Houssam A. Toutanji, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Structural Engineering and Structural Mechanics

Education

Biography

Dr. Toutanji is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He received the UAH Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching and UAH Foundation Award for Research and Creative Achievement for 2004 and 2005, respectively. In 2003 he was appointed a visiting professor at the University of Gent, Department of Structural Engineering (Gent-Belgium). In 1996 he was the recipient of the National Science Foundation's CAREER award. He received the NSF-EPSCoR Scholarly Productivity Award, for two years in a row (1995 and 1996), for research performance, intrinsic merit of research work, and for potential in research. He served as the Associate Director of the University Transportation Center for Alabama from 1998 to 2000. He organized three NSF International conferences in 1994, 1996 and 2005. He has served as principal or co-principal investigator on research projects whose cumulative funding exceeds $4.0 million. He is the author/co-author of over 125 publications in the areas of FRP composites, cementitious composite materials and lunar construction materials and design and edited three major conference proceedings. He is the graduate program director at UAH. He is the Faculty Advisor for the UAH/ASCE Chapter. The UAH/ASCE Chapter has won more national championships in the Concrete Canoe Competition—a total of 5 national championships—than any other university in the nation. He is the Associate Editor of the ASCE Materials Journal. He has directed numerous Doctoral and Master's students to completion.

Research Expertise

• Smart materials
• Smart structures
• Structural retrofitting and structural repair
• Durability and long-term performance of advanced composites
• Fiber-reinforced cementitious composites
• High strength concrete
• Nondestructive testing
• Modelling the freezing process and durability of concrete
• Self-consolidating concrete

Honors & Awards

• Editorial Review Board of the Scientific Journals International, Since 2007
• ABET Program Evaluator for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Since June 2006
• Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Since 2006
• UAH Research and Creative Achievement Award for 2005
• UAH Distinguished award for 2004
• College of Engineering's Outstanding Senior Faculty Member Award for 2004
• Awarded the third Annual ASCE Faculty Advisor Reward Program, 2002
• Associate Editor of the ASCE Materials for Civil Engineering Journal, Since July 2000
• NASA Summer Faculty Fellow Program, Marshall Space Flight
• Presidential Faculty Early Development (CAREER) Award, 1995
• NSF-EPSCoR Scholarly Productivity Award, 1995 and 1996
• Vice President - Chi Epsilon; Tau Betta Pi; Phi Kappa Phi, 1985, Boston

Recent Publications

Choi, H., Toutanji, H., Gilbert, J and Alldredge, D., “Impact Resistance of Polyurea-coated High-performance Organic Cementitious Materials”, ASCE Materials Journal, 2012 (in press)

Toutanji, H., Choi, and Wang, D., “Applying a Polyurea on High-Performance Organic Aggregate Cementitious Materials,” Construction & Building Materials Journal, 2012 (in press).

Toutanji, H., Ueno, S. and Vuddandam, R., “Prediction of the Interfacial Shear Stress of Externally Bonded FRP to Concrete Substrate Using Critical Stress State Criterion,” Composite Structures Journal, 2012 (in press).

Biszick, K., Gilbert, J., Toutanji, H., and Britz, M., “Symmetrically Reinforcing Cementitious Beams with Instrumented Hollow Carbon Fiber Tendons,” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 2012 (in press).

Alldredge, D., Gilbert, J., Toutanji, H., Lavin, T., and Balasubramanyam, M., “Uplift Capacity of Polyurea-Coated Light-Frame Rafter to Top Plate Connections,” ASCE Materials Journal, 2012 (in press).

Toutanji, H., Goff, C., Ethridge, E., and Stokes, E., “Gas Permeability and Flow Characterization of Simulated Lunar Regolith,” Advances in Space Research Journal, Volume 49, No 8, 2012, pp. 1271-1276.

King, L and Toutanji, H., “Load and Resistance Factor Design for Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite bridge Deck,” Composites B Journal, Volume 43, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 673-680.

Toutanji, H., Evans, Steve, and Grugel, R., “Performance of “Waterless Concrete.” Construction & Building Materials Journal, Volume 29, Issue 1, 2012, pp. 444-448.

Toutanji, H. and Han, M., “Interfacial Bond Strength Characteristics of FRP and RC Substrate”, ASCE Composites for Construction Journal, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2012.

Haidar, M., Ghorbel, E., and Toutanji, H., “Optimization of the Formulation of Micro-polymer Concrete,” Construction & Building Materials, Volume 25, Issue 4, 2011, pp. 1632-1644.

Xu, B., Toutanji, H., Lavin, T., and Gilbert, J, “Characterization of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Fiber Reinforced Organic Aggregate Cementitious Materials,” Polymer of Concrete: Key Engineering Materials, Vol. 466, 2010, pp. 73-83.

Toutanji, H., Han, M., Gilbert, J. and Matthys, S., “Behavior of Large-Scale Rectangular Columns Confined with FRP Composites,” ASCE Composites for Construction Journal, Volume 14, No. 1, 2010, pp. 62-71.

Xu, B., Toutanji, H., and Gilbert, J, “Impact resistance of Poly(vinyl alcohol) fiber reinforced high-performance organic aggregate cementitious material,” Cement and Concrete Research Journal, Volume 40, No. 2, 2010, pp. 347-350.

Toutanji, H., Xu, B., Gilbert, J, and Lavin, T., “Properties of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Fiber Reinforced High-performance Organic Aggregate Cementitious Material: Converting Brittle to Plastic,” Construction & Building Materials Journal, Volume 24, No. 1, 2010, pp. 1-10.

Toutanji, H. and Grugel R., “Mechanical Properties and Durability Performance of “Waterless Concrete”, ASCE Civil Engineering Magazine, Volume 79, Number 10, October 2008.

Grugel, R. and Toutanji, H., “Sulfur “Concrete” for Lunar Applications – Sublimation Concerns”, Journal of Advances in Space Research, Vol. 41, 2008, pp. 103-112.

Saxena, P., Toutanji, H. and Noumowe, A., “Failure Analysis of FRP-Strengthened RC Beams,” ASCE Composites for Construction Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2008, pp. 2-14.