Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Machine Learning-Based Seismic Damage Assessment Of Residential Buildings Considering Multiple Earthquake And Structure Uncertainties, Xinzhe Yuan, Liujun Li, Haibin Zhang, Yanping Zhu, Genda Chen, Cihan H. Dagli

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wood-frame structures are used in almost 90% of residential buildings in the United States. It is thus imperative to rapidly and accurately assess the damage of wood-frame structures in the wake of an earthquake event. This study aims to develop a machine-learning-based seismic classifier for a portfolio of 6,113 wood-frame structures near the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in which synthesized ground motions are adopted to characterize potential earthquakes. This seismic classifier, based on a multilayer perceptron (MLP), is compared with existing fragility curves developed for the same wood-frame buildings near the NMSZ. This comparative study indicates that the MLP …

Deep Reinforcement Learning For Approximate Policy Iteration: Convergence Analysis And A Post-Earthquake Disaster Response Case Study, Abhijit Gosavi, L. (Lesley) H. Sneed, L. A. Spearing

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Approximate Policy Iteration (API) is a Class of Reinforcement Learning (RL) Algorithms that Seek to Solve the Long-Run Discounted Reward Markov Decision Process (MDP), Via the Policy Iteration Paradigm, Without Learning the Transition Model in the Underlying Bellman Equation. Unfortunately, These Algorithms Suffer from a Defect Known as Chattering in Which the Solution (Policy) Delivered in Each Iteration of the Algorithm Oscillates between Improved and Worsened Policies, Leading to Sub-Optimal Behavior. Two Causes for This that Have Been Traced to the Crucial Policy Improvement Step Are: (I) the Inaccuracies in the Policy Improvement Function and (Ii) the Exploration/exploitation Tradeoff Integral …

Infrastructure Systems Modeling Using Data Visualization And Trend Extraction, Jacob Marshal Hale

Doctoral Dissertations

“Current infrastructure systems modeling literature lacks frameworks that integrate data visualization and trend extraction needed for complex systems decision making and planning. Critical infrastructures such as transportation and energy systems contain interdependencies that cannot be properly characterized without considering data visualization and trend extraction.

This dissertation presents two case analyses to showcase the effectiveness and improvements that can be made using these techniques. Case one examines flood management and mitigation of disruption impacts using geospatial characteristics as part of data visualization. Case two incorporates trend analysis and sustainability assessment into energy portfolio transitions.

Four distinct contributions are made in this …

The Application Of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process In Sustainable Project Selection, Rakan Alyamani, Suzanna Long

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The project selection process is a crucial step in sustainable development. Effective sustainable development depends on the ability to select the appropriate sustainable project to implement to ensure that the desired goals are met. Some of the most common characteristics or criteria used in evaluating sustainable projects include novelty, uncertainty, skill and experience, technology information transfer, and project cost. Prioritizing these criteria based on relative importance helps project managers and decision makers identify elements that require additional attention, better allocate resources, as well as improve the selection process when evaluating different sustainable project alternatives. The aim of this research is …

A System-Of-Systems Model To Simulate The Complex Emergent Behavior Of Vehicle Traffic On An Urban Transportation Infrastructure Network, Rayan Assaad, Cihan H. Dagli, Islam H. El-Adaway

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Transportation agencies face escalating challenges in forecasting the traffic demand. Traditional prediction methods focused on individual transportation sectors and failed to study the inter-dependencies between the different transportation systems. Hence, there is a need for more advanced and holistic modeling techniques. To this end, this paper models and analyses an urban transportation system-of-systems incorporating seven various systems: population and GDP, CO₂ emission, gasoline price and total vehicle trips, traffic demand, public and private transportation, transportation investment, and traffic congestion. Accordingly, this research simulates transportation networks as a collection of task-oriented systems that combine their resources to form a complex …

An Agent-Based Model To Study Competitive Construction Bidding And The Winner's Curse, Amr Elsayegh, Cihan H. Dagli, Islam H. El-Adaway

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reverse auction theory is the basis for competitive construction bidding process. The lowest bid method is utilized for selecting contractors in public projects. The winning contractor having the lowest bid value could be cursed when the submitted bid value results in negative profits. This is caused by many factors such as the contractor's estimation accuracy and markup. This is addressed in this paper by providing a model simulating the construction competitive bidding and the occurrence of the winner's curse. To this end, the authors show the extent to which the winner's curse affects the status of contracting companies. The objectives …

A System Dynamics Approach For Study Of Population Growth And The Residential Housing Market In The Us, Gasser Galal Ali, Islam H. El-Adaway, Cihan H. Dagli

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The US Consensus bureau estimated the total construction spending at 1,320,305 Million Dollars, in February 2020, with an increase of 1.1% since last February. The construction market is large, and risky. Prediction of the market behavior, for several years ahead, is needed in order to take strategic investment decision for long and expensive projects. The goal of this research is to study the relationship between population growth and the housing market. To that end, a system dynamics model is developed. System dynamics is a top-down approach that starts with the high-level behavior of a complex system to simulate the behavior …

A System Dynamics Model For Construction Safety Behavior, Mohamad Abdul Nabi, Islam H. El-Adaway, Cihan H. Dagli

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Construction Industry has always been reputed by its high incident rates and poor safety performance. Construction accidents are, in most cases, resulted from the unsafe behaviors of construction workers on site. The study of workers' behavior is crucial in order to understand the causation of unsafe behaviors. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to simulate construction safety behavior in order to predict the number of safety incidents and better understand their causation factors. The simulation model illustrates how construction system influences construction labors on site in terms of unsafe behavior. The standard leading indicators of safety performance are first …

Developing Restoration Schemes For A Road Transportation Network In The Event Of A Disaster, Ebin Antony

Masters Theses

"Transportation systems such as rail, road, and waterways are key component of critical infrastructure systems, providing connectivity between other components to enable the production and distribution of goods and services. During large scale disasters such as earth quakes and floods, this connectivity is disrupted, restricting or completely halting the flow of goods and services. To ensure that the connectivity between the different modes of transportation are restored in an aftermath of these disruptions, the interdependence between them and the importance of individual elements to the overall connectivity have to be studied and formulated to develop a system-level restoration plan. This …

The Engagement Of Expert Opinions In The Modeling Of Multi-Attribute Decision Making For The Selection Of Project Delivery Methods In Building Construction, Issam H. Algraiw

Doctoral Dissertations

"Choosing the most appropriate project delivery method (PDM) available is acknowledged as a crucial issue in the construction industry. Both the choice and application of an unsuitable PDM can result in project failure. Likewise, the selection of a suitable PDM can increase the chance for project success. A method of selecting from among the seven PDMs recognized by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) was created in an attempt to address this issue.

This research was comprised of three objectives. The first objective was to determine the influential factors needed to select the appropriate PDMs available to the US construction industry. …

Quantifying Economic Benefits For Rail Infrastructure Projects, Suzanna Long, Ruwen Qin, John Betak, Akhilesh Ojha, John J. Myers

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This project identifies metrics for measuring the benefit of rail infrastructure projects for key stakeholders. It is important that stakeholders with an interest in community economic development play an active role in the development of the rail network. Economic development activities in both rural and urban settings are essential if a nation is to realize growth and prosperity. Many communities have developed goals and visions to establish an economic development program, but they often fail to achieve their goals due to uncertainties during the project selection and planning process. Communities often select a project from a vast pool of ideas …

Expanding Horizons With Chameleon: Team Missouri's Innovative Home Automation System, Bryan Glass, Ben Brannon, Katie Grantham, Stuart Werner Baur

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Team Missouri's 2009 Solar Decathlon entry featured a revolutionary home automation system, Chameleon, promoting both convenience and energy savings. This was accomplished using the typical controls of a convenience based automation system, while maintaining user set points, such as a home's ambient temperature, in the most energy efficient manner. Environmental features of the system include controls for home heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, windows, shades, appliances, indoor air quality, as well as indoor and outdoor irrigation. Further analysis and refinement to the prototype system displayed at the competition is also presented in this paper.

Residential Energy Performance Metrics, Christopher Wright, Stuart Werner Baur, Katie Grantham, Robert B. Stone, Scott Erwin Grasman

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Techniques for residential energy monitoring are an emerging field that is currently drawing significant attention. This paper is a description of the current efforts to monitor and compare the performance of three solar powered homes built at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The homes are outfitted with an array of sensors and a data logger system to measure and record electricity production, system energy use, internal home temperature and humidity, hot water production, and exterior ambient conditions the houses are experiencing. Data is being collected to measure the performance of the houses, compare to energy modeling programs, design and …

Hands-On Structural Engineering Experiences With The "Anex" Mini-Laboratory, Richard A. Behr, Colin Othniel Benjamin, Azam A. Mirza

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The ANEX facility has been developed to allow nearly real-time comparisons of analysis results with experimental data gathered on small-scale structural models. ANEX has been used successfully for in-class demonstrations, student-designed experiments, and comprehensive design/build competitions in an introductory structural analysis course at the University of Missouri-Rolla. An expert system is now being developed to guide ANEX users and to act as a trouble-shooter and advisor in the event that analytical and experimental results do not correlate acceptably well. ANEX, using only simple, small-scale model structures, is able to enrich structural engineering instruction by introducing students to the sophisticated capabilities …

Knowledge-Based Prototype For Improving Scheduling Productivity, Colin Othniel Benjamin, Daniel L. Babcock, N. B. Yunus, John B. Kincaid

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The development of efficient construction plans and schedules presents continuing challenges to construction schedulers. Knowledge-based systems offer considerable potential as computer-based planning tools to aid the development of realistic project plans and schedules. This paper outlines the development of a knowledge-based prototype system for construction planning and scheduling and evaluates its effectiveness as a tool for improving the productivity of inexperienced construction project schedulers. The prototype, developed using the M.1 knowledge engineering shell, incorporates data bases, algorithm, and heuristics that mimic the decision process of expert construction project schedulers and identifies a work breakdown structure and precedence relationships. Inexperienced schedulers …

7th Annual Umr-Dnr Conference On Energy -- Entire Proceedings, University Of Missouri--Rolla

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

No abstract provided.

5th Annual Umr-Dnr Conference On Energy -- Entire Proceedings, University Of Missouri--Rolla

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

This volume is a collection of refereed papers presented at the Fifth Annual UMR-DNR Conference on Energy held at the University of Missouri--Rolla on the dates of October 10 - 12, 1978.

Guided by the President's goal of energy independence by 1980, the UMR-DNR Conference on Energy organized in 1974 with the purpose of providing social scientists, scientists and engineers a means for rapid communication of their most recent research results in the field of energy and to offer solutions to the energy related problems of local government, business, industry and the general public. Since that time, there has been …