Concrete pavements form the backbone of military airfields, roadways and infrastructure. However, current methods to assess the quality of concrete pavements are time-consuming and incompatible with the rapid pace of construction required by the Department of Defense (DoD).
Alessandro Fascetti, principal investigator, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and Roberta Luxbacher Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, is leading a team that received a $603,000 award from the Engineer Research Development Center (ERDC) of the Army Corps of Engineers for a 24-month project aiming at developing a novel approach to ensure the reliability and durability of Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements critical to military operations around the world.
The Pitt research team’s innovative framework will investigate real-time, non-destructive testing (NDT) tools that will allow construction inspectors to assess the quality of pavements within 72 hours of placement—streamlining the decision-making process on whether to repair or replace pavement sections.
“Military infrastructure requires an unprecedented level of durability and reliability,” Fascetti said. “Our goal is to provide the DoD with advanced, easy-to-use field tools that will ensure quality control at the early stages of construction.”
Key Features of the Research:
- Advanced Field Testing Protocols: The project will investigate NDT techniques, including ultrasound tomography, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and infrared thermography, to detect defects in concrete pavements without damaging the material.
- Early Detection of Defects: The team is developing methods to assess the integrity of newly placed concrete within the first 72 hours of curing, a critical time frame for identifying issues like poor consolidation or material segregation.
- Non-Invasive Techniques: New tools will allow engineers to monitor subsurface defects, surface cracking, and other potential issues in real-time, ensuring a robust quality assurance process.
The research is supported by the ERDC and leverages the state-of-the-art facilities at the University of Pittsburgh, including the newly developed Pavement Consolidation Simulator. This advanced tool allows researchers to replicate real-world concrete paving conditions, leading to more accurate and reliable testing protocols.
Julie Vandenbossche, Vice Chair of Research, and Lev Khazanovich, Anthony Gill Chair Professor, both from Pitt’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, are serving as co-principal investigators on the project alongside Fascetti.
“We are creating practical, user-friendly tools that will not only advance the field of concrete pavement QA but also significantly improve the speed and accuracy of decision-making in the field,” said Khazanovich.
The project, “A Novel Framework for Quality Assurance for Concrete Pavements,” began in June 2024.