It develops teaching, research, and extension activities related to soil behavior, mainly in the following areas: foundations and excavations, earthworks and rockfill structures, and pavements. The main tests performed at LGTEC include physical characterization (combined particle size distribution, moisture content, natural or apparent specific weight, specific gravity of soil solids, maximum and minimum void ratios, Atterberg limits such as plastic limit and liquid limit); compaction tests (standard, intermediate, or modified Proctor); shear strength tests (unconfined compression, direct shear, and triaxial tests); permeability tests (constant head and falling head); and consolidation tests.

It is intended to support teaching, research, and extension activities related to modeling and computational simulation in water resources and hydraulic systems. Specifically, it focuses on research activities involving optimization techniques in pressurized conduits and open channels, with emphasis on water distribution networks.

It conducts studies on water quality, water treatment processes, and wastewater and sludge treatment processes. The laboratory is equipped with instruments such as spectrophotometers, centrifuges, balances, drying ovens, and muffle furnaces to perform physical and chemical analyses of drinking water, natural waters, and wastewater.

At LGEO, GIS systems and satellite or drone imagery are used for spatial modeling, analysis of geographic data quality, mapping of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), land use and land cover, urban expansion, and risk areas, as well as for determining and analyzing vegetation indices and assessing erosion susceptibility.

It performs energy efficiency testing of hydraulic pumps up to 25 HP. Centrifugal pumps are compulsorily tested under the Brazilian Labeling Program, in accordance with INMETRO Technical Regulation RAC 455/2010, in order to comply with the National Program for Electricity Conservation. Other types of pumps (such as axial, submersible, and submerged pumps) may be tested voluntarily following the same procedures.

It conducts tests on electrical equipment for power plants and substations, such as transformers, circuit breakers, motors, current transformers (CTs), voltage transformers (VTs), generators, voltage regulators, and speed regulators.

It provides instructional support for field and laboratory activities involving the following concepts: the study of the Earth; internal dynamics of the Earth; nature and genetic classification of rocks and minerals; hydrogeological model practices; maintenance of the lithotheque; and storage of field equipment for geology and groundwater studies.

It simulates ocean waves, studies wave behavior, and performs tests on reduced-scale models of structures, mainly for the study of wave energy converters that transform the ocean’s potential wave energy into electrical energy.

It develops work on biogas production using adapted biodigesters. The following analyses are performed: chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, total solids, total volatile solids, total fixed solids, suspended solids, nitrate, nitrite, iron, chloride, sulfate, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, hardness, surfactants (under development), phenol (under development), oils and grease, and chlorophyll.

It conducts research in the area of hydrological data collection and processing. It gathers water-related information from natural and artificial channels, lakes, and reservoirs (field activities), including flow measurements, topobathymetric surveys, georeferencing of rainfall stations and cross-sections, river slope surveys, and topographic surveys for drainage studies. It also performs computational simulations of the behavior of natural and artificial channels and culverts using HEC-RAS software, as well as simulations of extreme precipitation and river flooding events using tools such as SPRING, HEC-RAS, Global Mapper, and AutoCAD. In addition, it collects and analyzes data generated from extreme events in the Upper Sapucaí River basin.

LTHE was a pioneer in its field in Latin America and has become a reference model, even training professionals from other higher education institutions interested in acquiring and setting up similar facilities. Since its inauguration in 1928, it has been housed in one of the buildings of UNIFEI’s former headquarters. The laboratory covers an area of approximately 570 m², with 300 m² on the first floor and 270 m² on the second floor. It is composed of original equipment imported from Switzerland, forming a hydroelectric power plant that can be connected in parallel to the local grid. LTHE comprises four laboratories within the same physical space: on the ground floor are the Hydroelectric Power Plant Simulation Laboratory and the Thermal Power Plant Laboratory, which includes a Sulzer marine diesel engine—the oldest of its kind still operating in the world. On the second floor are the Fluid Mechanics Laboratories (water) and (air).

It develops processes for water and wastewater treatment, mainly complex effluents, using advanced oxidation processes and/or combinations with physicochemical and/or biological processes. It also develops materials for use in water and wastewater treatment, as well as reactors. It has the potential to develop methods for water and wastewater treatment and to perform physicochemical analyses of water and effluents, such as COD, BOD, metals, and total organic carbon (TOC) analysis.

The equipment was built for testing hydrokinetic turbines. The laboratory was constructed with funding from CNPq, through INCT and INEOF programs.