Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Bridge Inspecting With Unmanned Aerial Vehicles R&D, Paul Darby, Vijaya Gopu

Publications

The project achieves through research including literature, on site interviews, and experimentation: 1) a recommendation for a UAV-based system to practically assist in routine bridge inspection work in the State of Louisiana, 2) the identification and description of advantages, disadvantages, and limitations in the use of UAVs for routing bridge inspection work in Louisiana, and 3) provided recommendations for future work. The Yuneec H520 aircraft and its E90 camera are recommended, as is the need for a boat to be included as part of the system. The recommended system has advantages in reaching portions of the bridge that are difficult …

Use Of Rice Hull Ash (Rha) As A Sustainable Source Of Construction Material, Zahid Hossain, Ashraf Elsayed

Publications

With the imminent shortage of natural resources, the need to find sustainable development is the highest in recent history. Therefore, this study examines the potential uses of Rice Hull Ash (RHA) as a sustainable cementitious material (SCM) in preparation of concrete. This study also assesses the use of RHA as an alternative of commonly used polymers in preparing high-grade asphalt binders. RHA is a potential sustainable solution because it is currently being treated as an agricultural waste material, yet its high silica content makes it a potential construction material. Three different sizes of RHA (600 µm, 150 µm, and 44 …

Development Of A Self-Healing And Rejuvenating Mechanisms For Asphalt Mixtures Containing Recycled Asphalt Shingle, Marwa Hassan

Publications

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that hollow-fibers encapsulating a rejuvenator product could improve both self-healing, rejuvenation, and mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures. Hollow-fibers containing a rejuvenating product were synthesized via a wet spinning procedure with sodium-alginate polymer as the encapsulating material. An optimization of the production parameters for the synthesis of fibers was performed to develop fibers suitable for high-temperature and shear stress environment typical of asphalt mixture production. A self-healing experiment was conducted to evaluate the healing/rejuvenation capabilities of sodium-alginate fibers in asphalt mixtures with varying types of binders and recycled materials. Based on …

Development Of Environmentally-Friendly Stabilization Methods For Transportation Infrastructure Based On Geopolymers, Miladin Radovic, Anand Puppala

Publications

Geopolymers (GPs) have received much attention as an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to conventional chemical additives, since they can be processed at room temperatures from aqueous solutions by utilizing waste materials (e.g. fly ash) or abundant natural sources (e.g. clay). A collaborative research study is carried out by teams from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to investigate the effectiveness of GPs for stabilizing base and subgrade materials by considering the strength and shrink-swell characteristics. Two types of clay, obtained from the North Dallas area, were mixed with a potassium-based GP synthesized from metakaolin and …

Sustainable And Equitable Financing For Pedestrian Infrastructure Maintenance, Gregory Rowangould

Publications

In many communities, pedestrian infrastructure is discontinuous, inaccessible to those with physical disabilities, and poorly maintained. Correcting these problems would be a first step in providing infrastructure to achieve the active travel and related transportation goals of many communities. One nearly universal challenge to maintaining sidewalks in a state of good repair and addressing environmental justice concerns is an adequate, sustainable, and equitable source of funding. Municipal governments across the country maintain and repair their streets and roadways; however, most require residents to maintain and repair public sidewalks adjacent to their property. These policies are difficult to enforce and may …

Bridge Deck Overlays Using Ultra-High Performance Concrete, Craig Newtson, Brad Weldon

Publications

This study investigated the use of a locally produced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as an alternative to typical overlay materials. Several bond strength tests including slant-shear, splitting tension, and direct tension tests were performed to assess the bond strength between UHPC and normal strength concrete (NSC) substrate with varying surface textures. Tests were also conducted to assess the early-age and longer-term shrinkage behavior and coefficient of thermal expansion of the UHPC as well as rapid chloride permeability testing. Good bond between UHPC and NSC substrate was observed even with inadequate surface texture. Combined shrinkage and thermal effects were investigated for …

Does Length Of Ride, Gender Or Nationality Affect Willingness To Ride In A Driverless Ambulance?, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Rian Mehta, Joseph R. Keebler, Bradley S. Baugh, Emily C. Anania, Mattie N. Milner

Publications

Due to the frequent lack of ambulances and personnel, the purpose of this study was to examine consumers’ willingness-to-ride in an ambulance that was either driven by a human driver or completely automated (with no human driver) based on the gender of the participant and their nationality, either Indian or American. A two-study experimental design was utilized using over 1,000 participants. In Study 1, the length of the ride and the type of driver were manipulated while in Study 2, the length of the ride was manipulated across genders and nationality. Study 2 also collected affect measures to complete a …

Experimental Tests And Numerical Simulations For Failure Investigation On Corrugated Boxes Used On Household Appliance Packaging, Diego Fernandes Rodrigues, José Carlos Pereira

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Packages made of corrugated paper are fundamental to the protection, transportation and handling of the appliance product market. During the storage and sales stages of a product, the package must resist compressive loads in different directions beyond moderate impacts. In this context, the objective of this work is to develop and implement a post-processor that allows the simultaneous analysis of two of the most common failure modes of packages made of corrugated paper: failure due to tensile or compressive stress limit, and failure due to local buckling, when the buckling of the faces of the corrugated paper between two peaks …

Some Aspects Of Studying The Structure Of Construction Materials By The Method Of Mercury Purometry, Anvar Ishanovich Adilkhodjayev, I.A. Kadirov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

The article gives a classification of methods for controlling the porous structure of materials. The parameters of the porosity of aerated concrete were investigated by the method of mercury porosimetry. The method of mercury porosimetry is based on the fact that a liquid that does not wet a solid penetrates into its pores only when exposed to external pressure. The total porosity of aerated concrete according to mercury porosimetry is 49.28%

Driver Distraction In Microsimulation Of A Mid-Block Pedestrian Crossing, Darryl Joseph Michaud

Dissertations and Theses

Traffic simulation has become an invaluable part of the traffic engineering toolbox. However, the majority of driver models are designed to recreate traffic performance based on interactions among vehicles. In keeping with this pursuit, most are fundamentally built to avoid collisions. This limits the applicability of using these models for addressing safety concerns, especially those regarding pedestrian safety performance. However, by explicitly including some of the sources of human error, these limitations can, in theory, be overcome. While much work has been done toward including these human factors in simulation platforms, one key aspect of human behavior has been largely …

16-06 Vehicle-To-Device (V2d) Communications: Readiness Of The Technology And Potential Applications For People With Disability, Ala Al-Fuqaha, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile

Transportation Research Center Reports

IEEE 802.11p was developed as an amendment to IEEE 802.11 for wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE). While WAVE is considered the de facto standard for V2V communications, in the past few years a number of communications technologies have emerged that enable direct device-to-device (D2D) communications. Technologies like Bluetooth Smart, WiFi-Direct and LTE-Direct allow devices to communicate directly without having to rely on existing communications infrastructure (e.g., base stations). More importantly, these technologies are quickly penetrating the smartphones market.

The goal of this research is to conduct extensive simulation and experimental studies to assess the efficacies of utilizing D2D communications …

Rheological Performance Of Bio-Char Modified Asphalt With Different Particle Sizes, Ran Zhang, Qingli Dai, Zhanping You, Hainian Wang, Chao Peng

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

To improve the performance of petroleum asphalt, bio-char was used as a modifier for a petroleum asphalt binder, in this study. The rheological properties of bio-char modified asphalt binders were compared with different particle sizes and contents, with one control and one flake graphite modified asphalt binder. Specifically, the bio-char modifiers with two particle sizes (ranging from 75 μm–150 μm and less than 75 μm) and three contents of 2%, 4%, and 8% were added into the asphalt binder. A flake graphite powder with particle sizes less than 75 μm was used as a comparison modifier. The Scanning Electron Microscopy …

Waterproofing Options For Bridge Decks, Danny Wells, Sudhir Palle, Theodore Hopwood Ii

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Due to the increasing use of deicing chemicals and the subsequent intrusion of chlorides into bridge decks, it is necessary to expand the use of available protective measures, including waterproofing materials. Waterproofing options that fall into three categories; 1) membranes (liquid and sheet systems), 2) friction polymers (laminates), and 3) polymer asphalts. This study assessed the waterproofing characteristics of these products. Prior to this study, no common test had been established to compare the performance of waterproofing products. A test method was developed that closely follows ASTM D5084, “Standard Test Methods for Measurement of Hydraulic Conductivity of Saturated Porous Materials …

Data From: Market Segment Prediction Tool, Philip L. Winters, Amy Lester

TREC Datasets and Databases

Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social marketing is a useful transportation demand management (TDM) planning approach to promote travel-behavior change, and combines at least seven distinguishing features that sets it apart from other popular, behavior-change planning approaches, such as education and mass media campaigns. These seven features include a focus on socially beneficial behavior change; a strong consumer orientation; the use of audience segmentation techniques and the selection of target audiences; the use of marketing’s conceptual framework (marketing mix and …

Analysis Of Traffic Crash Data In Kentucky (2013-2017), Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman, Paul A. Ross

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Executive Summary

This report documents an analysis of traffic crash data in Kentucky for the years of 2013-2017. A primary objective of this study was to determine average crash statistics for Kentucky highways. Rates were calculated for various types of highways and for counties and cities. Difference criteria were used for exposure.

Average and critical numbers and rates of crashes were calculated for various types of highways in rural and urban areas. These rates used crashes identified on highways where traffic volumes were available. Improved methods of identifying crash locations have resulted in higher rates for the last couple of …

Improvement Of Fatal Crash Analysis And Follow-Up, William Nicholas Staats, Jerry G. Pigman, Kenneth R. Agent, Paul A. Ross

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Executive Summary

Fatalities resulting from traffic crashes in Kentucky increased from a low of 638 in 2013 to 834 in 2016 (a 31% increase), and there is not a full understanding of the underlying causes for this trend. This study analyzes fatal crashes using data from both Kentucky’s crash reports and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) to identify countermeasures to combat increasing fatal crash rates. In addition, this study compares Kentucky’s crash reports to the fatal crash data in FARS to identify data inconsistencies and recommend procedures to eliminate these inconsistencies.

Emphasis was …

2018 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Erin Lammers-Staats, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of the survey summarized in this report was to establish a statewide safety belt usage rate in Kentucky for 2018. This rate can be compared to those determined from previous surveys. The 2018 statewide survey documents the continued increase in usage associated with the change in the law to allow primary enforcement and related education and enforcement.

16-01 Paths To Ada-Compliance: The Performance And Cost Efficiency Of Measurement Technologies That Support Ada-Mandated, Self-Evaluations Of Pedestrian Rights Of Way, Jun-Seok Oh, Jiansong Zhang, Kapseong Ro, Majid Mastali

Transportation Research Center Reports

This study used terrestrial laser scanner and open source processing algorithms to develop an approach to automate the evaluation of transportation infrastructure in public rights of way. We estimated compliance or noncompliance of specific roadway features with the design standards adopted by the US Access Board and required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) such as minimum sidewalk width, maximum cross slopes and presence/absence of pedestrian connectivity automatically with extracting roadway features from point cloud data (PCD). We then compared the accuracy and cost efficiency of the automated with more conventional evaluative techniques to identify the potential risks, gains …

16-03 The Effects Of High Visibility Enforcement On Driver Compliance To Pedestrian Stop Right-Of-Way Laws In Ann Arbor, Mi, Ron Van Houten, Jun-Seok Oh, De'lon Dixon

Transportation Research Center Reports

The purpose of this study was to replicate the findings of Van Houten et. al. (2013) demonstrating that a multifaceted program could increase the percentage of motorist’s yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks on a community basis in Gainesville, FL, and that these changes actually improved further over a four year follow-up period (Van Houten et. al. (2017). The current study replicated the original findings in a similar sized city in a different region of the US (Ann Arbor, MI). Stopping for pedestrians in Ann Arbor increased from a mean of 28.5% to 65.2% at the treatment sites, which also received …

16-04 Effectiveness Of Bicycle Signals For Improving Safety And Multimodal Mobility At Urban Intersections, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Odai Al Houz

Transportation Research Center Reports

With the dramatic increase of non-motorized transportation users, more people are concerned about the non-motorized traffic safety. Unfortunately, bicyclists and pedestrians are prone to more severe injuries when involved in a crash. For bicycle crashes, failing to yield/disregarding traffic control device, and lack of non-motorized facilities were identified to be the main causes of bicycle crashes in urban intersections. This research investigated the effectiveness of two bicycle crash countermeasures with bicycle signal treatments at urban signalized intersections. These two countermeasures are the bike boxes and the protected intersections. The bicycle signal treatments that were tested simultaneously with these countermeasures are …