Engineering Commons^™

Network-Wide Pedestrian And Bicycle Crash Analysis With Statistical And Machine Learning Models In Utah, Md Rafiur Rahman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent trends in crashes indicate a dramatic increase in both the number and share of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities nationally and in many states. Crash frequency modeling was undertaken to identify crash prone characteristics of segments and non-signalized intersections and explore possible non-linear associations of explanatory variables with crashes. Crowdsourced “Strava” app data was used for bicycle volume, and pedestrian counts estimated from nearby signalized intersections were used as pedestrian volume. Multiple negative binomial models investigated crashes at different spatial scales to account for different levels of data availability and completeness. The models showed high traffic volume, steeper …

A Comprehensive Safety Analysis Of Diverging Diamond Interchanges, Holly Lloyd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With the implementation of new roadway configurations, there is a great need to study the influence of the roadway design on the crash rate. Utah is one of the leading states in the implementation of the Diverging Diamond Interchange.

In order to determine the effects of the new roadway configuration on the safety of the intersection, this study employs an Empirical Bayes before-after study of the crash rates at selected Diverging Diamond Interchanges in Utah. The results of the Empirical Bayes method were also used to calculate crash modification factors. The total number of crashes at each site were analyzed. …

Platooning Safety And Capacity In Automated Electric Transportation, James Fishelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Automated Electric Transportation (AET) proposes a system of automated platooning vehicles electrically powered by the roadway via wireless inductive power transfer. This has the potential to provide roadway transportation that is less congested, more flexible, cleaner, safer, and faster than the current system. The focus of this research is to show how platooning can be accomplished in a safe manner and what capacities such an automated platooning system can achieve. To accomplish this, first two collision models are developed to show the performance of automated platoons during an emergency braking scenario: a stochastic model coded in Matlab/Simulink and a deterministic …

Safety Evaluation Of Work Zone Practices In Utah, Tomás Ernesto Lindheimer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Work zones present a risk to drivers and to personnel constructing the roadway. In 2005 work zones accounted for 2.5% of fatalities nationwide, 3.5% for the state of Utah. The goal of this research is to make work zones safer by quantifying the risk that they present to drivers. The approach of this research has been to review part 6 of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and compare the differences from the 2003 and 2009 editions, conduct field studies of Utah work zones, and develop a tool for measuring risk in work zones. In the 2009 MUTCD …

Discharge Coefficient Scale Effects Analysis For Weirs, Michael Clyde Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Much work has been published regarding discharge coefficients for various weir structures. What has not been published to the same extent are the effects of model scale associated with the weirs being studied. If laboratory weirs are too small, scale effects can affect the magnitude of the discharge coefficient. These errors may be significant if the weir serves as a control structure for an emergency spillway. It is imperative that discharge be accurately predicted to enable safe design and operation.

Numerical and physical means were employed to analyze the effects of scale associated with Froude Modeling of weirs with sharp …