Construction Engineering and Management Commons^™

Impact Of Augmented Documentation Workflows On Transportation Agency Asphalt Paving Operations: A Qualitative And Quantitative Study, Josh Withrow

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

e-Ticketing was an intriguing technology to many state transportation agencies (STAs) pre-COVID-19 pandemic but gained significant attention upon arrival of the pandemic due to the contactless nature of the technology. Research completed prior to the pandemic into e-ticketing for asphalt paving primarily identified qualitative benefits and concerns. However, minimal academic literature exists in the post-pandemic era discussing the additional e-ticketing benefits not previously captured which resulted in increased implementation by STAs. This research seeks to address this gap by gathering information from state members of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Committee on Construction (AASHTO COC), employees …

Rollout Of A Digital Comprehensive Safety Management System In A Large Public Agency: A Case Study With Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Salena Pham

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

It’s understood that construction is extremely dangerous and highway construction has an added risk that comes from the presence of traffic. Many steps and prevention measures can be taken to reduce the risks to workers’ safety in highway work zones. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) realized they had room for improvement and wanted to have a database that would allow for analysis of the common causes of incidents. The new software KYTC wanted to implement is called Origami Risk. Origami Risk is a cloud-based safety management system (SMS) software that offers a huge range of customizable risk management, RMIS, environmental health …

Adapting Through Organizational Change In Capital Projects Organizations, Mahmoud El Jazzar

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Organizational change can be defined as an alteration of a core aspect of an organization’s operation, structure, or culture. Previous research on organizational change mainly has focused on different types of technical changes, such as alternative project delivery methods and strategies to adopt the design-build approach successfully. Also, previous studies have focused on the project level changes instead of organizational level responses. Here I show using a proposed change model and performing thematic, and analysis, that there exist common responses, and challenges across different types of capital projects organizations studied. The results show that responses to change will differ as …

Identifying And Evaluating The Perceptions Of Near-Miss Reporting Within The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Seth Atkins

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

In the field of construction, most safety data and practices focus on preventing and mitigating serious incidents resulting in injuries or fatalities. However, on construction sites, near-miss events occur more frequently than said serious incidents and, under marginally different conditions, could potentially lead to damages, injuries, or fatalities. Therefore, near-miss reporting can serve as a useful tool for managing safety as it allows for workers to identify and managers to address potential risk factors within construction sites. While most construction companies have implemented some method for reporting near-miss events, many organizations, such as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), struggle with …

Understanding The Differences Between Industry Objectives And Institutional Learning, Kristen Schell

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

To combat understaffing in the construction industry, it is necessary to employ the best candidates possible. By identifying the most desirable skills in a construction employee from an industry perspective, institutional learning can better prepare graduates for the construction workforce. Currently there exists an information gap in the objectives of the construction industry and institutional learning. This gap produces graduates, professors, and employers with expectations that do not align. Reducing this gap will aid in the success of hiring recently graduated construction students who can meet the ever-changing demands of the industry. Construction students who are fresh out of college …

Propositions For A Resilient, Post-Covid-19 Future For The Aec Industry, Hala Nassereddine, Kyung Wook Seo, Zofia K. Rybkowski, Christian Schranz, Harald Urban

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The coronavirus outbreak has challenged and continues to challenge every aspect of the supply chain within the AEC industry, forcing stakeholders to cope with increasing uncertainties and continuous change. The notion of resilience is especially salient now. While the need for the AEC industry to focus on resilience has been highlighted in recent articles, there is a need for a comprehensive discussion on what resilience means for the AEC industry and how companies can create built-in resilience. This paper takes the form of a high-level overview of where the industry is headed and aims to establish eleven propositions for a …

Risk-Based Construction Inspection, Shannon Rush

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

State Transportation Agencies have been experiencing staffing difficulties in the last couple of decades due to the deterioration of infrastructure and a large number of employees retiring or transitioning to the private sector. Therefore, the STA demographic has become much younger and a loss of critical knowledge has resulted from this changeover. Construction Inspection in particular has been severely impacted. Inspired by the NCHRP Synthesis 450, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has initiated the Risk-Based Construction Inspection project which focuses on prioritizing construction activities based on the risk associated with failure of that work item. The purpose of which is to …

Lessons Learned From Six Different Structural Health Monitoring Systems On Highway Bridges, Abheetha Peiris, Charlie Sun, Issam E. Harik

Kentucky Transportation Center Faculty and Researcher Publications

Structural health monitoring has been utilized in numerous ways to investigate the performance and integrity of highway bridges. This paper highlights the use of six structural health monitoring systems, which were deployed to monitor distinct behaviors on six bridges in Kentucky. The structural health monitoring systems are as follows: (1) Over-height truck impact detection and monitoring on the I-64 over US 60 bridge, (2) Barge impact detection and monitoring on northbound US 41 over the Ohio River, (3) effectiveness of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer retrofit evaluation based on prestressed concrete I-girder crack movement on the I-65 elevated expressway in Louisville, (4) …

Design And Analysis Of A Pavement Marker Detection System, Timothy L. Johnson Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Personal injuries and property damage due to the failure of snow-plowable pavement markers which detach from pavement surfaces has led to the development of new all-plastic pavement markers which are located entirely below the planar surface of the pavement. The new all-plastic design pushes existing solutions used to avoid striping over highway reflectors into obsolescence since current solutions operate using electromagnets to sense the metal housings of snow-plowable pavement markers. A replacement solution is currently sought by the highway maintenance industry and three different marker detection methods were developed and tested on real-world highways with both new and aging pavement …

Redefining Construction “As-Built” Plans To Meet Current Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Needs, Victoria Lynn Lasley

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

As-built drawings are the traditional method used by the construction industry to record changes made during construction. As-builts provide valuable information for new design projects as well as rehabilitation and remediation projects. The completeness and accuracy of these plans are essential for transportation industries and their success. While the importance of as-builts is widely recognized, the process of creating them has proven to be difficult. It is a time consuming process and entities often lack the resources necessary to complete accurate and detailed as-builts. After an investigation of current as-built operations within State Transportation Agencies, recommendations have been made to …

Improving Safety Performance Of Highway Maintenance Crews Through Pre-Task Safety Toolbox Talks, Zamaan Al-Shabbani

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The dangerous work environment in the construction industry and the inherent high risks associated with construction work make it the focus of safety training and regulations. Highway construction and maintenance has unique hazards but seemingly less directly applicable safety standards, regulations, and programs. Department of Transportation (DOT) employees working in highway maintenance are exposed to a variety of unique hazards specifically associated with their work and not relating to the adjacent traffic. Yet, highway construction and maintenance work has not received sufficient attention in terms of safety research and programs. The lack of safety training and education in highway construction …

E-Construction Technologies For Efficient Highway Construction Inspections, Dhaivat Patel

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Over recent years, organizations such as the Federal Highway Administration and Departments of Transportation across the United States have showed interest in automating highway construction processes. The addition of e-Construction and other advanced technologies can significantly improve the efficiency and safety of highway paving operations, specifically paving inspections. Activities such as collecting load tickets, tracking pavement lay-down temperatures, and monitoring roller movement are antiquated practices that DOT inspectors perform during paving operations. E-Ticketing, Paver Mounted Thermal Profiling, and Intelligent Compaction were proposed to automate paving inspections and were recently tested in two resurfacing pilot projects in the state of Kentucky. …

Hazard Recognition And Risk Perception Among Union Electricians, Elyas Jazayeri

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazard recognition and risk perception are two important factors that are a focus of most safety training programs. According to previous research, unrecognized hazards could lead to underestimation of risks, which ultimately could lead to injuries and fatalities. The primary objective of this research was to assess hazard recognition and safety risk perception skills in the electrician trade among electricians in unions. Another goal of this study was to find possible correlation between level of engagement in safety training and hazard recognition and risk perception skills. The research objectives were accomplished by gathering data from sixty-seven apprentices and journeymen across …

What You Don’T See, Brent Sturlaugson

Architecture Faculty Publications

Follow the supply chains of architecture and you’ll find not just product manufacturers but also environmental polluters and elusive networks of financial power and political influence.

Assessing The Application Of The Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) In Earthwork Volume Measurement, Xi Wang

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Earthwork operations are often one of the major cost items on infrastructure construction projects. Because earthwork is largely influenced by unstable construction conditions and organization plans, it becomes the emphasis and difficulties of the cost control in the construction process. Therefore, precise estimates of actual earthwork volumes are important for both owners and contractors alike to ensure appropriate payments are made. However, measuring work on site requires lots of time and labors because of various and irregular site conditions. Conventional measurement methods, such as planned quantities from the drawings or estimates from equipment activity, are rough estimates with significant opportunities …

Advanced Technologies For Efficient Transportation Construction Inspection, Clyde Wesley Newcomer Iv

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Collecting load tickets is an example of an antiquated practice that puts inspectors in harm’s way either adjacent to traffic, in close proximity to moving or backing equipment, or at times requires climbing onto trucks to reach tickets. Technology exists to collect this information electronically allowing for safer, efficient inspection methods. Departments of Transportation are charged with inspecting an increasing work load with a diminishing number of inspection staff. Recently, doing more with less has led to the prioritization of inspection activities and resulted in less collection of data and visual inspection on projects. Technology advancements are available to improve …

Risk Management And Practice Alignment For Utility Coordination On Transportation Projects, Roy E. Sturgill Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Utility coordination is an exceedingly complex effort of managing, communicating, and facilitating the avoidance and relocation of utility facilities as needed for highway projects. Utility coordination occurs throughout the design and delivery of a project and best practices are used to make sure this occurs efficiently and in the best interest of the public, who are not only the taxpayers but also the ratepayers. Recent research has attempted to enhance utility location technology and procedures, instill frameworks and tools for utility coordination, and proceduralize risk management relative to utility coordination. However, research attempting to improve various aspects of utility coordination …

Subcontracting And The Survival Of Plants In The Road Construction Industry: A Panel Quantile Regression Analysis, Dakshina G. De Silva, Georgia Kosmopoulou, Carlos Lamarche

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates how subcontracting parts of contracted work shapes entrants’ success and survival. We find that newly developed quantile regression approaches can be adapted to study survival of firms competing for government contracts in road construction. The method is applied on a data set that includes patterns of firm entry, exit and auction related information. We find an apparent increase in the business life of firms who subcontract out part of their projects. In Texas, these subcontracting effects appear to be more pronounced for firms with few or no options outside the industry, and among firms who contract out …

The Impact Of Owner Practices And Procedures On Construction Project Safety Performance, Huang Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Construction sites are dangerous work environments. One traditional assumption prevails in the construction industry that construction safety should be the sole responsibility of the contractor. However, some safety researchers gradually begin to challenge this assumption. The elementary research in this field try to validate the existence of relationship of the owner’s practices and safety performance, which indicates that the involvements of the owner have a positive impact on improvement of safety performance. Therefore, the owner can and should take a responsibility of the project safety. Some subsequent research focus on collecting and summarizing the best safety practices and procedures of …

Quantitative Analysis Of The Impact Of Craft Labor Availability On Construction Project Performance, Hossein Karimi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

A shortage of skilled craft labor in the North American construction industry has been an unfortunate cyclic trend since the late 1980s. This shortage has been reported and discussed frequently by numerous past studies in the context of construction industry. The 2008 U.S. recession was at least one period when the craft shortage temporarily improved, as witnessed by spikes in construction unemployment rates above 20% due to the work slowdowns. However, the current economic recovery period is once again experiencing craft shortages in some sectors of the U.S. construction industry. Although the past literature provides wealth of information about influence …

Pavement Condition Index And Cost Of Ownership Analysis On Preventative Maintenance Projects In Kentucky, Dominic J. Michels

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has seen increasing use over time of preventative maintenance treatments on its asphalt pavements. Performance of two of the most prevalent treatments employed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) – Thin Asphalt Overlay (Thinlay) and Microsurfacing – had yet to be examined in-depth through condition surveys. This thesis describes the data collection process to find the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of each preventative maintenance site in Kentucky from the last 10 years. With PCI from each site, deterioration curves were generated for each treatment – providing the estimated life extension benefit of each. The analysis then …

Object Detection For Agricultural And Construction Environments Using An Ultrasonic Sensor, Joseph S. Dvorak, Marvin L. Stone, Kelvin P. Self

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

This study tested an ultrasonic sensor‘s ability to detect several objects commonly encountered in outdoor agricultural or construction environments: a water jug, a sheet of oriented strand board (OSB), a metal fence post, a human model, a wooden fence post, a Dracaena plant, a juniper plant, and a dog model. Tests were performed with each target object at distances from 0.01 to 3 m. Five tests were performed with each object at each location, and the sensor‘s ability to detect the object during each test was categorized as "undetected," "intermittent," "incorrect distance," "good." Rigid objects that presented a larger surface …

Bridge End Settlement Evaluation And Prediction, Jiwen Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

A bridge approach is usually built to provide a smooth and safe transition for vehicles from the roadway pavement to the bridge structure. However, differential settlement between the roadway pavement resting on embankment fill and the bridge abutment built on more rigid foundation often creates a bump in the roadway. Previous work examined this issue at a microscopic level and presented new methods for eliminating or minimizing the effects at specific locations.

This research studies the problem at a macroscopic level by determining methods to predict settlement severity to assist designers in developing remediation plans during project development to minimize …

Forecasting Long Term Highway Staffing Requirements For State Transportation Agencies, Ying Li

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The transportation system is vital to the nation’s economic growth and stability, as it provides mobility for commuters while supporting the United States’ ability to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy. State Transportation Agencies across the country continue to face many challenges to repair and enhance highway infrastructure to meet the rapid increasing transportation needs. One of these challenges is maintaining an adequate and efficient agency staff. In order to effectively plan for future staffing levels, State Transportation Agencies need a method for forecasting long term staffing requirements. However, current methods in use cannot function without well-defined projects and …

Interfacial Bond Between Reinforcing Fibers And Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cements: Fiber Pullout Characteristics, Robert B. Jewell, Kamyar C. Mahboub, Thomas L. Robl, Arne C. Bathke

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The results of an experimental investigation on the influence of the interfacial bond of reinforcing fibers embedded in a calcium sulfoaluminate matrix on the fiber-pullout peak load and energy consumption are presented. Bonding at the fiber-matrix interface plays an important role in controlling the mechanical performance of cementitious composites—in particular, composites formed from sulfate-based systems (calcium sulfoaluminate [CSA] cements), as opposed to the silicate systems found in portland cement. Various types of fibers were selected, including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polypropylene, and copper-coated steel. The fibers were embedded in three different matrixes: two sulfate-based cements including one commercially available CSA cement …

The Applicability Of Western Management In The Middle East, Zamaan Al-Shabbani

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The Middle Eastern construction industry is still suffering from cost overruns, delays, and disputes. Inefficient management practices and lack of management are frequently reported reasons for such problems. Researchers attribute such problems to the traditional management practices that are utilized in the Middle East. However, International companies who practice their best management strategies are still suffering from the same problems. These issues become more significant in joint ventures when two different management styles work together. Therefore, it becomes crucial to understand the characteristics of Middle Eastern construction environment in terms of the management practices and regulations that are used and …

Deformation-Based Excavation Support System Design Method, Sekyi K. Intsiful

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Development in urban areas around the world has steadily increased in recent years. This rapid development has not been matched by the ever decreasing open space commonly associated with urban centers. Vertical construction, thus, lends itself a very useful solution to this problem. Deep excavation is often required for urban construction. Unfortunately, the ground movements associated with deep excavation can result in damage to adjacent buildings. Thus, it is critically important to accurately predict the damage potential of nearby deep excavations and designing adequate support systems.

A new design method is proposed, as an attempt, to address the problem. The …

Calibration Of Non-Nuclear Devices For Construction Quality Control Of Compacted Soils, Joshua E. R. Wells

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Inadequate compaction of a soil subgrade can lead to detrimental outcomes that are not only costly but dangerous to the general public. To avoid this, quality control (QC) devices such as the nuclear density gauge (NDG) are currently being used to monitor the compaction and moisture content of soil subgrades. However, regulatory concerns associated with the NDG have encouraged federal and state agencies, as well as the heavy civil construction industry to consider non-nuclear devices for QC testing of compacted soils. One such non-nuclear device is the Soil Density Gauge (SDG), which utilizes electromagnetic wave propagation to obtain soil properties …

Observations Of Peak Strength Behavior In Csa Cement Mortars, Joshua V. Brien, Kevin R. Henke, Kamyar C. Mahboub

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to assess the mechanical property performance behavior of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement mortar when cured at ambient laboratory temperature of ~23°C (73°F) and constant 50% relative humidity for an extended period of time. Four CSA cement mortars were tested. Three CSA cement mortars contained equivalent mass amounts of calcium sulfate; whereas, the fourth mortar contained double the amount of calcium sulfate. The three CSA cement mortars containing constant mass amounts of calcium sulfate differed as the specific type of calcium sulfate varied across the three formulations—one mortar containing solely anhydrite, one mortar contained half …

Applying Cognitive Principles To The Delivery Of Engineering Information By Different Mediums, Gabriel B. Dadi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Construction project performance and worker productivity are often tied to the availability and effective presentation of information, tools, materials, and equipment. While advancements in technology have improved much of the processes on a construction project, the medium of information dissemination at the construction work face has consistently relied on the use of two dimensional drawings and specifications.

Industry initiatives are driving increased collaboration through three dimensional BIM (Building Information Modeling) models. However, the added dimension partially loses its effect when presented on a two dimensional computer monitor. Other computer forms of presentation intended for mobility (PDAs, laptops, and tablets) can …