Holistic Quality Management of Precast Concrete Construction for Transportation Infrastructure

Precast concrete (PC) is manufactured in a controlled environment, and is a promising alternative to cast-in-place concrete and provides desired quality, durability, adaptability, efficiency, and (with embedded sensors) real-time performance monitoring capacity to construct transportation assets that address significant infrastructure challenges faced by the nation. High-quality precast concrete systems (PCS) provide several benefits including: shorter lane closures and reduced traffic congestion attributed to accelerated construction with shorter project duration, and increased road user and worker safety when such systems are utilized correctly. However, quality deficiencies during any PCS lifecycle phases (i.e., design, manufacturing, transporting, lifting and installation, and operation and maintenance (O&M)) can easily offset the expected benefits, leading to premature failures and excessive repair costs. This project aims to design a holistic quality management framework/model for precast construction of transportation infrastructure and test it for the stage of precast at the plant. The framework integrates building information modeling (BIM), laser scanning, ground penetrating radar (GPR), vision sensing, extended reality (XR) along with advanced computational tools to create a digital twin as the ‘seamless’ method of information management and sharing for quality control from the life-cycle perspective. Specific objectives are to: (1) design a system-level framework for lifecycle data/information/knowledge acquisition and data exchange in PCS; (2) design an expandable BIM approach to meet the data and information needs of lifecycle PCS quality management (QM); (3) validate and test at the precast-at-plant stage through case studies; and (4) present and solicit feedback from researchers and practitioners in the field of precast concrete in transportation projects through venues such as the 2024 Purdue Road School.  

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Sponsor Organizations:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory
  Urbana, IL  United States  61801-2352

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  Purdue University

  1040 South River Road
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907
• Principal Investigators:

  Cai, Hubo

  Abraham, Dulcy

  Dunston, Phillip

  Zhang, Jiansong

• Start Date: 20230901
• Expected Completion Date: 20240831
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Building information models; Concrete construction; Data management; Digital displays; Precast concrete; Quality control
• Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01893426
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Sep 18 2023 10:09PM