Structural Engineering Commons^™

Development And Characterization Of Coal-Based Thermoplastic Composite Material For Sustainable Construction, Haibin Zhang, Wenyu Liao, Genda Chen, Hongyan Ma

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The exploitation of coal and the disposal of waste plastic present significant environmental and economic challenges that require sustainable and profitable solutions. In response, we propose a renewable construction composite material of coal-based thermoplastic composite (CTC) that can be made from low-grade coal and plastic waste. We developed and tested the hot-press fabrication method for this CTC, using coal with a maximum particle size of 4.75 mm and recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The effects of the coal fraction (50–80 wt.%) on compressive properties, thermal properties, microstructure, and ecological and economic efficiencies of the CTC were investigated. Test results revealed that …

Vibration Fatigue Of Leaded Solder Joint Interconnects For Pcb Electronics, John Crowder

All Theses

With the increasing prevalence of electronic equipment worldwide, there is also a decrease in the size of the components on their printed circuit boards (PCBs), leading to an increase in the density of these components. A significant amount of failure in electronic equipment is vibration fatigue of solder joints and their attachments. However, the complexity of these PCBs and their components has made finite element modeling (FEM) more complex, adding considerable time to create and analyze a model.

This paper aims to provide a literature review for the vibration fatigue of leaded solder components, create a test setup, and validate …

Investigation And Modification Of Single-Post Aluminum Sign Supports For Mash Crashworthiness, Rodrigo Quintero

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

Traffic signs are used to display information to drivers and are one of the most commonly encountered roadside structures. Although they are a vital traffic control device, signs can pose a significant safety risk to errant drivers due to their extensive placement and proximity to the roadway. Therefore, traffic signs and their supports must be designed with crashworthiness in mind to reduce the likelihood of injury in the event of a vehicle impact. Prior to 2009, these systems were evaluated using the crash testing criteria found in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350 [1]. Currently, they …

System-Of-Systems Integration For Civil Infrastructures Resiliency Toward Multihazard Events, Vahid Balali

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Civil infrastructure systems—facilities that supply principal services, such as electricity, water, transportation, etc., to a community—are the backbone of modern society. These systems are frequently subject to multi-hazard events, such as earthquakes. The poor resiliency of these infrastructures results in many human casualties and significant economic losses every year. An outline of a holistic view that considers how different civil infrastructure systems operate independently and how they interact and communicate with each other is required to have a resilient infrastructure system. More specifically a systems engineering approach is required to enable infrastructure to remain resilient in the case of extreme …

A Spike-Shaped Anchorage For Steel Reinforced Polymer (Srp)-Strengthened Concrete Structures, Xingxing Zou, Keenan L. Mcburney, Lesley H. Sneed

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Steel reinforced polymer (SRP) composite has recently emerged as an effective and economical solution for strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Premature debonding failure of unanchored SRP at low load levels generally governs the performance of RC structures strengthened with externally bonded SRP. Therefore, a novel yet simple spike-shaped anchorage system was proposed in this study to prevent the debonding failure of SRP and to improve the interfacial shear capacity. Experimental investigation through single-lap shear tests of SRP-concrete joints showed that the anchorage system changed the failure mode from composite debonding to fiber rupture. In addition, the anchorage system substantially …

Recent Developments In Timber Design & Its Impact On Carbon Emissions, Raquel Jackson

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper explores recent developments in timber building designs and its potential towards reducing carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions are a growing issue worldwide as urbanization and industrialization continues to increase. The rising concentration of carbon dioxide emissions pose significant concerns towards public welfare and environmental health. Despite current methods to reduce greenhouse gasses, carbon emissions remain difficult to reduce from steel and concrete industries. Increasing timber use in building design is a possible solution. Increasing more timber in building design can help reduce carbon emissions due to the carbon-absorbing properties of the construction material. Timber as a construction material …

Influence Of Support Attachment Pattern On The Out-Of-Plane Buckling Capacity Of Steel Deck, Divyansh R. Kapoor, Brian Bogh, Kara D. Peterman

American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Specifications, Standards, Manuals and Research Reports (1946 - present)

Diaphragms (Figure 1) serve as a critical component of a building's lateral force resisting system (LFRS), transferring lateral loads from the façade of the structure to the designated vertical lateral force resisting system. Design guidance for profiled steel diaphragm panels can be found in AISI S310 - 20 (AISI 2020) and SDI DDM04 (Luttrell 2015) and are controlled by connection limit states or buckling limit states. Deck connectivity with the underlying frame can either be fully attached (For example 36/7), i.e. connected through the bottom of each flute, or partially attached (for example 36/5 or 36/4) where not all the …

Xenabloom, Sophia Maglabe, Ryer Lauth, Elizabeth Shaw, Sheyna Rongong

Architectural Engineering

Proposal for an architectural and structural design of a shade structure at the Leaning Pine Arboretum, employing the Xenaform typology of Poly Shells, LLC.

Preliminary Bond Capacity Exploration Between Monolayer Graphene And Cementitious Composites, Yanping Zhu, Chuanrui Guo, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Study Aims to Explore Bond Capacity between Monolayer Graphene and Cementitious Composites for the First Time through a Pullout Test. the Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Method Was Used to Synthesize Monolayer Graphene on the Copper Substrate to Be Embedded in the Mortar Made by the Briquette Mold. the Bond Capacity between Them Was Higher Than the Tensile Strength of the Copper Sheet with As-Grown Monolayer Graphene on the Surface Since All Specimens Failed in Fracture with Embedment Length of More Than 30 Mm. the Monolayer Graphene Enhanced the Copper Tensile Fracture Stress and Normalized Energy during the Test as …

Coating Condition Detection And Assessment On The Steel Girder Of A Bridge Through Hyperspectral Imaging, Pengfei Ma, Jiaoli Li, Ying Zhuo, Pu Jiao, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The organic coating of bridge steel girders is subjected to physical scratches, corrosion, and aging in natural weathering. The breakdown of the coating may cause serviceability and safety problems if left unnoticed. Conventional coating inspection is time-consuming and lacks information about the coating's chemical integrity. A hyperspectral imaging method is proposed to detect the condition of steel coatings based on coating-responsive features in reflectance spectra. A field test was conducted on the real-world bridge, which shows obvious signs of degradation. The hyperspectral signature enables an assessment of the coating's health and defect severity. The results indicated that the coating scratch …

Experimental Characterization And Computer Vision-Assisted Detection Of Pitting Corrosion On Stainless Steel Structural Members, Riley J. Muehler

Master's Theses

Pitting corrosion is a prevalent form of corrosive damage that can weaken, damage, and initiate failure in corrosion-resistant metallic materials. For instance, 304 stainless steel is commonly utilized in various structures (e.g., miter gates, heat exchangers, and storage tanks), but is prone to failure through pitting corrosion and stress corrosion cracking under mechanical loading, regardless of its high corrosion resistance. In this study, to better understand the pitting corrosion damage development, controlled corrosion experiments were conducted to generate pits on 304 stainless steel specimens with and without mechanical loading. The pit development over time was characterized using a high-resolution laser …

Investigation Of Natural Pozzolans: Analyzing The Practicality Of Natural Pozzolans As A Partial Substitute For Cement In Grout Production, Jadyn I. Breien, Andrew J. Baro, Logan T. Marino

Architectural Engineering

This senior project aims to investigate whether natural pozzolans are more sustainable than fly ash and a sufficient substitute for cement in the production of grout. By following the intent of the ASTM (American Society of Testing and Materials) standards, a conclusion will be made to determine if natural pozzolans can contribute comparable strength in compression. The objective is to prove that natural pozzolans should be utilized in the production of grout rather than alternatives such as fly ash because it can provide similar strength while being more economical and more sustainable.

The Design And Construction Of A Radio Telescope, Avery Elizabeth Bunting, Kira Hope Tolman

Architectural Engineering

Two architectural engineering students and an electrical engineering student worked together to design and build a radio telescope that is capable of using hydrogen line astronomy to map the galaxy. The telescope is made entirely out of aluminum, which, combined with small deflection limits, made for an iterative design process that focused primarily on constructability and supporting the desired outcomes of the electrical side.

The Center For Centering Dome, Olek Piechaczek, Ryan M. Scharf

Architectural Engineering

The Center for Centering seeks to create a large-scale healing center, conducive to individual centering of the mind and body. This mobile installation provides a relaxing, enclosed space while still maintaining a connection to the outdoors. The clients liked the idea of having a pop-up installation that could be easily set up as a touring display. With a deadline for installation looming in June 2022, a team of students had five months to design and manufacture the structure.

In winter 2022, the students developed custom geometry to minimize the number of individual parts and built a ¼ scale model of …

The Feasibility Of Using High Strength Stainless Steel In Pre-Stressing Applications, Rana Khaled Morsy

Theses and Dissertations

This paper evaluates the applicability of using a corrosion-resistant reinforcement high strength stainless steel strands (HSSS) Duplex 2205 in pre-stressing applications. HSSS-Duplex 2205 is a high performance steel which can be used as an alternative to the conventional carbon steel strands, for a better service life. The high strength and corrosion resistance of the material allows it to show its impressive performance in marine structural applications. Although the use of HSSS-Duplex 2205 could be initially costly; however, the improved durability and extended service life of the concrete structures using HSSS would require less life-cycle cost. Although there is a gap …

Using Bim To Increase The Efficiency Of Energy-Driven Retrofitting Projects, Anne Grego, Shannon Chance, Barry Mcauley

Conference Papers

The building sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global energy consumption. Many existing buildings have poor thermal insulation and low energy performance, hindering sustainability goals. Energy-driven building retrofitting could address this issue and implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) in retrofitting can reduce process time, costs, and waste associated with such undertakings. Yet, there is a lack of research and insufficient guidance for implementing BIM in energy-driven retrofitting. A BIM framework is presented to enhance decision-making processes during retrofitting. The aims of this study were to (1) identify BIM technologies and methodologies that could address existing barriers and improve efficiency …

Columbus, Nebraska: Southern Housing Development Design Proposal, Ryan Weyers, Caiden Dynek, Alex Papa, Brexton Robertson, Kaden Perala

Honors Theses

The following paper proposes the design and creation of a new housing development in the city of Columbus, Nebraska in a lot to the south of the city and directly north of the Columbus wastewater treatment plant. The goal of this proposal is to provide readers with confidence that our company is the most qualified to complete the project and will create the safest, most comfortable, most efficient, and most cost-effective final design. This proposal seeks to offer a solution to the lack of affordable housing for the growing workforce in Columbus. In order to arrive at this solution, each …

3d Printing Of Earthen Materials: Toward The Carbon-Zero Construction, Shiva Bhusal

Civil Engineering ETDs

In recent years, digital manufacturing techniques in the architecture and construction industry have rapidly gained attention, especially with 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing. The use of cement has been common in modern construction and is now being explored for 3D printing. However, due to cement's contribution to approximately 7 percent of global carbon emissions and its high cost, research on sustainable and greener materials has gained attention. Previous studies on alternative construction have examined the mechanical and rheological properties of soil mixes, but not much attention has been given to printability evaluation, shrinkage, and cracking, which can affect the …

Evaluation Of The Geotechnical And Foundation Components On Jud Site, Mirabel W. Nkanor

Honors Theses

This thesis is part of the senior design final project of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Mississippi. Geotechnical and foundation analyses were done on a proposed construction project for a multi-family home in Orlando, Florida. This evaluation done in this thesis follows the pre-existing geotechnical report on the side, USDA soil reports, ASCE Code 32-01 (Design of Foundations), and ASCE-7 Section 12.31.1 (Foundations and Superstructure-to-Foundation Connections).

A structural system was selected from the proposed location, on the corner of South Conway and Judge Road, and an evaluation of the Bearing Load capacity was completed to determine the …

Efficient Sintering Of Lunar Soil Using Concentrated Sunlight, Diprajit Biswas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Construction material is one crucial need for long-term habitation on the moon. When concentrated for high heat flux, solar radiation can heat lunar soil or regolith until it sinters at temperatures above 900°C. The solid, sintered soil simulant can be used as construction material. This work explores the conditions leading to effective lunar soil sintering for both direct and indirect irradiated sintering. Lunar soil simulants were sintered using concentrated light from a xenon-arc lamp with varying heat flux intensity. During direct sintering of LHS-1, a sintering range of 860°C-1140°C corresponding to a peak heat flux of 105-120 kW/m2 was identified …

Mechanics And Mechanisms Of Fracture For An Eastern Spruce Subject To Transverse Loading Using Acoustic Emission, Parinaz Belalpour Dastjerdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to its excellent structural qualities and accessibility, wood is among the most often utilized structural materials. Despite its ubiquity, wood poses numerous challenges. It is heterogeneous and anisotropic. It has a complex hierarchical ultrastructure, and the properties can have wide variation within a species, and indeed within an individual tree. This work aims to improve our understanding of the strength and fracture behavior of spruce-pine-fir (south) (SPFs), particularly in cross-grain direction. This study’s primary goal is to examine the relationship between crack propagation and cross grain morphology under the following loading configurations: compact tension, compression, and rolling shear. The …

Song’S Site At Los Angeles Eco-Village Redevelopment, Kendall Gilbert, Marina Rios, Kristin Hernandez, Gianna Morelli

Honors Thesis

The Los Angeles Eco-Village (LAEV) is a co-op housing community, located in Koreatown, focused on building sustainable and economically cooperative living in an urban environment. The purpose of this project is to transform a property recently acquired by the LAEV, called Song’s, into a multipurpose community hub. The project design goals established with LAEV founder and community members, include cultivating new highly sustainable and resilient ideas on urban living and incorporating educational elements that inspire the community and visitors to live more sustainably. This project proposes three design elements to improve the community use of the newly acquired Song’s at …

Three-Dimensional Structural Analysis Of Temple 16 And Rosalila At Copan Ruinas, Luis Tuarez

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

Temple 16 is an ancient Maya structure located at the heart of the Copán Ruinas Acropolis in Western Honduras. Temple 16 contains several earlier structures within it that were built on top of each other throughout Copán’s history. One of these earlier structures, Rosalila, is one of the most culturally significant structures within the Acropolis due to its preservation. An intricate series of archeological tunnels have been excavated throughout Temple 16 to allow for its study. However, significant cracking has been observed within Rosalila and several tunnels have experienced partial collapse. This not only poses a life safety issue for …

Slo Botanical Garden Deck, Noah E. Demer

Architectural Engineering

This project consists of the design and construction of an outdoor-use deck. This deck is to be located in the NE corner of the Sage Meadow at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden at 3450 Dairy Creek Rd, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. This deck’s intended use is as a gathering area for people to congregate. Originally, the ideal deck area was proposed as 700+ square feet, but with further site and project limitations the final design was ~480 square feet. This deck has not been constructed.

Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Project, Courtney Huitt, Cormack Williams

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Offshore wind is a developing industry in the Central Coast with the advent of the future offshore wind project planned off the north coast of San Luis Obispo County. This senior design project aligns with the recently leased wind energy project as a detailed study on the structural design, geotechnical design, and construction of a single 14 MW floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) located 40 km NW of Morro Bay (NOAA buoy 46028). A preliminary design of a spar FOWT is presented in this project as a solution to the rapidly increasing water depth off the coast of Morro Bay, …

Development Of Self-Stressing Ultra High-Performance Concrete Using Expansive Chemical Admixtures, Lane Edwards

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of expansive chemical admixtures on ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and self-stressing mechanisms. A literature review was performed to determine different types of expansive admixtures for feasibility of the self-prestressing concept. Ultimately it was decided that type-k cement, made by combining Komponent admixture with conventional UHPC, was the most suitable option due to its effects on wet and hardened concrete properties. Mix designs with varying amounts of Komponent were developed to test the effects the admixture had on various properties. Tested properties included, workability, compressive strength, expansion, short-term shrinkage, long-term shrinkage, and developed prestress. The development …

Experimental Design For Determining The Cyclic Behavior Of Skewed Reduced Beam Section Moment Connections Having Composite Slabs, Paul Chabaud

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper details the experimental design for determining the cyclic behavior of skewed Reduced Beam Section (RBS) moment connections having composite slabs. The effects of composite concrete slabs on skewed RBS connections subjected to cyclic seismic prequalification loading are addressed in this test setup. Full-scale double-sided RBS SMF specimens representing both interior and exterior column connections are designed and fabricated in this work. Experimental test fixturing and a lateral load application setup within the existing Grady E. Harvell Civil Engineering Research and Education Center (CEREC) are designed. All cyclic loading protocols required for the prequalification testing are described herein. Prequalification …

On The Micro-Mechanical Property Characterization And Bulk-Volume Behavior Prediction Of Additively Manufactured 17-4 Ph Stainless Steels, David González-Niño

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Selective laser melting is an additive manufacturing technology that opens the possibility to manufacture components with complex geometries that are difficult with traditional manufacturing techniques which could benefit engineering applications such as aviation or structural engineering. However, the lack of a reliable universal predictive model for selective laser melting components could impede the full implementation in industrial applications. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the mechanical behavior of selective laser melting 17-4 PH stainless steel under ultra-low cycle fatigue regime and propose a novel micro-mechanical based modeling using statistical and representative volume element. The first phase of this project examined the mechanical …

Machine Learning-Based Data And Model Driven Bayesian Uncertanity Quantification Of Inverse Problems For Suspended Non-Structural System, Zhiyuan Qin

All Dissertations

Inverse problems involve extracting the internal structure of a physical system from noisy measurement data. In many fields, the Bayesian inference is used to address the ill-conditioned nature of the inverse problem by incorporating prior information through an initial distribution. In the nonparametric Bayesian framework, surrogate models such as Gaussian Processes or Deep Neural Networks are used as flexible and effective probabilistic modeling tools to overcome the high-dimensional curse and reduce computational costs. In practical systems and computer models, uncertainties can be addressed through parameter calibration, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty quantification, leading to improved reliability and robustness of decision and …

Understanding The Bond Strength Of Bcsa Cement Repair Concrete To Portland Cement Concrete, Brenden Simmons

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concrete structures deteriorate over time, and there is an increasing demand for quick repair solutions. Belitic calcium sulfoaluminate (BCSA) cement, a type of rapid setting cement, is thought to be a more sustainable and convenient alternative to portland cement in repair concrete applications. Indicated by the name, rapid setting concrete can set up quicker than traditional portland cement concrete. Because of this, there has been a lot of research about the properties of rapid setting concrete mixes. One of the most popular topics is the strength of the concrete itself. However, there is a need for more research to understand …