Geomechanics/Geotechnical Research Group

Surya Sarat Chandra Congress, Ph.D.

 

 

Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing

 

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Associate Research Scientist (September 2019 – Present)

Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, 2018
M.Tech., Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 2014
B.Tech., Civil Engineering, JNTU, 2012

Dr. Surya Sarat Chandra Congress is an Associate Research Scientist in Civil Engineering, at Texas A&M University. He is also a FAA Certified Drone Pilot. His areas of research interests include sensor-based infrastructure, ground improvement techniques, and smart city concepts using innovative sensors and smart monitoring technologies.  He worked on Federal and State-funded research projects on using innovative sensors for monitoring infrastructure assets. As a part of these projects, he has been involved in the monitoring of civil infrastructure health conditions by collecting pavements, railways, bridges, embankments, slopes, towers, and dams data using unmanned aerial vehicles coupled with close range photogrammetry. His background in transportation engineering is helpful in the studies conducted pertaining to infrastructure asset management. He also works on image analysis using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Techniques. He is also a member of two national academy’s Transportation Research Board committees and he also serves as TRB Committee Communications Coordinator (CCC) for one of the committees. He delivered many invited lectures including the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering’s (ISSMGE’s) Bright Spark Keynote Lecture at an international conference in Cairo, Egypt.

Chi Epsilon, Lifetime Member
American Society of Civil Engineers, Member
ASCE GI Institute, Member

  1. Patil, U. D., Hoyos, L. R., Puppala, A., & Congress, S. S. C. (2020). Suction Stress Characteristic Curves of Cohesive-Frictional Soils from Multiple Suction-Controlled Testing Methods. International Journal of Geomechanics. 20(7).  
  2. Talluri, N., Puppala, A., Congress, S. S. C., & Banerjee, A. (2020). Experimental Studies and Modeling of High-Sulfate Soil Stabilization. ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 146(5), 12. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0002240
  3. Congress, S. S. C., Kumar, P., Patil, U. D., Bheemasetti, T. V., & Puppala, A. J. (2020). Three-Dimensional Stability Analysis of Rock Slope Using Aerial Photogrammetry Data. Geo-Congress 2020. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA. https://doi.org/doi:10.1061/9780784482810.041
  4. Liu, L., Li, Z., Cai, G., Congress, S.S.C., Liu, X., & Dai, B. (2020). Evaluating the influence of moisture on settling velocity of road embankment constructed with recycled construction wastes. Construction and Building Materials, 241, 117988.
  5. Talluri, N., Congress, S.S.C., Bheemasetti, T. V., Puppala, A. J., & Yu, X. (2020). Assessment of Sulfate-Induced Heave in Chemically Treated Soils Using a Novel Hybrid Sensor. Geotechnical Testing Journal, 44(1).
  6. Congress, S.S.C., and Puppala, A. J. (2019). Evaluation of UAV–CRP Data for Monitoring Transportation Infrastructure Constructed over Expansive Soils. Indian Geotechnical Journal, August, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-019-00384-4.
  7. Puppala, A. J., Ruttanaporamakul, P., and Congress, S.S.C. (2019). Design and construction of lightweight EPS geofoam embedded geomaterial embankment system for control of settlements. Geotextiles and Geomembranes, Elsevier.
  8. Puppala, A. J., & Congress, S.S.C. (2019, September). A Holistic Approach for Visualization of Transportation Infrastructure Assets Using UAV-CRP Technology. In International Conference on Inforatmion technology in Geo-Engineering (pp. 3-17). Springer, Cham.
  9. Puppala, A. J., Congress, S.S.C., & Banerjee, A. (2019). Research advancements in expansive soil characterization, stabilization and geoinfrastructure monitoring. In Frontiers in geotechnical engineering (pp. 15-29). Springer, Singapore.
  10. Puppala, A. J., Congress, S.S.C., Talluri, N., and Wattanasanthicharoen, E. (2019). Sulfate-Heaving Studies on Chemically Treated Sulfate-Rich Geomaterials. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 31(6), 4019076.
  11. Congress, S.S.C., and Puppala, A. J. (2019). Novel Methodology of Using Aerial Close Range Photogrammetry Technology for Monitoring the Pavement Construction Projects. Airfield and Highway Pavements 2019, Proceedings.
  12. Yu, Q., Liu, J., Patil, U. D., Congress, S.S.C., & Puppala, A. J. (2019). Two-Dimensional Fractal Model for Ultimate Crushing State of Coarse Aggregates. Fractals.
  13. Congress, S. S.C., Puppala, A. J., Banerjee, A., Jafari, N. H., & Patil, U. D. (2019, September). Use of Unmanned Aerial Photogrammetry for Monitoring Low-Volume Roads After Hurricane Harvey. In 12th International Conference on Low-Volume Roads (p. 530).
  14. Patil, U. D., Hoyos, L. R., Yepes, J. E., Puppala, A. J., & Congress, S.S.C. (2019). Suction stress via thermo-servo/constant-water content ring shear testing. Japanese Geotechnical Society Special Publication, 7(2), 110-114.
  15. Congress, S.S.C., Puppala, A.J., and Lundberg, C.L., 2018. Total System Error Analysis of UAV-CRP Technology for Monitoring Transportation Infrastructure Assets. Engineering Geology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.11.002.
  16. Puppala, A.J., Congress, S.S.C., Bheemasetti, T. V, and Caballero, S.R., 2018. Visualization of Civil Infrastructure Emphasizing Geomaterial Characterization and Performance. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 30 (10), 4018236. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002434.
  17. Puppala, A.J., Talluri, N., Congress, S.S.C., and Gaily, A., 2018. Ettringite induced heaving in stabilized high sulfate soils. Innovative Infrastructure Solutions, 3 (1), 72.
  18. Puppala, A.J., Congress, S.S.C., Bheemasetti, T. V, and Caballero, S., 2018. Geotechnical Data Visualization and Modeling of Civil Infrastructure Projects. In: GeoShanghai International Conference. Springer, 1–12.
  19. Puppala, A. J., Das, J. T., Bheemasetti, T. V., & Congress, S.S.C. (2018). Sustainability and Resilience in Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnics: Integrating Advanced Technologies for Better Asset Management. Geo-Strata—Geo Institute of ASCE, 22(3), 42-48.
  20. Congress, S.S.C. (2018). Novel Infrastructure Monitoring Using Multifaceted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems-Close Range Photogrammetry (UAV-CRP) Data Analysis (Doctoral dissertation).
  1. “Drone data collection to monitor the health of civil infrastructure in Texas including post recent hurricanes,” Invited Talk, CityAge: The New American City, November 29th – 30th, 2017 in Washington, DC.
  2. “UAV Studies: Texas DOT Experience: Safety Protocols and Applications in Transportation, Pavement, and Bridge Infrastructure,” Invited presentation, January 7th – 11th, TRB-2018, Washington, DC
  3. “Applications of UAVs in Transportation Geotechnics,” Invited presentation, January 7th – 11th, TRB-2018, Washington, DC.
  4. “UAV Studies in Transportation and Geotechnical Applications,” AFS 20 Committee presentation, January 7th – 11th, TRB-2018, Washington, DC.
  5. “Implementation of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Texas,” State Transportation Innovation Council, March 5th 2018, Austin, Texas.
  6. “Evaluation of Initial Applications of UAVs for Monitoring TxDOT Infrastructure,” TxDOT Surveyors’ Conference, April 24-25, 2018, Austin, Texas.
  7. “UAV and Close Range Photogrammetry (CRP) Studies for Transportation Infrastructure Surveys and Condition Assessment,” MnDOT Research Pays Off webinar series, Sept 18, 2018, Minnesota.
  8. “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Technology with Photogrammetry in Several Application Areas,” Bright Spark Lecture, GeoMEast 2018, Cairo, Egypt.
  9. “Innovative Monitoring of Pavements on Expansive Soils Using Aerially Collected Data from UAV-CRP Technology,” paper presentation, Recent Advances in Geospatial Data Acquisition, January 13th – 17th, TRB-2019, Washington, DC.
  10. “Infrastructure Monitoring Using Multifaceted UAV-CRP Data Analysis,” Invited presentation, Eye in Sky: Transportation Infrastructure Monitoring Using Unmanned Aerial Technologies, January 13th – 17th, TRB-2019, Washington, DC.
  11. “Novel Infrastructure Monitoring Using Multifaceted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems -Close Range Photogrammetry (UAV -CRP) Data Analysis,” Congresode Suelos Dispersivos y Sulfatados 2019, Asuncion, Paraguay.
  12. “A Novel Approach of Monitoring Infrastructure Asset Condition using Aerial Sensors,” Invited presentation, Young Geotechnical Professionals in Transportation, January 12th – 16th, TRB-2020, Washington, DC.
  13. “Infrastructure Inspection: Complimenting Traditional Methods with Aerial Remote Sensing,” Invited presentation, Integration of Remote Sensing Techniques and Classical Instrumentation, January 12th – 16th, TRB-2020, Washington, DC.
  14. “Three-Dimensional Stability Analysis of Rock Slope Using Aerial Photogrammetry Data,” Podium presentation, Technical Session: Rock Mechanics, February 27, Geocongress 2020, Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Outstanding Graduate Student, University of Texas at Arlington, 2018
Young Geotechnical Engineer’s Bright Spark Lecture 2018 Awardee
Vidya and A. Kumar Palaniappan/Terradyne Endowed Fellowship 2017 Awardee
DAAD IIT-Master Sandwich Scholarship 2013 Awardee

Room: 801A, Dwight Look Engineering Building (DLEB)
College Station, TX 77843-3136
Email: congress@tamu.edu