Institution Infrastructure
PPGEC provides a modern laboratory infrastructure fully tailored to meet the teaching and research requirements of its four concentration fields. This infrastructure is primarily concentrated within two massive complexes—the Civil Engineering Laboratories (LEC) and the Engineering Laboratories (LABENGE)—supplemented by additional specialized units across the Viçosa Campus.
Research Complexes
Civil Engineering Laboratories (LEC)
This is the longest-established laboratory complex within the Civil Engineering Department, housing experimental testing areas, three classrooms, a wide shared courtyard, and a dedicated administrative support framework. Its central location on campus and integrated environment foster interdepartmental collaboration, serving all research lines and encouraging strong interaction among students, technical staff, and faculty. The complex is supported by robust building utility installations and high-speed network infrastructure, managed and maintained by UFV’s Information Technology Department.
Engineering Laboratories Complex (LABENGE)
Inaugured on April 20, 2018, the LABENGE complex hosts laboratories from the Mechanical Engineering Department, the Structural Engineering Division of the Civil Engineering Department (DEC), and a Control and Automation facility linked to the Electrical Engineering Department. The building, structured in steel frames with modern utilities for heavy equipment, includes smart classrooms, common lounges, faculty offices, and its own administrative staff. Similar to LEC, its integrated layout enhances multidisciplinary synergy. The complex substantially expanded PPGEC’s experimental capabilities, particularly through its Mechanical Testing and Structures Laboratories, the latter featuring a 162 m² strong floor—one of the largest nationwide—designed for testing full-scale structural components up to 18 meters in length.
Technological Resources & Multi-User Networks
Graduate Computing Laboratories
This division gathers 3 computing rooms equipped with high-performance hardware. The first room serves as a general research and study environment for all graduate students; the second is explicitly tailored for students in Spatial Information; and the third focuses on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis. Additionally, the Program recently established 2 multimedia computer labs to support software-based course training. The research ecosystem features specialized hardware (A0 plotters, A0 scanners, digitizing tables, and geodetic GNSS receivers) and advanced engineering software suites with institutional site licenses. This includes full packages like Rocscience (25 licenses), GeoSlope (SLOPE/W, SEEP/W, SIGMA/W, CTRAN/W, VADOSE), ArcGIS, Dips, Visual ModFlow, AcquaChem, CETIS® for ecotoxicology, and SimaPro® for life-cycle assessments.
Shared Multi-User & Partner Laboratories
Beyond its core internal infrastructure, the Program maintains shared access to partner laboratories and specialized multi-user equipment hosted by other UFV departments and external partner research institutions. Backed by institutional multi-user equipment policies, this infrastructure provides the Civil Engineering Department with broad analytical capabilities essential for advanced research. This shared model fosters multi-disciplinary cooperation and strategic partnerships, proving vital for high-impact applied research, such as microscopic soil characterization, mineralogical analysis, and nanotechnology projects involving nano-engineered additions in high-performance smart piezoresistive cementitious composites.
University Library System & Central Library (BBT)
UFV’s Central Library (BBT) occupies a functional four-story facility located at the heart of the Viçosa campus, spanning 12,816.59 m² designed in accordance with public safety and accessibility standards. The building provides over 2,050 study spaces (including group study rooms with acoustic treatment and individual desks), a 170-seat main auditorium, a videoconference hall, special collections, map archives, and serves as an official United Nations (UN) depository library.
Managed through the Pergamum integrated system, the catalog features outstanding numbers: more than 188,000 books, 37,000 theses and dissertations, and 426,000 journals. The BBT operates as a hub for the Brazilian Interlibrary Loan Program (COMUT) and integrates the National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), granting full-text online access to thousands of documents in PDF format, alongside a repository of scientific papers. Operation and user support are managed by 11 professional librarians and nearly 60 administrative staff members. Asset security and user access control utilize biometric turnstiles, barcode validation systems, and a 32-camera closed-circuit television network.
Connectivity and Network Infrastructure (UFVNet)
The institution’s digital skeleton is built upon UFVNet, a robust corporate data network connecting more than 150 departments and divisions across all campuses through a high-performance mesh of approximately 37,500 meters of fiber optic cable. The network architecture manages over 9,000 fixed wired stations, 4,000 concurrent mobile wireless (Wi-Fi) attachments, corporate Voice-over-IP (VoIP) channels, and nearly 100 centralized data and application servers running on Linux, Unix, and Windows configurations.
Supervised by the Information Technology Department under the guidelines of the IT Master Plan (PDTI), this framework delivers high-speed, seamless internet connection across all classrooms, laboratories, and faculty offices associated with PPGEC. This reliable data backbone guarantees uncompromised access to global research databases, the institutional paper filing system, and the digital library collections unified by the CAPES Periodicals e-portal.