Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies To Identify And Mitigate Secondary Crashes In Real-Time, Angela Kitali

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traffic incidents are the primary source of non-recurring congestion. In addition to affecting roadway operations, traffic congestion resulting from an incident exposes other vehicles to the risk of being involved in additional incidents, typically referred to as secondary crashes. Secondary crashes adversely affect traffic operations and impose risk on the safety of both road users and incident responders. Transportation agencies have been looking for ways to mitigate secondary crashes. However, secondary crash mitigation has several challenges. The length of the queue caused by an initial incident and the amount of time this queue lasts on the road varies, depending on …

Data Analytic Approach To Support The Activation Of Special Signal Timing Plans In Response To Congestion, Mosammat Tahnin Tariq

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Improving arterial network performance has become a major challenge that is significantly influenced by signal timing control. In recent years, transportation agencies have begun focusing on Active Arterial Management Program (AAM) strategies to manage the performance of arterial streets under the flagship of Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TSM&O) initiatives. The activation of special traffic signal plans during non-recurrent events is an essential component of AAM and can provide significant benefits in managing congestion.

Events such as surges in demands or lane blockages can create queue spillbacks, even during off-peak periods resulting in delays and spillbacks to upstream intersections. To …

Unifying Assessments Of Sustainability And Resilience In Civil Infrastructure Systems: The Case Of Masonry Structures, Samir J. Pandey

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Review of existing literature on the unification of sustainability and resilience showed the lack of a single effective framework that can unify the two, especially for building systems. Along this line of research, this study contributes a novel experimental framework to assess masonry structures and support a unified approach. This study performed structural analysis for resilience assessment and energy simulation for sustainability assessment. Based on the openings available in masonry walls, the study observed the changes in sustainability indicators (electricity consumption). Changes in resilience indicators (story drifts) were also observed. Results indicate that overall sustainability is compromised with additional openings …

Aeroelastic Testing To Evaluate Wind Effects On Transmission Systems, Ziad Azzi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transmission infrastructure in the U.S. faces substantial risk from hurricanes. Wind-induced damage poses an immense threat to the electric power grid; such hazards have significantly impacted the supply, generation, and delivery of power to large portions of the U.S. in the past. When exposed to strong winds, critical demands in several elements in transmission tower-line systems may exceed corresponding capacities and trigger various modes of failure. Enhancing the resilience of the transmission grid against increasing threats from hurricanes and strong winds is therefore of critical importance. The results of 1:50 aeroelastic scaled models of a self-supported steel lattice tower …

Work Zone Safety Analysis, Investigating Benefits From Accelerated Bridge Construction (Abc) On Roadway Safety, Seyedmirsajad Mokhtarimousavi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The attributes of work zones have significant impacts on the risk of crash occurrence. Therefore, identifying the factors associated with crash severity and frequency in work zone locations is of important value to roadway safety. In addition, the significant loss of workers’ lives and injuries resulting from work zone crashes indicates the emergent need for a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of work zone crash mechanisms.

The cost of work zone crashes is another issue that should be taken into account as work zone crashes impose millions of dollars on society each year. Applying innovative construction methods like Accelerated Bridge Construction …

Stakeholder Value Dynamics Analysis In Hurricane Michael: Towards Collaborative Decision Making In Building Disaster Resilient Communities, Aishwarya Pathak

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a growing acknowledgment of shared responsibilities in emergency management, one of the hidden and overlooked issues in the disaster literature is the identification and integration of multi-sector stakeholder values: the things that are of importance, merit, and utilities to the stakeholders. Stakeholders (e.g., public, private and non-profit sectors, and the communities) hold numerous values with varying degrees of importance, forming a system of value priorities. Stakeholder values and value priorities—referred to as value systems—are not static in a disaster context; they are dynamic, time-sensitive and event-driven. A more in-depth understanding of the dynamics of stakeholder value systems is crucial …

Targeted Presentation Skill Trainings To Nurture Construction Management Students At Florida International University, Gabriella D. Santi Kasabdji

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s fast-paced work environment, competent construction managers (CM) are vital for project success. However, to be competent, these professionals require the mastery of not only technical skills but also soft skills that enable them to achieve their full potential. Regardless, many CM prize technical abilities over the day-to-day writing, speaking, and overall soft skills, assuming these are not as important to the knowledge of complex concepts. Industry leaders confirm this, as evidence states graduate construction managers lack the basic communication skills to “hit the ground running”. That said, academic programs should seek to adapt and nurture these vital skill …

Identification Of Secondary Traffic Crashes And Recommended Countermeasures, Armana Sabiha Huq

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Secondary crashes (SCs) usually occur due to congestion or other prior incidents. SCs are increasingly spotted as a significant issue in traffic operations, leading to reduced capacity, extra traffic delays, increased fuel consumption, and additional emissions. SCs have substantial impacts on traffic management resource allocation. One of the challenges in the traffic safety area of the transportation industry is to determine an adequate method for identifying SCs. The specific objectives of this study are: identification of SCs using spatiotemporal criteria and exploring the contributing risk factors to the identified SCs.

Two different approaches were explored to identify SCs. The first …

Social Network Analysis For Improvement Of Safety In Construction Industry: An Ego-Centric Approach, Shraddha Shrestha

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how construction workers rely on each other on-site in terms of safety. The research outlines how safety-oriented social networks of construction workers can be modeled to better understand the safety communication practices on site. In this regard, a social network survey is conducted, and the respondents’ social network data are collected using a Personal Network Research Design (PNRD) approach to study the connection between the individuals and their close contacts. A total of 142 participants were included in the study. The gathered network data were used to establish their peer-to-peer relationships and …

A Coupled Numerical Model Of Vadose Zone Hydrology And Subsidence In The Everglades Wetlands, Anupama John

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peatlands, a type of wetlands, cover less than 3% of the earth’s surface but are responsible for nearly 5% of global carbon emissions when drained. Alterations to the natural hydrology of the Everglades, one of the largest peatlands in the United States, have resulted in the presence of vadose zones and the consequent subsidence of peat. Everglades restoration efforts are guided by hydrological models that neglect unsaturated water flow, which limits their ability to quantify critical wetland processes. Large datasets of the spatially varying soil hydraulic parameters (SHPs) like the soil water retention curves (SWRCs) are necessary to develop distributed, …

Use Of Uhpc Stay-In-Place Shells In Bridge Column Construction For Accelerated Bridge Construction, Nerma Caluk

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research utilizes Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC), durable material that can be used to construct unique structural elements, to construct prefabricated shells that act as stay-in-place forms for circular bridge columns. These innovative structural elements are intended to (1) eliminate conventional formworks, (2) reduce the on-site construction time, (3) reduce life cycle costs by providing maintenance-free columns, and (4) improve the structural performance of bridge columns. The UHPC shell is placed around the column reinforcement that has been assembled using conventional methods, after which a UHPC step portion is cast at the column-to-footing interface to connect the UHPC shell with …

Rheological And Chemical Characteristics Of Asphalt Binders Recycled Using Recycling Agents And Nanoparticles, Mohamadtaqi Baqersad

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The reuse and recycling of materials, especially materials derived from nature, is necessary for a sustainable environment and world. Asphalt mixture is a combination of asphalt binder and aggregates, both of which originated from nature. The reuse and recycling of aged asphalt materials (RAP) is widespread. However, a large portion of these materials is wasted. One primary reason for the reluctance to use a high percentage of RAP in recycled asphalt is uncertainty in the long-term performance of recycled asphalt pavement. To improve the long-term performance of recycled asphalt, new additives and Recycling Agents (RA) are used to modify the …

Retrofitting And Rehabilitation Of Bridge Components Subjected To Predominantly Flexural Load Using Thin Uhpc Shell, Alireza Valikhani

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of bridges exceeding their design life is increasing every year and Federal Highway Administration estimates that structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges comprise almost 24% of total bridge inventory in the U.S. Besides aging, the existing bridges can sustain damages due to various factors including exposure to severe environment, deleterious chemicals, and overloading. To avert any catastrophic loss of property and life, it is imperative that the existing bridge inventory is rehabilitated and repaired at a minimal cost and at an expedited schedule using advanced construction methodologies and materials.

One such advancement consists of the use of Ultra-High …