Engineering Commons^™

Stochastic Water Balance Dynamics Of Passive And Controlled Stormwater Basins, Anthony J. Parolari, Steven Pelrine, Mark S. Bartlett

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Urbanization and changing rainfall intensities affect the performance of urban stormwater infrastructure, creating the necessity to design resilient stormwater systems. One proposed method to increase the resilience of stormwater infrastructure is the active control of system flows. To improve the understanding of actively-controlled urban water infrastructure function under variable hydro-climate, we develop a stochastic water balance model for stormwater retention and detention basins with both passive and actively-controlled outflow structures. Under active outflow control, the outflow valve is closed until the water level in the basin reaches a specified maximum at which point the valve opens and the basin empties. …

Enabling Robust Distributed Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Method And Expanding Its Applications In Floating Wind Turbine Systems, Mehmet Cinar

Masters Theses

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS), which integrates physical experiment and numerical simulation, plays an essential role in understanding the time-dependent behavior of structures when subject to hazardous loadings. On the other hand, RTHS might not yield accurate results for complex structural systems due to experimental and computational limitations. Distributed real-time hybrid simulation (dRTHS), which takes the advantage of distributed laboratory facilities using network communications, was proposed and proven to address some limitations in RTHS. During dRTHS, Internet delay due to the network communication is added to the actuator delay in RTHS, which may cause inaccurate results or even unstable tests. To …

Field Swcc Modeling And Soil Water Storage Evaluation Through Geophysical Testing, Linkan Sarker

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Evapotranspiration (ET) landfill cover is an emerging final cover system and offers several benefits over conventional landfill closure system. It is a cost-effective green solution for the sustainability of a landfill as its performance enhances with time compared to the conventional solution where low hydraulic conductivity soil barrier deteriorates with time. ET cover system relies on the water store-release principle and its performance depends on the site-specific factors such as on-site climatological conditions, soil hydraulic properties and native vegetation. To effectively monitor the performance of this type of cover system, its unsaturated behavior, field capacity, available moisture for plant growth, …

Improving Ductility Of Slender Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls With Frp Sheets And Splay Anchors, Luke M. Ostrom

Architectural Engineering

The Sylmar earthquake of 1971 caused significant damage to slender, non-ductile reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall buildings in California. A later survey by the Concrete Coalition in 2011, under the guidance of EERI members, indicated that there are over 3000 vulnerable concrete buildings in California [8]. This led to City of Los Angeles (LA) Ordinance 193893 enacted in 2015, which requires mandatory upgrades to these concrete buildings by 2035. Current practice to meet the requirements of this ordinance, with respect to RC wall buildings, involves adding new shear walls to the building plan or increasing the cross-sectional area of existing …

Automation Of Post-Earthquake Civil Infrastructure Reconnaissance, Jack Bergquist

Architectural Engineering

Traditionally post-earthquake structural engineering reconnaissance consists of a team of experts who are deployed to the field to record and capture earthquake damage data, which is later uploaded into online repositories. Despite many advances to these data archives in recent years, the entries in online repositories often have limited metadata which make it difficult and time consuming to extract specific damage evidence that can be used for meaningful analysis. This report outlines the author’s contributions to overcoming these challenges via the development of a neural network that automatically filters and classifies post-earthquake civil infrastructure damage data after a seismic event. …

Epoxy Interlocking: A Novel Approach To Enhance Frp-To-Concrete Bond Behavior, Cheng Jiang, Baolin Wan, Yu-Fei Wu, John Omboko

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents a novel approach which can enhance the interfacial bond behavior between fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite material and concrete. Epoxy ribs are formed by grooving on the concrete surface before epoxy is applied. The dowel action from the epoxy ribs leads to an “epoxy interlocking” effect. The mechanism of the proposed epoxy interlocking approach was analyzed in this paper from both adhesion and interlocking aspects. Furthermore, the partial interaction of the epoxy interlocking was quantified and calibrated by experimental results. The epoxy interlocking in the tested specimens led to an 88.8% increase in bond strength on average. …

Impact Of Wide-Base Tires On Pavements: A National Study, Imad L. Al-Qadi, Jaime Hernandez, Angeli Gamez, Mojtaba Ziyadi, Osman Erman Gungor, Seunggu Kang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper summarizes a multi-year effort comparing the new-generation wide-base tires (NG-WBT) and dual-tire assembly from a holistic point of view. The tires were compared considering not only pavement damage but also environmental impact. Numerical modeling, prediction methods, experimental measurements, and life-cycle assessment were combined to provide recommendations about the use of NG-WBT. A finite element (FE) approach considering variables that are usually omitted in the conventional analysis of flexible pavement was used for modeling pavement structures combining layer thickness, material properties, tire load, tire-inflation pressure, and pavement type (interstate and low volume). A prediction tool, ICT-Wide, was developed based …

Development Of Domain Analysis To Predict Multi-Axial Flexible Airfield Pavement Responses Due To Gear And Environmental Loadings, Angeli Gamez, Jaime Hernandez, Imad L. Al-Qadi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Flexible pavement design procedures use maximum mechanistic strains to predict service life via empirical transfer functions. The conventional method of using predefined point locations for potential damage may not accurately represent realistic pavement scenarios. For instance, flexible airfield pavement analysis mainly considers the critical strain at the bottom of the asphalt concrete (AC), which may not characterize near-surface cracking potential. In lieu of point strains, domain analysis, a new method, accounts for the multi-axial behavior of pavements, as inherently excited by three-dimensional (3-D) and nonuniform aircraft tire–pavement contact stresses. Initially applied on highway pavements considering truck tire loading, this approach …

A Stormwater Management Model For California Polytechnic State University Campus, Hsuan-Wen Chu

Master's Theses

Developments that have been taking place on Cal Poly campus over the years have altered the natural hydrology of the area. Stormwater management practices could help reduce the impacts of these developments. Computer models can help to design effective and economical stormwater management solutions at a watershed scale. As such, the objective of this study was to develop a stormwater management model for Cal Poly campus. The model was developed based on the utility data obtained from the university and other watershed data available from open sources. Field surveys were conducted to address some anomalies in the utility data, and …

Relationship Between Road Network Characteristics And Traffic Safety, Hatim Sharif, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The Transportation and Capital Improvement of the City of San Antonio, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and other related agencies often make several efforts based on traffic data to improve safety at intersections, but the number of intersection crashes is still on the high side. There is no one size fits all solution for intersections and the City is often usually confronted with doing best value option analysis on different solutions to choose the least expensive yet more advancements. The goal of this project was to obtain the relationship between road network characteristics and public safety with a focus on …

Use Of Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (Uhp-Frc) For Fast And Sustainable Repair Of Pavements, Shih-Ho Chao

Publications

This research presents a new methodology, which enables streets, roads, highways, bridges, and airfields to use an advanced fiber-reinforced concrete material, which can delay or prevent the deterioration of these transportation infrastructure when subjected to traffic and environmental loadings. The major problem of concrete is its considerable deterioration and limited service life due to its brittleness and limited durability. As a result, it requires frequent repair and eventual replacement, which consumes more natural resources. Ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) introduces significant enhancement in the sustainability of concrete structures due to its dense microstructure and damage-tolerance characteristics. These characteristics can significantly reduce …

Simplified Approach For Structural Evaluation Of Flexible Pavements At The Network Level, Mena Souliman, Stefan Romanoschi, Samer Dessouky

Publications

Currently, there are few available simple procedures to identify structurally weak pavement sections utilizing Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) data at the network level (e.g., city, state or province). A simple method is required to determine the structural condition of pavement sections that can be directly implemented and automated in current pavement databases. The objective of this research study is to develop a simple analysis method to determine the structural condition of pavement sections utilizing the currently available non-destructive testing (NDT) deflection measurement devices at the network level that can be directly implemented and automated in the database of a typical …

A Comprehensive Reliability-Based Framework For Corrosion Damage Monitoring And Repair Design Of Reinforced Concrete Structures, Homero Castaneda, Aydin Karsilaya, Ayman Okeil, Mahmoud Reda Taha

Publications

In this work, we developed a comprehensive framework for corrosion management of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This framework includes critical steps of an effective approach to quantify the damage evolution as well as providing the timeframe for effective maintenance/repair strategies for corrosion assessment in RC structures. The framework included several activities including the use of indirect and direct inspection tools, theoretical development for damage prediction, experimental measurements and theoretical development of repair time based on reliability. The uniqueness of the framework is the integration of deterministic modeling of corrosion damage evolution by using mechanistic analysis with statistical modeling on corrosion …

Evaluation Of Comparative Damaging Effects Of Multiple Truck Axles For Flexible Pavements, Stefan Romanoschi, Athanassios Papagiannakis

Publications

This study aims at evaluating the effect of overlapping flexible pavement strain responses from truck axles that are not part of multiple axle configurations (i.e., tandem, triple and quad). For this purpose, a newly constructed pavement was instrumented with strain gauges installed at the bottom of the asphalt concrete base layer on US-287 south of Mansfield, TX. This pavement structure is typically used for medium- to high-volume roads in the South-Central region of the United States. The strain gauges were used to measure longitudinal and transverse strains under several passes of a test vehicle. This was a class 6 truck …

Coastal Bridges Under Hurricane Stresses Along The Texas And Louisiana Coast, Adolfo Matamoros, Firat Testik

Publications

The main objective of this study is to develop a high-resolution model capable of simulating the response of bridge structures to hydrodynamic loads for hurricane design conditions (i.e., surge height, wave height, and frequency) expected in the Texas-Louisiana coast. The model relied on Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) techniques where solids are simulated with Lagrangian meshes, while fluids are simulated using Eulerian meshes, and was calibrated using historical data from wave impact laboratory tests. Two high resolution models were created, the first of a tsunami wave impact test conducted at Oregon State University and the second of a bridge located in the …

Development Of A Self-Powered Structural Health Monitoring System For Transportation Infrastructure, Aydin Karsilaya, Samer Dessouky, Athanassios Papagiannakis

Publications

Roadways and bridges play an important role in the economic and social health of society by connecting commerce and people. Economic growth and population expansion pose considerable burden on the aging infrastructure (i.e., pavements and bridges). There is a pressing need to develop structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies capable of collecting infrastructure utilization data. Doing so inexpensively with self-powered systems will revolutionize infrastructure monitoring technology, and will improve decision making enabling roadway and bridge preservation. In this study, a self-powered battery-less structural health monitoring (SHM) system was developed. It is powered by a thermal energy harvester equipped with thermoelectric generators …

Mitigating Traffic Congestion On I-10 In Baton Rouge, La: Supply- And Demand-Oriented Strategies & Treatments, Samir Ahmed, Osama Osman, Julius Codjoe

Publications

The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the causes of traffic congestion on I-10 in the Baton Rouge, LA area, particularly at the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge, and to identify treatments and strategies to mitigate congestion at the bridge site. This study developed and calibrated a microsimulation model of I-10 (from Lobdell Highway in Port Allen to Highland Road, I-110 to Florida Street, and I-12 to Walker Road) and investigated several supply- and demand-oriented strategies. This includes: rehabilitation and utilization of the old Mississippi River Bridge on US-190 and the existing US-190/US-61 corridor, overall demand …

Recruiting, Retaining, And Promoting For Careers At Transportation Agencies, Christofer Harper, Susan Bogus, Raghava Kommalapati, Doeun Choe

Publications

State transportation agencies currently face complex challenges in recruiting and retaining the workforce necessary to function effectively. The situation exacerbates due to the number of employees from different generations that have to coexist with varying values, expectations, and principles. These agencies are primarily comprised of two generational groups: the baby-boomers, who are approaching retirement and occupy many managerial positions; and the millennials, who are demonstrating their interest in technology and demanding dynamism in their careers. This multiplicity of interest represents a challenge for human resources (HR) in addressing workforce issues and providing the necessary means to recruit and retain qualified …

Research Incentive Programs For Closures Of Public And Private Grade Crossings, Julius Codjoe

Publications

Vehicle-train crashes that occur at highway-rail crossings result in injuries, fatalities, and damage to equipment. In order to reduce the number of vehicle-train crashes, Federal Railroad Administration requires states which have challenges with crossing safety, including Louisiana, to develop a State Action Plan to improve grade crossing safety. Consequently, identification of specific solutions for improving safety at crossings was included in the 2015 Louisiana Transportation Plan as one of its objectives. This study seeks to identify and evaluate current and new incentive programs that encourage closure of at-grade railroad crossings to reduce the number of potential vehicle-train collision points, and …

Evaluation Of A Centrifuge Consolidation Technique To Determine The Effects Of Temperature And Time On Kaolinite Properties, Esteban Miranda Pinzon

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract

The effects of time and temperature on the moisture content and unit weight profiles, as developed during a centrifuge consolidation process, were observed during the research program that is described herein. Specifically, a Beckman-Coulter Model J6-MI centrifuge with a six-place JS-4.2A swinging bucket rotor was utilized to consolidate kaolinite slurry samples. The consolidation procedure utilized specially designed slurry consolidometers, made from acrylic tubes with inside diameters of 2.63 inches (6.67 cm) and heights of 5.13 inches (13.04 cm). The tested kaolinite slurry samples were created by mixing 400 grams of dry kaolinite clay powder with 200 grams of de-aired …

Physio-Chemical Degradation Of Concrete: A Ramification Of Coupled Freeze-Thaw And Sulfate Attack, Md Aminul Islam

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Concrete structures experience damage due to Sulfate Attack (SA) and Freeze-Thaw (F-T) in cold regions containing ample amount of sulfate species. The combined effect of SA and F-T is a multiscale multiphysics damaging process for cementitious materials involving complicated chemical reactions and phase transition inside concrete pores. This thesis is a compilation of two theoretical models describing the SA induced damage in an unsaturated cementitious medium and damage due to the combined effect of SA and F-T. The classical theory of phase change and a diffusion-reaction process is utilized in the development of the models. The validity of the proposed …

Evaluation Of Bond Properties Between Fiber Reinforced Concrete Overlay And Substrate Concrete, Emad Okrush Alshammari

Theses and Dissertations

Bonded concrete overlay is the most economical and quick option in concrete rehabilitation methods to provide strength for the existing structure. Bonded concrete overlay strength rely on properties of both layers (substrate and new layers). Poor bonding in interface zone leads to two main failures of concrete overlays; debonding and cracks. There are several traditional factors affect bond strength such as water to cement (w/c) ratio, moisture condition, and surface roughness for substrate layer. However, the effect of using fiber consider a new variable affecting bond strength. Fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) is one type of overlay system which has been …

The Influence Of Shared Mobility And Transportation Policies On Vehicle Ownership, Edgar Bertini Ruas

PSU Transportation Seminars

With the emergence of several new providers of shared mobility services, such as Uber, Biketown and Car2go, there has been the promise of changes to the traditional way of owning and using a vehicle. One potential consequence of the new mobility services is the reduction in vehicle ownership. At the same time, cities are trying to anticipate these changes by reducing the amount of space dedicated to parking. This thesis aims to asses the extent to which new shared mobility and transportation policy strategies (especially parking requirements and transit pass availability) relate to vehicle ownership among residents of multifamily dwellings. …

Ion Exchange For Nutrient Recovery Coupled With Biosolids-Derived Biochar Pretreatment To Remove Micropollutants, Yiran Tong, Lee K. Kimbell, Anna Avila, Patrick J. Mcnamara, Brooke K. Mayer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Wastewater, especially anaerobic treatment effluent, contains high ammonia nitrogen (NH₄-N) and inorganic orthophosphate (PO₄-P), which necessitate additional treatment to meet stringent discharge regulations. Ion exchange regeneration is a process that can be adopted for not only removing but also recovering nutrients. However, recovering nutrients by ion exchange from nutrient-rich effluents that also contain micropollutants (which typically pass through anaerobic treatment as well) may result in subsequent problems, since micropollutants could end up in ion exchange effluent, regenerant, or recovered fertilizer products. Micropollutant removal by a nonselective adsorbent, such as biosolids-derived biochar, before nutrient recovery processes would …

Experimental Study On A New Type Of Transverse Connection For Nebraska County Bridge System, Alexander Bleyhl

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Many county-owned bridges in Nebraska need replacement due to their structural deficiency. Most of the bridges needing replacement are in the 40 to 60 ft range. This span range lacks a standard design that fits Nebraska county practices in terms of speed and simplicity of construction. The current systems being used are (a) Precast 1 by 2 ft planks which can span up to 30 ft, (b) Cast-in-place slab bridges which can span up to 50 ft but require extensive field formwork, concrete placing, and curing, and are best when constructed in three-span units, and (c) Inverted tees which can …

Investigation Of A Tractor-Tank Trailer Roadside Containment Barrier, Dean L. Whitfield

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of this research project was to develop a new, cost-effective, Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 6 (TL-6) barrier. A literature review on prior Test Level 5 and Test Level 6 barriers was conducted, and the cost of current TL-5 and TL-6 barriers was established. Existing and modified design procedures for roadside barrier were reviewed as well as current TL-6 design forces. A preliminary TL-6 truck model was developed in LS-DYNA. The minimum barrier height to contain a tractor-tank vehicle was determined to be 62 in. for a rigid, vertical-faced barrier through LS-DYNA computer simulation. New …

Webinar: Segmenting The Market For Transportation Demand Management Campaigns, Philip L. Winters, Amy Lester

TREC Webinar Series

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. It is a useful transportation demand management (TDM) planning approach to promote travel behavior change. The purpose of this study was to explore a consumer market segmentation technique successfully used in Europe for its applicability to marketing efforts in the United States. Attitudinal and demographic data were collected from 1900 individuals in Florida, Oregon, and Virginia modeled after the European approach. Clustering analysis was applied to divide the sample into segments so that members of …

Electroósmosis: Un Método Para Mejorar El Suelo, Yenni Mariana Ramírez Mazo, Juan Pablo Osorio, Sergio Agudelo Florez

Articles

El suelo, ese que pisamos, recorremos, sobre el que construimos nuestras casas, escuelas, calles… ese en el que nos dicen que pongamos los pies cuando estamos algo distraídos, es más que simplemente tierra.

The Feasibility Of High Strength Stainless Steel In Prestressing Applications For Pile Design, Cara Morton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 50% of the Nation’s infrastructure was built over 40 years ago for a 50 year service life according to the National Association of Corrosion Engineers [72]. To mitigate the cost of major repair or replacement at 50 years, AASHTO now requires all new bridge construction to have a 100 year service life. One of the main challenges in achieving this goal is avoiding corrosion, especially in warm, saltwater environments like those found in the Southeastern United States. Elements that cross the waterline (piles) are a weak link the infrastructure. Good quality concrete easily maintains a service life of 75+ …

Big Data And Sensor Network For Construction Material Testing, Yao Shi

Theses and Dissertations

Engineers and contractors need to have a precise understanding of the development progress of concrete strength in the natural environment, which helps to save project time and cost. However, current practice of concrete construction depends on published data, charts and curves from laboratory tests. The data would not show frequently changing environmental conditions in the real world, which can affect concrete quality significantly. The objective of this research is to design a reliable and accurate method to validate test data of the strength developments of concrete specimens in early stages. The approach includes the following tasks: (1) arrange sensors to …