Schissler Wins AISC Scholarship

Congratulations to Lauren Schissler for receiving an AISC/Associated Steel Erectors of Chicago Scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year! Lauren is an M.S. candidate and Lewis Graduate Fellow working on a collaborative research project with Professors Elbanna, Fahnestock and LaFave. The project, Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders, is sponsored by the Illinois Center for Transportation.

New Research Project on Damaged Steel Girders

The Illinois Center for Transportation has funded a new research project to study damaged steel bridge girders.  R27-225: Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders will develop fundamental understanding of damage in steel bridge girders due to vehicle strikes and translate that knowledge into a framework for structural inspection, assessment, and decision-making.  The research is being conducted by PI Larry Fahnestock and Co-PIs Ahmed Elbanna and Jim LaFave.

US-Japan Earthquake Engineering Collaboration Opportunity

Hazard engineering researchers in the U.S. and Japan are interested in working and learning together. To discuss the collaborative partnership, representatives from both countries gathered for the First Annual Research Meeting in Tokyo, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

Attendees included officials from NHERI and NIED (the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience); representatives from NSF and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); and members of the hazard engineering research community.

More than 20 researchers attended the meeting where the breakout sessions covered a variety of possible research topics under the themes of woodsteel plus protective systemsreinforced concrete and non-structural components.

NHERI researchers are encouraged to review the summaries and workshop resolutions in the draft report and consider mutually beneficial collaborations.

The draft report for this event is available on the DesignSafe-CI website:

PDF: Report of the 1st Research Meeting (Draft)

Meeting presentations, including talks by DesignSafe PI Ellen Rathje and NSF-NHERI Program Director Joy Pauschke, have been published to the DesignSafe Data Depot:

1st Research Meeting Presentations (Data Depot PRJ-1765)

New Bridge Approach Slab Research Project

Last month a new research grant was awarded by the Illinois Tollway for Investigation of Approach Slab Construction and Evaluation of Modular Approach Slab Designs. This project is led by Prof. Fahnestock and Prof. LaFave, and it focuses on approach slabs for integral abutment bridge (IABs), which are being used extensively in new construction by the Tollway. Approach slabs on many Tollway IABs are exhibiting premature cracking, so this new research project will use field monitoring and numerical simulations to study the problem and develop strategies for improved performance and extended service life.