Where Big Ideas Meet Bigger Experiments
Innovating in the High-Bay Structures Laboratory
Grand in scale, the sheer size of the High-Bay Structures Laboratory at UIC Engineering can feel intimidating.
At the top of the 45-foot-high ceiling, large overhead doors open to allow the delivery of huge specimens and infrastructure components.
Bottomed by a five-foot six-inch thick strong floor, the 6,000-square-foot space holds the specialized machinery that provides civil, materials, and environmental engineering researchers with everything they need to perform large-scale tests—and get big results that benefit both industry and the public.
Bringing in big beams
A 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers reveals that thousands of people across the United States use bridges that are considered structurally deficient every day.
Much of that damage involves corrosion of old steel. A common way to repair bridges with this damage is with plating—attaching steel plates to the existing bridge members to increase load-bearing capacity.
But the plates increase the weight of the repaired section beyond its original design configuration, potentially causing further structural damage, and any gaps remain susceptible to corrosion.
To make bridge repairs more efficient, Professor Didem Ozevin and her PhD student Raguez Taha are testing new methods on large, decommissioned bridge beams they received from the Chicago Transit Authority.
Using hydraulic actuators to perform bending tests, Taha is working to make section loss in steel bridges quantifiable. The current method is a visual inspection followed by minor manual repairs, which does not provide an accurate assessment of bridge health.
Taha takes photos of the sections, then turns them into 3D models using photogrammetry software. “It turns visual data into measurable data, which engineers can use to quantify deterioration and perform meaningful analysis on a bridge,” she said.
Using these models with structural analysis, engineers can determine precisely what is missing from the bridge and repair it with 3D-printed metal.
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“What our method is doing is essentially repairing it so that it fits exactly to the section that’s missing, like a puzzle piece,” Taha said. “The method also increases the stiffness and brings the section close to its original capacity.”
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With six steel beams ranging from 5 to 10 feet long and weighing as much as 840 pounds, the research wouldn’t be feasible without the High-Bay Structures Lab and the equipment housed there.
“There’s no other place that I could have tested beams of this size. Having dedicated space for large-scale testing is essential. I would not have been able to carry out this kind of research without a facility like this,” Taha said.
Monitoring structural health in real-time
When the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) wanted to establish a distributed structural health monitoring system with its miter gates, it turned to UIC Distinguished Professor and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Chair in Civil Engineering Farhad Ansari.
The USACE operates and maintains the nation’s inland navigation channels, which consist of more than 25,000 miles of waterways. This vast infrastructure system of locks and dams is an essential part of the nation’s transportation network. The miter gates are a key component of the locks, operating as the door to the lock and the damming surface enabling water levels in the lock to rise and lower as needed.
However, miter gates suffer from structural fatigue, damage from debris and barge collisions, and aging components that need to be replaced. To inspect these gates, the USACE must drain the water and stop barge traffic, which can cost millions of dollars.
To help, Ansari and his team brought the project to the High- Bay Structures Laboratory, where they installed optical fiber sensors on a scaled-down specimen that still measures 12 feet long and weighs approximately 2,800 pounds. The sensors measure microstrains and help the researchers investigate the structural behavior of the miter gates under operational conditions.
“We do not have the necessary support conditions for such a specimen in other laboratories,” said Todd Taylor, an instrument and measurement technician at UIC. “It had to be the High Bay.”
As part of the research, the researchers strategically remove sections of the quoin blocks to simulate a key damage scenario of concern to the US Army Corps that is known to accelerate fatigue damage on miter gates. This replicates the damage to the quoin blocks where the gates are in contact with each other or the supporting concrete walls at embankments and allow the researchers to investigate the stress distribution in the structural elements due to the change in load path.
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“The primary goal of the research is to determine the load path distribution and redistribution within the miter gates subjected to large operational loads,” said PhD student Chengwei Wang.
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“We want to know if we can detect the changes and see what’s the smallest amount of damage we can detect,” Taylor added.
Based on the results, the researchers will develop a numerical model to quantify the damage-induced strain redistribution in the miter gate structure. The results will provide the necessary proof of concept for the next stage of research. The distributed optical fiber sensor will be implemented at an operational lock and will provide the USACE with an invaluable tool for assessing the condition of the miter gate without interrupting waterway traffic.
Developing stronger railway crossties
Along railroads, railway crossties hold the track gauge, preventing train derailment and transferring loads from the rail to the supporting foundation. While concrete railway ties can last 30 to 45 years, weather and the type of train using the tracks can impact their longevity.
To remedy this problem, CME Professor Mohsen Issa is investigating ways to make a more resilient crosstie. The research is supported by a grant from Modern Habitat.
Corrosion is a primary source of structural deterioration of concrete structures and, more significantly, in railway crossties. While epoxy-coated steel bars offer a feasible solution against corrosion, the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 440 reports that the bars still corrode when used in harsh weather.
Recent advancements in material technology have introduced various high-strength solutions to enhance the durability and performance of concrete structures. New steel, seven-wire strands offer a promising way to reinforce concrete due to their superior tensile strength, reduced relaxation, and long-term durability in aggressive environments.
To make crossties that are strong and durable, Issa and his team plan to test crossties that incorporate these strands with concrete and Metakaolin, a manufactured material derived from heating kaolin clay that improves the strength, durability, and other properties of concrete.
“The optimized configuration of the post-tensioned concrete crosstie is designed to resist cracking, provide corrosion-free durability, and achieve efficient load transfer,” Issa said. “The ultimate impact of the research is to produce a sustainable prestressed Metakaolin-based crosstie with good life cycle analysis that can serve for more years compared to the conventional prestressed concrete crosstie.”
Testing water penetration resistance
Assistant Professor Aslihan Karatas is working with industry partner USG Inc., a manufacturer of ceiling and wall products, to test water penetration resistance on the company’s panels.
Karatas aims to address a critical need within the construction industry by evaluating building materials and systems under diverse indoor and outdoor environmental conditions. Her team will perform water-resistance tests on USG bathroom panels, focusing on how the panels perform in a walk-in environmental chamber with extensive water exposure. In the chamber, the team can create targeted temperature and humidity levels and observe how panels behave under those conditions.
For testing of this nature, researchers use ASTM E331, the industry standard test method for water penetration of exterior windows, skylights, doors, and curtain walls. It is used to evaluate how well exterior building components resist water infiltration. But the research team will also go beyond those standards to expose the panels to water for 48 hours while reaching 86°F for constant water temperature.
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“We have the capability of going beyond that, and we can do it for 98 hours and longer time periods,” Karatas said. “Our research results will contribute to the knowledge base in the construction industry and also provide valuable insights for professionals in the construction industry looking to make informed decisions about building assemblies.”
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In addition, the research will benefit undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students, as they will see how lab work connects to real-life experiences.
“Testing at the ASCM standards and beyond will help students make the connection to how it relates to industry practitioners,” she said. “The students will learn how to adapt themselves, think critically and creatively, and build the skill set to take on projects after they graduate and start working.”