Chris Ramseyer is a self-described "steel guy."

Not to be confused with a certain other man of steel, Ramseyer isn't a superhero. He's a structural engineer.

But his love of steel and keenness for concrete have exhibited themselves in some super ways. As director of the Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Oklahoma, he oversees giant machines made especially to break impressive structures like bridges and roads.

The staff and faculty at the Fears Lab conduct research to come up with the best and most economical means of building roads and bridges, and then test them out with special machines. Like the giant vacuum chamber that can put up to 16,000 pounds of stress on a structure placed within. Or the machine that pounds concrete until it breaks to reveal weaknesses in construction.

But Ramseyer isn't just messing around with concrete and steel for fun. At the Fears Lab, OU faculty, staff and students conducted about $900,000 worth of research last year.

Private construction companies and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation pay the lab to research, consult on and test new building methods.

There's more to constructing bridges than just putting up steel beams and pouring concrete. For example, there isn't just one kind of concrete, Ramseyer said.

"We can make a concrete that's almost as strong as steel and we can make a concrete that's strong enough to drive on in (only) 45 minutes," he said. A slight tweak in the materials used to make bridges, buildings and roads can make all the difference in the world.

The research at the lab provides valuable tools for government and industry, Ramseyer said.

In turn, students also get important practical experience in their chosen field.

"The Fears Lab is probably where the students get the most hands-on applications," said Robert Knox, director of the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science.

One civil engineering class that uses the lab, for example, requires students to build two concrete columns, one with steel to reinforce it and one without, Knox said. Then students use a machine to pound the columns.

"So the students can see how the columns perform with and without the reinforcing steel," Knox said.

The lab is a helpful resource for companies all around the state through research. It's the only one in the state and one of the few of its caliber located at a U.S. university, Knox said.

"It's an incredible facility," he said. "There's nothing like it around the state."

Local companies showed their gratitude for the research by donating all the materials and services for the new building expansion at 303 E. Chesapeake on the Research Campus. The expansion nearly doubled the space available in the lab when it opened about two years ago. The original building was the first on the research campus.

The lab is about to get a new test building that will come on line in January. Undergraduate civil engineering students built it on the Fears Lab grounds. The building will be used to test concrete for pressure and buckling issues, Ramseyer said.

David Streb, now director of engineering at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, was in the first class of undergraduates who worked with the Fears Lab in 1986. He started his career with the ODOT at that time, working part time for the department doing research in the lab.

The ODOT still partners with OU in the Fears Lab, Streb said. Nine undergraduate students are employed part-time to work on bridge projects. A similar program is in place at Oklahoma State University, where students work on roadways, but the Fears Lab is unique to OU, Streb said.

"It's really a unique and fascinating program that's worked out wonderfully," he said of the lab. Many students who work part-time for the ODOT at the Fears Lab also, like Streb, decide to stay on with the department.

"They're getting essential training by those who will eventually hire them," Ramseyer said of the relationship between the OU students and the ODOT and industry professionals they work for while at OU.

The ODOT benefits from the contacts it maintains with the Fears lab, and the experience gleaned from working at the lab prepares the students for their profession.

Research at the Fears Lab saves taxpayers money, too, Streb said. That's the goal of the research, to find materials and technology that produce safe and durable structures.

"But also find better ways to make cost-effective repairs to our bridges," as well as making cheaper and longer-lasting bridges and roads, Streb said. The Fears Lab has been a big player in that, he said.

"It's something that goes on that I don't think a lot of people are aware of," he said.

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com