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Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance (CISIA)

Center Overview

Structural integrity and reliable lifespan prediction of infrastructure and mechanical components have relevance in every public and private sector, ranging from energy to aerospace to construction to chemical processing industries. CISIA serves as a trusted source of transformative insights, predictive capabilities, and materials innovations across broad industrial sectors, focusing on structural integrity assurance for small and large structures and mechanical components.

CISIA conducts use-driven, fundamental, pre-competitive research to establish linkages between material properties and infrastructure performance in terms of its structural integrity. Establishing linkages between material properties, infrastructure performance, and structural integrity requires multi-disciplinary research collaborations; CISIA is well-positioned to elucidate and translate these links and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors. The academic and industrial members of CISIA work in concert to produce a diverse workforce of engineers who are trained in state-of-the-art facilities to utilize modern methods of structural health monitoring and analysis. These engineers will join a highly qualified and productive workforce that significantly enhances the global competitiveness and resilience of U.S. industries.

Universities

Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana State University

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Michael M Khonsari
Center Director
+1 225 342 4253
khonsari@lsu.edu

John Matthews
Site Director (Louisiana Tech University)
+1 318 257 2852
matthews@latech.edu

Charles (Chuck) J. Mart
CISIA Industry Liaison
+1 225 278 8229
cjmart@techinnoventadvisors.com

Research Focus

CISIA focuses on structural integrity and materials innovation — with emphasis on multiscale materials characterization and testing, and multiscale physics-based modeling and simulation — to research component and civil asset fatigue, wear, lifetime assessment methods, and nondestructive accelerated testing. CISIA leverages its extensive infrastructure for research into installation, inspection, structural health assessment, and rehabilitation of underground utility systems, as well as innovative nondestructive evaluation methods for above-ground civil infrastructure.

By integrating validated diagnostics, machine learning, and data-driven decision-making, CISIA will elucidate and translate the links between new materials, manufacturing processes, and service histories, and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors.

With state-of-the-art research facilities, CISIA specializes in research involving:

Accelerated and nondestructive testing
Component fatigue, wear, creep, and corrosion
Continuous structural health monitoring
Design of dynamic high-stress interfaces
Fully structural repair materials for buried pipeline assets
Innovative testing methodologies for newly developed structural repair materials
Lifetime assessment and prediction
Fundamental modeling and machine learning to better predict asset conditions
New structural materials and fabrication methods
Nondestructive structural integrity analysis methods and algorithms
Validated diagnostics for structural evaluation
Robotics applications to systems in structural integrity
Sensors and non-destructive testing and detection of leaks in pipes
Additive manufacturing of large components using friction stir welding
Durable coatings in large systems for harsh operating conditions

Awards

2052810

IUCRC Phase I: Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance (CISIA)

Louisiana State University (LSU) and Louisiana Tech University (LA Tech) have established the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance (CISIA). Structural integrity and reliable life prediction of infrastructure and mechanical components have relevance in every public and private sector, including but not limited to energy, aerospace, construction, manufacturing and infrastructure. CISIA will serve as a trusted source of transformative insights, predictive capabilities, and materials innovations across broad industrial sectors, focusing on structural integrity assurance for small and large structures and mechanical components. CISIA will conduct use-driven, fundamental, pre-competitive research to establish linkages between material properties and infrastructure performance in terms of its structural integrity. The Center will elucidate and translate these links and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors. The academic and industrial members of CISIA will work in concert to produce a diverse workforce of engineers who are trained in state-of-the-art facilities to utilize modern methods of structural health monitoring and analysis. These engineers will become a highly qualified and productive workforce that enhances the global competitiveness and resilience of U.S. industries.

Structural health monitoring, diagnosis, and in-situ rehabilitation of aging civil and industrial infrastructure are critical for public safety and economic development. Understanding, controlling, and improving the mechanical integrity of near-surface regions of mechanical components subject to high-stress/high-cycle contact (interfacial solid-solid and solid-fluid conjunctions) are fundamental problems affecting U.S. manufacturing and defense industries. The LSU site focuses on structural integrity and materials innovation—with emphasis on multiscale materials characterization/testing and multiscale physics-based modeling/simulation to understand component fatigue, wear, lifetime assessment, and non-destructive accelerated testing. By integrating validated diagnostics, machine learning, and data-driven decision making, CISIA will elucidate and translate the links between new materials, manufacturing processes, service histories, and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors. Establishing linkages between material properties, infrastructure performance, and structural integrity requires multi-disciplinary research collaborations. The members of this proposed IUCRC have the requisite multi-disciplinary expertise, history of collaboration, proximity to a broad and strategic national manufacturing corridor, and access to the necessary research infrastructure to produce scientific advances in the structural integrity field, accelerated by the proposed industrial partnership.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

2052795

IUCRC Phase I: Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance (CISIA)

Louisiana State University (LSU) and Louisiana Tech University (LA Tech) have established the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance (CISIA). Structural integrity and reliable life prediction of infrastructure and mechanical components have relevance in every public and private sector, including but not limited to energy, aerospace, construction, manufacturing and infrastructure. CISIA will serve as a trusted source of transformative insights, predictive capabilities, and materials innovations across broad industrial sectors, focusing on structural integrity assurance for small and large structures and mechanical components. CISIA will conduct use-driven, fundamental, pre-competitive research to establish linkages between material properties and infrastructure performance in terms of its structural integrity. The Center will elucidate and translate these links and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors. The academic and industrial members of CISIA will work in concert to produce a diverse workforce of engineers who are trained in state-of-the-art facilities to utilize modern methods of structural health monitoring and analysis. These engineers will become a highly qualified and productive workforce that enhances the global competitiveness and resilience of U.S. industries.

Structural health monitoring, diagnosis, and in-situ rehabilitation of aging civil and industrial infrastructure are critical for public safety and economic development. Understanding, controlling, and improving the mechanical integrity of near-surface regions of mechanical components subject to high-stress/high-cycle contact (interfacial solid-solid and solid-fluid conjunctions) are fundamental problems affecting U.S. manufacturing and defense industries. The CISIA site at Louisiana Tech University will leverage its extensive infrastructure for research into installation, inspection, structural health assessment, and rehabilitation of underground utility systems as well as innovative non-destructive evaluation methods for above-ground civil infrastructure. The site includes facilities for the testing of metal, composite, and concrete structures including beams, slabs, and pipes both above and below the ground. The site’s current research also includes the formulation of geopolymeric materials from fly ash and steel slag, which appear to have highly tunable structural and mechanical properties. By integrating validated diagnostics, machine learning, and data-driven decision making, CISIA will elucidate and translate the links between new materials, manufacturing processes, service histories, and their collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors. Establishing linkages between material properties, infrastructure performance, and structural integrity requires multi-disciplinary research collaborations. The members of this proposed IUCRC have the requisite multi-disciplinary expertise, history of collaboration, proximity to a broad and strategic national manufacturing corridor, and access to the necessary research infrastructure to produce scientific advances in the structural integrity field, accelerated by the proposed industrial partnership.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

Member Organizations

IUCRC affiliated member organizations are displayed as submitted by the Center. Non-federal organizations are not selected, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Aegion Corporation
Baker Hughes
Dow Chemical
Lockheed Martin
MELD Manufacturing Corporation
Mide Technology
National Center for Advanced Manufacturing
Shell

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.