• 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
    • Smart Grid Center (Control Room Lab)
    • Geotechnical and Unbound Materials Innovation Lab
    • Intelligent Infrastructure Assessment Lab
    • National Corrosion and Materials Reliability Lab
    • Shield Lab for Infrastructure Protection (Hypervelocity Impact Lab)
    • Structural and Materials Testing Lab (High Bay)
  • Industry Engagement
    • Services
    • Work with Us
    • Training & Courses
    • Tour Our Facilities
    • CIR Advisory Panel
  • Conference Venue
  • News
  • Contact

Concrete Innovation Lab

CIR labs to be utilized for upcoming UTC research, Dr. Jeffrey Bullard named PI

July 25, 2023 by Katie Carroll

Dr. Jeffrey Bullard, Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering and a preeminent researcher in Infrastructure Materials at CIR is the lead PI from TEES and TAMU on a new University Transportation Center (UTC), “Innovative Bridge Technologies & Accelerated Bridge Construction.” This is one of the eight UTC’s that the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced grant awards for the 2022-2026 Program. Florida International University (FIU) leads the IBT/ABC UTC. Along with TEES, UTC partners include Florida A&M University, University of Georgia, University of Nevada Reno, University of Oklahoma, and University of Washington.

The need for this UTC focused on IBT/ABC is evident when considering the current state of our nations’ bridges. According to the ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, the nation’s bridge score was a C, and 42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, with the average age being 44 years old. In addition, 7.5% of all bridges are considered structurally deficient, meaning they are in “poor” condition. According to the FIU’s ABC UTC website, the mission of the IBT/ABC UTC is “to reduce the societal costs of bridge construction by reducing the duration of work zones, focusing special attention on preservation, service life, construction costs, education of the profession, safety and development of a next-generation workforce fully equipped with IBT/ABC knowledge.”

According to the ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, the nation’s bridge score was a C.

“Our nation’s bridges greatly need more durable and sustainable construction materials, more efficient construction and repair methods, and more effective asset management practices. I expect this UTC to help meet all three of those needs,” says Dr. Bullard. He believes that the UTC’s mission and those needs closely aligned with the resources we have to offer here at the CIR and TAMU. “Our universities and lead investigators have a wealth of resources and backgrounds in these research areas and have already demonstrated the kind of teamwork and leadership required to meet these goals.”

Research, education, workforce development and technology transfer are also some of the UTC’s main objectives. A noteworthy tactic they implement is their development and national distribution of K-12 educational material related to bridge engineering to educate and attract future generations to transportation and sustainability engineering fields. Dr. Bullard notes that the UTC gives a similar, more in depth opportunity to TAMU graduate students as well. He states that “this UTC provides an opportunity to infuse our graduate students with a sense of the excitement and urgency of being at the forefront of nationwide efforts to modernize bridge engineering practices. These students are our country’s future engineering leaders, and they will need that combination of forward-thinking creativity and pragmatic construction practice expertise that this UTC will foster.”

One way to combat the poor conditions of the nation’s bridges is to develop materials that can reach longer lives while still maintaining high performance throughout their use. Texas A&M’s focus on this UTC will be just that. Dr. Bullard and his team will be researching the “development of low-carbon concrete materials for bridges and on enabling ultrahigh performance concrete for additive manufacturing of bridge components” and he says that the CIR has “one of the nation’s best collections of laboratories for developing, processing, and characterizing these kinds of materials.”

CIR Concrete Innovation Lab, Concrete testing

Dr. Anand Puppala, Director of CIR, is delighted to see this UTC research being conducted the CIR. “This IBT/ABC UTC is one of the five major UTCs that work on infrastructure track at CIR,” he says, “I greatly appreciate the efforts by Professor Bullard in bringing this important bridge infrastructure center with focus on materials to CIR.” The CIR’s Laboratory for Advanced Characterization of Infrastructure Materials (ACIM) and the Concrete Innovation Laboratory will be two of the labs utilized for the UTC at Texas A&M. These labs feature high-precision equipment for investigating materials’ thermal and kinetic properties as well as monitoring their response to controlled environmental variables like temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide partial pressure in the atmosphere.

For more information regarding this UTC at FIU, click here.

For a list of all the affiliated UTC’s in the 2022-2026 Program, click here.

For more information regarding the ACIM & Concrete Innovation Labs please visit cir.tamu.edu

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ACIM, Advanced Characterization of Infrastructure Materials Lab, bridge, CIR, Concrete Innovation Lab, FIU, IBT ABC, Jeffrey Bullard, UTC, UTC Awards

TTI’s Mukhopadhyay Develops Test Methods for Cracking-Resistant Concrete

November 5, 2021 by Kathrine Bradshaw

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anol Mukhopadhyay, Concrete Innovation Lab, Victor Liu

TTI’s Anol Mukhopadhyay Increases Awareness of Fly Ash Approach

October 25, 2021 by Kathrine Bradshaw

Anol MukhopadhyayOn Sept. 24, TTI Senior Research Scientist Anol Mukhopadhyay presented the session Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fly Ashes and Other Potential Alternatives to Mitigate Alkali–Silica Reaction (ASR) Using an Innovative Performance-based Approach. Anol was an invited speaker at the 2021 Structural Engineers Association of Texas (SEAoT) Conference Sept. 23–24.

SEAoT asked Anol to share the ASR tests and performance-based approach he and his TTI team developed using two test methods and pure solution estimation. Of particular interest was how Anol is using those tools to evaluate fly ash alternatives for mitigating ASR’s impact and addressing durability issues.

“Conventional fly ashes are gradually diminishing, and by 2030 the demand will be much higher than the supply,” says Anol. “Implementing this alternative method has great potential for addressing this critical industry issue. Further research is needed to apply the approach to other kinds of available alternatives and verify its effectiveness. I appreciated the opportunity to talk on this topic and increase awareness about the ASR phenomenon.”

SEAoT’s conference theme this year was “look to the future.” Attendees discussed emerging technologies and recent developments through training and networking in El Paso, Texas. | Learn More about the Conference

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anol Mukhopadhyay, Concrete Innovation Lab, fly ash

Mukhopadhyay Develops Test Methods for Cracking-Resistant Concrete Supporting Bridges

July 12, 2021 by Kathrine Bradshaw

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Anol Mukhopadhyay, Concrete Innovation Lab, Kai-Wei Liu, Victor Liu

Pravin Saraswatula received the American Coal Ash Association Educational Foundation (ACAAEF) scholarship.

September 17, 2020 by Kathrine Bradshaw

PhD student, Saraswatula, Pravin with Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s team in the Concrete Innovation Lab at the CIR, has received the American Coal Ash Association Educational Foundation (ACAAEF) scholarship. Pravin’s essay focused on linking pore solution chemistry of concrete with CCPs to ASR potential through machine learning as a performance-based approach. The scholarship award recipients were announced in a press release on July 6th. ACAA will be recognizing the scholarship winners on their website and in their magazine, Ash at Work.

The ACAA Educational Foundation is a financially self-sustaining, not-for-profit organization which promotes the understanding of coal combustion products (CCP) management and utilization through communications and outreach initiatives that are aimed at government and industry decision makers and the public.

Pravin Saraswatula was also recently Runner Up in the PhD student category for the 2020 Keese Wootan Transportation Fellowship by Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). This fellowship was established to honor two long-time directors of the Institute, and recognizes and rewards TTI employees who are full-time or part-time graduate students at Texas A&M University.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: award, Concrete Innovation Lab, Pravin Saraswatula, scholarship

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