The wall that pushes back
It took a full day to pour.
The reinforcement cage inside was so dense—steel bars packed so tightly that placing, aligning and inspecting every rod demanded exacting care—that the formwork required a complex external bracing system just to hold against the pressure of the wet concrete.
The result, now standing in the School of Engineering‘s High Head Lab at UBC Okanagan, is a massive L-shaped concrete wall—12.5 metres long on one face, 4.5 metres high on the other, and built for one purpose: to not move.
Not when hydraulic actuators push on it. Not when researchers apply up to 2,000 kilonewtons of force through four anchor points simultaneously. Not when tests simulate the compound forces of earthquakes, environmental decay and decades of stress.
The wall just stands there, taking everything that researchers can throw at it.
That’s the whole idea.
From one direction to every direction
Until now, the High Head Lab could apply force in a single direction at relatively modest magnitudes. This was enough for exploratory or small-scale work, but not enough to replicate what real structures experience.
The new reaction wall changes the parameters entirely. Because of its L-shape—two reinforced wings meeting at a corner, each bracing the other—hydraulic actuators can be mounted on both faces simultaneously, pushing and pulling in perpendicular directions at once.
“Structures like bridges are under constant push and pull, at different rates and cycles, when you consider all the variables of the vehicles and other forces that act on them,” says Dr. Shahria Alam, a professor of civil engineering at UBC Okanagan. “And those are the typical stressors, before you add in something like an earthquake.”
The wall allows researchers to apply four to five times more force than was previously possible at large scale, and in multiple directions at the same time—conditions that more closely reflect real conditions.
One lab, networked across a continent
No laboratory can hold an entire bridge. But a network of laboratories can. Using a technique called distributed hybrid simulation, researchers at multiple institutions test different structural components simultaneously—physically, in their own labs—while computational models link the experiments in real time, allowing each site’s results to inform the others.
Kelowna might be testing a repaired bridge pier while the University of Toronto tests the deck above it, and Polytechnique Montreal runs a complementary frame analysis. The results run in parallel, integrated by software, as though the structure were assembled across thousands of kilometres.
“This capability places UBC Okanagan among a small group of Canadian institutions equipped for this kind of synchronized, multi-site experimentation,” says Dr. Alam. “It opens the door to new national and international research partnerships in seismic resilience and infrastructure performance.”
The new reaction wall, purpose-built with the connection points and load capacity to anchor this kind of work, makes UBCO a node in that network. In terms of size and testing capacity, the wall is believed to be unique in Western Canada.
The first experiments
The lab is preparing to study low-carbon concrete barriers for roadside safety, structural wall and column testing using a multi-axial loading system, and integrated shake-table experiments that replicate seismic ground motion.
The common thread is multi-hazard thinking: not just how a structure performs under one event, but under combined stresses—an aging bridge hit by an earthquake in a region experiencing climate-intensified flooding, for instance.
“The wall will help us to keep moving our work forward in resilience, sustainability and multi-hazard performance,” says Dr. Alam. “The work responds to real needs in cities and municipalities across Canada and around the world as climate change increases risks.”
A teaching lab
The wall is a research asset, and a classroom.
Undergraduate and graduate structural engineering students will use the facility for coursework. They’ll test reinforced and prestressed concrete beams, work with full-scale structural elements and use the same tools they’ll encounter in professional practice.
“We are always working to create opportunities for students to engage with the same tools and challenges that they will encounter in professional practice,” says Dr. Alam, “so they are ready to make an impact as soon as they enter the workforce.”
Built through partnership
The reaction wall was funded through the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund, with Dr. Alam serving as co-principal investigator alongside researchers at the University of Toronto. Additional support came from UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering and Office of Research Services.
Industry partners also contributed directly: Emil Anderson Construction provided financial support, while Kon Kast Concrete Products, and Harris Rebar and DSI America offered cash contributions and material discounts, respectively. Construction was completed by Ledcor in January 2026, with WSP Global serving as the engineer of record.
Infrastructure for a world we haven’t built yet
The wall makes it possible to study infrastructure that doesn’t yet exist—structures designed for new climate conditions, seismic demands and emerging materials. The experiments run on this wall will inform how engineers design and build for decades to come.
“The more we understand how infrastructure behaves, the better we can design and build it to perform when it matters most,” says Dr. Alam. “We’re excited about what this new tool means for resilient engineering research, materials and practice in British Columbia and beyond.”
