Engineering Commons^™

Exploring The Influences On Construction Bidding Decisions: Insights From Literature And Industry Experts, Muaz O. Ahmed, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Decision-Making In Construction Bidding Is One Of The Complicated Processes. In Determining Related Decisions, Contractors Weigh Various Bidding Factors To Assess The Expected Benefits Of A Construction Project. Various Studies Have Identified Factors That Impact Construction Bidding-Related Decisions. However, There Is A Lack Of Research That Examines The Alignment Between Industry And Literature As Related To The Perception Of The Importance Of Bidding Factors On Bidding Decisions. This Paper Fills This Area Of Research Need. First, The Authors Performed A Content Analysis Of 124 Construction Bidding-Related Journal Papers, And Accordingly, 43 Bidding Factors Were Identified And Mapped With Analyzed Journal …

Circular Economy Strategies For Reducing Embodied Carbon In Us Commercial Building Stocks: A System Dynamics Modeling Approach, Radwa Eissa, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Environmental concerns over embodied carbon - which is generated during the extraction, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and disposal of building materials - have been increasing as the industry shifts to renewable energy and grid decarbonization efforts prevail. Commercial buildings, a rapidly growing sector and a major source of embodied carbon, can contribute immensely to the national climate goals by transitioning into a circular economy (CE). Nevertheless, embodied carbon research is rather dispersed, with sparse data on the actual impact of different CE strategies and how they scale on nationwide commercial building stocks. To address this research need, the goal of this …

A Fuzzy Model And Decision-Support Tool For Assessing And Predicting The Probability Of Bankruptcy Of Construction Companies, Rayan H. Assaad, Ghiwa Assaf, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Construction firms face considerable risks that might lead to business bankruptcy. Failed construction companies leave behind unfinished projects, which leads to huge losses to project owners. While previous studies were conducted to understand the factors that contribute to the bankruptcy of construction organizations, little to no research was performed to quantitatively assess the risk of construction business bankruptcy. Hence, this paper addresses this knowledge gap by developing a fuzzy model for predicting the probability of business bankruptcy of construction companies. First, the following six failure warning signs were considered: financial management system, borrowed credit, estimating and job-cost reporting, project management, …

Predicting High-Impact Research In The Construction Engineering And Management Domain Using Computational Machine Learning, Islam H. El-Adaway, Gasser G. Ali, Muaz O. Ahmed, Radwa Eissa, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Tamima Elbashbishy, Ramy Khalef

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Construction engineering and management (CEM) domain covers multiple evolving sub-disciplines and directions. To understand those directions, numerous research efforts have conducted scientometric analysis of publications to explore their significance and impact. Despite their valuable insights, such research endeavors have been limited to exploratory analyses, whereas no previous attempt has been conducted to predict the future impact of research in CEM. This study fills this knowledge gap by performing a predictive analysis of citation metrics of publications in CEM using machine learning (ML). The developed model was trained on a dataset of 93,868 publications using an XGBoost algorithm. Testing showed that …

Studying Contribution Of Associated Stakeholders In Risk Control Of Modularized Construction Under Different Project Delivery Methods: A Graph-Restricted Cooperative Games Approach, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modularization is associated with various project benefits including cost savings, schedule reduction, improved quality, among others. However, successful implementation of modular projects requires early collaboration and proactive management of various associated risks. Both project communication structures and early engagement of all project stakeholders have a great impact on risk mitigation efficiency in modular construction. The goal of this paper is to study the stakeholders' contribution in risk control of modular construction projects under different delivery methods. To this end, the authors followed a multistep methodology including (1) literature analysis to assign 17 modular risks among the various project stakeholders; (2) …

Understanding Of Risky Determinants Affecting The Success Of Design-Build Airport Projects Using Computational Clustering Techniques, Ramy Khalef, Islam El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The current delivery practices of airport projects are traditionally outdated, lacking innovative and modern techniques which provide overall better cost, schedule, among other performance metrics. Design-build (DB) is an alternative and viable option for the effective delivery of airport projects. Previous studies have lacked in focusing on studying the determinants that affect the success of DB airport projects. This study aims to fill this gap. The goal of this research is to explore these determinants by computationally analyzing the perception of relevant experts. This goal is achieved by: (1) developing a survey to gather valid data on the likelihood of …

Enhancing Pricing Practices Of Subcontractors: A Comparative Analysis Using Simulation Modeling, Muaz O. Ahmed, Islam H. El-Adaway, Kalyn T. Coatney

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The construction industry often relies on subcontracting, where subcontractors bid for portions of a project before general contractors bid for the entire project in a process referred to as multi-stage bidding (MSG). MSG can be complex, and winning bidders may be burdened with underestimating their bids and encountering the winner's curse. Despite various studies investigating this issue, further research is necessary to examine bidding strategies for subcontractors. This paper addresses this research need by exploring and comparing how bidding strategies based on reinforcement learning and game theory could aid subcontractors in mitigating the winner's curse in MSG. The authors used …

System Dynamics Modeling For Investigating The Retention Of Skilled Labor In The Construction Market, Tamima Elbashbishy, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Limited skilled labor has been one of the greatest challenges facing the construction industry, especially after COVID. In 2019, around 80% of contractors in the US reported problems in hiring enough skilled workers. Labor retention has been one of the major contributors to skilled labor shortages in construction. The goal of this paper is to study the impact of key construction industry characteristics and economic conditions on skilled labor shortages. This goal is achieved by simulating the flow of skilled workers throughout the construction industry. To this end, a system dynamics (SD) model was developed to represent skilled labor and …

Evaluation Of Novel Preformed Particle Gel System For Conformance Control In Mature Oil Reservoirs, Abdulaziz Almakimi, Ahmed Ben Ali, Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To address challenges associated with excessive water production in mature oil reservoirs, this study introduces a carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-based material as a novel preformed particle gel (PPG) designed to plug excessive water pathways and redistribute the subsequent injected water toward unswept zones. Through microwave-assisted grafting copolymerization of CMC with acrylamide (AM), we successfully generated multi-sized dry particles within the range of 250–800 µm. Comprehensive analyses, including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), have confirmed the chemical composition and morphology of the resulting carboxymethyl cellulose-grafted crosslinked polyacrylamide (CMC/PAMBA). Swelling kinetics and rheology tests were conducted to confirm the …

Characterization Of The Kansas River Alluvial Aquifer Using Towed Transient Electromagnetic Geophysical Method, Jonathon Daniel Voss

Masters Theses

"Forecasted urban development areas west of Kansas City, Kansas in the coming decades has caused an increase of research into water resources (Butler et al. 2022). A location of investigation has been the Kansas River Alluvial Aquifer (KRAA) for shallow ground water resources. To investigate the KRAA structure and grain texture, the towed transient electromagnetic system (tTEM) in conjunction with direct push electrical conductivity logs and lithology wells were used to investigate four locations between Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas. In total, 110 line-kilometers of tTEM data was collected. The tTEM data collected were high quality and through inversions of the …

In Situ High Temperature Fiber-Optic Raman Sensor For Industrial Applications, Bohong Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Continuous casting in steel production uses specially developed oxyfluoride glasses (mold fluxes) to lubricate a mold and control the solidification of the steel in the mold. The composition of the flux impacts properties, including basicity, viscosity, and crystallization rate, all of which affect the stability of the casting process and the quality of the solidified steel. However, mold fluxes interact with steel during the casting process, resulting in flux chemistry changes that must be considered in the flux design. Currently, the chemical composition of mold flux must be determined by extracting flux samples from the mold during casting and then …

Comprehensive Investigation Of Using Tire-Derived Aggregate In Chip Seal Subjected To Various Traffic And Environmental Conditions, Alireza Pourhassan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Chip seal is one of the most cost- and performance-effective pavement preservation treatments commonly used in the United States. Using crumb rubber obtained from scrap tires as a partial or full replacement for mineral aggregate has been proposed as a sustainable solution to reduce the negative environmental impacts of scrap tire accumulation and excessive consumption of natural resources. However, there was no data available regarding the performance of rubberized chip seal under traffic loads and environmental conditions. An extensive study using laboratory specimens and conditioning as well as field implementation and assessments were conducted to bridge this gap. Different traffic …

Melt Pool Feature Extraction, A State-Space Model And Spatial Layer-To-Layer Control For Powder Bed Fusion, Xin Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique which can reduce material waste and is a fast-prototyping technique for complex geometries. However, the lack of consistent quality is a major problem in industrial applications. An InfraRed (IR) camera is a common tool to monitor a surface temperature field and melt pool morphology in PBF. With melt pool features from camera videos, manufacturing researchers use spatial feature maps to visualize defect locations and control researchers use layer-to-layer control to achieve more uniform melt pools and less defects.

Paper I presents a simulation method to characterize the effect of down-sampling …

Time-Resolved Electromagnetic Near-Field Scanning: Dual Sparse Sampling In Time And Space, Yanming Zhang, Peifeng Ma, Lijun Jiang, Steven Gao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Time-resolved electromagnetic near-field scanning plays a pivotal role in antenna measurement and unraveling complex electromagnetic interference and compatibility issues. However, the rapid acquisition of high-resolution spatio–temporal data remains challenging due to physical constraints, such as moving the probe position and allowing sufficient time for sampling. This article presents a novel hybrid approach combining kriging for sparse spatial measurement, compressed sensing (cs) for sparse temporal sampling, and dynamic mode decomposition (dmd) for comprehensive analysis of the dual-sparse sampling electromagnetic near-field data. We leverage cs to optimize sparse sampling in the time domain and latin hypercube sampling to guide the probe position …

Validation Of Athlet With Purdue University Multi-Dimensional Integral Test Assembly (Puma) Test, Emin Fatih Ozdem

Masters Theses

"Following the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) disaster, the development of a diagnostic system for emergency situations in a nuclear power plant was identified as an essential research area to strengthen the safety of nuclear power plants. A real-time estimation system of vital safety parameters on the main side of a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) facility was investigated since precise post-event scenario estimations are thought to be a crucial component of the diagnostic system. The alarm system of the plant can detect an SB-LOCA (Small Break Loss-Of-Coolant-Accident), but there were a couple of potential long-term transient occurrences. The accident …

Development Of A High-Pressure Infiltration Process For Phenol–Formaldehyde Matrix Composites, Samuel Weiler, Patrick Schwartzkopf, Henry Haffner, K. Chandrashekhara

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Phenol–formaldehyde (phenolic) thermosets are known for excellent heat and chemical resistance, high flame retardance, and good mechanical performance. However, phenolics are also known for their high brittleness, and tendency to form voids, due to a condensation reaction forming water during curing. These voids can decrease the mechanical performance of the resultant phenolic composite and introduce undesirable performance characteristics. This work aims to develop a technique that uses high-pressure infiltration to obtain dense phenolic matrix composites, with commercially available resin and fiber reinforcement. The high-pressure system developed in this work is compared to a conventional low-pressure resin infusion technique, and the …

Risk-Reward Allocation Among Integrated Project Delivery Method Stakeholders: A Gamified Cooperative Data Simulation Approach, Radwa Eissa, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Integrated project delivery (IPD) method is associated with numerous benefits, including enhanced project performance, collaboration, and information sharing among project stakeholders. However, the lack of adequate incentive and reward mechanisms is still considered as the main reason for slowing down the adoption of IPD. As such, the goal of this paper is to identify a fair and efficient risk pool distribution among IPD project stakeholders. The adopted methodology included (1) assigning the risks associated with each stakeholder, (2) computing valuations for all possible subset coalitions among IPD project stakeholders that reflect their risk control capabilities as well as their coordination …

Distributed Solar Generation: Data Analytics Of The Existing Literature For Guiding Future Prospects, Gasser Ali, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Distributed Solar Generation (DSG) Systems Are Small-Scale Units That Are Located At Or Near End-Consumers Such As Residential Rooftop Photo-Voltaic (PV) Systems. DSG Has Driven A Plethora Of Multidisciplinary Research With Various Interrelated Topics And Perspectives. A Broad Understanding Of Research Directions And Potential Gaps In Knowledge Can Be Elusive. Accordingly, The Goal Of This Paper Is To Investigate The Research Trends Related To DSG And Explore Research Opportunities. This Is Achieved By Performing A Data-Driven Keyword Search And Network Analysis On A Large Dataset Of Publications Related To DSG To Quantify Topics Related To DSG And The Interconnectivity Between …

Controller Area Network With Flexible Data Rate (Can Fd) Eye Diagram Prediction, Junyong Park, Manho Lee, Shinyoung Park, Jonghoon Kim, Joungho Kim, Donghyun Kim

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A method for predicting the eye diagram for a controller area network with a flexible data rate (CAN FD) is proposed in this article. A CAN FD changes a data rate according to the status to overcome the limitation of latency. In other words, when data to be transmitted are accumulated, the CAN FD increases the data rate up to 5 Mb/s. The CAN FD has a bus topology consisting of multiple electronic control units, which results in a significant amount of signal reflection. Thus, the above causes the signal integrity analysis uncertain. To avoid this, this article proposes a …

Contextualizing Renewable Energy Adoption: An Examination Of The Role Of Community Choice Aggregation, Ankit Agarwal

Doctoral Dissertations

"The rapid expansion of renewable energy generation in the U.S., both through distributed and utility-scale facilities, is largely driven by top-down policy measures and the growing engagement of residential consumers on both individual and community levels. Previous studies on motives behind residential renewable energy adoption have examined procurement options in isolation and within a static context, primarily focused on intrinsic attributes like economic incentives, emission reductions, and peer popularity. This research introduces a novel context, assessing renewable procurement options in the presence of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a more prevalent and accessible alternative. This dissertation makes four pivotal contributions, offering …

Pseudo-Three-Dimensional Back-Analysis Of Rainfall-Induced Landslides In Utuado, Puerto Rico, Mirna Kassem, Weibing Gong, Dimitrios Zekkos, Marin Clark, Stephen Hughes

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Regional slope stability analyses can provide a system-level assessment of landslide susceptibility. This study aims to develop a regional back-analysis model for rainfall-induced landslides to compute ground shear strength that can be used for landslide prediction. Most commonly, mechanistic-based models for regional slope stability consist of simplified one-dimensional (1D) analyses compared to more realistic three-dimensional (3D) procedures. A pseudo-3D methodology is applied on 788 landslides over two 2.5 km2 areas in the plutonic rocks of the Utuado Batholith. First, an infinite slope stability triggering model is applied on a 1 m-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) to identify the triggering grid …

A Holistic Approach To Exploring The Root Factors Of Work Zone Accidents, Bahaa Chammout, Muaz O. Ahmed, Islam H. El-Adaway, William Lieser

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Work zones are crucial for infrastructure maintenance and improvement. However, ongoing projects within work zones sometimes can place workers and drivers in dangerous situations. Despite safety regulations, work zone accidents persist with notable severity and frequency. Previous research has explored work zone accident causation, but it has not provided a comprehensive understanding of the factors that impact work zone safety. This paper addresses this research gap by following a multistep methodology. First, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to identify a comprehensive list of 37 factors impacting work zone safety. Second, social network analysis (SNA) was employed to analyze …

Agent-Based Modeling For Understanding Incentives Associated With Distributed Solar Generation, Gasser Ali, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Distributed solar generation (DSG), such as residential photo-voltaic (PV) solar panels, offers many benefits to consumers and can improve the sustainability and resilience of the electric power infrastructure. As such, many local and national authorities implemented policy incentives, such as rebates and loans with reduced interests, to promote the adoption of DSG. However, the increasing penetration of DSG is creating new obstacles for system operators due to the uncertainty in forecasting electrical power demand. There is a need to investigate how incentives affect DSG adoption. To achieve that goal, a complex system-of-systems (SoS) model is developed using agent-based modeling (ABM). …

Oxygen Fugacity Of Global Ocean Island Basalts, Lori N. Willhite, Ricardo Arevalo, Philip Piccoli, John C. Lassiter, Devin Rand, Matthew G. Jackson, James M.D. Day, Robert W. Nicklas, Marek Locmelis, Thomas J. Ireland, Igor S. Puchtel

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mantle plumes contain heterogenous chemical components and sample variable depths of the mantle, enabling glimpses into the compositional structure of Earth's interior. In this study, we evaluated ocean island basalts (OIB) from nine plume locations to provide a global and systematic assessment of the relationship between fO₂ and He-Sr-Nd-Pb-W-Os isotopic compositions. Ocean island basalts from the Pacific (Austral Islands, Hawaii, Mangaia, Samoa, Pitcairn), Atlantic (Azores, Canary Islands, St. Helena), and Indian Oceans (La Réunion) reveal that fO₂ in OIB is heterogeneous both within and among hotspots. Taken together with previous studies, global OIB have elevated and heterogenous fO …

Investigating Price Fluctuation Transmission Among Construction Materials, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Islam H. El-Adaway, Rayan H. Assaad

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Generally, Fluctuation In One Material's Price Can Cause A Series Of Chain Reactions In The Supply Chain System, Known As Price Fluctuation Transmission, As All Materials Are Interconnected And Interrelated. None Of The Previous Studies Have Investigated Price Fluctuation Transmission Among All Construction Materials. This Paper Aims To Fill This Gap In Knowledge. The Authors Collected Producer Price Index (PPI) Data For 16 Construction Materials, Modeled The Relationship Between Each Pair Of Materials Using Vector Autoregression Technique, And Validated The Causality Using Granger Causality Test. Network Analysis Was Performed To Identify The Price Fluctuation Transmission Capacity, Susceptibility, And Intermediatory Capacity …

Geochemical Assessment Of Mineral Sequestration Of Carbon Dioxide In The Midcontinent Rift, Alsedik Abousif, David J. Wronkiewicz, Abdelmoniem Masoud

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Study Examines The Potential Of Midcontinent Rift Rocks To Facilitate Long-Term CO2 Sequestration By Providing The Necessary Ca And Mg For Carbonate Mineralization. Surface Samples Were Collected From The Oronto And Bayfield-Jacobsville Groups Around Lake Superior And Used For Petrography And X-Ray Diffraction To Determine Their Mineral Composition. Also, X-Ray Fluorescence Was Also Used To Assess Their Bulk Chemical Composition. The Samples Were Then Exposed To CO2 And Deionized Water In Teflon-Lined Vessels At 90°C, And The Resulting Leachate Fluids Were Analyzed For The Cation Released During The Testing. SEM Microscopy Was Used To Examine The Samples For Potential …

Novel Supercritical Biodiesel Plant Design & Process Scale-Up, Ghana Shyam Paudel

Doctoral Dissertations

"Current energy prices, national energy security, and global climate change fuel our momentum to find efficient advanced fuels choices. In this study, biodiesel processing, and a novel design for next generation biodiesel plants are explored. During a National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps project we identified three creative and profitable improvements to the process: 1. Incorporating Energy intensive separations and reactions 2. Utilizing Low commodity glycerol and 3. Applying process intensification principles.

Current biodiesel processes are catalyzed processes using continuous stir reactors with distillation systems to separate material constituents. We tested a lab-scale nocatalyst supercritical biodiesel process using waste cooking oil …

Monitoring And Control Of Coal Dust Exposure Using Low-Cost Pm Sensors And Computational Fluid Dynamics, Nana Kobina Amoako Amoah

Doctoral Dissertations

"Overexposure to respirable coal mine dust has been linked to causing serious health problems including coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP) and chronic massive fibrosis. The prevalence of these health problems has been on the increase since the 2000s due to increased exposure levels with roof bolter operators having the highest exposure levels. The currently used PDM3700 is too expensive, heavy and bulky which limits their use only for regulatory monitoring failing to measure miners’ personal exposure levels. Also, since roof bolter operators are more prone to elevated coal dust levels, the canopy air curtain (CAC) was developed to protect then high …

Novel Uses Of Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing For Geo-Mechanical Monitoring, Samuel Vincent Nowak

Doctoral Dissertations

"Rock mass monitoring in underground excavations is crucial for ensuring workplace safety and efficiency. As mines become deeper and more complex, the need to monitor larger volumes of rock during mining becomes impractical with existing instruments due to high costs. Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing (DOFS) is a powerful technology with advantages like long sensor length, real-time measurement capabilities, ease of installation, low cost, and distributed measurement. However, its application in rock mass monitoring is limited, especially in the mining industry. This study addresses a major gap in DOFS technology, specifically the inability of long-range distributed optical fiber strain sensors to …

Investigation Of Asphaltene Instability Under Gas Injection In Unconventional Reservoirs And Its Impact On Oil Recovery Performance, Mukhtar Elturki

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unconventional reservoirs, such as shale gas and tight oil formations, have become an important source of energy in recent years. However, these reservoirs often contain high levels of asphaltenes, which can lead to deposition and blockages in production wells and reduce the flow of hydrocarbons during gas enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) techniques. This study aims to experimentally evaluate the impact of miscible and immiscible carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen (N₂) on asphaltene deposition and its impact on oil recovery performance in unconventional shale reservoirs.

This research began with a comprehensive literature review and data analysis of GEOR methods in unconventional …