US-Germany Cooperative Research: Development of Methods for Early Detection of Degradation of Civil Infrastructure Materials

0340606加德哈里该奖项支持马苏德·加德哈里和纽约理工大学的学生与德国布伦施韦格工业大学建筑材料、大型结构和消防研究所的卡里姆·哈里里合作。这项合作将通过交换美国和德国两所院校的学生，为民用基础设施建立一个正式的联合光纤传感器研究项目。民用基础设施的大部分恶化是在其发展到严重的物理破坏程度时被察觉的。这发生在道路和桥梁等运输结构、管道和输电网等公用事业设施以及卫生和燃料储存设施中。与人类细胞一样，基础设施材料中的大多数老化机制都涉及由离子传输控制的化学反应。为这一老化过程提供早期预警的传感系统将能够及时实施预防和补救行动，延长有形设施的使用寿命，并最终在基础设施维护方面节省大量成本。根据美国和德国集团进行的初步研究，在这两个国家都有子公司的公司对产品开发感兴趣。此外，根据我们对两国交通和基础设施维护官员的调查，这项研究的预期结果将直接影响两国设施管理实践中决策的质量和时机。该奖项的更广泛影响包括应用于土壤、空气和水的长期环境监测。

0340606GhandehariThis award supports Masoud Ghandehari and students from the Polytechnic University of New York in a collaboration with Karim Hariri of the Institute for Building Materials, Large Structures, and Fire Protection at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. The collaboration will establish a formal joint fiber-optic sensor research program for civil infrastructure through exchange of students from two institutions in the U.S. and Germany. Most deterioration in civil infrastructure is detected when it has progressed to a point of severe physical damage. This occurs in transportation structures such as roadways and bridges, in utilities such as pipelines and power delivery grids as well as sanitation and fuel storage facilities. As with human cells, most aging mechanisms in the infrastructure materials involve chemical reactions that are rate-controlled by ionic transport. A sensing system that provides early warning of this aging process would enable the implementation of timely prevention and remedial action and a greater service life for the physical facilities and ultimately results in substantial cost savings in infrastructure maintenance. There are companies with subsidiaries in both countries that are interested in product development following the preliminary research conducted by the US and German groups. Furthermore, based on our surveys with transportation and infrastructure maintenance officials in both countries, the expected outcome of this research will have direct impact on the quality and timing of decisions made in the facilities management practice in both countries. Broader impacts of the award include application in long-term environmental monitoring for soil, air, and water.