Engineering Commons^™

M74 Motorway, Glasgow – Geotechnical Aspects Of Design And Construction, Paul Nowak

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The 7.8 kilometre long M74 Completion project forms the final part of the motorway box around the city of Glasgow. Construction commenced in May 2008 and was completed in June 2011. The urban route corridor presented many geotechnical challenges to the design and construction teams. It is underlain by Recent, lightly over-consolidated Clyde Alluvium of maximum 35 metres thickness over Glacial Till and Carboniferous Coal Measure Sandstone bedrock. Additionally, it was the location of industries over the 19th and 20th centuries which deposited waste over the natural ground containing chromium, steel works slag and hydrocarbons. The route corridor is also …

Predicting Landslide Risk Combining Space Measurements And Geotechnical Modeling: Application At Kerasia Slide, C. Stamatopoulos, P. Petridis, L. Balla, I. Parharidis, M. Foumelis, N. Nikolaou, N. Spanou

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The work developed and applied a methodology combining (a) space measurement of past displacement and (b) geotechnical modelling of displacement to predict and mitigate the risk of ground displacement cased by progressive slope instability. The area of study is in Kerasea village in Plastiras Lake Municipality. The problem under treatment is a creeping landslide in an inhabited area. Mitigation measures were analyzed.

Access Road Construction Of The Larsi Building Using Reinforced Earth Walls, Amir Eslami Amirabadi, Atefeh Zamani, Cambyse Behnia

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Mountainous road construction is one of the most difficult and challenging problems in geotechnical engineering. Geometrical complexities and geotechnical conditions make them different from many other urban projects. Retaining wall system is a principal part of these projects. Reinforced Earth Wall system can be considered as an appropriate option for mountainous road construction. In this case history, access road construction of the LARSI building (Shemshak-Iran) is discussed. Shemshak is a tourist town which is located in southern hillsides of the Alborz Mountains. Therefore, the access road is an essential component particularly in cold seasons. Nine terraced levels of the reinforced …

Two-Tier Retaining Wall System To Support Railroad Embankment Widening, Abhijit R. Sheth, Craig M. Benedict, Ara G. Mouradian, John Brun

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is replacing the 1907-era two-track bascule bridge over the Niantic River between East Lyme and Waterford, Connecticut, along the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor. Prestressed concrete sheet pile retaining walls were selected to support the new higher approach embankments along both the east and west approaches to the new bridge. Along the west approach a two-tiered wall design was utilized to support a new recreational walkway elevated above the 100-year storm surge elevation for the Niantic Bay, while at the same time keeping the walkway below the level of the adjoining tracks. The design of …

Csx Railroad Bridge Replacements, Matthew D. Breitenbach, Dawn Edgell, Gary F. Goodheart

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

This paper will discuss the geotechnical aspects of foundation design, construction support, and the team work necessary to replace and upgrade 14 bridges along an existing, trafficked rail line through Central Illinois. Seven bridges were constructed using previously completed designs and seven bridges were constructed using a multi-disciplinary design-build approach. The geotechnical team provided construction support for the Phase I bridges while concurrently conducting geotechnical investigations and developing design criteria for the Phase II bridges. The project also involved many logistical considerations including minimizing bridge “out of service time” to less than ten hours for the construction of each bridge, …

Investigating The Behaviour Of Natural Slopes And Man Made Structures By Terrestrial Sar Interferometry, Paolo Mazzanti

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Remote sensing techniques for the monitoring of deformation are opening new opportunities in the field of geotechnical engineering and geology. Terrestrial SAR interferometry (TInSAR) is one of the most innovative technique and it promises to be a very effective solution which will be extensively used in the near future. TInSAR is characterized by several interesting features such as: i) high density of information; ii) fully remote capability; iii) long range capability; iv) widespread view; v) spatially continuous efficacy and vi) high accuracy. Thanks to these features TInSAR has been used for investigation and diagnostic purposes (i.e. landslide and structural instability …

General Report - Session 3, Diego Lo Presti, Mary Perlea, Nunziante Squeglia

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

This General Report summarizes the 84 papers accepted for the Session 3 focused on: - 3a. Case Histories on Failure and Remediation of Slopes, Dams, Embankments and Landfills (53 papers), - 3b. Case Histories on Failure and Remediation of Retaining Structures, Slurry Walls, and Deep Excavations, Dewatering, Stability (27 papers), - 3c. Improving the Stability and Maintenance of Monuments (4 papers). The papers originate from 26 countries (11 European countries, 3 American countries, 11 Asian countries and 1 African country). The papers cover a number of relevant topics divided into three different sub - sessions. As for the two papers …

Applied Analysis Of Ionic Polymer Metal-Composite Actuators, Siul Ruiz, Benjamin Mead, Woosoon Yim

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• IPMC is a type of smart material called an electroactive polymer
• Consists of an ionic polymer such as Nafion or Flemion and a conducive metal such as platinum or gold
• COMSOL multi-physics simulations accurately model the experimental displacement results
• Optimization performed using the multi-physics model to find the maximum deflection, force, and twisting
• Using the closed loop control system accurate IPMC tip location can be achieved
• This control system has been extended to function using a computer mouse as an input

Hydraulic And Thermal Performances Of A High Temperature Ceramic Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger (Pfhe), Vijaisri Nagarajan, Yitung Chen, Qiuwang Wang, Ting Ma

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• Numerical analysis was carried for novel configuration of high temperature PFHE
• Fluid flow and heat transfer properties were studied for various fin configurations
• Ripsaw fin design with thickness of 0.05 mm gives maximum heat transfer with less pressure drop and friction factor
• Validation and parametric study were carried out for all fin configurations

Plastic Deformation Of Astm A36 Steel Using Two-Stage Light Gas Gun, Shawoon Kumar Roy

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

To characterize material deformation in high velocity impact. To validate material models for computation simulation purposes.

This ongoing research is an attempt to study the plastic deformation of A36 steel plate (0.5” thick) under hypervelocity impact. Plastic deformation of the target plate was simulated using finite element software LS-DYNA.

Solar Cell Design Using Metamaterials, Yang Liu, Yitung Chen, Jichun Li

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Natural structure with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability has not been discovered yet. However, using specially-designed metal embedded in dielectric bodies can achieve a kind of artificial negative index. This periodic structure which is smaller than the guided wavelength is known as a metamaterial. However, recent designs of metamaterials have some disadvantages when they are used in the application of solar cell. The perfect absorption is only within a narrow band, and for most of the solar spectrum, the absorption is no more than 10%. Here, a new kind of absorber for the solar spectrum has been designed and analyzed, …

New N-Nitrosodimethylamine (Ndma) Precursors That React With Ozone: Implications For Water Reuse, Erica Marti, Aleks Pisarenko, Eric Dickenson

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Ozonation is a promising treatment step for water reuse. Compared to the “gold standard” with reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation, ozone requires less energy and does not result in a waste brine. This makes ozone more cost-effective. However, the formation of nitrosamines may be a significant barrier to the use of ozonation in water reuse applications, particularly for potable reuse.

Analysis Of Bolted Joints Under Medium And High Impact Loading, Deepak Sankar Somasundaram, Mohamed Trabia, Brendan J. O'Toole

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• Develop test fixture for medium impact study on bolted joints
• Create FEA model that can replicate the experiment
• Develop test fixture for high impact loading
• Create FEA model and select material properties that can produce results that
  closely match experiments.
• Compare different modeling techniques for high impact loading

Numerical Characterization Of The Hydrodynamics And Thermal Behavior Of Air Flow In A "Flex-Duct" Air Distribution System, Samad Gharehdaghi, Samir Moujaes

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

The aim of this research paper is to compute the hydrodynamic and heat transfer characteristics of the air flow inside a flexible duct used for residential/small commercial buildings. Various new information which manufacturers do not provide usually are produced numerically among which heat transfer coefficient, needed for estimating heat loss, is a principal one. Circulation zones in depressions are found to exist. It is shown that these regions act as an insulator and decrease the heat loss along the duct. The results show that fully developed conditions exist much earlier with regard to the inlet for both hydrodynamic and thermal …

Modeling And Architectural Simulations Of The Statistical Static Timing Analysis Of The Variation Sources For Vlsi Circuits, Abu M. Baker

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

As CMOS technology scales down, process variation introduces significant uncertainty in power and performance to VLSI circuits and significantly affects their reliability. Although Static-Timing Analysis (STA) remains an excellent tool, current trends in process scaling have imposed significant difficulties to STA. As one of the promising solutions, Statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) has become the frontier research topic in recent years in combating such variation effects. This poster will be focusing on two aspects of SSTA and its applications in VLSI designs: (1) Statistical timing modeling and analysis; and (2) Architectural implementations of the atomic operations (max and add) using …

On High-Performance Parallel Decimal Fixed-Point Multiplier Designs, Ming Zhu

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Decimal computations are required in finance, and etc.

• Precise representation for decimals (E.g. 0.2, 0.7… )
• Performance Requirements (Software simulations are very slow)

A Computation Model For Nanoantenna-Based Solar Cell With High Conversion Efficiency, Yiyan Li, Ke-Xun Sun, Yingtao Jiang

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• Build a model of spiral nanoantenna and an antenna
  array based solar cell collector.
• Using Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) basis functions to
  simulate the spiral nanoantennas.
• We calculate the frequency response of the radiation
  gain as the indicator of receiving bandwidth which is a
  key factor in conversion efficiency.

Energy Audit In Wastewater Aeration System, Dinesh R. Kandel, Jacimaria R. Batista, Sajjad Ahmad

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

To evaluate the energy consumption air to aeration basins in wastewater treatment aeration system and to compare the standard computations of oxygen demand and blower power requirements with the actual plant data.

Vulnerability Of Progressive Collapse In Reinforced Concrete Flat-Plate Buildings, Jinrong Liu

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• Progressive collapse is the spread of initial local failure, causing partial or
  even total collapse of a building.
• Flat plate structure is widely used for office and residential buildings.
• There is a large inventory of older flat plate building without continuous slab bottom reinforcement through columns.
• Limited knowledge exists regarding the risk of disproportionate collapse in
  older flat-plates under sudden column removal during abnormal events.
• Reliable mechanical model is needed for structural evaluation.

Mono-Sized Sphere Packing Algorithm Development Using Optimized Monte Carlo Technique, Karn Soontrapa, Yitung Chen

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

In this research, fuel cell catalyst layer was developed using the optimized sphere packing algorithm. An optimization technique named adaptive random search technique (ARSET) was employed in this packing algorithm. The ARSET algorithm will generate the initial location of spheres and allow them to move in the random direction with the variable moving distance, randomly selected from the sampling range (a), based on the Lennard–Jones potential and Morse potential of the current and new configuration. The solid fraction values obtained from this developed algorithm are in the range of 0.610–0.624 while the actual processing time can significantly be reduced by …

3rd Graduate Celebration, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

The Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering Graduate Celebration is an event that recognizes the scholarly work of our engineering and computer science graduate students within the college. The target audience includes undergraduate students, graduate students, college faculty and staff, and the campus community as well as local and regional stakeholders. The objective of the event is to promote and publicize the research activities of the College of Engineering and to inform our stakeholders of our students’ achievements.

All students whose advisors deem that their research is mature enough are invited to communicate their research by participating in the College’s …

Comparative Study Of Artificial Lighting Systems With Different Fixtures Considering Daylight Availability, Leticia Niero Moraes, Anderson Claro

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

The use of daylight is indicated as a primary factor in energy savings of buildings, since it can reduce the use of electric lighting through control systems. However, the efficiency of systems is also associated with technical characteristics and performance of various elements. The positioning of fixtures, as well as its specifications can contribute for environmental comfort and energy conservation. Such concerns, however, are not part of the currently established practice of lighting design professionals. Considering this gap, this paper seeks to develop a study that addresses the integration of natural and electric light. The methodology is based on evaluating …

12th Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium, Farquhar Honors College

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Undergraduate Student Symposium, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presents student projects through presentations, papers, and poster displays. The event serves as a “showcase” demonstrating the outstanding scholarship of undergraduate students at NSU. The Symposium is open to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental and the applied to the computational, theoretical, artistic, and literary. They are taken from class assignments as well as from independent projects. The projects do not have to be complete; presentations can represent any stage in the concept’s evolution, from proposal and literature …

Helping To Explain Lighting Quality & Energy Efficiency To Non-Experts, Anna Whittaker, Julie Gore, Stuart Mucklejohn

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International lighting Conference

In-Field Measurment Of Cylindrical Illuminance And The Impact Of Room Surface Reflectance On The Visual Environment, James Duff

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Energy And Cost Savings By Using Lighting Controls In Offices, Carmen Munoz Munoz, David Moreno, Paula Esquivias, Ignacio Acosta, Jaime Navarro

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Lighting Quality For All, Peter Boyce

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Retrofit Electrochromic Glazing In An Open Plan Office: A Case Study, Ruth Kelly, Birgit Painter, John Mardaljevic, Katherine Irvine

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Standards And Codes, Peter Raynham

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Rethinking Daylighting And Compliance, John Mardaljevic

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference