Dr. Velasquez earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2009 and is now working as a postdoctoral fellow with the Modified Asphalt Research Consortium. He brings to the group considerable experience in low-temperature characterization of asphalt mixtures and binders.

He was involved in the development of a simple test to determine the low temperature creep compliance of asphalt mixtures (NCHRP IDEA Project 133) as well as in a national pooled fund study on low temperature cracking of asphalt pavements.

Selected Research

Velasquez, R., J. Labuz , M. Marasteanu, and A. Zofka. Revising Thermal Stresses in the TSRST for Low Temperature Cracking Prediction. ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Accepted for publication 2009.

Velasquez, R., M. Marasteanu, and T. Mugurel. Evaluation of Asphalt Binder Properties in Surface Treated Pavements. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements and Technological Control (MAIREPAV6), Torino, Italy, 2009.

Velasquez, R., T. Mugurel, K. Moon, L. Zanko, and M. Marasteanu. Using Recycled Taconite as Alternative Aggregate in Asphalt Pavements. Construction and Building Materials, Vol. 23, 2009, pp. 3070-3078.

Herb, W., R. Velasquez, H. Stefan, M. Marasteanu, and T. Clyne. Simulation and Characterization of Asphalt Pavement Temperatures. Road Materials and Pavement Design, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2009, pp. 233-247.

Velasquez, R., M. Marasteanu, and T. Mugurel. Effect of Beam Size on the Creep Stiffness of Asphalt Mixtures at Low Temperatures. Proceedings of the 7th International RILEM Symposium on Advanced Testing and Characterization of Bituminous Materials, 2008.

Velasquez, R., N. Gibson, T. Clyne, M. Turos, and M. Marasteanu. Investigation of Low Temperature Cracking in Asphalt Mixtures Using TSRST. Proceedings of the 6th RILEM International Conference on Cracking in Pavements, 2008.

Marasteanu, M., R. Velasquez, W. Herb, J. Tweet, M. Turos, M. Watson, and H. Stefan. Determination of Optimum Time for the Application of Surface Treatments to Asphalt Concrete Pavements - Phase II, Report MN/RC 2008-16, Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2008.

Marasteanu, M., T. Clyne, J. McGraw, X. Li, and R. Velasquez. High Temperature Rheological Properties of Asphalt Binders. Transportation Research Record, No. 1901, 2005, pp. 52-59.

Khazanovich, L., R. Velasquez, and E. Nesvijski. Evaluation of Top-Down Cracks in Asphalt Pavements Using a Self-Calibrating Ultrasonic Technique. Transportation Research Record, No. 1940, 2005, pp. 63-68.