2016 csti activity report

Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure 2016 Activity Report Summary The Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure’s (CSTI) vision is to advance the state of sustainable transportation research through collaborative, multi-disciplinary efforts, education, and dissemination of new technologies and knowledge. The path of the Center’s success is centered on achieving established goals and objectives both in the short-term and long-term, and the partners and support needed to realize the vision.

CSTI was created in August 2007. In total, we have secured over $7.2 million in external funding through 2016.

In 2016 we were given notice to proceed from PennDOT for 2 additional research projects. The total value of projects under contract with PennDOT at the end of 2016 was $1,393,562 (Table 1). In addition CST continued work through the WalkWorks program with funding of $11,000 in 2016.

In 2016 CSTI continued to sponsor the Transportation Forum at the University of Pittsburgh on March 18, 2016.

CSTI, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE) and Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS), held this one-day forum to advance learning on the research being performed by CSTI. The 2016 forum focused on public private transportation projects in Pennsylvania. A new law in Pennsylvania allows PennDOT and other transportation authorities and commissions in the state to enter into agreements with the private sector to participate in the delivery, maintenance and financing of transportation-related projects. This new concept in project delivery and financing transfers responsibility of engineering, construction, operation and/or maintenance of a facility to the private sector for a defined period of time; or allows the Private Sector to perform by contract a service previously provided by the Public Sector. The forum presented research findings on several projects and held a panel discussion with PennDOT, Contractors and Engineers involved in the Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, the first transportation public private partnership project in Pennsylvania.

CSTI continued its participation with the Graduate School of Public Health in 2016 in the WalkWorks program funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. WalkWorks’ goal is to increase physical activity among children and adults by establishing community-based walking programs in Western Pennsylvania. CSTI conducted walking safety assessments for walking routes in Fayette, Blair and McKean counties in Pennsylvania.

In 2016 CSTI established a partnership with the Healthy Ride System that operates the bikeshare system in Pittsburgh. This partnership was created to determine the sustainable transportation benefits of the bikeshare system in Pittsburgh. The air quality benefits will be estimated based upon the travel characteristics of bikeshare users that include reduced travel via high emission modes such as auto and induced travel via reduced emission modes such as public transit. A survey was conducted of bikeshare users in 2016 to determine their travel characteristics and economic benefits of the system. During the summer of 2016 the survey was sent to

current Healthyride users. The data is now being analyzed and future steps will include the tracking of bikeshare routes and measuring the air quality benefits.

On December 8, 2016 CSTI held a one day transportation research idea meeting with PennDOT districts 1, 10, 11 and 12. PennDOT and CSTI researchers discussed issues and problems facing PennDOT that could be addressed through CSTI research efforts. Further discussion is occurring between faculty and PennDOT on specific research topics of interest.

Table 1 CSTI – 2016 Research Projects with PennDOT Research Project Title

Principal Investigator

Total Project Costs

Remote Sensing of Bridge Scour Installation Testing Phase (Completed in 2016)

Ervin Sejdic

$86,117

Additional work on Waterproofing bridge abutments

Qiang Yu

$170,682

Interpreting Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) Data

Julie Vandenbossche

$506,875

Novel approach for the noninvasive assessment of fresh concrete (Completed in 2016)

Rizzo

$132,035

Hydrologic Disaster Forecasting and Response for Transportation by Assimilating and Fusing NASA and other Data Sets

Xu Liang

$208,966

Adopting a New Contrast Sensitivity Visual Screening into PennDOT`s Driver Qualifications Program

Ervin Sejdic

$176,012

Identifying Impediments and Solutions to Sidewalk Project Implementation in Pennsylvania (Completed in 2016)

Mark Magalotti

$157,111

Evaluating Bicycle, Pedestrian, Transit and Economic Data Collection Needs and Measures of Effectiveness in Pennsylvania

Mark Magalotti

$173,916

Affiliated Pitt Faculty John Brigham Michael Blackhurst Sabina Deitrick Kent Harries Xu Liang JS Linn Mark Magalotti Piervincenzo Rizzo Ervin Sejdic Julie Vandenbossche Qiang Yu Radisav Vidic Industry and Consulting Partners Babst Calland Attorneys at Law Gibson-Thomas Engineering Co, Inc. Publications, Presentations and Awards Alland, K., Vandenbossche, J., Melo de Sousa, A. (2017, accepted). Daily Cycles of Non-Temperature Related Curvature in Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements. Journal of Transportation Engineering Alland, K., Vandenbossche, J., Brigham, J. (2017, accepted). Statistical Model to Detect Voids in Curled and Warped Concrete Slabs (2017) Transportation Research Record.

Alland, K., Vandenbossche, J., Melo de Sousa, A. (2016). Daily Cycles of Non-Temperature Related Curvature in Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements. Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C. Alland, K., Vandenbossche, J., Brigham, J. (2017). Statistical Model to Detect Voids in Curled and Warped Concrete Slabs (2017). Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C. Deng, W., Nasrollahi, A., Rizzo, P., and Li, K. (2016) “On the Reliability of a Solitary Wave Based Transducer to Determine the Characteristics of some Materials,� Sensors, 16, 19 pages.

Hernandez, F. and X. Liang, Multi-criteria variational data assimilation for high-resolution probabilistic hydrologic forecasting, Observations and Modeling across Scales: Symposium in Honor of Eric Wood, June 2-3, 2016, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

Hernandez, F., and X. Liang, Efficient probabilistic forecasting for high-resolution models through clustered-state data assimilation, American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 12-16, 2016.

Hasanzoi, M., Harries, K.A., and Lin, J-S. (2016) Capacity and Practical Implications of Driven Bearing H-Pile Design Using 50 ksi Steel, ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering Vol. 21, No. 7, 11 pp Kasan, J. and Harries, K.A. (2016) Limits of Efficacy of Repair Methods for Prestressed Concrete Girders, Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Structural Faults and Repair Edinburgh, May 2016.

Kasan, J. and Harries, K.A. (2016) Limits of Efficacy of Repair Methods for Prestressed Concrete Girders, Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Structural Faults and Repair Edinburgh, May 2016, 2016 Innovation Award at Structural Faults and Repair Luna, D., F. Hernandez, R. Wang, Y. Liang, W. Teng, and X. Liang, A lightweight modeling system for region-wide monitoring of hydrologic threats, American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 12-16, 2016.

Magalotti M. and Hu Y. (2016) The Impact of Pedestrian Activities in Adaptive Traffic Signal Control Systems Operation, published September 2016 in the ITE Journal Magalotti M. and Yang X. (2016) A Service Life Analysis of Roundabouts Retrofits for Signalized Intersections, International Conference on Sustainable Design ICSDEC 2016 – Integrating Data Science, Construction and Sustainability Nasrollahi, A., Deng, W., Rizzo, P., Vuotto, A., and Vandenbossche, J.M. (2017) “Nondestructive testing of concrete using highly nonlinear solitary waves,” Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation Rizzo, P., Nasrollahi, A., Deng, W., and Vandenbossche, J.M. (2016) “Detecting the presence of high water-tocement ratio in concrete surfaces using highly nonlinear solitary waves ,” Applied Sciences. Featured article in the special issue: Acoustic and Elastic Waves: Recent Trends in Science and Engineering, 6, 104, 16 pages

Students Supported Michael Rothfuss Zhenwei Zhang Filipe Hernรกndez Yuan Hu (completed Ph.D. degree) Halima Bariyeh (completed MSCE degree) Shuangshuo Wang (completed MSCE degree) Daniel Luna Liuyan Hu Teng Tong Hirut Kollech Kevin Alland Steve Sachs (completed Ph.D. degree) Nathan Bech Amir Nasrollahi Malie Yoon Chenxi Tan