Addressing Wisconsin’s intensifying infrastructure challenges.
Why is Expanding the UWM Structural Engineering Lab capabilities important?
With natural disasters projected to cost the U.S. nearly $40 billion annually by 2075 and post-disaster recovery costs quadrupling since the 1980s, there is an urgent need to develop proven construction techniques that can withstand environmental challenges while remaining cost-effective.
This need is particularly acute for Wisconsin’s infrastructure, which faces intensifying challenges from extreme weather events, freeze-thaw cycles, and increasing heavy truck traffic. Aging infrastructure, coupled with severe storms is estimated to cause between $100 and $400 million in damages each year. This cost includes infrastructure repairs (roads, bridges, utilities), property and crop damage, and economic losses due to business disruptions and power outages. The 2020 Derecho alone caused approximately $1 billion total damage in Wisconsin, including millions of dollars in damage to buildings, roads, and other public infrastructure.
UWM’s Solution: $8M to Expand Structural Engineering Lab Testing Capabilities
- Leverage a valuable resource to benefit Wisconsin: UWM hosts one of the largest university-based structural testing facilities in the Midwest: (ISO/IEC17025 accredited).
- Establish a “live” bridge/roadway testing bed that can subject segments of roadway and bridge decks to mechanical loading (from heavy truck traffic) and environmental loading (from freeze-thaw cycles, de-icing salt, and high temperatures).
- Enables state officials to investigate new methods, materials, and structural and construction techniques, for asphalt and Portland Cement, using smart and connected technologies.
- Expand to include wind testing capability. This enables researchers to to test and monitor the impact of strong winds on infrastructures in different environments, including sign structures, urban or rural homes, or farm structures such as grain silos.
This project supports Innovation in the State’s Construction infrastructure to Reduce Spending and Protect People’s Lives, Roads, & Homes.
Data source: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/state-summary/WI
How Wisconsin wins:
- Leverages industrial-scale testing capabilities in one of the few labs of its kind nationwide: The approximately 20,000-square-foot facility, with high bays and associated labs, enables testing of full-scale bridge girders, concrete manufacturing, soil and pavement materials development, microscopic investigations, and nondestructive evaluation. The facility can accommodate tests of building columns up to 30 feet tall and complete structural assemblies. Multiple hydraulic actuators can apply simultaneous loads of up to several hundred thousand pounds, simulating extreme weather events and seismic forces on actual-size infrastructure components. This testing scale is unique in Wisconsin and essential for validating disaster-resistant construction methods.
- Proactive approach to enable infrastructure resilience: UWM’s Structural Engineering Laboratory enables the testing of innovative construction methods before disasters strike. Research shows that current building codes may underestimate environmental loads by up to 50% in urban settings. The lab’s expansion would enhance capabilities for validating hybrid strengthening solutions that combine advanced materials strategically – using fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) for critical tension zones, high-performance concrete for compression elements, and smart steel connections that can better distribute extreme loads.
- Reduces taxpayer burden through prevention: This initiative would help Wisconsin shift from costly post-disaster recovery to proactive resilience through smart material placement and continuous monitoring. The lab’s integrated testing approach combines advanced structural health monitoring systems using fiber optic sensing technology, which is capable of monitoring strains and temperatures with strategic material strengthening. This allows real-time assessment of structural health and early detection of potential issues, dramatically reducing maintenance costs and preventing catastrophic failures.
- Creates a flexible, large-scale, comprehensive testing environment: The lab’s industrial scale enables simultaneous evaluation of new materials, strengthening techniques, and monitoring systems. The facility in the heart of Milwaukee can accommodate multiple large-scale tests simultaneously, from full-size bridge sections reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) to building frames equipped with distributed fiber optic sensors. The high-bay space and heavy-duty crane enable easy manipulation of test specimens and rapid reconfiguration for different testing scenarios.
- Enhances infrastructure insurability: Our approach combines three key elements for disaster-proof infrastructure: 1) smart material selection, 2) strategic strengthening, and 3) continuous monitoring. For example, super-hydrophobic concrete can protect against water damage, while FRP reinforcement prevents catastrophic failures in deteriorated bridge components. A fiber optic-sensing network provides real-time data on structural health, making infrastructure more insurable by enabling preventive maintenance and documenting structural performance under extreme conditions.
Why UWM:
- Industrial-scale testing facility addresses Wisconsin needs: The lab’s massive footprint enables testing of actual-size infrastructure components under realistic conditions. Multiple hydraulic actuators and load frames can simulate complex loading scenarios, from extreme weather events to seismic forces, on full-scale structural components up to 30 feet tall. The facility could provide the unique capability to develop and test structural solutions that combine advanced materials with embedded and “smart” monitoring systems, ensuring long-term performance validation.
- Critical Midwest resource: The lab’s industrial scale makes it one of the largest university-based structural testing facilities in the Midwest, capable of conducting tests that would be impossible at smaller facilities. UWM’s central location and massive testing capabilities make it the ideal hub for advancing infrastructure resilience across the Midwest, serving over 1,125 companies and training the next generation of infrastructure professionals in smart and connected disaster-resistant design and construction.
- Proven faculty and staff expertise: UWM is the Concrete Advancement Network (CAN) leader, an NSF-supported Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) that aims to develop new technologies to produce more efficient, rapidly deployable concrete with reduced dependency on natural resources. Our faculty and researchers have been involved in high-profile failure investigations, from the Arecibo Telescope collapse to the recent Surfside condominium collapse in Florida. UWM leads in developing and testing disaster-resistant materials, from super-hydrophobic concrete that repels water and ice and timber-cellular concrete hybrid panels to advanced FRP composites that provide superior strength-to-weight ratios for structural reinforcement.
View our Vision for the Future
Connect with us to learn more
Andrew Graettinger, Associate Dean for Research andrewjg@uwm.edu