Development and Implementation of Digital Specimen and Digital Tester Technique for Infrastructure Materials

0438480图梅此奖项是路易斯安那州州立大学，以支持活动如下所述的36个月。 该提案是为了响应创新伙伴关系计划征集而提交的（NSF-04556）。合作伙伴合作伙伴包括路易斯安那州立大学（牵头机构），南方大学（历史上的黑人学院和大学-HBCU）、路易斯安那州交通研究中心、国家沥青技术中心、国家沥青路面协会、联邦公路管理局、巴里埃建筑公司、主要目标是开发多功能数字样品和数字测试技术，在联邦公路管理局特纳-费尔班克研究中心和其他合作伙伴设施的威尔斯井中实施这些技术，使新开发的技术商业化，为本科生和研究生工程师开发培训课程，为沥青铺路技术专家协会举办研讨会，以促进实践工程师对技术的获取和利用，潜在的经济影响拟议的创新技术将建立一个以计算机为基础的测试和评估系统，用于设计耐久性更长的建筑材料-服务和降低生命周期成本。一旦该方法得到充分开发，它可以很容易地修改为其他材料技术。该项目的智力价值包括通过减少待测试的样本数量来增强沥青材料的混合设计的当前实践，增强沥青材料的混合设计以优化所用材料的工程特性，降低了在建筑工业中使用有缺陷的材料的可能性，和了解建筑材料的寿命耐久性。该活动的更广泛影响集中在以最低的测试成本提高建筑材料的设计，认证，教育和培训未来的建筑工程师，增加代表性不足的群体参与研究，教育和专业工程实践，对国家基础设施的经济和社会影响。

0438480TumayThis award is to Louisiana State University to support the activity described below for 36 months. The proposal was submitted in response to the Partnerships for Innovation Program Solicitation (NSF-04556).PartnersThe partners include Louisiana State University (Lead Institution), Southern University (historically black college and university-HBCU), Louisiana Transportation Research Center, National Center of Asphalt Technology, National Asphalt Pavement Association, Federal Highway Administration, Barriere Construction Company, and Fugro Geosciences.The primary objectives are to develop multiple functional digital specimen and digital test techniques, to implement these techniques at Federal Highway Administration Turner-Fairbank Research Center as wells as at the other partners facilities, to commercialize the newly-developed techniques, to develop a training course for undergraduate and graduate engineers, to conduct seminars for Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists to promote acquisition and utilization of the techniques to practicing engineers, and to seek use of the technology in other materials in the construction industry.Potential Economic ImpactThe proposed innovations will create a computer-based testing and evaluation system for design of construction materials with a longer durability in-service and a reduced life-cycle cost. Once the methodology has been fully developed, it can easily be modified for other materials technologies.The intellectual merit of the project includes enhancing current practice in mix design for asphalt materials be reducing the number of specimens to be tested, enhancing the mix design for asphalt materials to optimize the engineering properties of the material in use, reducing the probability of having faulty materials being used in the construction industry, and understanding the lifetime durability of construction materials.The broader impacts of the activity concentrate on enhancing the design of construction materials at the least cost of testing and certification, education and training future construction engineers, increased involvement of underrepresented groups in research, education and professional engineering practice, the economic and societal impacts on the national infrastructure.