Civil Engineering News

September 9, 2016

New Material to Revolutionize Water Proofing

Flexible Material Can Make Any Window 'Smart'

Big Protein Nanocages for Drug Delivery

Light, Flexible 3-D Printed Metallic Materials

Latest Headlines

updated 12:46am EDT

Textile Fiber Waste Helps Improve the Sustainability of Materials

Sep. 7, 2016 — Researchers have developed a panel with textile waste that improves both the thermal and acoustic conditions of buildings and reduces the energy impact associated to the ... read more

Flywheel Technology Could Create New Savings for Light Rail Transit

Aug. 30, 2016 — Two engineering professors have examined the use of flywheel technology to store energy generated when light rail transit trains decelerate and stop. Trains such as the LRT ... read more

Structural, Regulatory and Human Error Were Factors in Washington Highway Bridge Collapse

Aug. 26, 2016 — When an important bridge collapsed on Interstate 5 near Mount Vernon, Washington, in 2013, questions were raised about how such a catastrophic ... read more

Underground Radar Used to Locate Post-Katrina Damage

Aug. 25, 2016 — An innovative underground radar technology is helping the City of Slidell in south Louisiana to identify and document underground infrastructure damage that had gone ... read more

Scientists Have Created a Ceramic, Resistant to Extreme Temperatures

Aug. 19, 2016 — Scientists managed to create a new multi-layered ceramic material with heat resistance of the upper layer of more than 3,000 degrees ... read more

New Method to Identify Microscopic Failure in Polymers Before Total Failure Occurs.

Aug. 17, 2016 — Scientists have recently found a new way to identify microscopic damage in polymers and composite materials before total ... read more

Researchers Test-Bed New Bendable Concrete That Is Stronger and More Durable

Aug. 17, 2016 — A new concrete has been developed to reduce the time needed for road works by more than half, report scientists. This ... read more

Transmitting Energy in Soft Materials

Aug. 8, 2016 — Soft materials are great at damping energy -- that's why rubber tires are so good at absorbing the shock of bumps and potholes. But if researchers are going to build ... read more

Shape-Changing Metamaterial Developed Using Kirigami Technique

Aug. 5, 2016 — Engineers have developed a new shape-changing metamaterial using Kirigami, which is the ancient Japanese art of cutting and folding paper to obtain ... read more

‘Liquid Fingerprinting’ Technique Instantly Identifies Unknown Liquids

Aug. 4, 2016 — A new company will commercialize sensing technology that can perform instant, in-field characterization of the chemical make-up and material properties of unknown liquids. ... read more

Amazon Is Finally Going To Test That Drone Delivery You Heard About

A Wheel to Electrify Your Bicycle

New FAA Rules Ground Amazon's Drone Delivery Plans — For Now

Experts: Self-Driving Cars Not Ready for Roads

Human Ahoy! Addressing Human Error in Ship Building

Sep. 7, 2016 — On a technological behemoth like a ship, in many cases the crew, or 'human element" get little attention when planning the design and operations – a mistake, as statistics show: most ... read more

Inferring Urban Travel Patterns from Cellphone Data

Aug. 29, 2016 — A new computational system has been developed that uses cellphone location data to infer urban mobility patterns. Applying the system to six weeks of data from residents of the Boston area, the ... read more

Researchers Combine Simulation, Experiment for Nanoscale 3-D Printing

Aug. 6, 2016 — A research team has created a high-power simulation and design process to print free-standing 3-D structures on the nanoscale using focused electron beam induced deposition. The simulation-guided ... read more

Newly Discovered 'Blue Whirl' Fire Tornado Burns Cleaner for Reduced Emissions

Aug. 5, 2016 — Researchers say their discovery of a type of fire tornado they call a 'blue whirl' could lead to beneficial new approaches for reduced carbon emissions and improved oil spill ... read more

Paving the Way Toward Novel Strong, Conductive Materials

Aug. 3, 2016 — Bulk metallic glasses are metallic alloys whose neatly ordered atomic structure can be altered into an amorphous, non-crystalline structure -- giving metal the malleability of plastic, while ... read more

Unlocking the Secrets of Creeping Concrete

Aug. 2, 2016 — Concrete is everywhere -- a ubiquity owed to its strength as a building material. Despite its strength, however, it has a pernicious but inescapable tendency to 'creep,' or deform ... read more

Speaking the Language of Microstructures

Aug. 3, 2016 — Researchers are developing a common language that can be used by computer software tools to describe materials at their smallest scale, with the ultimate aim of designing faster and better materials ... read more

Lattice Structure Absorbs Vibrations

July 29, 2016 — Researchers have developed a lattice structure capable of absorbing a wide range of vibrations while also being useful as a load-bearing component -- for example, in propellers, rotors and rockets. ... read more

Disposable and Ultrafast Optical Humidity Sensors Provide Better Moisture Control for Manufacturing and Storage

July 27, 2016 — Researchers have designed a low-cost, stable and ultrafast responsive sensor that is easy to manufacture, overcoming the challenge of producing a simple, fast and highly sensitive ... read more

Earthquake-Resilient Pipeline Could Shake Up Future for Aging Infrastructure on West Coast

July 26, 2016 — A new earthquake-resilient pipeline has been designed to better protect southern California’s water utility network from natural disasters. The test mimicked a fault rupture that can occur during ... read more

Added Bacterial Film Makes New Mortar Resistant to Water Uptake

July 25, 2016 — Moisture can destroy mortar over time -- for example when cracks form as a result of frost. A team of scientists has found an unusual way to protect mortar from moisture: When the material is being ... read more

Designing a Geothermal Drilling Tool That Can Take the Heat

July 21, 2016 — A drilling tool that will withstand the heat of geothermal drilling has now been developed by scientists. The downhole hammer attaches to the end of a column of drill pipe and cuts through rock with ... read more

Scientists Move One Step Closer to Creating an Invisibility Cloak

July 15, 2016 — Scientists have made an object disappear by using a material with nano-size particles that can enhance specific properties on the object's ... read more

Indestructible Bridges Could Be Reality, Thanks to Nature-Inspired 'Form-Finding'

July 13, 2016 — A new generation of indestructible bridges could be possible, thanks to new research. An engineer has taken a design process called 'form-finding', inspired by the natural world, into ... read more

Researchers Report Cybersecurity Risks in 3-D Printing

July 13, 2016 — Researchers examined two aspects of additive manufacturing (AM), or 3-D printing, that could have cybersecurity implications and harmful economic impact: printing orientation and insertion of fine ... read more

Making a Multi-Use, Stiff Carbon Foam Using Bread

July 13, 2016 — Sturdy, lightweight carbon foam has many structural and insulating applications in aerospace engineering, energy storage and temperature maintenance. Current methods to create this material run into ... read more

Breakthrough in Powering Wireless Sensors

July 13, 2016 — Researchers are a step closer to harvesting renewable or ambient energy from mobile phone base stations to power battery-operated wireless sensors used in industries including health and ... read more

Biopolymer With Industrial Applications Designed by Using Natural Waste

July 11, 2016 — Crushed corn stalk, sawdust and coconut fiber are some of the waste from the farm industry that are useful to create biomaterials that can be use in construction and shipment industry. All this made ... read more

Graphene Flexes Its Muscles in New Study

July 7, 2016 — The unique properties of graphene and graphene foam could one day be used to regenerate 3-dimensional tissues and organs for implantation into the human body, new research ... read more

Recycled Plastic Lumber Invented

July 7, 2016 — Imagine a material lighter than steel, longer-lasting than lumber and strong enough to support 120-ton locomotives. Now imagine that material is made from milk containers, coffee cups and other ... read more

Wednesday, September 7, 2016