Civil Engineering Commons^™

Investigating The Impacts Of Sea Level Rise-Induced High Groundwater Table On Florida Flexible Pavement Structural Performance, Mehmet Goksel Gocmez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the impacts of sea-level rise-induced high groundwater table on the structural performance of typical Florida interstate, arterial, and local flexible pavements. Pavement longevity was determined under rising groundwater table level conditions using two analytical methods; the mechanistic-empirical (ME) analysis software and the current Florida empirical analysis practice. Moreover, ABAQUS and KENLAYER software were utilized to analyze the impacts of stress-dependent material nonlinearity on pavement structural performance.

Analysis results estimated that the pavement service life in Florida was reduced by as much as 77 percent with the effects of rising groundwater levels. The empirical method predicted higher rates …

Long-Term Trends In Magnitude And Frequency Of Extreme Rainfall Events In Florida, Tasnuva Mahjabin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study computed trends in extreme precipitation events of Florida for 1950-2010. Hourly aggregated rainfall data from 24 stations of the National Climatic Data Centre were analyzed to derive time-series of extreme rainfalls for 12 durations, ranging from 1 hour to 7 day. Non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen Approach were applied to detect the significance of trends in annual maximum rainfalls, number of above threshold events and average magnitude of above threshold events for four common analysis periods. Trend Free Pre-Whitening (TFPW) approach was applied to remove the serial correlations and bootstrap resampling approach was used to detect the field …

Understanding Immigrants' Travel Behavior In Florida: Neighborhood Effects And Behavioral Assimilation, Nishat Zaman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to develop Multinomial Logit models for the mode choice behavior of immigrants, with key focuses on neighborhood effects and behavioral assimilation. The first aspect shows the relationship between social network ties and immigrants’ chosen mode of transportation, while the second aspect explores the gradual changes toward alternative mode usage with regard to immigrants’ migrating period in the United States (US). Mode choice models were developed for work, shopping, social, recreational, and other trip purposes to evaluate the impacts of various land use patterns, neighborhood typology, socioeconomic-demographic and immigrant related attributes on individuals’ travel behavior. …