Research & Projects

Grad-Student: Eduardo Leos, EIT 

Advisor: Wassim Ghannoum, PH.D, P.E, F. SEI, F. ACI ​ 

Key idea: The fracture strain of CFRP (approximately 1%) exceeds that of rebar yield strain by several times, allowing steel to yield and dissipate energy without causing CFRP rupture when detailing is properly executed. 

Experimental program: Conduct full-scale cyclic tests with systematic variations in CFRP quantity and anchorage details. 

Outcome reported: Quantification of the effects of CFRP quantity and anchorage detailing on strengthening and ductility related responses. 

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) 

Grad. Student: Emmanuel Zamora-Romero & Thomas Anderson​ 

Student Lab Assistants: Carlos Vargas & Obadah Natsheh​

 Advisor: Adolfo Matamoros, PH.D, P.E, F.ACI, F.SEI

 Goal: Develop clear design guidance for using hooked and headed bar attachments in TxDOT bridge structures. 

Approach:  

• Utilizing reinforced concrete test specimens that are representative of TxDOT bridge structures and current design practice, large-scale experimental testing of confined and unconfined beam-column joints with hooked and headed bars terminating within the joints is being performed. 
• Specimens include No. 9, No. 10, and No.11 bars (60 ksi & 80 ksi) 
• The test specimen configuration includes three test regions, allowing for testing of beam-column joints in single- and double-curvature. 

Sponsors: Fulbright-COMEXUS, CONTEX initiative, SECIHTI, Dampo Systems, and UTSA internal funding 

Grad. Student: Emmanuel Zamora-Romero 

Student Lab Assistants: Thomas Anderson, Emily Martinez, Carlos Vargas & Obadah Natsheh 

Advisor: Adolfo Matamoros, PH.D, P.E, F.ACI, F.SEI 

Goal: Use hybrid testing to evaluate and optimize BRB retrofitting performance in seismically vulnerable RC buildings. 

Approach: Optimize BRB configurations through numerical analysis across various seismic scenarios, then validate using hybrid testing on a scaled two-story RC frame with realistic earthquake loading protocols. 

Experimental/computational setup: Half-scale, 2-story RC frame with BRBs tested using 4-DOF hybrid simulation (MTS actuators + hydraulic rams), instrumented with cameras, strain gauges, and optical fiber sensors. 

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) 

Grad. Student: Emily Martinez 

Advisor: Adolfo Matamoros, PH.D, P.E, F.ACI, F.SEI 

Goal: Investigate the influence of voids and prestressing steel on the interaction of shear, torsion, and bending stresses in inverted tee bent caps 

Approach: Develop scaled-down inverted tee bent caps and evaluate the stress interactions through elastic analysis. 

Experimental Program (In Progress): Fabricate and test scaled specimens under flexural loading to quantify stress interaction effects and create design recommendations. 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) 

Grad. Students: Samir Babu Thapa & Dev Raj Paudel

Advisor:  Arturo Schultz, Ph.D., F.PCI, F.TMS

Goal: To develop, validate and evaluate an automated rapid-assembly Intermeshed Steel Connection enabling safer, faster and more sustainable steel building erection.

 Approach: Design and fabrication of ISC connection system followed by full-scale gravity load testing and non-linear finite element modeling for validation and performance evaluation. 

Experimental/ Computational set up:  Full size, two-story, one-bay steel frame structure will be subjected to gravity loading. The structural response will be monitored using strain gages, and LVDTs. Loading will be achieved using jacks and high-strength steel bars spanning from the building floors to the lab floor. 

Sponsor: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 

Grad. Student: Sara Restrepo-Velasquez​ 

Advisor: Harry Millwater, Ph.D. 

Goal: Enable faster fatigue crack-growth analysis for probabilistic structural assessment. 

Approach: Convert variable-amplitude (VA) loading spectra into an equivalent constant-amplitude (ECA) loading condition. 

Computational results: Pairing the ECA and an adaptive ODE crack-growth solver can reduce runtimes by up to ~10² while maintaining comparable predictions. 

Experimental validation (in progress): Test whether the VA to ECA transformation yields the same crack-growth behavior in real life. 

Experimental set up: Apply tensile cyclic loading to Al 2024-T351 specimens on an MTS Landmark frame, while measuring crack length with a traveling microscope and a crack opening displacement (COD) gage to compare the VA vs. ECA crack-growth response. 

Sponsor/funding: Office of Naval Research (ONR) 

Grad. Student: Viancy Catherine Isaza Zapata 

Advisors:  Brendy Rincon, PhD & David Restrepo PhD

Goal: The goal is to quantify how fastener installation and environmental conditions affect fatigue life. The final objective is to develop a predictive model for corrosion-fatigue in naval aircraft. 

Approach:  

• Link laboratory mechanical-electrochemical measurements to identify fatigue stress factor mechanisms under accelerated fatigue tests and atmospheric exposure fatigue testing 
• The project combines accelerated corrosion testing, fatigue experiments, and finite element modeling. Results will be integrated into a probabilistic Bayesian predictive model. 

Experimental/computational setup: 

• Computational: Abaqus FEM is used to map joint/fastener stress fields and set bounds for laboratory loads and torque conditions. 
• Experimental: Fatigue and corrosion are tested using “dog-bone” specimens with through-hole fasteners under controlled temperature and cyclic relative humidity, using an accelerated salt-fog electrolyte profile. Simultaneous corrosion-fatigue uses a MTS 370 Landmark load frame inside an environmental chamber with an external potentiostatfor electrochemical measurements. 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) 

Grad. Student: Student: Tolulope Oyeyipo​ 

Advisor: Ibukun Awolusi, Ph.D. 

Goal: Evaluation of the impact of intermeshed steel connections on improving worker safety, assembly efficiency, and construction cost. 

Approach: Experimental and simulated testing of a BIM-based model for safety performance, computer vision-based ergonomic assessment of steelworkers’ postures, and a comparative cost analysis. 

Computational results: A BIM-based model of a safety integrated two-story steel framed structure, with initial results showing improvements in worker postures due to improved assembly efficiencies. ​​