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Theses/Dissertations

2009

Articles 1 - 16 of 16

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Non-Linear Finite Element Dynamic Analysis Of The Effect Of Compaction On Underground Conduits, Anupong Kararam Jan 2009

Non-Linear Finite Element Dynamic Analysis Of The Effect Of Compaction On Underground Conduits, Anupong Kararam

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Construction loads are an important but often overlooked factor in underground pipe design and installation. Common compaction equipments used in pipeline construction can be a major contributor to pipe damage. To reduce load concentrations in excess of the design loads, construction equipment should be kept at a safe distance above the pipe location.This study investigates the behavior of a reinforced concrete pipeline system under a compaction process. The full-scale experimental test was conducted using a Type-2 standard trench installations soil and minimum compaction requirement. Using a compaction machine "hoe pack" and including the weight of a backhoe, a maximum dynamic …


Development And Benefits Of A Leed Project Management Database, Teri Schmig Jan 2009

Development And Benefits Of A Leed Project Management Database, Teri Schmig

Civil Engineering Theses

The U.S. Green Building Council is a non-profit community of industry leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone. The documentation process for achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED® ) certification is highly complex and more time-consuming than necessary with currently employed systems. This thesis explains the need for development of a relational database as a means to increase the efficiency of the documentation process to meet LEED® requirements. This database will provide the construction project team a relational platform that guides the user through the LEED® administration and certification process. By developing a LEED® specific project …


Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis Of Hybrid Frames, Dobrinka Radulova Jan 2009

Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis Of Hybrid Frames, Dobrinka Radulova

Civil Engineering Theses

This study proposes a hybrid frame system consisting of rigid and semi-rigid connections subjected to a dynamic loading. Two building geometries are chosen to represent low-rise and high-rise buildings. Multiple locations for placement of semi-rigid connections are proposed, and the hybrid systems with the most efficient energy dissipation are identified. During this analysis, five earthquake records are used to provide a spectrum of frequencies. Five practical semi-rigid connection types and one connection with analytical parameters are also modeled into the selected hybrid combinations by applying zero-length springs at the ends of beams, in which their nonlinear constitutive relation is defined …


Long Term Durability Studies On Chemically Treated Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap) Materials, Vijay Krishna Ganne Jan 2009

Long Term Durability Studies On Chemically Treated Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (Rap) Materials, Vijay Krishna Ganne

Civil Engineering Theses

Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is a well known construction material which has been used in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) to reduce material costs and stabilizing the pavements for several years. It has been reported that out of 45 million tons of RAP produced every year in US, only 33% is being used in HMA. It is clear that a large amount of RAP produced is disposed off as a waste material in landfills. Hence, in order to utilize the maximum percentage of RAP and reduce the disposal rate, stabilized RAP can be effectively used as a base layer instead of …


Use Of Electrical Resistivity And Multichannel Analysis Of Surface Wave Geophysical Tomography In Geotechnical Site Characterization Of Dam, Joshua Lee Hubbard Jan 2009

Use Of Electrical Resistivity And Multichannel Analysis Of Surface Wave Geophysical Tomography In Geotechnical Site Characterization Of Dam, Joshua Lee Hubbard

Civil Engineering Theses

Performance of geotechnical site characterization is a primary function of geotechnical engineers. Generalizations required to extrapolate conventional geotechnical boring data can limit the effectiveness of site assessments. Advancements in geophysical technology have simplified means of data acquisition and interpretation of electrical and seismic testing, allowing a broader audience of practitioners to utilize methods for various engineering and environmental applications. In this study, electrical resistivity and multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) seismic geophysical methods are used to expound upon previous geotechnical sampling and in situ testing conducted at an earthen dam site in East Texas. Findings from this study show: …


Development Of Brownfield Database Using Gis, Jubair Hossain Jan 2009

Development Of Brownfield Database Using Gis, Jubair Hossain

Civil Engineering Theses

Brownfields are abandoned, idled or underutilized industrial or commercial sites where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfields may be as small as a vacant city lot or as large as an abandoned manufacturing facility occupying several hundred acres. The extent of contamination encountered at brownfield sites may range from minor surface debris to extensive, dangerous soil and ground-water contamination. Concerning the communities in which brownfields are located, redevelopment may improve community appearance and image, relieve associated health and environmental concerns and produce a beneficial economic effect through increased property values and employment opportunities.The overall …


Theoretical Feasibility Study For A Conceptual Approach To Trenchless Replacement Of Culverts, Diego R. Calderon Jan 2009

Theoretical Feasibility Study For A Conceptual Approach To Trenchless Replacement Of Culverts, Diego R. Calderon

Civil Engineering Theses

Culvert damage and collapses and their renewal alternatives are a raising concern in today's infrastructure topics. In most cases damages are irreversible; however, in many cases opportunities exist to correct and renew. While conventional open-cut construction brings inconvenience to the public, trenchless technology brings a greener, reliable and more socially acceptable alternative to renew culverts. Considering the strong dependency on highway transportation by the American lifestyle, collapses of culverts in major roads may produce chaotic traffic redirections. To reduce this risk, this research sets a path for a construction and feasibility study on a new culvert replacement method based on …


A Comprehensive Study Of Recycled Concrete Aggregates As A Drainable Base Layer For Pavements, Juan Bosquez Jan 2009

A Comprehensive Study Of Recycled Concrete Aggregates As A Drainable Base Layer For Pavements, Juan Bosquez

Civil Engineering Dissertations

The use of recycled materials in construction is becoming increasingly popular due to the shortage of raw materials. Coupled with the environmental concerns surrounding the quarrying of natural minerals, waste materials are being considered as viable replacement sources. By recycling waste materials, available landfill space is increased and costs of transportation are reduced. This dissertation study was conducted to evaluate the use of recycled concrete aggregates as flexible base as per the requirements of the Texas Department of Transportation (2004). Two sources of recycled aggregates and one source of natural limestone aggregate were collected from the Dallas/Fort Worth Area and …


Managed Lanes Weaving And Access Guideliness, Chulsu Yang Jan 2009

Managed Lanes Weaving And Access Guideliness, Chulsu Yang

Civil Engineering Dissertations

To maximize the potential for successful managed lanes (MLs) operations, there are critical design issues that require special attention. Adequate ML access spacing and length of the ML access opening are required for the preservation of freeway capacity, level of service, and safety. The traffic weaving from an entrance ramp to the general purpose lanes across to a ML access point and vice versa are effectively modeled as a two-sided Type C weave. The 2000 Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) methodology was calibrated for the major weave without lane balance or merging (standard Type C weave) but not for the two-sided …


Performance Of Large Scale Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Deep Beam With Single Opening Under Monotonic Loading, Carlos Flores Jan 2009

Performance Of Large Scale Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Deep Beam With Single Opening Under Monotonic Loading, Carlos Flores

Civil Engineering Theses

The design of complex, discontinuous stress trajectory regions (D-regions) is complex in natureand cumbersome to design. The performance of a large scale steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC)deep beam with single opening under monotonic loading was tested under controlled conditions. Themain objective of this study was to see if Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC), used as a bettermaterial than reinforced concrete (RC) offered an alternate to the cumbersome and iterative stepsinvolved in strut-and-tie (STM) methodology. Additionally, a similar reinforced concrete (RC) specimenwas tested under the same controlled condition designed with classical strut-and-tie model designmethodology reinforced using conventional steel bars.Material testing was …


Applications Of Gis For Mapping And Tracking Underground Infrastructure, Anurag Babu Bhogenahally Lakshminarayanappa Jan 2009

Applications Of Gis For Mapping And Tracking Underground Infrastructure, Anurag Babu Bhogenahally Lakshminarayanappa

Civil Engineering Theses

The main objective of this research is to apply Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for construction and renewal of underground infrastructures. As a first step, a suitability analysis to determine location of existing underground infrastructure is performed. Next, a GIS template is developed using a digital elevation model (DEM) to get a three dimensional visualization of the underground infrastructure. Creating a Google Map using ArcGIS is one of the key features of this research, which provides an exact location of the existing site and distances from the nearby reference points. Once the GIS data is exported to Google Map and Google …


A New Paradigm In User Equilibrium - Application In Managed Lane Pricing, Asapol Sinprasertkool Jan 2009

A New Paradigm In User Equilibrium - Application In Managed Lane Pricing, Asapol Sinprasertkool

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Ineffective use of the High-Occupancy-Vehicle (HOV) lanes has the potential to decrease the overall roadway capacity during peak periods. Excess capacity in HOV lanes during peak periods can be made available to other types of vehicles, including single occupancy vehicles (SOV) for a price (toll). Such dual use lanes are known as "Managed Lanes." The main purpose of this research is to propose a new paradigm in user equilibrium to predict the travel demand for determining the optimal fare policy for managed lane facilities. Depending on their value of time, motorists may choose to travel on Managed Lanes (ML) or …


A Refined True Triaxial Apparatus For Testing Unsaturated Soils Under Suction-Controlled Stress Paths, Diego D. Perez-Ruiz Jan 2009

A Refined True Triaxial Apparatus For Testing Unsaturated Soils Under Suction-Controlled Stress Paths, Diego D. Perez-Ruiz

Civil Engineering Dissertations

A novel, computer-driven, true triaxial (cubical) apparatus has been developed to test unsaturated soil specimens under suction-controlled multi-axial stress paths that are not achievable in a conventional cylindrical apparatus. The cubical cell implemented in this research work is a considerably refined version of those previously reported by Hoyos (1998) and Laikram (2007). The refined version is a servo-controlled, mixed boundary type of cell that allows for full control and real time measurements of matric suction, net principal stresses and soil deformations along a wide range of simple-to-complex stress paths induced on cubical specimens of unsaturated soil. The specimen seats on …


Comparative Damage Of Different Truck Configurations On Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement, Tito P. Nyamuhokya Jan 2009

Comparative Damage Of Different Truck Configurations On Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement, Tito P. Nyamuhokya

Civil Engineering Theses

This study estimated the damage done by trucks with 35 different configurations on a typical structure of a Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement. The configurations were proposed by New York Department of Transportation, the sponsor of this study. The generalized three dimensional finite element program Abaqus was used to calculate the response of linear elastic rigid pavement structure under truck loading. The loads for each truck case were placed at critical locations on the surface of the pavement to obtain the maximum tensile stresses at the bottom of concrete slab. The computed tensile stresses were used in Darter fatigue model (1977) …


Durability Studies On Stabilization Effectiveness Of Soils Containing Different Fractions Of Montmorillonite, Aravind Pedarla Jan 2009

Durability Studies On Stabilization Effectiveness Of Soils Containing Different Fractions Of Montmorillonite, Aravind Pedarla

Civil Engineering Theses

Stabilization of clays with additives like lime and cement has been practiced for several years and worked well in improving the subgrades. Though this practice is used widely, there were cases where the treated subgrades exhibited premature failures. Many departments of transportation (DOT) agencies in the United States have had subgrade failures even after stabilization with chemical additives due to loss of stabilizer over a time period, or a stabilizer being ineffective in some soils. The design based on PI and gradation of soil followed by many DOTs is quite misleading due to the lack of inclusion of basic soil …


Failure Analysis Of A Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Mse) Wall Using Finite Element Program Plaxis, Tahsina Mahmood Jan 2009

Failure Analysis Of A Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Mse) Wall Using Finite Element Program Plaxis, Tahsina Mahmood

Civil Engineering Theses

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) retaining walls have been increasingly used in many federal, state and private projects over the last 20 years. MSE walls are reliable, constructible, and cost effective. However, failure of MSE wall has become a problem for all agencies using them. This study presents the failure analysis of a segmental block, MSE retaining wall located in Rockville, Maryland. The top of MSE wall moved about 12 inches to 18 inches. An extensive geotechnical investigation program was undertaken to investigate the MSE wall failure. This study presents the results of investigations to determine the causes of failure. The …