Underground Construction - November 2017 - 18

Trenchless Technology Center Report

TTC Research Activities Expanding Rapidly

The Trenchless Technology Center
at Louisiana Tech University has
been very busy in 2017 conducting
and planning new research on the
performance of many trenchless
technology materials.
These tests include long-term
tensile and bending creep tests
conducted inside various environmental chambers under controlled
temperature and humidity. The
current long-term tests are being
conducted on specimens prepared
from resin-impregnated cured-inplace pipe (CIPP) liners and glass
reinforced polymers (GFRP).
Planning is also well underway
for a series of experiments and
tests on several spray-in-place
pipe (SIPP) materials and systems.
The TTC has unique capabilities
spread across its large laboratory
footprint at LA Tech to perform
numerous specialty tests, many
of which have to be developed
beyond what standard methods
can provide. This need is due to
continued innovation of technology developers whose products and
materials are constantly pushing
the technical envelope forward,
and the TTC is capable of meeting
these unique needs.
The TTC has also been conducting hydrostatic design basis
(HDB) testing using a modified
method. Strain-based static HDB
testing is mentioned in the current ASTM D2992, but there is
no standard protocol given. The
TTC, along with several partners,
has developed a modified standard
protocol for conducting such a
test, and is currently conducting
the first round of testing.
The experiment includes testing
15 full-scale specimens subjected
to five different pressure ranges,
from 150 to 350 psi. Pressure
transducers are installed on each
specimen for continuous monitoring of any change in pressure.
Moreover, strain gauges are installed in both the longitudinal

ucononline.com

Top: Long-Term Tensile and Bending Setups; Bottom: Modified Strain-Based HDB Test Setup

and hoop directions to monitor
the creep strain on the specimens
subjected to continuous pressure. The goal of this effort will be
development of creep strain and
creep modulus plots on full-scale
specimens.
For more information on all of
TTC's testing and research capabilities, please contact Dr. John
Matthews, matthews@latech.edu
or visit www.ttc.latech.edu.

TTC Student Internship
Exchange Program with
Hong Kong PolyU
The Trenchless Technology Center
(TTC) at Louisiana Tech University has partnered with Hong Kong
Polytechnic University (PolyU)

to create a student internship exchange program.
Over the past 28 years, the TTC
has maintained strong international leadership in developing,
maintaining and managing buried
assets. In the summer of 2016,
TTC established the program with
PolyU and each organization has
sent two students per year to participate in the program. Two PolyU
students assisted the TTC in the
Utility Investigation School (UIS)
in August 2016, which was developed with ASCE's Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute (UESI).
The five-day training school was
taught by the foremost experts
in the geophysics and subsurface
utility engineering field. TTC

wishes to express the appreciation
to Vic Weston of Tri-State Boring
for making the program possible
through financial support from the
Louisiana State Licensing Board
for Contractors.
In the summer of 2017, TTC
sent two students from the Construction Engineering Technology (CET) program at Louisiana
Tech to PolyU for the second time.
These students, Destiny Raney
and Jackson Little, originally from
Louisiana, are in their senior year
in the CET program.
The TTC also hosted two students from PolyU. These two
students participated in several
events while in the U.S. including a one-day course focused on
Underground Construction November 2017

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Underground Construction - November 2017

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