Engineering Commons^™

Polyurethane-Carbon Microfiber Composite Coating For Electrical Heating Of Concrete Pavement Surfaces, Alireza Sassani, Ali Arabzadeh, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan, Peter C. Taylor, Ali Nahvi

Ali Nahvi

Electrically-heated pavements have attracted attention as alternatives to the traditional ice/snow removal practices. Electrically conductive polymer-carbon composite coatings provide promising properties for this application. Based on the concept of joule heating, the conductive composite can be utilized as a resistor that generates heat by electric current and increases the surface temperature to melt the ice and snow on the pavement surface. This research investigates the feasibility of applying an electrically conductive composite coating made with a Polyurethane (PU) binder and micrometer-scale carbon fiber (CMF) filler as the electrical heating materials on the surface of Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements. PU-CMF …

Valuation Of Flexibility And Investment Timing In Airport Infrastructure Projects: Cases In Airport Expansions And Alternate Design Alternate Bid Bidding, Ilker Karaca

Ilker Karaca

Many large infrastructure projects are subject to considerable uncertainty over their revenue streams which makes their valuations particularly challenging. When project scalability can be altered as new information is revealed over the course of a project’s lifecycle, the presence of uncertainty can, in fact, provide option values that are ignored with static Net Present Value (NPV) analyses. To achieve these benefits, however, a better understanding of volatility is of the essence. This dissertation seeks to demonstrate how a better understanding of the business risks could facilitate the valuation of flexibility options in investment timing and engineering design. It also details …

Strengthening Of Continuous-Span Composite Bridges Using Post-Tensioning And Superimposed Trusses , Hisham Ahmed El-Arabaty

Hisham Ahmed

The need for upgrading understrength bridges in the United States has been well documented in the literature. In this thesis, two methods of strengthening are presented: post-tensioning of the positive moment regions of the bridge stringers and the addition of superimposed trusses at the piers. The use of these two systems is an efficient method of reducing flexural overstresses in undercapacity bridges. The objective of the research described in this thesis was to develop a design methodology to assist bridge engineers with designing a strengthening system to obtain the desired stress reductions. In addition, one such strengthening system was designed …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Vehicle Color On Safety, Deogratias Eustace, Fayez Khalaf Alanazi, Peter W. Hovey

Peter Hovey

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of The Effect Of Vehicle Color On Safety, Deogratias Eustace, Fayez Khalaf Alanazi, Peter W. Hovey

Deogratias Eustace

No abstract provided.

Modeling Socio-Economic Determinants Of Traffic Fatalities, Amin Azimian, Deogratias Eustace

Deogratias Eustace

Over several decades, traffic growth has caused an increased number of traffic crashes, which are associated with economic losses and human sufferings. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [1] in 2016 there were a total of 34,247 fatal traffic crashes in the United States that resulted into 37,133 fatalities. Risk factors relating to the occurrence of fatal and injury severity of motor vehicle crashes have been extensively studied. Most studies [2-7] that have attempted to model the occurrences of traffic crashes and fatalities have been mainly confined to factors related to driver characteristics, roadway geometry characteristics, traffic characteristics, …

Wastewater Pipe Consequence Of Failure Model For Risk-Based Asset Management Using Analytic Hierarchy Process, Greta Vladeanu, John Matthews

John C. Matthews

Feasibility Investigation Of Upgrading Gravel Road To Otta Seal Surface: An Economic Analysis Approach, Ali Nahvi, Yang Zhang, Ali Arabzadeh, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim, Charles T. Jahren, Douglas D. Gransberg, Sharif Y. Gushgari

Ali Nahvi

The Norwegian Road Authorities desired that a surface treatment be cost-effective to provide a faster return on investment, perform (as perceived by the road user) in a manner similar to conventional bituminous surfacing, and comply with the following requirements: • Be cheap and easy to implement • Utilize locally-available aggregates • Be impervious to prevent water incursion into moisture-susceptible base material • Be very flexible, durable, and easy to maintain.

Such a bituminous surface treatment, referred to as in 1963, and initial field trials were carried out during 1963-1965 in the Otta Valley, Norway. Although Nordic countries, Asia, Africa, New …

Otta Seal Construction For Asphalt Pavement Resurfacing, Sharif Y. Gushgari, Yang Zhang, Ali Nahvi, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim

Ali Nahvi

Otta seal resurfacing methods have been widely demonstrated for unpaved roads and road rehabilitation in a few states in the U.S. as well as in Scandinavia and Africa. Application of Otta seal over a deteriorated hot mix asphalt (HMA) surface has been considered as the feasible concept that has not been applied for real construction. In this study, a double-layer Otta seal construction over HMA surface was monitored. The applied materials for the construction were introduced. The following performance of the constructed Otta seal layers was evaluated by measuring the international roughness index (IRI) and dust. The road IRI did …

Multi-Objective Bayesian Optimization Of Super Hydrophobic Coatings On Asphalt Concrete Surfaces, Ali Nahvi, Mohammad Kazem Sadoughi, Ali Arabzadeh, Alireza Sassani, Chao Hu, Halil Ceylan, Sunghwan Kim

Ali Nahvi

Conventional snow removal strategies add direct and indirect expenses to the economy through profit lost due to passenger delays costs, pavement durability issues, contaminating the water runoff, and so on. The use of superhydrophobic (super-water-repellent) coating methods is an alternative to conventional snow and ice removal practices for alleviating snow removal operations issues. As an integrated experimental and analytical study, this work focused on optimizing superhydrophobicity and skid resistance of hydrophobic coatings on asphalt concrete surfaces. A layer-by-layer (LBL) method was utilized for spray depositing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on an asphalt concrete at different spray times and variable dosages of PTFE. …