Engineering Commons^™

Understanding Travel Modes To Non-Work Destinations: Analysis Of An Establishment Survey In Portland, Oregon, Christopher D. Muhs

Dissertations and Theses

During the past three decades, research in travel behavior has generally proceeded from broad-level, aggregate analysis of mode share--the proportions of walking, bicycling, transit, and vehicle travel occurring in traffic analysis zones, census tracts, neighborhood, or other geographical units--to fine-grained, disaggregate analysis of mode choices and other trip-making attributes at the individual level. One potential issue is whether there are differences in the types of conclusions drawn from results of analyses performed at these different levels, as these results directly inform transportation planning and policy.

This thesis aims in part to confirm whether the types of conclusions drawn from different …

Reliability Analysis Of The Hec-18 Scour Equation And Aashto Deep Foundation Design Codes, Jun Yan

Dissertations and Theses

This research project studied the reliability of driven pile foundations subjected to scour, gravity loads including dead loads and live loads, and their combinations. The design of the foundation followed the procedures of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specification. The design methods were the HEC-18 pier scour equation used to determine the scour depth, and the α-Method and Nordlund-Thurman Method used to design the driven pile. The limit state considered was the axial bearing resistance of the piles in the soil. The reliability indexes for bridges subjected to maximum expected scour depth and gravity loads were found through Monte Carlo …

Real-Time Atmospheric Compensation And Surface Temperature Estimates From Satellite Using Neural Networks, Gary Bouton

Dissertations and Theses

Military satellites are being used to determine potential security threats using accurate high sensitivity measurements from defense satellites. These systems focus much more on sensitivity and Signal/Noise Ratio (SNR) than on multispectral capability. Therefore, these systems are highly vulnerable to thermal absorption and reemission that can affect the thermal signature prior to launch. In particular, there is a need to use additional assets to estimate the atmospheric temperature and water vapor profile so that an estimate of the atmospheric processes can be obtained and a correction developed to improve the thermal detection. In particular, the use of existing meteorological geostationary …

Application Of Multi-Hazard Seismic-Blast Detailing For Highway Bridges, Dominique Morton Torres

Dissertations and Theses

The increase of worldwide terrorist attacks on public transportation has heightened our concerns of protecting the nation’s transportation infrastructure. Highway bridges are an attractive target for terrorist attacks due to ease of accessibility and their overall importance to society. The primary objective of this research is to investigate multi-hazard seismic-blast correlations of blast-induced bridge components through numerical simulations of a high-precision finite element model of a typical highway bridge in New York. Seismic-detailing for blast loading on bridges has been investigated to study the correlations between seismic design for blast load effects. High-precision 3D Finite Element models of bridges detailed …