On Oct. 15, three University engineering professors received a$600,000 grant to develop a digital method for examining anddeveloping safer, less costly roadways.
Mehmet Tumay, professor and associate dean of the College ofEngineering, Lin Bing Wang, engineering assistant professor, andLouay Mohammad, engineering associate professor, submitted one of15 proposals chosen for the grant as a part of the National ScienceFoundation’s Partnership for Innovation Program.
The grant was awarded to sponsor their project called”Development and Implementation of Digital Specimen andDigital Tester Technique for Infrastructure Materials.”
The project will create a computer-based testing and evaluationsystem for construction materials.
Tumay said their goal is to produce longer-lasting, more durablematerials which will ultimately cut costs.
Tumay said the grant was very competitive. There were 135proposals submitted, 35 highly recommended and 15 final proposalschosen for funding, Tumay said.
Tumay is the project’s director, but he said Wangoriginally proposed the research project.
Tumay said he and his colleagues chose infrastructure materialsfor paving as the project’s focus because they are abundantlyused and are needed to be improved.
The $600,000 will be spread out over three years, Tumay said.This project is the first of its kind at the University.
Tumay said he and his colleagues are looking for a way todigitally prepare and test a sample of material used to buildroads.
Tumay said if the project is successful, he would like to bringthe research to an industry level and give seminars and workshopsto show companies how to test their roadways in this manner.
“Eventually, we would like to see courses taught on thissubject,” Tumay said.
Tumay said his group has received $234,000 for the first year ofwork. This money will go to support and further current researchand to hiring a Ph.D. student to work on the project, Tumaysaid.
“At the moment, we are working with asphalt concreteonly,” Tumay said. “I would eventually like to use thetesting process on soils and other materials such aswood.”
After some experimentation, the new techniques will beimplemented at the Federal Highway Administration’sTurner-Fairbank Research Center, Tumay said.
This grant will eventually allow LSU to team up with SouthernUniversity, the Louisiana Transportation Research Center, theNational Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University, theNational Asphalt Pavement Association and the Federal HighwayAdministration.