Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Bridge Load Testing Versus Bridge Load Rating, Abheetha Peiris, Issam E. Harik

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The current method of load rating bridges according to AASHTO specifications can underestimate the capacity and behavior of bridges. Analytical equations do not account for the degree of rigidity of the supports, unintended composite action due to friction between girders and the slab, and other factors. Load testing of individual bridges can produce a load rating that much more accurately reflects the capacity of a non-composite bridge. However, current methods of load testing require significant time commitments to instrument a bridge profile to record data, rendering it impractical in many cases. But there are new commercially available strain gauges that …

Training Curricula For The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department Of Highways, Nancy Albright, Bryan Gibson, Chris Van Dyke, Jeff Jasper, Doug Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Most state departments of transportation (DOTs) offer their employees professional development opportunities (e.g., training courses) so they can build their expertise and in doing so facilitate agency efforts to fulfill their business mandates. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is no different in this regard. While professional development opportunities are invaluable, and while the Cabinet offers a number of trainings to its staff, currently there exists no comprehensive training curricula to help professionals and paraprofessionals systematically grow their knowledge and skills and ensure KYTC maintains a robust portfolio of technical competencies across the organization. The inconsistent and ad hoc manner in …

E-Tickets And Advanced Technologies For Efficient Construction Inspections, Roy E. Sturgill, Gabriel B. Dadi, Christopher Van Dyke, Dhaviat Patel, Joshua Withrow, Clyde Wesley Newcomer Iv

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), like many state transportation agencies, has seen demand for high-quality infrastructure skyrocket even as it endures reductions in staff numbers. To mitigate the effects of declining staff and bolster construction efficiency, the Cabinet has experimented with a variety of e-construction technologies, the goal of which are to abolish paper-based workflows and improve project-site monitoring activities. This research investigated the performance of three e-construction technologies on KYTC pilot projects — e-ticketing, paver mounted thermal profilers, and intelligent compaction. E-ticketing reduced the amount of time needed to retrieve material tickets and facilitated comparisons of theoretical tonnages to …

Redefining Construction As-Built Plans To Meet Current Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Needs, Victoria Lynn Lasley, Steven Waddle, Tim Taylor, Roy E. Sturgill Jr.

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

As-built plans have traditionally been used by construction industry practitioners to record changes made during construction. As-builts provide valuable information for new design projects as well as rehabilitation and remediation projects. The completeness and accuracy of these plans are essential for transportation industries and their success. While the importance of as-builts is widely recognized, preparing them can be difficult and time-consuming; many entities — especially public agencies — lack the resources necessary to produce accurate and detailed as-builts. After investigating the current as-built operations of state transportation agencies, Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers devised recommendations to improve the Kentucky Transportation …

Review Of Non-Standard Warm Mix Asphalt Projects, Tim C. Scully Jr.

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Periodically, when the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) the Division of Construction receives requests to use non-standard warm mix asphalt technologies, it may be asked to waive the temperature specification or other product specifications/processes. The short-term and long-term impacts of this waiver are not completely understood. The Division of Construction approves these requests and notes their use, however, no follow-up studies have been done to evaluate the performance of non-standard warm mix asphalt. Similarly, no previous studies have compared data on quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) and performance for these mixtures with those of standard warm mix asphalt mixtures. Thus, the performance …

Audubon Parkway Slab Lifting At Mp 22.75 — Bridge Approach And Departure Settlement, Tim C. Scully Jr.

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The approach/departure Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) panels on the eastbound and westbound side of Audubon Parkway at MP 22.75 over route KY 2120 began to exhibit settlement and cracking in a few locations, which created an uncomfortable ride for motorists. To address this problem, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) contracted with MasterDry to repair the PCC panel settlement. MasterDry claims that its two-part polyurethane material expands into a rigid foam that fills voids, stabilizes slabs, and lifts concrete. The polyurethane material is injected through 5/8-inch holes drilled in the PCC panel. Once injected, a chemical reaction converts the liquid urethane …

Restricted Crossings On Rural Highways, John Sangster, Tim Adams

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This study examines the potential for replacing the standard intersection design at two-way stop control (TWSC) and all- way stop control (AWSC) intersections along rural highways with a roundabout or a restricted crossing u-turn (RCUT) facility. The geometry of the RCUT design prohibits left and through movements from the side road, and provides a u-turn location downstream from the main crossing. This type of facility has been implemented for rural highways extensively in both Maryland and North Carolina, as well as in limited cases in many other states such as Minnesota and Missouri, with the potential to serve as a …

Assessing The Impact Of Game Day Schedule And Opponents On Travel Patterns And Route Choice Using Big Data Analytics, Anuj Sharma, Vesal Ahsani

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The transportation system is crucial for transferring people and goods from point A to point B. However, its reliability can be decreased by unanticipated congestion resulting from planned special events. For example, sporting events collect large crowds of people at specific venues on game days and disrupt normal traffic patterns.

The goal of this study was to understand issues related to road traffic management during major sporting events by using widely available INRIX data to compare travel patterns and behaviors on game days against those on normal days. A comprehensive analysis was conducted on the impact of all Nebraska Cornhuskers …

Analysis Of The Effects Of Adaptive Ramp Metering On Measures Of Efficiency With A Proposed Framework For Safety Evaluation, Jacky Loh

Master's Theses

Adaptive ramp metering (ARM) is a widely popular intelligent transportation system (ITS) tool that boasts the ability to reduce congestion and streamline traffic flow during peak hour periods while maintaining a lower implementation cost than traditional methods such as freeway widening. This thesis explores the effectiveness of ARM implementation on an 18 mile segment of the Interstate 80 (I-80) corridor in the Bay Area residing in northern California. Smaller segments of this particular segment were analyzed to determine the effective length of ARM on efficiency at various lengths originating from a known bottleneck location. Efficiency values were also compared against …

Sidewalks To Nowhere: A Tool To Prioritize Pedestrian Improvements, Ho Yan Lai

Master's Theses

Walkability as a concept that captures the ability to walk from one place to another has multiple dimensions. Between traversability to being a proxy for better urban places, there are also numerous measurements of walkability that attempts to quantify certain or all aspects of walkability. It is, however, unclear, through a review of available literature, how these measurements of walkability relate to each other statistically. This methodology focuses on generating a framework for analysts to evaluate and prioritize pedestrian infrastructure. WalkScore™ (WS), HCM Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS), Average Nodal Degree (AND), and Intersection Density are the four metrics selected …

Analysis Of Disengagements In Semi-Autonomous Vehicles: Drivers’ Takeover Performance And Operational Implications, Francesca M. Favaro, Sky Eurich, Syeda Rizvi, Shivangi Agarwal, Sumaid Mahmood, Nazanin Nader

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report analyzes the reactions of human drivers placed in simulated Autonomous Technology disengagement scenarios. The study was executed in a human-in-the-loop setting, within a high-fidelity integrated car simulator capable of handling both manual and autonomous driving. A population of 40 individuals was tested, with metrics for control takeover quantification given by: i) response times (considering inputs of steering, throttle, and braking); ii) vehicle drift from the lane centerline after takeover as well as overall (integral) drift over an S-turn curve compared to a baseline obtained in manual driving; and iii) accuracy metrics to quantify human factors associated with the …

Minimizing Vehicular Traffic Via Optimized Land Use Development For A Sustainable And Equitable Future, Babu Veeregowda

Dissertations

Mixed-use developments and transit-oriented developments are becoming very common in urban areas in an effort to reduce sprawl. Numerous studies have shown that such programs would not be successful unless the mix of land uses and sizes is well-balanced and integrated with the surrounding neighborhood. Developers often ignore this aspect in favor of immediate financial gain and do not realize that there are sustainable financial benefits in land use optimization. In addition, professionals often work with limited logistics, resources, and technical knowledge and therefore struggle in setting goals and suggesting land uses that have less auto dependency based on travel …

Proposed New Military Live Load For Highway Bridges In The United States, Walter P. Parker

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the results of a mathematical analysis of various live load combinations on highway bridge spans up to 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) total lengths. The analysis included continuous beams, but only the results for simple beams is presented. The analysis was performed using an independently developed Microsoft EXCEL spreadsheet computation, based on superposition and classical mechanics.

In this thesis, several actual bridge live loadings and several hypothetical live loadings were analyzed and compared to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design method. Also considered was the new bridge design method adopted …

Development Of Traffic Live Load Models For Bridge Superstructure Rating With Rbdo And Best Selection Approach, Sasan Siavashi, Christopher D. Eamon

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is frequently used to determine optimal structural geometry and material characteristics that can best meet performance goals while considering uncertainties. In this study, the effectiveness of RBDO to develop a rating load model for a set of bridge structures is explored, as well as the use of an alternate Best Selection procedure that requires substantially less computational effort. The specific problem investigated is the development of a vehicular load model for use in bridge rating, where the objective of the optimization is to minimize the variation in reliability index across different girder types and bridge geometries. …

Asphalt Binder Laboratory Short-Term Aging, Hamzeh Haghshenas, Robert C. Rea

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The Rolling Thin Film Oven (RTFO) is widely used to simulate asphalt binder short-term aging. However, there is a general interest to improve the current short-term aging protocol especially for reducing the aging time. Besides, there are some doubts about the capability of RTFO in the simulation of aging of highly polymer modified asphalt binders which is mainly due to improper dispersion of such binders in the bottles during rotating and creeping of highly viscous binder out of the bottles during rotation. This work addresses the effect of time, temperature, airflow rate, and weight of asphalt binder on the laboratory …

How Av Could Shape Our Cities - Research From The Netherlands, Gonçalo H. A. Correia

PSU Transportation Seminars

Automated driving has become a hot topic of research in different fields of science. Despite the great advancements in the vehicle technology itself, researchers are now concerned in figuring out what will be the impacts of these vehicles in life as we know it. These impacts can be rather broad from traffic safety to the economy. In this lecture, Goncalo will focus on the research that is being done at TU Delft, a leading university in automated vehicles’ (AVs) impacts research, focusing on urban areas and how mobility, and even the city itself, can change with fully-automated vehicles. Goncalo Correia …

A Comparative Study Of Insertion Loss Of Traffic Noise Barriers In Georgia, Pablo Giraldo, Jidong Yang

Master of Science in Civil Engineering Theses

In this paper, three types of traffic noise barriers, interlocking steel panels, precast concrete panels, and Paragon panel 23-T, were evaluated in terms of insertion loss. Field test was conducted for the noise barriers recently installed as part of the Northwest Express Project in Georgia. The noise insertion loss was measured as noise difference in A-weighted decibels (dBA) immediately before and after the barriers. The insertion loss was then evaluated by correlating with noise barrier types and other influential variables, including the separation distance of barriers from traffic, the level of traffic, wind speed, and pavement types. The results showed …

That Bike Is Too Heavy: Merging Bicycling Physics, Human Physiology And Travel Behavior, Alexander Y. Bigazzi

PSU Transportation Seminars

Are the Biketown bikes too heavy? Does better gear motivate people to cycle more? How much faster will someone go on an e-bike?

Although urban cycling is widely known as physically active transportation, the actual physics of cycling have been given little attention in transportation engineering and planning. In contrast, the field of sports science has developed detailed data and models of road bicycle performance, but only for sport and racing cyclists.

What can we learn about utilitarian cycling by integrating knowledge of the physical attributes of bicycles and cyclists?

This seminar examines the ways in which bicycle physics, and …

2019 05 6 Asce Golden Spike Ces W Eicholtz.Pdf, Michael Oconnor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

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Auto-Calibration Of Wim Using Traffic Stream Characteristics, Johnson Baker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project evaluates the performance of Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) auto-calibration methods used by the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT). Typical auto-calibration algorithms compare the WIM measured weights of vehicles from the traffic stream to reference values, using five-axle tractor-trailer configured trucks for comparisons, e.g. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Class 9. Parameters of the existing algorithms including the Front Axle Weight (FAW) reference value, the sampling frequency required to update the calibration factor, and thresholds for Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) bins were evaluated. The primary metric used to estimate algorithm performance was Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE) between the WIM and static …