Projects
Evaluation of advanced pothole patching materials and methods for bituminous pavements
- Coordinating Faculty: Dr Uma Maheswar Arepalli
- Funding agency: State University Research Excellence (SERB-SURE), Govt. of India
- Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
- Total Project Outlay: 26 lakhs
- Project Duration: 3 years (June 2023 - May 2026)
- Status: Approved
- Project Summary: The proposed study evaluates sustainable and innovative pothole patching techniques to advance existing decades-old patching practices for bituminous pavements. The study primarily focuses on enhancing bond strength, bearing capacity, and self-healing potential of pothole patches. Overall, the study consists of a literature review, laboratory investigation, field validation, and recommendation in the form of a decision tree.
Framework for updating the Layer Coefficients in AASHTO1993 Flexible Pavement Design
- Coordinating Faculty: Dr Uma Maheswar Arepalli
- Funding agency: Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), USA
- Role: Co-PI
- Collaborations: University of Maine, Orono, USA & SRM University-AP, India
- Total Project Outlay: $34,000 [28 lakhs]; SRM-AP Part - $13,392 [11 lakhs]
- Project Duration: March 2023 - Dec 2023
- Status: Awarded, In Progress
- Briefing: The objectives and scope of the study are as follows:
- Verifying the feasibility of utilizing PaveXpress software for AASHTO 1993 flexible pavement design (full construction) for Maine conditions
- Finalizing a framework to update layer coefficients in AASHTO1993 Flexible Pavement Design for MaineDOT after a comprehensive review of existing procedures and literature from other states
Production of Low-cost and High-performance Fly Ash-based Lightweight Blocks
- Coordinating Faculty: Dr GVP Bhagath Singh
- Funding agency: SERB-SRG, Government of India
- Role: Principal Investigator
- Status: Ongoing
- Budget: Rs. 20 Lakhs
Sustainable Ash based Geosynthetic Clay Liners for MSW Landfills
- Coordinating Faculty: Dr Raviteja KVNS
- Funding agency: SERB (SIRE), DST, Govt. of India
- Role: Research Fellow
- Status: Awarded (SIR/2022/000374), Under Progress.
- Briefing: In general, natural materials like clays/bentonites in combination with geomembranes (GMB) are used in liners. However, to increase the strength properties and reduce the compressibility characteristics, bentonites are often mixed with sand. With the increased cost and scarcity of sand, there is a renewed interest among the researchers to identify an alternative material to replace sand proportion in compacted GCLs in MSW landfills. Among several materials, fly ash has proved to be a potential substitute for sand in landfill liners.
Comprehensive review of flexible pavement design approaches suitable to Maine conditions
- Coordinating Faculty: Dr Uma Maheswar Arepalli
- Funding agency: Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT), USA
- Role: Co-PI
- Collaborations: University of Maine, Orono, USA & SRM University AP
- Total Project Outlay: $26,396 [21.7 lakhs]; SRM-AP Part - $10697 [8.8 lakhs]
- Project Duration: May 2022 to Dec 2022
- Status: Awarded (UMS1370), In Progress
- Briefing: MaineDOT currently uses an in-house developed pavement design guidance which is based on the AASHTO 1993 design approach. This method was developed based on outdated traffic, limited soil type, and environmental conditions. Though MaineDOT employs engineering judgment to overcome these limitations, the decisions are often arguable and limited to individual experience. MaineDOT has been looking for an alternative design approach that can overcome these challenges. This study reviews alternative design practices to provide recommendations to the DOT.
