Civil Engineering Commons^™

A Comparison Of Smart City Indicators For Three Top Ten Us Cities, Rasoul Adnan Abbas

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The world population has been increasing each year, and the immigration from rural to urban cities has increased as well. The United Nations has estimated that more than 66% of people worldwide live in urban area, and this urbanization trend will continue to increase, thereby generating challenges to the cities as they strive to provide health care, schools, and transportation. The urban population explosion has also caused problems to the environment and overall urban economy as the need for more housing, jobs, and community services require smart solutions. The term, smart city, has many definitions, but all of them agree …

Investigation Of Reuse Of Coal Fly Ash To Mitigate Landfill Methane Gas, Amin Homaei

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Methane (CH4) is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), contributing 32% of current climate forcing (US EPA, 2015). In 2014 the White House released the “Strategy to Cut Methane Emissions” as part of the Climate Action Plan. Landfills are one of the strategy’s 4 key sectors, contributing 18% of US methane emissions (US EPA, 2013). Even when landfills capture methane and burn it to produce electricity, around 25% of methane still leaks through landfill covers (US EPA, 2005). In natural environments, iron oxides, manganese oxides, nitrates, and sulfates have been shown to stimulate microbial anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) (Sivan et …

Structural Competency And Environmental Soundness Of The Recycled Base Materials In North Texas, Mohammad Faysal

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Aggregates, which are derived from natural resources, are the most important raw materials used in pavement construction; however, depletion of the natural resources, increasing labor costs, and environmental concerns have led us to look for alternatives. Recycled materials, such as recycled crushed concrete aggregate (RCCA) and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), can be used as an alternative to natural aggregates and can be obtained from construction of newer structures and demolition of existing structures, such as buildings, bridges, pavement, etc. Recycled materials can reduce the cost, depletion of natural resources, and construction debris. The properties of recycled materials are source-dependent, which …

A Quantitative Model For Truck Parking Utilization With Hours Of Service Regulations, Alexis Christine Gaddy

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Continual growth in traffic volume on U.S. Highways and insufficient parking for commercial trucking vehicles has led to significant safety concerns for truck drivers. Hours of Service (HOS) regulations dictate driving and rest periods of truck drivers. When a truck driver must stop as designated by the HOS regulations and the nearest parking location is at capacity, the trucker must either continue driving past the HOS limit or park in an undesignated and possibly illegal or unsafe spot such as an off-ramp. The combination of these two variables play an important role in the safety of truck drivers on a …

Development Of A New Joint System For A Circular-Shaped Infrastructure, Sugyu Lee

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation focused on development of new carbon fiber joint systems for all types of underground gravity and sewer pipe systems. Specifically, the external CFRP wrap and, particularly, the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) internal coupler can be used for concrete pipes with regular or reduced wall thicknesses. The concrete pipes with reduced wall thickness are classified as semi-rigid pipe and are referred to as thin-wall (TW) concrete pipe. The performance of the CFRP coupler is presented in this report based on full-scale experimental tests and three dimensional non-linear finite element studies for regular and thin wall pipes. Finally, design …

Long-Term Shear Investigation Of Polypropylene Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Beams, Michael Daniels

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This study investigates the long-term influence of polypropylene fibers on the shear strength and failure behavior of longitudinally reinforced concrete beams, with or without stirrups, subjected to accelerated aging conditions. For this study, 32 large scale short beams with different volume fractions of polypropylene fibers were casted and tested in the Civil Engineering Laboratory Building (CELB) at the University of Texas at Arlington: (1) Control reinforced concrete beams (RC); (2) Reinforced concrete beams with minimum stirrups (RCS) according to ACI 318; (3) Synthetic fiber-reinforced concrete beams with Vf=0.5% (SNFRC 0.5%), which correspond to 7.67 lbs./yd3 (4.55 kg/m3)’; and (4) Synthetic …

Bias And Other Error In Gridded Weather Data Sets And Their Impacts On Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration, Philip A. Blankenau

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

Gridded weather data sets are increasingly used in a variety of hydrologic and agricultural applications due to their complete spatial and temporal coverage. One application of gridded data sets is the estimation of evapotranspiration (ET). Several operational remote sensing (RS) approaches for estimating ET, such as the SEBAL, METRIC and EEFlux models, require estimates of reference ET (ETref), where ETref is expected ET from a hypothetical reference crop of clipped grass or alfalfa. Gridded weather data provide for the computation of ETref in all areas of a remote sensing image, and therefore potentially remove the need for dense weather station …

A Tool To Evaluate Sustainability Of Pavement Maintenance Projects., Yibo Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pavement maintenance activities are widely regarded to be critical elements during pavement life cycle, different maintenance techniques have been used to restore or extend the service lives of pavements. However, the existing maintenance practices on pavement system have problems that impair the economic benefits, disturb the natural environment, and somewhat ignore the needs from stakeholders. To minimize these negative impacts, sustainability is an ideal way because it addresses the problems under Triple Bottom Line (TBL, refers to economy, environment, and society). Sustainability analysis within transportation or pavement industry has been studied in different countries, but the concept of sustainable pavement …

Re-Evaluation Of Acceptance Testing Criteria For Structural Masonry Using The Prism Test Method, James Bristow

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current acceptance criteria for structural masonry in accordance with International Building Code allows for the prism test method to be used. However, without a proper understanding of the effects of variable material properties such as individual masonry unit compressive strength and the various material moduli of elasticity, as well as the effect of field conditions on the unit’s performance, masonry prisms may “fail” to reach the design compressive strength (f’m).

By identifying causes of failure and evaluating the failure magnitude, it is concluded that when the masonry prism test method is utilized for acceptance testing of as-built masonry structures, …

Generalized Clusterwise Regression For Simultaneous Estimation Of Optimal Pavement Clusters And Performance Models, Mukesh Khadka

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The existing state-of-the-art approach of Clusterwise Regression (CR) to estimate pavement performance models (PPMs) pre-specifies explanatory variables without testing their significance; as an input, this approach requires the number of clusters for a given data set. Time-consuming ‘trial and error’ methods are required to determine the optimal number of clusters. A common objective function is the minimization of the total sum of squared errors (SSE). Given that SSE decreases monotonically as a function of the number of clusters, the optimal number of clusters with minimum SSE always is the total number of data points. Hence, the minimization of SSE is …

Calibration Of Microscopic Traffic Flow Models Enabling Simultaneous Selection Of Specific Links And Parameters, Kul Prasad Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study proposes a methodology for the calibration of microscopic traffic flow simulation models by enabling simultaneous selection of traffic links and associated parameters. That is, any number and combination of links and model parameters can be selected for calibration. Most calibration approaches consider the entire network without enabling a specific selection of location and associated parameters. In practice, only a subset of links and parameters are used for calibration based on a number of factors such as expert local knowledge of the system. In this study, the calibration problem for the simultaneous selection of links and parameters was formulated …

Dynamic Risk Analysis Of Construction Delays Using Fuzzy-Failure Mode Effects Analysis, Mohammadsoroush Tafazzoli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Considering the tremendous losses in the worldwide economy caused by construction delays, it is essential to invest in minimizing the risks of delays. In order to make this happen, two measures should be taken:

1) The roots and fundamental causes of delay should be identified and strategies to mitigate their risks be developed (General remedy).

2) The most significant potential causes of delay in each project should be identified and these causes should be given priority to control (Project-Specific Remedy).

The current research invests in both of the measures. To provide the general remedy, causes of delay in the construction …

A Comprehensive Resilience Framework For The Seismic Evaluation Of Hydraulic Fill Dams In North Texas, Santiago R. Caballero

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Hydraulic filling is a construction procedure that was used for earthen structures during the mid-1800s to the early 1900s; however, dams and levees that were constructed by implementing this technique had a significant potential for geotechnical hazards. Historically, most of the failures of these structures were a result of the soil cyclic liquefaction phenomenon. This phenomenon occurs when excess pore water pressure develops during cyclic loading and causes loss of effective strength in the soil. The cyclic stress approach is one of the methods widely used to assess cyclic liquefaction; however, seismic parameters (loading conditions) and soil characterization (liquefaction resistance) …

Development Of Cone Testing Device For Improved Deep Foundation Design Protocols, Hai Minh Nguyen

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A novel cone penetration test device, the P-cone, has been developed to assist in deep foundation design and this P-cone device combines features of CPTU cone sounding technologies with capabilities to perform bidirectional loading at a given soil depth condition. Using two independent systems, the P cone measures shear stress versus movements of cone shaft and stress versus penetration of the cone tip at desired depths. The P-cone can also improve the penetration depth and offer a potential application for the in situ consolidation test. Laboratory experiments of the P-cone device were successful beyond the expectation. P-cone Tests performed on …

Toward High-Resolution Flood Forecasting For Large Urban Areas - New Solutions For 1d Routing, Behzad Nazari

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The ability to forecast flow, depth, and velocity in flooding events is one of the most important needs in highly populated urban areas. Urbanization and climate change highlight the necessity to understand and accurately predict water-related hazards in urban areas due to extreme precipitation. Towards that end, this study initially assesses the impact of changes in precipitation magnitude and imperviousness on urban inundation in a flooding prone urban catchment in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Consequently, this study focuses on identifying potential alternatives to the conventional inundation models to improve operational viability of real-time flood forecasting in urban areas by downscaling …

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Building Services Engineering

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Estimation Of Groundwater Loads Into A Coastal Estuary Using Seawat, Antonio S. Berber Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The research of regional groundwater flow is of vital importance at the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) due to the potential contribution groundwater flow has on nutrients into the IRL. If too many nutrients are introduced into the IRL, algal blooms could occur and impact the health of IRL system. The IRL is a coastal estuary located on the east coast of Florida. Submarine groundwater seepages (SGD) and groundwater loads into the IRL were numerically estimated by using SEAWAT, a program designed to simulate variable-density groundwater flow coupled with multi-species solute transport. Models were completed at three different study transects that …

Design Of Logan City's Stormwater Conveyance System, Kade Jacob Beck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers' (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge , helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Aerial Photo of the Area of Interest Current Conditions

Logan City is located in northern Utah's Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will …

Fatigue Analysis Of The Greenup Lock Gate On The Ohio River, Maggie Langston

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes damage due to fatigue of a typical lock gate on the United States waterway transportation system. Functioning lock gates are essential for this mode of transportation because they control water levels and provide access through dams for ships. Fatigue cracking is caused by cyclic loading and corrosion. Cyclic loading on a lock gate was imitated using a finite element model. This model was used to calculate stress ranges for a cycle so that the number of cycles to failure could be calculated. The proportion of cycles to cycles to failure is known as the fatigue capacity. A …

The Effects Of Aggregate Size On Shear Dynamic Modulus From Torsion Bar, Farida Mahmud

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

PavementME Design is based on mechanistic-empirical principles, which take the properties of layer materials into account in predicting pavement responses and performance. Of these principles, dynamic modulus is one of the most important. Dynamic modulus measures strain in response to the applied stress, which mimics loads from traffic and the corresponding deformation of the asphalt pavement. The traditional test for dynamic modulus in the uniaxial configuration cannot be performed on field cores due to lift thickness. Owing to that, the Indirect Tension and torsion bar configuration were developed. This research will focus on the torsion bar, which requires specimens that …