This article was coauthored by Alison Manges and Nick Pompella.
The Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Standing Committee on Information Systems and Technology has awarded the Young Scholar Award to Cheng Peng, a PhD student in Purdue Polytechnic's Construction Management Technology program.
Peng's paper, "Investigation of Locked Wheel Skid Tester Practicability on Horizontal Curves: A Camera-based Field Implementation," was co-authored with Purdue faculty ChengCheng Tao and Yi Jiang, as well as with Dr. Shuo Li of the Division of Research and Development of INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation).
The Young Scholar Award is the top honor awarded to a young researcher aged 35 or younger by this committee during the TRB annual meeting. The winning paper went through a rigorous two-round review and evaluation process.
"Locked Wheel Skid Testers, used by many state Departments of Transportation, test pavement grip only on straight and level roads. However, the highway network is full of horizontal curves which have an average crash rate about three times higher than other highway segments," Peng said.
"The paper investigates the relevant mechanisms and seeks to upgrade the current friction test's practicability on horizontal curves by montioring vehicle cornering behavior using cameras."
Peng continued by stating that this was her first paper award, and that it has "encouraged" her in continuing her current research interests. "[My coauthors] have shared their expertise and great ideas with me in our work together. ... I expect to devote my time and effort to more challenging problem in developing digital tools and strategies promoting a more sustainable built environment and monitoring of civil infrastructure."