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Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

 

Zhanmin Zhang, Ph.D. 

 

Selected Recent Research Projects

Creating a Resilient Port System in Texas: Assessing and Mitigating Extreme Weather Events

The Texas Gulf port system plays a vital role in the state and national economy. Texas ports are frequently exposed to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding, tornadoes, and more. These natural disasters can disrupt typical port operations and result in significant direct impacts to local economies and indirect impacts to broader industry sectors.The objective of this project is to perform vulnerability and risk assessments of the Texas port system and assess the economic costs of port disruptions and sector-wise impacts on the U.S. economy.

 

Resilience Assessment and Planning of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems

Critical infrastructure systems are the "lifelines" of cities. Proper functioning of infrastructure systems, such as water lines, communication networks, and electricity grids among others is essential for ensuring the well-being of communities as well as for fostering regional economic growth. The resilience of interdependent infrastructure networks not only minimizes direct losses from extreme events but also plays a vital role in the recovery and mitigation of urban communities and economic hotspots. Resilience assessment and planning requires proper identification and estimation of interdependent effects in networks. Though accurate modeling of interdependent effects of extreme events is difficult due to lack of data, mathematical models will be investigated based on general functional characteristics of infrastructure networks.

 

Exploration of Agent-based Systems for Simulating Interdependencies of Infrastructure Systems

Interdependencies of infrastructure systems remain a critical area of basic research, as our infrastructure systems are increasingly intertwined with each other and the failure of one system could lead to the potential failure of one or more other systems. Though previous studies have tried to approach the problem from various directions, there is still not a matured methodological framework that can effectively address issues related to infrastructure interdependencies. The objective of this research is to explore how agent-based systems can be used as the modeling tool for simulating the interdependencies of infrastructure systems.

 

Risk Assessment and Financial Viability Analysis of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Investments

In light of the global trend of using Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) an alternative transportation project delivery mechanism by state DOTs in the U.S. and highway agencies in other countries, understanding the risk and financial variability associated with PPP investments has become a critical issue of basic research that will benefit both the public highway agencies and the private sectors for the evaluation of potential PPP projects. The objective of this research is to assess the risk and analyze the financial viability of PPP investments, considering all the involved variables and the variability associated with these variables. In addition, risks and implications of adopting a multi-tier system are also examined under the study.

 

Improving the Identification of Curve-Related Crashes in the Crash Records Information System (CRIS)

About 38,000 fatal crashes occur every year in the United States, of which 25 percent are curve-related. According to Federal Highway Administration, the average crash rate for horizontal curves is about three times that of other highway segment types. Curves also play a significant role in Texas. From 2010 to 2017, about 9 percent of all crashes and 22 percent of fatal crashes were curve-related. However, a recent analysis revealed that CRIS may substantially misclassify curve-related crashes. The CRIS variables missed about one-third of curve-related motorcycle crashes. In addition, the degree of misclassification appears to vary by crash severity. Consequently, the role of curve and its safety impact are underestimated. Therefore, there is a need for better identification of curve-related crashes, and also methods for better understanding curve characteristics and their impact on crash risk and severity.

 

Development of a 10-year Asset Managment System for Operation and Maintenance Planning

The objective of this project is to develop web-based and GIS-integrated 10-year asset management system to support decision makings in highway asset maintenance management at the district level such as budget planning and budget allocations, using data and information from legacy information systems maintained at TxDOT. The project also provides cross-asset resource allocation capabilities to the TxDOT.

 

Capitalizing on Construction Records to Identify Relationships between Construction and Long-Term Project Performance

As part of its quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) process, TxDOT maintains pavement-related data in multiple databases. Even though a significant amount of data and information are available in these databases, the effect of material design factors and QC/QA efforts on the long-term project performance is not well understood. The primary objective of this project is to investigate the relationship between TxDOT’s material design specifications, QC/QA effort, and long-term pavement performance. Various data analysis techniques shall be employed to explore relationships between the construction records and pavement performance. Findings from the data analysis shall be validated through site visits and discussions with subject matter experts from the Receiving Agency.

 

 

 

Selected Recent Peer-reviewed Journal Publications

 

 

Nam, B.H., J.-W. An, M.-Y. Kim, M. R. Murphy, and Z. Zhang, “Improved the Structural Condition Index for Pavement Structural Evaluation at Network Level”, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, pp. 1-10, Taylor & Francis Group, February 2015.

Wang, X., Z. Zhang, J. Chen, and Z. Han*, “Methodologies for Assessing Costs of Rail Transit Systems Based on Small Sample Data,” International Journal of Rail Transportation, Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 81-96, Taylor & Francis Group, April 2015.

Wang, X., Z. Zhang, J. Chen, and Z. Han*, “A Generalized Life-cycle Cost Model for Rail Transit: Making Decisions between At-grade Mode and Underground Mode,” International Journal of Rail Transportation, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 27-54, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

Wu, H.*, Z. Han*, M.R. Murphy, and Z. Zhang, “Empirical Bayes Before-After Study on Safety Effect of Narrow Pavement Widening Projects in Texas,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2515, pp. 63-69, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC, November 2015.

Porras-Alvarado, J.D.*, Z. Han*, D. Peters*, and Z. Zhang, “Novel Utility-Based Methodological Framework for Valuation of Road Infrastructure,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2529, pp. 37-45, Transportation Research Board of the National Academics, Washington, DC, November 2015.

Porras-Alvarado, J.D.*, Z. Han*, M. Al-Amin*, and Z. Zhang, “Fairness and Efficiency Considerations in Performance-Based, Cross Asset Resource Allocation,” Transportation Research Board: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2596, pp.19-27, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC, October 2016.

Porras-Alvarado, J.D.*, M. Murphy, H. Wu*, Z. Han*, Z. Zhang, and M. Arellano, “An Analytical Heirarchy Process to Improve Project Prioritization in the Austin District,” Transportation Research Board: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2613, pp. 29-36, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC, 2017.

Han, Z.*, J.D. Porras-Alvarado*, J. Sun*, and Z. Zhang, “Monte Carlo Simulation Based Assessment of Risks Associated with PPP Investments in Toll Highway Infrastructure,” Transportation Research Board: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2670, pp. 56-67, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC, 2017.

Zhang, Z. and L. Gao*, “A Nested Modelling Approach to Infrastructure Performance Characterization,” pp 174-180, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, vol. 19, issue 2, Taylor & Francis, March 2018.

Han, Z.* and Z. Zhang, “Incorporating Uncertainties into Determination of Flexible Pavement Preventive Maintenance Interval,” Transportmetrica A: Transport Science (TTRA), Taylor & Francis, February 2018.

Balakrishnan. S.* and Z. Zhang, “Developing Priority Index for Managing Utility Disruptions in Urban Areas with Focus on Cascading and Interdependent Effects,” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, I-12, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC, July 2018.

Lim, T.*, J.D. Porras-Alvarado*, and Z. Zhang, “Pricing of Highway Infrastructure for Transportation Asset Management,” Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 9, issue 1, Emerald, December 2018.

Galvis, Oscar* and Z. Zhang, “Skid resistance deterioration model at the network level using Markov chains,” International Journal of Pavement Engineering, Taylor & Francis, January 2019.

Wang, X., Y. Gou, Z. Han*, and Z. Zhang, “Pavement network reliability: a dual-network based on fuzzy set methodology,” IET Intelligent Transport Systems, Vol. 13 Issue 3, pp. 475-484, 2019.

Jin, L., Z. Zhang, and J. Song, “Profit Allocation and Subsidy Mechanism for Public-Private Partnership Toll Road Projects,” Journal of Management in Engineering, ASCE, Feburary 2020.

Balakrishnan, S. * and Z. Zhang, “Criticality and Susceptibility Indices for Resilience-Based Ranking and Prioritization of Components in Interdependent Infrastructure Networks,”Journal of Management in Engineering, ASCE, March 2020.

*Indicating current or former student under my supervision.

 

 

 

 

 

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