Structural Engineering Commons^™

Rule High School Athletic Field Renovation, Nathan W. Foust

University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Precast/Prestressed Concrete Truss-Girder For Roof Applications, Peter S. Samir

Construction Systems -- Dissertations & Theses

Steel trusses are the most popular system for supporting long span roofs in commercial buildings, such as warehouses and aircraft hangars. There are several advantages of steel trusses, such as lightweight, ease of handling and erection, and geometric flexibility. However, they have some drawbacks, such as high material and maintenance cost, and low fire resistance. In this paper, a precast concrete truss is proposed as an alternative to steel trusses for spans up to 160 ft. without intermediate supports. The proposed design is easy to produce and has lower construction and maintenance costs than steel trusses. The proposed design is ...

Effects Of Errors In Flutter Derivatives On The Wind-Induced Response Of Cable-Supported Bridges, Dong-Woo Seo

Civil Engineering Dissertations

This dissertation discusses the development and implementation of a methodology for the buffeting response of cable-supported bridges, including uncertainty in the aeroelastic input (i.e., flutter derivatives, FDs). Flutter derivatives are the most important part of the loading and are estimated in a wind tunnel experiment.

A second order polynomial model ("model curve") for the flutter derivatives is proposed. The coefficients of this polynomial are random variables, whose probability distribution is conditional on the reduced wind speed. For computational reasons in subsequent analysis, however, this dependency is neglected and the probability of these random variables is treated as independent of ...

Precast Concrete Insulated Wall Panel Corbels Without Thermal Bridging, Mohamed Elkady

Construction Systems -- Dissertations & Theses

The common practice in corbel design is to block out the insulation in order to provide a solid concrete area at the corbel location. This connection practice results in thermal bridging, which significantly reduces the energy performance of the panel. For example, the PCI Design Handbook indicates that the reduction in thermal resistance caused by a solid part with an area equal to 9% of the total panel surface area is as high as 42%. This paper presents a discussion of a new concept for corbel design of insulated wall panels with the thermal break totally preserved. Two different designs ...

Experimental Comparison Study Of The Response Of Polycarbonate And Laminated Glass Blast Resistant Glazing Systems To Blast Loading, Joshua Calnan

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

This thesis recounts the experimental study of the dynamic response of polycarbonate blast resistant glazing systems to explosive loading through the use of triaxial load cells, pressure sensors, and a laser displacement gauge. This instrumentation captured the response of the glazing systems to blast loading over three phases of testing. The first phase of testing characterizes the load distribution around the perimeter and the second phase examines the repeatability of the results. The final phase of testing pushes the samples to failure. The results are then compared to HazL, a commonly used blast resistant glazing system analysis software tool. The ...

Durability Of Repair Techniques Of Fine Cracks In Concrete, Anna-Krystyna Rzezniczak

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Aging public infrastructure in North America continues to challenge engineers and scientists to develop repair and rehabilitation strategies that are practical, durable and cost effective. Of specific interest is the state of concrete and concrete repair in buildings and civil engineering infrastructures that are in deteriorating condition. In particular, cracks pose a threat to the durability and ultimately the structural integrity of concrete. Cracks in concrete may form for several reasons, e.g. plastic shrinkage, thermal contraction, mechanical loading or as a result of overloading. Once formed, cracks present a combination of problems to the service life and performance of ...

Stiffness-Driven Design And Interface Debonding Study Of Frp Sandwich Structures For Bridges, Wenchao Song

Doctoral Dissertations

Bridge decks entirely made of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials are a potential solution to fast construction in bridge engineering. This study mainly focuses on the stiffness-driven design of FRP decks for short-span slab bridges and the interface debonding of an FRP sandwich structure with honeycomb cores. As is evidenced by the analytical and experimental results in this study, these two topics are closely related to the application of FRP materials in bridge deck construction. The design verification of an FRP slab bridge showed that its design should be controlled by stiffness rather than strength. The tests of the FRP ...

Design Of Cable-To-Post Attachments For Use In A Non-Proprietary, High-Tension, Cable Median Barrier, Ryan Joseph Bateman

Civil Engineering Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research

Cable median barriers are widely used across the country to prevent cross-median crashes. Several years ago, the Midwest States Pooled Fund Program contracted with the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) to develop a new, non-proprietary, high-tension, 4-cable median barrier. In the Fall of 2011 and following two failed full-scale vehicle crash tests on prototype barrier systems, it was determined that design modifications were necessary to improve barrier performance. In addition, members of the Midwest States Pooled Fund Program desired to redirect the development effort.

Both of the barrier system failures which prompted the re-design effort could be partially attributed to ...

Seismic Performance Quantification Of Concrete Block Masonry Structural Walls With Confined Boundary Elements And Development Of The Normal Strain-Adjusted Shear Strength Expression (Nssse), Bennett Banting

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

The masonry construction industry represents a historically significant and substantial portion of both existing and new residential, commercial and institutional low- to medium-rise structures across Canada. Although commonly chosen for its aesthetic qualities by architects, structural masonry walls constructed with concrete block units are also an effective lateral force (wind or seismic) resisting system. The purpose of this dissertation is to address what are perceived to be overly conservative and outdated practices within masonry construction and design by adopting analysis and design practices which have had success with similar reinforced concrete wall systems. The results from a test program reporting ...

Best Practices For Bridge Deck Overlays, Tommy E. Nantung, Robert J. Frosch

Purdue Road School

This presentation discusses recent research regarding alternative bridge deck overlay methods and best practices associated with their use.

Bringing To Life The World’S Tallest Structure, Jonathan Weigand

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee

Intended as the centerpiece of constructional developments in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa now stands as the tallest building ever constructed. The uniquely designed foundation consists of a concrete raft supported by a cast-in-place pile system protected by waterproofing membrane to inhibit corrosion. The structural design integrates high-performance reinforced concrete and steel and incorporates an engineered “Y” shape that limits the lateral wind pressure on the building. Engineers applied the latest advancements in high-rise technology to develop an optimized construction plan that consisted of segmented tasks that promoted the staff to work at a quick yet manageable pace. This article details ...

Analytical And Experimental Evaluation Of Progressive Collapse Resistance Of Reinforced Concrete Structures, Serkan Sagiroglu

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Experimental and analytical studies are carried out on three full-scale actual reinforced concrete (RC) buildings to characterize system level resisting mechanisms against progressive collapse following an initial local damage. The results obtained from the analytical models are verified with the experimental data and important modeling issues, assumptions, and requirements for structural elements as well as infill walls are identified and discussed. In order to evaluate the effects of initial damage location on progressive collapse of structures, a seven-story RC building structure is designed. Using an analytical model of the structure based on the knowledge gained in this study, the structure ...

Examination Of Linear Projection Techniques For Mitigation Of Environmental Effects In Vibration Based Damage Detection, Salma Mozaffari Kojidi

Civil Engineering Master's Theses

Both environmental variations and damage produce changes in structural properties and this makes the detection of small damage from vibration signals difficult. Techniques to improve damage detection under fluctuating environmental conditions based on projecting the data in directions where the variance from environmental changes is the smallest have been proposed; three of these are: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Factor Analysis (FA), and Missing Data Analysis (MDA). A question that arises is under which conditions these techniques are appropriate. Indeed, in the limiting case where one knows the probability density of the feature vector projections cannot lead to improved performance. It ...

The Effect Of Sensor Mass, Sensor Location, And Delamination Location Of Different Composite Structures Under Dynamic Loading, Albert Darien Liu

Master's Theses and Project Reports

This study investigated the effect of sensor mass, sensor location, and delamination location of different composite structures under dynamic loading. The study pertains to research of the use of accelerometers and dynamic response as a cost-effective and reliable method of structural health monitoring in composite structures. The composite structures in this research included carbon fiber plates, carbon fiber-foam sandwich panels, and carbon-fiber honeycomb sandwich panels. The composite structures were manufactured with the use of a Tetrahedron MTP-8 heat press. All work was conducted in the Cal Poly Aerospace Structures/Composites Laboratory. Initial delaminations were placed at several locations along the ...

Fragility Curves For Residential Buildings In Developing Countries: A Case Study On Non-Engineered Unreinforced Masonry Homes In Bantul, Indonesia, Miqdad Khalfan

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Developing countries typically suffer far greater than developed countries as a result of earthquakes. Poor socioeconomic conditions often lead to poorly constructed homes that are vulnerable to damage during earthquakes. Literature review in this study highlights the lack of existing fragility curves for buildings in developing countries. Furthermore, fragility curves derived using empirical data are almost nonexistent due to the scarcity of post-earthquake damage data and insufficient ground motion recordings in developing countries. Therefore, this research proposes a methodology for developing empirical fragility curves using ground motion data in the form of USGS ShakeMaps.

The methodology has been applied to ...

Concrete Bridge Girders With Exposed Flexural Reinforcement, Trevor K. Scott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Reinforced concrete highway bridge girders are regularly repaired by replacing deteriorated concrete with new concrete, temporarily exposing the flexural reinforcement. The absence of bond between the concrete and steel at this stage makes it difficult to compute the flexural capacity and the current code criteria provide no guidance to assist practitioners.

The research reported in this thesis rectifies this knowledge gap. A thorough examination is presented of experimental and analytical investigations by others to determine the typical behaviour, including probable failure modes, of reinforced concrete specimens with exposed flexural reinforcement. Based on these findings, two analytical approaches are developed to ...

Precast Deck Joints Using Frp And Ultra-High Performance Concrete, Augustine K. Banson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The need for rapid construction or replacement of highway bridge decks can be addressed by precast concrete elements reinforced with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars with cast-in-place joints made using Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). This thesis investigates the bond between GFRP bars and UHPC and splice length optimization to obtain narrow joints and simplified bar geometries. Multiple linear regression analyses of existing bond data indicate that the bar’s Young’s Modulus and embedded length are the most significant parameters that influence the average bond strength of sand-coated GFRP bars in UHPC: increasing either decreases the average bond strength ...

Field Study Of Hygrothermal Performance Of Cross‐Laminated Timber Wall Assemblies With Built‐In Moisture, Victoria Ruth Mcclung

Theses and dissertations

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels have potential market in North America for building mid-rise structures due to their good structural and seismic performance, lightweight, and prefabricated nature. However, to ensure long-term durability, the hygrothermal performance of CLT wall assemblies needs to be evaluated in terms of drying and wetting potential before their widespread adoption in North America. A test wall was constructed with initially wetted CLT panels, and monitored over a year. The drying behaviour of the panels was analysed, and results were compared to hygrothermal simulations. It was found from the field data that no tested wall assemblies in the ...

Elastic–Plastic Analysis And Strength Evaluation Of Adhesive Joints In Wind Turbine Blades, Yi Hua, Ananth Ram Mahanth Kasavajhala, Linxia Gu

Mechanical & Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to investigate the performance of adhesive joints of carbon/epoxy wind turbine blade subjected to combined bending and tension loadings through finite element method. The influence of adhesive material properties and geometrical details including fillet and imperfections was examined in terms of interlaminar stresses in the adhesive layer. The variation of stress intensity with change in adhesive shear modulus has also been investigated, while contour integral method was used for evaluating the stress intensity factors (SIF) at the imperfection tip. Furthermore, the strength of the joint was assessed through the crack initiation and propagation ...

Passive And Semi-Active Structure-Multiple Tuned Liquid Damper Systems, Islam Soliman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The resonant vibration motion of tall buildings due to dynamic loading, such as wind storms and earthquakes, can be reduced by adding passive dynamic vibration absorbers (DVAs). A single sway mode of vibration is usually considered, however, for certain structures, multiple modes may need to be suppressed. Furthermore, the location of the TLD on the floor plate is important for certain modes, such as the torsional mode. As a result, a three dimensional finite element structure-TLD system model capable of dynamically analyzing a 3D structure is developed and validated. Two different nonlinear TLD models are considered. A full dynamic analysis ...