Sustainable Infrastructure Material Design

Traditionally, the foremost concern among transportation engineers has been the safety and reliability of major infrastructure components. Until recently, sustainability has not been included in most infrastructure systems on any level. However, the engineering community, along with society as a whole, is realizing the importance of sustainability-oriented infrastructure systems. Yet incorporating these concepts into the design procedure as a primary goal remains unclear to many engineers. This research seeks to provide a platform for future sustainable engineering of civil infrastructure systems linking the micron-length scale of material microstructural tailoring to the meter-length scale of structural design. In the present study, a high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite called ECC is evaluated, tailored for “greener” performance, and applied to an infrastructure application for increased sustainability.