1. A Protocol for Damage Detection and Maintenance of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Structures PI: Dr. S. Midturi, UALR, Tel. 501 683 7015 Importance of this Research : (1)Bridges are ageing and are in danger of developing damages due to heavy use (Case in point: transport of shale gas products by trucks in NW and Central AR), (2) Detection of incipient defects will avoid catastrophic failures and saves lives and property, (3) Receipt of information on the health of bridges in AR will let bridge officials initiate corrective action, So, an integrated, science based robust maintenance protocol is needed for AR bridges. This project does it.

2. What is this Research About? The goal of this research is to develop an integrated science based tool (protocol) to detect damages in bridges and let all the concerned official to take corrective action. The four objectives of this research are: (1)Apply the state of the art signal analysis tools (Hilbert and Wavelet Transforms) to detect the incipient cracks in bridge structures, (2)Build and test laboratory bridges and verify the prediction accuracy of analysis, (3)Develop a software that integrates bridge analysis and test results and let officials to decide corrective actions, and (4)Train Arkansas students in bridge dynamics, signal analysis, and bridge maintenance management.

3. Research Tasks and Execution Plan Task 1. Hilbert and Wavelet Transforms development and application, ( 3 –6 months) Task 2. Design and Fabrication of bridge structures, (3 months) Task 3. Selection and installation of strain and vibration sensors, (3 months) Task 4. Data acquisition and analysis, interpretation of test data, (3 months) Task 5. Test bridges with varying loads and track the crack initiation and their growth, (6 months) Task 6. Develop software to integrate analysis and test data and transmit results to bridge officials on the internet, (4 months) Task 7. Document bridge damage detection research and introduce in courseware, (3 months) Note: Some tasks will be done concurrently to save project time.

4. Research Personnel and Budget Total Cost of the Project:$140,000, Duration: 18 months 1 Senior faculty (Dr. S. Midturi ) time: 2 months ( $25 K) 1 Graduate research assistant : 18 months ($27 K) 1 Undergraduate student : 10 hrs/wk (10 K) Sensors, bridge materials, multi-channel data acquisition system ($ 20 K) Travel to conferences and publication expenses ($ 2-3 K) Fringes (25%) and overhead charges (32%) ( $ 55K) Note: This research and the budget can be prorated for 1 year with the approval of AR Highways officials.