Civil Engineering Commons^™

Combining Non-Destructive Tests To Improve The Reliability Of Evaluating Concrete Quality, Afra Al Asri Mohammed Obaid Al Dhaheri

Civil and Environmental Theses

Non-destructive tests (NDT) are commonly used in construction to evaluate concrete quality for both existing structures and during construction. The reliability of these tests have been questioned. This thesis is concerned with evaluating concrete strength and durability using different non-destructive tests (NDT). Also, it focuses on applying different combination of NDT to predict the concrete strength and durability using regression models. The main objective of the study was to investigate how to improve the reliability of nondestructive tests NDT to evaluate the concrete quality by combining more than one NDT test for concrete mixtures commonly used in Al Ain city, …

Higher Education On Buildings: Case Study In The North Dakota Region, Houjun Yang, Malini Srivastava, Yanmei Xie, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Because of the growing demand for local skilled professionals to improve the health, energy efficiency, and sustainability of residential and commercial buildings in North Dakota, this case study reports the current situation of higher education relating to buildings in the state’s vicinity, including Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In this region, 116 programs relating to buildings were found in 41 postsecondary institutions, and both their majors and courses were then studied with frequency lists. The frequency information was analyzed over nine sets of curriculum areas at both graduate and undergraduate levels for the four states. After the current …

Determination Of Safe Ballasts For Anchoring Event Tents By Finite Element Analysis, Sandeep Manoharan

All Theses

Event tents are large structures made of fabric covers attached to a structural frame and poles. Every year, many temporarily installed tents are subjected to large wind conditions that lead to sliding or lift of the frame due to improper anchoring to the ground. When ballasted, as opposed to anchored using stakes that penetrate the ground, non-certified tents are generally installed without proper analysis of sufficient ballast weights, which results into tent movements and lack of safety. The objective of this thesis is to determine load factors for non-certified tents affected by high wind loads. The load requirements (load factors) …

Coupling K-12 Music Education With Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula: Implementation Of A Stemusic Outreach Program, Mallory Maestri

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many studies have investigated the effects of music on evoking human emotions and diverse types of brain responses. One study by Juslin and Vastfjall indicates that hearing music can stimulate brain stem reflexes, create emotional contagion, recall episodic memories and provoke visual imagery. Due to the influence music has on human brain waves, researchers have been studying the effect of music on enhancing the spatial abilities of young students. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professions rely heavily on spatial skills. Research on the connection of music with spatial skills proposes that when the brain processes rhythm a “mental rotation” …

Construction Effects On The Side Shear Of Drilled Shafts, Lucas Caliari De Lima

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Design methods for side shear of drilled shafts, including the resistance factors that should be applied, do not account for any specific construction procedure. Instead, design often relies on analysis of case studies which include all construction methods used in each geomaterial type (e.g. clays, sands and rocks), or on parametric analysis. Nonetheless, literature suggests that different construction procedures result in varying side shear.

This research investigated 2 types of construction: (1) slurry stabilization in sandy soils using bentonite and polymer products that are commonly used on the field, with exposure times from near 0h to 96h, and (2) temporary …

Bridge Build, Andrew Little

Student Scholarship

Bridge build design that includes not only a building process, but a research paper to make the best build possible as well.

Bond Of Steel Reinforcement With Microwave Cured Concrete Repair Mortars, P. S. Mangat, Shahriar Abubakri, Konstantinos Grigoriadis

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

This paper investigates the effect of microwave curing on the bond strength of steel reinforcement in concrete repair. Pull-out tests on plain mild steel reinforcement bars embedded in four repair materials in 100 mm cube specimens were performed to determine the interfacial bond strength. The porosity and pore structure of the matrix at the steel interface, which influence the bond strength, were also determined. Test results show that microwave curing significantly reduces the bond strength of plain steel reinforcement. The reduction relative to normally cured (20 °C, 60% RH) specimens is between 21 and 40% with low density repair materials …

Stewardship Of International Bim Programmes: Lessons For Ireland, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West, Shiyao Kuang

Conference papers

The support by central government of national Building Information Modelling (BIM) programmes is common throughout the developed world today. To further understand how the different international governments have supported their BIM programmes the BIM Innovation Capability Programme (BICP) research team in Ireland recently completed a comprehensive Global BIM Study to help inform the National BIM Council (NBC) of Ireland in developing a Roadmap to Digital Transition for Ireland’s Construction Sector. This paper details the findings of a more concentrated investigation on a selection of jurisdictions on how particular international BIM programmes are orgainsed, managed and the level of governmental support …

Ireland’S Bim Macro Adoption Study: Establishing Ireland’S Bim Maturity, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West, Mohamad Kassem, Shiyao Kuang

Conference papers

Since 2016 the BIM Innovation Capability Programme (BICP) has captured the capability of the Irish Construction Industry’s and the Higher Education Institutes’ (HEIs) response to the increased requirement for BIM on Irish construction and engineering projects. One of the primary responsibilities of the BICP research team is to collate data to assist the National BIM Council of Ireland in the formulation of a National BIM Roadmap. To assist the Council with this task the BICP research team applied five macro BIM maturity conceptual models to assess Ireland’s BIM maturity. The results from the models were further utilised to develop a …

Dns And Les Of Scalar Transfer Across An Air-Water Interface During Inception And Growth Of Langmuir Circulation, Amine Hafsi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of an initially quiescent coupled air-water interface driven by an air flow with free stream speed of 5 m/s have been conducted. The DNS solves a scalar advection-diffusion equation for dissolved gas (or scalar) concentration in order to determine the impact of the water-side turbulence on scalar (mass) transfer from the air side to the water side and subsequent vertical transport in the water column. Two simulations are compared: one with a freely deforming interface and a second one with a flat interface. In the first simulation, the deforming interface evolves in the form of gravity-capillary …

Field Investigation And Performance Evaluation Of Interface Bonding Between Pavement Layers, Ramendra N. Das

LSU Master's Theses

Proper bonding between pavement layers is essential to provide a monolithic pavement structure that allows distribution of loading over a larger area. Inadequate interface bonding may cause debonding or shear failure at the interface due to the accumulation of concentrated tensile stresses at the bottom of the overlay. Tack coat, a light application of asphaltic cement emulsion is applied on the existing surface to create a strong adhesive bond between pavement layers. The objectives of this study are to investigate the effects of various factors affecting bond strength between hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlay and underlying pavement layers in the field. …

Development Of Artificial Intelligence Approach To Nowcasting And Forecasting Oyster Norovirus Outbreaks Along The U.S. Gulf Coast, Shima Shamkhali Chenar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Oyster norovirus outbreaks pose increasing risks to human health and seafood industry worldwide. This study presents an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based approach to identifying the primary cause of oyster norovirus outbreaks, nowcasting and forecasting the growing risk of oyster norovirus outbreaks in coastal waters. AI models were developed using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Genetic Programming (GP) methods and time series of epidemiological and environmental data. Input variable selection techniques, including Random Forests (RF) and Forwards Binary Logistic Regression (FBLR), were used to identify the significant model input variables among six independent environmental predictors including water temperature, solar radiation, gage height, …

An Enhanced Bridge Weigh-In-Motion Methodology And A Bayesian Framework For Predicting Extreme Traffic Load Effects Of Bridges, Yang Yu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the past few decades, the rapid growth of traffic volume and weight, and the aging of transportation infrastructures have raised serious concerns over transportation safety. Under these circumstances, vehicle overweight enforcement and bridge condition assessment through structural health monitoring (SHM) have become critical to the protection of the safety of the public and transportation infrastructures. The main objectives of this dissertation are to: (1) develop an enhanced bridge weigh-in-motion (BWIM) methodology that can be integrated into the SHM system for overweight enforcement and monitoring traffic loading; (2) present a Bayesian framework to predict the extreme traffic load effects (LEs) …

An Experimental Comparison Between Fine Aggregate And Quarry Fines Based On Mortar Block Strength, Karthik Boregowda

Theses and Dissertations

The strength properties of mortar mainly depend on the materials used for casting. Each material has its own importance for cement mortar strength. In this research, quarry fines, a waste by-product, replaced a portion of fine aggregate in mortar. This research focuses on compressive strength of cement mortar using American Society for Testing and Materials standards. The specimens were cast in standard 2”x 2” inch molds. The compressive strength of blocks with replacement of fine aggregate by quarry fines at 15%, 25%, 30%, and 50% was tested at 7, 14 and 28 days of curing. The results were compared with …

Numerical Evaluation Of The Lateral Behavior Of Vertical And Battered Pile Group Foundations Using 3-D Finite Element Modeling, Ahmad Souri

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The design of pile foundations to resist lateral loads is essential in offshore structures and bridge foundations. The lateral behavior of piles has been studied in the past by experimental investigations coupled with analytical and numerical methods. The problem is complex due to the nonlinearities from soil behavior, gap formation, and pile-soil-pile interaction in pile groups (or the group effect). In this work, the finite element (FE) modeling was used to study the lateral behavior of pile groups. The FE method is robust and allows incorporating the necessary aspects for studying the behavior of pile groups. The nonlinear material behavior …

Analysis Of Distresses In Asphalt Pavement Transitions On Bridge Approaches And Departures, Manvitha Rajalingola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Some highway agencies in the United States are experiencing frequent distresses in asphalt pavements on bridge approaches/departures. Commonly observed distresses include alligator cracking and rutting, which reduce roadway smoothness and safety. To lessen the distresses in pavements it is needed to investigate the extent and root causes of the problem. Based on Florida highway conditions, this research study mainly focused on1. Literature review and identification of the extent of the problem; 2. Collection of relevant pavement condition data and descriptive analysis; 3. Development of statistical models to determine factors influencing the distresses in asphalt pavements on bridge approaches/departures. To the …

Modelling Tree Contribution In Susceptibility Analysis Of Shallow Llandslides, Roberto José Marín Sánchez, Juan Pablo Osorio

Articles

In this paper an assessment of shallow landslides susceptibility in a tropical and mountainous terrain is made. A method that allows to model slope stability over large areas is used. Tree contribution is quantified by means of three parameters: rainfall interception, root reinforcement and tree surcharge. A rainfall interception model is used to determine the rain available for infiltration and its temporal distribution during the simulation. The hydrological models included in TRIGRS are described, which allows to determine the pore water pressure depending on the initial conditions. This pore water pressure is used in the revised infinite slope stability model, …

Mass-Balance Assimilative Capacity Model Of Inniscarra Reservoir, Zeinab Bedri, Ahmed Nasr, Sean Crowley

Conference papers

Wastewater arising from the Coachford agglomeration is treated at the existing Coachford Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). This wastewater treatment facility has a primary treatment only with a design capacity of 450 population equivalent (PE) and it discharges the effluent into the Inniscarra Reservoir. The discharge from Coachford WWTP has been identified by the Lower Lee - Owenboy Water Management Unit Action Plan (WMUAP) as a point source pressure on the waters of the Lower Lee - Owenboy catchment and also as a cause of the strongly eutrophic status of Inniscarra Reservoir water quality by the EPA in 2009. Therefore, …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Hollow-Core Frp-Concrete-Steel Bridge Columns Under Torsional Loading, Sujith Anumolu, Omar I. Abdelkarim, Mohanad M. Abdulazeez, Ahmed Gheni, Mohamed Elgawady

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents the behavior of hollow-core fiber-reinforced polymer-concrete-steel (HC-FCS) columns under cyclic torsional loading combined with constant axial load. The HC-FCS consists of an outer fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tube and an inner steel tube, with a concrete shell sandwiched between the two tubes. The FRP tube was stopped at the surface of the footing, and provided confinement to the concrete shell from the outer direction. The steel tube was embedded into the footing to a length of 1.8 times the diameter of the steel tube. The longitudinal and transversal reinforcements of the column were provided by the steel tube …