Fabio Matta - US grants

Center for the Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI)

IIP-0934097
West Virginia University
GangaRao

IIP-0934182
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Rizkalla

IIP-0933996
Rutgers University (RU)
Balaguru

IIP-0933537
University of Miami (UM)
Nanni

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The purpose of this proposal is to start a new I/UCRC "Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI)" with a focus on ushering applications and cost-effective rehabilitation schemes using composites in civil and military structures. The lead institution of the proposed Center is WVU with RU, NCSU and UM as research partners.

This new IUCRC will focus on creating new products for specific applications such as pre-cast composite bridge decks and pavement panels, and protection systems to increase the service life of infrastructure damaged by natural and man-made disasters such as earthquake and terror attack. Advances in processing of composites will lead to environmental benefits, as estimates indicate that natural fiber based composites can be manufactured at one-fourth the BTU level of comparable steel sections, and similarly self-cleaning structural composites will help oxidize car exhaust. The Center will integrate scientific endeavors complementing the strengths of all four universities to advance the composite knowledgebase and applications.

The center activities will enhance the international competitiveness of the American industry in the area of composites including modular construction and rapid deployment techniques using natural and bio-materials; thus reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The Nation as a whole would benefit as composite and hybrid material use would, in general, lead to structures of higher safety, shorter construction times and longer life spans at a reduced overall cost with the creation of new job opportunities. The Center plans to recruit graduate students from under-represented groups, including minorities and women by reaching out to the undergraduate student population at each university. In addition, Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be contacted to recruit their students for center activities. The PIs also plan to publish in various journals and conferences to promote the scientific research and knowledge dissemination, and will utilize separate funding mechanisms to educate practicing engineers and end users who are not familiar with composites.

This grant provides funding to design and execute a proof of concept for a practical and affordable system to repair or retrofit highly substandard confined masonry walls. This construction style is predominant in low-rise residential structures in developing areas around the world that are prone to seismic activity, and where poor design and construction practices are common. The proposed system consists of aluminum strips inserted into grooves and embedded in mortar along the bed joints, thereby providing horizontal reinforcement to enhance resilience. It enlists accessible, relatively inexpensive and durable materials as a strategy for rehabilitation, and to facilitate technology acceptance. The proof of concept will be based on laboratory tests of confined masonry wall specimens under in-plane loads, simulating no action, repair (after damage), and retrofit (prior to loading) scenarios. Design and construction of the specimens will reflect input gained from a visit in Haiti by the two PIs (an architect and a structural engineer). Resilience in terms of strength, deformability and damage mechanisms will be investigated analytically by studying the contribution of masonry, embedded reinforcement, reinforced concrete confinement, and interactions thereof.

Current design and construction practices often fail to acknowledge the economic and technological limitations found in developing areas. Through this research, information and experimental evidence will be gained to advance the knowledge and understanding of substandard practices specific to confined masonry, baseline performance of poorly designed and constructed confined masonry walls, and the potential of a rapid and affordable repair and retrofit technology whose deployment on a large scale is realistic. The proposed proof of concept is pursuant to the vision of shifting from the culture of aiding to that of enabling local practitioners to independently rehabilitate their constructed facilities, thereby also putting them in the condition to train future generations of practitioners.

This collaborative research aims at experimentally and theoretically quantifying the structural resilience of a new fiber reinforced earthen masonry system for dwellings in high wind regions. This goal will be achieved by engineering and prototyping stabilized earth blocks and mortar, both enhanced with addition of natural fibers, and verifying the structural response of full-scale walls through physical testing. Engineering of the mortar and blocks will be based on two criteria: optimization of the amount of stabilizer and fibers, and compatibility of block and mortar where the target strengths are defined to force failure in the mortar joints. Engineering of the wall system will be based on the formulation and verification of interaction laws between applicable in-plane and out-of-plane forces. The interaction laws will be based on constitutive models obtained from the characterization of materials and scaled subassemblies. The collaboration involves faculty at the University of South Carolina, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Florida, with one PhD student at each institution. The engineering and characterization of the blocks and mortar will be lead by the University of Florida and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, respectively. The engineering of the walls, including analysis and experimental verification, will be lead by the University of South Carolina, Columbia. The outcome will be a prototype block and mortar combination. The verification of the selected system will be based on proof-tests of full-scale wall specimens under in-plane, out-of-plane, and pendulum impact load simulating the impact energy of representative flying debris, which typically cause human deaths and injuries.

The proposed research will advance knowledge and technology by engineering both the mortar and blocks to enhance damage tolerance, and through the verification of structural system and predictive analytical models based on full-scale experiments. The final outcome of the project will be a novel, affordable, energy efficient and locally appropriate system for rural dwellings that is designed to withstand high wind loads, such as those experienced in the Midwestern and the Southeastern US. The outcomes of this project will be transferred to a broad audience of Indian reservations in Nebraska and to high-school students and teachers through a summer workshop program. New educational material will be incorporated in courses offered to engineering undergraduate and graduate students at the participating universities.

1321464 (Biles) and 1321489 (Matta). The objective of this EAGER research project is to: (1) understand social, cultural and economic barriers to the diffusion and adoption of locally developed sustainable and resilient building technologies for residential dwellings in the coastal region of the State of Yucatán, Mexico; and (2) examine how local and transnational networks for the conduct and dissemination of research can enable overcoming those barriers. The study area is ideal to implement the proposed bottom-up approach study barriers to the diffusion and adoption of "indigenous" technologies since: it is especially prone to the effects and escalating risk of natural hazards (e.g., high winds) and global climate change; local collaborating materials scientists have studied and prototyped two candidate building materials to be evaluated, one for new construction (wood-plastic composites) and one for retrofit/repair (low-cost cement-polymer mortar); and, local stakeholders have yet to embrace innovations. The project will investigate barriers to the diffusion and adoption of building technologies through the lens of recent conceptual and analytical social science perspectives, including social network analysis and science, and technology and society (STS) studies. Historically, the strongest technological, cultural and aspirational connections have run from the Global South to the Global North. Recently, transportation and communication innovations have made South-South interaction more viable and vibrant. Social science research, however, has not assessed the impact of more intense, multi-scalar South-South networks on the diffusion and adoption of new building technologies. By testing the proposed research hypothesis, new knowledge will be created to understand how to integrate social considerations influencing technology diffusion and adoption into the process of conceiving, researching and developing new building technologies, and shepherding them from the laboratory to the field. The project will provide opportunities for a diverse team of researchers (1 minority, 2 women, and 2 early-career) and students to participate in substantive international research. With respect to societal benefits, research will contribute to the mitigation of the impacts of disasters in the study area, with potential application to coastal regions of the US and elsewhere. The project will also promote bottom-up collaboration as an alternative means of improving quality of life and represents the first building block for a transnational network for the dissemination of knowledge in coastal regions of the Global South. This award is co-funded by the Global Venture Fund (GVF) of NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the CBET/ENG Environmental Sustainability program.

This NUE in Engineering program entitled, "NUE: Nanotechnology LINK: An integrated approach for nanotechnology education: End of life management of nanomaterial-containing wastes", at the University of South Carolina (USC), under the direction of Dr. Nicole Berge, has as its goal to develop an integrated undergraduate nanotechnology theme within the currently existing Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) curriculum at USC that focuses on the environmental implications associated with the end-of-life management of nanomaterial-containing products, materials, and nanomaterial manufacturing waste streams to produce a more informed and competitive CEE workforce.

To accomplish this goal, the project team plans to develop nanotechnology problem-based hands-on modules following a pedagogical approach referred to as Environments for Fostering Effective Critical Thinking (EFFECTs). EFFECTs use student-centered learning strategies to promote deep learning, enhance conceptual understanding, and stimulate growth in critical thinking skills. The EFFECTs approach has become institutionalized within the USC CEE curriculum. However, even though EFFECTs have been developed and implemented in a significant number of courses, these EFFECTs are independent and unrelated. Dr. Berge and her team propose to create an EFFECT LINK (Learning Integration of New Knowledge) for teaching and learning of nanotechnology content across the curriculum, which is referred to as the Nanotechnology LINK. As part of this integrated approach, students will assemble nanotechnology-themed electronic portfolios, building content knowledge as they advance through a sequence of courses. In addition, students will have the option of participating in an undergraduate nanotechnology-based research experience and graduate with a Leadership Distinction in Research.

The development and implementation of the proposed Nanotechnology LINK framework will result in the generation and refinement of a transformative educational approach of linking student learning across a curriculum to enhance student learning of other techniques/concepts. In addition, knowledge associated with the environmental implications associated with the end-of-life management of nanomaterial-containing wastes will be advanced. To date, there has been little research in this area. This work will also result in better-prepared civil and environmental engineers.

There is a continuing demand in the United States for sustainable and hazard-resilient but highly affordable low-rise buildings for households and businesses. The goal of this research project is to investigate the feasibility of high-quality reinforced earth masonry (REM) for seismic resistant low-rise buildings. This goal will be achieved by transforming sustainable and locally appropriate but brittle unfired earth masonry into a stronger and more ductile system by using non-biodegradable recycled plastic fibers combined with internal steel reinforcement. This research will investigate REM as a low-cost option for low-rise industrial buildings and sheds, with a vision of fostering the development of small plants and warehouses by reducing construction and maintenance costs, thus promoting economic development.

The technical objectives of this research are the following: (1) to engineer, prototype, and verify an affordable and high-quality REM system for seismic resistant low-rise buildings, and (2) to formulate, verify and implement a new numerical model to accurately and efficiently predict the structural response of REM walls. The hypotheses are:v(1) engineering of earth blocks and mortar stabilized with nine percent or less cement, and reinforced with one percent or less volume fraction of recycled plastic fibers, combined with internal steel reinforcement, will change the strength and ductility of REM, making it suitable for seismic resistant buildings, and (2) computationally efficient numerical models based on newly developed nonlinear macroelements (MEs), whose kinematics are described by the smallest possible number of degrees of freedom, will enable the accurate prediction of the response of REM structures subject to static and dynamic loads. This research will be conducted in three phases. First, selected prototype block-mortar combinations (unreinforced, fiber reinforced, and fiber reinforced with grouted steel bars) will be characterized through load testing of materials and assemblages. A candidate reinforced system will be selected for the second phase. Three-dimensional (3D) digital image correlation (3D-DIC) will be used to measure full-field deformation maps and inform the development of numerical models. The resulting constitutive models for materials, mortar joints, and REM assemblages will serve to formulate detailed finite element (FE) models. Second, performance data will be obtained through large-scale testing and 3D-DIC monitoring of REM walls subject to quasi-static cyclic loading. The results will inform the formulation and validation of new structural ME models and their FE code implementation. Third and final, ME-based FE models of the large-scale specimens will be developed based on the comparison between numerical and experimental results. The resulting first-generation ME models will be used for a preliminary estimate of seismic design coefficients and factors to establish feasibility. In addition, a preliminary quantification of sustainability-related parameters and construction cost for representative REM materials and buildings will be performed to provide a basis for comparison with alternative systems, for example, light-framed wood, as well as life-cycle cost analysis.