Richard Livingston, an internationally recognized physical scientist at FHWA's Turner-Fairbanks Highway Research Center (TFHRC) in McLean, VA, actively pursues opportunities to harvest basic research knowledge from other fields and adapting those known scientific approaches to possible highway applications. In 1998, after attending an international conference on conservation science, Livingston was convinced that a proven analytical method known as nuclear resonance reaction analysis (NRRA) could be used to explore the effect of chemicals on the reaction between water and Portland cement, leading to revolutionary breakthroughs in concrete manipulation. Researchers hypothesize that adjusting concrete's setting time may facilitate its transport to construction sites, enhance the material's long-term strength, and possibly reduce the potential for cracking.
Livingston's insight led to a research partnership between FHWA, the University of Connecticut, and the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Ruhr-University Bochum) in Germany. By measuring the cement hydration profile at the nanoscale (a minuscule scale where a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter), FHWA-funded research led to the development of more accurate models to predict the hydration process. A leading U.S. manufacturer of chemical admixtures for cement, seeing value in further development of this research, agreed to collaborate on the project. Officials from the National Science Foundation view this collaboration between industry, Government, and academia as a significant milestone in the research life cycle and recently approved a substantial grant to continue work on the project.
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