Engineering Commons^™

Highway-Railway At-Grade Crossings: Trackbed And Surface Pressure Measurements And Assessments, Jerry G. Rose, Daniel M. Durrett, Lindsay A. Walker, Jason C. Stith

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Techniques are described for installing instrumentation within highway/railway crossings – to measure vertical pressures under moving highway and railway loadings – using earth pressure cells. Also, techniques are described for installing instrumentation between rail base/tie plate interfaces – to measure vertical pressures under moving railway loadings – using pressure sensitive ink sensors. In addition, the sensors were used to measure the surface pressures imparted by highway vehicles on crossing surfaces. Data is presented for several crossings including a wide variety of conditions and loading intensities. The data serves to quantify pressure gradients within highway/railway crossings for application to structural design …

Evaluation Of The Use Of Snowplowable Raised Pavement Markers, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and durability of snowplowable raised pavement markers (RPM) installed on the RPM system in Kentucky. The durability evaluation dealt with the marker housing.

The data show that continued use of the currently approved snowplowable RPM can be justified if the castings are properly installed on new pavements with a commitment that the pavement will be maintained. An evaluation of centerline rumble strips installations showed that they should be considered on rural, two-lane roads with 12-foot lane widths (having new pavements) and paved shoulders.

Carbon Nanotube Membranes For Use In The Transdermal Treatment Of Nicotine Addiction And Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms, Caroline L. Strasinger, Nicole N. Scheff, Ji Wu, Bruce J. Hinds, Audra L. Stinchcomb

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Transdermal systems are attractive methods of drug administration specifically when treating patients for drug addiction. Current systems however are deficient in therapies that allow variable flux values of drug, such as nicotine for smoking cessation or complex dosing regimens using clonidine when treating opioid withdrawal symptoms. Through the use of functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes, drug delivery to the skin can be controlled by applying a small electrical bias to create a programmable drug delivery system. Clearly, a transdermal patch system that can be tailored to an individual's needs will increase patient compliance as well as provide much more efficient …

Continuous Production Of Aligned Carbon Nanotubes, David N. Jacques, Rodney Andrews

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty Patents

An apparatus for continuous production of aligned carbon nanotubes is disclosed. The apparatus includes a reactor, an injector for delivering a feed solution into the reactor, and a conveyor for passing through the reactor a substrate on which nanotubes may be formed and grown. The apparatus further may include an inert, porous medium through which the feed solution may be passed. The apparatus produces aligned carbon nanotubes of a predetermined external diameter, and is suitable for large scale production of aligned carbon nanotubes in an industrial setting.

Poster Session, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Act Web Tool, Amanda Gumbert, UK Cooperative Extension Service
• Cane Run Watershed Council – An Adventure in Watershed Involvement, Amanda Gumbert, UK Cooperative Extension Service
• Preliminary Comparison of Nutrient and Total Suspended Sediment Data on Water Samples Collected using Teledyne Portable Autosampler and EPA Field Methods for Wadeable Streams, Susan Brown, April Haight and others, Institute for Regional Analysis and Public Policy, Morehead State University
• Groundwater Protection Plans, Patricia Keefe, Kentucky Division of Water
• Use of Geophysical Techniques to Locate a Karst Conduit in the Cane Run – Royal Spring Basin, Kentucky …

Session 2d, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• The Warren County Blueways Initiative, Steve Spencer, Kevin Cary, and Tammy Stenger-Ramsey, Western Kentucky University
• The Big Sandy “Big Dip”: Effectiveness of a Community-Oriented and Geographically Intensive Approach to Assessing Small Headwater Stream Health, Reagan Weaver and Alice Jones, Environmental Research Institute, EKU
• Sanitation District Management of Replaced/Repaired Individual and Clustered Wastewater Treatment Systems in Olympia, Kentucky, Celia Barker, Bath County Health Dept, Jeffrey Brittingham and Barry Tonning, Tetra Tech
• Assessment of Combined Sewer Overflows, Elizabeth Coyle, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, UK

Session 2c, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Western Kentucky Deep Saline Reservoir CO₂ Storage Test, David Williams and J. Richard Bowersox, Kentucky Geological Survey, UK
• Western Kentucky Deep Saline Reservoir CO₂ Storage Test: Preliminary Environmental Assessments and Monitoring, E. Glynn Beck, Thomas Parris, and David Williams, Kentucky Geological Survey, UK
• Arsenite Oxidation by a Chemostat Culture of Thiomonas Arsenivorans Strain B6, Aniruddha Dastidar and Yi-Tin Wang, Dept Civil Engineering, UK
• Biological Control of Manganese in Water Supplies – A New Mn(II)-Oxidizing Bacteria Isolate, Michael Snyder and Y.T. Wang, Dept Civil Engineering, UK

Session 2b, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Watershed Based Planning in the Upper East Fork of Clarks River, Maggie Morgan, Four Rivers Basin Team, Paul Maron, Strand Associates, Inc
• Kentucky Institute for Watershed Management Support, Alanna Storey, Jana Fattic, and Andrew Ernest, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU
• Overview of TMDL Development for Panther Creek and Long Falls Watersheds in Daviess and McLean Counties, Kentucky, Josh Brewer, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU
• Nitrogen Isotopes to Study the Variability of Sediment Transported from a Lowland Watershed in the Bluegrass, Jimmy Fox and others, Dept Civil Engineering, UK

Session 2a, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Results of a Kentucky Stormwater Survey in MS4 Phase II Regions, Yvonne Meichtry and Julie Gee, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
• The Bluegrass Rain Garden Alliance: An Approach to Improving Stormwater Quality for MS4 Communities in Central Kentucky, Brittany Zwicker and Amy Sohner, Bluegrass Rain Garden Alliance
• Give Your Brain to Science: Resource Materials for Teachers, Dan Carey, Kentucky Geological Survey, UK
• Integrating Environmental Education in the Curriculum, Kazi Javed and others, Kentucky State University

Session 1d, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Water/Wastewater Technician Training Institute: The First Year Retrospective, Christal Wade and Andrew Ernest, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU
• Water Analysis, Training, Education and Research Services: A ‘Farmer’s Cooperative’ Model for Capacity Development, Andrew Ernest and Jana Fattic, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU
• Utilizing a Content Management System for an Emergency Response Network for Water and Wastewater Districts, Karla Andrew, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU
• Water Resource Management Capacity Development: A Small Systems Technology Transfer Model, Andrew Ernest, Center for Water Resource Studies, WKU

Session 1c, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Suspended Sediment in the Dry Creek Watershed, Rowan County, Kentucky, Samuel Williams, Steven Reid, and Christine McMichael, Morehead State University
• Influence of Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) on the Aquatic Biodiversity in Eastern Kentucky, Aric Payne and Sherry Harrel, Dept Biological Sciences, EKU
• Identification of Human and Animal Fecal Sources in Central Kentucky Watersheds by PCR of 16sDNA Markers from Host-Specific Fecal Anaerobes, Tricia Coakley and others, Environmental Research Training Laboratories (ERTL), UK
• Investigation of Land-Use Change and Hydrologic Forcing upon Streambank Erosion and In-Stream Sediment Processes Using a Watershed Model and Sediment Tracers, Joseph Russo and …

Session 1b, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Kohonen Self Organizing Map for Analyzing Rainfall and Inflow Patterns with Indiana Reservoir Sites, Chandra Viswanathan and Nimisha Gupta, Dept Civil Engineering, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN
• Watershed Clustering Based on Geomorphic and Human Induced Landscape Modifications: A Central Kentucky Example, Brian Lee, Angela Schörgendorfer, and Collin Linebach, College of Agriculture, UK
• “True Relief”? Asynchronous Topographic Change Detection and Concomitant Land Cover and Hydrologic Implications, Demetrio Zourarakis, Kentucky Division of Geographic Information
• Cumulative Impacts Assessments for 404 Mining Permits, A Watershed Approach, J. Steven Gardner, Engineering Consulting Services, Inc., Lexington, KY

Session 1a, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Integrated Surface and Groundwater Quality Assessments in Karst Regions of Kentucky, Robert Blair and Peter Goodmann, Kentucky Division of Water
• The Karst Potential Index for Kentucky, Progress Report, James Currens, Randall Paylor, and Matthew Crawford, Kentucky Geological Survey, UK
• DNA Analysis of Fecal Bacteria to Trace Transport of Agricultural Pathogens at Crump’s Cave, KY, Rick Fowler, WATERS Laboratory, WKU
• Process Water Management (PWM) for Achieving Water Conservation Management (WCM), Cam Metcalf and Tom Wright, Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center, U of L Shelby Campus

Proceedings Of 2009 Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

This conference was planned and conducted as part of the state water resources research annual program with the support and collaboration of the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, under Grant Agreement Number 06HQGR0087.

The views and conclusions contained in this document and presented at the symposium are those of the abstract authors and presenters and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government or other symposium organizers and sponsors.

Effects Of Growth Media Ph And Reaction Water Activity On The Conversion Of Acetophenone To (S)-1-Phenylethanol By Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Immobilized On Celite 635 And In Calcium Alginate, Nicholas P. Coleman, Czarena Crofcheck, Sue E. Nokes, Barbara L. Knutson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Biologically catalyzed reactions often produce enantiomers of the product; however, only one configuration is desired. Reaction conditions are known to affect enantiomer ratios and reaction kinetics, but little is known regarding the effect of processing conditions on whole-cell biocatalysis. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells were grown in batch on glucose at pH = 4, 5, and 7, and then immobilized on Celite beads or in calcium alginate beads and used as the biocatalyst for the conversion of acetophenone in hexane to (S)-1-phenylethanol at water activities of 0.37, 0.61, and 0.80. S. cerevisiae was used as a model microorganism for the whole-cell catalyzed …

Evaluation Plan For The Ticketing Aggressive Cars And Trucks (Tact) Program In Kentucky, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Kentucky State Police Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement in cooperation with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has started a concentrated education and enforcement campaign in an effort to increase the safety and awareness of drivers around commercial vehicles. The University of Kentucky Transportation Center has evaluated this campaign and reported the effectiveness of this effort.

The campaign was focused in two high volume, high crash interstate areas: one in northern Kentucky on I‐75, and one in the Louisville area on I‐65. Several blitzes (including a media and enforcement component) were conducted throughout the year. This evaluation measured the success …

Evaluation Of The Work Zone Safety And Mobility Rule, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule (Rule) was published in the Federal Register in September 2004 indicating that all state and local governments receiving Federal-aid funding were required to comply with provisions of the Rule no later than October 2007. Kentucky received an extension to October 2008. The objectives of this study were to review the requirements of the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule and provide recommendations for implementation of the Rule to ensure a consistent approach for designing and managing the impacts of work zones. This report documents results from: a) a review of literature and Kentucky’s …

Experimental Painting Of The I-64 Riverside Parkway In Louisville, Ky, Rick Younce, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Sudhir Palle

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet conducted a large-scale zone maintenance painting operation on 13 elevated steel bridges along the I-64 Riverside Parkway in Louisville, KY in 2007. That work included abrasive blast-cleaning and painting of steel underlying open deck joints on 3.2 miles of steel structures. The painting was performed by spray application of one coat of a calcium sulfonate alkyd coating. The painting covered an area of 237,060 ft2 of steel cleaned and painted at a unit cost of $15.82/ft2.

The project incorporated a high level of containment as the existing coating possessed lead-based paints and the project was located …

Analytical Strip Method To Antisymmetric Laminated Plates, Liecheng Sun

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

An Analytical Strip Method (ASM) for the analysis of stiffened and non-stiffened antisymmetric laminated composite plates is derived by considering the bending-extension coupling effect for bending, free vibration and buckling. A system of three equations of equilibrium, governing the general response of arbitrarily laminated composite plates, is reduced to a single eighth order partial differential equation in terms of a displacement function. The displacement function is solved in a single series form to determine the displacement, fundamental frequency, and buckling load of antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated composite plates. The solution is applicable to rectangular plates with two opposite edges …

A Protocol Suite For Wireless Personal Area Networks, Karl E. Persson

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

A Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) is an ad hoc network that consists of devices that surround an individual or an object. Bluetooth^® technology is especially suitable for formation of WPANs due to the pervasiveness of devices with Bluetooth^® chipsets, its operation in the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) frequency band, and its interference resilience. Bluetooth^® technology has great potential to become the de facto standard for communication between heterogeneous devices in WPANs.

The piconet, which is the basic Bluetooth^® networking unit, utilizes a Master/Slave (MS) configuration that permits only a single master and up to …

Micro-Fabricated Hydrogen Sensors Operating At Elevated Temperatures, Chi Lu

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, three types of microfabricated solid-state sensors had been designed and developed on silicon wafers, aiming to detect hydrogen gas at elevated temperatures. Based on the material properties and sensing mechanisms, they were operated at 140°C, 500°C, and 300°C. The MOS-capacitor device working at 140°C utilized nickel instead of the widely-used expensive palladium, and the performance remained excellent. For very-high temperature sensing (500°C), the conductivity of the thermally oxidized TiO₂ thin film based on the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) substrate changed 25 times in response to 5 ppm H₂ and the response transient times were just …

Vortex Model Of Open Channel Flows With Gravel Beds, Brian James Belcher

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Turbulent structures are known to be important physical processes in gravel-bed rivers. A number of limitations exist that prohibit the advancement and prediction of turbulence structures for optimization of civil infrastructure, biological habitats and sediment transport in gravel-bed rivers. This includes measurement limitations that prohibit characterization of size and strength of turbulent structures in the riverine environment for different case studies as well as traditional numerical modeling limitations that prohibit modeling and prediction of turbulent structure for heterogeneous beds under high Reynolds number flows using the Navier-Stokes equations. While these limitations exist, researchers have developed various theories for the structure …

Optical Properties Of Coal Combustion Byproducts For Particle-Size Analysis By Laser Diffraction, Robert B. Jewell, Robert F. Rathbone

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Laser diffraction analysis is commonly used for determining the particle-size distribution (PSD) of fly ash. However, there is currently no standard method for preparing samples and analyzing them. The Mie and Fraunhofer optical models are used to calculate the PSD of fly ash from laser diffraction data. The Mie theory is most applicable for particles smaller than 50 mm, and is therefore the most accurate model for the analysis of fly ash. However, the refractive index (RI) of fly ash is complex and not well known. This study presents the analysis of several supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as coal …

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2009 Report, Kentucky Transportation Center, Kentucky State Police

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report for 2009 is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635, “every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth. Data contained in this report are based solely on the observations …

Lectures In Elementary Fluid Dynamics: Physics, Mathematics And Applications, James M. Mcdonough

Mechanical Engineering Textbook Gallery

From Chapter 1:

It takes little more than a brief look around for us to recognize that fluid dynamics is one of the most important of all areas of physics—life as we know it would not exist without fluids, and without the behavior that fluids exhibit.

It is the goal of these lecture notes to help students in this process of gaining an understanding of, and an appreciation for, fluid motion—what can be done with it, what it might do to you, how to analyze and predict it.

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute Annual Technical Report Fy 2008, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

KWRRI Annual Technical Reports (USGS’s 104b Grant Program)

The 2008 Annual Technical Report for Kentucky consolidates reporting requirements of the Section 104(b) base grant award into a single document that includes: 1) a synopsis of each research project conducted with grant funds during the period, 2) citations for related publications, reports, and presentations, 3) a description of information transfer activities, 4) a summary of student support during the reporting period, and 5) notable awards and achievements during the year.

How Driver Risk Perception Affects Operating Speeds, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Ted H. Grossardt, Keiron Bailey

Kentucky Transportation Center Faculty and Researcher Publications

Excessive speed is one of the primary safety hazards facing highway users. However, in many cases operating speeds exceed design speeds, and drivers generally ignore posted speed limits. The main objective of this research was to identify roadway elements and roadside features that could influence driver operating speeds in rural two-lane roads without compromising safety.

Virtual Reality video simulations were employed and drivers recorded the influence of these elements on their judgments about the appropriate driving speed. The driver/participants viewed 22 models projected on a large screen in a darkened room, simulating the windshield of a vehicle.

The viewing sessions …

Reduction Of Stresses On Buried Rigid Highway Structures Using The Imperfect Ditch Method And Expanded Polysterene (Geofoam), Liecheng Sun, Tommy C. Hopkins, Tony L. Beckham

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The study of earth pressure distribution on buried structures has a great practical importance in constructing highway embankments above pipes and culverts. Based on Spangler’s research, the supporting strength of a conduit depends primarily on three factors: 1. The inherent strength of the conduit; 2. The distribution of the vertical load and bottom reaction; and 3. The magnitude and distribution of lateral earth pressures that act against the sides of the structure. Rigid culverts are frequently used in Kentucky for routing streams beneath highway embankments because of rolling and mountainous terrain, numerous streams, shallow depths to bedrock, which creates unyielding …

Kentucky Highway User Survey 2008, Lenahan O'Connell

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This study updates surveys of Kentucky driver opinion regarding the quality of Kentucky’s highway system. The survey was conducted in 2008. Data is presented in bar graphs and tables that allow the analysis of changes in public opinion since the first administration of the survey. For most topics, data are available from 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2008. The respondents are 845 Kentucky-licensed drivers, age 18 and over. The study looked at seven characteristics of Kentucky highways and found that satisfaction levels were quite stable since 2003. In regard to overall satisfaction in 2008, 54% of drivers said they were …

An Algorithm To Solve The Associative Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem, Mohannad Abdelrahman Shuaib

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Effective production scheduling is essential for improved performance. Scheduling strategies for various shop configurations and performance criteria have been widely studied. Scheduling in parallel machines (PM) is one among the many scheduling problems that has received considerable attention in the literature. An even more complex scheduling problem arises when there are several PM families and jobs are capable of being processed in more than one such family. This research addresses such a situation, which is defined as an Associative Parallel Machine scheduling (APMS) problem. This research presents the SAPT-II algorithm that solves a highly constrained APMS problem with the objective …