Engineering | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

2:1 The Paper Tube Project, Noel Brady

Articles

Review of applied technological solution to rapid building techniques using paper tube and analogous materials to create space enclosing geodesic systems.

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Co-Operatives As Social Innovation – How Older Models Of Social Enterprise Are More Relevant Than Ever, Gerard Doyle

Articles

Ireland faces a number of socio-economic issues, including, an over-reliance on fossil fuels, inequality, unsustainable approaches to urban regeneration and unbalanced regional development. This chapter will demonstrate how social enterprise can lead to the implementation of socially innovative responses to addressing these issues.

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Examining The Role Of The University In Creating Jobs, Mike Murphy, Michael Dyrenfurth

Articles

This paper begins by setting out the rationale for why today’s university must be involved with job creation in terms of institutional mission and global competitiveness. We present a review of recent literature, from both sides of the Atlantic, regarding universities, technology and science parks and job creation. Measuring the impact of university actions is reviewed in terms of general criteria, impact of incubators, and where jobs are being created. A case study of Silicon Valley is reviewed as well as a discussion of roles that government might play. The paper concludes with the presentation of findings from the literature …

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The Challenge Of Educating Engineers For A Close, Crowded And Creative World, Ela Krawczyk, Mike Murphy

Books/Book chapters

The world that is emerging based on the development and everyday use of new technologies is a world that can be described as close, crowded and creative. Studies have highlighted that traditional curricula and pedagogical methods for engineering education are deficient in terms of developing and nurturing key skills required by engineers to succeed in this world. The challenge for the engineering academic leaders of today is to begin with the end in mind: to begin with a description of the competences that the engineer of the future should have in order to succeed in their aspirations as an engineer, …

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Applied Energy Systems: Hydrostatic Fluid Power Transmission And Flow In Pipes, Jim Mcgovern

Book/Book Chapters

This is an intentionally compact textbook or set of notes for a module addressing basic Fluid Mechanics for incompressible fluids within the context of Applied Energy Systems. Rather than attempting to cover Fluid Mechanics in a very broad and general way, two practical areas are selected in the use of fluids: hydrostatic power transmission systems and the flow of fluids through pipes and fittings. This allows the two areas to be presented in some detail, but also allows them to be sample application areas that would enable learners to put the principles of fluid mechanics into context, while developing their …

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A Simulation Analysis Of Photovoltaic Ac Module Integrated Converters In Parallel, Under Controlled Edge Shading Conditions, Lynette O'Callaghan, Mick Mckeever, Brian Norton

Conference Papers

A DC and AC power simulation comparison of: a Photovoltaic (PV) array with a modular, parallel, AC converter configuration; and a series, string configuration with a central AC converter, is presented. The systems are simulated using a comprehensive range of edge shading scenarios and irradiance conditions. Power control and transformation circuitry must be designed for shade and module mismatch tolerance to prevent over-proportional power to shade losses, as average losses from Building Integrated PV (BIPV) systems are approximately 20 to 25%, due to shade, mismatch, differences in orientation and inclination, and temperature effects. 59.4% of the simulations showed gains in …

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Portable Bridge Wim Data Collection Strategy For Secondary Roads, Bernard Enright, Cathal Leahy, Eugene J. Obrien, Jennifer Keenahan

Conference papers

A common method of collecting traffic loading data across a large road network is to use a network of permanent pavement-based WIM systems. An alternative is to use one or more portable Bridge Weigh-In-Motion systems which are moved periodically between bridges on the network. To make optimum use of such a system, a suitable data collection strategy is needed to choose locations for the system. This paper describes a number of possible strategies which the authors have investigated for the National Roads Authority in Ireland. The different strategies are examined and their advantages and disadvantages compared. Their effectiveness at detecting …

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High Temperature Performance Of An Optical Microfibre Coupler And Its Potential Use As A Sensor, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Gilberto Bramilla, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

The dependence of the transmission spectrum of an optical microfibre coupler at high temperatures is investigated experimentally. Results show a temperature sensitivity up to 36.59 pm/oC at a taper waist outer diameter of 2.5 μm; such a temperature-dependent performance can be utilized for temperature sensing up to 1000oC.

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Monte Carlo Simulation Of Extreme Traffic Loading On Short And Medium Span Bridges, Bernard Enright, Eugene J. Obrien

Articles

The accurate estimation of site-specific lifetime extreme traffic load effects is an important element in the cost-effective assessment of bridges. A common approach is to use statistical distributions derived from weigh-in-motion measurements as the basis for Monte Carlo simulation of traffic loading. However, results are highly sensitive to the assumptions made, not just with regard to vehicle weights but also to axle configurations and gaps between vehicles. This paper presents a comprehensive model for Monte Carlo simulation of bridge loading for free-flowing traffic, and shows how the model matches results from measurements on five European highways. The model has been …

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Distributed Formal Concept Analysis Algorithms Based On An Iterative Mapreduce Framework, Ruairí De Fréin, Biao Xu, Eric Robson, Mícheál Ó Fóghlú

Conference papers

While many existing formal concept analysis algorithms are efficient, they are typically unsuitable for distributed implementation. Taking the MapReduce (MR) framework as our inspiration we introduce a distributed approach for performing formal concept mining. Our method has its novelty in that we use a light-weight MapReduce runtime called Twister which is better suited to iterative algorithms than recent distributed approaches. First, we describe the theoretical foundations underpinning our distributed formal concept analysis approach. Second, we provide a representative exemplar of how a classic centralized algorithm can be implemented in a distributed fashion using our methodology: we modify Ganter’s classic algorithm …

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Multi-Channel Audio Information Hiding, Jonathan Blackledge, Abdulrahman Isam Al-Rawi, Ruairi Hickson

Conference papers

We consider a method of hiding many audio channels in one host signal. The purpose of this is to provide a ‘mix’ that incorporates information on all the channels used to produce it, thereby allowing all, or, at least some channels to be stored in the mix for later use. After providing an overview of some recently published audio water marking schemes in the time and transform domains, we present a method that is based on using a four least significant bits scheme to embed five MP3 files into a single 16-bit host stereo WAV file without incurring any perceptual …

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Targeting Cell Nuclei For The Automation Of Raman Spectroscopy In Cytology, Jonathan Blackledge, Dmitri Dubovitskiy, Fiona Lyng

Conference papers

Biological cell analysis has, and is still, an important aspect in medical research and clinical diagnosis. Although cytologists routinely undertake a diagnosis using optical mi-croscopy, human factors make this routine unreliable especially when it involves many consecutive tasks that are monotonous, time consuming and focus on pattern matching tasks where the patterns concerned are not always entirely clear and/or do not necessarily belong to a well defined class. Raman Spectroscopy provides the potential to generate a fundamental representation on the status of cellular conditions through the characteristics of a Raman spectrum generated by the back-scatter of a laser pulse incident …

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Optical Fibre Technology, Gerald Farrell

Articles

No abstract provided.

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An Evaluation Of The Performance Of Network Rtk Gnss Services In Ireland, Audrey Martin, Eugene Mcgovern

Conference Papers

The national Geodetic infrastructure for the island of Ireland has developed rapidly to a fully GNSS compatible coordinate reference system - Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) which is realised through a Continuously Operating Reference System (CORS) network of active GNSS stations. The National Mapping Authority’s CORS network provides data for post processing and streamed raw data for real-time network (NRTK) solutions. This NRTK raw data is currently being used by both Leica and Topcon to provide independent NRTK solutions. A second CORS network, known as VRS Now Ireland, with both RINEX and NRTK capabilities, was established in 2008 by Trimble and …

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The Significance Of Equi-Biaxial Bubble Inflation In Determining Elastomeric Fatigue Properties, Stephen Jerrams, Niall Murphy, John Hanley

Books/Book Chapters

It is well documented that for the effective modelling of the static and dynamic behaviour of elastomeric components using the finite element (FE) method it is essential to obtain material parameters that are derived from a range of physical tests. For a conventional linear solid, uniaxial testing suffices to fully characterise the material, but for rubber it is necessary to test in at least two deformation modes. Also, the determination of fatigue lives of rubber components is still in its infancy and a reliable, repeatable fatigue test for rubber will have important consequences for component design, functionality, maintenance and cost. …

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The Use Of A Fiber Comb Filter Fabricated By A Co2 Laser Irradiation To Improve The Resolution Of A Ratiometric Wavelength Measurement System, Pengfei Wang, Gilberto Brambilla, Ming Ding, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

An edge filter-based ratiometric wavelength measurement system is modeled and analyzed in this paper. The results confirm that the noise of input signal and photodetectors limits the resolution of the wavelength measurement system. The achievable resolution is calculated for a given noise level of the input signal and photodetectors' resolution. An improved ratiometric wavelength measurement system consisting of two fiber comb filters is presented both theoretically and experimentally, which performs coarse and fine wavelength measurements simultaneously. The resolution of the system is significantly improved to better than 5 pm while maintaining the potential for high measurement speed and wide measurable …

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Germanium Microsphere High-Q Resonator, Pengfei Wang, Timothy Lee, Ming Ding, Anirban Dhar, Thomas Hawkins, Paul Foy, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Jayanta Sahu, Gerald Farrell, John Ballato, Gilberto Brambilla

Articles

In this Letter, the fabrication and characterization of a microsphere resonator from the semiconductor germanium is demonstrated. Whispering gallery modes are excited in a 46 μm diameter germanium microsphere resonator using evanescent coupling from a tapered silica optical fiber with a waist diameter of 2 μm. Resonances with Q factors as high as 3.8×104 at wavelengths near 2 μm are observed. Because of their ultrahigh optical nonlinearities and extremely broad transparency window, germanium microsphere resonators offer the potential for optical processing devices, in particular at long wavelengths, such as around 2 μm.

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A Silica Single-Mode Fibre-Chalcogenide Multimode Fibre-Silica Single-Mode Fibre Structure, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Lin Bo, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

In this letter we theoretically and experimentally investigate a single-mode-multimode-single-mode (SMS) structure based on chalcogenide (As2S3) multimode fibre and silica single-mode fibres. The experimental results show a general agreement with the numerical simulation results based on a wide angle-beam propagation method (WA-BPM). Multimode interference variation was observed as a result of photo-induced refractive index changes arising from either localized laser irradiation at a wavelength of 405 nm or the use of a UV lamp. Our result provides a platform for the development

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Influence Of Fluctuations Of The Geometrical Parameters On The Photonic Band Gaps In One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals, Vladimir A. Tolmachev, Anna .. Baldycheva, Kevin Berwick, Tatiana Perova

Articles

The influence of random fluctuations in the layer thicknesses in high contrast, one-dimensional Photonic Crystals (PCs) on the transmission spectra and Photonic Band Gaps (PBGs) is investigated. The change in the PBGs depends on the magnitude of the fluctuations and increases with an increase in the order of the PBG. Introducing thickness non-uniformity into the PC of up to 0.004 times the value of lattice constant for different types of fluctuation distributions has a negligible effect on either the position or the shape of the 1st and nearest PBGs. The approach suggested here allows the determination of the tolerances required …

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What Do Final Year Engineering Students Know About Sustainable Development, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon

Articles

This paper presents data from a project which aims to determine the level of knowledge and understanding of engineering students about Sustainable Development (SD). The data derives from a survey completed by final year engineering students in three Irish Higher Education Institutions. This paper is part of a larger study which examines the relationship between students’ and teachers’ understanding of SD. The results from the survey show that final year engineering students have a discipline-led conception of SD. The majority of the participants fail to acknowledge the complexity of the concept and focus only on environmental protection. Their knowledge of …

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A Front Tracking Model Of The Maxus-8 Microgravity Solidification Experiment On A Ti-45.5at.% Al-8at.%Nb Alloy, Robin Mooney, Shaun Mcfadden, Marek Rebow, David J. Browne

Articles

On 26th March 2010 the MAXUS-8 sounding rocket was launched from the Esrange Space Center in Sweden. As part of the Intermetallic Materials Processing in Relation to Earth and Space Solidification (IMPRESS) project, a solidification experiment was conducted on a Ti-45.5at.%Al-8at.%Nb intermetallic alloy in a module on this rocket. The experiment was designed to investigate columnar and equiaxed microstructures in the alloy. A furnace model of the MAXUS 8 experiment with a Front Tracking Model of solidification has been developed to determine the macrostructure and thermal history of the samples in the experiment. This paper gives details of results of …

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An Improved Flood Forecasting Model Of The Blue Nile River In Sudan, Gamal Abdo, Ahmed Nasr

Articles

Reliable flood predictions with a reasonable lead time in the Blue Nile River in Sudan are vitally important to avoid catastrophic damages due to flooding of this river and the main River Nile. A HEC-RAS model was initially applied to the Blue Nile by representing the river as a single reach. The resulting original model was subsequently improved by including the two tributaries of the river, Rahad and Dindir, and also the two existing reservoirs, Rosaries and Sinnar, to the model. The original and the improved models were calibrated using 1988 flood data for the period from June to September …

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Mobispatial: Open Source For Mobile Spatial Interaction, Junjun Yin, James Carswell

Conference papers

This paper describes our Mobile Spatial Interaction (MSI) prototype MobiSpatial, which benefits from location and orientation aware smartphones and existing open source spatial data initiatives to facilitate user interaction with the geospatial query process. We utilize today’s ubiquitous mobile device as the central computing platform to calculate a mobile user’s visibility shape at his/her current location. MobiSpatial uses this shape as a query “window” in a spatial database to perform line-of-sight, field-of-view and 360º Isovist visibility searches. These visibility based spatial queries reduce the risk of “information overload” by exploiting “hidden query removal” functionality to retrieve only those objects that …

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A Teaching Practice Review Of The Use Of Multiple-Choice Questions For Formative And Summative Assessment Of Student Work On Advanced Undergraduate And Postgraduate Modules In Engineering, Aidan O'Dwyer

Articles

This paper reflects on, reports on and evaluates the use of multiple-choice questions, in both formative and summative assessment modes, on control engineering modules taken by advanced undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, over four academic years. The material covered by the modules is analytical in nature. The rationale for examining the assessment strategy was the poor performance by students in a closed book traditional terminal examination on one of the advanced undergraduate modules over some years. The change in assessment strategy has improved student learning, as measured by assessment data; student feedback on the assessment methods is broadly positive. The …

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Cable Heating Effects Due To Harmonic Distortion In Electrical Installations, Jonathan Blackledge, Kevin O'Connell, Martin Barrett, Anthony Sung

Conference papers

The increasing use of non-linear loads in electrical installations has exacerbated the problems of harmonic distortion in industrial and commercial electrical systems. In the UK the current practice to determine the cable size for an electric circuit is to use BS7671. However, previously the 16th edition IEE Wiring Regulations only dealt with situations where cables attain the conductor temperature generated by sinusoidal currents at the fundamental power frequency. This paper outlines the methods available to determine the minimum size of line conductors for protection against overload currents, taking into account the harmonic content of the load current, and explains the …

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Vertical Response Of A Footbridge Subjected To Stocastic Crowd Loading, Joe Keogh

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

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The Response Of A Footbridge To Pedestrians Carrying Additional Mass, Darragh O'Sullivan, Colin Caprani, Joe Keogh

Conference papers

Footbridges with low natural frequency are susceptible to excessive vibration serviceability problems if the pedestrian pacing frequency matches the bridge natural frequency. Much research has been done into describing the response of a footbridge to single pedestrian loading. However, many pedestrians carry additional mass such as shopping bags and backpacks, and this has generally not been accounted for in previous research. This work examines this problem using an experimental bridge excited with many single pedestrian events, both with and without additional mass. The vertical acceleration response is measured and compared to moving force, moving mass, and moving spring-mass-damper models. The …

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Lane Changing Control To Reduce Traffic Load Effect On Long-Span Bridges, Colin C. Caprani, Bernard Enright, Colm Carey

Conference papers

Long span bridges are critical parts of a nation’s infrastructure network and congested traffic loading is the governing form of traffic loading. Groups of trucks travelling in conveys are created when fast-er moving vehicles, such as cars, change lane. In this research the authors investigate how the control of these lane-changing events can help reduce the traffic load effects on long span bridges. Real traffic data is used to simulate a traffic stream on a virtual road and bridge using a microsimulation model. Various lane-changing restrictions are examined and compared to the typical case of free lane changing. It is …

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Estimation Of Lifetime Maximum Distributions Of Bridge Traffic Load Effects, Eugene J. Obrien, Donya Hajializadeh, Emma Sheils, Bernard Enright

Conference papers

This paper considers the problem of assessing traffic loading on road bridges. A database of European WIM data is used to determine accurate annual maximum distributions of load effect. These in turn are used to find the probability of failure for a number of load effects. Using the probability of failure as the benchmark, traditional measures of safety – factor of safety and reliability index – are reviewed. Both are found to give inconsistent results, i.e., a given factor of safety or reliability index actually corresponds to a range of different probabilities of failure.

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Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Understanding Of Students Who Are Learning Design., Shannon Chance

Conference papers

There is an extensive base of literature that attempts to describe how college students understand “knowledge” and their role in generating it. Educators draw from this literature to help students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of using knowledge. Although existing research aims for broad generalizability, it is clear that various disciplines have developed their own unique value systems. Scholars of “hard,” physical science are likely to hold very different ideas about the nature of “fact” and “inevitability” than those in the “softer,” social sciences [1]. Various disciplines conceptualize, use, and generate new knowledge in ways that differ dramatically, yet little research …

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

2:1 The Paper Tube Project, Noel Brady

Articles

Co-Operatives As Social Innovation – How Older Models Of Social Enterprise Are More Relevant Than Ever, Gerard Doyle

Articles

Examining The Role Of The University In Creating Jobs, Mike Murphy, Michael Dyrenfurth

Articles

The Challenge Of Educating Engineers For A Close, Crowded And Creative World, Ela Krawczyk, Mike Murphy

Books/Book chapters

Applied Energy Systems: Hydrostatic Fluid Power Transmission And Flow In Pipes, Jim Mcgovern

Book/Book Chapters

A Simulation Analysis Of Photovoltaic Ac Module Integrated Converters In Parallel, Under Controlled Edge Shading Conditions, Lynette O'Callaghan, Mick Mckeever, Brian Norton

Conference Papers

Portable Bridge Wim Data Collection Strategy For Secondary Roads, Bernard Enright, Cathal Leahy, Eugene J. Obrien, Jennifer Keenahan

Conference papers

High Temperature Performance Of An Optical Microfibre Coupler And Its Potential Use As A Sensor, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Gilberto Bramilla, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Extreme Traffic Loading On Short And Medium Span Bridges, Bernard Enright, Eugene J. Obrien

Articles

Distributed Formal Concept Analysis Algorithms Based On An Iterative Mapreduce Framework, Ruairí De Fréin, Biao Xu, Eric Robson, Mícheál Ó Fóghlú

Conference papers

Multi-Channel Audio Information Hiding, Jonathan Blackledge, Abdulrahman Isam Al-Rawi, Ruairi Hickson

Conference papers

Targeting Cell Nuclei For The Automation Of Raman Spectroscopy In Cytology, Jonathan Blackledge, Dmitri Dubovitskiy, Fiona Lyng

Conference papers

Optical Fibre Technology, Gerald Farrell

Articles

An Evaluation Of The Performance Of Network Rtk Gnss Services In Ireland, Audrey Martin, Eugene Mcgovern

Conference Papers

The Significance Of Equi-Biaxial Bubble Inflation In Determining Elastomeric Fatigue Properties, Stephen Jerrams, Niall Murphy, John Hanley

Books/Book Chapters

The Use Of A Fiber Comb Filter Fabricated By A Co2 Laser Irradiation To Improve The Resolution Of A Ratiometric Wavelength Measurement System, Pengfei Wang, Gilberto Brambilla, Ming Ding, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

Germanium Microsphere High-Q Resonator, Pengfei Wang, Timothy Lee, Ming Ding, Anirban Dhar, Thomas Hawkins, Paul Foy, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Jayanta Sahu, Gerald Farrell, John Ballato, Gilberto Brambilla

Articles

A Silica Single-Mode Fibre-Chalcogenide Multimode Fibre-Silica Single-Mode Fibre Structure, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Lin Bo, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

Influence Of Fluctuations Of The Geometrical Parameters On The Photonic Band Gaps In One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals, Vladimir A. Tolmachev, Anna .. Baldycheva, Kevin Berwick, Tatiana Perova

Articles

What Do Final Year Engineering Students Know About Sustainable Development, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon

Articles

A Front Tracking Model Of The Maxus-8 Microgravity Solidification Experiment On A Ti-45.5at.% Al-8at.%Nb Alloy, Robin Mooney, Shaun Mcfadden, Marek Rebow, David J. Browne

Articles

An Improved Flood Forecasting Model Of The Blue Nile River In Sudan, Gamal Abdo, Ahmed Nasr

Articles

Mobispatial: Open Source For Mobile Spatial Interaction, Junjun Yin, James Carswell

Conference papers

A Teaching Practice Review Of The Use Of Multiple-Choice Questions For Formative And Summative Assessment Of Student Work On Advanced Undergraduate And Postgraduate Modules In Engineering, Aidan O'Dwyer

Articles

Cable Heating Effects Due To Harmonic Distortion In Electrical Installations, Jonathan Blackledge, Kevin O'Connell, Martin Barrett, Anthony Sung

Conference papers

Vertical Response Of A Footbridge Subjected To Stocastic Crowd Loading, Joe Keogh

Conference papers

The Response Of A Footbridge To Pedestrians Carrying Additional Mass, Darragh O'Sullivan, Colin Caprani, Joe Keogh

Conference papers

Lane Changing Control To Reduce Traffic Load Effect On Long-Span Bridges, Colin C. Caprani, Bernard Enright, Colm Carey

Conference papers

Estimation Of Lifetime Maximum Distributions Of Bridge Traffic Load Effects, Eugene J. Obrien, Donya Hajializadeh, Emma Sheils, Bernard Enright

Conference papers

Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Understanding Of Students Who Are Learning Design., Shannon Chance

Conference papers