Engineering Commons^™

Methods To Expedite And Streamline Utility Relocations For Road Projects, Roy Sturgill, Timothy R.B. Taylor, Seyedmahdi Ghorashinezhad, Jiwen Zhang

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Executive Summary This report describes best practices and tools to streamline and expedite utility relocations when they are required as part of road construction projects. As part of this effort, a research team from the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) conducted extensive qualitative research that involved mapping current practices at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and reviewing utility manuals from KYTC and other state transportation agencies. The KTC research team also conducted in-depth interviews with KYTC engineers and staff as well as representatives from utility companies (UCs). Based on the data from these investigations, KTC developed a number of recommendations to …

Instrumentation To Monitor Bridge Foundation On The Crosstown Project, Brian Welch

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

The Crosstown Bridge Monitoring Project is located at the intersection of Highway 62 and Interstate I35W a few miles south and west of downtown Minneapolis. The bridge being evaluated is at a railroad overpass located midway along the Crosstown expansion. This research project involved placing instrumentation on the bridge foundation in order to measure the change in the foundation loading during the course of the construction project. For several years there have been questions pertaining to the forces in the pile foundations that support highway embankments. This project placed strain gages on the pile foundations in order to monitor these …

Evaluation Of Accelerated Bridge Construction Methods And Designs In The State Of Iowa, Matthew Fred Becker

Matthew Becker

Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) is the general term given to a variety of approaches aimed at reducing construction durations of bridge projects. Using these approaches on bridge projects introduces a number of advantages including reduced traffic disruption and increased safety. This thesis is comprised of two papers that focus on a number of ABC projects completed in the state of Iowa in the last decade. The first paper highlights the construction aspects of these projects and gives an evaluation of the projects based on criteria related to rapid construction and gives a comparison of the project cost to non-ABC projects. …

Groundbreaking Scheduled For Electric Vehicle Test Facility | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The USU Board of Trustees approved plans to begin construction on a 4,800 square foot facility at 650 E. Grand Ave. This facility will be used to enable research in Wireless Power Transfer technology for electric vehicles. The building will also feature at track to test charging with vehicles in-motion and a high-bay area for research in Wireless Power Transfer.

2014 Sae Aero: Systems Engineering, Adam Herzog

Honors Theses

Union has participated in the annual SAE Aero Competition for the last 6 consecutive years. The aim of the competition involves the design and construction of an RC aircraft capable of carrying a maximum payload weight as consistently as possible. This report will summarize the methods used to determine shape and size of the final aircraft’s control surfaces, as well as include an analysis on the plane’s performance characteristics. The final design utilizes a 100 inch span main wing with a rear taper and an upright H-tail design. In addition, the horizontal tail has a stabilator in place of a …

Application Of A High-Performance Optically Enhanced Solar Thermal Collector System, Timothy H. Cameron

Honors Theses

In an effort to make Union College a more environmentally friendly campus, this research project focuses on the application of Union’s liquid-based solar thermal collector system. The motivation for this research project is due to the increasing demand for renewable energy sources in order to decrease our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. The system features nine, 16-tube, evacuated tube solar modules which absorb radiant solar energy from the sun. Through a two loop system, thermal energy is stored in water within two-80 gallon storage tanks. This research project involves the design, construction, and analysis of two applications in order to …

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 …

Frontier Technologies In Design And Construction For Sustainable Transport Infrastructure, Buddhima Indraratna, Sanjay Shrawan Nimbalkar, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Railways are expected to be one of the main modes of future transport in rapidly developing countries with high population densities, including Sri Lanka. In spite of recent advances in rail track geotechnology, ballasted tracks progressively degrade under heavy cyclic and impact loading. Field studies often provide significant knowledge to better understand track performance and to extend the current state-of-the-art in design. Therefore, comprehensive field trials were carried out on two instrumented rail tracks in Bulli and in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. In these studies, several track sections were reinforced with different types of geosynthetics placed beneath the ballast …

Rail Track Infrastructure For Enhanced Speed - Analysis Design And Construction Challenges, Buddhima Indraratna, Sanjay Shrawan Nimbalkar, Jayan Sylaja J S Vinod

Buddhima Indraratna

Rail is one of the largest transportation modes offering freight and passenger traffic in rapidly developing nations, including India. Conscious efforts to improve productivity, modernization and technology upgrading have led to an impressive growth in railways. Large-scale physical modeling, sophisticated numerical modeling and full-scale field monitoring often provide significant knowledge to better understand track performance and to extend the current state-of-the-art in design. A series of large-scale laboratory tests were conducted to establish relationships between (i) ballast breakage and train speed, (ii) ballast fouling and strength and (iii) interface strength and geogrids. Comprehensive field trials were carried out on instrumented …

Frontier Technologies In Design And Construction For Sustainable Transport Infrastructure, Buddhima Indraratna, Sanjay Shrawan Nimbalkar, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Buddhima Indraratna

Railways are expected to be one of the main modes of future transport in rapidly developing countries with high population densities, including Sri Lanka. In spite of recent advances in rail track geotechnology, ballasted tracks progressively degrade under heavy cyclic and impact loading. Field studies often provide significant knowledge to better understand track performance and to extend the current state-of-the-art in design. Therefore, comprehensive field trials were carried out on two instrumented rail tracks in Bulli and in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. In these studies, several track sections were reinforced with different types of geosynthetics placed beneath the ballast …

U.S. Construction Worker Fall Accidents: Their Causes And Influential Factors, Sohaib Siddiqui

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the main causes of fall accidents and, to pinpoint the factors that influence the risk of falls in the U.S. construction industry. This study employed the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to examine 9,141 fall accidents, recorded for the period of last 20 years. The results show that specialty trade contractors working on low-budget, residential housing and commercial building projects are more susceptible to fall accidents. In terms of fall height, 85% of the fall accidents occurred on heights less than 30 ft., …

Comprehending Performance Of Cross-Frames In Skewed Straight Steel I-Girder Bridges, Jawad H. Gull

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effects of support in steel bridges can present significant challenges during the construction. The tendency of girders to twist or layovers during the construction can present a particularly challenging problem regarding detailing cross-frames that provide bracing to steel girders. Methods of detailing cross-frames have been investigated in the past to identify some of the issues related to the behavior of straight and skewed steel bridges. However, the absence of a complete and simplified design approach has led to disputes between stakeholders, costly repairs and delays in the construction.

The main objective of this research is to develop a complete …

Mobile Design Stations And Teaching Walls, Diana D. Glawe

Engineering Faculty Research

A versatile, robust, and mobile design station can be economically constructed by integrating off-the shelf components with a clever custom framework. Ten such design stations are performing wonderfully in the new Center for Sciences and Innovation at Trinity University. Each unit supports the engineering design process from brainstorming and prototype design through construction and testing. The unit includes a permanent whiteboard, a removable white board, a flat-screen display, power outlets, data ports, storage (for tools, supplies, and student back packs) and a compartment to house electronic equipment hardwired into the unit. All this and a custom worktable for under $15,000. …

New Building Regulations, Ruairi Hayden

Articles

No abstract provided.

Human Factors Engineering At Design Stage: Is There A Need For More Structured Guidelines And Standards?, Farzad Naghdali, Maria Chiara Leva, Nora Balfe, Samuel Cromie

Articles

Human Factors Engineering (HFE) focuses on the application of human factors knowledge to the design and construction of socio-technical systems. The objective is to ensure systems are designed so as to optimise the human contribution to production and minimise potential f r design-induced risks to health, personal or process safety or environmental performance (OGP, 2011). The ISO standard ISO 9241-210 (2010), Ergonomics of human-system interaction, requires that all new facilities projects apply the principles of Human Factors Engineering (HFE) during early design stages. In practice this means ensuring, as a minimum, that every new facilities project is screened in collaboration …

Employment Opportunities And Skills Requirements For Construction And Property Surveying 2014 - 2018, Roisin Murphy, Stephen Walsh

Reports

In Autumn 2012, a number of Society members expressed their increasing struggle to find qualified graduate surveyors to fill vacancies in their practices. At the same time, members working in academic institutions reported a severe reduction in the number of students enrolling on surveying courses at third level.

Transition Zone Design Final Report, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Adam J. Kirk, Andrea Cull, Austin Dahlem

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of the research effort and present the findings of the work accomplished. Transition zone is the area in which it is communicated to drivers that the roadway environment is changing (i.e., from rural to built-up) and that their speed should change as well. This study evaluated treatments that could advise drivers to this. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to add additional speed warning sites to such transition zones.