Mark Martinez

Bio: Mark Martinez is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Subgrade & Materials science. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 5 publications receiving 99 citations.

Pavement Structures Damage Caused by Hurricane Katrina Flooding

Abstract: In September of 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and caused sustained flooding. Limited pre- and postflooding tests indicated that the pavement structures tested were adversely impacted by the flood water. Consequently, the Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development hired an independent contractor to structurally test approximately 383 km ( 238 mi ) of the region’s federally aided urban highway system both inside and outside of the flooding area. Falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests were performed every 161 m ( 0.1 mi ) over each selected roadway, along with other field tests. The FWD data were imported into a geographical information system and plotted against a USGS geo-referenced map. Comparative analyses were made possible through the use of extensive flood maps made available through NOAA and FEMA. This arrangement made it possible to classify spatially and graphically all test points on the basis of flooding versus nonflooding, short flooding duration versus longer flooding ...

Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Roadways in the New Orleans Area

Abstract: On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana, leaving hundreds of thousands either displaced or homeless. Nearly four weeks later, Hurricane Rita made landfall in the southwestern portion of the state, further damaging Louisiana's infrastructure and impacting the New Orleans area. In response, LTRC personnel conducted pavement testing on several on-going construction projects that were submerged to determine if contract modifications would be necessary to address damage impact. Damage was found in asphalt and concrete layers, and subgrades were found to be very weak. For one project, LA 46, LTRC had "before and after" data which indicated that the damage incurred was equivalent to three inches of asphalt concrete. As a result, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) contracted with Fugro Consultants, LP, to conduct testing on 238 mi of state highways in new Orleans at 0.1 mi intervals. Fugro conducted falling Weight Deflectometer, Ground Penetrating Radar, and Dynamic Cone Penetrometer testing along with coring selected locations for thickness and damage verification to determine the extent of structural damage to these pavements. Because there was no "before" data, a traditional forensic type analysis could not be undertaken. With the use of global information system (GIS) mapping and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) flood mapping, data points could be identified as either submerged or non-submerged. The non-submerged data were then considered as a control set, and the submerged data were considered as the experimental set. In this manner, the data could be tested using standard analysis of variance techniques to test the hypothesis that the submerged pavements were weaker and therefore damaged as a result of the hurricanes. It is noted that this methodology does not imply that the non-submerged pavements were not damaged also, but provides a relative damage estimate. Once weaker strength parameters were determined, standard pavement design methods were applied to the structural numbers and subgrade modulii to determine an equivalent amount of asphalt concrete for this strength loss. In general, it was found that asphalt pavements had strength loss equivalent to about two inches of new asphalt concrete and that thinner asphalt pavements were weaker than the thicker pavements. Very little relative damage was detected for the portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements. The composite pavements demonstrated no need for additional structure in the pavement layers; however a weaker subgrade for the submerged areas equivalent to nearly one inch of asphalt concrete was identified. Using recent bid prices in New Orleans of $250,000 per mile for a typical rehabilitation scenario (mill four inches/replace four inches of asphalt concrete), an estimated cost for the approximately 200 mi of submerged state highway pavements would be $50 million. There are another 300 mi of federal-aid and 1500 mi of non-federal aid roads that were submerged in the New Orleans area.

Preparation and benchmarking of novel cellulose nanopaper

Abstract: Synthetic polymers and plastics which are currently used as barrier materials in packaging applications are neither renewable nor biodegradable. Nanopaper, which is obtained by breaking down cellulose fibers into nanoscale particles, have unique properties with the potential to replace synthetic packaging materials, but requires very high energy to mechanically process the fibers into nanopaper. This research investigates whether refining alone can be used to produce nanopaper with sufficient quality for packaging applications. Nanopaper was produced from Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft (BEK) refined with a PFI mill and from Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK) refined in a pilot disc refiner. Both trials found a plateau for oxygen permeability and water vapour permeability that was reached after 1800 kWh/t and 12,000 kWh/t for refining in the pilot disc refiner and PFI mill, respectively. Refining beyond these optima produced either little or no reduction in permeability, while increasing the drainage time to form a sheet. However, elastic modulus, strain at break and sheet light transmittance did continue to increase. The plateau oxygen permeability of ~ 1.24 (cc µm)/(m2 day kPa) is 1-3 orders of magnitude lower than the oxygen permeability for PET and LDPE, respectively, while the plateau water vapour permeability ~ 3 × 10-11 g/m.s. Pa was 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than for PET and LDPE. The improved strength and barrier properties of nanopaper achieved at lab and pilot scale mechanical refining process promises a sustainable alternative to conventional packaging.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10570-022-04563-0.

Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study, Phase I

Abstract: This document, part of the Synthesis and Assessment Products described in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Strategic Plan. Climate affects the design, construction, safety, operations, and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and systems. The prospect of a changing climate raises critical questions regarding how alterations in temperature, precipitation, storm events, and other aspects of the climate could affect the nation's roads, airports, rail, transit systems, pipelines, ports, and waterways. Phase I of this regional assessment of climate change and its potential impacts on transportation systems addresses these questions for the region of the U.S. central Gulf Coast between Galveston, Texas and Mobile, Alabama. This region contains multimodal transportation infrastructure that is critical to regional and national transportation services. The significance of various climate factors for transportation systems was assessed.

Review of remote sensing methodologies for pavement management and assessment

Abstract: Evaluating the condition of transportation infrastructure is an expensive, labor intensive, and time consuming process. Many traditional road evaluation methods utilize measurements taken in situ along with visual examinations and interpretations. The measurement of damage and deterioration is often qualitative and limited to point observations. Remote sensing techniques offer nondestructive methods for road condition assessment with large spatial coverage. These tools provide an opportunity for frequent, comprehensive, and quantitative surveys of transportation infrastructure. The goal of this paper is to provide a bridge between traditional procedures for road evaluation and remote sensing methodologies by creating a comprehensive reference for geotechnical engineers and remote sensing experts alike. A comprehensive literature review and survey of current techniques and research methods is provided to facilitate this bridge. A special emphasis is given to the challenges associated with transportation assessment in the aftermath of major disasters. The use of remote sensing techniques offers new potential for pavement managers to assess large areas, often in little time. Although remote sensing techniques can never entirely replace traditional geotechnical methods, they do provide an opportunity to reduce the number or size of areas requiring site visits or manual methods.

Assessment of climate change adaptation costs for the U.S. road network

Abstract: The U.S. road network is one of the nation's most important capital assets and is vital to the functioning of the U.S. economy. Maintaining this asset involves approximately $134 billion of government funds annually from Federal, State, and local agencies. Climate change may represent a risk or an opportunity to this network, as changes in climate stress will affect the resources necessary for both road maintenance and construction projects. This paper develops an approach for estimating climate-related changes in road maintenance and construction costs such that the current level of service provided by roads is maintained over time. We estimate these costs under a baseline scenario in which annual mean global temperature increases by 1.5 °C in 2050 relative to the historical average and a mitigation scenario under which this increase in mean temperature is limited to 1.0 °C. Depending on the nature of the changes in climate that occur in a given area, our analysis suggests that climate change may lead to a reduction in road maintenance and/or construction costs or an increase in costs. Overall, however, our analysis shows that climate change, if unchecked, will increase the annual costs of keeping paved and unpaved roads in service by $785 million in present value terms by 2050. When not discounted, this figure increases to $2.8 billion. Policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to reduce these costs by approximately $280 million in present value terms and by $885 million when not discounted. These costs vary substantially by region and time period, information that should be important for transportation planners at the national, state, and local levels.

Impact of climate change on pavement structural performance in the United States

Abstract: This study uses climate projections from multiple models and for different climate regions to investigate how climate change may impact the transportation infrastructure in the United States. Climate data from both an ensemble of 19 different climate models at both RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 as well as three individual prediction models at the same Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) levels is used. These models are integrated into the AASHTOWare Pavement ME software to predict the pavement performance. Comparisons are made between the predicted performance with respect to typical pavement distresses using both historical climate data as well as climate projection data. Though there is substantial variation for different prediction models in terms of the magnitude of the impact, the consistency in results suggest that projected climate changes are highly likely to result in greater distresses and/or earlier failure of the pavement. This finding is consistent across all the climate zones studied, but varies in magnitude of 2–9% for fatigue cracking and 9–40% for AC rutting at the end of 20 years depending on the climate region of the pavement section and prediction model used. This study also compares the impacts incorporating temperature only projections with temperature and precipitation projections. In this respect, the sections considered in this study do not show any substantial difference in the pavement performance when the precipitation data from the climate predictions are also considered in the climate inputs into AASHTOWare Pavement ME software.

Use of System Dynamics to Understand Long-Term Impact of Climate Change on Pavement Performance and Maintenance Cost

Abstract: An increase in the vulnerability of the nation's roadway network to changes in climatic conditions has become an issue of significant concern. Heavy rainfall and high temperatures are examples of climatic factors that can affect pavement performance and conditions in a detrimental way. Some of these effects, specifically on costs associated with constructing and maintaining roads, may not be significant in the short term but may become significant in the long term. The objective of this study was to present a framework to use system dynamics to understand the long-term impact of climate change on pavement performance and maintenance activity. A system dynamics model was created with available pavement performance and climate change data, and the effects on various key factors, such as pavement life and maintenance cost, were evaluated through simulation. Preliminary results show that the long-term effects of changes in air temperature, rainfall, seawater-level rise, and number of hurricanes on pavement pe...