1. Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4006.
2. Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan Univ., Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.
3. Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4006.
4. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508; and Adjunct Professor, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, China (corresponding author).
5. Ph.D. Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508.