Construction Engineering and Management Commons^™

Utilizing Technology To Increase The Recycled Content Of Asphalt Mix Designs, Nicholas Ricketts

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This directed project examined the idea that increasing the amount of recycled asphalt product in road construction will result in a comparable performance to the current levels of recycled asphalt product in today’s pavement. A critical review of literature is structured in four areas: describing the need (financial and environmental) for the increased use of recycled materials, describing how others have addressed the issue and technology needed for increasing the use of recycled content, describing how some contractors have created the technology needed, and finally describing the direction needed in order to encourage customers and government agencies to embrace the …

Dimensional Stability Of Geosynthetic Clay Liners In Landfill Applications, Gregory R. Olsen

Master's Theses

An investigation was conducted related to the dimensional stability of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) in landfill applications. Multiple occurrences of panel separation of overlap seams in GCLs have been documented; however, explanation for the relative contribution of various mechanisms causing shrinkage has been limited. A systematic test program was conducted to determine the effects of a variety of conditions on GCL dimensional stability.

Effects of initial moisture content, permeant type, and overburden pressure were tested by subjecting various GCL products to wet-dry cycles and measuring the dimensional change with each cycle. Different GCL types were each tested under various combinations …

Application Of Gis In Seismic Risk Assessment For The City Of Kelowna, Md. Nurul Alam

Md. Nurul Alam

No abstract provided.

State Dependent Properties Of Rail Pads, Sakdirat Kaewunruen, Alexander Remennikov

Alex Remennikov

Rail pad is one of the main components in ballasted railway track systems. It is inserted between the rail and the sleeper to attenuate dynamic wheel/rail interaction forces, preventing the underlying railway track components from excessive stresses. Generally, the dynamic design of tracks relies on the available data, which are mostly focused on the structural condition at a specific toe load. Recent findings show that track irregularities could significantly amplify the loads on railway tracks. This phenomenon gives rise to a concern that the rail pads may experience higher deterioration rate than anticipated in the past. On this ground, an …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Seamless Bridge And Roadway System For The U.S. Practice, Nima Ala

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Expansion joints are one of the main causes for high maintenance costs in bridges. The search for ideal expansion joints has proven fruitless. That is why it has been said that “the best joint is no joint”. A seamless bridge system is envisioned that results in bridges with long service lives by eliminating the joints over the entire length of the bridge, approach slab and a segment of the roadway called transition. All bridge thermal movements are dissipated to zero in the transition. The system is similar to a system developed in Australia but modifications had to be made to …

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Control De Calidad En El Proceso De Estructura De La Vivienda De Interés Social, Camilo Andres Galeano España

Ingeniería Civil

El trabajo de grado tiene como nombre Control de Calidad en el proceso de Estructura de la Vivienda de Interés Social; se va a inspeccionar y corroborar si en la Obra que se escogió la cual se llama “Molinos del Milenio”, se cumplen las normas de calidad, si se realizan los procedimientos, se recopilan las informaciones en los formatos que tienen existentes, se toman los correctivos necesarios en caso de existir producto no conforme que afecten la calidad de esta obra, todo supeditado a las Normas Sismo-Resistentes N.S.R.-10 que es la que determina los estándares de calidad. Se presentaran las …

Research-To-Practice (R2p) Tools For Improving Safety In Nighttime Highway Construction Work Zones, Ali Mostafavi, Vanessa Valentin, Dulcy Abraham

Infrastructure System-of-Systems (I-SoS ) Research Group

The safety of workers in nighttime roadway work zones has become a major concern for state transportation agencies due to the increase in the number of work zone fatalities. During the last decade, several studies have focused on the improvement of safety in nighttime roadway work zones; but the element that is still missing is a set of tools for translating the research results into practice. This paper discusses: 1) the importance of translating the research results related to the safety of workers and safety planning of nighttime work zones into practice, and 2) examples of tools that can be …

Comparison Of Design-Build And Design-Bid-Build Performance Of Public University Projects, James David Fernane

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With an unsure market and scarce work, owners across the United States, especially universities, are finding themselves in situations where they are unable to complete their projects within cost and schedule using the traditional delivery method: Design-Bid-Build (DBB). Under the DBB project delivery method, many competent contractors are electing to send low bids on projects just to keep work on their books, with plans to receive change orders once the project is underway; this practice is leading to cost and schedule overruns. Public universities across the United States are beginning to elect to use Design-Build (DB) as an alternate project …

Identification Of Risk Factors Associated With Motorcycle-Related Fatalities In Ohio, Deogratias Eustace, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru, Peter W. Hovey

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Out of the 7,138,476 motorcycles operating on U.S. roads, 346,925 were registered in the state of Ohio in the year 2007. Although motorcycles represent only 2.8% of all registered vehicles in the state of Ohio, motorcycling accounts for more than 13% of Ohio highway traffic fatalities. Since 2005, Ohio has had a distressing distinction of being among the fifteen states that have sustained more than half of all motorcycle fatalities recorded in the USA (NHTSA 2007; NHTSA 2008a). For the past ten years, the overall motorcycle crash fatalities have been increasing while the motor vehicle occupant crash fatalities have been …

Bs News July/August

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

How Do Millennial Engineering And Technology Students Experience Learning Through Traditional Teaching Methods Employed In The University Setting?, Elizabeth A. Howard

Department of Computer Graphics Technology Degree Theses

The purpose of the study was to document and analyze how Millennial engineering and technology students experience learning in large lecture classrooms. To help achieve this purpose, perceptions Millennials have toward traditional teaching methods employed in large lecture classes were analyzed and discussed. Additionally, this study documented how Millennials experienced technology within large lecture classrooms. A learning model depicting how Millennials experience learning within the large lecture classroom was created based on the results of this study. This model employed three separate tools utilized within the large lecture classroom. These tools: Lecture, Technology, and Homework, work together to synthesize learning …

Two Dimensional Modeling Of Wind Effects On A Bridge Section Using Finite Difference Method, Jessica Carreiro

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Wind effects on long span bridges are a major concern for bridge design. Wind acts as a dynamic load on the bridge deck causing the bridge to react in ways not accounted for in static load design. Attention to these effects increased tremendously after famous bridge collapses, such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. Due to this collapse and others, engineers were made painfully aware that wind phenomena, such as flutter and vortex shedding, can cause major structural damage if not considered in the design process. The solution for many years since has been to conduct wind tunnel tests …

Impact Of Design Cost On Project Performance Of Design Bid Build Projects, Nirajan Mani

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The majority of public projects in the United States are procured and constructed by state or local governments using the design-bid-build (DBB) project delivery method. In the DBB method, the detailed design is completed by a design firm, then, a contractor builds the project according to the plans and specifications prepared by the design firm. Some studies show that a project's performance depends upon the quality of the design. If the errors in a design are minimized, the construction cost and schedule growth of the project also will be minimized.

This study analyzed data from Clark County, Nevada public works …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Gis Based Pavement Maintenance: A Systematic Approach, Robert J. Kmetz

Purdue Polytechnic Directed Projects

Abstract

According to 2008 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) statistics, there are 2,734,102 miles of paved public roads in the United Sates, with an additional 1,324,245 miles of unpaved public roads. Road conditions deteriorate with time as the result of weather effects, deicing salts, and vehicle loads. The most common pavement distress includes cracking, rutting, and potholes. These pavement defects must be repaired to restore the pavement to a satisfactory service level for road users. According to the FHWA, in 2006 approximately $54.2 billion dollars was spent on maintenance and expansion, just on U.S. highways alone.

Routine maintenance is a cost …

Application Of Event Tree Analysis In Wildfire Risk Assessment For The City Of Kelowna, Md. Nurul Alam

Md. Nurul Alam

The devastating inferno of the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire of 2003, which caused significant damage to infrastructure, home, private properties and caused evacuation of affected people from the City of Kelowna. Consequently, it raised the importance of conducting a risk assessment for the City. This study focused on analyzing the existing risks from wild fire, and the estimation of loss and damage with the help of proposed event tree method for the City of Kelowna. Finally, the risky areas have been represented spatially with the help of geographic information system (GIS) to provide a basis for an effective decision making …

Estudio Del Movimiento De Bloques Por Crecientes E Impactos Sobre Estructuras En El Río Negro Cundinamarca, Sector Paraíso Km 5+000, Jeyder Martínez Aranzales

Ingeniería Civil

El sector de estudio está ubicado en el kilómetro 5+000 de la vía entre los municipios de Pacho y La Palma los cuales se hallan en el departamento de Cundinamarca, en donde se encuentran ciertas estructuras construidas con el fin de reducir el movimiento de bloques producida por el flujo del Río Negro y evitar el deterioro a la vía en mención. La vía y las estructuras arriba mencionadas, se han visto afectadas por los fenómenos a estudiar en este proyecto, afectando a las comunidades que habitan en el área de influencia, debido al aumento en los tiempos de traslado …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Wavelet Network For Semi-Active Control, Simon Laflamme, J.J.E. Slotine, J.J. Connor

Simon Laflamme

This paper proposes a wavelet neurocontroller capable of self-adaptation and self-organization for uncertain systems controlled with semi-active devices, ideal candidates for control of large-scale civil structures. A condition on the sliding surface for cantilever-like structures is defined. The issue of applicability of the control solution to largescale civil structures is made the central theme throughout the text, as this topic has not been extensively discussed in the literature. Stability and convergence of the proposed neurocontroller is assessed through various numerical simulations for harmonic, earthquake, and wind excitations. The simulations consist of semi-active dampers installed as a replacement to the current …

Optimal Loop Placement And Models For Length-Based Vehicle Classification And Stop-And-Go Traffic, Heng Wei, Qingyi Ai, Deogratias Eustace, Ping Yi

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Inductive loops are widely used nationwide for traffic monitoring as a data source for a variety of needs in generating traffic information for operation and planning analysis, validations of travel demand models, freight studies, pavement design, and even emission impact analysis of traffic operation. The loop data have also been used for vehicle length-based classification in many states including Ohio. The dual-loop detector consists of two single loop detectors which are placed apart at a fixed short distance, and this configuration enables the dual-loop detector data a potential real-time data source for speed and vehicle classifications. However, the existing dual-loop …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.