The strategic partnership aims at granting access to specialized laboratories and specific tests. Students enrolled at each university or institute can benefit from facilities and expertise offered by the strategic partnership and can extend their practical knowledge using experiments that are not locally available. For developing virtual laboratories of the strategic partnership, virtual tours have been recognized as the most suitable tool. For delivering realistic view of laboratory environments and enabling interactions with experiments, footage from laboratory and running experiments are recorded in VR compatible formats and are later combined with supporting information and experiment data using a VT-maker software. The framework for creating VT of laboratory experiments is depicted in Intellectual Output 3 report and is explained in detail. Within the proposed framework three actors are considered: Educators (and laboratory technicians), who essentially deliver the scientific content and respective experiment data, the VT developer, whose main task is creating the VT and the virtual platform, and users or viewers, i.e. students.
The virtual tour of the wind tunnel facility at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Institute of Wind Engineering and Fluid Mechanics (WiSt), has in total 14 scenes, i.e. Panoramas, which visualize the whole facility, from outside the building until inside the wind tunnel chamber. There are two different laboratory experiments introduced in this virtual tour, the boundary layer test of the grouped cylinders and the free-vibration and forced-vibration tests of the horizontal cylinder.
The tour includes hotspots that provide information to students such as:
Apart from the information hotspots, two scenes have been equipped with quiz hotspots to assess the interim knowledge of users about the presented VT content. Users can try quizzes as many time as needed, since quizzes are not defined as embedded assignment and will not be evaluated. The timer and score display are defined only for users to track their performance. Since users cannot move in real environment around, arrows on the ground and doors on the walls are defined as hotspots, which can take the user from one scene to another. The VT has been published in desktop and VR versions and have been provided to students. click here to view the tour ...
The VT from the fire resistance test facility at the University of Aveiro, Department of Civil Engineering, depicts a fire resistance test, which was conducted on a gypsum plate wall. The objective of this test was to evaluate the integrity to flames, hot gases, and thermal insulation with respect to criteria of standard fire resistance classification. It is worth noting that the ambient conditions and test setup at this facility are not suitable for huge attendance, therefore, fire resistance tests are conducted under safety restrictions and only technical staff are allowed to audit experiments in person.
The VT of the fire resistance test has in total 13 scenes, including three 360-degree videos. The scenes are organized in a way that by moving around the virtual room, users can view time steps of the experiment as it has been conducted in real life (as a sequential view). Therefore, the VT begins at minute 0 (first scene) and ends after 77th minute (the last scene). A 360-degree video at the end of the test reviews the whole experiment that was conducted in 77 minutes in 7 minutes. The information hotspots embedded have above all the following functions:
The VT has been published in desktop and VR versions and have been provided to students. click here to view the tour ...
The VT of the quasi-static test has in total 4 scenes, including 3 panoramas and one 360-degree video. Panorama footages are conduced from the column element at the beginning of each test, once from the column without damage at the hinge area, and once after the damaged element from the first test is repaired by polyurethane material and is about to be tested again under the same load cases. The third panorama scene depicts the whole test setup from another viewpoint. The 360-degree video has been employed to show an overview of the laboratory and test setup, as well as providing users with an understanding about how slowly the column element is moving during each cycle of loading.
The information hotspots embedded within this VT have above all the following functions:
The latter hotspot is designed as a “download button”, meaning that at the end of the tour, students have to download the raw sensor data. This function helps educators with coupling the VT as a learning object with other course activities and assignments, i.e. if students want to access the raw sensor data to work on an assignment based on them, they have to try the VT at least once on the desktop. The VT has been published in desktop and VR versions and have been provided to students. click here to view the tour ...
A virtual exploration of the cutting-edge Shake Table Laboratory at the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS) in Skopje, Macedonia. This immersive tour offers a unique opportunity to experience the forefront of earthquake engineering and seismological research. Discover the innovative technologies and methodologies employed by IZIIS to simulate and study the impacts of seismic activities. Through this virtual journey, you'll gain insights into how researchers contribute to the advancement of earthquake resilience and safety measures, ensuring structures can withstand the forces of nature. Witness firsthand the sophisticated equipment and facilities that make IZIIS a global leader in the field, all from the comfort of your own environment. Click here to download a standalone desktop version of the tour...
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