Engineering Sustainable Infrastructure for Guam
Guam’s coastal structures face a harsh reality: salt air and seawater corrode the steel bars inside concrete. Most construction materials, including cement and aggregates, must be shipped in from off-island, and the island continues to grapple with how to dispose of solid waste, including glass bottles.
Ernesto J. Guades, Ph.D., P.E., chair and associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Guam (UOG) School of Engineering, sees these challenges as connected and as an opportunity.
Guades received $49,554 in Guam NSF EPSCoR E-CORE inaugural seed funding for his project, “Hybrid Waste Glass and Recycled Concrete Aggregate with Fiber-reinforced Polymer Composite Bar as Sustainable and Resilient Material: Characterization of Mechanical and Structural Behaviors.”
His research will test whether recycled bottle glass and concrete salvaged from demolished buildings and roads can replace quarried gravel as aggregate. It will also test whether glass fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars, a non-corrosive material, can replace steel reinforcement, particularly in marine environments. The goal is to understand how these materials behave, so the findings can inform design guidelines for practicing engineers on Guam and other locations.