Award Data

A Multimodal Acoustic Tool for Inline Pipe Inspection 3/19/2018 The US energy transport pipeline system is a longstanding distribution network with most of its still standing pipes being installed between the 1950s–1970s. Due to degradation mechanisms, such as embrittlement, capable of causing a two-fold reduction in fracture toughness, pipe rupture is a major risk. Current nondestructive ins ...

Proposal title: Rapid Assessment of Air Void System in Fresh Concrete Water expansion during freeze-thaw cycles can cause deterioration in concrete, leading to scaling, cracking, and crumbling over a period of years. Resistance to this damage is achieved with a system of voids formed by adding surfactants to the fresh concrete to stabilize air bubbles naturally entrained during mixing. The volume ...

Proposal title: Broken Rail Detection from Flashing Rear End Device Broken rails are a common cause of mainline derailments and a particular concern given the increasing use of our rail system for passenger traffic and petroleum products. The progressive nature of the defects provides an opportunity for early detection of cracks before they become significant enough to cause a derailment. Unfortu ...

Proposal title: Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Adsorption Capacity of Fly Ash in Concrete Mixtures Interference of unburned and activated carbon in fly ash with air-entraining admixtures (AEAs) in fresh concrete mixtures is a major concern in the concrete industry. Therefore, a rapid and accurate measurement of adsorption capacity of fly ash is of great interest to this industry. In Phase I, ...

Coating disbond on buried pipelines contineus to be a major problem world-wide. Disbonds left unrepaired promote both corrosion and stress-corrosion cracking, which are much more costly to repair. Improved inspection technology is currently needed to detect and characterize disbonds. HD Laboratories, Inc. proposes to refine and test a novel method of detecting and assessing coating disbonds and ...

For more than three decades, transportation planners have relied on survey data collected specifically for the development of travel forecasting models, which are expensive to collect and maintain on an ongoing basis. There is a plethora of data collected for other reasons that could potentially support transportation planning which is becoming more accessible through technological advances. Use ...

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN A STRATIFIED TOW TANK ARE PROPOSED TO CHARACTERIZE VORTEX WAKES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ATOMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE. FLOW RESEARCH HAS DEVELOPED INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR STRATIFYING THE FLUID IN THE TANK, GENERATING A CURRENT SHEAR AND CREATING AMBIENTTURBULENCE WITH GOOD CONTROL. SUCH CAPABILITIES WOULD FACILITATE THE ISOLATION OF THE EFFECTS OF THE DISTURBANCE S ...

THE PHASE I RESEARCH IS INTENDEDTO DEMONSTRATE THE BASIC FEASIBILITY OF CONSTRUCTING AND OPTIMIZING A NEW MAGNETO-OPTIC 'SANDWICH' DEVICE INTENDED FOR DIRECT VISUALIZATION OF FLAWSIN FERROUS MATERIALS (STEEL) IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT. THE DEVICE IS BASED IN THE PROPERTY OF SOME MAGNETO-OPTIC GARNETFILMS TO ROTATE THE PLANES OF POLARIZATION OF AN INCIDENT, LINEARLY POLARIZED LIGHT WAVE (FARADAY MAGN ...

HIGH-PRESSURE WATERJET IS ONE OF SEVERAL NEW METHODS FOR CUTTING MATERIALS DEVELOPED DURING THE LAST DECADE. CURRENTLY IT IS USED, AT STATIC WATER PRESSURE UP TO 60,000 PSI, TO CUT A WIDE VARIETY OF SOFT AND MEDIUM-HARD MATERIALS IN FACTORIES; IT HAS BEEN EVALUATED FOR GEOTECHNICAL APPLICATIONS WITH VERY LIMITED SUCCESS. THIS RESEARCH CONCERNS THE USE OF ABRASIVE-ENTRAINED WATERJET FOR CUTTING AND ...

A SIX MONTH PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A RUGGED NEW DEVICE FOR MONITORING THE ONSET OF ICE FORMATION ON SURFACES OF TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES, ROADS, BRIDGES AND AIRCRAFTS, WILL BE DEVELOPED AND A PROTOTYPE WILL BE LABORATORY TESTED. THE NOVEL GAGE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM IS PARTLY BASED ON THE TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO MEASURE CONDUCTIVITY OF SOLUTIONS. BASED ON EXISTING TECHNOLOGY, AND ALREADY TESTED UNDER HIGH ...