GDOT Project Spotlight 1 2023

Monday March 6th, 2023 the Georgia Transportation Institute will hosted a 1-hour webinar that spotlighted three recently completed GDOT Research projects. Each project had maximum of a 15-minute presentation, with a short time afterward for questions.

You can join the event by using the Microsoft Teams link below:

Microsoft Teams Webinar Link

Presenter: Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Graduate Program Director
Director, Smart Built Environment Eco-System (Smart Bees) Laboratory
Georgia Institute of Technology

Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi is an associate professor in the School of Building Construction in Georgia Tech's College of Design. She is the Director of the Smart Built Environment Eco-System (Smart Bees) Laboratory, which carries out research at the nexus of the cyber, physical, and behavioral systems.
Pishdad’s research centers on innovative integrated strategies for sustainably creating and operating smart built-environments. She deploys life-cycle and holistic approaches to integrating Architecture/Engineering/Construction/Facility Management (AECFM) practices through the use of both innovative processes and technologies. Specifically, her research focuses on Innovative Project Delivery Methods (e.g., Integrated Project Delivery method (IPD), Flash Tracking, Lean), Digital Twin and Cyber-Physical Systems (e.g., Building Information Modeling (BIM), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain), Trust, and Supply Chain integration.
Pishdad holds a PhD degree in Environmental Design and Planning (Virginia Tech), three Master’s degrees in the fields of Civil Engineering (Virginia Tech), Design Studies on Project Management (Harvard), Architecture (University of Tehran), a Bachelor degree in Architectural Engineering (Azad University of Shiraz), a Diploma in Science from the National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET).
Pishdad has been the recipient of numerous international, national, and regional awards for her excellence in research and teaching, namely: Construction Management Association of America National Educator of the Year Award (2018), Engineering News-Record (ENR) National Top 20 Under 40 Professionals (2018), ENR Southeast Young Professionals (2018), Construction Industry Institute (CII) National Outstanding Researcher Award (2016), Georgia Tech College of Design Outstanding Faculty Award (2016), Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) National Excellence Teaching Award (2014), ASC Regional Excellence Teaching Award (2013), and Virginia Tech VCEMP Alumni Award (2019), Georgia Tech Provost Teaching Learning Fellow (2020-2022).
Her industry experience includes her employment with Turner Construction Company and Tishman Construction Corporation. Pishdad’s sponsored research projects—with the Construction Industry Institute (CII), The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), and The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)—have kept her closely involved with industry professionals. Her research on Flash Tracking is integrated into practice by these sponsors.
Pishdad is currently the Academic Advisor for the Construction Industry Institute’s (CII) Community of Business Advancement (CBA) on Supply Chain Management. She is also appointed as the Vice Chair for 5D Modeling Estimating Taskforce of BIM Forum of BuildingSMART International. She had also served as the Academic Advisor to the Construction Management Association of America’s Board of Directors for two years 2016-2018.

Title: GDOT RP19-10 Flash Tracking Implementation Guidelines Complementing Existing DesignBuild Manual

Abstract:

The overarching objective of this research is to develop Flash Tracking implementation guidelines that would complement the existing Design-Build Manual. These standardized implementation guidelines are captured in an appendix to the DesignBuild Manual. The research methodology comprised three phases. In the first phase, the research team studied and analyzed the effectiveness of flash track best practices implementation on three GDOT projects—namely, improvements to the I-16/I-95 interchange, the I-85 Widening, and SR 400 EL. In the second phase, the team reviewed and analyzed the GDOT DesignBuild Manual to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (i.e., a SWOT analysis) in terms of its treatment of flash track best practices. This involved cross-referencing the D-B manual against the 83 flash track best practices, to determine the presence or absence of each flash track best practice in the manual. In the third phase, an appendix to the D-B manual was developed to serve as an official source on implementing flash track best practices on D-B projects. Furthermore, modified RFQ and RFP templates were developed to incorporate flash track practices on projects and specific recommendations were made for the RFQ and RFP for the Houlihan Bridge P.I. No. 0013741/0013742 – SR 25 at Savannah & Middle River Bridges.

Presenter: Sung-Hee “Sonny” Kim, Ph.D., P.E., Professor
The University of Georgia

S. Sonny Kim is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia. Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 2004. Before joining academia, Dr. Kim has been an integral contributor to several nationwide highway/airport pavement improvement projects. His primary research has focused on transportation geotechnics, Resilient/Sustainable Infrastructure monitoring using nondestructive testing, remote sensing, and machine learning. Dr. Kim is Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and was named Distinguished Faculty Fellow by College of Engineering from the University of Georgia. In 2021, Dr. Kim was named Georgia Engineer of the Year by the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers (GSPE) and Civil Engineer of the Year by ASCE Georgia Section. Dr. Kim is an active member of ASCE G-I Highway Pavement Committee, ASCE T&DI Committee, and Transportation Research Board (TRB) AKP 20 and AKM 80 Committee. He also serves Falling Weight Deflectometer User Group as Board of Director and academic representative of FHWA Pavement and Materials Technical Feedback Group.

Title: GDOT RP18-03 Development of Concrete Material Property Database for Pavement ME Input

Abstract:

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has been moving toward using the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), which deploys mechanistic and mathematical principles to analyze the material behaviors. For the smooth transition to this updated pavement design approach for rigid pavement design, GDOT has been developing a statewide database of concrete mixture properties to select appropriate input variables and levels for rigid pavement designs, which are consistent with the level of importance required for specific pavement design projects. The key mechanical inputs for rigid pavement design in the MEPDG are compressive strength (????′), modulus of elasticity (MOE), and modulus of rupture (MOR). In addition to these mechanical properties, the MEPDG requires thermal properties inputs, such as the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), portland cement concrete (PCC) heat capacity, thermal conductivity, % reversible shrinkage, days to develop 50% of ultimate shrinkage, and ultimate shrinkage. This study aims to develop the aforementioned concrete materials database specific to Georgia’s rigid pavements. For this study, twelve (12) GDOT-approved concrete mixtures using Georgia-specific concrete materials were batched, tested, and analyzed for these properties. The study investigates which of these properties are most critical in rigid pavement design through sensitivity analysis conducted with AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design at input levels 1, 2, and 3. With the measured mechanical and thermal properties as a part of the GDOT RP 18-03 study, the relationships among the concrete materials properties and the performance of rigid pavement were further investigated to better understand their interrelationship. Ultimately, this study provides design recommendations for critical mechanical and thermal properties, as well as guidance for which input level to use for the design of Georgia rigid pavements.