The ability to continuously monitor the health of our nation’s infrastructure and detect early signs of deterioration improves safety on our roadways, bridges, and other critical infrastructure and thereby enables its more economical management. ICMP is a collaborative effort between CAIT, state and federal agencies, and industry partners with the objective of advancing and deploying the state-of-the-art in monitoring the condition of transportation and utilities infrastructure.
Program Activities (Research, Education, and Technology Transfer)
ICMP’s activities largely concentrate on the development and implementation of methods for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of infrastructure systems. Special attention is given to methods that help extend the lives of vital structures by detecting and evaluating flaws at early stages, so that actions can be taken before they progress or lead to catastrophic failures. Research focus is on ultrasonic, seismic, and electromagnetic methods to inspect materials and structural components. Some of the exploratory research concentrates on: falling weight deflectometer data for pavement and runway evaluation; use of wavelets and advanced impact echo data interpretation for bridge deck evaluation; advanced ride quality measurements; ride statistics measures and data interpretation; and use of advanced ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology for evaluation of roadways, runways, and bridges. Some of the research is already in the stage of advanced development and implementation and has been well recognized by the research community.
Resources
■ Human Resources 2 Faculty Members and 5 Graduate/Undergraduate Student Research Assistants.
■ Infrastructure A 1200 sq ft dedicated lab and office space. More than $1M in NDE laboratory and field equipment and devices: Seismic Pavement Analyzer, air-coupled 3D ground penetrating radar (GPR), Portable Seismic Property Analyzer (PSPA) for concrete and asphalt, PSPA for aggregates and soil, GPR system with a ground-coupled antenna for project level surveys, Resonant Column devices for fast evaluation of cores, seismic surveying equipment (cross-hole, SASW, refraction), vibration and noise-monitoring equipment, and many others.
Regional and National Contributions
ICMP is addressing pressing issues of preservation and economical management of transportation infrastructure in New Jersey and the nation. Some of the immediate problems will be addressed through aggressive evaluation and implementation of the existing technologies. Long-term solutions will be developed through exploratory and developmental research at ICMP and in collaboration with many ICMP partners at research institutions and in industry. Education and technology transfer will be expanded and organized in a more systematic and formalized way, using the resources of CAIT, Rutgers University, state and federal agencies, and industry partners. ICMP has been a resource to NJDOT and FHWA for evaluation and implementation of the latest technologies for NDE of transportation infrastructure. It has evaluated many NDE devices—for example, work is currently under way to evaluate advancements in ground -penetrating radar (GPR) technology developed in Norway , a 3-D GPR with 42 step frequency antennas. The evaluated devices have been adopted and used on a regular basis by NJDOT, as best illustrated by more than 1800 miles of roadways evaluated using GPR for the needs of NJDOT’s pavement management system (PMS). The implementation effort of ICMP has been complemented by a strong technology transfer effort through organization of seminars and workshops on the use of NDE for transportation infrastructure, data interpretation, and management.
Prof. Nenad Gucunski
ICMP Program Director
