Project 1.18 Summary: Bridge inspection is a vital component of any bridge management strategy of a state DOT.Significant funds are allocated to keeping the over 600,000 bridges in the U.S. safe. A routinebridge inspection is the most common type of inspection and is often performed from deck,ground or water levels Read more…
Project 1.19 Summary: Asphalt material producers sometimes incorporate Recycled Engine Oil Bottoms (REOB) intopaving asphalt in order to alter its performance grade (PG). State Departments of Transportationexpress concern that REOB decreases pavement lifetime, even though it does not violate thespecifications that are intended to ensure good performance. This research project Read more…
Project 1.20 Summary: Assessment and monitoring the performance and health of rail structures is an essential aspect ofprioritizing the repair and replacement, as well as extending service life, of these transportationinfrastructures. Intrusion of fines from the subgrade or surface leads to ballast fouling andconsequently impairs track drainage and adversely affects Read more…
Project C19.2020 Summary: Many Bridges failed during flooding events due to bridge scour or waterborne debris impacts or their combinations. It is essential to evaluate the risk of bridge failures before flooding and make predictive management to ensure the safety of the bridge. The present study is proposed by an Read more…
Project C21.2022 Summary: The proposed research merges a materials science and engineering approach to corrosionscience with structural engineering approaches to bridge inspection and assessment to generateand implement a corrosion prediction model for bridge inspection and asset management systems.We build on prior work identifying the progression of corrosion as a function Read more…
Project 1.1 Abstract: Concrete T-beam bridges are an important class of structures that has seen limited investigation. These structures are often perceived as quite robust and are in good condition, but possess very low rating factors based on conventional analysis per the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation. Testing of five Read more…
Project Abstract: A solar energy harvesting system was examined to heat water using a proto-type asphalt pavement in the lab, but it was not efficient. Thus, a second approach was continued to create an efficient asphalt pavement solar collector using thermoelectric generators (TEGs). Thorough testing was needed to evaluate the Read more…
Project Summary: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or “drones” are revolutionizing some basic reconnaissance, including structural inspections. This project seeks to enhance and expand the range of applications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to aid inspection of transportation structures. This project is primarily aimed at UAV modifications to allow new ways Read more…
Project 1.13 Summary: Most of the New England railway bridges were designed and built more than a century ago withoutdated design codes and materials. The objective of this research project is to investigate thestructural behavior of critical members and connections, such as eye-bars, pins, and gusset plates(Fig. 1 and 2), Read more…
Project 1.14 Summary: Enhancing safety of roadway segments is a critical step towards maintaining durable transportation infrastructures. Due to significant costs associated with construction of roadway segments, redesigning or rebuilding a roadway segment is not always a viable solution for safety improvement. Low-cost safety countermeasures are effective tools to enhance Read more…
Project 1.15 Summary: The objective of this research is to develop non-contact sensing mechanism for infrastructure monitoring as well as the associated machine-learning based technique for decision making. Currently available sensory systems for structural health monitoring are almost all based on transducers that are directly attached to or embedded in Read more…
Project 1.16 Summary: Maintaining the safety and stability of a bridge is a series concern of our nation. ASCE report cards repeatedly give low grades for our bridges indicating the immediate needs for repair and maintenance. The bridges’ expansion joints of our regions are especially vulnerable because of continuous thermal Read more…
Project 1.17 Summary: The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) has a significant inventory of state[1]owned roads of which layer thickness and moisture related damage is uncertain. Discrete methods of assessment like coring and visual inspection provide limited data and are both time-consuming and costly in terms of traffic control Read more…
Project Abstract: The primary goal of this research project is to develop and implement efficient and effective methodology for short- and long-term continuous condition monitoring and detection of railroad bridges. This is proposed to be achieved utilizing analytical and computational (finite element) modeling and analysis considering vehicle-bridge interaction and dynamic Read more…
Project Abstract: The problem we are trying to solve is the structural assessment of aging concrete bridges (reinforced and prestressed) in New England, targeting at concrete cracking and degradation (e.g., carbonation, alkali-silica reaction). The problem is important because that the integrity of concrete cover indicates not only mechanical strength of Read more…
Project Abstract: The problem we are trying to solve is how to monitor aging bridges. This is important because managing aging civil infrastructure is a major challenge facing the U.S and countries worldwide. Deterioration and premature failures of civil infrastructure have a critical impact on the U.S. economy. Fiber optic Read more…
Project Abstract: The objectives of this project are to synthesize novel sensors integrated with physics-informed data analytics to monitor the railway track for enhanced reliability and durability. New active sensing mechanisms will be developed, to enable autonomous detection and identification. New physics-informed statistical inference algorithms will be formulated, to realize Read more…
Project Abstract: To ensure long lasting performance of pavement materials and avoid significant maintenance and rehabilitation costs, it is necessary to achieve high quality and uniformly compacted materials. In this project, we aim to improve the IC performance and facilitate the process of geomaterial compaction and pavement performance monitoring by Read more…
Project Summary: The problem we are trying to investigate is the synergistic application of unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs) with active acoustic sensing (AAS) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for the underside inspection of bridge decks. The problem is important because that employing such UAV-AAS-SAR system can i) reduce inspection cost by Read more…
Project Abstract: The problem we are trying to solve is the condition assessment of corroded prestressed concrete (PC) bridge girders in New England. The problem is important because that PC bridge girders are a critical component of highway bridges. Concrete spalling and prestressing strand corrosion not only cause losses in Read more…
Project Abstract: Regional hydraulic geometry curves for Vermont and surrounding portions of New England states will be updated through consideration of additional observations, and through application of advanced statistical techniques (e.g., clustering, multiple linear regression, Bayesian inference) that leverage newly-available high-resolution LiDAR and stream geomorphic assessment data. This will result Read more…
Project C9.2019 Abstract: The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) currently uses a lower acceptance limit on 28-day concrete compressive strength (CCS) of 4,000 psi for acceptance of in-place concrete in its construction projects. Over time, to mitigate risk, the concrete industry’s response has led to increasingly higher average 28-day CCS, Read more…