• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

CIR
Center for Infrastructure Renewal

Texas A&M University

  • Expertise
  • Research Areas
  • Facilities
    • Advanced Characterization of Infrastructure Materials Lab
    • Advanced Infrastructure Materials and Manufacturing Lab
    • Artificial Intelligence and Built Environment Lab
    • Asphalt Innovation Lab
    • Concrete Innovation Lab
    • Connected Infrastructure Lab
    • Control Room Lab
    • Geotechnical and Unbound Materials Innovation Lab
    • Intelligent Infrastructure Assessment Lab
    • National Corrosion and Materials Reliability Lab
    • Shield Lab for Infrastructure Protection
    • Structural and Materials Testing Lab
  • Industry Engagement
    • Services
    • CIR Advisory Panel
    • Training & Courses
  • Conference Venue
  • News
  • Contact
  • Soil Unbound

Geotechnical and Unbound Materials Innovation Lab

Summary

Infrastructure systems are only as good as the foundation on which they are built. Much of our existing infrastructure is in dire need of foundational upgrades or rehabilitation. This lab allows researchers to investigate soils, stabilization, and rehabilitation techniques that can be implemented in both the short and long term.

Work With UsVirtual Tour - Unbound MaterialsVirtual Tour - Aggregate Drying/ BatchingVirtual Tour - Unbound Material FabricationRocks iconMix icon

Research

  • Develop expedited and improved design procedures, sustainable solutions for rapid pavement renewal and rehabilitation, and supporting construction specifications.
  • Reduce cost of pavement renewal by as much as 50 percent.
  • Reduce project delivery time and disruption to traffic.
  • Expand understanding of materials and mixture properties and their relationships to pavement performance under traffic and environmental conditions.
  • Multi-disciplinary research in accelerated construction.

Capabilities

  • Materials Index Properties
    • Particle size distribution.
    • Plastic limit, liquid limit, and plasticity index.
    • Moisture content and soil water potential.
    • Sulfate content.
    • Organic content.
    • Methylene blue value.
  • Mixture Analysis
    • Impact hammer, vibratory, and gyratory compactors — fabricate mixture test specimens.
    • Lab pugmill — simulates thorough field mixing of materials. Produce mixed untreated and treated materials such as cement, lime, fly ash, asphalt emulsion, foamed asphalt treated soils, or granular materials.
    • Lab foamer — uses nozzles identical to field equipment to produce foamed asphalt. Used with lab pugmill to simulate field foamed asphalt treatment.
    • Loading systems — measure strength, modulus, and rutting properties of representative test specimens. Results allow for analysis of expected pavement performance.
  • Mixture Conditioning
    • Moisture conditioning including capillary soak, full submersion or vacuum saturation.
    • Environmental conditioning and curing including temperature and relative humidity.

See us in action:

Lab Supervisors:

Anand Puppala Headshot

Dr. Anand Puppala

Director of the CIR, Professor, Civil Engineering, Texas A&M
[email protected]
979-317-1204

D Goehl

Darlene Goehl

Division Head, Materials & Pavements Division, TTI
[email protected]
979-317-2329

Victor Liu

Dr. Kai-Wei (Victor) Liu

Lab Manager, Assistant Research Scientist
[email protected]
(979) 317-2313 x42313

Affiliated Researchers/
Faculty:

  • Charles Aubeny
  • Tony Barbosa
  • Surya Congress
  • Yong-Rak Kim
  • Charles Gurganus
  • Robert Lytton
  • David Newcomb
  • Marcelo Sanchez
  • Tom Scullion
  • Stephen Sebesta
  • Ross Taylor
The Texas A&M University SystemTexas A&M UniversityTexas A&M Engineering Experiment StationTexas A&M Transportation Institute
  • Accessibility
  • State Links and Policies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Website Feedback
  • Texas A&M University

© Copyright 2019 Center for Infrastructure Renewal at Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus