Civil Engineering Commons^™

Comparison Of Measured And Predicted Response Of Six Mnroad Asphalt Test Sections, Veni Valli Nagarajan

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The study, sponsored by MnRoad, aimed to compare the measured and predicted values of strains and stresses for six cells 33, 34, 35, 77, 78 and 79 of the third MnRoad experiments. Cells 33, 34 and 35 were constructed for studying the polyphosphoric acid study while cells 77, 78 and 79 for the fly-ash stabilization study, during 2007. Each cell is instrumented with three transverse strain gauges and three longitudinal strain gauges at the bottom of HMA layer while three pressure cells were located at the top of the subgrade layer to measure vertical compressive stress.The FWD deflection data collected …

Financial Evaluation Of Milege Based User Fees For Florida's Transportation Funding, Massoud Moradi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Motor fuel taxes have been collected as a principal source of highway funding for close to a century. They account for approximately two thirds of all the highway user fees and about half of all highway expenditures. Federal fuel taxes have not kept pace with the inflation in general and increasing traffic demand and resulting construction, maintenance and operation costs of the transportation assets in particular. Lack of political will, combined with rising anti-tax sentiment among the populace, has kept the federal tax level not only well below its initial intents, but also at a unsustainable level in future. Mileage …

Land Use Effects On Energy And Water Balance-Developing A Land Use Adapted Drought Index, Chi Han Cheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts in all parts of the United States (US). Snow packs are disappearing earlier in the spring and summer, with reduced stream-flow. Lower reservoir levels, higher temperatures, and greater precipitation variability have been observed. Drought events in the US have threatened drinking water supplies for communities in Maryland and Chesapeake Bay as observed in 2001 through September 2002; Lake Mead in Las Vegas in 2000 through 2004; Peace River and Lake Okeechobee in South Florida in 2006; and Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007. ENSO influences the …

Resilience Of Bridges Following Aftershocks, Diego Francisco Espinosa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to predict the reduction in capacity of a structure after an earthquake is vital in the process of assessing a structure after a main-shock or an after-shock. Main-shocks are normally followed by a few aftershocks in a short period of time. Researchers in the past have focused for the most part on the effects of main-shocks on buildings. Very little research has been performed on the ability to predict the reduction in capacity of bridges in aftershocks. This thesis focuses on providing a way of assessing the reduction in capacity for main-shocks as compared to aftershocks and the …

Performance Of Mechanical And Non-Mechanical Connections To Gfrp Components, Nnadozie N. Dike

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are presently many solutions to dealing with aging or deteriorated structures. Depending on the state of the structure, it may need to be completely over-hauled, demolished and replaced, or only specific components may need rehabilitation. In the case of bridges, rehabilitation and maintenance of the decks are critical needs for infrastructure management. Viable rehabilitation options include replacement of decks with aluminum extrusions, hybrid composite and sandwich systems, precast reinforced concrete systems, or the use of pultruded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) shapes. Previous research using pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) decks, focused on behaviour under various strength and serviceability loading conditions. …

Macroscopic Crash Analysis And Its Implications For Transportation Safety Planning, Chowdhury Kawsar Siddiqui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Incorporating safety into the transportation planning stage, which is often termed as transportation safety planning (TSP), relies on the vital interplay between zone characteristics and zonal traffic crashes. Although a few safety studies had made some effort towards integrating safety and planning, several unresolved problems and a complete framework of TSP are still absent in the literature. This research aims at examining the suitability of the current traffic-related zoning planning process in a new suggested planning method which incorporates safety measures. In order to accomplish this broader research goal, the study defined its research objectives in the following directions towards …

Multi-Level Safety Performance Functions For High Speed Facilities, Mohamed Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High speed facilities are considered the backbone of any successful transportation system; Interstates, freeways, and expressways carry the majority of daily trips on the transportation network. Although these types of roads are relatively considered the safest among other types of roads, they still experience many crashes, many of which are severe, which not only affect human lives but also can have tremendous economical and social impacts. These facts signify the necessity of enhancing the safety of these high speed facilities to ensure better and efficient operation. Safety problems could be assessed through several approaches that can help in mitigating the …

Reliability And Effect Of Partially Restrained Wood Shear Walls, John Joseph Gruber

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

RELIABILITY AND EFFECT OF PARTIALLY RESTRAINED WOOD SHEAR WALLS

by

JOHN J. GRUBER

MARCH 2012

Advisor: Dr. Gongkang Fu

Major: Civil Engineering

Degree: Doctor or Philosophy

The prescriptive design of the most widely used residential building code in the United States, the IRC, allows the use of partially restrained wood shear walls to resist wind and seismic loads. Wind load is the most common controlling lateral design load for these structures. In contrast, the complimenting building code, the IBC, requires either a restraining dead load or a mechanical hold down device to resist overturning. To prescribe a safe structure, …

Computational Benchmarks In Simulation Of Cyclic Performance Of Steel Connections Using Three Dimensional Nonlinear Finite Element Method, Ali Abolmaali, Mohammad Razavi, Roozbeh Kiamanesh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

The presented manuscript is intended to introduce accurate computational benchmarks to predict the hysteresis behavior of beam-column steel connections by means of a 3D non-linear finite element analysis. In this study, element type, inelastic material behavior, bolts pre-tensioning, and contact properties between different components of connections are discussed. Incremental nonlinear analysis takes into account all three types of nonlinearities including material, geometry, and contact properties in predicting moment-rotation hysteresis loops. A series of full-scale structural tests are performed to validate the results obtained from the finite element analyses. This study shows that cost efficient numerical analysis simulation is capable of …

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Extreme Traffic Loading On Short And Medium Span Bridges, Bernard Enright, Eugene J. Obrien

Articles

The accurate estimation of site-specific lifetime extreme traffic load effects is an important element in the cost-effective assessment of bridges. A common approach is to use statistical distributions derived from weigh-in-motion measurements as the basis for Monte Carlo simulation of traffic loading. However, results are highly sensitive to the assumptions made, not just with regard to vehicle weights but also to axle configurations and gaps between vehicles. This paper presents a comprehensive model for Monte Carlo simulation of bridge loading for free-flowing traffic, and shows how the model matches results from measurements on five European highways. The model has been …

Calibration Of Concrete Pavement Performance Models, Alejandra Gallegos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pavement performance models exist in various forms to cater to the pavement management agencies' needs and resources. Well-calibrated models are needed to accurately predict future pavement conditions, and to forecast and prioritize confidently the future rehabilitation and maintenance expenditures. Statistical tools are commonly used to develop the performance models. These statistical models may be impractical or misleading if not constrained with experts' opinions. This paper presents a hybrid technique where statistical tools and expert knowledge are combined for the calibration of pavement performance models. This technique was validated using historical pavement condition data for continuously-reinforced-concrete pavements (CRCP) from the Texas …

Development Of Models To Estimate Modulus And Permanent Deformation Of Texas Bases, Eric Navarro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No

Effective Construction Schedule Management: Construction Project Monitoring With Project Performance Indicators & The Project Status Report, Christopher Michael Totin

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

A thorough review of construction and engineering literature was conducted to discover and organize current best practices and standards for the purpose of monitoring a construction project. The status of a construction project is a measurement of its progress and performance in terms of time, cost, and scope. Awareness of a construction project's status improves decision-making on the part of owners, engineers, contractors, and other project stakeholders. Project Performance Indicators (PPI) are metrics generated by construction project schedules that define a project's status. Project personnel must monitor critical schedule and cost data, or PPI, in order to maintain control of …

Investigation Of Co-Pyrolysis Between Sargassum Macroalgae And Polystyrene, Ketwalee Kositkanawuth

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Biomass is one source of renewable energy which helps minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically carbon dioxide (CO2), since biomass utilizes CO2 via photosynthesis. Various conversion processes are applied to utilize energy from biomass, including pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is a thermal route of decomposing biomass at high temperature without the presence of oxygen. The process generates three main products including bio-oil, residue, and non-condensable gases; however, the most promising product is the biomass oil, which is in liquid form and convenient for handle and transport. Numerous studies on pyrolysis of terrestrial biomass reveal that the crude bio-oil cannot be directly used …

Modeling Leachate Bod And Cod Using Lab-Scale Reactor Landfills And Multiple Linear Regression Analysis, Said Altouqi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The increasing production of municipal solid waste is a direct consequence of the continuous growth of the world's population and economy. This fact makes protecting the environment against contamination by different kinds of waste a challenging job for engineers and decision makers. Conventional landfilling practices have sometimes failed to protect fresh water resources against leachate contamination as well as the atmosphere against greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Many developed countries have already taken serious steps toward moving to properly engineered, environmental friendly landfills.Landfill leachate contains organic and inorganic pollutants that have been extensively studied in the last …

Real-World Performance Of Longitudinal Barriers Struck By Large Trucks, Doug Gabauer

Faculty Journal Articles

Outside of relatively limited crash testing with large trucks, very little is known regarding the performance of traffic barriers subjected to real-world large truck impacts. The purpose of this study was to investigate real-world large truck impacts into traffic barriers to determine barrier crash involvement rates, the impact performance of barriers not specifically designed to redirect large trucks, and the real-world performance of large-truck-specific barriers. Data sources included the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (2000-2009), the General Estimates System (2000-2009) and 155 in-depth large truck-to-barrier crashes from the Large Truck Crash Causation Study. Large truck impacts with a longitudinal barrier were …

Las Vegas Strip Odor Remediation, Francell R. Rodriguez, Daniel Hoskins, Guadalupe Gutierrez

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The project described in our report looks at four alternatives to eliminate odor from the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Rd: biofiltration, Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) filtration, nitrate addition and the alternative of doing nothing. The odor is caused mainly by hydrogen sulfide, which escapes from the sewer system in this area. Each alternative was evaluated based on effectiveness, land usage, energy consumption, water and material usage, and cost. Cost was further broken down into initial costs and annual costs, and then a cash flow analysis was performed to evaluate the cost over a 30 year timeframe.

Nitrate …

Lane Changing Control To Reduce Traffic Load Effect On Long-Span Bridges, Colin C. Caprani, Bernard Enright, Colm Carey

Conference papers

Long span bridges are critical parts of a nation’s infrastructure network and congested traffic loading is the governing form of traffic loading. Groups of trucks travelling in conveys are created when fast-er moving vehicles, such as cars, change lane. In this research the authors investigate how the control of these lane-changing events can help reduce the traffic load effects on long span bridges. Real traffic data is used to simulate a traffic stream on a virtual road and bridge using a microsimulation model. Various lane-changing restrictions are examined and compared to the typical case of free lane changing. It is …

Estimation Of Lifetime Maximum Distributions Of Bridge Traffic Load Effects, Eugene J. Obrien, Donya Hajializadeh, Emma Sheils, Bernard Enright

Conference papers

This paper considers the problem of assessing traffic loading on road bridges. A database of European WIM data is used to determine accurate annual maximum distributions of load effect. These in turn are used to find the probability of failure for a number of load effects. Using the probability of failure as the benchmark, traditional measures of safety – factor of safety and reliability index – are reviewed. Both are found to give inconsistent results, i.e., a given factor of safety or reliability index actually corresponds to a range of different probabilities of failure.

Frp Bond Strength Degradation: An Experimental Study Using Pull-Off Testing, Clarisse Mikami

Wayne State University Theses

ABSTRACT

FRP BOND STRENGTH DEGRADATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY USING PULL-OFF TESTING

by

CLARISSE MACHADO MIKAMI

December 2012

Advisor: Dr. Hwai-Chung Wu

Major: Civil Engineering

Degree: Master of Science

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) is an advanced composite material that has been employed efficiently to rehabilitate deteriorated concrete structures. Environmental factors, however, affect the durability performance of FRP. As bond at the interfacial region between FRP and concrete is essential to the overall integrity of the system, the focus of this thesis is on bond deterioration due to hot weathering conditions.

In this study, an experimental program was developed to investigate the …