Engineering Commons^™

Autonomous Vehicle Communication Strategies Modeled In Virtual Reality, Nick N. Ferenchak Ph.D

Data

We sought to better understand how autonomous vehicle (AV) communication strategies impact human road users’ perceptions and behaviors. More specifically, we explored the impact of different external human-machine interface (eHMI) designs on understanding, task load, comfort, trust, acceptance, and reaction time. To accomplish this, we created virtual reality (VR) scenarios where human participants interacted with AVs. Participants experienced biking, driving, and pedestrian simulators and were brought back after initial testing to explore acclimation and learning effects. In terms of perceptions, the presence of an eHMI was the strongest predictor of understanding, comfort, trust, and acceptance outcomes in the statistical models …

Exploring Traffic Safety Problems And Challenges Of Older Roads’ Users In Louisiana: Causes And Countermeasures, Hany Hassan Ph.D, Saba Doulabi

Data

It is well established that older pedestrians and drivers with 65 years and above are among the most vulnerable road users. As the number and proportion of older road users (as drivers and pedestrians) grows in many countries, as well as their share in pedestrians’ and drivers’ crashes and injuries, it behooves transportation researchers to further investigate the safety and mobility challenges of older road users. This study aims mainly to provide a comprehensive investigation of older pedestrians’ and drivers’ safety challenges. To this end, a three-fold research approach is designed to thoroughly examine older road users’ safety challenges as …

Calculating Pile Downdrag: Experimental And Numerical Investigations, Hai Lin, Shengli Chen, Hussein Alqrinawi

Data

Piles can be exposed to significant settlement (i.e., downdrag) and compressive force (i.e., dragload) if embedded in consolidating ground. Downdrag has been included in the design of piles, but there is uncertainty about how downdrag and dragload are efficiently considered in the pile design due to the differences in the existing design methods (e.g., AASHTO and FHWA). Although several field monitoring programs were successfully conducted on pile downdrag, fully instrumented pile model tests are still needed to investigate the responses at the soil-pile interface to improve the design of pile downdrag. This research focused on investigating the downdrag and skin …

Urban Transportation Infrastructure And Cyclist And Pedestrian Safety, Hatim Sharif, Samer Dessouky

Data

No abstract provided.

Developing Notification And Enforcement Systems To Communicate And Administer Bridge Load Postings, Hany Hassan, Hisham Abdu Kunnah

Data

State and local law enforcement agencies in the US strive to enforce weight restrictions on trucks and heavy vehicles travelling on public roads as a matter of public safety and as a way of safeguarding vital transportation infrastructure. This research aimed to identify plausible notification systems that can effectively communicate bridge load postings to dispatchers and drivers, investigate and suggest possible approaches to communicate potential detour routes, and identify corresponding enforcement methods required to successfully administer bridge load postings. This report discusses the current practices of bridge load posting notification and enforcement systems. Also, it presents an overview of the …

Coupling Novel Soil Moisture-Suction Sensors And Uav Photogrammetry Technology To The Performance Of Highway Embankments, Navid Jafari, Anand Puppala, Xinbao Yu, Surya Sarat Chandra Congress

Data

The movement of water plays a critical role in the mechanical performance and service life of transportation infrastructure, especially for pavement subgrades and highway embankments consisting of high-plasticity, expansive soils that saturate and ultimately lead to infrastructure distress. Shallow slides along highway embankments are ubiquitous across Region 6 because long-term wetting and drying cycles considerably weaken these compacted soils. In the aftermath of heavy rains, pore-water pressures increase to a critical threshold such that a failure occurs. The implications of embankment failures range from repeated maintenance repairs to long-term road closures. A comprehensive approach to model highway embankments comprising of …

An Innovative Thermo-Energy Harvesting Module For Asphalt Roadway Pavement, Seyed Amid Tahami, Samer Dessouky

Data

The importance of green technologies for generating renewable energy and sustainable development is widely accepted. Road surfaces are exposed to solar radiation that generates thermal gradients and heat flow in the pavement layers. The heat stored can be harvested providing an untapped source of renewable energy. This report presents the design, construction, and assessment of an improved thermoelectric energy prototype for harvesting heat energy from roadway pavements. To accomplish this, various prototype designs were simulated using Finite Element (FE) analysis, followed by design construction and laboratory testing of the most promising prototypes to evaluate their power harvesting capabilities. The main …

Exploring Traffic Safety Problems And Challenges Of Older Roads’ Users In Louisiana: Causes And Countermeasures, Hany Hassan Ph.D, Saba Doulabi

Publications

It is well established that older pedestrians and drivers with 65 years and above are among the most vulnerable road users. As the number and proportion of older road users (as drivers and pedestrians) grows in many countries, as well as their share in pedestrians’ and drivers’ crashes and injuries, it behooves transportation researchers to further investigate the safety and mobility challenges of older road users. This study aims mainly to provide a comprehensive investigation of older pedestrians’ and drivers’ safety challenges. To this end, a three-fold research approach is designed to thoroughly examine older road users’ safety challenges as …

Calculating Pile Downdrag: Experimental And Numerical Investigations, Hai Lin, Shengli Chen, Hussein Alqrinawi

Publications

Piles can be exposed to significant settlement (i.e., downdrag) and compressive force (i.e., dragload) if embedded in consolidating ground. Downdrag has been included in the design of piles, but there is uncertainty about how downdrag and dragload are efficiently considered in the pile design due to the differences in the existing design methods (e.g., AASHTO and FHWA). Although several field monitoring programs were successfully conducted on pile downdrag, fully instrumented pile model tests are still needed to investigate the responses at the soil-pile interface to improve the design of pile downdrag. This research focused on investigating the downdrag and skin …

Developing Notification And Enforcement Systems To Communicate And Administer Bridge Load Postings, Hany Hassan, Hisham Abdu Kunnah

Publications

State and local law enforcement agencies in the US strive to enforce weight restrictions on trucks and heavy vehicles travelling on public roads as a matter of public safety and as a way of safeguarding vital transportation infrastructure. This research aimed to identify plausible notification systems that can effectively communicate bridge load postings to dispatchers and drivers, investigate and suggest possible approaches to communicate potential detour routes, and identify corresponding enforcement methods required to successfully administer bridge load postings. This report discusses the current practices of bridge load posting notification and enforcement systems. Also, it presents an overview of the …

An Innovative Thermo-Energy Harvesting Module For Asphalt Roadway Pavement, Seyed Amid Tahami, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The importance of green technologies for generating renewable energy and sustainable development is widely accepted. Road surfaces are exposed to solar radiation that generates thermal gradients and heat flow in the pavement layers. The heat stored can be harvested providing an untapped source of renewable energy. This report presents the design, construction, and assessment of an improved thermoelectric energy prototype for harvesting heat energy from roadway pavements. To accomplish this, various prototype designs were simulated using Finite Element (FE) analysis, followed by design construction and laboratory testing of the most promising prototypes to evaluate their power harvesting capabilities. The main …

Urban Transportation Infrastructure And Cyclist And Pedestrian Safety, Hatim Sharif, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The goal of this project was to perform a comprehensive evaluation of crash causes and risk factors to identify the root causes of crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians in San Antonio, TX. The research included the development of a database of bicycle and pedestrian crash reports in the target area, calculation of crash counts and rates, identifying road segments and intersections with highly concentrated bicycle and pedestrian crashes, and the development of effective safety countermeasures. Several variables and factors were analyzed, including driver characteristics such as age and gender, road-related factors, and environmental factors such as weather conditions and time …

Coupling Novel Soil Moisture-Suction Sensors And Uav Photogrammetry Technology To The Performance Of Highway Embankments, Navid Jafari, Anand Puppala, Xinbao Yu, Surya Sarat Chandra Congress

Publications

The movement of water plays a critical role in the mechanical performance and service life of transportation infrastructure, especially for pavement subgrades and highway embankments consisting of high-plasticity, expansive soils that saturate and ultimately lead to infrastructure distress. Shallow slides along highway embankments are ubiquitous across Region 6 because long-term wetting and drying cycles considerably weaken these compacted soils. In the aftermath of heavy rains, pore-water pressures increase to a critical threshold such that a failure occurs. The implications of embankment failures range from repeated maintenance repairs to long-term road closures. A comprehensive approach to model highway embankments comprising of …

Rapid Repair Of Cracks On The Embankment Slopes Using Bio-Cement, Hai Lin, Guantao Cheng

Publications

This research explored the feasibility of using Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) to improve fine-grained soil mechanical properties, seal the soil cracks, and assess the improvement of MICP on slope stability. The conducted research tasks include (1) direct shear tests to investigate the mechanical behavior and biogeochemical reactions of low-plasticity silt treated by MICP, (2) cyclic wetting-drying tests to assess the feasibility of using MICP to seal and waterproof the soil cracks, and (3) SLOPE/W modeling of a slope treated by MICP. Direct shear tests were used to evaluate the shear responses of the low-plasticity silt under different overburden pressures …

Understanding And Overcoming Challenges To Photochemical Water Treatment Technologies, Mostafa Maghsoodi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Photochemical water treatment technologies have been extensively studied in recent years to update the current practices and find an innovative, cheap, and sustainable way to treat contaminated water. Despite the well-documented advantages, these technologies faced some challenges and limitations in the way of technology transfer. Among all the challenges, the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) poses a serious challenge to the application of these technologies, especially photocatalysis. Moreover, the prospect of utilizing the new technology of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) offers an upgrade in the efficiency of the current practice of ultraviolet (UV) dosing. To understand the effect of DOM …

A Modular Open-Technology Device To Measure And Adjust Concentration Of Sperm Samples For Cryopreservation, Nikolas C. Zuchowicz

LSU Master's Theses

Repositories for aquatic germplasm can safeguard the genetic diversity of species of interest to aquaculture, research, and conservation. The development of such repositories is impeded by a lack of standardization both within laboratories and across the research community. Protocols for cryopreservation are often developed ad hoc and without close attention to variables, such as sperm concentration, that strongly affect the success and consistency of cryopreservation. The wide dissemination and use of specialized tools and devices can improve processing reliability, provide data logging, produce custom hardware to address unique problems, and save costs, time, and labor. The goal of the present …

Engineered Cementitious Composite For Pavement Applications: Materials Development And Design Framework, Hassan Noorvand

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECCs) are a novel class of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites characterized by their high tensile strain capacity. While ECCs have been presented as a promising material alternative for the construction of durable pavements and overlays, the cost of these materials is a major drawback, which limits their widespread implementation. More importantly, performance prediction models for ECC pavements existing in the literature are incomplete as the effect of ECC plasticity has not been considered in the integration of finite element (FE) analysis and beam flexural fatigue experimental test results. Moreover, the existing ECC pavements performance prediction models are …

Development Of Novel Ultra-High Performance Engineered Cementitious Composites (Uhp-Ecc) For Durable And Resilient Transportation Infrastructure, Gabriel A. Arce, Marwa Hassan, Daniel E. Game

Data

The objective of this study was to develop novel UHP-ECC materials utilizing readily available ingredients in Region 6 for the construction and repair of transportation infrastructure. Phase one of this study focused on the development of ultra-high strength cementitious matrices by evaluating the effects of ingredient selection and mixture proportioning on the materials’ compressive strength. Variables evaluated included the mass ratios of silica fume to fly ash (SF/FA), supplementary cementitious materials to cement (SCMs/C), and ordinary sand to microsilica sand (OS/MS). Phase two of the study focused on the development of UHP-ECC materials. To this end, based on the knowledge …

Multifunctional Corrosion Control System As A Sustainable Approach For Reinforced Concrete Elements, Homero Castaneda, Miladin Radovic, Brendy Rincon, Oladis Troconis, Arturo Montoya, Changkyu Kim, Loreto Dacio

Data

Corrosion inhibitors can be utilized to decrease the corrosion kinetics and therefore increase the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Recently, a green synthesized organic compound, 1-benzyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole (BPT), was shown to be a successful green organic corrosion inhibitor for mild steel. Studies suggested that the BPT adsorbs chemically onto the steel and acts as a mixed inhibitor, suppressing both the anodic and cathodic corrosion kinetics of steel. In addition, microcapsules have shown to be an efficient way for a controlled inhibitor release in reinforced concrete structures. On the other hand, geopolymers (GPs) comprised of a long range of covalently bonded alumino-silicates, …

Multifunctional Corrosion Control System As A Sustainable Approach For Reinforced Concrete Elements, Homero Castaneda, Miladin Radovic, Brendy Rincon, Oladis Troconis, Arturo Montoya, Changkyu Kim, Loreto Dacio

Publications

Corrosion inhibitors can be utilized to decrease the corrosion kinetics and therefore increase the durability of reinforced concrete structures. Recently, a green synthesized organic compound, 1-benzyl-4-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole (BPT), was shown to be a successful green organic corrosion inhibitor for mild steel. Studies suggested that the BPT adsorbs chemically onto the steel and acts as a mixed inhibitor, suppressing both the anodic and cathodic corrosion kinetics of steel. In addition, microcapsules have shown to be an efficient way for a controlled inhibitor release in reinforced concrete structures. On the other hand, geopolymers (GPs) comprised of a long range of covalently bonded alumino-silicates, …

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Project Prioritization For Rapid Post-Disaster Recovery Of Transportation Infrastructure Systems, Yongcheol Lee, Kunhee Choi Ph.D, Pedram Ghannad

Data

Among various natural hazards that threaten transportation infrastructure, flooding represents a major hazard in Region 6's states to roadways as it challenges their design, operation, efficiency, and safety. The catastrophic flooding disaster event generally leads to massive obstruction of traffic, direct damage to highway/bridge structures/pavement, and indirect damages to economic activities and regional communities that may cause loss of many lives. After disasters strike, reconstruction and maintenance of an enormous number of damaged transportation infrastructure systems require each DOT to take extremely expensive and long-term processes. In addition, planning and organizing post-disaster reconstruction and maintenance projects of transportation infrastructures are …

Efficient, Low-Cost Bridge Cracking Detection And Quantification Using Deep-Learning And Uav Images, Chao Sun, Xiangyu Meng, Joshua O. Ogbebor, Shaopan Guo

Data

Many bridges in the State of Louisiana and the United States are working under serious degradation conditions where cracks on bridges threaten structural integrity and public security. To ensure structural integrity and public security, it is required that bridges in the US be inspected and rated every two years. Currently, this biannual assessment is largely implemented using manual visual inspection methods, which is slow and costly. In addition, it is challenging for workers to detect cracks in regions that are hard to reach, e.g., the top part of the bridge tower, cables, mid-span of the bridge girders, and decks. This …

Efficient, Low-Cost Bridge Cracking Detection And Quantification Using Deep-Learning And Uav Images, Chao Sun, Xiangyu Meng, Joshua O. Ogbebor, Shaopan Guo

Publications

Many bridges in the State of Louisiana and the United States are working under serious degradation conditions where cracks on bridges threaten structural integrity and public security. To ensure structural integrity and public security, it is required that bridges in the US be inspected and rated every two years. Currently, this biannual assessment is largely implemented using manual visual inspection methods, which is slow and costly. In addition, it is challenging for workers to detect cracks in regions that are hard to reach, e.g., the top part of the bridge tower, cables, mid-span of the bridge girders, and decks. This …

Rapid Repair Of Cracks On The Embankment Slopes Using Bio-Cement, Hai Lin, Guantao Cheng

Data

This research explored the feasibility of using Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) to improve fine-grained soil mechanical properties, seal the soil cracks, and assess the improvement of MICP on slope stability. The conducted research tasks include (1) direct shear tests to investigate the mechanical behavior and biogeochemical reactions of low-plasticity silt treated by MICP, (2) cyclic wetting-drying tests to assess the feasibility of using MICP to seal and waterproof the soil cracks, and (3) SLOPE/W modeling of a slope treated by MICP. Direct shear tests were used to evaluate the shear responses of the low-plasticity silt under different overburden pressures …

Autonomous Vehicle Communication Strategies Modeled In Virtual Reality, Nick N. Ferenchak Ph.D

Publications

We sought to better understand how autonomous vehicle (AV) communication strategies impact human road users’ perceptions and behaviors. More specifically, we explored the impact of different external human-machine interface (eHMI) designs on understanding, task load, comfort, trust, acceptance, and reaction time. To accomplish this, we created virtual reality (VR) scenarios where human participants interacted with AVs. Participants experienced biking, driving, and pedestrian simulators and were brought back after initial testing to explore acclimation and learning effects. In terms of perceptions, the presence of an eHMI was the strongest predictor of understanding, comfort, trust, and acceptance outcomes in the statistical models …

Development Of Novel Ultra-High Performance Engineered Cementitious Composites (Uhp-Ecc) For Durable And Resilient Transportation Infrastructure, Gabriel A. Arce, Marwa Hassan, Daniel E. Game

Publications

The objective of this study was to develop novel UHP-ECC materials utilizing readily available ingredients in Region 6 for the construction and repair of transportation infrastructure. Phase one of this study focused on the development of ultra-high strength cementitious matrices by evaluating the effects of ingredient selection and mixture proportioning on the materials’ compressive strength. Variables evaluated included the mass ratios of silica fume to fly ash (SF/FA), supplementary cementitious materials to cement (SCMs/C), and ordinary sand to microsilica sand (OS/MS). Phase two of the study focused on the development of UHP-ECC materials. To this end, based on the knowledge …

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Project Prioritization For Rapid Post-Disaster Recovery Of Transportation Infrastructure Systems, Yongcheol Lee, Kunhee Choi Ph.D, Pedram Ghannad

Publications

Among various natural hazards that threaten transportation infrastructure, flooding represents a major hazard in Region 6's states to roadways as it challenges their design, operation, efficiency, and safety. The catastrophic flooding disaster event generally leads to massive obstruction of traffic, direct damage to highway/bridge structures/pavement, and indirect damages to economic activities and regional communities that may cause loss of many lives. After disasters strike, reconstruction and maintenance of an enormous number of damaged transportation infrastructure systems require each DOT to take extremely expensive and long-term processes. In addition, planning and organizing post-disaster reconstruction and maintenance projects of transportation infrastructures are …

Engineering The Surface Of Fe3o4 Nanoparticles For Catalytic And Magnetic Applications, Natalia Da Silva Moura

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the rapid depletion of the U.S. energy resources coupled with population growth, heat management technologies must be improved to sustain our quality of life. Precisely, in catalysis, it is estimated that only ~50% of the energy supplied to the reactor is used for product conversion due to dissipation losses. Among the emerging technologies with a promising reduction in heat losses is induction heating, offering targeted heat delivery with magnetic nanoparticles. Under alternating magnetic fields (AMF), these nanoparticles can absorb the energy from Radio-Frequency (RF) fields and dissipate it as heat on the nanoparticle surface. This in situ heat generation …

Communications, Decision-Making, And Interactions Of A Multi-Agent Autonomous Vehicle System, Daniel Davis Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles are becoming ever more common and offer many attractive benefits to society. They can operate for long periods of time unattended, operate in environments that may be dangerous to humans, perform time consuming or repetitive tasks and all with greater efficiency and lower costs than humans. For these vehicles to be able to do these things, algorithms need to be designed and optimized that allow them to interact with the real-world environment in safe, effective, and efficient ways.

We designed and built a set of three homogeneous water-based autonomous surface vehicles equipped with appropriate sensors and communications ability …

Laser Surface Treatment And Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing Study Using Custom Designed 3d Printer And The Application Of Machine Learning In Materials Science, Hao Wen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) based additive manufacturing (AM) method, which uses a laser beam to melt the selected areas of the metal powder bed. A customized SLM 3D printer that can handle a small quantity of metal powders was built in the lab to achieve versatile research purposes. The hardware design, electrical diagrams, and software functions are introduced in Chapter 2. Several laser surface engineering and SLM experiments were conducted using this customized machine which showed the functionality of the machine and some prospective fields that this machine can be utilized. Chapter 3 …