Engineering Commons^™

The Role Of Rejuvenators In Embedded Damage Healing For Asphalt Pavement, Shi Xu, Xueyan Liu, Amir Tabakovic, P Lin, Y Zhang, S Nahar, B J. Lommerts, Erik Schlangen

Articles

Rejuvenator encapsulation technique showed great potential for extrinsic asphalt pavement damage healing. Once the capsules are embedded within asphalt pavement, the healing is activated on-demand via progressing microcrack. When the microcrack encounters the capsule, the fracture energy at the tip opens the capsule and releases the rejuvenator. Then the released rejuvenator wets the crack surfaces, diffuses into and softens the aged bitumen, allowing two broken edges to come in the contact, preventing further asphalt pavement deterioration. The quality and speed of the damage repair process strongly depend on the quality of rejuvenator, thus it is important to choose a proper …

City Best Practices To Improve Transit Operations And Safety, Michelle Derobertis, Christopher E. Ferrell, Richard W. Lee, David Moore

Mineta Transportation Institute

Public, fixed-route transit services most commonly operate on public streets. In addition, transit passengers must use sidewalks to access transit stops and stations. However, streets and sidewalks are under the jurisdiction of municipalities, not transit agencies. Various municipal policies, practices, and decisions affect transit operations, rider convenience, and passenger safety. Thus, these government entities have an important influence over the quality, safety, and convenience of transit services in their jurisdictions. This research identified municipal policies and practices that affect public transport providers’ ability to deliver transit services. They were found from a comprehensive literature review, interviews and discussions with five …

Cycling Past 50: A Closer Look Into The World Of Older Cyclists, Carol Kachadoorian

Mineta Transportation Institute

This document reports on 2,300 responses to a nationwide survey of older adults who cycle. The survey, open from February through September 2020, includes questions about a rider’s cycling history, current cycling habits, and falls. It includes a visual preference survey of various cycling facilities and an online journaling option for two rides subsequent to completing the survey (results of the online journals will be available in the summer 2021). Responses reflect the impact of COVID-19 on older adults’ cycling habits, the impact of aging on ability and agility, the impact of the built environment, types of bicycles, and opportunities …

Development Of Cracking Resistance Prediction Model Of Long-Term Aged Asphalt Mixtures, Peyman Barghabany

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the increasing complexity of asphalt mixture composition, the current volumetric-based Superpave mixture design would not be sufficient to address durability concerns. To address this limitation, performance-based testing is introduced to supplement conventional volumetric mixture design in assessing the cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures. To perform cracking tests, samples need to be aged to represent the most embrittlement case. The current AASHTO standard for asphalt mixture long-term aging (LTA) is a 5-day oven-aging at 85°C. Quality control/assurance practices require samples to be long-term aged prior to a cracking test which is a time-consuming process. Therefore, it would be beneficial to …

Slowing The Spread Of Covid-19: Review Of “Social Distancing” Interventions Deployed By Public Transit In The United States And Canada, Camille Kamga, Penny Eickemeyer

Publications and Research

This paper presents a review of social distancing measures deployed by transit agencies in the United States and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses how specific operators across the two countries have implemented changes. Challenges and impacts on their operations are also provided.

Social distancing is one of the community mitigation measures traditionally implemented during influenza pandemics and the novel coronavirus pandemic. Research has shown that social distancing is effective in containing the spread of disease. This is applicable to the current situation with the novel coronavirus, given the lack of effective vaccines and treatments in the United States …

The Prospect Of Microwave Heating: Towards A Faster And Deeper Crack Healing In Asphalt Pavement, Shi Xu, Xueyan Liu, Amir Tabakovic, Erik Schlangen

Articles

Microwave heating has been shown to be an effective method of heating asphalt concrete and in turn healing the damage. As such, microwave heating holds great potential in rapid (1–3 min) and effective damage healing, resulting in improvement in the service life, safety, and sustainability of asphalt pavement. This study focused on the microwave healing effect on porous asphalt concrete. Steel wool fibres were incorporated into porous asphalt to improve the microwave heating efficiency, and the optimum microwave heating time was determined. Afterwards, the microwave healing efficiency was evaluated using a semi–circular bending and healing programme. The results show that …

Initial Project Estimates For Design, Right Of Way, Utilities, And Construction, Christopher Van Dyke, Bryan Gibson, Jeff Jasper, Bob Lewis, Doug Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Estimating the cost of highway construction projects is among the more challenging tasks state transportation agencies routinely deal with. Developing accurate estimates is a particularly fraught exercise during the planning and scoping phases, when projects have not been thoroughly defined and information on specifics is in short supply. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has used several methodologies to generate initial cost estimates for design, right of way, utilities, and construction (DRUC), approaches vary between the agency’s districts. This report proposes a framework for estimating DRUC-related expenses that can be adopted throughout the state. Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers developed …

Non-Nuclear Methods For Compaction Control Of Unbound Soil And Granular Layers, Brad Rister, Charlie Sun, Kean H. Ashurst Jr., Tim Jones, Christopher Van Dyke

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

In highway construction, the nuclear density gauge (NDG) is the industry standard for measuring soil density and moisture. They are widely used at state transportation agencies, however, because of their reliance on radiation, NDGs are expensive to maintain and have unique storage requirements. Operators must also earn specialized certifications and adhere to rigorous safety protocols. Equipment manufacturers have developed several non-nuclear density gauges which are more user friendly, however, their accuracy has sometimes not equaled NDGs. This comparative study evaluated the performance of the eGauge (a relatively new device) to NDGs. Over 100 soil density and moisture measurements were collected …

Low-Cost Modal Identification Sensors For Bridge Field Testing, Daniel Linzell, Saaed Eftekhar Azam, Samira Ardani, Ahmed E Rageh

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This report provides a framework for experimental load rating of bridges via inclusion of low-cost dynamic sensors and dynamic tests. Currently 25% of the bridges in Nebraska are posted for live load. According to the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) in 2012, 93% of all postings in the US were based analytical load ratings, 7% were posted using field evaluation and engineering judgement, and 1% were posted using experimental load rating methods.

Instrumentation costs and traffic interruptions can be problematic when load testing is necessary to accurately assess in-situ bridge live load capacity. Recent advances in (i) sensing technology and (ii) …

Safety Considerations For All Road Users On Edge Lane Roads, Michael Williams, Marcial Lamera, Aleksander Bauranov, Carole Voulgaris, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute

Edge lane roads (ELRs), also known as advisory bike lanes or advisory shoulders, are a type of shared street where two-way motor vehicle (MV) traffic shares a single center lane, and edge lanes on either side are preferentially reserved for vulnerable road users (VRUs). This work comprises a literature review, an investigation of ELRs’ operational characteristics and potential road user interactions via simulation, and a study of crash data from existing American and Australian ELRs.

The simulation evaluated the impact of various factors (e.g., speed, volume, directional split, etc.) on ELR operation. Results lay the foundation for a siting criterion. …

Defect Detection In Freight Railcar Tapered-Roller Bearings Using Vibration Techniques, Constantine Tarawneh, Joseph Montalvo, Brent Wilson

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Currently, there are two types of defect detection systems used to monitor the health of freight railcar bearings in service: wayside hot-box detection systems and trackside acoustic detection systems. These systems have proven to be inefficient in accurately determining bearing health, especially in the early stages of defect development. To that end, a prototype onboard bearing condition monitoring system has been developed and validated through extensive laboratory testing and a designated field test in 2015 at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. in Pueblo, CO. The devised system can accurately and reliably characterize the health of bearings based on developed vibration …

Evaluation Of Orange Pavement Striping For Use In Work Zones, Erin Lammers-Staats, William Staats, Ken Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Interstate widening projects are commonplace in Kentucky, and safety is of primary concern within the project work zone. Past experience with long work zones revealed two critical safety issues: driver confusion due to unclear pavement markings and a lack of continuous work zone signage for motorists indicating they are still within a work zone. This concern is heightened in transition and taper areas. Highly visible markings in an alternative color other than standard yellow or white might better distinguish the proper travel path for motorists and prevent drivers from returning to normal driving behavior and speeds once they get through …

Fiscal Year 2019 Fhwa-536 Report For The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Doug Kreis, Candice Wallace, Bryan Gibson, Sarah Mccormack

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires state transportation agencies to submit a biennial report on local highway finances. The purpose of these reports is to provide FHWA with the data it needs to capture the financing of highway activities at the local level. Based on this information, it can identify trends in revenue, expenditures, investments, and program development, and in turn make decisions about future investments. The report, FHWA-536, asks agencies to report on four areas of local highway finance: 1) disposition of highway-user revenues; 2) revenues used for roads and streets identified by source and funding type; 3) road …

Development, Implementation, And Tracking Of Preventative Safety Metrics, Zamaan Al-Shabbani, Ashtarout Ammar, Hala Nassereddine, Gabriel B. Dadi

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

What gets measured, gets improved. With respect to the safety and health of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) employees, the primary metric used has been the OSHA recordable incident rate. This incident rate measures how often a Cabinet employee sustains an injury that demands more than basic first aid. This metric is important for understanding injury frequencies, but it does not assist with management of the safety, health, and overall well-being of KYTC personnel. Based on a review of leading safety indicators adopted by various industries, this study devised a comprehensive list of safety metrics the Cabinet will benefit from tracking. …

Commercial Driver’S License Prosecution, Adjudication, And Data Transmission, Andrew Martin, Jeeyen Koo, Jennifer Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Center research team examined law enforcement and adjudication of traffic offenses committed by commercial driver’s license holders. The objectives were to identify states that would provide the data, collect information about their court systems, analyze enforcement and/or adjudication data, and make some general observations about trends. Many state agencies were not able to provide their traffic offense data and therefore, the team focused primarily on data from Kentucky and Washington State.

The study focused on enforcement trends and adjudication of safety-related offenses. Overall, conviction rates remain higher than dismissal and amended rates. In recent years, dismissal and …

The Legacy Of Car-Share And Light-Rail Transit For Mobility And Accessibility Improvements In Economically Marginalized Neighborhoods In The New York Metro Area, Kyeongsu Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the value of the car-share program and a new light rail system with respect to their impact on mobility and accessibility improvements in economically and transportation access-wise marginalized neighborhoods in NYC and its adjacent communities. It consists of three main essays that took deep dives into how each new service or system altered mobility or accessibility for those in need. The first essay (Chapter 2) investigates car-share vehicle utilization rates of the Zipcar across NYC. It assesses the utilization rates by vehicle type, service location, time period, and weekday usage compared to weekend activity. With a multivariate …

Structural Identification And Damage Detection In Bridges Using Wave Method And Uniform Shear Beam Models: A Feasibility Study, Mehran Rahmani, Manan Naik

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents a wave method to be used for the structural identification and damage detection of structural components in bridges, e.g., bridge piers. This method has proven to be promising when applied to real structures and large amplitude responses in buildings (e.g., mid-rise and high-rise buildings). This study is the first application of the method to damaged bridge structures. The bridge identification was performed using wave propagation in a simple uniform shear beam model. The method identifies a wave velocity for the structure by fitting an equivalent uniform shear beam model to the impulse response functions of the recorded …

The Use Of Dynamic Message Signs (Dmss) On The Freeways: An Empirical Analysis Of Dmss Logs And Survey Data, Boniphace Kutela, Hualiang Teng

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

This study evaluates the Dynamic Message Signs (DMSs) use to dissipate incident information on the freeways in Las Vegas, Nevada. It focuses on the DMSs message timing, extent, and content, from the operators’ and drivers’ perspectives, considering the variability in drivers’ freeway experience. Two-week incidents data with fifty-nine incidents, DMS log data, and responses from a survey questionnaire were used. The descriptive analysis of the incidents revealed that about 54% of the incidents had their information posted on the DMSs; however, information of only 18.6% of the incidents was posted on time. The posted information covered the incident type (54.2%), …

Truck Platooning Effects On Girder Bridges, Joshua Steelman, Jay A. Puckett, Daniel Linzell, Bowen Yang

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Truck platooning – digitally linking two or more trucks to travel in a closely spaced convoy – is increasingly used to save fuel, and reduce driver work and road congestion. Currently, the platoon load effects with several constant headways on bridges have been evaluated and compared to AASHTO design and legal loads. However, reliability assessment and a more rigorous investigation of headway spacing assumptions for truck platoons are lacking. This research provides a framework for determining how much a platoon permit load might be increased given strict control over the load characteristics and operational tactics. The present research evaluates the …

Quality Assessment Of Flexible Pavement Automated Cracking Data In Louisiana, Mostafiz Emtiaz

LSU Master's Theses

Pavement distress survey is the most critical and integral part of pavement management system. Transportation agencies all over the world depends on the accurate pavement distress survey to take major decisions like pavement rehabilitation or reconstruction. Pavement management at the network level requires accurate pavement distress survey to decide the allocation of budget for pavement maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction. This study started collected network-level cracking distress data through manual measurements on high-resolution pavement images and the results were used as the ground truth measurements to evaluate the corresponding automated distress data from the Pavement Management System database. Results showed that …

Improving Pedestrian Safety Using Video Data, Surrogate Safety Measures And Deep Learning, Shile Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The research aims to improve pedestrian safety at signalized intersections using video data, surrogate safety measures and deep learning. Machine learning (including deep learning) models are proposed for predicting pedestrians' potentially dangerous situations. On the one hand, pedestrians' red-light violations can expose the pedestrians to motorized traffic and pose potential threats to pedestrian safety. Thus, the prediction of pedestrians' crossing intention during red-light signals is carried out. The pose estimation technique is used to extract features on pedestrians' bodies. Machine learning models are used to predict pedestrians' crossing intention at intersections' red-light, with video data collected from signalized intersections. Multiple …

Remediation Of Roadway Runoff Nutrients: Querying Sources Delivery Mechanism, Efficacy Of Stormwater Best Management Practices, And Stormwater Routing Through Karst Geology, Mohammad Shokri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Stormwater road runoff is a widespread non-point source of contaminants such as nutrients, which endangers water bodies, especially in vulnerable karst areas such as Florida. While roadside vegetated filter strips (VFSs) and stormwater basins are generally accepted best management practices (BMPs) for stormwater management, uncertainties about VFS nutrient removal are reported and stormwater basins are concerned of facilitating contaminant transport. In this dissertation, the application and efficacy of engineered infiltration media was tested as a subgrade for the enhanced nutrient removal from roadway runoff. Results of field-scale laboratory testing indicated that a VFS with engineered biosorption activated media (BAM) outperformed …

Considering Children’S Travel Needs: Perceptions Of Transport Planning Professionals In Ireland, Sarah Mcdonagh, Sarah Rock

Conference Papers

In recent years it has been reported that in an international comparison of children’s independent mobility that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of both children’s independent mobility and active travel among several countries (Shaw et al., 2015). Children’s independent mobility and active travel are shown to be affected by several factors including parental time pressures and lifestyle choices; societal fears (‘stranger danger’); and the fear of traffic and road safety (Shaw et al., 2015, Hillman et al., 1990; Lynch, 1977; Johansson, 2006; Shaw et al., 2013; and Zwerts et al., 2010). This research focuses on the latter – …

Evaluation Of Liquid Ice Melting Additives For Winter Maintenance Applications, Erin Lammers-Staats

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Winter weather can often pose difficulties for transportation agencies as they work to clear roads of snow and ice quickly so that motorists can travel safely and efficiently. Kentucky has made efforts to maximize efficiency within its winter maintenance program by focusing on optimized equipment usage and personnel time management. This study’s objective was to evaluate novel anti-icers and calculate how their performance compared to the current performance of brine and calcium chloride mixture. New brine additives claim to offer better results, but there is very little guidance about how to systematically evaluate new anti-icers. The author developed a testing …

Context Classification Of Roadways Using Nationally Available Gis Data, Laura Wright

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

A Context Classification System based on context attributes of the area surrounding a roadway provides detailed information about the environment of a roadway corridor, while enabling practitioners to cater roadway projects to the community they are within. This study sought to create a system that would automatically classify roadway segments into the correct context, using data sources that are available nationwide. The proposed approach was tested by classifying the roadways in Highway District 7 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. This process would make context classification approachable to more organizations, as it would reduce the amount of time required to apply …

Exploring The Impact Of Socio-Demographic Characteristics, Health Concerns, And Product Type On Home Delivery Rates And Expenditures During A Strict Covid-19 Lockdown Period: A Case Study From Portland, Or, Miguel Figliozzi, Avinash Unnikrishnan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

E-commerce volumes and home deliveries have experienced steady growth in the last two decades. Strict COVID-19 lockdowns made home delivery an essential service and a lifeline for many households that, for travel restrictions or health concerns, were not able to utilize traditional shopping methods. This research studies the impact of socio-demographic variables and e-commerce attitudes on household deliveries for seven product categories (groceries, meals, electronics, household and office goods, recreational items, and fashion, beauty and personal care products, and medicine/health-related products) during the lockdown period in the greater Portland metropolitan region. To understand these impacts, exploratory factor analysis and …

An Exploration Of The Application Of Spatial Network Screening Methods On Iowa Rural Road Crashes, Rosanna Maria Novellino Suarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety on the roadway system is important due to its usage on mobility and accessibility, especially on rural roads in the state of Iowa. Single vehicle run off road crashes have been increasing in the United States and studies and research has increased due to the concern with those. For this effort, a spatial-temporal method of traffic safety network screening is utilized in order to evaluate the concerning type of crashes in particular locations. The study of single vehicle run off road crashes using the proposed method is important since distributions and clusters of crashes along roadways can be observed …

Modeling Of Crash Risk For Realistic Artificial Data Generation: Application To Naturalistic Driving Study Data, Lauren Hoover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Most safety performance analysis employs cross-sectional and time-series datasets, posing an important challenge to safety performance and crash modification analysis. The traditional safety model analysis paradigm relying on observed data only allows relative comparisons between analysis methods and is unable to establish how well the methods mimic the true underlying crash generation process. Assumptions are made about the data, but whether the assumptions truly characterize the safety data generation in the real world remains unknown. To address this issue, this thesis proposes the generation of realistic artificial data (RAD). In developing a prototype RAD generator for crash data, we mimic …

Evaluation Of Unconventional Signalized Intersections On Arterial Roads And A Proposition For A Novel Intersection Design, Ma'en Al-Omari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Several unconventional intersection designs were proposed and implemented to enhance traffic safety and operation at intersections. The efficiency of these intersection designs was not sufficiently evaluated in the previous research because of the limited implementation of such designs. However, with the growing interest in the implementation of unconventional intersections by municipalities and transport agencies, it has become a need for a comprehensive evaluation of their safety and operational benefits. Therefore, this dissertation aims to evaluate the safety and operational aspects of unconventional intersection designs by employing different research approaches: crash analysis, microscopic simulation, and driving simulation. Firstly, this dissertation evaluated …

Real-Time Traffic Safety Evaluation In The Context Of Connected Vehicles And Mobile Sensing, Pei Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Recently, with the development of connected vehicles and mobile sensing technologies, vehicle-based data become much easier to obtain. However, only few studies have investigated the application of this kind of novel data to real-time traffic safety evaluation. This dissertation aims to conduct a series of real-time traffic safety studies by integrating all kinds of available vehicle-based data sources. First, this dissertation developed a deep learning model for identifying vehicle maneuvers using data from smartphone sensors (i.e., accelerometer and gyroscope). The proposed model was robust and suitable for real-time application as it required less processing of smartphone sensor data compared with …