Project undertakes a review of the application of microcomputers in structural testing stations, with an object-oriented approach to the software design of a structural testing system.

A review of the application of microcomputers in structural testing stations was undertaken. Reported usage varied from systems that provide the user with function libraries to several integrated systems that did attempt to provide data acquisition, real time control, and graphical real-time displays. No systems were reported in the literature that attempted to integrate all components: data acquisition, command signal generation, control algorithms and monitoring facilities, in one application. No systems reported included a flexible command function generator, all general purpose testing systems relied on an external device. An object-oriented approach to software design of a structural testing system was undertaken. The system was designed and developed for the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface. A flexible function generation system has been developed and the system included facilities to maintain a register of equipment, a list of users, and storage of test configurations. Monitoring of the test is supported by real-time graphical and tabular displays and a comprehensive test report allows post-test analysis of all test data. The developed software does provide excellent real-time performance. The use of the object-oriented approach to the development of engineering applications is strongly advocated.