Engineering Commons^™

More Urban Form, Fewer Auto Trips, Kelly J. Clifton

TREC Project Briefs

Trip generation refers to the number of vehicle trips that are predicted to originate in a given zone. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) publishes standard trip generation rates for various land use types, but these rates are primarily measured in low-density suburban areas. There is national interest in building data that expands upon the existing ITE trip generation rates to include sites located in a multi-modal context.

In areas that have a more compact urban form, better access to transit and a greater mix of land uses, fewer vehicle trips may be generated there than ITE rates indicate. However, …

Characterization If Li-Air Batteries Influence Of Cathode Degradation: Demonstration Of Progress, Claudia Torres Garibay, Jeremiah Deboever

TREC Project Briefs

Li-air batteries are attractive candidates to be used in electric vehicles (EV) due to their high theoretical capacity, which results in an improved range, a requirement to make EV competitive against fossil fuel powered vehicles. However, Li-air battery technology is considered to be far from commercialization, due to its short lifespan. The decomposition of the electrolyte and its effect on cyclablity has been widely studied, no so much the cathode. The presence of undesirable reaction by-products at the cathode that affect the battery performance has been quantified through XRD and SEM. This work will make use of recently reported novel …

Making Concrete From Recycled Materials, Jason Ideker

TREC Project Briefs

Making concrete out of recycled concrete aggregate, or RCA, can be a sustainable and cost-saving alternative to other aggregates. However, the quality of concrete made with RCA is dependent on the quality of the recycled material used. OTREC researchers Jason Ideker of Oregon State University and Jennifer Tanner of the University of Wyoming, with graduate student researchers Matthew P. Adams and Angela Jones, sought to determine some of the primary concerns involved with the use of RCA and to arrive at methods of assessing its durability for use in new concrete.

Alkali-silica reaction occurs in concrete over time, causing it …

Making Bridges Outlast Rising Waters, Daniel Cox

TREC Project Briefs

During Hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005, at least 11 highway and railroad bridges along the U.S. Gulf Coast were damaged by wave forces. The spans of these bridges typically rested on bent column supports, and were attached to the supports by a variety of connection methods. Failure of these connections caused bridge spans to be washed away when the water rose high enough to lift them off. To build bridges that can withstand such forces, engineers must be able to estimate the effects the forces will have.

Investigator Daniel Cox of Oregon State University has conducted wave …

Testing And Strengthening Bridge Connections, Christopher Higgins, Peter Dusicka, Michael Scott

TREC Project Briefs

Researchers evaluate and improve the strength of gusset plate connections, essential pieces in bridge design that can fail due to buckling.