UConn Researchers Say Super-Strong Concrete Could Be a Fix for Nation’s Bridge Problems

Arash Zaghi

UConn engineering professor Arash Zaghi sits to the right of the concrete cast he’s researching that could improve how engineers repair bridges. ( Ryan Caron King / WNPR )

Standing in a laboratory packed with various scientific instruments, University of Connecticut engineering professor Arash Zaghi gestured to three steel beams, modest in appearance where they sit under the large and brightly-painted hydraulic-powered machine capable of applying weights of up to 275 tons.

Engineers refer to these beams as girders, a key component in bridge support. These three girders, modeled after a bridge in the Hartford area, were pressed under the lab’s hydraulic load machine until their point of failure.

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