Engineering Commons^™

Quantitative Sustainable Design Of Urban Tree Soil Cells For Stormwater Management, Jamaya Wilson

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Urban trees are critical assets to cities around the world. They act as a green infrastructure system to provide various environmental, economic and social benefits to their surrounding environments. However, the quality of life of urban trees is severely threatened by uncontrolled urbanization and climate change. The compaction of urban soils to meet the structural stability requirements for buildings and pavements directly restricts tree growth. Soil cells are green infrastructure placed in tree wells to transfer active and static loads to pavements. This allows for reduced soil compaction and increased tree root expansion. However, because the technology is still in …

Do Transportation Network Companies Affect Road Safety Outcomes: A Spatially Detailed Analysis In San Francisco, Vedant Shriniwas Goyal

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

US traffic fatal deaths have steadily risen since 2010, with the past few years witnessing an unusual trend increase. To reverse such a dangerous trend, one must understand how and why road crashes occur and which factors are causing them. Emerging transportation technologies have shown the potential to improve mobility and safety. However, such technologies are not inherently beneficial and could worsen road safety if not effectively implemented. One such transportation technology that warrants investigation is the rise of ridesharing services, also called Transportation Network Companies (TNCs). The primary goal of the dissertation is to explore the statistical relationship between …

Clustering States To Improve The Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Victoria Cambron

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Each update to a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) can require a large amount of time, resources, and funding. From the requirements in U.S.C.148(a)(13)(E-F), in the SHSP update process states must consider the results of other transportation planning processes and develop a list of strategies to reduce or eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes (United States, 2023). To fulfill these requirements more efficiently and to gain the largest amount of benefit from said research, this thesis asks the question: how do we select other state transportation plans to study for ideas on improving our own SHSP? In this thesis, a …

Rollout Of A Digital Comprehensive Safety Management System In A Large Public Agency: A Case Study With Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Salena Pham

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

It’s understood that construction is extremely dangerous and highway construction has an added risk that comes from the presence of traffic. Many steps and prevention measures can be taken to reduce the risks to workers’ safety in highway work zones. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) realized they had room for improvement and wanted to have a database that would allow for analysis of the common causes of incidents. The new software KYTC wanted to implement is called Origami Risk. Origami Risk is a cloud-based safety management system (SMS) software that offers a huge range of customizable risk management, RMIS, environmental health …

Implementation Of Digital Twins For Small Water Systems, Aidan Gill

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The main objective of this thesis is to develop a working digital twin for a small water system in central Kentucky which will serve as a general format for other similar systems in the region wishing to implement digital twins for operator support. While the benefit of having a calibrated hydraulic and water quality model is widely understood, small distribution systems tend to not have the same financial and economic means to properly support these tools. Creation of a digital twin using this methodology provides a means for operators to predict pressure, flows, chlorine residuals, and total trihalomethane (TTHM) concentrations …

Quality Control Methods Through Pre-Determination Of Fields For Usrap Projects, Zachary Heath

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP) was designed to rate highways for their ability to protect road users and to make recommendations to engineers and policy makers for investments to enhance road safety. The program is heavily dependent on local road data or characteristics. Pre-populating usRAP requires coders to evaluate sixty-six attributes at 100-meter intervals along a subject highway. In this thesis, methods for obtaining and assuring the quality of some of the usRAP data elements are proposed. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Highway Information System (HIS) data are used as “ground truth” for roadway grade and curvature. Methods of using …

Estimating The Effectiveness Of Incentives On The Adoption Of Electric Vehicles, Michelle O. Imarah

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This study aims to estimate the effectiveness of incentives in increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) among households in the near future. Five scenarios were tested using a vehicle type choice model estimated from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data: (1) increasing the number of EV chargers, (2) reducing the purchase price of EVs based on household income, (3) increasing the number of EV models and makes, (4) increasing the EV range, and (5) all scenarios at once. Results showed that all the scenarios were effective in increasing EV adoption amongst households. Some scenarios were more effective …

Historical And Forecasted Kentucky Specific Slope Stability Analyses Using Remotely Retrieved Hydrologic And Geomorphologic Data, Daniel M. Francis

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazard analyses of rainfall-induced landslides have typically been observed to experience a lack of inclusion of measurements of soil moisture within a given soil layer at a site of interest. Soil moisture is a hydromechanical variable capable of both strength gains and reductions within soil systems. However, in situ monitoring of soil moisture at every site of interest is an unfeasible goal. Therefore, spatiotemporal estimates of soil moisture that are representative of in-situ conditions are required for use in subsequent landslide hazard analyses.

This study brings together various techniques for the acquisition, modeling, and forecasting of spatiotemporal retrievals of soil …

Sewer Vapor Intrusion Pathway: Simulation Of Indoor Piping Systems And Operation Of Aroma-Voc Gas Analyzer, Hong Cheng Tay

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Vapor Intrusion (VI) is a transport phenomenon that occurs when contaminants migrate from sub-surface sources into indoor spaces. Sewer tunnels, plumbing connections, and piping infrastructures can be important contributors to an increased potential of VI in a site, which results in indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC). In the present work, the topic of sewer VI pathways were investigated through a prototype made from various types of indoor plumbing pipe fittings. This prototype simulates indoor piping systems and determine whether air and VOC were escaping through the pipe fittings. Moreover, this study is the first effort to use a …

Adapting Through Organizational Change In Capital Projects Organizations, Mahmoud El Jazzar

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Organizational change can be defined as an alteration of a core aspect of an organization’s operation, structure, or culture. Previous research on organizational change mainly has focused on different types of technical changes, such as alternative project delivery methods and strategies to adopt the design-build approach successfully. Also, previous studies have focused on the project level changes instead of organizational level responses. Here I show using a proposed change model and performing thematic, and analysis, that there exist common responses, and challenges across different types of capital projects organizations studied. The results show that responses to change will differ as …

Accuracy And Uncertainty In Traffic And Transit Ridership Forecasts, Jawad Mahmud Hoque

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Investments of public dollars on highway and transit infrastructure are influenced by the anticipated demands for highways and public transportations or traffic and transit ridership forecasts. The purpose of this study is to understand the accuracy of road traffic forecasts and transit ridership forecasts, to identify the factors that affect their accuracy, and to develop a method to estimate the uncertainty inherent in those forecasts. In addition, this research investigates the pre-pandemic decline in transit ridership across the US metro areas since 2012 and its influence on the accuracy of transit forecasts.

The sample of 1,291 road projects from the …

Identifying And Evaluating The Perceptions Of Near-Miss Reporting Within The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Seth Atkins

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

In the field of construction, most safety data and practices focus on preventing and mitigating serious incidents resulting in injuries or fatalities. However, on construction sites, near-miss events occur more frequently than said serious incidents and, under marginally different conditions, could potentially lead to damages, injuries, or fatalities. Therefore, near-miss reporting can serve as a useful tool for managing safety as it allows for workers to identify and managers to address potential risk factors within construction sites. While most construction companies have implemented some method for reporting near-miss events, many organizations, such as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), struggle with …

Optimizing The Potential Of Highway Safety Investment, Riana Tanzen

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Highway safety management aims to prevent crashes and reduce the resulting frequency and severity within the limit of available resources. The identification of potentially hazardous sites and investment on safety treatments have been fundamental to fulfill this goal. However, having many highway safety improvement projects in hand, safety professionals need to evaluate several different alternatives and allocate the limited funds to the ones that would provide the highest return on investment. Hence, prioritizing the safety projects based on their potential to achieve the greatest safety benefit is crucial. Ineffective prioritization can distribute funds to locations with less potential for improvement …

Geophysics-Based Ground Control And Excavation Design Methodology Based On Acceptable Damage, Jorge Romana Giraldo

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This dissertation is structured around a novel conceptual framework for designing deep excavation retaining systems and using geophysical data to estimate the mechanical response of soft soil deposits. It begins with presenting an approach to design excavation retaining walls based on limiting damage to adjacent infrastructure. In this approach, the damage is defined based on critical distortions of an idealized laminate beam model used for representing the adjacent building deformations. The wall and support elements of the support system are then designed such that the system yields the limiting ground deformations. The resulting excavation support system limits damage to adjacent …

Development Of A Decision-Making Tool For Prediction Of Rainfall-Induced Landslides, Faisal Shakib Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Landslides are frequently observed in mountainous places following prolonged periods of rain, frequently resulting in substantial topography changes. They pose a significant risk to human lives and the built environment globally, particularly in areas prone to excessive rainfall. While slope failures can occur because of human-caused factors such as slope loading or toe cutting for construction purposes, many failures occur because of rainfall penetrating an otherwise stable slope. A greater understanding of the characteristics and mechanics of landslides is consequently critical for geotechnical research, particularly in evaluating prospective mitigation strategies. The potential of slope failure is a primary consideration when …

Incorporating Speed Into Crash Modeling For Rural Two-Lane Highways, Fahmida Rahman

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Rural two-lane highways account for 76% in mileages of the total paved roads in the US. In Kentucky, these roads represent 85 % of the state-maintained mileages. Crashes on these roads account for 40% of all crashes, 47% of injury crashes, and 66% of fatal crashes on state-maintained roads. These statistics draw attention to the need to investigate the crashes on these roads. Several factors such as road geometries, traffic volume, human behavior, etc. contribute to crashes on a road. Recently, studies have identified speed as one of the key factors of crashes as well as the severity associated with …

Investigation Of Pfas Exposure Risks In Kentucky Using Mapping Tools, Sweta Ojha

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of environmentally-persistent compounds, are environmentally ubiquitous and challenging to remediate. Several studies show that PFAS are detected in drinking water systems when sampling is conducted, making human exposure via drinking water an important health consideration. This research: 1) develops a mapping tool for prioritizing sampling locations; 2) establishes a method for making GIS data and meta(data) in the mapping tool accessible; 3) fosters decision making by integrating knowledge brokering and the alignment interest and influence matrix (AIIM). The tool developed is this research is a geospatial and statistical PFAS hot-spot screening model that …

Load And Pressure Distribution As A Function Of Dynamic Contact Stress At The Railroad Crosstie-Ballast Interface, Habib Abdil Unluoglu

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Excessive crosstie wear and abrasion and ballast wear and fouling are two of the fundamental problems contributing to inadequate railroad track performance. This adversely affects the attainment and long-term maintenance of desired track geometric requirements. The magnitudes and distribution of the stresses at the crosstie-ballast (CT-B) interface must be known to determine the stress distribution on the ballast. However, the stresses at the top of the ballast often vary significantly. This study examines a new approach to predicting dynamic contact pressures at the interface of crosstie and ballast using the ‘square wave theory.’ A data set of in-track CT-B interfacial …

Understanding The Differences Between Industry Objectives And Institutional Learning, Kristen Schell

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

To combat understaffing in the construction industry, it is necessary to employ the best candidates possible. By identifying the most desirable skills in a construction employee from an industry perspective, institutional learning can better prepare graduates for the construction workforce. Currently there exists an information gap in the objectives of the construction industry and institutional learning. This gap produces graduates, professors, and employers with expectations that do not align. Reducing this gap will aid in the success of hiring recently graduated construction students who can meet the ever-changing demands of the industry. Construction students who are fresh out of college …

Evaluation Of Scoring Methods For Prioritizing Pedestrian And Bicycle Projects, Daria Korostina

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

To increase the number of pedestrian and bicycle facilities and to grow the number of people using those facilities in Kentucky more such projects need to be implemented. The Strategic Highway Investment Formula for Tomorrow (SHIFT) is a data-driven approach that Kentucky uses for prioritizing projects in the state, but its focus is auto-centric. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a prioritization scoring approach for pedestrian and bicycle projects that could be implemented into SHIFT. The study used the SHIFT–2022 pedestrian and bicycle projects to develop and evaluate different scoring scenarios. After scoring each project on …

Induced Travel Demand: Measuring The Contribution Of Additional Lane Miles On The Increase In U.S. Vehicle Miles Traveled From 1980 To 2019, Brandon Ivanchak

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Induced travel demand is the effect of increasing the amount of vehicle miles traveled because of an increase in roadway capacity. It is explained by the idea that increasing capacity makes driving on those roads more desirable, thereby causing more people to use them. In1962, Robert Downs postulated that “On urban commuter expressways, peak hour traffic congestion rises to meet maximum capacity,” referring to this as the law of peak hour traffic congestion. Since then, there have been ongoing debates about the effectiveness and environmental impact of roadway expansion projects, and efforts to quantify induced demand to inform those debates. …

Context Classification Of Roadways Using Nationally Available Gis Data, Laura Wright

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

A Context Classification System based on context attributes of the area surrounding a roadway provides detailed information about the environment of a roadway corridor, while enabling practitioners to cater roadway projects to the community they are within. This study sought to create a system that would automatically classify roadway segments into the correct context, using data sources that are available nationwide. The proposed approach was tested by classifying the roadways in Highway District 7 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. This process would make context classification approachable to more organizations, as it would reduce the amount of time required to apply …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Polylactic Acid Biopolymer Industrial Waste Management Techniques In Belize, Dennis J. Newby

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

In January 2020, the Government of Belize enacted an Implementation Strategy and Action Plan to phase-out single-use plastics and to transition to products like bioplastics. This work investigated the environmental effects of using alternative waste management techniques to manage polylactic acid biopolymer (PLA) waste by using life cycle assessment (LCA). The following treatment options were compared: landfill, landfill expansion, cogeneration, and anaerobic digestion. The landfill and landfill expansion processes both had a global warming potential of 0.01 kg of CO₂ eq. per kg of PLA waste managed compared to the cogeneration and anaerobic digestion processes -0.03 and -0.06 kg …

Investigation Of Nitrate Transfer In Karst Basins During Storm Events Using Submersible Underwater Nutrient Analyzers, John Pike

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Knowledge of nitrate sources and pathways in karst basins remains incomplete and hinders management of nutrients that cause algae blooms and degrade municipal water supply. However, the increased availability of optical, ultraviolet nitrate sensors allows advancement of nitrate source and transfer for water managers. A concept model is hypothesized for nitrate transfer during hydrologic events and baseflow that considers the multiple porosity of karst. To test the concept model, 15-minute nitrate sensor data is collected with submersible underwater nutrient analyzers over a multi-year period from two locations in a karst basin in the inner bluegrass region of central Kentucky, USA. …

Evaluation Of Liquid Ice Melting Additives For Winter Maintenance Applications, Erin Lammers-Staats

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Winter weather can often pose difficulties for transportation agencies as they work to clear roads of snow and ice quickly so that motorists can travel safely and efficiently. Kentucky has made efforts to maximize efficiency within its winter maintenance program by focusing on optimized equipment usage and personnel time management. This study’s objective was to evaluate novel anti-icers and calculate how their performance compared to the current performance of brine and calcium chloride mixture. New brine additives claim to offer better results, but there is very little guidance about how to systematically evaluate new anti-icers. The author developed a testing …

Assessing Freeway Crash Risk Using Crowdsourced Waze Incident Alerts, Eugene Boasiako Antwi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Traffic data obtained through crowdsourcing are becoming more accessible to traffic agencies due to advancements in smartphone technology. Traffic managers aim to use this data to complement their conventional sources of data and provide additional context in their analysis. In this study, Waze incident alerts are integrated with GPS-Probe speed data and Kentucky State Police (KSP) crashes to assess their impact on traffic flow and safety on freeways in Kentucky. The analysis showed that the presence of a vehicle on the shoulder is associated with about 36.7% of freeway crashes in Kentucky. The presence of a vehicle on the shoulder …

Risk-Based Construction Inspection, Shannon Rush

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

State Transportation Agencies have been experiencing staffing difficulties in the last couple of decades due to the deterioration of infrastructure and a large number of employees retiring or transitioning to the private sector. Therefore, the STA demographic has become much younger and a loss of critical knowledge has resulted from this changeover. Construction Inspection in particular has been severely impacted. Inspired by the NCHRP Synthesis 450, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has initiated the Risk-Based Construction Inspection project which focuses on prioritizing construction activities based on the risk associated with failure of that work item. The purpose of which is to …

Geophysical Techniques Used For The Analysis And Prediction Of Soil Strength And Mechanical Behavior, Matthew A. Hurley

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Determining soil properties involves extensive laboratory testing of samples at discrete timing and location. Non-destructive analysis methods, such as electrical and seismic, presents alternatives to means of gathering soil properties accompanied with increased flexibility due to spatial and temporal applications. This research examined the ability of seismic wave data to predict soil behavior such as stress-strain and pore pressures using a modified version of Duncan and Chang (1970). Friction angle predictions were also analyzed using shear wave velocity and a modified form of the Santos and Gomez-Correria (2001) equation. This research also analyzed the use of electrical data to predict …

Localization Of Stationary Source Of Floor Vibration Using The Steered Response Power Method, Mohammad Royvaran

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

If the generated vibration in a building exceeds the acceptable limit design for a floor system, it is necessary to identify the source of vibration, a process known as localization. The objective of this study is the localization of stationary vibration sources, and the approach used is the steered response power (SRP) method. This method has already been shown to work well for wireless and acoustical applications to locate transmitter and sound sources, respectively. To the writer’s knowledge, this study is the first application of the SRP method to locate vibration sources using floor vibration measurements. However, because waves behave …

Landslide Site Assessment And Characterization Using Remote Sensing Techniques, Batmyagmar Dashbold

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Landslides are common and dangerous natural hazards that occur worldwide, often causing severe direct impacts on human lives, public and private properties. It is imperative to identify the landslide susceptible areas to avoid or mitigate the possible damage. Landslide prediction can be presented in a slope failure in spatial and/ or temporal terms. If it is presented in spatial term, it is considered a landslide susceptibility map (LSM) defined as the probability of spatial occurrence of slope failures. If it is presented in a combination of spatial and temporal distribution of the landslide susceptibility, it is commonly referred to as …