Engineering Commons^™

Artificial Neural Network Model For Bridge Deterioration And Assessment, G. Ali, A. Elsayegh, R. Assaad, Islam H. El-Adaway, I. S. Abotaleb

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Missouri has the seventh largest number of bridges nationwide, yet must maintain its inventory with funding from just the fourth lowest gasoline tax in the country. Estimation and prediction of the condition of bridges is necessary to create and optimize future maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation plans as well as to assign the necessary associated budgets. Previous studies have used statistical analysis, fuzzy logic, and Markovian models to develop algorithms for predicting future bridge conditions. Due to the non-linear nature of the relationship between the characteristics of bridges and their deterioration behavior, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have shown to be more …

Contractual Guidelines For Contractors Working Under Projects Funded By Southeastern Us Dots, Islam H. El-Adaway, Amr Elsayegh, I. S. Abotaleb, C. Smith, M. Bootwala, S. Eteifa

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Transportation projects in the infrastructure sector contribute to approximately 42% of the total expenditures on public construction projects in the US. The main source of funding of these projects is the taxpayer's hard-earned money. The ever-growing problem by transportation projects is that the available funds are less than those required to have a stable and well maintained transportation network. Unnecessary costs in these projects are mainly caused by Conflicts, Claims and Disputes (C2D). According to recent reports, C2D in construction is greatly attributed to poor contract administration. The goal of this paper is to provide better understanding and utilization of …

Affordable Learning Solutions And Interactive Content In Engineering Mechanics, Nicolas Ali Libre

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Digital Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS) provides students with quality yet affordable educational content and enables instructors to utilize multimedia and interactive technology as effective ways of delivering course material. The reduced course content expenses not only allow more students to access the educational material, but also permit the instructors to customize and adapt the material to their teaching style. Incorporation of interactive technology through visually appealing media such as animations, graphics, simulations, videos, and three-dimensional models promotes students' interest in learning theoretical and abstract subjects in science and engineering. In this study, the incorporation of an interactive eBook as an …

Hydration Of Binary Portland Cement Blends Containing Silica Fume: A Decoupling Method To Estimate Degrees Of Hydration And Pozzolanic Reaction, Wenyu Liao, Xiao Sun, Aditya Kumar, Hongfang Sun, Hongyan Ma

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Determination of degrees of hydration/reaction of components of blended cementitious systems (i. e., cement and SCMs: supplementary cementitious materials) is essential to estimate the systems' properties. Although the best methods for determining degrees of reaction of different SCMs have been recommended by RILEM TC238, they rely on either expensive equipment (e.g., nuclear magnetic resonance) or time-consuming sample preparation and data processing (e.g., backscattered electron image analysis). Furthermore, these methods cannot simultaneously characterize degree of hydration of cement and degree of reaction of SCMs. A novel decoupling method, which can simultaneously estimate the degree of hydration of cement and the degree …

Seismicity Enhances Macrodispersion In Finite Porous And Fractured Domains: A Pore-Scale Perspective, Lizhi Zheng, Lichun Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Understanding the effects of oscillating flow field induced by seismicity on the transport process is vital for predicting the fate and transport of solute in many dynamic environments. However, there is prominent discrepancy in arguing with the response of dispersion to the oscillating flow field (i.e., the longitudinal dispersion coefficient would decrease, increase, or maintain unchanged). To unravel the underpinning physics about this controversial response, we simulated two-hundred twenty pore-scale numerical experiments for the seismicity-induced oscillating flow field and associated solute transport in the idealized finite porous (i.e., fluidic plate) and fractured (i.e., parallel plates) domains. The numerically obtained breakthrough …

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advances and innovations in materials science and engineering have always played a substantial role in civil engineering, building structural design, and construction. In recent years, extensive effort has been devoted to the applications of stimuli-responsive smart materials and nanostructures in buildings. These smart materials used in the built environment can be defined as those offering specific functional and adaptable properties in response to thermal, optical, structural, and environmental stimuli. Not only do these materials enhance the overall performance of new building construction but also promise safer structures, longer durability of building elements, efficient building energy savings, greater environmental sustainability, and …

Use Of Wicking Geotextile To Dehydrate Road Embankments, Chuang Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

“Excess water within a pavement structure is the major cause of pavement deteriorations. A roadway is often constructed with soils compacted at the optimum water contents to achieve the best performance. After construction, the soil water content variation is controlled by the ambient environment. The base course aggregate is very sensitive to water content variations. Unfortunately, conventional drainage system can only drain gravity water, but not capillary water, and it cannot work under unsaturated conditions. Consequently, no matter how well the road is constructed, the water content is expected to increase with time and the excess water will inevitably accelerate …

Performance Of One-Part And Two-Part Class C Fly Ash-Based Alkali Activated Mortars, Cedric Chani Kashosi

Masters Theses

“Seeking an eco-friendly concrete, researchers have conducted studies to fully replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with fly ash (FA) producing alkali-activated concrete (AAC). Results showed better performance of AAC in terms of high early compressive strength, and durability compared to conventional concrete. However, much is still unknown about the behavior of AAC. From the type of materials used, the curing procedure, and long-term strength development of these binders; a thorough investigation is needed in order to fill the existing gap from previous studies and thus make a step forward to the safely use of AAC in the construction industry. The …

Unmanned Aerial And Traversing Vehicle -- A Mobile Platform For Bridge Inspections, Clayton A. Fritsche

Masters Theses

“Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have been rapidly growing in popularity since their creation. This study aimed to create a robotic platform used to assist in the inspection process of the nation’s aging and deteriorating bridges. To this end, a multimodal inspection robot that utilized both flying and driving technologies, was designed, analyzed, and tested for aerial, traversing, and their transitional operability. The design, herein referred to as the “BridgeBot”, was evaluated both computationally and experimentally. A finite element model of the BridgeBot was established and analyzed under static loading scenarios to help determine stress distributions and …

Development Of Test Methods For Characterizing Extrudability Of Cement-Based Materials For Use In 3d Printing, Jonathan Thomas Kuchem

Masters Theses

"3D printing is the process of creating three-dimensional objects using an automated additive manufacturing process. The 3D printing process has been used with materials such as metals and polymers, but application with cement based materials for the construction industry has yet to be developed. In this research, two main problems were investigated for printing cement based composite materials: extrudability and tensile reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) was studied as an internal reinforcing system to increase tensile/flexural strength. First, FRC was studied to investigate mechanical properties and use of fibers from waste tires as an environmentally friendly option. A reference mixture with …

A Study On End-Anchorage And Bond Behavior Of Steel-Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix Composites Externally Bonded To A Concrete Substrate, Christopher Michael Moore

Masters Theses

"Fiber reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites are a strengthening material consisting of continuous fibers embedded in an inorganic matrix that have the potential to provide additional flexural and shear strength to concrete and masonry members. When used for external strengthening, however, debonding of the material is often observed due to slippage of the fiber with respect to the matrix, causing loss of composite action and a reduction in load carrying capacity. The composite utilized in this study consisted of continuous steel fibers embedded in an inorganic cementitious matrix bonded to a concrete prism. Additionally, an end-anchorage system was implemented with …

Changes In Fresh Properties Of Flowable Concrete Induced By Pumping And Composition Of The Lubrication Layer, Alexis Salinas

Masters Theses

"Pumping is an easy method to move concrete while keeping stability. It is worldwide accepted as one of the principal methods for concrete placement, as it accelerates construction. Typically, concrete acceptance in terms of fresh quantitative empirical properties (i.e. slump/slump flow and air content) are performed prior to the pumping process. However, empirical measurements have the drawback that they only measure 1 point. Rheology is better tool to evaluate the behavior of concrete. Pumping is a process that induces considerable shearing in the concrete that can impact its rheological properties. Therefore, the magnitude of these changes in fresh properties depends …

Feasibility And Assessment Of Using Recycled Rubber For Infrastructure Applications, Ahmed A. Gheni

Doctoral Dissertations

“The United States needs to mine billions of tons of raw natural aggregate each year. At the same time, millions of scrap tires are stockpiled every year. Therefore, replacing natural aggregate with recycled crumb rubber aggregate will be beneficial to the construction industry and environment. This research aimed to investigate the feasibility of using recycled rubber in new construction applications. Based on size, recycled rubber was selected to match its natural counterpart. Different ratios of recycled crumb rubber were used as a fine aggregate replacement in concrete masonry units (CMUs) where the rubberized units showed a lower unit weight, higher …

The Mechanics Of Precision Presplitting, Anthony Joseph Konya

Doctoral Dissertations

"Precision Presplitting is a widely used method of presplit blasting for the mining and construction industries. In recent years considerable effort has gone into the development of empirical equations based on field data to be able to better design the Precision Presplit for various rock types and structural environments. However, the most widely discussed theory about the mechanics of the presplit formation, that of shockwave collisions, does not appear to be applicable for this method of presplitting.

This research has disproven this theory based on insufficient magnitude of the shockwave from modeling with basic wave mechanics. Other authors have suggested …

Detection And Elimination Of Rock Face Vegetation From Terrestrial Lidar Data Using The Virtual Articulating Conical Probe Algorithm, Kenneth John Boyko

Doctoral Dissertations

"A common use of terrestrial lidar is to conduct studies involving change detection of natural or engineered surfaces. Change detection involves many technical steps beyond the initial data acquisition: data structuring, registration, and elimination of data artifacts such as parallax errors, near-field obstructions, and vegetation. Of these, vegetation detection and elimination with terrestrial lidar scanning (TLS) presents a completely different set of issues when compared to vegetation elimination from aerial lidar scanning (ALS). With ALS, the ground footprint of the lidar laser beam is very large, and the data acquisition hardware supports multi-return waveforms. Also, the underlying surface topography is …

Chemically-Bonded Enamel-Coated Steel Pipelines For Corrosion Protection And Flow Efficiency, Liang Fan

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study is to explore and develop chemically-bonded enamel coating (200-300 um) on steel pipes, when subjected to soil and thermal environments, in order to improve the corrosion protection and safety of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines while reducing pressure loss. Out of five types of enamels and their various mixtures, Tomatec slurry and GP2118 powder were selected for steel pipeline applications. They were applied at approximately 810 °C to the inside surface of steel pipes in wet and electrostatic processes, respectively. The thickness and surface roughness of the enamel coating were measured using a gauge and an optical …

Development Of Lidar Assisted Terrestrial Radar Interferometry For Rock Deformation Monitoring, Ricardo Javier Romero Ramirez

Doctoral Dissertations

"Rock and soil slope movements cost millions of dollars annually. During the past few decades, engineers have relied on traditional methods to detect slope movements. These tools are valuable for small spatial areas but, may not be adequate or cost effective for large spatial areas. Remote sensing methods such as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) provide excellent spatial coverage, and with adequate post-data-processing software, sub-millimetric scale deformation sensitivity can be achieved.

This work will present a comparative experimental study between TLS and TRI. The comparative experimental study will allow us to achieve the two main objectives …

Dynamic Impact Induced By Tornadoes Through Simulations Based On Two-Way Wind-Structure Interactions, Tiantian Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"Tornadoes have become a significant cause of property damage, injuries and life losses. Investigations of tornadoes indicate that most fatalities were caused by building failure. For example, in the Joplin, MO tornado of 22 May 2011, 161 people were killed, and 84% fatalities were related to building failure. Therefore, it is imperative to develop science-based tornado-resistant building codes, in order to provide a better level of occupant protection from tornadoes and to minimize the tornado-induced damage. This requires in-depth understanding of the wind characteristics of tornadoes and their wind effects on civil structures, based on which design tornadic wind loading …

Abrasion Resistant Concrete Mix Design For Cold Climates, Diane Mariah Murph

Masters Theses

“Studded tire usage in Alaska contributes to rutting damage on pavements resulting in high maintenance costs and safety issues. In this study, binary, ternary, and quaternary highly-abrasion resistant concrete mix designs using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) were developed. The properties of fresh concrete and mechanical, and durability properties of hardened concrete for these mix designs were then tested to determine an optimum highly-abrasion resistant concrete mixture which could be placed in cold climates to reduce rutting damage. SCMs used included silica fume, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and type F fly ash. Tests including workability, air content, drying shrinkage, compressive …

Feasibility Study For Sustainable Controlled Low-Strength Material (Clsm) Incorporating Off-Specification Fly Ash And Bottom Ash, Alexis K. Vandomelen

Masters Theses

“Controlled low-strength material (CLSM) is a self-consolidating cementitious material used in applications requiring high flowability and low strength. The primary components of this material, being cement and sand, however, negatively impact the environment. Cement is a large contributor to CO2 emissions, and the vast depletion of sand causes physical and political issues. Furthermore, over 100 million short tons of coal combustion products (CCP), including fly ash and bottom ash, are created annually in the United States, while nearly half of all CCP remain unused. No off-specification fly ash has been implemented in CLSM. This study uses coal ashes sourced from …