Research Interests
Research Description
Al-Qadi’s teaching, research, and consulting interests and expertise focus primarily on civil engineering and pavement materials, sustainability, highway and airfield pavement mechanics, advanced modeling, including viscoelastic response to tire loading, pavement fracture, tire–pavement interaction, tack coat application rate optimization, and modeling of pavement interface and interlayer systems (including geosynthetics); nondestructive testing evaluation, including ground penetrating radar signal analysis; infrastructure asset management systems, including pavement recycling optimization and pavement condition assessment, rehabilitation, and life-cycle assessment; transportation infrastructure instrumentation and full-scale accelerated testing; polymerized asphalt rheology; and forensic engineering and arbitration.
Awards and Honors
- Dr. Al-Qadi’s graduate students received numerous awards from FHWA (Eisenhower fellows), FAA, AAPT, ASCE, ACPR, IAPA, ICT, WTS, UIUC CoE Mavis Award, Wiley Award, AAAEA, Society of Women Engineers, and many other organizations. He advised them throughout the award research requirements.
- Advisor for many winning projects, including the FAA Design Competition for Universities on Airport and Operation and Maintenance, 2008 (won 1st and 3rd places) and 2009 (won 2nd place).
- Dr. Al-Qadi’s research has appeared in several professional magazines, newspapers, and TV and radio programs in the US, and abroad, including ASCE Magazine, Roads and Bridges, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, WBES, Roanoke Times, News Gazette, AVIONEWS, Transportation Urban Planning Magazine, Erosion, Alhayat, Alwatar, Quds, Rockford Register Star, WCIA, WAND, Tyre Asia, and several other publications.
- Several of Dr. Al-Qadi’s TRB papers were selected Practice-Ready Papers and distributed to the US DOT materials and pavement engineers:”Runway Instrumentation and Response Measurements,” “Influence of Filler Fractional Voids on Mastic and Mixture Performance,” “Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavements: Results from Instrumentation Measurements and Modeling Analysis,” “Performance Characterization of Asphalt Mixtures at High Asphalt Binder Replacement with Recycled Asphalt Shingles,” “Characterization and Stabilization of Quarry Byproducts for Sustainable Pavement Applications,” “Development of Present and Baseline Scenarios to Assess Sustainability Improvements of Illinois Tollway Pavements Using a Life-Cycle Assessment Approach,” “Field Evaluation of Geocell Use in Flexible Pavements,” “Steel Reinforcing Netting Mechanism to Reduce Reflective Cracking in Asphalt Concrete Overlays,” “Successful Application of GPR for Quality Assurance/Quality Control of New Pavements,” “Quantification of Pavement Damage Due to Dual and Wide-Base Tires,” and “Comparison between Resilient Modulus and Dynamic Modulus of Hot-Mix Asphalt as Material Properties for Flexible Pavement.”
- Several of Professor Al-Qadi’s students received Best Poster Awards at several conferences, including International Transportation PhD Symposiums.
Additional Campus Affiliations
W. W. Grainger Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Director, Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (STII), Grainger College of Engineering
Director, Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Highlighted Publications
- Kang, S., I. L. Al-Qadi, H. Ozer, M. Ziyadi, and J. Harvey "Environmental and Economic Impact of Using New Generation Wide-Base Tires," The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 24. No. 4, Apr 2019, pp. 753-766, DOI:10.1007/s11367-018-1480-6.
- Al-Qadi, I. L., J. A. Hernandez, A. Gamez, M. Ziyadi, E. Gungor, S. Kang, "Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavement - A National Study," The Journal of Transportation Research Record, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Vol. 2672, No. 40, Dec 2018, pp. 186-196, DOI: 10.1177/0361198118757969.
- Rivera-Perez, J. J., H. Ozer, and I. L. Al-Qadi, “Impact of Specimen Configuration and Characteristics on Illinois Flexibility Index,” The Journal of Transportation Research Record, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Vol. 2672, No. 28, Dec 2018, pp. 383-393, DOI:10.1177/0361198118792114.
- Yang, R., I. L. Al-Qadi, and H. Ozer, “Effect of Methodological Choices on Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment,” The Journal of Transportation Research Record, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Vol. 2672, No. 40, Dec 2018, pp. 78-87, DOI: 10.1177/0361198118757194.
- Castillo, D. and I. L. Al-Qadi, “Importance of Heterogeneity in Asphalt Pavement Modeling,” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, Vol. 144, No. 8, Aug 2018, p. 04018060, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001488.
Recent Publications
Abufares, L., Chen, Y., & Al-Qadi, I. L. (2025). Asphalt concrete density monitoring during compaction using roller-mounted GPR. Automation in Construction, 174, Article 106158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2025.106158
Abufares, L., Chen, Y., & Al-Qadi, I. L. (2025). Isolating Surface Moisture in Ground-Penetrating Radar Signals for Accurate Asphalt Concrete Density Prediction. Transportation Research Record, Article 03611981251334631. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981251334631
Cardenas, J. J., & Al-Qadi, I. L. (2025). Impact of Road Roughness on Tire-Pavement Contact Stresses during Vehicle Maneuvering. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 151(2), Article 04024115. https://doi.org/10.1061/JENMDT.EMENG-7900
García Mainieri, J. J., & Al-Qadi, I. L. (2025). Designing Stone-Matrix Asphalt to Optimize Sustainability Using Limestone, Dolomite, and Crushed Gravel Aggregates. Journal of Transportation Engineering Part B: Pavements, 151(1), Article 04024061. https://doi.org/10.1061/JPEODX.PVENG-1614
Hernandez, J., Jayme, A., Cardenas Huaman, J. J., & Al-Qadi, I. L. (2025). Effect of Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles on Tire-Pavement Contact Forces. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 151(1), Article 04024104. https://doi.org/10.1061/JENMDT.EMENG-7835