Pipe Protocols: UTA Inquiry Magazine

Fall 2017

Inquiry Magazine Archive

Winter 2016: Energy Evolution

From carbon dioxide conversion to landfill mining, researchers at UTA are seeking viable alternative energy options.
Spring 2016: Premium Blend

Found in everything from space shuttles to dental fillings, composite materials have thoroughly infiltrated modern society. But their potential is still greatly untapped, offering researchers ample opportunity for discovery.
Fall 2015: Collision Course

Within the particle showers created at the Large Hadron Collider, answers to some of the universe’s mysteries are waiting.
Spring 2015: Almost Human

Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.
Fall 2014: Small Wonder

UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.
Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.
2012: Mystery solved?

Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.
2011: Boosting brain power

UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.
2010: Powered by genetics

UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.
2009: Winning the battle against pain

Wounded soldiers are benefiting from Robert Gatchel’s program that combines physical rehabilitation with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
2007: Sensing a solution

Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.
2006:Semiconductors: The next generation
Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.
2005: Imaging is everything
Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

Pipe Protocols

Researcher receives over $1 million to test sturdier pipes under Texas highways

UTA researchers recently received some help in their effort to strengthen Texas highways—over $1 million in grants.

Civil engineering Chair Ali Abolmaali and Research Associate Yeonho Park have spent five years extensively researching longer-lasting, sturdier concrete pipes reinforced with polypropylene synthetic macrofibers and developed in UTA labs. Now, thanks to an $800,000 contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the team will install the pipes in Texas highway projects. A separate, $283,000 contract from the American Concrete Pipe Association will allow them to go national: The team will develop the 100-year service life protocol testing criteria for built pipes in Florida.

“The UTA-developed fiber pipes first attracted TxDOT engineers for implementation in Texas for a more durable and resilient infrastructure,” says Dr. Abolmaali, who is also the Dr. Tseng Huang Endowed Professor in the College of Engineering.

UTA and TxDOT will implement the pipes under highways and roadways that are subjected to heavy vehicle traffic. Abolmaali’s team will design, produce, and evaluate the pipes, along with conventional concrete pipes, during their installations. A UTA-owned robot will transmit condition assessment data as it travels through the pipes upon construction.

“The UTA fiber pipes will not experience corrosion of reinforcement during their lifetime,” Abolmaali says. “That has and will continue to attract many departments of transportation around the country and the world.”

Fall 2017

Fiber-Filled

Pipe Protocols

Researcher receives over $1 million to test sturdier pipes under Texas highways

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Lauded

Fellows

Lit

A Look Ahead

Inquiry Magazine Archive

Fiber-Filled

Pipe Protocols

Researcher receives over $1 million to test sturdier pipes under Texas highways

ExploreMore articles from this issue

Explore
More articles from this issue