Engineering Commons^™

Enhancing Concrete Barrier Reflectivity With A Focus On Recycled Glass Aggregate Replacement, Regina Shklyan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Increased accident rates during the nighttime and wet weather conditions on the United States highways necessitate the enhancement of highway concrete barrier visibility. The visibility of these delineators is dependent on their reflectivity. Several methods are proposed that stand to increase the reflectivity of these concrete barriers, such as the use of white cement versus gray cement and the attachment of raised pavement markers to the side of the barriers. The incorporation of recycled glass into the concrete mixture is one of the proposed methods that was put through further laboratory study. The aim of the laboratory testing was to …

Seismic Energy Dissipation Of Steel Buildings Using Engineered Cladding Systems, Quan Viet Nguyen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This research examines the seismic energy dissipation potential of steel structures by focusing on new types of specially engineered cladding-to-frame connections. Traditional connection details consist of rigid restraints of cladding panels, resulting in seismic design that only considers the panel self-weight with connection design left up to the precast fabricators and typical details. It is postulated that by considering these elements to actively participate in building response a more efficient and resilient structure could be designed which accurately captures the effects of non-structural cladding elements on building behavior. In this preliminary research, two mechanisms to dissipate seismic energy using engineered …

Computer-Assisted Emergency Evacuation Planning Using Transcad: Case Studies In Western Massachusetts, Steven P. Andrews

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Disasters, ranging from manmade events to natural occurrences, can happen anywhere on the planet, and their consequences can range from economic loss to catastrophic loss of life. Determining how the transportation system fares in the face of these disasters is important so that proper planning can take place before, rather than after, an event has happened. Modeling the transportation system gives operators the ability to discover bottlenecks, to determine the possible benefit of using lane reversals, and to find out the influence of evacuation speed on system efficiency. Models have already been created that are able to model some of …

Analytical Modeling Of Tree Vibration Generated During Cutting Process, Payman Karvanirabori

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

There are several ways to cut down a tree. The piece by piece cutting method is studied in this research. By modeling the cutting process into simple dynamic models and obtaining governing equations of motion of tree and cut piece in each model, the forces during cutting process were calculated. The method was then applied to a set of real data and tree vibrations were compared with field measurements. The study is very rare in the case of the variety of the topics it covers from dynamics and mechanics to finite element modeling of a biological system.

Developing An Evaluation Approach To Assess Large Scale Its Infrastructure Improvements: I-91 Project, Melissa Paciulli

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can include multiple technologies and applications combined to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the transportation system or network. These applications are deployed with the anticipation that the desired project goals and objectives established by multiple stakeholders will be achieved. Once a system is deployed, the project goals and objectives should be evaluated. The evaluation can provide both quantitative and qualitative feedback to assess the impacts associated with the investment in building, designing and implementing these systems.

This research includes a methodology to evaluate large scale ITS infrastructure projects using the Interstate 91 (I-91) ITS …