STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Each month, or every other month, a student will provide a 1-page illustrated abstract of the research they are currently conducting. This is a wonderful opportunity for the student, for our International Society for Concrete Pavements (ISCP) Members, and for the transferring and sharing technology/research through our concrete paving industry.
The ISCP “STUDENT RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT” for August 2022 is Haoran Li, a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering at University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, USA).
BIO:
Mr. Haoran Li is currently a Ph.D. candidate under the advisement of Dr. Lev Khazanovich at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh. Haoran is working as a graduate student researcher focusing on pavement engineering research. He received his M.A.Sc. in civil engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada in 2017, and his B.E. from Southwest Jiaotong University, China in 2015.
Haoran has worked on a PennDOT sponsored project, Faulting Model Improvements for Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, and several IRISE sponsored projects, including Development of Simplified ME Design Tool for Pennsylvania Rigid Pavements, Evaluation of Long-Term Impacts of Early Opening of Concrete Pavements, etc. Haoran’s dissertation is focused on the machine learning application for concrete pavement design and analysis. He is the 2nd place winner of the 2019-2020 FHWA Student Contest on LTPP Data Analysis (graduate category). He is also the recipient of the 2022 Mark and Roni Magalotti Scholarship and 2022 EGSO/CEE Travel Grant.
TITLE:
Machine Learning Application for Mechanistic-Empirical Concrete Pavement Design and Analysis
The Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) principles are important for finding optimized design solutions meeting long-term performance requirements and minimizing cost at the construction stage as well as lifetime maintenance and rehabilitation. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (AASHTO M-E), developed under the NCHRP 1-37A project, is the most up-to-date M-E procedure for the design of jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCPs). It utilizes mechanistic models to compute critical pavement structural responses and uses empirical models to predict long-term JPCP performance. AASHTO M-E provides an accurate assessment of JPCP performance for a wide range of pavement structure characteristics and site conditions (traffic, subgrade, environmental effects, etc.). In spite of the advantages of the AAHTO-ME, state- and local-level adoption of this procedure is progressing slowly. The manual procedure employs complex mechanistic computations and design algorithms, which require the user to provide a large number of design parameters. The AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (Pavement ME) software, which implements AASHTO M-E, is time-consuming and expensive to use. In addition, its complexity and poor documentation may lead to erroneous designs because of the lack of understanding and improper use of this software by the users.
Haoran’s doctoral research aims to bridge these gaps using machine learning (ML) techniques. Several types of ML techniques and models, such are regression model, artificial neural network (ANN), Multi-Gene Genetic Programming (MGGP), etc., are used to simulate Pavement ME damage accumulation analysis for the prediction of long-term performance, including transverse cracking and joint faulting. These ML models are deployed to simplify and improve the capabilities of the M-E design and expedite the design process by orders of magnitude. The novel framework and computational models developed in this study are being embedded into a standalone online tool, PittRigid ME, with easy extensibility and free access by designers. As shown in the figure below, the up-to-date PittRigid ME (Version 1.1) was developed for design and performance prediction of Pennsylvania JPCPs (Li and Khazanovich 2021).
A new version of PittRigid ME is under development with new features and abilities added to accelerate M-E implementation nationwide and provide supplement assistance for JPCP design and analysis throughout different climate regions.
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ISCP would like to feature a “STUDENT RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT” each month, or every other month. If you would like to nominate a student, or if you are a student and would like to nominate yourself or a colleague, please send ISCP an email to: newsletter@concretepavements.org
ALL SPOTLIGHTS:
DECEMBER 2021—Inaugural: Katelyn Kosar, Phd Student-Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt): www.concretepavements.org/2021/12/14/new-at-iscp-student-research-spotlight/
JANUARY 2022: Aniruddha Baral, Ph.D. Candidate-Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign: www.concretepavements.org/2022/01/15/student-research-spotlight-jan-2022/
FEBRUARY 2022: Jordan Ouellet, Tech, BEng, MASc, PhD Candidate, Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: www.concretepavements.org/2022/02/26/student-research-spotlight-february-2022/
MARCH 2022: Sampath Kumar Pasupunuri, Ph.D. candidate, Pavement Engineering-School of Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK: https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/03/31/student-research-spotlight-march-2022/
APRIL 2022: Anupam B R, Pursuing his doctorate-Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India: https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/04/15/student-research-spotlight-april-2022
MAY 2022: Andréia Posser Cargnin, Ph.D. Candidate, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil): https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/05/09/student-research-spotlight-may-2022/
JUNE 2022: Charles Donnelly, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, USA): https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/06/24/student-research-spotlight-june-2022/
JULY 2022: Amir Malakooti, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, USA): https://www.concretepavements.org/2022/07/30/student-research-spotlight-july-2022/