Materials

Materials engineering research is supported by well-equipped laboratories for testing pavement materials, and select structural materials.  Research emphasis is placed on civil engineering infrastructure applications.  Highway and airfield pavements are infrastructure components of particular interest.  Characterizing hot mixed asphalt (HMA) or warm mixed asphalt (WMA) as a total mixture or as individual constituents is an area of focus.  Beneficial re-use by way of recycling infrastructure or stabilizing fine grained soils are also areas of focus.  Research efforts in recent years have led to publications regarding: asphalt concrete, bituminous emulsions, chemically stabilized soils, concrete, fiber reinforced polymers, geosynthetics, recycled infrastructure, unbound aggregate or soil, and wood.  Laboratory and field experimental work are areas of emphasis, which often includes instrumentation and data acquisition.  Coupling experimental activities with finite element analysis is also an area of emphasis.