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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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      <link>https://rip.trb.org/</link>
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      <title>Investigations into Expansion Joint Movement for Integral Abutment of Multi-Span Concrete Bridges</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2625844</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project extends the work of a previous project for single-span bridges. The research will provide realistic data for multi-span bridge expansion joint design. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) code expansion joint movement guidance is conservative for parts of Colorado. Improved design guidance will save money, and result in lower maintenance needs and costs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2025 08:27:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2625844</guid>
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      <title>Investigating the Performance of Corrosion-Resistant GFRP-Reinforced Bridge Railings with Open Expansion Joints</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2529965</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The test specimen’s structural setup will be adjusted to match the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) impact pendulum's universal foundation and simulate an open expansion joint. Efficient structural solutions preventing GFRP reinforcement slippage will be developed and tested. The impactor used in previous tests will be refined to better replicate real-world truck impact conditions in terms of height and width. These adjustments aim to provide valuable insights into enhancing the safety performance and durability (and subsequently resiliency) of corrosion-resistant GFRP reinforcing in bridge railings.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2025 08:24:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2529965</guid>
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      <title>Improving Bridge Deck Deterioration Curves by Combining Extreme Weather and Infrastructure Data Sources</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2480347</link>
      <description><![CDATA[With more than 600,000 bridges in service around the United States and half of them constructed before the 70s according to National Bridge Inventory (NBI) and an unprecedented number of record-level extreme weather phenomena within the last decade, there is a pressing need to improve the management and decision-making processes when it comes to predicting bridge performance and prioritizing maintenance activities. Such maintenance activities are typically emerging faster in bridge decks, due to the increased exposure of such elements to severe weather and traffic conditions. Attempts to include environmental and traffic factors in bridge performance indicators, such as deterioration curves, have demonstrated the need to develop region-specific approaches to better predict deterioration of transportation infrastructure. The objective of this study is to offer a detailed regional quantification of the impact that environmental and traffic factors have on bridge deck structural deterioration curves used for bridge maintenance by fusing environmental quantities (freeze thaw cycles, extreme heat, snow, rainfall) as captured by local monitoring stations (Mesonet grid) and by traffic data as recorded by NBI and probe vehicle data. The project, with a focus on bridge deck components, is also set to account for expansion joints, wherever present, and how their environmental deterioration might impact the overall deck performance. Also, issues related to traffic re-routing due to maintenance will be investigated utilizing a network level approach, to better capture local rerouting and temporary traffic increase, that might further burden neighboring bridges. 
Through this effort, a user-friendly, regional decision support system for complementing the current bridge management tools will be developed, to best inform the prioritization of maintenance interventions. Such advancement would allow for the consideration of multiple weather and traffic-driven accelerating factors in the decision making-process, enabling the projection of future deterioration rates. This work is expected to have impacts on the bridge management sector, since it is set to impact the transportation network in terms of enhancing the durability of the bridge inventory and reduce the associated repair costs by intervening on the right time to prevent further deterioration that would result in higher repair costs. In addition to this, the granularity of information related to weather patterns could pave the way for the development of vulnerability indices for existing transportation infrastructure, depending on the availability of data regarding infrastructure performance levels.
The following tasks will be pursued in this study. Task 1: Analyze weather data from Oklahoma’s Mesonet to build time series of environmental quantities (extreme temperature variations, freeze-thaw cycles, ice conditions, humidity, precipitation). Develop relationships looking to correlate bridge-deck deterioration rates to weather patterns. Task 2: Identify and process available information related to deck expansion joints, aiming to quantify the weather and traffic deterioration that such elements experience. After ensuring data quality, correlate the expansion joint condition to the deck condition, and identify importance of maintenance in such cases, given that damaged joints might allow water and humidity to penetrate further in the structural elements. Task 3: Perform network level analysis to incorporate aging information related to the bridge condition, along with weather patterns and traffic load data to identify critical locations within the system that will necessitate immediate interventions. Task 4: Combine the results/findings from the tasks above to develop a pilot platform.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jan 2025 15:51:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2480347</guid>
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      <title>Wireless Joint Monitoring for Large Movement Expansion Joints for Highway Bridge Resilience (1.23)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1996247</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The primary objective of the proposed engineering project is to monitor a large movement expansion joint of a multi-span highway bridge using the developed real-time wireless sensor system from the previous project. This project will upgrade the current wireless joint monitoring system such that it can measure larger displacement in multiple locations to study the complex behavior of the expansion joints with multiple spans and skewness involved. The monitoring without the need for an inspection crew will reduce costs and inconvenience to the traveling public. Analysis of the data transmitted to the processing location will alert bridge engineers to potential problems well in advance, allowing preventive measures to be taken and expensive repair situations avoided and the safety and longevity of the bridge to be increased. The project consists of the following tasks: Task 1- Developing the upgraded sensor system for large movement joints; Task 2 - Field testing and data collection; Task 3 - Analysis of field data and assessment of the system.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2022 09:24:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1996247</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wireless Joint Monitoring System (w-JMS) for Safety of Highway Bridges (1.16)
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875096</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Maintaining the safety and stability of a bridge is a series concern of our nation. ASCE report cards repeatedly give low grades for our bridges indicating the immediate needs for repair and maintenance. The bridges’ expansion joints of our regions are especially vulnerable because of continuous thermal expansions and shrinkage under the severe weather situation in New England. Although major bridges were visually inspected every 2 years to check their conditions which are time consuming, costly, that method often times fails to provide the necessary information if not inspected in the time frame. To assist timely maintenance and increase structures’ life span, a low-cost continuous monitoring system is desired. The objectives of this research project are to develop a wireless monitoring system for bridges’ expansion joints and to deploy the sensors on a field bridge under changes in temperature, humidity, and other live loads. The proposed project will provide comprehensive structural health monitoring framework using commercial wireless sensors networks that can be readily deployed in the field structures for real-time damage alert to the bridge owners. The eventual vision of the project is to increase the service life of our bridges by timely maintenance by real-time continuous monitoring.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2021 18:13:33 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1875096</guid>
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