Browsing Reports and Research Briefs by Title
Now showing items 30-43 of 43
-
Research Brief: Mitigation Solutions for GHG Emissions in New Construction
(2020-09)By 2050, the United States is projected to add 121 billion ft2 of buildings—equivalent to constructing New York City every year for the next 20 years. However, to meet climate change goals the U.S. building sector must ... -
Research Brief: Modeling the Freeze-Thaw Damage Mechanism in Cement
(2019-01)Freeze-thaw (FT) damage is a significant threat to roads and pavement, yet the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Conventional thinking attributes the damage to pressure generated by expansion of water upon freezing. ... -
Research Brief: Molecular Dynamics-based Resilience Assessment of Structures
(2020-07)According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), losses due to fire in structures in America amount to around $13 billion annually. Despite these severe economic consequences, building codes often don’t ... -
Research Brief: Optimizing Building Life Cycle Environmental Impact and Cost
(2020-02)Existing building life cycle assessment tools rely on detailed building models that make it difficult to explore the environmental implications of design strategies in the earliest design phases. Most of these tools are ... -
Research Brief: Prioritizing Resilient Retrofits
(2018-02)2017 was one of the most devastating U.S. hurricane seasons ever recorded. State Departments of Public Safety across the country list tens of thousands of destroyed homes and hundreds of thousands more damaged. Although ... -
Research Brief: Quantifying the impact of pavement reflectivity on radiative forcing and building energy demand in neighborhoods
(2017-03-13)Albedo is the measure of the fraction of solar energy reflected by the Earth’s surface. High-albedo surfaces, which are lighter in color, absorb less sunlight energy and reflect more shortwave radiation. The change in ... -
Research Brief: Simulating the Formation of ASR Gels
(2019-04)Alkali-silica-reaction (ASR) is a significant cause of premature concrete deterioration. Although it has received much research attention, an essential question still remains—how does a soft gel, as is formed by this ... -
Research Brief: The Influence of Incorporating Uncertainties and Treatment Path Dependence in Performance-based Planning Analyses
(2018-11)According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, the backlog for repair of existing highways across the U.S. totals approximately $420 million. With funding at all-time lows, it ... -
Research Brief: The Role of Pavements in Meeting GHG Reduction Targets
(2019-08)To meet the targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions set by cities and states, several solutions have been proposed including renewable energy production, subsidies for electric vehicles, and carbon taxes. ... -
Research Brief: Validation of Molecular Dynamics-Based Structural Damage
(2019-03)Windstorms currently generate $28 billion in average annual damage and this figure is projected to potentially rise to $38 billion by 2075. Traditional engineering approaches that analyze the resilience of structures fail ... -
A Scientific Investigation into Concrete Pavement Durability
(MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, Oregon State University, University of New Brunswick, 2021-01)Although concrete pavements offer many long-term performance benefits, there are still instances where premature degradation of pavements leads to unexpected and costly repairs. In addition to being a burden to transportation ... -
Supplementary Information for Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Cost Analysis
(MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, 2014-07)The MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) is conducting life cycle environmental and cost analyses of pavements under a wide range of contexts. The analyses involve the comparison of new asphalt concrete (AC) and portland ... -
Towards Understanding Cement Paste Creep: Implications from Glass Studies
(MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, 2017-01-04)This research brief presents foundational work toward understanding the mechanics of the complex process of creep by evaluating the phenomena occurring at the nano-scale in metallic glass, a model material, to better ... -
Transforming the Role of the Concrete Delivery Professional: A Study on Innovative Solutions for the Ready Mixed Concrete Industry
(2024-03-04)Currently, there is a severe shortage of concrete delivery professionals (CDPs) – the individuals who transport concrete from the plant to the construction site. In fact, according to a recent study by the National Ready ...