Engineering Commons^™

A Microscopic Simulation Laboratory For Evaluation Of Off-Street Parking Systems, Yun Yuan

Theses and Dissertations

The parking industry produces an enormous amount of data every day that, properly analyzed, will change the way the industry operates. The collected data form patterns that, in most cases, would allow parking operators and property owners to better understand how to maximize revenue and decrease operating expenses and support the decisions such as how to set specific parking policies (e.g. electrical charging only parking space) to achieve the sustainable and eco-friendly parking.

However, there lacks an intelligent tool to assess the layout design and operational performance of parking lots to reduce the externalities and increase the revenue. To address …

Evaluation And Influence Of Recycled Concrete Aggregate Base Layers On Hma Pavement Performance, Jessie Daniel Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the influence of the RCA base layers on the HMA pavement performance as compared with CA base layers using laboratory tests on collected base layer materials and field tests on corresponding pavement sections. Field and laboratory testing programs were conducted to investigate RCA and CA base layer materials in which identified test sections at the selected pavement sites were subjected to testing using FWD, walking profiler, and DCP. Visual distress surveys were also conducted at the selected pavement sections. RCA and CA base layer samples were collected from these pavement sites and were subjected to a laboratory …

Hydrophobic Self-Cleaning Coatings For Sustainable Infrastructure, Evgeniya Alexandrova

Theses and Dissertations

Durable two-layer hydrophobic coatings with photocatalytic properties demonstrated a good decomposition of NOx up to 23 %. The first layer of the coating is based on the application of durable titanium phosphate structures. The hydrophobic properties of the coating with a water contact angle of 114° were achieved by the application of water-based siloxane emulsion on the surface of the first layer. Conducted research has demonstrated that the use of hydrophobic coating in comparison with reference TiO2-phosphate can slightly reduce the efficiency for the decomposition of NOx by 8 %; however, this feature can be considered as an acceptable trade-off …

Biogas Quality Improvement Using Water Wash And Phosphorus Recovery As Struvite In Jones Island Wwtp, Md Abul Bashar

Theses and Dissertations

Raw biogas from anaerobic digestion has a methane content of 50 to 60% and a carbon dioxide content of 40 to 50% on a molar basis (Bortoluzzi, Gatti, Sogni, & Consonni, 2014). Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD)’s Jones Island Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) uses the biogas supplied from South Shore WWTP in drying Milorganite, a slow-release phosphate fertilizer. But with only 45% methane, the gas cannot be used for sophisticated purposes. To maximize its potential as energy source, the methane content must be upgraded to its market competitor natural gas. Based on simulation results from Aspen Plus software - …

Advanced Quantitative Methods For Imminent Detection Of Crash Prone Conditions And Safety Evaluation, Zhi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Crashes can be accurately predicted through reliable data sources and rigorous statistical models; and prevented through data-driven, evidence-based traffic control strategies. Both predictive analysis and analysis to estimate the causal effect of traffic variables of real-time crashes are instrumental to crash prediction and a better understanding of the mechanism of crash occurrence. However, the research on the second analysis type is very limited for real-time crash prediction; and the conventional predictive analysis using inductive loop detector data has accuracy issues related to inconsistently and distantly spaced loop detectors. The effectiveness of traffic control strategies for improving safety performance cannot be …

Lead Corrosion Inhibitors In Drinking Water, Seyedsoheil Hosseinibalajadeh

Theses and Dissertations

Lead-containing materials that include lead pipes, fittings, solder, and fixtures are widely present in drinking water distribution systems in North America and Europe. Their internal corrosion provides the most significant source of lead in drinking water. Several mechanisms contribute to the corrosion of lead-containing materials, including material heterogeneity, galvanic interaction, and reaction with progressively water constituents and to protect consumers from lead exposure, the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) set the lead action level to 15 μg/L for a 1-L first-draw sample of tap water. Today more than half of the water treatment utilities in the U.S. are using phosphates …

Seismic Tensile Force On Steel Girder-Concrete Wall Connections In High-Rise Composite Building Structures, Yuchen Hui

Theses and Dissertations

Composite steel frame – reinforced concrete (RC) core wall structures are often used in high-rise buildings. It is commonly assumed that reinforced concrete walls carry lateral loads such as earthquake loads, while steel frames carry gravity loads. As a result, lateral loads are directly applied to wall elements during a typical structural analysis. This design based on this simplification can be adequate for most structural members except the connections between steel girders and RC walls. This study focuses on the tensile loads on girder-wall connections for composite building structures in earthquakes.

Computer models were created for a 28-story composite structures …

Data-Driven Optimization Models For Feeder Bus Network Design, Yaojun Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is not a modern phenomenon. However, it is worthwhile to note that the world urban population growth curve has up till recently followed a quadratic-hyperbolic pattern (Korotayey and Khaltourina, 2006). As cities become larger and their population expand, large and growing metropolises have to face the enormous traffic demand. To alleviate the increasing traffic congestion, public transit has been considered as the ideal solution to such troubles and problems restricting urban development. The metro is a type of efficient, dependable and high-capacity public transport adapted in metropolises worldwide. At the same time, the residents from crowded cities migrated to …