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Fall 2017
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Inquiry Magazine Archive

  • Winter 2016

    Winter 2016: Energy Evolution

    From carbon dioxide conversion to landfill mining, researchers at UTA are seeking viable alternative energy options.

  • Spring 2016

    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

    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

    Spring 2015: Almost Human

    Model systems like pigeons can help illuminate our own evolutionary and genomic history.

  • Fall 2014

    Fall 2014: Small Wonder

    UT Arlington's tiny windmills are bringing renewable energy to a whole new scale.

  • Winter 2014

    Winter 2014: Overdue for an Overhaul

    The stability of our highways, pipelines, and even manholes is reaching a breaking point.

  • 2012

    2012: Mystery solved?

    Scientists believe they have discovered a subatomic particle that is crucial to understanding the universe.

  • 2011

    2011: Boosting brain power

    UT Arlington researchers unlock clues to the human body’s most mysterious and complex organ.

  • 2010

    2010: Powered by genetics

    UT Arlington researchers probe the hidden world of microbes in search of renewable energy sources.

  • 2009

    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.

  • 2009

    2007: Sensing a solution

    Tiny sensors implanted in the body show promise in combating acid reflux disease, pain and other health problems.

  • 2006

    2006:Semiconductors: The next generation

    Nanotechnology researchers pursue hybrid silicon chips with life-saving potential.

  • 2005

    2005: Imaging is everything

    Biomedical engineers combat diseases with procedures that are painless to patients.

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Fiber-Filled

Pipe Protocols

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

Pipe Protocols

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.”

 

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