Civil Engineering Commons^™

Review Of Load Rating And Posting Procedures And Requirements, Raymond Neal Chou

Open Access Theses

All states are required to load rate and post bridges in order to comply with federal standards. Load ratings are performed in order to determine the safe live load capacity of a bridge, considering the existing conditions of the bridge. Based on the load ratings, the bridge is evaluated for load posting or strengthening. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) was notified that their practice for load rating and posting did not satisfy 23 CFR 650.313, which states that bridges shall be load rated and posted according to an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) manual. The …

A Framework For Coordinating Water Distribution System And Pavement Infrastructure M&R Based On Lcca, Majed Fedhi Alinizzi

Open Access Theses

The disruptions the public faces daily around the world due to urban infrastructure Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) activities are having significant social, economic, and environment impacts on communities. With respect to water distribution systems, there have been millions of water main breaks in the U.S. since January 2000, with an average of nearly 700 water main breaks every day. The majority of these water utilities lie under paved roads, and the Open Cut method is the most widely used technology for repairing water main breakages. Subsequently, this continually increasing pipe breakage requires the destruction of pavements that may be in …

Size And Rate Effects On Mechanical Behavior Of Ultra High Performance Concrete, Boon Him Lim

Open Access Theses

Cor-Tuf, broadly characterize as a reactive powder concrete is a type of cementitious material. Cementitious materials have been observed to exhibit a strain-rate dependent mechanical behavior. The mechanical behavior of cementitious materials can also depend significantly on specimen sizes. Therefore it is crucial to determine the behavior of Cor-Tuf with different specimen sizes for high-rate applications. For this purpose, split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB), also known as Kolsky bar was utilized to determine the dynamic behavior of Cor-Tuf for different specimen sizes under uniaxial dynamic compression loading at different strain rates. It was observed that as strain rate increases the …

Modeling The Dynamics Of Household-Level Hurricane Evacuation Timing Decisions, Md. Tawfiq Sarwar

Open Access Theses

Frequent occurrences of hurricanes in the coastal areas of the United States in recent times have indicated the necessity of comprehensive evacuation planning. Failure to ensure efficient and timely evacuation causes devastating impacts including loss of lives and property damages. In order to ensure efficient evacuation, emergency officials need to understand how households make evacuation decisions and how their decisions can be influenced. Households' decisions to evacuate/stay, time of departure, route choice and destination choice are four fundamental behavioral issues in the evacuation process. In this thesis, we develop a joint modeling approach for both household-level evacuation decision and departure …

Laboratory Testing Of Railroad Flatcars For Use As Highway Bridges On Low-Volume Roads To Determine Ultimate Strength And Redundancy, Teresa Lynn Washeleski

Open Access Theses

Railroad flatcars (RRFCs) are a convenient option to replace existing deteriorating bridge structures on low-volume roads. They are typically used as the bridge superstructure by placing two or more flatcars side-by-side to achieve the desired bridge width. Utilizing RRFCs as a bridge allows for rapid construction and greater cost savings compared to traditional practices. These benefits make them an attractive solution for rural communities in Indiana, as well as other states.

Uncertainty remains about the response under higher loads than could be easily achieved in the field and the level of redundancy of railroad flatcar bridges. Using RRFCs as bridges …

Evaluating Different Bridge Management Strategies Using The Bridge Management Research System (Bmrs), Timothy Paul Stroshine

Open Access Theses

This project investigated the effects of varying two different elements of bridge management strategies. The first element was a trigger value (an NBI condition rating for a bridge component) at which a maintenance treatment can be performed. The second element was the budget.

A new software program, the Bridge Management Research System (BMRS), was created to test these elements of bridge management strategies for Indiana's bridge network. BMRS is a simplified version of a previous bridge management software package developed by Purdue University, the Indiana Bridge Management System (IBMS). To test variations in the trigger values, three different bridge management …

Simulating Land Use Land Cover Change Using Data Mining And Machine Learning Algorithms, Amin Tayyebi

Open Access Dissertations

The objectives of this dissertation are to: (1) review the breadth and depth of land use land cover (LUCC) issues that are being addressed by the land change science community by discussing how an existing model, Purdue's Land Transformation Model (LTM), has been used to better understand these very important issues; (2) summarize the current state-of-the-art in LUCC modeling in an attempt to provide a context for the advances in LUCC modeling presented here; (3) use a variety of statistical, data mining and machine learning algorithms to model single LUCC transitions in diverse regions of the world (e.g. United States …

Interactional Analysis Of Emergent Risks In Institutionally Diverse Construction Projects, Nader Naderpajouh

Open Access Dissertations

Naderpajouh, Nader Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. Interactional Analysis of Emergent Risks in Institutionally Diverse Construction Projects. Major Professor: Makarand Hastak.

Construction projects, as complex systems of systems (SOS), increasingly involve institutionally diverse actors that escalate complexity of the projects. Examples of these actors include the export credit agencies, international organizations such as the World Bank, non-governmental organizations (NGO), regulatory actors, transnational organizations, as well as public and community groups. The observed surge in complexity of the projects aim to enhance their robustness in: i) sustaining the increasing demand for service of these projects, and ii) sustaining the contextual fluctuation …

Work-Of-Indentation As A Means To Characterize Indenter Geometry And Load-Displacement Response Of A Material, Kaushal K. Jha, Shuo Zhang, Nakin Suksawang, Ton-Lo Wang, Arvind Agarwal

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Normalized indentation works, referred to as the total and elastic energy constants, have been shown to be effective in the representation and analysis of experimental load-displacement data. However, their physical meaning, influencing factors, variation range and relationships with other nanomechanical quantities are not precisely known. In this study, the load-displacement data obtained as a result of simulations of elastic and elastoplastic indentations are extensively analyzed to enhance our understanding concerning these two energy based parameters. It has been shown that while the total energy constant describes the state of an indenter tip and the type of contact regime, the elastic …

Evaluation Of J-Turn Intersection Design Performance In Missouri, Final Report, Praveen Edara Ph.D., P.E., Ptoe, Carlos Sun Ph.D., P.E., Jd, Sawyer Breslow

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Research shows that a high percentage of crashes that take place on high-speed rural expressways occur at intersections with minor roads. One low-cost alternative design for improving the safety of at-grade intersections on such expressways is the J-turn. In the last few years, the Missouri Department of Transportation has converted some two-way stop controlled (TWSC) intersections into J-turns. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the J-turn intersection design in Missouri utilizing field studies, a public survey, crash analysis, and traffic conflict analysis. The field studies collected detailed video data at a J-turn site and a control site. The crash analysis …

Towards Autonomous Vehicles, Chris Schwarz Ph.D., Geb Thomas Ph.D., Kory Nelson B.S, Michael Mccrary B.S., Nicholas Schlarmann, Matthew Powell

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

We are moving towards an age of autonomous vehicles. Cycles of innovation initiated in the public and private sectors have led one into another since the 1990s; and out of these efforts have sprung a variety of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and several functioning autonomous vehicles. The challenges that face autonomous vehicle are still significant. There is still technical work to be done to make sensors, algorithms, control schemes, and intelligence more effective and more reliable. As automation in vehicles increases, the associated human factors challenges become more complex. Then, there are a host of socioeconomic issues. Are autonomous vehicles …

Fe Modeling In Support Of Vibration Based Damage Detection In Bridges, James Kyle Bethay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vibration based damage detection in bridges is examined with the objective of defining a relationship between substructure stiffness degradation and frequency and mode shape modulation induced by damage. The relationship is explored through finite element modeling of primarily an experimental representation of a three-span concrete bridge structure located at the entrance to the main campus of The University of Mississippi in Oxford. Equivalent beam and 3D finite element models are created of an experimental setup incorporating levels of damage simulated using deck slab bearing pads of varying stiffness. Eigenvalue analysis is performed to examine the change of frequencies for characteristic …

Nanoenhanced Polyurea As A Blast Resistant Coating For Concrete Masonry Walls, Heather Kathryn Daniell Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Blast impact is a major concern in the world today. The leading cause of death due to blast impacts is rapidly moving debris. To prevent this many researchers are looking for methods of improved blast resistance for concrete masonry walls. However, many available protective coatings are not flame retardant. This thesis focuses on nanoenhanced polyurea for applications in improving blast resistance, while possessing improved flame retardancy, of concrete masonry walls. The polyurea that is being researched is enhanced with nanoadditives in an effort improve both blast and fire resistance. These materials are dynamically tested and those showing marked improvement are …

Mechanical Properties Of Portland Cement And Its Constituents At The Nano-Level, Brent French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following is a summary of research for a portion of the project titled Nano to Continuum Multi-Scale Modeling Techniques and Analysis For Cementitious Materials Under Dynamic Loading in association with North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and the US Army. This research investigates several attempts at creating a better Portland cement model at the atomistic level through molecular dynamics simulations. These models are modified to simulate damage to the basic cement structure, and are simulated using several combinations of forcefields and molecular dynamics tools. Experimental techniques such as nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy, and x-ray diffraction are applied to …

3-D Numerical Simulation Of Dam-Break Flows Over Movable Beds, Reza Marsooli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Irvin Cooper was a prominent music educator in boys’ adolescent voice change research. Dr. Cooper developed the Cambiata concept as a method for teaching boys to sing throughout the voice change. This method was starkly different from the traditional model that encouraged the changing voice to be rested during the voice change. While working as the music supervisor for the Montreal protestant school system, Cooper developed his method of having boys sing during the voice change, which included arrangements and compositions specifically for changing voices. Cooper taught many prominent researchers of adolescent voice change, including Don Collins and John Cooksey. …

Effect Of Mix Parameters On Longevity Of Bituminous Mixtures, Clayton Reichle

Masters Theses

"This study was performed to evaluate the effects of varying aggregate sources, aggregate gradations on the stripping and rutting potential of bituminous based plant mixes specified by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The different aggregate combinations included two different aggregate sources (Potosi Dolomite and Jefferson City Dolomite) including two variations for the Jefferson City Dolomite mix to simulate a marginally in-specification mix and an out-of-specification but in-field tolerance mix. The "field" mix simulated the marginal mix where field tolerance of high dust and low binder content were maximized. All three mixes were evaluated for stripping susceptibility using the Tensile Strength …

Direct Shear Transfer Of Lightweight Aggregate Concretes With Non-Monolithic Interface Conditions, Dane Michael Shaw

Masters Theses

"This thesis describes the results of a study initiated to examine the influence of concrete unit weight on the direct shear transfer across an interface of concretes cast at different times. This type of interface is common with structural precast concrete connections, such as corbels, for which shear friction design provisions are commonly used. Increasing use of lightweight aggregate concretes prompted this investigation to determine the appropriateness of current shear friction design provisions with respect to all-lightweight and sand-lightweight concrete. The experimental investigation included thirty-six push-off test specimens, each of which was constructed with a cold-joint at the interface shear …

Field Performance Of Alternative And Cost Efficient Cast In Place And Precast Prestressed Concrete Bridge Approach Slabs, Nathan Price Muncy

Masters Theses

"In December of 2010, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) investigated alternative cost-efficient bridge approach slabs (BASs). New BAS designs were subsequently developed and had a projected cost savings up to twenty-four percent with anticipated equal or better structural performance. A precast-prestressed (PCPS) BAS was introduced as an alternative to traditional BASs that offers advantages such as rapid construction and improved long-term durability. The three new BAS designs were implemented into in-situ bridge projects by MoDOT and the field performance was evaluated within this research study.

Field testing of each BAS was performed using two MoDOT HS20 trucks. Various instrumentation …

Numerical Analyses Of Long Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete Panels Exposed To Dynamic Loading, Zahra Sadat Tabatabaei

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this research was to evaluate impact and blast performance of long carbon fiber reinforced concrete experimentally and numerically. Experimental tests were conducted on plain concrete (PC), reinforced concrete, and four different types of long carbon fiber reinforced concrete (LCFRC). The results from each test were then compared to one another. This comparison indicates that adding long carbon fibers to concrete both increases the post-cracking behavior of concrete and decreases the spalls in either an impact or blast test. Among all of the fibers tested, Fiber Type B3 outperformed the other fibers, absorbing more energy during impact. Numerical …

Sustainability Analysis Of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Tolga Ercan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Commuters in urban areas suffer from traffic congestion on a daily basis. The increasing number of vehicles and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are exacerbating this congested roadway problem for society. Although literature contains numerous studies that strive to propose solutions to this congestion problem, the problem is still prevalent today. Traffic congestion problem affects society’s quality of life socially, economically, and environmentally. In order to alleviate the unsustainable impacts of the congested roadway problem, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) has been utilized to improve sustainable transportation systems in the world. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the sustainable impacts …