Angelica Neira
UTRGV Civil Engineering student Angelica Neira had the opportunity to complete her UTCRS REU experience at Texas A&M University. Ms. Neira showed a deep interest in the evaluation of construction materials and their sustainable use. Concrete is the second most utilized material in the construction industry. It is economical, versatile, durable, and has a high compressive strength. For these reasons, it is an abundant material worldwide, which can pose concerns to the construction industry in terms of waste management. Ms. Neira worked on analyzing the possibility of repurposing concrete as replacement railway ballast. She tested regular ballast in comparison to concrete ballast under a repeated impact load. Her findings suggest that, even though regular ballast performed better in terms of displacement, the performance difference was not significant enough and could be addressed with the use of additives and aggregates in the concrete. Ms. Neira’s work results in a possible new application for waste concrete as an economical and environmentally friendly alternative for replacement ballast.