Facilities
The Natural Resources Department operates a wide range of facilities, many of which are unique to Cranfield, to support both our students and our industrial partners.
Dedicated laboratories having specialised capabilities including the Soil Lane and Bin, Cranfield Soil Laboratory, the Soil Erosion and Conservation Laboratory and the Soil Dynamics Laboratory which support teaching and research into:
- soil engineering
- soil-plant-water interactions
- soil chemistry
- soil biology
- water quality
- hydraulics
- soil physics and mechanics
- ecosystem behaviour
- irrigation and drainage
- soil erosion and conservation
- land resource planning
- remote sensing
Our Off-Road Dynamics Facility is the only centre of its type in the UK to study the relationship between machines and the soil environment in controlled conditions. This provides important research information to a number of diverse industries, including automotive, aviation, agricultural, construction, sports surface, defence and telecommunications.
Cranfield operates its own experimental farm, which is used primarily for field scientific trials and engineering research investigations.
Additional facilities and equipment are available for research into the playability and management of natural sports surfaces. We also operate remote sensing laboratories.
