Upcoming Webinar
Upcoming Webinar
The Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) is proud to host Research Highlights Webinars each month to showcase the exciting research conducted by teams from five universities as we seek to address the U.S.'s transportation infrastructure durability challenges by focusing on Precast Concrete (PC)-related technologies.
Register for TRANS-IPIC next Research Highlights Webinar below!
Friday, 03/28/2025
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (CST)
Topic 1:
Metal with Memory: An Innovative Technology for Transportation Infrastructure
Abstract
In recent decades, our transportation infrastructure has proven vulnerable to issues such as aging and various natural and man-made hazards. Traditional materials like steel and concrete have limitations in their ability to endure the extreme demands placed on them by modern society. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new materials that can extend the service life of infrastructure with minimal or no maintenance and repairs. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are a type of "smart materials" that have recently gained attention as a potential construction material due to their unique thermomechanical properties, which allow them to change shape in response to temperature changes. This presentation will provide an overview of these emerging materials, featuring examples from the SMA research conducted by TRANS-IPCI researchers.
Speaker
Bassem O Andrawes
Director - Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC)
Professor (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Bassem Andrawes holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University (1996), M.Sc. in Civil Engineering (Structures) from Iowa State University (2001), and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Structures) from Georgia Institute of Technology (2005). He has been on the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois since the fall of 2006. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Professor Andrawes worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California Irvine and a Design Engineer at Englekirk Partners Consulting Structural Engineers in Santa Ana, California.
Topic 2:
Data-Driven Smart Composite Reinforcement for Precast Concrete
Abstract
This study aims to develop a smart composite reinforcement in precast concrete for real-time health condition monitoring using embedded sensors on the composite. The monitoring system can provide the health condition and risk information of the composite reinforcement. Data from smart sensors is paired with computational modeling results of composite-concrete system and data-driven machine learning algorithms to predict the risk of the composite reinforcement for a better reinforced precast concrete system. The system detects the structural and materials failure and anomaly mechanism and predicts the associated risk in a wide range of applications.
Speaker
Chengcheng Tao
Assistant Professor (Purdue University)
Dr. Chengcheng Tao is an assistant professor in the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University. Dr. Tao earned her Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from the University of Florida. Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Tao worked as an ORISE postdoctoral research fellow at DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory. Dr. Tao’s research interests include sustainable construction materials and manufacturing, mechanics of materials, and AI applications in materials.