Engineering Commons^™

Determination Of Ash Mixture Properties And Construction Of Test Embankment - Part B, Sungmin Yoon, Umashankar Balunaini, Monica Prezzi, Rodrigo Salgado, Nayyar Zia Siddiki

JTRP Technical Reports

Class F fly ash and bottom ash are solid residue byproducts produced by coal-burning plants. They are usually disposed off with a typical disposal rate of 80 % fly ash and 20 % bottom ash. To maximize the use of the coal ash, and thus significantly reduce the disposal problem that electric utility companies and our society in general face, the direct use of ponded or landfilled ash that is composed of high proportions of fly ash would be desirable. However, a general understanding of the behavior of high volume fly ash mixtures is needed. Although there have been investigations …

Evaluation Of Stop Bar Video Detection Accuracy At Signalized Intersections, Avery Rhodes, Darcy M. Bullock, James R. Sturdevant, Zachary Thomas Clark

JTRP Technical Reports

Many agencies nationwide have adopted video vehicle detection technology as an alternative to inductive loops. While many product evaluations have been performed, the majority of these evaluations have concentrated on freeway applications where speed and volume were the primary evaluation criteria. At an actuated intersection, the metrics of speed and volume do not necessarily represent how well a device will operate as a presence detector. Video detection was evaluated at two signalized intersections in West Lafayette, Indiana and Noblesville, Indiana. A camera on each approach was located at the vendor recommended position, at a height of 40 feet and offset …

Assessment And Selection Of Stormwater Best Management Practices For Highway Construction, Retrofitting, And Maintenance, Lynn A. Corson

JTRP Technical Reports

The objectives of this research were:

1. Research existing data for structural and non-structural BMPs pertaining to the Phase II NPDES Stormwater Construction and Post-Construction Minimum Control Measures. Identify BMPs suitable for use in construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation and retrofitting activities along INDOT roadways and facilties.

2. Give consideration to the Indiana geological and meteorological conditions and the INDOT resources available for maintenance of water quality BMPs.

3. Review documents on the INDOT Publications List and make recommendations regarding potential revisions and/or additions to the documents to adequately address the NPDES Stormwater Program requirements as they pertain to INDOT activities.

Feasibility Study For Bicycle Safety: Data Assessment And Network Evaluation, Michael Seth Klobucar, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Bicycles offer a promising transportation alternative to private motor vehicles, especially in areas with congestion, poor air quality, and high fuel prices. This study sought rational methods for evaluating the benefits of incorporating bicycle-friendly features into highway project designs. Data on recent bicyclist fatalities and other collisions involving bicyclists in Indiana were analyzed to determine factors that could help to explain the incidents and offer insights into countermeasures or remedies. Human error – on the part of the bicyclist or the motorist – was found to be the most common factor. Poor lighting and noncompliance with sidewalk ordinances also were …

Indot Customer Service, Ananth V. Iyer, Michael Hoeck, Amanda Thompson, Kailas Dandgaval, Jairo Bohorquez, Justina Mikals

JTRP Technical Reports

This study focuses on the flow of customer complaints to the INDOT central office and districts, their handling within the INDOT system and the customer experienced lead time. The processes were examined based on customer segments, complaint type, and district of origin. Detailed data analyses for specific transactions within the INDOT system were used to document the process. In addition, as per the study advisory committee suggestions, a tracking of transactions flow using a paper system was used to reconcile archived data. Although lead time metrics were developed at both the central office and district level, the lack of data …

Investigation Of The Performance Of Neat And Modified Asphalt Binders, Yalan Tang, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

The Superpave binder specifications are performance-based criteria for binder selection for use in hot-mix asphalt mixtures. However, these specifications may not be applicable to modified binders. This research investigates the a new method for determining hot-mix asphalt mixing and compaction temperatures as well as the performance of neat (unmodified) and modified binders of the same performance grade. The first phase of the research focuses on determining mixing and compaction temperatures for hot-mix asphalt mixtures. Modified binders are shear rate and temperature dependent and the conventional methods of determining mixing and compaction temperatures can yield extreme results. The Zero Shear Viscosity …

Simplification Of Resilient Modulus Testing For Subgrades, Daehyeon Kim, Nayyar Zia Siddiki

JTRP Technical Reports

Resilient modulus has been used for characterizing the stress-strain behavior of subgrade soils subjected to traffic loadings in the design of pavements. With the recent release of the M-E Design Guide, highway agencies are further encouraged to implement the resilient modulus test to improve subgrade design. In the present study, physical property tests, unconfined compressive tests, resilient modulus (Mr) tests and Several Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) tests were conducted to assess the resilient and permanent strain behavior of 14 cohesive subgrade soils and five cohesionless soils encountered in Indiana. The applicability for simplification of the existing resilient modulus test, AASHTO …

Technical Issues Related To The Use Of Fly Ash And Slag During Late-Fall (Low Temperature) Construction Season, Anand Krishnan, Jinesh K. Mehta, J. Olek, W. Jason Weiss

JTRP Technical Reports

The potential for scaling of concrete pavement containing fly ash is one of the durability concerns which imposes restrictions on the use of fly ash in paving applications in Indiana during the period of low temperatures (e.g., the late fall construction season). These restrictions increase the cost of paving projects, and occasionally, results in seasonal cement shortages. The objective of this study was to develop a better understanding of the scaling mechanism through a series of laboratory tests that focused on the role of material properties and length and temperature of curing in controlling scaling. Additionally, an attempt was made …

Evaluation Of Rapid Setting Cement-Based Materials For Patching And Repair, Amit D. Barde, Swathi Parameswaran, Todd Chariton, W. Jason Weiss, Menashi D. Cohen, Scott Andrew Newbolds

JTRP Technical Reports

The efficient repair and replacement of concrete pavements and bridge decks often requires a rapid setting material that can be placed, cured, and opened to traffic in a relatively short period of time. Frequently, temporary repairs are made using materials that are later found to be incompatible with the existing pavement, structures, and environment. This practice causes these materials to fail prematurely, frequently requiring re-repair. Research is needed to determine which rapid setting repair materials demonstrate the best behavior with rapid strength gain, low potential for cracking, and excellent durability. The objective of this research is to evaluate the performance …

Jointless And Smoother Bridges: Behavior And Design Of Piles, Robert J. Frosch, Voraniti Chovichien, Katrinna Durbin, David Fedroff

JTRP Technical Reports

Integral abutment bridges have been used in the United States for decades. By eliminating expensive expansion joints, the piles supporting the end bent accommodate the total thermal movement of the bridge. Currently, integral bridges are designed based upon experience, and a rational design specification has not been developed. Furthermore, the interaction of the abutment, pile, and soil remains uncertain. A better understanding regarding the behavior of this system is needed. The objective of this research is to evaluate the behavior of the integral abutment-pile system and evaluate any limitations of its use. To achieve this objective, two phases of research …

Expert System To Support Site Investigation For Safety Improvement, Andrzej Marcin. Kwasniak, Bogdan Chivoiu, Andrzej P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

One of the goals of traffic safety specialists is to improve road geometry and traffic control at high-crash locations to reduce the risk of crash. The most difficult part of site investigation is determining the causes of crashes. This task may be overwhelming, particularly for inexperienced investigators. Experienced investigators often may have difficulties in connecting various pieces of information and knowledge due to the high level of uncertainty, the high complexity of safety impacts, and the gaps in what is known about driver performance during the crash occurrence. An AI method is proposed to help investigators identify the crash causes. …

The Effectiveness And Criteria For Placement Of Raised Pavement Markers (Synthesis Study), Yi Jiang

JTRP Technical Reports

Raised pavement markers (RPM) are used in highway centerlines and edge lines as a traffic safety measure to provide more positive guidance for motorists in inclement weather and low light conditions. They have been widely applied by highway agencies as delineation treatments to improve driver preview distances. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has installed RPMs on selected roadway sections primarily as position guidance devices in order to better guide drivers in night conditions. In Indiana, RPMs are installed on all interstate highways and multilane divided highways. However, RPMs are used on only a few of the Indiana’s two-lane highways. …

Reduction Of Automobile And Aircraft Collisions With Wildlife In Indiana, David J. Glista, J. Andrew Dewoody, Travis Lee Devault

JTRP Technical Reports

Conflicts between wildlife and human interests have increased in recent decades due to growing human populations and the resulting expansion of anthropogenic pressures into wildlife habitat. Our overall objectives were to evaluate the the potential impacts of wildlife on transportation in Indiana and vice-versa. The results presented in this final report summarize two aspects of our research: the impact of automotive traffic on wildlife (“road kill”; Part I), and the wildlife hazards present at general aviation airports around the state (“airstrike”; Part II). The road kill dataset indicated that at 13 survey routes traversing 180 linear km of road, 11,068 …

Implementation Of A Non-Metallic Reinforced Bridge Deck, Volume 2: Thayer Road Bridge, Robert J. Frosch, Ali Cihan Pay

JTRP Technical Reports

The primary maintenance problem with bridges in Indiana has been deterioration of the concrete deck which is often related to corrosion of the reinforcing steel. While a corrosion protection system consisting of epoxy-coated reinforcement in combination with 2-1/2 in. of Class C concrete cover has been used in Indiana, research and experience have demonstrated that this system can be compromised. As an alternative solution to the corrosion problem in reinforced concrete, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bars which are corrosion resistant can be provided as reinforcement. This research was divided into two phases directed towards the implementation of a nonmetallic reinforced …

The Chemical Engineering Environment: Catalyst Or Inhibitor To Students' Confidence In Success?, Mica A. Hutchison, George Bodner, Deborah Follman

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

2006 Enacted Wheel Tax Rates (Lohut), Indiana Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This publication is a compilation of wheel tax rates using data provided by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The Undergraduate Research Experience As It Relates To Research Efficacy Beliefs And The Imposter Phenomenon, Mica A. Hutchison, Deborah Follman, De'jeune Antoine

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Ballisticity Of Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors: Role Of Phonon Energy And Gate Bias, Siyuranga O. Koswatta, Sayed Hasan, Mark S. Lundstrom

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We investigate the role of electron-phonon scattering and gate bias in degrading the drive current of nanotube field-effect transistors FETs. Optical phonon scattering significantly decreases the drive current only when gate voltage is higher than a well-defined threshold. For comparable electron-phonon coupling, a lower phonon energy leads to a larger degradation of drive current. Thus in semiconductor nanowire FETs, the drive current will be more sensitive than in carbon nanotube FETs because of the smaller phonon energies in semiconductors. Acoustic phonons and other elastic scattering mechanisms are most detrimental to nanotube FETs irrespective of biasing conditions.

Design Of Near-Optimal Waveforms For Chest And Abdominal Compression And Decompression In Cpr Using Computer-Simulated Evolution, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Objective: To discover design principles underlying the optimal waveforms for external chest and abdominal compression and decompression during cardiac arrest and CPR. Method: A 14-compartment mathematical model of the human cardiopulmonary system is used to test successive generations of randomly mutated external compression waveforms during cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Mutated waveforms that produced superior mean perfusion pressure became parents for the next generation. Selection was based upon either systemic perfusion pressure (SPP=thoracic aortic minus right atrial pressure) or upon coronary perfusion pressure (CPP=thoracic aortic pressure minus myocardial wall pressure). After simulations of 64,414 individual CPR episodes, 40 highly evolved waveforms …

A New Biomechanical Head Injury Criterion, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a new analysis of the physics of closed head injury caused by intense acceleration of the head. At rest a 1 cm gap filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) separates the human brain from the skull. During impact whole head acceleration induces artificial gravity within the skull. Because its density differs slightly from that of CSF, the brain accelerates, strikes the inner aspect of the rigid skull, and undergoes viscoelastic deformation. Analytical methods for a lumped parameter model of the brain predict internal brain motions that correlate well with published high-speed photographic studies. The same methods predict a …

Comparison Of Kinetic Models For Gas Damping Of Moving Microbeams, Alina A. Alexeenko, E Phillip Muntz, Michael A. Gallis, John R. Torczynski

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

Numerical investigations of the gas flow structure and the gas-damping force on moving and heated microbeams are carried out using the Navier-Stokes equations with first-order velocity-slip and temperature-jump boundary conditions (the NSSJ method) and two kinetic numerical techniques: the particle-based direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, and a deterministic discrete-ordinate solution of the ellipsoidal statistical (ES) kinetic model equation. The gas-damping coefficients on a moving microbeam for quasi-static isothermal conditions are estimated by the three numerical methods for Kn = 0.1-1.0. The NSSJ simulations tend to overestimate the gas-damping coefficient for Knudsen numbers larger than 0.1, whereas the DSMC and …

A Constitutive Model Of The Human Vocal Fold Cover For Fundamental Frequency Regulation, Kai Zhang, Thomas Siegmund, Roger W. Chan

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fatigue Of Older Bridges In Northern Indiana Due To Overweight And Oversized Loads, Volume 1: Bridge And Weigh-In-Motion Measurements, James A. Reisert, Mark D. Bowman

JTRP Technical Reports

This report is the first of a two-volume final report presenting the findings of the research work that was undertaken to evaluate the fatigue behavior of steel highway bridges on the extra heavy weight truck corridor in Northwest Indiana. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the type and magnitude of the loads that travel along the corridor and then assess the effect of those loads on the fatigue strength of the steel bridge structures on the corridor. This volume presents the results of the experimental field study conducted to evaluate the load and load effects on one steel …

Hma Pavement Performance And Durability, Eliana Del Pilar Vivar, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

It has long been argued that at densities higher than approximately 92 percent (air void contents lower than 8 percent), a hotmix asphalt mixture is impermeable to water. However, as densities become lower (air void contents higher) than this, small decreases in the density can yield exponential increases in permeability. The objectives of this study were to better understand the increases in hot-mix asphalt pavement performance and durability that can be gained by increasing the initial pavement density and to better quantify the inter-relationship among pavement density, permeability, and moisture-induced damage. The long-term performance and durability of four hot-mix asphalt …

Flood Frequency Relationships For Indiana, A. Ramachandra Rao

JTRP Technical Reports

The objective of the research presented in this report is the development of relationships to estimate flood magnitudes for Indiana streams. In order to achieve this goal several probability distributions were evaluated. The Pearson (3) (LP(3)) and the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distributions were found to be the best distributions for Indiana data. Because of the requirement that Log Pearson (3) (LP(3)) distribution must be used in federally-funded projects it was retained in the study.

Relationships were developed for the flood frequencies to be estimated by the LP(3) distributions. The State of Indiana has been divided into regions, seven of …

Vendor Comparison Of Video Detection Systems, Avery Rhodes, Edward J. Smaglik, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Video detection has become increasingly popular for presence detection at signalized intersections because of its versatility. However, several reports have documented performance problems in specific systems. This paper quantifies the performance of three different commercially available video detection systems. The systems were tested in May and September 2005 for presence detection accuracy. Prior to the May 2005 test, a representative from each vendor configured the video detection zones to match the loop detection zone as closely as possible. The outputs from the loop detection for the through-right and left-turn lane groups were compared with the corresponding output from each of …

Ramp Metering And High Occupancy Vehicle Facilities: A Synthesis Study, Abhishek Bhargava, Euridice A. Oware, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes and ramp metering have been implemented at several places in the country to improve traffic conditions on freeways. This report presents a comprehensive study of the state of the art and state of the practice of these facilities in the U.S. and their effectiveness in improving traffic conditions on the freeway. The various types of HOV facilities have been discussed along with other system components such as park-and-ride facilities, ridership programs, enforcement areas and policies, ingress/egress facilities. The cost of several HOV facilities in the country has been presented and a set of guidelines have …

Advanced Compaction Quality Control, Carlos Zambrano, Vincent P. Drnevich, Philippe L. Bourdeau

JTRP Technical Reports

This Synthesis Study gathered the current knowledge on the topic of Intelligent Compaction and provides INDOT with recommendations for action. It appears that totally embracing this technology at this time is premature. On the other hand, it also appears that prudent use of this technology could provide tremendous benefit-to-cost ratios over the long term and position Indiana as a leader among the States in adopting it. After examining the technological developments over the last decade it is concluded that Intelligent Compaction is a near certainty in the future. The big question is: When is the right time to begin working …

Primary Emergency Routes For Transportation Security, Srinivas Peeta, Georgios Kalafatas

JTRP Technical Reports

Security threats and natural disasters (such as hurricanes and cyclones) are events that have historically led to large scale evacuations. Evacuation operations are strongly characterized by traffic volumes that substantially exceed the network capacity, and consequently, the potential for severely degraded network performance. The efficient management of evacuations entails long-term planning and real-time operational paradigms that are, ideally, integrated. This study focuses primarily on the planning aspects of evacuation, while providing important insights for operations. Identifying capacity as a key element to efficient evacuation, the evacuation planning seeks to determine links where additional capacity is desired, as well as the …

Validation Of Superpave Mixture Design And Analysis Procedures Using The Ncat Test Track, Sivaranjan Sivasubramaniam, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation was among the first to adopt the Superpave mixture design method and relevant specifications. When the National Center for Asphalt Technology decided to build a pavement test track, the Indiana Department of Transportation saw an opportunity to validate the mixture design method. It participated in the test track pooled fund study by sponsoring two pavement sections that were part of a larger investigation involving ten pavement test sections. Further, efforts were made to establish rutting performance relationships between the Accelerated Pavement Tester, the Purdue Wheel Laboratory Tracker, and the in-service pavement as represented by the …