom (vertical, lateral translation, and rotation) and is capable of performing all types of displacement-controlled tests (e.g., swipe tests, radial displacement tests). The loading apparatus consists of 3 independent actuators, one attached to the tool platform and 2 attached to the strong box, capable of applying displacement at a controlled rate. A load cells and a laser sensor are attached to each actuator to measure the loads and control the imposed displacement.