Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of Ndot’S Sediment Barrier Practices Using Performance Data, Michael A. Perez, Wesley N. Donald, J. Blake Whitman, Brian G. Roche

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

To protect waterways adjacent to construction projects with disturbed land, a 50 ft (15 m) vegetated buffer or equivalent sediment controls are required. However, there is little guidance on the effectiveness of vegetated buffers in removing sediment or how sediment barriers can aid shorter buffers or replace buffers. A modeling methodology was developed and used to determine the performance of 11,664 50 ft (15 m) vegetated buffer configurations with Nebraska conditions; sediment capture averaged 92.6% and ranged from 18.5% to 99.5%. To determine the performance of Nebraska Department of Transportation standard and modified sediment barrier installations, a large-scale testing methodology …

Connected Simulation For Work Zone Safety Application, Vahid Balali

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Every year, over 60,000 work zone crashes are reported in the United States (FHWA 2016). Such work zone crashes have resulted in over 4,400 fatal and 200,000 non-fatal injuries in the last 5 years (FHWA 2016, BLS 2014). Apart from the physical and emotional trauma, the annual cost of these injuries exceeds $4 million-representing significant wasted resources. To improve work zone safety, this research developed a system architecture for unveiling high-risk behavioral patterns among highway workers, equipment operators, and drivers within dynamic highway work zones. This research implemented the use of a connected virtual environment, which is an immersive hyper-realistic …

Updating The Bridge Construction Cost Database, Rachel Catchings, Ying Li, Ryan Griffith, Sudhir Palle

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Adopting a comprehensive suite of methods to track, analyze, and maintain data on bridge construction costs can help state transportation agencies identify and implement strategies to mitigate the influence of factors which escalate project costs. This report discusses how the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) should approach updating, maintaining, and analyzing its bridge construction cost data. Based on a review of practices introduced at other agencies and interviews with public and private industry stakeholders, the report catalogues practical strategies for improving estimating procedures and tracking cost data as well as the most important cost drivers of bridge construction. Analysis of KYTC …

Assessment Of Key Imperatives For Enhancing Precast Adoptability In Egypt, Mostafa Sameh

Theses and Dissertations

Precast Concrete’s modular application concept is a major construction method that has been used historically seen in various shapes, forms, and with a wide range of constituents. Examples include Ancient Egypt and China among several impressive structures in old civilizations. The major advantages of precast concrete lie in its adaptability, resilience, and versatility which makes precast concrete one of the most agile building materials. Precast concrete as we know it today has been introduced to our markets over the past several decades. Having similar advantages to that of old precast building methods, the road has been paved for wider use …

Real-Time Work Zone Traffic Management Via Unmanned Air Vehicles, Charles Malveaux Ph.D, Marcio De Queiroz Ph.D, Xin Li Ph.D, Hanny Hassan Ph.D, Zewei He Ph.D

Data

Highway work zones are prone to traffic accidents when congestion and queues develop. Vehicle queues expand at a rate of 1 mile every 2 minutes. Back-of-queue, rear-end crashes are the most common work zone crash, endangering the safety of motorists, passengers, and construction workers. The dynamic nature of queuing in the proximity of highway work zones necessitates traffic management solutions that can monitor and intervene in real time. Fortunately, recent progress in sensor technology, embedded systems, and wireless communication coupled to lower costs are now enabling the development of real-time, automated, “intelligent” traffic management systems that address this problem. The …

Real-Time Work Zone Traffic Management Via Unmanned Air Vehicles, Charles Malveaux Ph.D, Marcio De Queiroz Ph.D, Xin Li Ph.D, Hany Hassan Ph.D, Zewei He Ph.D

Publications

Highway work zones are prone to traffic accidents when congestion and queues develop. Vehicle queues expand at a rate of 1 mile every 2 minutes. Back-of-queue, rear-end crashes are the most common work zone crash, endangering the safety of motorists, passengers, and construction workers. The dynamic nature of queuing in the proximity of highway work zones necessitates traffic management solutions that can monitor and intervene in real time. Fortunately, recent progress in sensor technology, embedded systems, and wireless communication coupled to lower costs are now enabling the development of real-time, automated, “intelligent” traffic management systems that address this problem. The …

Current State And Prospects Of Construction Of High-Speed Railway Overpasses In Seismic Conditions Of The Republic Of Uzbekistan, Ulugbek Zabixullayevich Shermuxamedov, Saidxon Salixanovich Salixanov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The article deals with the issues of seismic stability of high-speed railway overpasses in the Republic of Uzbekistan, taking into account the experience of their design and construction in developed foreign countries. A review of technical solutions to ensure the seismic stability of overpasses and bridges located on high-speed and high-speed Railways in the world and in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Features of ensuring seismic stability of bridges and overpasses on high-speed lines are given.

State And Prospects Of Production And Operation Of Synthetic Woven Belts (Table) For Load-Handling Devices (Hd) In The Republic Of Uzbekistan, Ibrohim Numanovich Abdullaev, Zhamoldin Dzhalalovich Akhmedov, Bakhodir Kushakovich Rakhmanov, Ruzikhon Toyirzhanovna Zhurabaeva

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

In the world, the use of synthetic woven tapes (SWT) is increasing in various areas of life, including in construction. In particular, thanks to the development of production of high-strength synthetic fibers in such developed countries as Russia, USA, Germany, progress has been made in the creation and manufacture of heavy-duty lifting slings from STL, and on this basis to improve ergonomics and safety of installers, the safety of transported goods, the reduction of labor input and material on the load capacity.

Application Of Modern, Effective Materials In Rail Road Reinforced Bridge Elements, U.Z. Shermuxamedov, F.Z. Zokirov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The article is about reducing the construction costs of railroad bridges and the effective use modern building materials. The article compares the technical characteristics of composite fittings and metal fittings and their proportionality. Indeed, recourse saving of metal and composite fittings, as well as factors of localization of construction is compared

Method Of Calculation Of Self-Stressed Concrete Slabs Supported Along The Contour, S.S. Salixanov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The paper presents the developed method for calculating the contour-supported slab of self-stressed concrete. Reinforced concrete slab on the tension cement replaces the traditional construction of the bridge. In this article, in order to exclude reinforcement, the problem of determining the stress-strain state of self-stressed concrete slabs supported along the contour is considered. The values of stresses in the upper and lower faces of the concrete slab, as well as the bending moment in the middle section of the slab

Construction Features Of Transport Tunnels In The Mountain Areas Of Uzbekistan, M.Х. Miralimov, Sh.U. Normurodov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The paper provides information about the transport tunnel 19,2 km long which was recently completed on new electrified railway line “Angren-Pap” in the mountain area of Uzbekistan. It is noted that the most actual for transport tunnels is account of seismic activity of geological environment in the process of design, construction and maintenance. There are given the effects of earthquakes on underground structures and regularities of displacement and stress distribution in the tunnel linings under seismic impacts. The accumulated experience of earthquake-resistant construction in Uzbekistan shows the need to consider several design schemes for the interaction of tunnels in the …

Design, Construction, And Preliminary Investigations Of Otta Seal In Iowa, Sharif Y. Gushgari, Yang Zhang, Ali Nahvi, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim, Ali Arabzadeh, Charles T. Jahren, Charles Øverby

Ali Nahvi

Faced with limited financial resources, pavement engineers constantly seek more durable and economical technologies for road preservations and rehabilitations. Consequently, there have been many efforts to study resurfacing strategies, including various types of sealing for local roads. Among different sealing methodologies, Otta seal is a technique that has not yet been sufficiently studied in the U.S.A. For this investigation, the first Otta seal site in the state of Iowa was constructed using a double-layer Otta seal design over 6.4 km of cracked asphalt pavement. Otta seal design and construction details are documented and discussed, and test sections using various aggregates …

Nchrp Synthesis 499: Alternate Design/Alternate Bid Process For Pavement-Type Selection. A Synthesis Of Highway Practice, Douglas D. Gransberg, Ashley F. Buss, Ilker Karaca, Michael C. Loulakis

Ilker Karaca

Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which information already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and practice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a consequence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research …

Training Curricula For The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department Of Highways, Nancy Albright, Bryan Gibson, Chris Van Dyke, Jeff Jasper, Doug Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Most state departments of transportation (DOTs) offer their employees professional development opportunities (e.g., training courses) so they can build their expertise and in doing so facilitate agency efforts to fulfill their business mandates. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is no different in this regard. While professional development opportunities are invaluable, and while the Cabinet offers a number of trainings to its staff, currently there exists no comprehensive training curricula to help professionals and paraprofessionals systematically grow their knowledge and skills and ensure KYTC maintains a robust portfolio of technical competencies across the organization. The inconsistent and ad hoc manner in …

Accelerated Innovation Deployment (Aid) Demonstration: Kytc — Roundabout Installation Project In London, Kentucky, Jeff Jasper, Adam J. Kirk

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This document serves as the final report on the construction and opening of the Roundabout Project in London, Kentucky (Kentucky Item Number 11‐904.1). This project (hereafter referred to as the London Roundabout) was constructed on the authority of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), which received an Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration grant of $1 million to offset project construction costs. The AID Demonstration program requires that award recipients submit a final report to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) within six months of project completion. The purpose of this report is to document the project delivery and construction processes, benefits, and …

Datumate, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Datumate is digitally transforming civil engineering processes used in construction, surveying and infrastructure inspection markets with fully automated, highly precise, cost effective and safe tools. It utilizes state-of-the-art image processing and advanced drones and camera technologies dramatically reducing the amount of time surveying crews spend in the field, speeding up construction progress checks and shortening infrastructure inspection duration, while maintaining survey grade accuracy. The intuitive, simple and automated solutions increase productivity by saving field and office time in civil engineering and inspection projects of roads, intersections, stockpile volumes, topography, piping, industrial facilities, bridges, property surveys, building facades, railways, cellular infrastructure …

Netpoint®, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The vast majority of construction scheduling software uses a combination of spreadsheets and Gantt charts for developing and depicting Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules. While this paradigm works for the expert scheduler, it is not conducive to collaboration, and it is prohibitively difficult for non-scheduling experts to understand.

NetPoint® provides a dynamic, visual interface conducive to touch and gestural input. Activities are drawn directly on a time-scale and may be placed on the same row or arranged automatically using codes or the WBS. Such control of the presentation makes it easier to communicate the plan to any type of audience. …

Smartvid.Io, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The collection, organization, and retrieval of industrial media is a pervasive challenge that is especially glaring for companies in the AEC industry. Construction projects often generate large volumes of pictures & videos from the field for tracking progress and communicating between engineers, contractors, and subcontractors. It is not uncommon for field personnel to capture hundreds of photos per week on any given jobsite.

Smartvid.io is a cloud-based software solution designed for the specific needs of industrial media. The application’s internal deep-learning engines, collectively nicknamed VINNIE (for ‘Very Intelligent Neural Network for Insight and Evaluation’), use speech and image recognition to …

Hillman Composite Beam (Hcb®), Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Hillman-Composite Beam (HCB®), is an innovative structural member for use in highway and railroad bridges as well as marine facilities. The HCB is essentially a lightweight reinforced concrete beam strengthened and protected by a corrosion-resistant and resilient Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer (FRP) shell.

The beam is comprised of three main components, a concrete arch (compression reinforcement), an FRP bottom flange encapsulating steel strands tying the ends of the arch together (tension reinforcement) and the FRP shell. Galvanized Rebar “shear connectors” are used to make the beam composite with the concrete deck in the same manner as pre-stressed concrete beams.

The …

Portable Modular Conveyor, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The Portable Modular Conveyor-Material Placer (PMC) is a quick, easy, dependable and cost effective way to place materials in the limits of the confined grade or work area. This specialized piece of equipment was developed to place concrete in front of a concrete slip form-paving machine. The typical method of placing concrete requires a self-propelled belt placer, which is very expensive to purchase and mobilize to the jobsite. The PMC creates a significant cost savings in labor and equipment with the PMC. It is a direct replacement for conventional material placing equipment, including all in grade belt placing machines. As …

Methods To Expedite And Streamline Utility Relocations For Road Projects, Roy Sturgill, Timothy R.B. Taylor, Seyedmahdi Ghorashinezhad, Jiwen Zhang

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Executive Summary This report describes best practices and tools to streamline and expedite utility relocations when they are required as part of road construction projects. As part of this effort, a research team from the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) conducted extensive qualitative research that involved mapping current practices at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and reviewing utility manuals from KYTC and other state transportation agencies. The KTC research team also conducted in-depth interviews with KYTC engineers and staff as well as representatives from utility companies (UCs). Based on the data from these investigations, KTC developed a number of recommendations to …

Transition Zone Design Final Report, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Adam J. Kirk, Andrea Cull, Austin Dahlem

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of the research effort and present the findings of the work accomplished. Transition zone is the area in which it is communicated to drivers that the roadway environment is changing (i.e., from rural to built-up) and that their speed should change as well. This study evaluated treatments that could advise drivers to this. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to add additional speed warning sites to such transition zones.

Tools For Applying Constructability Concepts To Project Development (Design), Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Paul Goodrum, Emily Shocklee, Roy Sturgill, Chen Wang

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of Phases I and II of the research effort and present the findings of the work accomplished. Phase I developed the Constructability Review Database for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Phase II conducted a benefit analysis of the constructability review process. The database provides the basis for entry and collection of constructability reviews and allows for the identification of trends leading to potential improvements of the process. The database can be used to summarize activities, generate reports for a project, and be capable of quantifying the benefits from the process. …

Tools For Applying Constructability Concepts To Project Development (Design), Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Paul Goodrum, Emily Shocklee, Chen Wang

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of Phase I of the research effort and present the development of the Constructability Review Database developed for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The database provides the basis for entry and collection of constructability reviews and allows for the identification of trends leading to potential improvements of the process. The database can be used to summarize activities, generate reports for a project, and be capable of quantifying the benefits from the process.

Improved Bridge Expansion Joints, Sudhir Palle, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Bobby W. Meade

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has both open and closed bridge expansion joints and associated details that are problematic. Several state highway agencies (SHA) have joints that they believe are superior performers to other types and have prepared guidance documents for their use. A literature search indicated that several previous research studies, including national surveys, addressing SHA joint practices have been conducted over the past 10 years. For up-to-date information, a new set of surveys were developed and distributed to all the SHAs by email through the AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenance-Bridge Technical Working Group chairman in June 2010. There were …

Rapid Construction Of Pacific Street Bridge, Kromel E. Hanna, George Morcous, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Change Orders And Lessons Learned, Paul Goodrum, Timothy R. B. Taylor, William Lester, Alex Mccoy, Mohammed M. Uddin, Yongwei Shan

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Many times, change is necessary for the success of a project. “Change, defined as any event that results in a modification of the original scope, execution time, or cost of work, happens on most projects due to the uniqueness of each project and the limited resources of time and money available for planning” (Hanna, Camlic, Peterson,& Nordheim, 2002). While change orders are necessary to address unforeseen conditions and other unavoidable or unanticipated occurrences, they tend to negatively affect construction. In most public works, change orders are the main reason for construction delays and cost overruns (Wu, Hsieh, & Cheng, 2005). …

Use Of Ground Penetrating Radar For Construction Quality Assurance O Concrete Pavement, George Morcous, Ece Erdogmus

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Direct And Indirect Costs Of Utility And Right-Of-Way Conflicts On Construction Roadway Projects, Paul M. Goodrum, Fady Kari, Adam Smith, Ben Slaughter, Chris N. Jones

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Utility conflicts are unfortunately a common occurrence on many roadway projects. This report examines the frequency and severity of utility conflicts both within and outside of Kentucky. Understanding which type of utility conflicts most likely occur and the potential magnitude of their costs when will help the Cabinet better understand the risk of utility conflicts on future projects. The report details a series of five case studies that quantified the direct and indirect costs of utility conflicts on previous projects. The report also reports on the result a national survey of 45 state utility directors (out of a possible of …

Innovative Rapid Construction/Reconstruction Methods, Paul M. Goodrum, Yinggang Wang, Chris N. Jones, Philippe C. Fenouil, Donn E. Hancher

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Innovative construction and reconstruction methods provide the opportunity to significantly reduce the time of roadway projects while maintaining the necessary quality of workmanship. The need for these “rapid” methods stems from the increase in traffic on Kentucky roadways coupled with the rise in conventional road and bridge construction methods. Conventional construction methods cannot maintain the demand for progress necessitated by the future needs of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, especially the current philosophy of “Get In, Get Out, and Stay Out.” This research documents a series of case studies that examined past projects which used innovative rapid construction methods. This document …