Assistant Professor Dr. Thanongsak Imjai from the Center of Excellence for Sustainable Disaster Management Walailak University is one of the project’s research groups, entitled “Study on the Destructive Power of Thai Trucks’ Load Behavior of the Road Structure of the Department of Highways”. In this project, Dr. Akkapat Sawangsuree from the Office of Research and Development of the Department of Highways is the project manager. He is the representative to receive the award from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) in the engineering and research industry field at the 2020 Inventors’ Day at BITEC Exhibition and Convention Center, Bangkok.
Assistant Professor Dr. Thanongsak Imjai
Dr. Thanongsak graduated Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Nottingham, a master’s degree in structural engineering from Cardiff University, and a doctorate in structural engineering from the University of Sheffield. Dr. Thanongsak is a civil engineer with expertise in building analysis and inspection work. He uses the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to analyze the structure and investigate the structure’s actual load behavior in civil engineering studies, such as examining the behavior of concrete reinforcement at disaster using FRP for engineering applications.
Dr. Thanongsak revealed that the research project started the project in 2017 by collaborating with the Research and Development Office of the Department of Highways and Kasetsart University. He was invited to be an expert in Finite Element Model Analysis for research projects. The results of short-term and long-term field measurements were used to compare the results from the numerical modeling analysis due to the current lack of empirical data on the road structure’s behavior (Pavement Response) caused by the loading force of the truck weight and various external factors. This project also includes information in terms of performance and highway service life under the conditions of use in the Thailand context. This research project is in the second year to further develop the results of the first year of research. The activities consisted of 1) the development and improvement of models for predicting the performance and life of highway service; 2) response of long-term performance monitoring, and 3) installation of embedded measurement instrumentation in road structures. Also, additional field data processing systems added dimension of the duration of the measurement and quantitative and qualitative data to support behavioral response analysis of road structures and to improve models for predicting highway service performance and age. The model will be more reliable and can be used to design, construct, maintain, and restore highways.
The model developed in the project can be used to predict highway service performance. This research can also guide models for predicting highway service performance and life in highway design, construction, maintenance, and restoration.
Writer: Asst. Prof. Dr. Warit Wipulanusat