Cost-Effective ECC for Transportation Infrastructure

The Transportation Consortium of South-Central States (Tran-SET) is a collaborative partnership between nine major institutions and two community colleges, led by Louisiana State University (LSU). Tran-SET's mission is to support all phases of research, technology transfer, workforce development, and outreach activities of emerging technologies that can solve transportation challenges in Federal Region 6. Tran-SET's research specifically focuses on improving the durability and extending the life of transportation infrastructure, and Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECCs) fit into the focus of Tran-SET as a material with the potential to significantly enhance the durability of current and future transportation infrastructure in the region.

ECCs, also known as ductile or bendable concrete, are a special type of high performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites, that are micromechanically designed to exhibit metal-like ductility at relatively low fiber content. In contrast to traditional concrete, ECCs can undergo substantial amounts of deformation 100 to 500 times that of regular concrete in tension--through a controlled process of multiple micro-cracking called "pseudo strain-hardening."