Engineering Commons^™

Durable Nanocomposite Face Masks With High Particulate Filtration And Rapid Inactivation Of Coronaviruses, Andrew Gonzalez, Hamada A. Aboubakr, John Brockgreitens, Weixing Hao, Yang Wang, Sagar M. Goyal, Abdennour Abbas

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique challenge to the healthcare community due to the high infectivity rate and need for effective personal protective equipment. Zinc oxide nanoparticles have shown promising antimicrobial properties and are recognized as a safe additive in many food and cosmetic products. This work presents a novel nanocomposite synthesis approach, which allows zinc oxide nanoparticles to be grown within textile and face mask materials, including melt-blown polypropylene and nylon-cotton. The resulting nanocomposite achieves greater than 3 log₁₀ reduction (≥ 99.9%) in coronavirus titer within a contact time of 10 min, by disintegrating the viral envelope. The …

Hyperspectral Imaging And Data Analytics For Civil Infrastructure Inspection, Genda Chen

INSPIRE Archived Webinars

In this 50-minute lecture, the fundamental concept of hyperspectral imaging is reviewed. Each hyperspectral image represents a narrow, contiguous wavelength range of an electromagnetic spectrum, which could be indicative of a chemical substance. All the images in the spectral range of a hyperspectral camera are combined to form a three-dimensional hyperspectral data cube with two spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension. A hyperspectral cube can be sampled in four ways: spatial scanning, spectral scanning, snapshot imaging, and spatio-spectral scanning. This presentation will be focused on spatial scanning from a line-scan camera. The feasibility of horizontal imaging from a synchronized hyperspectral …

The Bridge Newsletter Winter 2021, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-S&T contributes to infrastructure through national center
-Brinkmann leads Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission
-Wu wins NSF CAREER Award for 2D metals work
-Academy of Civil Engineers induction and 150^th celebration

Multi-Scale Hydrologic Evaluation Of The National Water Model Streamflow Data Assimilation, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, Felipe Quintero

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Streamflow predictions derived from a hydrologic model are subjected to many sources of errors, including uncertainties in meteorological inputs, representation of physical processes, and model parameters. To reduce the effects of these uncertainties and thus improve the accuracy of model prediction, the United States (U.S.) National Water Model (NWM) incorporates streamflow observations in the modeling framework and updates model-simulated values using the observed ones. This updating procedure is called streamflow data assimilation (DA). This study evaluates the prediction performance of streamflow DA realized in the NWM. We implemented the model using WRF-Hydro® with the NWM modeling elements and assimilated 15-min …

Naturally Occurring Van Der Waals Heterostructure Lengenbachite With Strong In-Plane Structural And Optical Anisotropy, Arindam Dasgupta, Xiaodong Yang, Jie Gao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lengenbachite is a naturally occurring layered mineral formed with alternating stacks of two constituent PbS-like and M₂S₃-like two-dimensional (2D) material layers due to the phase segregation process during the formation. Here, we demonstrate to achieve van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures of lengenbachite down to a few layer-pair thickness by mechanical exfoliation of bulk lengenbachite mineral. The incommensurability between the constituent isotropic 2D material layers makes the formed vdW heterostructure exhibit strong in-plane structural anisotropy, which leads to highly anisotropic optical responses in lengenbachite thin flakes, including anisotropic Raman scattering, linear dichroism, and anisotropic third-harmonic generation. Moreover, …

Faster Post-Earthquake Damage Assessment Based On 1d Convolutional Neural Networks, Xinzhe Yuan, Dustin Tanksley, Liujun Li, Haibin Zhang, Genda Chen, Donald C. Wunsch

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Contemporary deep learning approaches for post-earthquake damage assessments based on 2D convolutional neural networks (CNNs) require encoding of ground motion records to transform their inherent 1D time series to 2D images, thus requiring high computing time and resources. This study develops a 1D CNN model to avoid the costly 2D image encoding. The 1D CNN model is compared with a 2D CNN model with wavelet transform encoding and a feedforward neural network (FNN) model to evaluate prediction performance and computational efficiency. A case study of a benchmark reinforced concrete (r/c) building indicated that the 1D CNN model achieved a prediction …

Machine Learning For High-Fidelity Prediction Of Cement Hydration Kinetics In Blended Systems, Rachel Cook, Taihao Han, Alaina Childers, Cambria Ryckman, Kamal Khayat, Hongyan Ma, Jie Huang, Aditya Kumar

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The production of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), the most broadly utilized man-made material, has been scrutinized due to its contributions to global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Thus -- to mitigate CO₂ emissions -- mineral additives have been promulgated as partial replacements for OPC. However, additives -- depending on their physiochemical characteristics -- can exert varying effects on OPC's hydration kinetics. Therefore -- in regards to more complex systems -- it is infeasible for semi-empirical kinetic models to reveal the underlying nonlinear composition-property (i.e., reactivity) relationships. In the past decade or so, machine learning (ML) has arisen as a promising, …

Semi-Annual Progress Report #9, Missouri University Of Science And Technology. Inspire - University Transportation Center

Semi-Annual Progress Reports

No abstract provided.

Three-Dimensional Printing Of Reinforced Concrete And Nozzle Therefor, Chenglin Wu, Genda Chen, Dimitri Feys, Guirong Grace Yan, Bryce Tyler Tafolla

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A three-dimensional printing system for reinforced concrete and a nozzle therefor. The system employs an extruder for extruding unreinforced concrete and a concrete reinforcement feeder is for feeding one or more elongate reinforcement members. The nozzle has an outlet and is operatively connected to the extruder and the concrete reinforcement feeder to receive the unreinforced concrete from the extruder and to receive the one or more elongate reinforcement members from the concrete reinforcement feeder. The nozzle combines the unreinforced concrete from the extruder and the one or more elongate reinforcement members from the concrete reinforcement feeder into a reinforced concrete …

Energy Dissipation Using Negative Stiffness Shells, Mohamed Elgawady, Yasser Darwish

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A negative stiffness shell has a convex first position, but can transition or snap to a concave second position under a force applied to the exterior surface of the shell in the convex first position. During the transition, the shell exhibits negative stiffness that permits a large amount of energy to be absorbed. The negative stiffness shell can withstand a high initial force threshold prior to transitioning. In the second, concave position the shell can still resist force. Moreover, it is possible for the shell to revert back to the first, convex position with minimal plastic deformation for subsequent use. …

Image-Based Bridge Defect Detection And Monitoring Technologies, Jian Zhang

INSPIRE Archived Webinars

Computer-vision is an emerging technology which has been widely used in the field of structural health monitoring. This seminar will cover the latest achievements of our research group in defect detection, health monitoring, and construction control using image-based technologies. For defect detection, advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been developed to automatically detect surface cracks and other types of structural damages based on digital image processing techniques. An integrated navigation system combining binocular camera and inertial sensor enables automated route planning for the developed UAVs in case of GPS failure. Specifically, a wall-climbing UAV is designed to acquire detailed surface …

Common Ground Newsletter Fall 2021, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

Common Ground

-Lighting the way with solar panel inspections
-CArEE Miner athletes score recognition
-Celebrating 150 years of civil engineering at S&T

Assessment Of Streamflow Predictions Generated Using Multimodel And Multiprecipitation Product Forcing, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, Felipe Quintero, Steve Buan, Brian Connelly

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study assesses streamflow predictions generated by two distributed hydrologic models, the Hillslope Link Model (HLM) and the National Water Model (NWM), driven by three radar-based precipitation forcing datasets. These forcing data include the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS), and the Iowa Flood Center's single-polarization-based (IFC-SP) and dual-polarization-based (IFC-DP) products. To examine forcing-and model-dependent aspects of the representation of hydrologic processes, we mixed and matched all forcing data and models, and simulated streamflow for 2016–18 based on six forcing–model combinations. The forcing product evaluation using independent ground reference data showed that the IFC-DP radar-only product's accuracy is comparable to MRMS, which is …

Fiber Optic-Based Thermal Integrity Profiling Of Drilled Shaft: Inverse Modeling For Spiral Fiber Deployment Strategy, Wen Deng, Ruoyu Zhong, Haiying Ma

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The current state of practice to interpret the thermal integrity profiling (TIP) data of drilled shaft is the so-called effective radius method. It uses the concrete pouring log and average temperature to construct a relationship between temperature distribution and effective radius that can be used to reconstruct a drilled shaft model. While this effective radius method is computationally inexpensive and has good operationality, it is not good at predicting the dimensions and shape of shaft defects. Upgrading the sensor used in conventional TIP from thermocouples/thermal wires to fiber optic sensors, the spatial resolution of the measured temperature will be enhanced. …

Evaluation Of Guayule Resin As An Innovative Bio-Based Asphalt Alternative In Mix Performance -- Preprint, Ahmed Hemida, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Literature revealed the potential of using guayule resin for asphalt cement replacement from the binder’s perspective. However, monitoring guayule resin through binder-aggregate mixture could disclose its performance through field. In this study, designated binders were employed to investigate the applicability of such an innovative replacer through mixture, which were neat asphalt and guayule-based binders (neat guayule, asphalt-rubber-guayule, guayule-rubber binders). Consecutively, field-simulated lab mixtures were prepared to investigate the major distresses. Moisture damage, rutting, fatigue cracking, and thermal cracking resistances were investigated using the modified Lottman (TSR) test, rut test by asphalt pavement analyzer (APA), semi-circular bending (SCB) test, and disk-shaped …

Rapid Measurement Of Rh-Dependent Aerosol Hygroscopic Growth Using A Humidity-Controlled Fast Integrated Mobility Spectrometer (Hfims), Jiaoshi Zhang, Steven Spielman, Yang Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Xianda Gong, Susanne Hering, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The ability of aerosol particles to uptake water (hygroscopic growth) is an important determinant of aerosol optical properties and radiative effects. Aerosol hygroscopic growth is traditionally measured by humidified tandem differential mobility analyzers (HTDMA), in which size-selected dry particles are exposed to elevated relative humidity (RH), and the size distribution of humidified particles is subsequently measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer. As a scanning mobility particle sizer can measure only one particle size at a time, HTDMA measurements are time consuming, and ambient measurements are often limited to a single RH level. Pinterich et al. (2017b) showed that fast …

Poster Awards Ceremony, Hongyan Ma

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

• 1st Place: Dongbin Kim, Missouri S&T, A Human-Embodied Drone for Dexterous Aerial Manipulation
• 2nd Place: Yu Otsuki, Georgia Tech, Autonomous ultrasonic thickness measurement using Martlet wireless sensing system integrated with a steel climbing mobile robot
• 3rd Place: Pu Jiao, Missouri S&T, INSPIRE UTC Bridge Inspection Field Campaign Update, 2021

Closing Remarks And Winners Announced, Hongyan Ma

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Closing Remarks and Winners Announced by INSPIRE UTC Graduate Student Poster Session Chair Dr. Hongyan Ma, Assistant Professor, Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering, Missouri S&T

Improving 3d Metric Gpr Imaging Using Robotic Data Collection And Dnn Based Processing, Jinglun Feng

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

GPR is one of the most important NDE devices to detect subsurface objects and reconstruct the underground scene. There are two challenges for GPR- based inspection, which are GPR data collection and subsurface object imaging. To address these challenges, we propose a robotic solution that automates the GPR data collection process with a free motion pattern. It facilitates the 3D metric GPR imaging by tagging the pose information with GPR measurement in real-time. We also introduce a DNN based GPR data analysis method which includes a noise removal segmentation module to clear the noise in GPR raw data and a …

Encoding Time-Series Ground Motions As Images For Convolutional Neural Networks-Based Seismic Damage Evaluation, Xinzhe Yuan

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Earthquake records can be encoded as images to classify their resulting damage states to structures based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Different encoding techniques such as Recurrence Plot (RP) and Wavelet Transform (WT) can be used to transfer earthquake records to images. Presently, no consensus has been reached on the understanding of the most suitable encoding technique for CNN-based seismic damage classification. In this study, we develop a new encoding technique based on Time-series Segmentation (TS) and compare it to state-of-the-art RP and WT techniques. These techniques are mainly compared based on their classification accuracy and computation efficiency.

Reveal Underground Defects Through Impact Sounding (Is) And Impact Echo (Ie), Ejup Hoxha

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Impact Echo (IE) and Impact Sounding (IS) are well-developed non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods that are widely used for inspection of concrete structures to ensure safety and sustainability. However, it is a tedious work to collect IE and IS data along grid lines covering large target area for characterization of subsurface defects. On the other hand, data processing is very complicated and requires domain experts to interpret the results. To address the above problems, we present a robotic inspection system, to automate the data collection process and introduce data analytics software to visualize the inspection results allowing non-professionals to easily understand …

Autonomous Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement Using Martlet Wireless Sensing System Integrated With A Steel Climbing Mobile Robot, Yu Otsuki

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

The objective of this research is to develop an autonomous ultrasonic thickness measurement system for steel bridge members through the integration of wireless sensing and robotics. The ultrasonic thickness measurement is achieved using a transducer that requires access to only one side of a steel bridge member. Building upon the Martlet wireless sensing platform, this project first develops pulser and ultrasonic daughter boards to generate a pulse excitation and to filter and amplify the received ultrasonic signal. The developed Martlet wireless ultrasonic device is next integrated with a steel climbing mobile robot developed by University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The …

Drone Vision-Based Clamping Strategy For Bridge Inspection, Bo Shang

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Most bridges in the United States are near their designed lifetime. So, policy needs bridges to be inspected every two years. Currently, most of those inspections are done by human which needs to block the traffic and can cause injury. MST INSPIRE-UTC’s project Bridge Inspection Robot Deployment Systems (BIRDS) tries to develop a flying and climbing platform that has the following benefit:

• Capturing high quality data for inspection without vibration;
• Free of blocking traffic;
• Operator and inspector are safe.

Gas Leakage Detection With Hyperspectral Imagery-Based Vegetation Stress Indices, Pengfei Ma

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

The objective of this research is to provide a basis for gas leakage detection with hyperspectral cameras. The gas leakage attacks vegetations, which yields some spectral signature changes. As the vegetation under different stressors may induce similar effect. The spectral signature changes can be similar. A lab test was arranged to test three kinds of plants under four common natural stressors with a reference. All plants are routinely scanned with hyperspectral cameras every three days to obtain every developmental stage. Linear discriminant analysis (LDR) was applied in the data analysis to discriminate the plant with gas leakage treatment from the …

A Human-Embodied Drone For Dexterous Aerial Manipulation, Dongbin Kim

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Current drones passively surveil. Drones equipped with robotic arms shift this paradigm: the drone is actively interacting with the environment rather than simply sensing it. This would be needed to robotically enhance bridge-related work, called dexterous aerial manipulation: drones could hose decks; drilling on surfaces; and epoxy cracks. Such research is important to advancing bridge maintenance and repair.

Recently, the worker’s experience was integrated in aerial manipulation using haptic technology. The net effect is such system could enable the worker to leverage drones to collaborative perform haptic assessments of the objects and complete tasks on the bridge remotely. However, the …

Probability Of Detection In Corrosion Monitoring With Fe-C Coated Lpfg Sensors, Ying Zhuo

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

This project aims to develop two statistical methods for determining the probability of detection in corrosion monitoring using long period fiber gratings (LPFG) sensors with thin Fe-C coating, validate these methods from independent laboratory tests, and determine the steel mass loss at 90% probability of detection and the largest steel mass loss that may miss from a corrosion inspection at 95% upper confidence bounds. LPFG sensors could reflect the corrosion process by the wavelength shift in the transmission spectrum due to the change of the refractive index of the Fe-C coating. POD is a method used to determine the capability …

Smart Sounding System For Autonomous Evaluation Of Concrete Structures, Deepak Kumar

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Impact sounding has been used successfully to detect defects in concrete structures. Recent research has shown that the sounding, such as chirp signal, can be generated by electronic speakers, and can be designed with controlled frequency characteristics to excite defects in concrete decks. The bottom of a deck cannot be conventionally sounded, and precise location of the damaged area is a challenge. The focus of this research is on development of a “Smart Sounding System” that can be used to inspect the underdeck and pier surfaces effectively and autonomously.

Inspire Utc Bridge Inspection Field Campaign Update, 2021, Pu Jiao

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Bridge inspection activities using robotic sensing system are surging in the recent years due to the increasing demand of infrastructure maintenance and development of commercial drones and open-source robotic platforms. On the other hand, the data acquired through bridge inspection is also booming, which stimulated the application of machine learning in infrastructure.

At INSPIRE UTC of Missouri University of Science and Technology, bridge inspection equipment’s are being developed and tested for comprehensive data collection using multiple sensing technologies. This paper presents and evaluates the drone-carried sensors’ abilities and applications after 3 bridge inspections in Missouri in 2021 and sketches the …

Multi-Directional Bicycle Robot For Steel Bridge Inspection, Son Thanh Nguyen

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

In contrast to the current climbing robots, this research presents a new design and implementation of a roller chain-based climbing robot to provide a practical solution for steel structure inspection (bridges, poles, pipes, etc.)

The proposed roller chain-like robot has 12 joints for moving and 3 pairs of joints for turning, which makes the robot very flexible. This setup allows the robot to traverse areas of complex geometry on steel bridges. The robot utilizes permanent magnets to be able to well adhere on steel structures while moving.

Inspire Utc Bridge Inspection Field Campaign Update, 2021, Pu Jiao

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Bridge inspection activities using robotic sensing system are surging in the recent years due to the increasing demand of infrastructure maintenance and development of commercial drones and open-source robotic platforms. On the other hand, the data acquired through bridge inspection is also booming, which stimulated the application of machine learning in infrastructure.

At INSPIRE UTC of Missouri University of Science and Technology, bridge inspection equipment’s are being developed and tested for comprehensive data collection using multiple sensing technologies. This paper presents and evaluates the drone-carried sensors’ abilities and applications after 3 bridge inspections in Missouri in 2021 and sketches the …