Engineering Commons^™

Dynamics Of Suspended Sediment Flux On The Rivers Bandon And Owenabue, Ireland, S. T. Harrington, Joseph R. Harrington

Publications

Monitoring, analysis and modelling of suspended sediment transport in riverine systems has received much attention in recent decades. Quantitive analysis techniques have been applied to allow river basin managers to assess suspended sediment transport and its importance in transporting a range of pollutants including excess metals and nutrients, which negatively impact on aquatic systems. In this paper, an analysis of the suspended sediment fl ux (SSF) dynamics is presented for the small and medium sized catchments of the River Owenabue and the River Bandon, respectively. The results contribute to the fi lling of a research gap in an Irish context …

Environmental Study Of The Release Of Btex From Asphalt Modified With Used Motor Oil And Crumb Rubber Modifier, Daniel Bergerson, Magdy Abdelrahman, Mohyeldin Ragab

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The need to be more environmentally conscious has recently shifted toward the forefront of society. With this new focus on environmentally responsible behavior comes the practice of using recycled materials in construction when possible. Therefore it is necessary to carefully evaluate the safety of any recycled materials being used in pavement materials. Under this study, a reference of testing is presented and implemented to test leachate of samples of two different asphalt binder types containing used motor oil (UMO) and/or crumb rubber modifier (CRM) for the presence of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Alongside batch leaching tests, air testing …

Analysis Of Heart Rate Variability Amongst Cyclists Under Perceived Variations Of Risk Exposure, Ronan Doorley, Vikram Pakrashi, Eoin Byrne, Samuel Comerford, Bidisha Ghosh, John A. Groeger

NIMBUS Articles

Cycling as a mode of travel provides an opportunity for many people to increase their levels of regular physical activity and contribute to their mental and physical health. Heart rate is often used as a means of measuring the intensity and energy expenditure of physical activity. However, heart rate is also linked to emotional factors such as anxiety and fear. Perceptions of risk due to external factors such as other road users and infrastructure may arouse such emotions in urban cyclists. The present study set out to investigate whether or not perceptions of risk among urban cyclists may lead to …

Modeling The Snow Surface Temperature With A One-Layer Energy Balance Snowmelt Model, J. You, David G. Tarboton, C. H. Luce

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Snow surface temperature is a key control on and result of dynamically coupled energy exchanges at the snow surface. The snow surface temperature is the result of the balance between external forcing (incoming radiation) and energy exchanges above the surface that depend on surface temperature (outgoing longwave radiation and turbulent fluxes) and the transport of energy into the snow by conduction and meltwater influx. Because of the strong insulating properties of snow, thermal gradients in snow packs are large and nonlinear, a fact that has led many to advocate multiple layer snowmelt models over single layer models. In an effort …

Civil Engineering And Construction News, Georgia Southern University

Civil Engineering & Construction News (2011-2022)

• Department Update

Experimental And Analytical Methodologies For Predicting Peak Loads On Building Envelopes And Roofing Systems, Maryam Asghari Mooneghi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The performance of building envelopes and roofing systems significantly depends on accurate knowledge of wind loads and the response of envelope components under realistic wind conditions. Wind tunnel testing is a well-established practice to determine wind loads on structures. For small structures much larger model scales are needed than for large structures, to maintain modeling accuracy and minimize Reynolds number effects. In these circumstances the ability to obtain a large enough turbulence integral scale is usually compromised by the limited dimensions of the wind tunnel meaning that it is not possible to simulate the low frequency end of the turbulence …

Climate Change And Stream Temperature Projections In The Columbia River Basin: Habitat Implications Of Spatial Variation In Hydrologic Drivers, Darren L. Ficklin, B. L. Barnhart, J. H. Knouft, Iris T. Stewart-Frey, Edwin P. Maurer, Sally L. Letsinger, G. W. Whittaker

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

Water temperature is a primary physical factor regulating the persistence and distribution of aquatic taxa. Considering projected increases in air temperature and changes in precipitation in the coming century, accurate assessment of suitable thermal habitats in freshwater systems is critical for predicting aquatic species' responses to changes in climate and for guiding adaptation strategies. We use a hydrologic model coupled with a stream temperature model and downscaled general circulation model outputs to explore the spatially and temporally varying changes in stream temperature for the late 21st century at the subbasin and ecological province scale for the Columbia River basin (CRB). …

Seismic Performance Of Precast Girder-To-Cap Beam Connections Designed For Abc, Sri Sritharan, Justin Vander Werff, Robert Peggar, Ron Bromenschenkel

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The behavior of critical connections between prefabricated elements in bridges utilizing accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods continues to be of utmost interest. Some of these connections will experience excessively high demand in regions that are susceptible to high seismic load. This paper presents a large-scale experimental study that investigated seismic performance of the connection between precast concrete I-shaped girders and a concrete inverted-tee cap beam using two different details. The ability of the girder-to-cap connection to successfully resist positive moment and the corresponding shear under combined gravity and seismic effects was of particular interest. The effect of vertical seismic acceleration …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2014, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Identification Of Groundwater Sources For Municipal Wells Using Geochemical Data On The Platte Alluvial Aquifer And Underlying Limestone At The Lincoln Water Well Field Near Ashland Nebraska, Juanita Cruz Torres

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alluvial aquifer systems where pumping of municipal wells induces recharge from the adjacent river are the primary source of water for many cities. The city of Lincoln, NE has a primary water source in an alluvial aquifer adjacent to the Platte River. The Lincoln Water System manages the stream/aquifer system by using integrated models for a better understanding during periods of high stress such as a drought. The integrated models set the limestone aquifer as an impermeable boundary to understand the alluvial aquifer system without having a secondary water source. The limestone aquifer is permeable and the purpose of this …

Traffic Safety Primer For Local Agencies, Indiana Ltap, Michigan Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

The purpose of this booklet is to empower local agency personnel to make informed decisions that can improve roadway safety in your community. By identifying and addressing potential roadway hazards, you can reduce the likelihood of a future traffic crash for your community and your family. Adapted by permission from the Michigan LTAP’s 2008 Publication What Elected Officials Need to Know About Traffic Safety (And What YOUR Constituents Expect YOU to Know!)

Performance Of Frp-Retrofitted Concrete Bridge Columns Under Blast Loading, R. Zheng, P. Zohrevand, H. Erdogan, Amir Mirmiran

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Contrary to military or essential government buildings, most bridges are designed without any consideration for blast resistance. Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) can provide an effective means for strengthening of critical bridges against such loading. This study has focused on the effectiveness of FRP retrofitting in the dynamic response of reinforced concrete bridge columns under blast loading. Using a simplified equivalent I-section with a virtual material lumped at the two flanges; a lightly meshed uniaxial finite element model was developed and successfully validated against previous studies. The proposed model was then used for a thorough parametric study on the blast resistance of …

Phytoscreening: A Comparison Of In Planta Portable Gc-Ms And In Vitro Analyses, Matt A. Limmer, Gregory D. Martin, Christopher J. Watson, Camilo Martinez, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Phytoscreening Has Been Proven to Rapidly Delineate Subsurface Contaminant Plumes for Semiquantitative Site Assessment, with Minimal Impact to Property or Ecology through the Collection and Analysis of Tree Cores. Here, Three Phytoscreening Methods Were Applied Concurrently to Identify Multiple Chlorinated Volatile Organic Compounds (CVOCs) in a Phytoremediation Treatment System at a Contaminated Industrial Facility. Tree Coring, in Planta Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and in Planta Passive Sampling Showed General Agreement, with the in Planta GC-MS Providing the Quickest But Least Quantitative Results. the Portable GC-MS Sampling and Analysis Method Identified Six CVOCs in the Xylem of Hybrid Poplars (Populus Sp.) …

Methods To Expedite And Streamline Utility Relocations For Road Projects, Roy Sturgill, Timothy R.B. Taylor, Seyedmahdi Ghorashinezhad, Jiwen Zhang

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Executive Summary This report describes best practices and tools to streamline and expedite utility relocations when they are required as part of road construction projects. As part of this effort, a research team from the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) conducted extensive qualitative research that involved mapping current practices at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and reviewing utility manuals from KYTC and other state transportation agencies. The KTC research team also conducted in-depth interviews with KYTC engineers and staff as well as representatives from utility companies (UCs). Based on the data from these investigations, KTC developed a number of recommendations to …

Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Surface Management: An Overview, Brett R. Malloy, Jerry G. Rose

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report draws on data from around the United States to describe the features of a successful railway/highway at-grade crossing management program; it emphasizes the highway/trackbed structures and crossing surfaces. Developing a structurally adequate crossing system is imperative, as this will produce a smooth surface and a stable highway/trackbed that prolongs crossings’ lifespans while keeping maintenance costs low and minimizing the number of disruptions encountered by highway and railway traffic. An overview of the guidance issued by several transportation agencies and organizations to facilitate the design and construction of railway/highway at-grade crossings is included here. Equally important to developing a …

Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Surface Rehabilitation Manual: Recommendations And Guides, Brett R. Malloy, Macy L. Purcell, Jerry G. Rose

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Surface Rehabilitation Manual offers guidance to engineers and project planners for designing, constructing, and managing railway/highway crossing rehabilitation projects. The manual includes information on pre-project administration, project execution, and post-project management and oversight. Suggestions are provided for determining the most cost-effective rehabilitation procedure, techniques to insure the appropriate installation procedures are followed onsite, and instructions for post-project administration and inspection procedures. The primary goal of this manual is to aid with the implementation of a crossing rehabilitation program; all of its guidance underscores the importance of achieving costeffective solutions through the use of best practices to …

Effect Of Enhanced Trackbed Support On Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Performance, Jerry G. Rose, Brett R. Malloy

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents the long-term performance of 89 railway/highway at-grade crossings in Kentucky and adjacent states that contain asphalt underlayment underneath the ballast. Asphalt underlayment increases load carrying capacity for trains and highway vehicles while enhancing the support structure’s waterproofing and confinement. The asphalt underlayment crossings studied were installed at sites that had historically exhibited poor performance and short service lives. Most of the crossing sites evaluated were 10-15 years old; however, their ages ranged up to 30 years. All of the crossings investigated have shown excellent performance since the installation of asphalt underlayments. No crossing failures, such as excessive …

Gis-Based Route Risk Assessment Of Hazardous Material Transport, Myungwoo Lee

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

The transportation of hazardous materials keeps increasing across the United States due to the growing consumption of goods and rising need for manufactured materials. Furthermore, concerns are mounting over the safe surface transportation of hazardous materials. Highways and rails are the most common modes of transport for hazardous materials, although the risk posed from highway transport of hazardous materials may be higher due to the fact that highways are public while rails are mostly private. The majority of hazardous material cargo is carried on the highway network by trucks. Due to possible adverse effects on human and animal populations in …

Feedlot Manure Management Considerations Including Anaerobic Digestion Potential And Mineral Retention, Andrea K. Watson

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Three anaerobic digestion trials were conducted to evaluate methane production from feedlot manure. As organic matter content of manure decreased, degradation of manure and methane production also linearly decreased (P ≤ 0.02). Quality, or organic matter content of manure, had a greater impact on anaerobic digestion than diet (with and without distillers grains) fed to cattle. Minerals are concentrated in effluent removed from anaerobic digesters.

Knowing mineral retention within cattle allows for more accurate calculation of mineral excretion in manure. Three serial slaughter trials measured mineral retention in growing and finishing cattle. During a growing phase, beef cattle gaining …

Sensitivity Of Columbia Basin Runoff To Long-Term Changes In Multi-Model Cmip5 Precipitation Simulations, Mehmet Demirel, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we used precipitation elasticity index of streamflow, to reflect on the sensitivity of streamflow to changes in future precipitation. We estimated precipitation elasticity of streamflow from: (1) simulated streamflow by the VIC model using observed precipitation for the current climate (1963–2003); (2) simulated streamflow by the VIC model using simulated precipitation from 10 GCM - CMIP5 dataset for the future climate (2010–2099) including two different pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and two different downscaled products (BCSD and MACA). The hydrological model was calibrated at 1/16 latitude-longitude resolution and the simulated streamflow was routed to the subbasin outlets of …

Disinfection Byproduct Formation Resulting From Settled, Filtered, And Finished Water Treated By Titanium Dioxide Photocatalysis, Brooke K. Mayer, Erin Daugherty, Morteza Abbaszadegan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This study evaluated strategies targeting disinfection byproduct (DBP) mitigation using TiO₂ photocatalysis with varying influent water quality. A Purifics Photo-CAT Lab reactor was used to assess total trihalomethane (TTHM) and haloacetic acid (HAA) formation as a function of photocatalytic treatment using water from a conventional coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation process, granular activated carbon filtration, and a DBP hot spot in the water distribution system. Regardless of influent water quality, photocatalysis reduced DBP precursors; however, low-energy limited photocatalysis (m⁻³), exacerbated the production of TTHMs and HAA5s beyond initial levels. Accordingly, limited photocatalysis is not a suitable option when TTHMs and HAA5s …

Recommendations For Kytc’S Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Surface Management Practices, Brett R. Malloy, Jerry G. Rose, Macy L. Purcell

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

An ideal Railway/Highway At-Grade Crossing Management program involves selecting costeffective practices when designing new crossings and rehabilitating existing crossings. This report outlines two strategies to enhance KYTC’s existing program. First, it describes a process that uses decision-option diagrams to optimize the assessment and implementation of engineering solutions in order to restore desired smoothness, minimize settlement in the postconstruction phase, and foster acceptable long-term performance of crossings following their rehabilitation. Decision-option diagrams rely on assessments that are site-specific and based on historical performance, the present observed performance and condition, and the measureable parameters specific to particular crossings. To supplement this process, …

Increased Span Length For The Mgs Long-Span Guardrail System, Nicholas A. Weiland, Ronald K. Faller, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Developing A University-Wide Course On Sustainability: A Critical Evaluation Of Planning And Implementation, Can B. Aktas, Rosemary Whelan, Howard Stoffer, Edmund Todd, Cindy L. Kern Ph.D.

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Sustainability is an issue of increasing importance in today's world. Institutions of higher education are undergoing change towards incorporating sustainable development principles within their teaching, research, service, and community outreach efforts. This article presents a case study of the development and implementation of one such initiative: a university-wide freshman course centered on the topic of sustainability. The objective of the course was to expose freshman students to important sustainability issues in a common course team-taught by faculty from various disciplines. The article presents experiences and recommendations as a guide to administrators, faculty and researchers at other institutions of higher education …

Catechol Oxidation By Ozone And Hydroxyl Radicals At The Air-Water Interface, Elizabeth A. Pillar, Robert C. Camm, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic emissions of aromatic hydrocarbons promptly react with hydroxyl radicals undergoing oxidation to form phenols and polyphenols (e.g., catechol) typically identified in the complex mixture of humic-like substances (HULIS). Because further processing of polyphenols in secondary organic aerosols (SOA) can continue mediated by a mechanism of ozonolysis at interfaces, a better understanding about how these reactions proceed at the air–water interface is needed. This work shows how catechol, a molecular probe of the oxygenated aromatic hydrocarbons present in SOA, can contribute interfacial reactive species that enhance the production of HULIS under atmospheric conditions. Reactive semiquinone radicals are quickly produced upon …

Understanding Immigrants' Travel Behavior In Florida: Neighborhood Effects And Behavioral Assimilation, Nishat Zaman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to develop Multinomial Logit models for the mode choice behavior of immigrants, with key focuses on neighborhood effects and behavioral assimilation. The first aspect shows the relationship between social network ties and immigrants’ chosen mode of transportation, while the second aspect explores the gradual changes toward alternative mode usage with regard to immigrants’ migrating period in the United States (US). Mode choice models were developed for work, shopping, social, recreational, and other trip purposes to evaluate the impacts of various land use patterns, neighborhood typology, socioeconomic-demographic and immigrant related attributes on individuals’ travel behavior. …

Hydroshare: Advancing Collaboration Through Hydrologic Data And Model Sharing, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

HydroShare is an online, collaborative system being developed for open sharing of hydrologic data and models. The goal of HydroShare is to enable hydrology researchers to easily discover and access hydrologic data and models, retrieve them to their desktop for local analysis and perform analyses in a distributed computing environment that may include grid, cloud or high performance computing. Users may also share and publish outcomes (data, results or models) into HydroShare, using the system as a collaboration platform. HydroShare is expanding the data sharing capability of the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System by broadening the classes of data accommodated. HydroShare …

Improved Criteria For Estimating Calibration Factors For Highway Safety Manual (Hsm) Applications, Dibakar Saha

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) estimates roadway safety performance based on predictive models that were calibrated using national data. Calibration factors are then used to adjust these predictive models to local conditions for local applications. The HSM recommends that local calibration factors be estimated using 30 to 50 randomly selected sites that experienced at least a total of 100 crashes per year. It also recommends that the factors be updated every two to three years, preferably on an annual basis. However, these recommendations are primarily based on expert opinions rather than data-driven research findings. Furthermore, most agencies do not have …

United States Patent Application Publication, John H. Posselius, Christopher A. Foster, Santosh Pitla, Scott A. Shearer, Joe D. Luck, Michael P. Sama, Rodrigo S. Zandonadi

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

A multiple robot control architecture including a plurality of robotic agricultural machines including a first and second robotic agricultural machine. Each robotic agricultural machine including at least one controller configured to implement a plurality of finite state machines Within an individual robot control architecture (IRCA) and a global information module (GIM) communicatively coupled to the IRCA. The GIMs of the first and second robotic agricultural machines being configured to cooperate to cause said first robotic agricultural machine and said second agricultural machine to perform at least one agricultural task.

Improved Bayesian Multi-Modeling: Integration Of Copulas And Bayesian Model Averaging, Shahrbanou Madadgar, Hamid Moradkhani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) is a popular approach to combine hydrologic forecasts from individual models, and characterize the uncertainty induced by model structure. In the original form of BMA, the conditional probability density function (PDF) of each model is assumed to be a particular probability distribution (e.g. Gaussian, gamma, etc.). If the predictions of any hydrologic model do not follow certain distribution, a data transformation procedure is required prior to model averaging. Moreover, it is strongly recommended to apply BMA on unbiased forecasts, whereas it is sometimes difficult to effectively remove bias from the predictions of complex hydrologic models. To …