Amir H. Behzadan, Ph.D.

University of Central Florida

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering

Evaluating the Use of C&D Debris as Alternative Ingredient Materials

(Current, University of Central Florida)

In addition to the lack of comprehensive local supply and demand studies and cost-benefit analyses, one of the major impediments of enhancing the practice of sustained recycling in C&D projects is the existing regulations and standards that limit (or prohibit) the large scale use of recycled materials. In the absence of extensive research and validated testing methods, certain categories of C&D debris have been only used in a relatively limited number of new construction or land development projects. In particular, the investigators have identified opportunities to use large fraction of these materials as aggregates or additives in concrete or hot mix asphalt (HMA). This study will focus on tear-off roof shingles and will investigate the effect of asphalt binder grade and content, and content and different shingle sources and proportions on HMA mixture properties. The research team will design a testing regime in compliance with statewide regulations and standards, which will include testing a matrix of laboratory-produced mixtures that incorporate different contents of asphalt binder and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS).

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Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery and Recycling

(Completed, University of Central Florida)

Florida is proposing the implementation of a 75% state-wide recycling goal to be achieved by 2020. Recovery and recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) debris offers significant potential contribution to meeting the 75% diversion goal. The objectives of the proposed research are to improve C&D debris inventory accuracy and recycling efficiency in the State of Florida. This project will be conducted in tandem with development of an Orange County Solid Waste Integrated Resource Plan (SWIRP) using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, initially targeting C&D Debris and Class III waste. The research objective will be achieved through tasks directed at optimizing C&D debris inventory factors, evaluating future markets for recovered materials, and recommendation of best management practices.

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Hinkley Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

Georeferenced Visualization of Dynamic Construction Processes in Outdoor Augmented Reality

(Completed, University of Michigan)

The objective of this research was to develop an extensible and scalable Augmented Reality (AR) platform to facilitate the dynamic 3D visualization of simulated construction and other engineering operations in an outdoor augmented environment. Related issues that were addressed during the course of this research included tracking and registration of CAD objects in a global coordinate system, manipulation of an arbitrary number of virtual (i.e. CAD) objects performing an operation over a real background, establishing modular communication methods for data acquisition from the geo-positioning and orientation tracking devices, integration with project schedules and electronic terrain maps, design and implementation of a general-purpose animation authoring interface, and the design and implementation of an ergonomic mobile AR backpack. The tangible result of this project was the ARVISCOPE visualization system. ARVISCOPE is an AR based visualization tool driven by a powerful animation authoring language that can create dynamic animated scenes of simulated operations in construction and other engineering domains. 3D animations created in ARVISCOPE are accurate and faithful graphical representations of underlying Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) models. ARVISCOPE is a fully mobile visualization platform that takes advantage of state-of-the-art position and orientation tracking technologies to update the contents of an user's view of the augmented space continuously based on the current line of sight.

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National Science Foundation (NSF)