News

2025

09/2025 - Prof. Benjumea and his students (Bride Design course) were on a field trip to the infrastructure project on the Curos-Málaga corridor. The visit focused on several aspects of the completed, temporal, and under-retrofit bridges. The photo shows the group at the final point: The Hisgaura cable-stayed bridge.

09/2025 - Former undergrad students Luis López and Santiago Prieto presented a Poster and participated in the 3MT contests at the EIEI ACOFI 2025. They presented the results statistical analysis to predict the internal temperature of low-complexity concrete elements from external measurements. Check their conference paper here.

Professor Benjumea also presented a work on the use of drones for the thermal monitoring of bridges.

07/2025 - Professors José Benjumea & Germán Díaz (UIS) participated in the third session for the creation of the Cadena Nacional Agroindustrial del Fique, led by the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Both professors will take part in the Research+Development+innovation (R+D+i) Committee.

06/2025 - Journal paper available online. "Assessment of Digital Image Correlation for Tensile Characterization of Fique Woven Textiles Used as Matrix-Reinforcement," by Quiceno, V., Archila, S., Benjumea, J., and Carrillo, J. 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2025.142312 OpenAcces

05/2025: Maria Elvira presents part of her undergrad thesis at the Feria de Investigación UIS. Her poster focused on the characterization of fique yarns using advanced techniques such as DRX and FTIR-ATR, and on the analysis of the tensile response at different strain rates.

04/2025: Our research seedbed started. Undergrad students and Prof. Benjumea met for the inaugural session of the research seedbed. The activities are being developed within the Geomatica Research Group. We hope this is the first step in shaping a SURE future!

03/2025: Our hiking tradition goes on. Warning: this is a not-research-news! Professors and undergrad students working with us on our research projects went for a hike to the East mountains of Bucaramanga.

02/2025 - Pedro Cavadia successfully defended his MSc Thesis. Professors Jaime Garzón (Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería) and Pablo Silva (Escuela de Ingeniería Mecánica, UIS) -evaluating committee- praised Pedro's work as "pioneering" and "innovative" and recommended it for the Meritorious Thesis distinction.

His research was co-advised by Professors José Benjumea and Oscar Begambre (UIS), and Edison Osorio (Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá). Congratulations, Pedro! 👏

02/2025 - Journal paper available online. An Open Database of Internal and Surface Temperatures of a Reinforced Concrete WSlab-on-I-Beam Section" by Cavadía, P., Benjumea, J. M., Begambre, O., Osorio, E., & María Mantilla-Villalobos. 10.3390/data10020021 OpenAcces

01/2025 - Journal paper available online "Chemical and Mechanical Characterization of Treated and Untreated Woven Fique Fiber Textiles as an Alternative External Reinforcement for Concrete" by Laverde, V., Benjumea, J., and Rincón Ortiz, M. 10.1080/15440478.2025.2462975

2024

11/2024 - Research on thermal monitoring highlighted in "Catedra Libre," the Universidad Industrial de Santander newspaper. Check it at https://comunicaciones.uis.edu.co/catedraLibre/catedra-libre-edicion-235-septiembre-octubre-2024/

10/2024 - Undergrad students and professors presented their works on Pinneaple Leaf Fiber (PALF), Fique yarns, and confinement of concrete with Fique textiles at the XII International Material Congress in Medellín, Colombia.

Check it at Docentes y estudiantes de Ingeniería Civil participaron en Congreso Internacional de Materiales

09/2024 - Professor Benjumea presented the advances of the thermal monitoring system at the 14-IDRiM (International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management) in Cartagena, Colombia. Profesor UIS fue ponente en la conferencia anual Comunidades resistentes a las catástrofes para toda la vida - Comunicaciones UIS

08/2024 - Professor Benjumea was a keynote presenter at the 2nd Latin-American Symposium on Bridges in Bogotá, Colombia. Profesor UIS participó en Simposio Latinoamericano de Puentes - Comunicaciones UIS

06/2024 - César Méndez joins as an MSc student. César Méndez (Civil Engineer - UIS) will pursue a Master of Science degree under the advice of professors José Benjumea, Oscar Begambre (Civil Eng. School - UIS), and Prof. Hoover Rueda (UIS). César's work will focus on predicting the internal temperature of RC girders using neural networks

2023

08/2023 - Research Grant awarded. Our project titled "Strain rate effect on tensile properties of yarns and fabrics made of fique fiber" was selected for funding by the Viccerectoría de Investigación y Extensión at Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) under the 2023 convocation "Basic and Applied Research to the Environment: Sustainable Development Goals." The principal investigators are Dr. José Benjumea and Dr. Ricardo Cruz Hernández, both from the Civil Eng. School at UIS.

07/2023 - Journal paper available online. Julian Carrillo, Wilson Gonzalez, José Benjumea (2023). "Cyclic stress-strain behavior of low-diameter reinforcing bars for thin concrete walls" Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 21(10):1-19, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10518-023-01723-w

06/2023 - Construction of RC slab-girder finished. We will monitor the thermal response of this specimen during the next few months. The left photo shows Pedro (M.Sc student) supervising the construction of the specimen.

05/2023 - Congratulations to Valeria Laverde for her successful M.Sc. thesis defense. Valeria successfully defended her thesis titled "compressive behavior of concrete externally reinforced with Fique textiles," and was recommended for the Meritorious Thesis distinction for her contributions to sustainable construction.

03/2023 - Journal paper available online. Benjumea, J., Cótes-Prieto, D., Carvajal-Oyaga, L., Niño-Sepúlveda, L., and Moreno-Pulido, S. (2023). https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10054001

01/2023: Starting 2023 with a hike! Not all news here is about research, papers, projects, etc. Yes, we are passionate about that, but we also made room for another fun activity.

2022

12/2022: Congrats to Pedro Cavadía for successfully defending his MSc research proposal. Pedro's proposal (titled "Experimental Assessment of Vertical Thermal Gradient of an I girder under climatic conditions of Bucaramanga") received good comments from the evaluators, Prof. Jaime Garzón (Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería) and Prof. Álvaro Viviescas (UIS).

10/2022 - Prof. Benjumea presented at the 9 CIIME CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE MATERIALES Y ESTRUCTURAS. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/live/VChjGkEIBTU?feature=share&t=26041

02/2022 - Predo Cavadía joins as an MSc student. Pedro will pursue a Master of Science degree under the advice of Dr. José Benjumea, Dr. Oscar Begmabre (UIS), and Dr. Edison Osorio (UAN, Bogotá). Pedro's research will focus on determining vertical temperature gradients in a reinforced concrete slab-girder model using contact and non-contact sensors.

2021

11/2021 - Juan Bravo (MSc Student) wins competition at the "IV Seminario de Socialización de Investigación" of the Civil Engineering School at UIS. El pasado 22 de noviembre se celebró, de forma virtual, el IV Seminario de Socialización de Investigación, organizado por los profesores y estudiantes de la Maestría en Ingeniería Civil de la Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS). En el evento los estudiantes de la Maestría presentaron avances de sus investigaciones en tres diferentes categorías y el jurado seleccionó la mejor presentación de cada una. Juan David Bravo ocupó el primer lugar en la categoría "propuesta y avances de investigación".

11/2021 - We are back in the lab! Valeria Quiceno (Civil engineer) is currently working on determining the tensile mechanical properties of fique fibers using the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. Valeria's research is funded by MINCIENCIAS (Ministery of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia).

11/2021 - Professor José Benjumea presents at the PROCEMCO virtual event. Dr. Benjumea gave the opening presentation in the virtual conference cycle "Design and Construction of Concrete Bridges and Viaducts," organized by the Camara Colombiana del Cemento y del Concreto (PROCEMCO).

10/2021 - Journal paper available online. Buelvas, H., Benjumea, J., and Chio Cho, G. (2021). "Dynamic Amplification Factors of Girder and Cables of Extradosed Bridges during Sudden Cable Failure." Journal of Bridge Structures. DOI:10.3233/BRS-210189.

06/2021 - Research Grant awarded. Our project titled "Pilot System for Thermal Monitoring of Colombian Box Girder Bridges" was selected for funding by the Viccerectoría de Investigación y Extensión at Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) under the 2021 convocation "Basic and Applied Research to the Environment: Sustainable Development Goals." The principal investigators are Dr. Oscar Begambre (Civil Eng. School), Dr. María Mantilla-Villalobos (Electrical, Electronics, and Telecommunications Eng. School), and Dr. José Benjumea.

06/2021 - Journal paper available online. Benjumea, J., Saiidi M., and Itani A. (2021) "Biaxial Seismic Performance of a Two-Span Concrete Bridge Model with Six ABC Connections." ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering, 26 (8),10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0001753.

06/2021 - Juan Bravo (M.Sc. student) presented at the fib Symposium 2021 (fiblisbon2021.pt). Juan discussed preliminary results from his study on the seismic response of balanced cantilever bridges during construction. The title of the conference paper is "Parametric study to estimate seismic displacement demands of balanced cantilever bridges in service and construction conditions", co-authored by Dr. José Benjumea and Dr. Fabián Consuegra.

A second conference paper titled "Comparison of Seismic Demands in Bridges with Hammerhead and Multi-Column Bents for Current and Former Colombian Codes" was also presented at the event. The main authors are former undergrad students Manuel Cáceres and Samantha Moreno. Co-authors are professors Gustavo Chio, David Cótes, and José Benjumea.

05/2021 - Journal paper available online. Benjumea, J., Saiidi M., and Itani A. (2021). "Large-Scale Bi-Axial Shake Table Studies of a Precast Bridge Model." Journal of Structural Engineering, 147 (7), 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003060.

02/2021 - Journal paper available online. Chaparro, A., Suárez, A., Benjumea, J., and Villalba-Morales, J. "Seismic Performance and Materials Quantities of Reinforced Concrete Frame Buildings Designed for Different Energy Dissipation Capacities." (in Spanish). Revista EIA, doi.org/10.24050/reia.v18i35.1454

02/2021 - Valeria Laverde joins as an MSc student. Valeria's research will focus on the axial response of simple concrete externally confined by Fique textiles. Mrs. Laverde will pursue a Master of Science degree under the advice of Dr. Mauricio Rincón (School of Materials Science - UIS) and Dr. José Benjumea.

2020

09/2020 - Undergrad students presented at the ACOFI-EIEI 2020 International Virtual Congress. Jeisy Martinez, Valentina Villán, Juan Guerreo, Jeison Vargas, Raúl Parada, and Edwin Mosquera presented their work titled "Estimación del módulo de rigidez del balso y el pvc usando un torsiómetro de bajo costo y correlación de imágenes digitales" at the Encuentro Internacional de Educación en Ingeniería (EIEI2020). Lecturer Professor David Cotes and I congratulate them on a nice job! Check their poster and conference paper, both in Spanish.

09/2020 - Research Grant awarded. The project "External retrofitting of concrete elements under compression with fique-fiber nets" is a first step toward developing a sustainable, economical, and reliable way to retrofit deficient structures. Funds are provided by Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) as part of the 2020 interim convocation "Basic and Applied Research to the Environment: Sustainable Development Goals."

08/2020 - Juan Bravo begins his MSc studies. Juan's research will focus on the seismic behavior of balanced cantilever bridges during construction and in service. Mr. Bravo will pursue a Master of Science degree under the advice of Dr. Fabián Consuegra (Head of the Division of Structures at Ingetec) and Dr. José Benjumea.

2014

08/2014 - Best Poster Presentation Awarded to Civ. Eng. students Sandra Uribe, Cristian Gutiérrez, Sergio Moreno, and María Valencia, who presented their undergraduate research results at the XXIV Congreso Nacional y XIII Congreso Internacional de Estudiantes y Profesionales de Ingeniería Civil. The event was organized by Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), the Asociación Nacional de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Civil, and Enginneers withouth Borders, Colombia.

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