Primary Services: Forensic Investigation, Non-Destructive Testing, Structural Assessment, Concrete Technology.
Dr. Norbert J. Delatte is a distinguished engineer and academic leader, renowned for his profound expertise in civil engineering, specifically in structural forensic analysis, non-destructive testing, engineering mechanics, pavement engineering, and construction materials. He currently serves as an affiliated Senior Consultant at Optime Consulting Group alongside his main role as M.R. Lohmann Endowed Professor of Engineering and Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Oklahoma State University.
Dr. Delatte's professional journey is marked by his extensive contributions to forensic engineering, where he has pioneered methods and practices that improve the investigation and analysis of structural failures. His expertise in non-destructive testing has been crucial in advancing our understanding of material properties and structural integrity without compromising the lifespan of the infrastructure being inspected.
Dr. Delatte's professional journey includes significant military service, having served for eleven years in the United States Army as an officer in the Corps of Engineers, including two years of service in the Republic of Korea, wartime service in the Arabian Peninsula during Operation Desert Storm, and command of an engineer company during Hurricane Andrew relief operations in southern Florida.
His dedication to education and professional ethics has been recognized with multiple awards, including the esteemed Walter LeFevre Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which honors his contributions to promoting licensure and professionalism in the engineering field.
Dr. Delatte is the author of influential works like "Beyond Failure: Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers" and "Concrete Pavement Design, Construction, and Performance." He was formerly the Chair of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers Technical Council on Forensic Engineering, since renamed the Forensic Engineering Division. He was the Chair of TRB Committee AFN20 Properties of Concrete and AKM60 Properties of Concrete and Constituent Materials (2016 - 2021). He is the Chair of ACI Committee 522 Pervious Concrete as well as the former Chair of ACI Committee 325 Concrete Pavements and of Committee 327 Roller Compacted Concrete Pavements, Secretary of ACI 522 Pervious Concrete, and a member of several other ACI Committees.
Throughout his illustrious career, Dr. Delatte has focused on sustainable infrastructure, forensic engineering, non-destructive testing, and the development of innovative construction materials. His ability to translate complex academic research into practical, real-world applications has been instrumental in bridging the gap between educational institutions and industry practices.
At Optime Consulting Group, Dr. Delatte plays a pivotal role in advising on projects that utilize advanced engineering techniques and sustainable practices. His commitment to advancing the field of civil engineering is further evidenced by his extensive publication record and his leadership in various professional societies, where he has championed initiatives to enhance ethical standards and professional development within the engineering community.
EDUCATION
- Bachelor of Science: The Citadel, United States (1980-1984)
- Master of Science: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States (1984-1986)
- Ph.D.: The University of Texas at Austin, United States (1993-1996)
MEDIA
SELECTED PROJECTS
- Review of Silane program for Acceptance Testing, Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
- Protecting Piers of Overhead Structures from Degradation, Phase II, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Evaluation of Maintenance Procedures for Bridge Spalling on Parapet Walls, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Protecting Piers of Overhead Structures from Degradation, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- High-Early Strength Concrete for Pavement Top Layer Application, U.S. Air Force.
- Evaluation of High Performance Pavement and Bridge Deck Wearing Surface Repair Materials, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Development, Field Testing, and Implementation of Improved Bridge Parapet Designs, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Uncontrolled Concrete Bridge Parapet Cracking, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Feasibility of Using Steel Slag as an Aggregate for Sustainable Concrete Pavement, US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.
- Partnership for Innovation (PFI): An Integrated Framework for Creation and Assessment of Sustainable Construction Processes.
- Implementation and Assessment of Failure Case Studies in the Engineering Curriculum, National Science Foundation.
- Pervious Concrete: Technology Demonstration and Information Needs, Chesapeake Bay Trust.
- Portland Cement Pervious Concrete Pavement: Field Performance Investigation on Parking Lot and Roadway Pavements, National Ready Mix Concrete Association (NRMCA)
- Subcontract to Applied Pavement Technology for Innovative Pavement Research Foundation.
- Effect of Partial Layer Bonding on Design of Layered RCC Pavements, $ 20,000, Portland Cement Association.
- Evaluation of High Absorptive Materials to Improve Internal Curing of Low Permeability Concrete, Ohio Department of Transportation.
- Laboratory Evaluation of Thin Bonded Overlays on Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavements, Portland Cement Association.
- Optimized Mix Design for Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavements, Portland Cement Association.
- Developing Case Studies in Failures and Ethics for Engineering Educators, National Science Foundation.
- Improving Field Predictions of Helical Anchor Capacity, Alabama Power Company and Southern Company.
- Design and Quality Control of Concrete Overlays and Repairs, The University Transportation Center for Alabama Project 01-220.
- Feasibility Study on Dynamic Bridge Load Rating, The University Transportation Center for Alabama Project 01-221.
- Transfer of Transportation Materials and Safety Technology, The University Transportation Center for Alabama Project 00-202.
- Improving Field Predictions of Helical Anchor Capacity, Alabama Power Company.
- Concrete Pavement Performance in the Southeastern United States. The American Concrete Pavement Association Southeast Chapter and University Transportation Center for Alabama Project 99-247.
- Nondestructive Testing, Evaluation, and Rehabilitation of Civil Infrastructure. Sterne Library Collection Development Grant, awarded competitively by the Sterne Library.
- Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaires, and Traffic Signals. National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 17-10(2).
- ABAQUS Modeling of Bonded Concrete Overlay behavior. U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Books
- Delatte, Norbert J., Concrete Pavement Design, Construction, and Performance, 2nd Edition, Taylor and Francis, Abingdon, UK, 2014, ISBN 978-1466575103, 445 pp. (published May 2014).
- Delatte, Norbert J., Concrete Pavement Design, Construction, and Performance, Taylor and Francis, Abingdon, UK, 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-40970-4, 372 pp. (published August 2007).
- Delatte, Norbert J., Beyond Failure: Forensic Case Studies for Civil Engineers, ASCE Press, 2009. On the web at http://www.asce.org/Product.aspx?id=2147485641
- Delatte, Norbert J., Editor, Failure, Distress and Repair of Concrete Structures, Woodhead Publishing Ltd. of Abington Hall, Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AH, 2009. ISBN 978-1439818749. On the web at http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1473
- Bosela, P.A., Brady, P.A., Delatte, N.J., and Parfitt, M.K. (2012), Failure Case Studies in Civil Engineering: Structures, Foundations, and the Environment, 2nd Edition, ASCE
- Delatte, N., (2015) “International Ethics and Failures: Case Studies,” Chapter 3 of Engineering Ethics for a Globalized World, Murphy, C., Gardoni, P., Bashir, H, Harris, C.E., Jr., and Masad, E., Editors, Springer International Publishing Switzerland, Vol. 22, Philosophy of Engineering and Technology
Selected Journal Papers and Reports
- Richard A. Miller, Norbert J. Delatte, Abhijeet Deshpande, Julie Ann Hartell, Sarah Twine, Evan Karunaratne (2022) “Evaluation of Maintenance Procedures for Bridge Spalling on Parapet Walls,” Transportation Research Record, First Published February 11, 2022 Research Article https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981221075030
- Kamran Amini; Xuhao Wang; Norbert J Delatte, (2018) “Statistical Modeling of Hydraulic and Mechanical Properties of Pervious Concrete Using Non-Destructive Tests,” ASCE's Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 2018, 30(6): 04018077, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002268.
- Cavalline, Tara, and Delatte, Norb (2015) Learning from the World Trade Center Collapse – Use of a Failure Case Study in a Structures and Materials Laboratory Course, pp. 8 – 17, Journal of Engineering Technology, Vol 32, No. 2, Fall 2015. ASEE Engineering Technology Division (ETD) Best Paper 2015.
- Kamran Amini, Mehdi Jalalpour, Norbert Delatte (2016), Advancing concrete strength prediction using non-destructive testing: Development and verification of a generalizable model, Construction and Building Materials, 102 (2016) 762–768, Elsevier.
- Kalabon, A., Hedges, L., and Delatte, N. (2014), Development, Field Testing, and Implementation of Improved Bridge Parapet Designs, Concrete Materials 2014, TRR 2441, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, pp. 46 – 52
- Jeffrey Schellhammer; Norbert J. Delatte, and Paul Bosela, “Another Look at the Collapse of Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, May/June 2013. Nominated for the journal’s Outstanding Paper Award but not selected.
- Ashish Patel; Paul Bosela; Norbert J. Delatte, “The 1976 Montreal Olympics: A Case Study of a Project Management Failure,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, May/June 2013.
- Delatte, N.J., “An Approach to Forensic Engineering Education in the US,” Proceedings of the ICE – Forensic Engineering, ISSN: 2043-9903, E-ISSN: 2043-9911, Institution of Civil Engineers, UK, Volume 165, Issue 3, 1 August 2012, pages 123 –129.
- Fronek, B., Bosela, P., and Delatte, N. (2012) “US and International Perspectives on the Use of Steel Slag Aggregate in Portland Cement Concrete,” Geomaterials 2012, Transportation Research Record No. 2267, pp. 37 – 42.
- Delatte, N.J. (2006) “Learning from Failures,” Civil Engineering Practice, Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 21 – 38, Boston, MA, Fall/Winter 2006.
- Pearson, C. and Delatte, N. (2006) “The Collapse of the Quebec Bridge, 1907,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, February 2006.
- Cynthia Pearson and Norbert Delatte, “The Ronan Point Apartment Tower Collapse and its Effect on Building Codes,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Volume 19, Number 2, pp. 172 – 177, May 2005.
- Delatte, “A Failure of Cold-Formed Steel Beams during Concrete Placement,” technical note, ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Volume 19, Number 2, pp. 178 – 181, May 2005.
- Suzanne King and Norbert Delatte, “Collapse of 2000 Commonwealth Avenue: A Punching Shear Case Study,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, pp. 54 – 61, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 2004.
- Siswobusono, P; Chen, S-E; Jones, S; Callahan, D; Grimes, T; Delatte, N, “Serviceability-Based Dynamic Load Rating of a LT20 Bridge,” Experimental Techniques, Vol. 28 No. 6, Society for Experimental Mechanics, 2004.
- Delatte, N; Chen, S; Maini, N; Parker, N; Agrawal, A; Mylonakis, G; Subramaniam, K; Kawaguchi, A; Bosela, P; McNeil, S; Miller, R, “Application of Nondestructive Evaluation to Subway Tunnels,” pp. 127-135, Design of Structures 2003, Transportation Research Record 1845, 2003.
- Delatte, “Agricultural Product Loads and Warehouse Failures,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 16, No. 3, August 2002.
- Norbert J. Delatte and Kevin L. Rens, “Forensics and Case Studies in Civil Engineering Education: State-of-the-Art,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 16, No. 3, August, 2002. This paper was invited by the editor.
- Delatte, N.J., “Lessons from Roman Cement and Concrete,” ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 127, No. 3, July 2001. Awarded the journal’s 2000 – 2001 Best Paper Award.
- Martin, Rachel, and Delatte, Norbert, “Another Look at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum Collapse,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 15, No. 1, February 2001. Awarded the journal’s 2001 Best Paper Award.
- Martin, Rachel, and Delatte, Norbert, “Another Look at the L’Ambiance Plaza Collapse,” ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 14. No. 4, November 2000, and closure of discussion to above paper, ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 16 No. 1, February, 2002.
- Delatte, N. J., Wade, D. M., and Fowler, D. W., “Laboratory and Field Testing of Concrete Bond Development for Expedited Bonded Concrete Overlays,” ACI Materials Journal, May-June 2000.
- Delatte, N. J., Williamson, M. Scott, and Fowler, David W., “Bond Strength Gain with Maturity of High Early Strength Bonded Concrete Overlays,” ACI Materials Journal, March-April 2000.
- Delatte, N. J., Fowler, D. F., McCullough, B. F., and Gräter, S. F., “Investigating Performance of Bonded Concrete Overlays,” ASCE Journal of the Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 12 No. 2, May 1998.
