Special Collection Announcement
Advanced Modeling and Characterization
of Civil Infrastructure Materials
Hao Wang, Ph.D., M.ASCE
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Rutgers, State Univ. of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (corresponding
author). Email: hwang.cee@rutgers.edu
Yong-Rak Kim, Ph.D., M.ASCE
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by 154.121.33.70 on 02/01/20. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln,
NE 68583. Email: yong-rak.kim@unl.edu
https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001749
The special collection on Advanced Modeling and Characteriza-
tion of Civil Infrastructure Materials is available in the ASCE
Library (https://ascelibrary.org/page/jenmdt/advanced_modeling
_civil_infrastructure).
Civil infrastructure materials are subject to complex service con-
ditions (mechanical, thermal, hydraulic, and chemical) because of
loads and environmental interactions. It is critical to have a deep
understanding of the material–structure–performance relationship
in multiple scales (nano, micro, and macro) in order to design
high-performance and durable civil infrastructure materials. This
special collection is aimed at synthesizing the state-of-the-art de-
velopment in advanced modeling and characterization of civil infra-
structure materials. The multiscale and multiphysics characteristics
of materials have been studied using various experimental methods
and analytical-computational modeling techniques. The elastic-
inelastic deformation and fracture (damage) behavior of materials
have been investigated considering the heterogeneous nature of
complex infrastructure materials.
The collection covers a wide range of civil infrastructure mate-
rials, including cement mortar, asphalt concrete, geopolymer, soil,
glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP), and functionally graded
materials. Si et al. (2019) investigate the effects of internal curing
on permeability of cement mortar using microscale X-ray com-
puted tomography (μCT) characterization techniques and the Per-
meability Solver computational program to analyze the porosity,
pore conductivity, and permeability of mortar mixtures. The results
show that internal curing caused lower permeability. Rami et al.
(2018) present a two-way linked multiscale method integrated with
nanomechanical material characterization and cohesive zone frac-
ture model to study highly heterogeneous cementitious material
such as alkali-activated geopolymer composites. This integrated
experimental-computational approach can simulate the multiscale
behavior. It can also provide the core material properties such as
micrometer-length-scale cohesive zone fracture properties, which
it is not usually feasible to identify using conventional experimental
tests. Islam et al. (2019) develop a chemomechanical (CM) model
to capture the true failure process of cement-stabilized pavement
subgrade under sulfate attack. A set of governing equations are
developed and solved using the finite-element method. A unique
expression for the moisture-dependent and heat-dependent diffu-
sion coefficient of sulfate is proposed.
Ren et al. (2018) present an analytical solution to determine the
effective thermal conductivity of an asphalt mixture based on the
principle of minimum thermal resistance, considering morphological
© ASCE 02020001-1
J. Eng. Mech., 2020, 146(4): 02020001
characteristics and thermal properties of each component. The
morphological factor of coarse aggregate is deduced to quantify
the contribution of the dispersed phase to the effective thermal
conductivity of asphalt mixture. Chen et al. (2018) develop an al-
gorithm for generating a three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneous
microstructure of asphalt concrete based on random aggregate mi-
crostructure. The 3D aggregate shapes were generated with three
two-dimensional (2D) projections randomly selected from the ag-
gregate image database. The dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete
is predicted with the generated heterogeneous microstructures and
validated with experimental measurements. Darabi et al. (2019)
evaluate the rutting performance of flexible airfield pavements us-
ing a viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for the asphalt
layer and the Drucker-Prager-Cap model for the granular layer.
A set of experimental tests including resilient modulus, cyclic tri-
axial, dynamic modulus, and flow number tests were used to fully
calibrate the constitutive model of asphalt mixture. It is shown that
the prediction of the permanent deformation of airfield pavements
is significantly enhanced by using this strategy.
Song et al. (2019) investigate the pore pressure responses of
overconsolidated (OC) soils during a piezocone penetration test
(PCPT) based on a multiphysics numerical modeling technique.
The influence of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and hydraulic con-
ductivity on the pore pressure responses of OC soils during PCPT
was investigated by coupling the modified Cam-clay model and
Darcy’s law. Lin et al. (2019) develop a micromechanics-based
elastoplastic model to investigate inelastic behavior of functionally
graded materials (FGMs) containing aluminum particles in high-
density polyethylene (HDPE). The overall elastoplastic stress–
strain response is established through homogenization of stress
and strain fields. Guo et al. (2018) investigate seismic resistance
of GFRP bolted joints with carbon nanotubes. Seismic tests per-
formed on GFRP joints were conducted using displacement time
histories extracted from structural analysis of a fiber-reinforced pol-
ymer (FRP) frame structure with GFRP bracing subjected to the
1940 El Centro earthquake. It is shown that the seismic resistance
of GFRP bolted joints incorporating multiwalled carbon nanotubes
increased by 44% compared with neat GFRP joints.
In summary, this collection covers different topics of recent
developments in advanced modeling and characterization of civil
infrastructure materials. Challenges in understanding and charac-
terizing fundamental properties of civil infrastructure materials still
exist and the integration of theory, experiment, and modeling meth-
ods is crucial. We trust that this collection will stimulate continued
research in engineering mechanics to enable sustainable, func-
tional, and more durable civil infrastructures.
References
Chen, J., H. Wang, H. Dan, and Y. Xie. 2018. “Random modeling of three-
dimensional heterogeneous microstructure of asphalt concrete for
mechanical analysis.” J. Eng. Mech. 144 (9): 04018083. https://doi
.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001505.
Darabi, M. K., R. Kola, D. N. Little, E. Rahmani, and N. Garg. 2019.
“Predicting rutting performance of flexible airfield pavements using a
coupled viscoelastic-viscoplastic-cap constitutive relationship.” J. Eng.
J. Eng. Mech.
 Mech. 145 (2): 04018129. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943
-7889.0001516.
Guo, X., A. Riad, R. Chennareddy, and M. M. Reda Taha. 2018. “Seismic
resistance of GFRP bolted joints with carbon nanotubes.” J. Eng. Mech.
144 (11): 04018106. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889
.0001528.
Islam, M. A., A. J. Golrokh, and Y. Lu. 2019. “Chemomechanical modeling
of sulfate attack–induced damage process in cement-stabilized pave-
ments.” J. Eng. Mech. 145 (1): 04018117. https://doi.org/10.1061
/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001545.
Lin, Q., L. Zhang, F. Chen, and H. Yin. 2019. “Micromechanics-based elas-
toplastic modeling of functionally graded materials with pairwise par-
ticle interactions.” J. Eng. Mech. 145 (5): 04019033. https://doi.org/10
.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001603.
Rami, K. Z., Y.-R. Kim, M. Khedmati, G. Nsengiyumva, and H. Alanazi.
2018. “Two-way linked multiscale method integrated with nanomechanical
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by 154.121.33.70 on 02/01/20. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
© ASCE 02020001-2
J. Eng. Mech., 2020, 146(4): 02020001
tests and cohesive zone fracture to model highly heterogeneous binding
materials.” J. Eng. Mech. 144 (10): 04018095. https://doi.org/10.1061
/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001518.
Ren, Z., H. Wang, L. Zhang, and C. Chen. 2018. “Computational analysis
of thermal conductivity of asphalt mixture based on a multiscale math-
ematical model.” J. Eng. Mech. 144 (8): 04018064. https://doi.org/10
.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001493.
Si, R., Q. Dai, and X. Sun. 2019. “Numerical and experimental study of
internal curing effects on permeability of mortar samples.” J. Eng.
Mech. 145 (2): 04018132. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943
-7889.0001561.
Song, C., B. Bekele, and A. Silvey. 2019. “Pore pressure responses of over-
consolidated soils in a partially drained piezocone penetration test.” J.
Eng. Mech. 145 (4): 04019017. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EM
.1943-7889.0001594.
J. Eng. Mech.