Civil Engineering Commons^™

Monitoring Of Microscopic Traffic Behavior For Safety Applications Using Temporal Logic, Mariam Wessam Hassan Mohamed Nour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Smart cities are revolutionizing the transportation infrastructure by the integration of technology. However, ensuring that various transportation system components are operating as expected and in a safe manner is a great challenge. One of the proposed solutions is traffic monitoring systems which collect and analyze traffic data for the safe operation and management of the overall system. Even though traffic safety analysis has been tied to crash data, surrogate safety measures (SSM) have recently emerged as a replacement. SSM can provide a convenient alternative for understanding the impact of conflicts on overall road safety. Traditionally, conflicts were studied through manual …

Applying Machine Learning Techniques To Improve Safety And Mobility Of Urban Transportation Systems Using Infrastructure- And Vehicle-Based Sensors, Zubayer Islam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The importance of sensing technologies in the field of transportation is ever increasing. Rapid improvements of cloud computing, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), and intelligent transport system (ITS) enables fast acquisition of sensor data with immediate processing. Machine learning algorithms provide a way to classify or predict outcomes in a selective and timely fashion. High accuracy and increased volatility are the main features of various learning algorithms. In this dissertation, we aim to use infrastructure- and vehicle-based sensors to improve safety and mobility of urban transportation systems. Smartphone sensors were used in the first study to estimate vehicle trajectory using lane …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Polylactic Acid Biopolymer Industrial Waste Management Techniques In Belize, Dennis J. Newby

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

In January 2020, the Government of Belize enacted an Implementation Strategy and Action Plan to phase-out single-use plastics and to transition to products like bioplastics. This work investigated the environmental effects of using alternative waste management techniques to manage polylactic acid biopolymer (PLA) waste by using life cycle assessment (LCA). The following treatment options were compared: landfill, landfill expansion, cogeneration, and anaerobic digestion. The landfill and landfill expansion processes both had a global warming potential of 0.01 kg of CO₂ eq. per kg of PLA waste managed compared to the cogeneration and anaerobic digestion processes -0.03 and -0.06 kg …

Assessing Freeway Crash Risk Using Crowdsourced Waze Incident Alerts, Eugene Boasiako Antwi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Traffic data obtained through crowdsourcing are becoming more accessible to traffic agencies due to advancements in smartphone technology. Traffic managers aim to use this data to complement their conventional sources of data and provide additional context in their analysis. In this study, Waze incident alerts are integrated with GPS-Probe speed data and Kentucky State Police (KSP) crashes to assess their impact on traffic flow and safety on freeways in Kentucky. The analysis showed that the presence of a vehicle on the shoulder is associated with about 36.7% of freeway crashes in Kentucky. The presence of a vehicle on the shoulder …

Investigation Of Nitrate Transfer In Karst Basins During Storm Events Using Submersible Underwater Nutrient Analyzers, John Pike

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Knowledge of nitrate sources and pathways in karst basins remains incomplete and hinders management of nutrients that cause algae blooms and degrade municipal water supply. However, the increased availability of optical, ultraviolet nitrate sensors allows advancement of nitrate source and transfer for water managers. A concept model is hypothesized for nitrate transfer during hydrologic events and baseflow that considers the multiple porosity of karst. To test the concept model, 15-minute nitrate sensor data is collected with submersible underwater nutrient analyzers over a multi-year period from two locations in a karst basin in the inner bluegrass region of central Kentucky, USA. …

Localization Of Stationary Source Of Floor Vibration Using The Steered Response Power Method, Mohammad Royvaran

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

If the generated vibration in a building exceeds the acceptable limit design for a floor system, it is necessary to identify the source of vibration, a process known as localization. The objective of this study is the localization of stationary vibration sources, and the approach used is the steered response power (SRP) method. This method has already been shown to work well for wireless and acoustical applications to locate transmitter and sound sources, respectively. To the writer’s knowledge, this study is the first application of the SRP method to locate vibration sources using floor vibration measurements. However, because waves behave …

Landslide Site Assessment And Characterization Using Remote Sensing Techniques, Batmyagmar Dashbold

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Landslides are common and dangerous natural hazards that occur worldwide, often causing severe direct impacts on human lives, public and private properties. It is imperative to identify the landslide susceptible areas to avoid or mitigate the possible damage. Landslide prediction can be presented in a slope failure in spatial and/ or temporal terms. If it is presented in spatial term, it is considered a landslide susceptibility map (LSM) defined as the probability of spatial occurrence of slope failures. If it is presented in a combination of spatial and temporal distribution of the landslide susceptibility, it is commonly referred to as …

Artificial Intelligence And Soft Computing In Smart Structural Systems, Sajad Javadinasab Hormozabad

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Next-generation smart cities are the key feature in the next chapter of human life. Cities that employ innovative and technology-driven solutions to improve the sustainability, resilience, prosperity, and amenity of the community are considered smart cities. Development of smart cities requires fundamental innovations in many technical and technological aspects including those contributing to smart structures. Smart technologies improve the structural performance against natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and promote the sustainability of structural systems. Next-generation smart structures encompass a variety of technologies including Structural Control (SC) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). SC covers methodologies and technologies that modify the …

Quantifying The Source And Pathway Of Dissolved Reactive Phosphate In Karst Drainage Of The Inner-Bluegrass, Cory Radcliff

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

In the Midwestern U.S. seasonal hypoxia experienced in the Gulf of Mexico and harmful algal blooms in inland freshwater ponds, lakes, and rivers are partly fueled by dissolved orthophosphate loadings from disturbed landscapes. Efforts to reduce dissolved reactive phosphate (DRP) loadings have had varying levels of success and have led to insufficient water quality improvements. Inefficiencies in conservation strategies can stem from poor understanding of phosphate source and flow pathway dynamics. This study focused on monitoring sources and flow pathways of dissolved reactive P in a karst agroecosystem with phosphatic limestone. We collected event water samples at the Camden Creek …

Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Global warming and associated role of energy consumption across various sectors is a well-researched topic in recent years. Understanding current urban energy consumption patterns will allow us to understand how future energy consumption patterns will evolve. With electrification of vehicles and potentially altering culture of work from home, the energy usage at regional level would see a significant change in the future. The current PhD dissertation contributes to energy consumption analysis of a region by analyzing residential energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and transportation energy use by households. The aggregation of these energy consumption within a region contributes to the …

Local Watershed Analysis For Hubbell And Lake Linden, Michigan, Brittany Hubbard

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report analyzes flood frequency risk, examines drainage, and delineates local level watershed characteristics for the Site located in western HUC 12-040201 030304 Torch Lake Subwatershed. Specifically, unnamed catchments in need of HUC-14 or HUC-16 local level delineation are evaluated to determine the effects of excess runoff on the cities of Hubbell and Lake Linden, Michigan. Further, this report aims to identify the location of known or suspected historical and current drainage infrastructure, and to prioritize locations for low-impact sustainable designs that reduce excess runoff and provide flood protection for these lakeshore communities.

Truck Platooning In The U.S. National Road Network: A System-Level Modeling Approach, Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee, Bo Zou, Yan (Joann) Zhou

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Truck platooning enables a group of trucks to move close together, which helps reduce truck fuel use and increase effective road capacity. In this paper, a system-level equilibrium model is developed to characterize spontaneous truck platooning with coexistence of non-platooning vehicles in a network, by explicitly accounting for the interlocking relationship among platoon formation time, truck fuel saving, and increase in effective road capacity. To equilibrate the relationships, an algorithm is proposed which involves a diagonalization approach and a bush-based algorithm to solve decomposed subproblems. The condition of proportionality is imposed to obtain unique traffic flows for each class of …

Kinetics And Thermodynamics Of Thermal Inactivation For Recombinant Escherichia Coli Cellulases, Cel12b, Cel8c, And Polygalacturonase, Peh28; Biocatalysts For Biofuel Precursor Production, Eman Ibrahim, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Keith E. Taylor, Ebtesam N. Hosseney, Patrick L. Mills, Jean M. Escudero

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Lignocellulosic biomass conversion using cellulases/polygalacturonases is a process that can be progressively influenced by several determinants involved in cellulose microfibril degradation. The current paper focuses on the kinetics and thermodynamics of thermal inactivation of recombinant E. coli cellulases, cel12B, cel8C, and a polygalacturonase, peh 28, derived from Pectobacterium carotovorum sub sp. carotovorum. Several consensus motifs conferring the enzymes’ thermal stability in both cel12B and peh28 model structures have been detailed earlier, which were confirmed for the three enzymes through the current study of their thermal inactivation profiles over the 20-80 °C range using the respective activities on carboxymethylcellulose and …

Prioritization Framework For Advanced Systems Of Urban Roads In The Context Of Smart Cities, Jinwoong Lee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The concept of a smart city has emerged as a solution to resolve various urban challenges by applying advanced systems for the functions of the city (e.g., environment, economy, infrastructure, governance, and people). Urban infrastructure with the use of modern technologies, such as Information Communication Technology and the Internet of Things, plays an essential role in enhancing the capability of the city to resolve the challenges. Particularly, urban roads supported by advanced systems with modern technologies serve as a principal bedrock to establish a smart city. Witnessing the benefits from intelligent urban roads has promoted city stakeholders to make investment …

Identification Of Crash Contributing Factors In Av Involved Crashes, Md Tanvir Ashraf

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) can dramatically reduce the number of traffic crashes and associated fatalities by eliminating the avoidable human-errors related crash contributing factors. Many companies have been conducting pilot tests on public roads in several states in the United States and other countries to accelerate AV mass deployment. AV pilot operations on California public roads saw 251 AV-involved crashes (as of February 2020). These AV-involved crashes provide a unique opportunity to investigate AV crash risks in a mixed traffic environment. This study collected the AV crash reports from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and applied the Decision Tree (DT), …

Nondestructive Condition Assessment Of Civil Infrastructure Using Ultrasonic Technique, Tyler Keith Ashbrook

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Civil Infrastructure controls the way people live by providing safe passage and shelter across the entire globe. Since safety leads the concern in infrastructure, it is essential to ensure that these structures have been adequately tested and analyzed periodically. Testing these structures can be extremely expensive when parts are required to be removed to capture the flaw, which is why nondestructive testing (NDT) continues to grow in demand since it can evaluate the structural component in-situ without causing any damage. Ultrasonic testing (UT) helps to adequately sustain and advance the safety in existing and future infrastructure across the globe. Continual …

New Longitudinal Error Balancing Approaches For Closed Traverses, Jose L. Manzano

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study presents two novel approaches to balance the horizontal longitudinal error of closure, E_C, in closed polygonal traverses. The standard procedure to balance E_C is the Compass Rule. This technique reduces E_C to zero by applying corrections in the lengths of all traverse sides. Those corrections are proportional to the corresponding side lengths. That is, this approach is not an error-correcting approach, but an error-balancing procedure.

The proposed new techniques are based on sensitivity analysis of E_C with respect to small variations, Δ_i, in the lengths of all sides i = 1, …

Impact Of Blended Salt Anti-Icers/Deicers On Properties Of Asphalt Binders, Nurudeen A. Abidoye

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Anyone who has ever attempted to remove a layer of ice from a roadway or sidewalk by plowing or shoveling knows it is no easy task when the ice is firmly bonded to the asphalt/concrete surface. Winter anti-icing/deicing operations are moral choices that mankind has made to combat winter storms. This research is aimed at evaluating the macro and nano structural impacts of (anti-icing/de-icing) salt on aged and unaged asphalt binders. The macro structural impacts focused on the rheological and creep properties, and the nano structural impacts focused on the surface topography, adhesion force, and modulus of asphalt binders. Rheological …

Impacts Of Using Tubular Sections In Open Web Steel Joists, Hollis (Cas) L. Caswell V

Honors Theses

Open web steel joists are lightweight structural trusses used in place of I-beams to support long-span floors and roofs of open space buildings. Their slender geometry makes them highly efficient in resisting flexure, but susceptible to out-of-plane buckling in a failure mode known as lateral-torsional buckling. This failure can be avoided by running lateral bracing between joists called bridging or potentially by using tubular sections to build up the joists rather than angle sections.

It is possible that a joist design using tubular cross-sections could require less bridging and prevent the need to use erection bridging for initial joist construction. …

Incorporation Of Perlite And Recycled Aggregates For Internal Concrete Curing, Yosra El Maghraby, Mohamed Nagib Abou-Zeid Prof., Mohamed Abdel-Raouf Dr.

Civil Engineering

No abstract provided.