Andrew J. Graettinger, Ph.D.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
1208 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Dr
Madison, WI 53706
andrewg@cae.wisc.edu
608-890-0431

Dr. Andrew Graettinger’s research interests can be broadly grouped into experimental and numerical research related to geotechnical and transportation engineering. His experimental research is related to lightweight geotechnical fill applications of recycled plastic and waterjet drilling of infrastructure for inspection and retrofitting. His lightweight fill research is looking at using recycled plastic as a replacement for polystyrene blocks that are used in some geotechnical applications. Industrial byproduct plastics, and plastic from post consumer use such as bottles, e-plastic, or automotive plastic all have potential to be employed as an ultra lightweight geotechnical fill material. Research on miniaturizing and optimizing abrasive waterjet drilling will allow small holes (less that 5 mm in diameter) to be drilled tens of meters through any civil engineering material. These holes can then be used for direct inspection, repair, or reinforcement retrofitting of transportation and civil engineering infrastructure.

His numerical research includes work on statistical methods to quantify, direct, and conclude site exploration activities for both environmental and building site uses. Through reliability-based techniques he combines what is known about a site with what is most sensitive at a site to direct exploration to the most important information. This technique is also being expanded to include long-term monitoring for natural attenuation sites by identifying the most important location to monitor to assure compliance.

Employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) to solve spatial problems in transportation engineering is another of his research interests. Although GIS technology has been making digital maps since the mid 80’s, only recently has the technology matured enough to be linked with transportation engineering models to perform complex spatial analysis. His GIS research has focused on both safety and data management issues related to transportation.