Engineering Commons^™

Strategies For The Replacement Of Historic Bridge Guardrails, Adam J. Clauss

Open Access Theses

Bridges that are designated historic present a special challenge to bridge engineers whenever rehabilitation work or improvements are made to the bridges. Federal and state laws protect historically significant bridges, and railings on these bridges can be subject to protection because of the role they play in aesthetics. Unfortunately, original railings on historic bridges do not typically meet current crash-test requirements and typically do not meet current standards for railing height and size of permitted openings. The objective of this study is to develop strategies that can be used to address existing railings on historic bridges and to develop solutions …

Heavy Vehicle Rollover Propensity At Roundabouts On Highspeed Roads, Thomas M. Hall

Open Access Theses

There is a recent trend of building roundabouts on high-speed roads, often with significant heavy vehicle traffic. With the increased presence of trucks on roundabouts, the issue of rollover has become a concern. Geometric features that allow excessive speed on the approach and entry have been connected to rollover, as well as sudden changes in crossfall and radius. However, the effect on the rollover threshold of changing the roundabout's circulatory superelevation is not fully understood. The impact of aggressive driving behaviors, as displayed by high driver speed far from the roundabout, as well as errors that are manifested by the …

Using A Centrifuge For Quality Control Of Pre-Wetted Lightweight Aggregate In Internally Cured Concrete, Albert E. Miller

Open Access Theses

Early age shrinkage of cementitious systems can result in an increased potential for cracking which can lead to a reduction in service life. Early age shrinkage cracking can be particularly problematic for high strength concretes, which are often specified due to their high strength and low permeability. However, these high strength concretes frequently exhibit a reduction in the internal relative humidity (RH) due to the hydration reaction (chemical shrinkage) and self-desiccation which results in a bulk shrinkage, termed autogenous shrinkage, which is substantial at early ages. Due to the low permeability of these concretes, standard external curing is not always …

Evaluation Of Lane Use Management Strategies, Chaitanya Paleti Siva Sai Krishna

Open Access Theses

The limited funding available for roadway capacity expansion and the growing funding gap, in conjunction with the increasing congestion, creates a critical need for innovative lane use management options. Various cost-effective lane use management strategies have been implemented in the United States and worldwide to address these challenges. However, these strategies have their own costs, operational characteristics, and additional requirements for field deployment. Hence, there is a need for systematic methodologies to evaluate lane use management strategies.

In this thesis, a systematic simulation-based methodology is proposed to evaluate lane use management strategies. It involves identifying traffic corridors that are suitable …

Capacity-Related Driver Behavior On Modern Roundabouts Built On High-Speed Roads, Shaikh Ahmad

Open Access Theses

The objective of this thesis was to investigate the factors that affect capacity-related driver behavior on modern roundabouts built on high-speed roads. The capacity of roundabouts is strongly affected by the behavior of drivers as represented by critical headway (critical gap) and follow-up headway (follow-up time). The effects of heavy vehicles (single-unit truck, bus, and semi-trailer) and area type (rural or urban) on roundabout capacity were investigated by comparing the critical headways for roundabouts located on high-speed and low-speed roads. The effects of nighttime conditions (in the presence of street lighting) were also considered. Data were collected using the Purdue …

High Voltage Rear Electric Drivetrain Design For A Parallelthrough-The-Road Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Adam Garrett Fogarty

Open Access Theses

Purdue University was selected as one of 15 universities to participate in a three year Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) called EcoCar2: Plugging Into the Future. The vehicle built by the Purdue team was a Parallel-Through-The-Road Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PTTR PHEV). The vehicle utilized a B20 diesel powertrain to power the front wheels, as well as a custom electric drivetrain to power the rear wheels. Using this vehicle during the final year of the competition, the team was successful in placing 4th overall as well as 2nd in the category of Well-To-Wheel (WTW) Greenhouse Gas Emissions. A stock 2013 …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Geo-Tagged Tweets, Yue Li

Open Access Theses

With over 500 million current registered users and over 500 million tweets per day, Twitter has caught the attention of scientists in various disciplines. As Twitter allows users to send messages with location tags, a massive amount of valuable geo-social knowledge is embedded in tweets, which can provide useful implications for human geography, urban science, location-based service, targeted advertising, and social network studies. This thesis aims to determine the lifestyle patterns of college students by analyzing the spatial and temporal dynamics in their tweets. Geo-tagged tweets are collected over a period of six months for four US Midwestern college cites: …

Evaluation Of Collapse Indicators For Seismically Vulnerable Reinforced Concrete Buildings, Nicholas R. Skok

Open Access Theses

Older reinforced concrete buildings can be prone to column shear and compression failures during earthquakes because of inadequate transverse reinforcement. Cities in seismic areas still have large inventories of older and potentially deficient buildings. To analyze every building and estimate its vulnerability in detail is costly. A simple method to rank quickly older buildings according to their seismic vulnerability is needed to help engineers prioritize the use of resources for rehabilitating the most vulnerable buildings.

Four indicators of building damage or collapse were evaluated using numerical analysis and prior data from building surveys: column index (Hassan & Sozen, 1997), R …

Fire Behavior Of Bolted Connections, Qiaqia Zhu

Open Access Theses

Bolted connection failures have been observed in building fires and large-scale structural fire tests. Limited information is available on plate bearing behavior at elevated temperatures. The failure mode of a shear-tab connection could change from plate bearing failure to bolt shear failure between 400 (degree Celsius) °C to 600°C. Component-based models have been used to predict the behavior of bolted connections. Earlier researchers have developed simple mathematical models to represent the force-displacement relationships of bolt shear and plate bearing components of bolted connections. However, these models need to be verified experimentally for US building construction and materials. Therefore, eleven single-bolted …

Evaluation Of Asphalt Pavement Interface, Hyung Jun Ahn

Open Access Theses

This paper presents the development process of modified pull-off test for measurement of in-situ pavement interface bonding strength. The modified test method was validated using two case studies (i.e., delaminated vs. non-delaminated pavements on I-65 and intelligent compacted vs. non-intelligent compacted pavements on US-52) and used for developing a correlation model for estimating a probability of delamination failure at a given pull-off bonding strength. In addition, methodologies for probabilistic interpretations with pull-off test results were explored.

The results demonstrated that the modified pull-off test showed its applicability in measurement of interface bonding condition with both weak and strong conditions. Additionally, …

Systematic Analysis Of Drainage Events In Free Draining And Managed Subsurface Drainage Systems, Guy Bou Lahdou

Open Access Theses

Understanding the hydrologic controls that regulate outflow from free and managed subsurface drainage systems during drainage events can offer improved insight on the overall functioning and effectiveness of the systems so that they can be better managed or retrofitted to increase their environmental benefits. This study used drainage, precipitation, water table, and soil moisture data from a monitoring site located in east central Indiana to investigate the event hydrology of 22 drainage events in free and managed subsurface drainage systems. Relationships between event drainage volume, drain flow hydrograph metrics, column soil moisture, water table depth, and precipitation characteristics were explored …

Quality Assurance And Quality Control Correlations For The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer, Eshan Ganju

Open Access Theses

The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) is a device that is used for the estimation of in situ compaction quality of constructed subgrades and embankments. It is a relatively inexpensive, light-weight and easy to use device that measures the dynamic penetration resistance of the compacted soil, from which an estimate of soil strength and stiffness characteristics can be made. Owing to its ease of use, many DOTs in the U.S. have employed the DCP in their compaction quality control procedures, and over the past few decades, extensive research has been carried out on the development of correlations between the results of …

Detailed Finite Element Analysis And Preliminary Study Of The Effects Of Friction And Fastener Pre-Tension On The Mechanical Behavior Of Fastened Built-Up Members, Francisco Javier Bonachera Martin

Open Access Theses

The characterization of fatigue resistance is one of the main concerns in structural engineering, a concern that is particularly important in the evaluation of existing bridge members designed or erected before the development of fatigue design provisions. The ability of a structural member to develop alternate load paths after the failure of a component is known as member-level or internal redundancy. In fastened built-up members, these alternate load paths are affected by the combination of fastener pre-tension and friction between the structural member components in contact. In this study, a finite element methodology to model and analyze riveted and bolted …

Small Strain Stiffness Of A Carbonatic Fine Grained Soil, Sulaiman Dawood

Open Access Theses

The work presented in this thesis is part of a broad effort aimed at the characterization of the engineering properties, microstructure and mineralogy of soft fine-grained carbonatic soil deposit in Southwestern Indiana (Daviess Co.). The specific focus of this thesis is the characterization, through both field and laboratory measurements, of the small strain behavior of this soil, commonly referred to as a "marl."

Index tests indicate that the 3.5 m marl layer present at the site is characterized by two soil types alternating in small sublayers: a high plasticity silt (soil M) with wn ∼60% and CaCO3 ∼60%, mostly in …

Graphical Performance Measures For Practitioners To Identify Split Failures, Richard Scott Freije

Open Access Theses

Detector occupancy is commonly used to measure traffic signal performance. Despite improvements in controller computational power, there have been relatively few innovations in occupancy-based performance measures or integration with other data. This thesis introduces and demonstrates the use of graphical performance measures based on detector occupancy ratios to verify potential split failures and other signal timing shortcomings reported to practitioners by the public. The proposed performance measures combine detector occupancy during the green interval, detector occupancy during the first five seconds of the red interval, and phase termination cause (gap out or force off). These are summarized by time of …

Excessive Delays In Closeouts Can Be Removed With The Adaptation Of Better Practices, Vasudha Kaul

Open Access Theses

Until recent times, closeout was not given its due diligence simply because the damage it created was not appreciated. Literature, thought-provoking discussions and thoughtful deliberations have punctuated the absolute need for a project closeout planning at the very beginning of a project. Many experienced project managers fail to plan the closeout of a job and concentrate solely on completing the contractual scope of work without paying much heed to the final percent of construction projects, the one percent that is an extremely time-consuming and expensive process if not catered for well in advance. The closeout stage is given its due …

The Hong Kong-Zhu Hai-Macau Bridge: Impacts On The Greater Pearl River Delta, Jun He

Open Access Theses

This research looks at the impacts of megaprojects on their host regions through a case study of the Hong Kong-Zhu Hai-Macau Bridge (HZMB). The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential economic impact of the HZMB on the region through existing data and stakeholder interviews. The research will specifically focus on megaprojects' impacts on tourism industry and economic development in general. The research results are aimed to address the four research objectives of the study, which are similarities and differences between the HZBM and other megaprojects, common issues involved in developing megaprojects, the future impacts of the HZMB …

Experimental And Numerical Study Of The Air Distribution In An Airliner Cabin, Wei Liu

Open Access Theses

Nowadays, more people, including those with impaired health or who are otherwise potentially sensitive to the cabin environment, are traveling by air than ever before. The flying public demands a higher comfort level and a cleaner environment because they encounter a combination of environmental factors including low humidity, low air pressure, and sometimes, exposure to air contaminants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, various organic chemicals, and biological agents. Moreover, international air travel has increased the potential risks associated with airborne disease transmission and the release, whether accidentally or intentionally, of noxious substances during flight. Many studies suggest that the risk …

Variability In Uv Disinfection Of Municipal Wastewater, Angela Patricia Ortiz

Open Access Theses

Variability in the performance of UV disinfection systems is hypothesized to be attributable to variability in the parameters that influence the overall performance. Predictability of process performance in UV disinfection systems should be possible, if variability in these input parameters can be defined. The objective of this project was to define variability in parameters that are known to affect the performance of UV disinfection systems so as to inform design and operation conditions for a large-scale UV disinfection system that was recently applied at the Belmont facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, and other systems. The present study focused on quantification of …

Risk-Based Bridge Inspection Practices, Rebecca Reising

Open Access Theses

Improving bridge safety, reliability, and the allocation of bridge inspection resources are the goals of the proposed risk based bridge inspection practices. Currently, most bridges in the United States are inspected at a fixed calendar interval of 24 months, without regard to the condition of the bridge. Newer bridges with little or no damage are inspected with the same frequency as older, more deteriorated bridges thus creating inefficiency in the allocation of inspection resources. Because of limited resources, it is not possible to spend the necessary time examining bridges that are in poor condition and require extra attention since equal …

Floodplain Mapping Using Soil Survey Geographic (Ssurgo) Database, Nikhil Sangwan

Open Access Theses

Floods are the most damaging of all natural disasters, adversely affecting millions of lives and causing financial losses worth billions of dollars every year across the globe. Flood inundation maps play a key role in assessment and mitigation of the potential flood hazards. However, there are several communities in the United States for which the flood risk maps have not been published yet, as the current flood inundation mapping methods are typically very expensive and time consuming. The objective of this study is to develop and examine an economical alternative approach to floodplain mapping using widely available soil survey data. …

Investigating The Role Of Dem Resolution And Accuracy On Flood Inundation Mapping, Siddharth Saksena

Open Access Theses

Saksena, Siddharth. M.S.C.E., Purdue University, May 2014. Investigating the Role of DEM Resolution and Accuracy on Flood Inundation Mapping. Major Professor: Venkatesh Merwade. Topography plays an important role in determining the accuracy of flood inundation maps. A lot of the current flood inundation maps are created using topographic information derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. Although LiDAR data is very accurate, it is expensive, computationally time consuming and not available in several areas across the United States and around the world. As a result, coarser resolution DEMs which are easily available but less accurate are used for flood …

Signalized Corridor Assessment, William Benjamin Smith

Open Access Theses

Traffic engineers are often required to investigate the operation of a corridor and determine if there are any areas for improvement. Typical performance measures used to aid in the analysis are volume-to-capacity ratio and average delays based on the Highway Capacity Manual method. Signal timing software might also be used to adjust the split timings in effort to improve the corridor. This thesis discusses procedure to implement split timing optimization and delay analysis to enhance the current process of corridor assessment.

This study examined the newly opened US-231 bypass corridor outside of West Lafayette, IN. Initially, all intersections were operating …

Rheological Properties Of Laponite And Chemically Modified Laponite Suspensions, Meng Shen

Open Access Theses

This research investigates the rheological properties of concentrated laponite RD suspensions modified through the addition of laponite RDS and sodium pyrophosphate (SPP). The work is aimed at establishing the possible suitability of these materials for treating liquefaction susceptible sands. This application requires that a laponite suspension initially exhibits liquid like behavior and low viscosity that allow its delivery into the pore space of a sand, but that over time the suspension develop a gel structure with solid like behavior that can serve to restrict sand particle mobility during earthquake shaking.

The experimental program made use of a Physica MCR 301 …

Guidelines For Construction Companies To Decide Between Outsourcing And Self-Performing For Prefabricated Components, Sebastian Soto Ortiz

Open Access Theses

Prefabrication and modularization has been used in the construction industry for decades. It has recently made a resurgence worldwide providing increased productivity, safety, quality and construction schedule. This research has focused on the situation where a construction company has decided to use prefabrication and faces two possibilities, they either will self-perform or they will outsource the construction of the prefabricated components. The decision making process used by a construction company to determine whether to outsource or self-perform prefabricated components is examined and analyzed.

Prefabrication is an industrial process in which certain components are manufactured in a specialized facility. These items …

Attached-Growth System For Nitrification At Low Temperature, Zhe Sun

Open Access Theses

Attached-growth biological treatment systems have potential to conduct nitrification in cold-temperature climates. In this research, in order to simulate the attached-growth nitrification process (using BOBBER biological reactor) at a real wastewater treatment facility, two laboratory-scale mini-BOBBER systems were installed in a temperature-controlled room and were operated for 101 days with pure ammonium chloride feed solution. Steady-state conditions were approached at 20°C, 15°C, 10°C, and 5°C. In addition, a series of batch experiments were conducted at temperatures of 20°C and 5°C to investigate the relationship between nitrification rate and ammonia-N concentration. Results from these experiments were analyzed and compared with the …

Increasing The Supply Of Affordable Housing In Urban India - Mumbai, Upasna Viswanathan

Open Access Theses

The need for housing in today's world is irrefutable. The growing population, accompanied with the fast pace of urbanization, are producing great housing demand, in urban areas in particular. This study focused on one segment of housing - affordable housing, in Mumbai, India, the demand for which has been on a steady rise over the past decade. Though traditionally the State was the provider of affordable housing, private sector has been increasingly involved in the segment, beginning the economic meltdown of 2008-2009. Yet there is a huge demand-supply gap that exists, which needs to be filled. The researcher looks at …

Retrofiting Lid Practices Into Existing Neighborhoods: Is It Worth It?, Timothy Wright

Open Access Theses

Low impact development (LID) practices are gaining popularity as a way to manage stormwater close to the source. This reduces infrastructure requirements and helps to maintain hydrologic processes close to predevelopment conditions. Studies have shown LID practices to be effective in reducing runoff and improving water quality. However, little has been done to aid decision makers in selecting the most effective practices for their needs and budgets.

To this end, the L-THIA LID model has been applied. Using readily available data sources, multiple scenarios can quickly be examined, and then analyzed to determine the cost of implementation and the approximate …

An Analysis On Causes Of Late Final Payment And Release Of Retainage: Electrical Subcontractors’ View, Xuejing Zhang

Open Access Theses

Using the survey approach, this study identified the underlying causes of late payments and release of retainage for electrical subcontractors, attempting to answer the questions, "What were the minimum, maximum and average delay days of final payment and release of retainage?", "What were the rank of factors in terms of significance on delaying final payment and release of retainage?", and "What were the rank of factors in terms of frequency on delaying final payment and release of retainage?" A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to about 150 professionals in electrical subcontractors. 29 reports were collected. Based upon the analysis …

Effect Of Multivalent Ions On The Swelling And Mechanical Behavior Of Superabsorbent Polymers (Saps) For Mitigation Of Mortar Autogenous Shrinkage, Qian Zhu

Open Access Theses

The chemical and physical structure-property relationships of model superabsorbent polymer (SAP) hydrogels were characterized with respect to swelling behavior and mechanical properties in different ionic solutions (Na+ , Ca2+ , and Al3+ ). The model hydrogels were composed of poly(sodium acrylate-acrylamide) (PANa-PAM) copolymer with varying concentrations of PANa (0, 17, 33, 67, and 83 wt.%) and covalent crosslinking densities of 1, 1.5, and 2 wt.%. By synthesizing the hydrogels in-house, systems with independently tunable amounts of covalent crosslinking and anionic functional groups were created, allowing for the relative effects of covalent and ionic crosslinking on the properties of the hydrogels …