Engineering Commons^™

Meg Report: Elastic Frames For Earthquake Resistance, Paul Richards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The topic of the proposal was steel frames with superior elastic energy capacity that will permit buildings to better withstand severe earthquake loading. The anticipated outcomes related to mentoring were: each student researcher would be the lead author on a conference publication, students would present results at a national conference, and each student researcher would be a co-author on a journal article; with the graduate student researcher as a lead author.

Mentored Environment For Isogeometric Analysis, Kevin Tew, Michael Scott

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The mentored environment for isogeometric analysis (IGA) has trained engineering and computer science students to develop isogeometric numerical methods and accompanying software to solve challenging problems in science and engineering. The mentoring environment consisted of:

1. Weekly group meetings where research concepts were discussed, scientific literature was reviewed, and progress was monitored.
2. Pairing of students with a faculty members to develop IGA design-through-analysis methodologies.
3. Preparation of results for peer-reviewed publications.

Finite Element Modeling Of Shallow Embedded Connection Stiffness, Trevor Jones, Dr. Paul Richards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Shallowly embedded connections are a common and important connection of steel columns to reinforced concrete foundations, which can increase the building’s overall stiffness and strength. Until now, their contributions have been neglected because they are hard to quantify and study. Previous research at BYU (Barnwell 2015) has shown that the strength and stiffness available in these connections is greater than was previously assumed. A thorough understanding of these desirable properties would allow engineers to design buildings that are more cost-effective.

Thermal Properties Of Natural-Colored And Darkened Portland Cement Concrete Pavement, Tenli Waters, W. Spencer Guthrie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to measure thermal properties of natural-colored and darkened portland cement concrete in order to explain observations from field data already collected. While portland cement concrete pavement offers a durable surface and long service life when designed and constructed properly, selected concrete pavement sections require expensive winter maintenance treatments to clear snow and ice. One method of potentially reducing winter maintenance costs is darkening the concrete pavement. Darkening the concrete reduces its albedo, or whiteness, and should therefore promote higher pavement surface temperatures through increased absorption of radiation energy from the sun. In winter, darkened …