Research Activities

Students and faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering collaborate on research projects spanning a wide range of topics. Many of these research activities are performed within the department's three research centers/institutes: the Transportation Research Center, the Water Quality Center, and the Institute for Urban Environmental Risk Management. Research projects often utilize the department's many laboratory facilities, including labs dedicated to structural testing; concrete, asphalt, and soils testing; environmental processes; hydraulics; and computational modeling.

Faculty and Research Specialization

The Faculty, their areas of expertise, and samples of their project/publication titles are listed below. Students are strongly encouraged to make direct contact with individual faculty to discuss possible collaboration in a field of mutual interest.

Clifford J. Crandall, Ph.D., P.E.: Water and wastewater treatment; wastewater collection systems; water distribution systems; hydraulics; hydrology.

• “Waste Lead Oxide Treatment of Lead Acid Battery Manufacturing Wastewater”
• “Sodium in Wisconsin Water Supplies”

James A. Crovetti, Ph.D.: Geotechnical engineering; pavement design, evaluation, rehabilitation, and management.

• “Investigation of Feasible Pavement Design Alternatives for WisDOT”
• “Field Evaluation of Support Conditions Under Jointed Concrete Slabs”

Alex Drakopoulos, Ph.D.: Transportation engineering; traffic engineering (operations, safety, control devices, highway design); transportation planning.

• “Driver Age as a Factor in Comprehension of Left-Turn Signals”
• “Use of Vehicle-Collected Data to Calculate Existing Roadway Geometry”

Christopher M. Foley, Ph.D.: Structural analysis and design; inelastic behavior of partially restrained steel frames using parallel processing and supercomputers; evolutionary algorithms in structural optimization.

• “Optimal Design of Steel Frames Using Advanced Analysis and Genetic Algorithms”
• “Structural Analysis of Sign Bridge Structures and Luminaire Supports”

Stephen M. Heinrich, Ph.D.: Solid mechanics; theory of elasticity; mechanics of electronic assemblies; analytical methods.

• “Stress Interference in a Transversely Isotropic Body Under Axisymmetric Loading”
• “Improved Analytical Estimate of Global CTE Mismatch Displacement in Areal-Array Solder Joints”

Saeed Karshenas, Ph.D., P.E.: Construction engineering; safety analysis of buildings and temporary structures; computer applications in construction.

• “Analysis of Concrete Construction Live Loads”
• “A Case-Based Reasoning Approach to Construction Cost Estimating”

Charles S. Melching, Ph.D., P.E.: Surface-water hydrology; hydraulics; watershed management; water-quality modeling; reliability and uncertainty analysis for water and environmental problems.

• “Development of a Water-Quality Model for Unsteady Flow in the Chicago Waterway System”
• “Evaluation of Uncertainty in Stream Naturalization Procedures"

Michael S. Switzenbaum, Ph.D.: Environmental engineering; microbiology and biological treatment processes; wastewater engineering; solid waste management.

• “Best Management Practices for Airport Deicing Stormwater”
• “Developing Protocols for Measuring Biosolids Stability”

Sriramulu Vinnakota, Ph.D.: Analysis and design of steel structures; inelastic stability of metal structures; composite construction; use of supercomputers for stability of steel frames.

• “Inelastic Behavior of Multi-Story Partially Restrained Steel Frames”
• “Second-Order Elastic-Plastic Analysis of Steel Frames - Review and Comments”

Baolin Wan, Ph.D: Repair and retrofit structures, FRP materials, high performance concrete, prestressed concrete, numerical and experimental modeling.

• “Transfer Length of Strands in Prestressed Concrete Piles”
• “Two-Dimensional Computer Vision to Investigate FRP-Concrete Bond Toughness”

Thomas H. Wenzel, Ph.D. P.E.: Concrete materials; concrete analysis and design; fiber-reinforced concrete; computer-aided design.

• “The Effects of Temperature on the Performance of High Strength oncrete with Fly Ash”
• “Effects of Spot Diamond Grinding on the Performance of Portland Cement Concrete Pavements”

Daniel H. Zitomer, Ph.D.: Biological treatment of wastewater, contaminated soil, groundwater, and hazardous waste.

• “Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Aircraft Deicing Runoff and Municipal Wastewater Sludge”
• “High Sulfate, High COD Wastewater Treatment Using Aerated Methanogenic Fluidized Beds”

Environmental Engineering Research

Structural Engineering/Mechanics Research