Civil Engineering Commons^™

Medical Service Facility Site Development, Sabrina Carvajal

Honors Theses

This report provides a clear description of a site development design project for a future medical service facility. The site is approximately 46,818 square feet and is located at 203 E. Centre Avenue Portage, Michigan 49002 United States. This is in a high traffic area that is surrounded by different public and academic institutions including Portage Central High School and Portage Public Library. The commercial buildings surrounding this area are Comerica Bank, Dairy Queen and a new Senior Center currently under construction. Our team is proposing two different site-layout options for the future development of this building. This medical service …

Editorial: Forest Management Alters Forest Water Use And Drought Vulnerability, Christina Tague, Matthew D. Hurteau, Anthony J. Parolari

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This collection of papers provides new insights into how forest management, forest water use and droughts are interrelated. The collection considers both ecohydrologic impacts of changes in forest density (through thinning or fire) and impacts that could occur via species management.

Modeling Considerations For Built-Up Compression Members In Communication Towers, Ghada M. El-Mahdy P.Eng., Ceng, Amro A. Alawamry

Civil Engineering

It is a well-established fact that built-up compression members exhibit extra flexibility than their equivalent solid members due to the shear action which effects the overall stability. This is usually taken into consideration by using a modified slenderness ratio for buckling modes that involve relative deformation of the interconnectors. Built-up members are often used as space truss members in communication towers. When modeling communication towers in structural analysis programs like SAP2000, the built-up member is usually defined as a single member element with a double section cross section. This does not catch the increase in deflection in the member due …

A Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvester-Based Single-Layer Ws2 Nanometer 2d Material For Self-Powered Sensors, Quan Wang, Kyung-Bum Kim, Sang Bum Woo, Yooseob Song, Tae Hyun Sung

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

A piezoelectric sensor is a typical self-powered sensor. With the advantages of a high sensitivity, high frequency band, high signal-to-noise ratio, simple structure, light weight, and reliable operation, it has gradually been applied to the field of smart wearable devices. Here, we first report a flexible piezoelectric sensor (FPS) based on tungsten disulfide (WS₂) monolayers that generate electricity when subjected to human movement. The generator maximum voltage was 2.26 V, and the produced energy was 55.45 μJ of the electrical charge on the capacitor (capacity: 220 μF) when applying periodic pressing by 13 kg. The generator demonstrated here …

Evaluation Of Permanent Concrete Barriers To Mash 2016, Samuel Elias Hovde

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

The objective of this research project was to develop evaluation criteria for permanent concrete barriers to MASH 2016 TL-3 and TL-4 without crash testing and then to evaluate permanent concrete barrier standards provided by the sponsoring agencies of the Midwest Pooled Fund Program. A literature review was conducted to determine evaluation criteria for stability, shape, strength, and anchorage, and a database of permanent concrete barrier crash tests was compiled. A survey was conducted to collect barrier standards from the members of the Midwest Pooled Fund Program, and barriers were selected and evaluated according to the determined methodology. A total of …

Hydrodynamic Analysis Of A Wave Energy Converter (Wec), A. Kapperman, B. Rodriguez, A. Daniels, C. Harrison, P. Tubuntoeng, L. Fernandez De Valderrama, B. Labban, J. Whipple, C. Akan, N. Ozdemir

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

Honorable Mention Winner

The UNF CREW competing in the U.S. Department of Energy 2021 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition developed a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) for quick deployment in disaster relief areas. When natural disasters disable coastal power grids, a WEC can be easily deployed close to shore and serve as a source of electricity. The ocean waves move magnets through a coil wired within the WEC to generate electricity. To initiate the design process, ANSYS AQWA software simulated both the oceanic environment and the device’s response in the WEC’s testing conditions. AQWA allows the user to change device dimensions easily …

Quantifying Surface Morphology Of Manufactured Activated Carbon And The Waste Coffee Grounds Using The Getis-Ord-Gi* Statistic And Ripley’S K Function, Sanghoon Lee, Sukjoon Na, Olivia G. Rogers, Sungmin Youn

All Engineering Faculty Research

Activated carbon can be manufactured from waste coffee grounds via physical and/or chemical activation processes. However, challenges remain to quantify the differences in surface morphology between manufactured activated carbon granules and the waste coffee grounds. This paper presents a novel quantitative method to determine the quality of the physical and chemical activation processes performed in the presence of intensity inhomogeneity and identify surface characteristics of manufactured activated carbon granules and the waste coffee grounds. The spatial density was calculated by the Getis-Ord-Gi* statistic in scanning electron microscopy images. The spatial characteristics were determined by analyzing Ripley’s K function and complete …

Effects Of Historical Land-Use Change On Surface Runoff And Flooding In The Amite River Basin, Louisiana, Usa Using Coupled 1d/2d Hec-Ras–Hec-Hms Hydrological Modeling, Alexandre G. H. Cowles

LSU Master's Theses

The Amite River Basin is a largely rural watershed spanning parts of four counties in southern Mississippi and seven parishes in southeast Louisiana, with basinwide imperviousness increasing from 0.82% in 1938 to 3.85% in 2016. The Basin has been the subject of significant research interest since catastrophic flooding in 2016 caused 13 deaths and widespread damages. Rapid development in recent decades has led to an expansion of impervious surfaces in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas, encroaching on floodplains and wetlands. At the basin scale, differences in flooding due to impervious cover changes were found to be somewhat limited, particularly along …

Pooling Data Improves Multimodel Idf Estimates Over Median-Based Idf Estimates: Analysis Over The Susquehanna And Florida, Abhishekh Kumar Srivastava, Richard Grotjahn, Paul Aaron Ullrich, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditional multimodel methods for estimating future changes in precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency (IDF) curves rely on mean or median of models’ IDF estimates. Such multimodel estimates are impaired by large estimation uncertainty, shadowing their efficacy in planning efforts. Here, assuming that each climate model is one representation of the underlying data generating process, i.e., the Earth system, we propose a novel extension of current methods through pooling model data: (i) evaluate performance of climate models in simulating the spatial and temporal variability of the observed annual maximum precipitation (AMP), (ii) bias-correct and pool historical and future AMP data of …

Distributionally Robust Optimization Utilizing Facility Location Problems, Elijah Kling

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Facility location problems are used in widespread application in transportation, freight, supply chain, and logistics problems. Models can be developed as deterministic, where all parameters are known, or robust, where a parameter has uncertainty. This thesis explores a new method for developing robust formulation and compares the implications of assuming values for this uncertain parameter. Two models are solved, and both are compared against their deterministic counterparts using numerical analysis. By manipulating the input parameters and considering real world implications of the solutions, either the robust or deterministic can show better performance.

The Influence Of Channel Deepening On Tides, River Discharge Effects, And Storm Surge, Stefan A. Talke, Ramin Familkhalili, David A. Jay

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We combine archival research, semi-analytical models, and numerical simulations to address the following question: how do changes to channel geometry alter tidal properties and flood dynamics in a hyposynchronous, strongly frictional estuary with a landward decay in tidal amplitudes? Records in the Saint Johns River Estuary since the 1890s show that tidal range has doubled in Jacksonville, Florida. Near the estuary inlet, tidal discharge approximately doubled but tidal amplitudes increased only ~6%. Modeling shows that increased shipping channel depths from 5-6 to ~13m drove the observed changes, with other factors like channel shortening and width reduction producing comparatively minor effects. …

Characterization Of Uranium, Lead, And Rare Earth Element Pollution In Natural Soils And Sediments, Hope Rasmussen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metals in the environment add to the global burden of pollution, negatively impacting public health and ecosystem resilience. This study included projects regarding uranium (U), lead (Pb), and rare earth elements (REE) in natural samples, due to their known toxicity, ubiquity, and relevance in context to recent pollution trends. The first project focused on testing the potential of using a hydroxyapatite product as a remediation solution for U-contaminated groundwater and soil at an EPA Superfund site. The results showed that the U was sequestered in a highly crystalline mineral form within the solids, guiding the EPA to specify the …

Damage Evolution And High-Rate Response Of High-Strength Concrete Under Triaxial Loading, Brett Williams

Mechanical Engineering Research Theses and Dissertations

The research presented in this study focuses on understanding fundamental mechanisms that drive material response under dynamic loading conditions. The objectives of the research were to: (1) to understand damage initiation and propagation in the bulk geomaterial under a variety of loading conditions and (2) to systematically investigate the strain rate effects on the triaxial compressive response of cementitious materials through the development of an innovative, first of its kind large-diameter (50 mm) triaxial Kolsky bar system.

The triaxial compressive response of high-strength concrete is needed to understand pressure-dependent material behavior, which is important for modeling extreme loading events. However, …

Study Of Fragility Functions For Assessing Damage To Water Pipe Networks Caused By Earthquake Loading, Dylan Joseph Merlo

Master's Theses

The performance of water lifelines during seismic events is an area of ongoing research. In this study we evaluate eight (8) different seismic events and the impact that ground shaking and ground deformations had on water pipeline systems. The overall goal of this work is to provide municipalities and utility providers with tools for mitigating the consequences of seismic hazards on water lifeline systems by analyzing the accuracy of damage estimation models. Three (3) different repair rate models are evaluated using data collected from the seismic events and compared to observed repair rate data. Results are analyzed to examine the …

The Effect Of Lanthanides On Corn Growth, Savanna Vacek

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) offer a reliable source of reclaimed water for irrigation. Metal-based chemicals (i.e. coagulants) are frequently employed in wastewater treatment, and residual metal ions remain in the treated wastewater, which could result in application of these metal ions to agricultural fields and crops. This study focuses on an emerging coagulant containing lanthanum. The behavior of lanthanum reclaimed water (LaRW) towards corn growth is barely known. Thus, if we are to recycle LaRW to support corn growth, the effects of LaRW on corn growth need to be studied. Corn kernels were grown in varying lanthanum concentrations (0-5000 mg …

Maximum Coverage Facility Location Drone Routing Problem With Multiple Trip Stops, Marie Roza

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Integer linear optimization can be used to formulate routing problems as models to find optimal solutions given a set of inputs and constraints. In this research, Chauhan et al.'s publication, "Maximum coverage capacitated facility location problem with range constrained drones," is expanded upon by modeling a facility location problem with two-to-one drone deliveries. The model analyzes a set of potential facilities that are available to meet the demands of a set of demand points. The drone delivery routes are modeled with the assumption that each opened facility is assigned one drone that can fulfill up to two demand points’ demands …

Probabilistic Prediction Model For Rc Bond Failure Mode, Ahmad Soraghi, Qindan Huang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Adequate rebar-concrete bonding is crucial to ensure the reliable performance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Many factors such as the concrete properties, concrete cover depth, transverse reinforcement, and the presence of corrosion will affect the bond behavior, and consequently, the structural performance. While many prior studies have focused on the influence of the aforementioned factors on the bond strength, the impact of these factors on the bond failure mode has not been thoroughly investigated. A probabilistic bond failure mode prediction model that considers various influencing factors including loading type and corrosion is developed in this study. This study uses the …

Artificial Intelligence Driven Infrastructure Management And Maintenance Plan, Julian Jesso

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Rapid development in trucking technology and increasing demands in freight transportation has led to longer and heavier vehicles traveling on Florida’s highway system. Vehicles with gross vehicle weight (GVW) over 80,000 pounds, or permit vehicles, have significant effects on infrastructure, thus requiring an approved permit prior to departure. The combination of these increasing loads and harsh environmental conditions that Florida is subject to requires an enhanced infrastructure management program. Additionally, there is a need to eliminate inconsistencies in permit applications and derive a uniform maintenance practice for Florida’s infrastructure. In this research, the focus was to develop an analytical procedure …

Stability Of Low Crested And Submerged Breakwaters: A Reanalysis And Model Development, Christopher P. Burgess

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Low-crested and submerged structures (LCS) play an integral part in the stabilization of shorelines for recreational purposes, yet there are a plethora of empirical models and gaps in the understanding of their stability and damage progression. The objectives were: i) to evaluate the present formulae, ii) explore variable importance, iii) formulate a stability model, iv) extend the current datasets and v) explore a new model for LCS. The literature points to an increasing understanding of the initiation of damage of LCS and recent exploration of the shear stress-induced erosion (van Rijn, 2019). Assessment of two existing models (Kramer, 2006 and …

Experimental Study Of Hollow-Core Slab Containing Waste Pet Bottles, Mulia Orientilize, Josia Irwan Rastandi, R. M. Dimas Aries C., Marsha Niken P., Krisna Adi S.S., Abimantrana Abimantrana

Makara Journal of Technology

This study investigated the utilization of plastic-waste concrete as an effort to reduce urban waste problems. The waste plastic bottles were utilized to form the hollows of the hollow-core slabs (HCSs). The bottles were made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). As a part of green research to reuse waste material, shredded PET was also added to the concrete mixture to improve the HCS strength. The cast-in-site HCS could be constructed without any difficulties. Three parameters were investigated: the effects of void content, shredded PET content, and steel-fiber (SF) content on the HCS ultimate bending capacity (Mu). Fifteen specimens were tested under …