Issue link: http://uwashington.uberflip.com/i/903202
20 Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium perform research – both theoretical and applied – in an area that is relevant to the needs of the profession, particularly as applied to the interface be-tween the natural environment and our built transportation infrastructure. The device will be assembled in the OSU geotechnical engineering laboratory and outfitted with compressed air, vacuum, pressurized de-aired water, and automated data acquisition. Once assembled and functional, we will perform PS, CTC, and DS tests on standard sands at the same initial relative density and compare the response across stress paths. • Project: Investigation of the Relationship between Formation Factor and Water Content of Fresh Concrete • PI: O. Burkan Isgor (OSU), burkan.isgor@oregonstate.edu Each year approximately 10 billion tons of concrete is produced, making concrete the largest manufactured product globally. The majority of this production is in the form of ready mix concrete. There are about 5,500 ready mixed concrete plants and about 55,000 ready mixed concrete mixer trucks that deliver concrete to points of placement. The quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) of this large operation have major economic, social and environmental implications. Current protocols for assessing the quality of fresh concrete during construction do not provide information on critical parameters that are related to long-term durability of structures. The overall objective of this research is to finalize the development of a laboratory test procedure for evaluating different dust control formulations and concentration levels needed to effectively control the airborne suspension of fine particles of a soil‐aggregate sample in the size range of 10 μm or less (i.e. dust, or fines). We will work with the AKDOT&PF to take the results from this research (by developing and validated a formal testing protocol) for adoption by AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials (SOM) to be initially published as a AASHTO Provisional Test Method (for a minimum 2-year period) before it can be balloted for conversion to a Full Standard Test Method. • Project: Improving Safety on Highway Work-zones by Real-time Tracking of Operation and Equipment Status • PI: John Gambatese (OSU), John.Gambatese@oregonstate.edu • Co-Investigators: Joseph Louis (OSU) The need for monitoring progress coupled with the linear spread of highway work zones exacerbates already dangerous work zones by necessitating travel around them by supervisors. While monitoring operations is a necessary aspect of highway operations, it is extraneous to the actual performance of the construction/ maintenance work. This research project investigates the possibility of providing site supervisors and decision-makers with a means of monitoring the operation remotely through the provision of a real-time overview of operational status. This goal will be accomplished by providing a methodology that converts raw data from an equipment's controller area network bus (CANBUS)3 into its work status, which can then be communicated to the site supervisor. This processing is planned to be accomplished by using a microcontroller with wireless communication capabilities that is equipped with the means of reading data directly from an equipment's CANBUS. The scope of this research project will be to investigate whether an equipment's CANBUS data can indeed be used as a predictor of its operational status. It is anticipated that this research will improve the overall safety of highway work zones by providing operation monitoring remotely, thereby extraneous travel and by enabling a connected site that can check for dangerous conditions automatically.