Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of Warm-Mix Asphalt Additives On Asphalt Mixture Characteristics And Pavement Performance, Jun Zhang

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the feasibility of several WMA mixtures as potential asphalt paving mixtures for Nebraska pavements. To that end, three well-known WMA additives (i.e., Sasobit, Evotherm, and Advera synthetic zeolite) were evaluated. For a more realistic evaluation of the WMA approaches, trial pavement sections of the WMA mixtures and their HMA counterparts were implemented in Antelope County, Nebraska. More than one ton of field-mixed loose mixtures were collected at the time of paving and were transported to the NDOR and UNL laboratories to conduct comprehensive laboratory evaluations and pavement performance predictions of the …

Soil Behavior Under Blast Loading, Jichong An

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding the behavior of soil under blast loading is very important to engineers in mining, tunneling, and military construction. Due to the very complex structure of a soil mass it is very difficult to describe its constitutive relation, especially when it has different water contents and it is under blast loading conditions. New protective system designs subjected to blast loading need to be proved its validation prior to predict effect of explosive before implementation. Full-scale, buried explosive tests are costly. Finite element simulations play a significant role in the design of protective systems, for example a bottom platform of lightweight …

A Generalized Non-Parametric Approach For Uncertainty Evaluation In Travel Time Prediction Models, Bhaven Naik

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A core component within Advanced Traveler Information Systems is travel time information because it is easily understood and perceived by travelers. However, the suggested travel time information should be based not only on historical and real-time conditions, but also on forecasted or “unknown” future conditions.

Existing research has focused primarily on developing models that forecast point estimates of the mean travel time that are in close comparison to their respective field values. There has been limited research on any insight into the reliability or uncertainty margin that exists around the forecasted point estimate. As well, these researches have a limitation …

Embedded Radio Frequency Identification Device License Plates For Roadside Use In Nebraska, Dwight L. Mosby Jr

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The transportation industry has many stakeholders with different needs that work with advanced technologies. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is used to track inventory and it holds promise for the transportation industry. This research identifies how to evaluate transportation stakeholder requirements for RFID technologies using a tool described as the House of Quality (HOQ). This research investigates RFID’s ability to work in license plates and may provide infrastructure to support identifying RFID enabled commercial vehicles. This research considers variables that affect the performance of a RFID License Plate System that will use a scanner located at …

Site Verification Of Weigh-In-Motion Traffic And Tirtl Classification Data, Shuo Li, Yingzi (Eliza) Du, Yi Jiang

JTRP Technical Reports

Quality weigh-in-motion (WIM) traffic data is essential not only in general transportation application, but also in pavement design. The new AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for New and Rehabilitated Pavement Structures requires information on the detailed truck traffic, such as truck traffic volume, truck traffic monthly and hourly variations, vehicle class distribution, axle load, and axle load distributions, instead of the traditional ESALs. In addition, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) needs to collect traffic data frequently so as to timely provide accurate traffic information for planning, program development, operations, and pavement management. Currently, INDOT is using the pneumatic …

Capacity Reduction And Fire Load Factors For Lrfd Of Steel Members Exposed To Fire, Shahid Iqbal, Ronald S. Harichandran

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

A general reliability-based methodology is proposed for developing capacity reduction and fire load factors for design of steel members exposed to fire. The effect of active fire protection systems (e.g., sprinklers, smoke and heat detectors, fire brigade, etc.) in reducing the probability of occurrence of a severe fire is included. The design parameters that significantly affect the fire design of steel members are chosen as random variables. Raw experimental data published in the literature was analyzed to obtain the statistics of parameters for which no statistical information was available in the literature. Model errors associated with the thermal analysis models …

Closure To "Estimation Of The Water Balance Using Observed Soil Water In The Nebraska Sandhills", Venkataramana Sridhar, K. G. Hubbard

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We are thankful to Szilagyi [2010] for providing us an opportunity to discuss the important points of our paper [Sridhar and Hubbard, 2010]. We demonstrated a seasonal water balance assessment using the Modified Thornthwaite-Mather (TM) model in the Nebraska Sandhills. We computed the water budget for a few representative weather monitoring stations located in the Sandhills using the high resolution soil moisture data to assess the storage. In our water balance analysis, soil moisture storage is determined based on observed soil moisture and actual evapotranspiration, ET_act was computed for each month using the change in storage in soil water …

Safety Enhancement Of The Indot Network Pavement Friction Testing Program: Macrotexture And Microtexture Testing Using Laser Sensors, Shuo Li, Samy Noureldin, Karen Zhu

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation has conducted annual network inventory friction testing using the locked wheel trailer to reduce wet pavement crashes. However, issues have arisen concerning the data credibility and field operation safety on high-speed highway facilities. Some researchers have investigated the evaluation of pavement friction using macrotexture measurements and found the relationship between friction and macrotexture is extremely weak. Currently, macrotexture can be readily measured at highway speeds, but microtexture is evaluated using friction at low speeds from a surrogate device. Microtexture plays an important role in friction force. The evaluation of pavement friction from texture measurements will …

Frameworks For Systemic And Structural Analysis Of Financial Innovations In Infrastructure, Ali Mostafavi, Dulcy M. Abraham

Infrastructure System-of-Systems (I-SoS ) Research Group

Financial innovations have emerged globally to close the gap between the rising global demand for infrastructures and the availability of financing sources offered by traditional financing mechanisms such as fuel taxation, tax-exempt bonds, and federal and state funds. The key to sustainable innovative financing mechanisms is effective policymaking. This paper discusses the theoretical framework of a research study whose objective is to structurally and systemically assess financial innovations in global infrastructures. The research aims to create analysis frameworks, taxonomies and constructs, and simulation models pertaining to the dynamics of the innovation process to be used in policy analysis. Structural assessment …

The Influence Of Different European Cements On The Transport And Early-Age Properties Of Concrete In The Cover-Zone, Niall Holmes, L. Basheer, S. Nanukuttan, Pam. Basheer, W. J. Carter, T. M. Chrisp, G. Starrs

Conference papers

The use of in situ tests for performance based specification would require demonstration of their suitability to distinguish the quality of concrete. With the introduction of new European Standards for cements, this would mean concretes produced with these new cements should be classified for their quality using the performance tests. It is generally believed that transport properties of concrete are related to their durability and hence the measurement of these properties can form the basis of performance based specifications. This paper reports data indicating that transport properties measured at 28-days for concretes manufactured with different European cements and water-binder ratios …

An Improved Framework For Dynamic Origin-Destination (O-D) Matrix Estimation, Hongbo Chi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to improve the performance of existing assignment-based dynamic origin-destination (O-D) matrix estimation models to successfully apply Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategies for the purposes of traffic congestion relief and dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) in transportation network modeling. The methodology framework has two advantages over the existing assignment-based dynamic O-D matrix estimation models. First, it combines an initial O-D estimation model into the estimation process to provide a high confidence level of initial input for the dynamic O-D estimation model, which has the potential to improve the final estimation results and reduce the associated computation time. Second, the …

Regeneration Of Exhausted Carbon Nano-Foam Used In Desalination Of Brackish Water, Sanjay Tewari, Bill Batchelor

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Carbon Nano-Foam (CNF) has been used electrochemically for water desalination. CNF electrodes attract oppositely charged ions flowing in between them and this process is known as Capacitive De-Ionization (CDI). Once saturated these electrodes lose electrochemical adsorption and need to be replaced, this increases the cost of the treatment process as CNF is expensive. The goal of this study is to obtain optimal regeneration and predictive capability by examining CNF electrodes during regeneration and developing a model to describe desorption behavior. Various experiments were conducted to explore the effect of shorting, changing polarity of electrodes, flow velocity of water over CNF …

Agenda: 2010 World Energy Justice Conference: Emerging Solutions For The Energy Poor: Technological, Entrepreneurial And Institutional Challenges, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Journal Of International Environmental Law And Policy

2010 World Energy Justice Conference (November 5)

This conference is a sequel to the 2009 World Energy Justice Conference (WEJC 2009) which began examining ways of mainstreaming safe, clean, and efficient energy for the world's Energy Poor (EP). The EP number two and a half billion people living on less than $1-2 a day who have no access to modern energy services. WEJC 2010 more fully develops these themes. WEJC 2010 will explore how the next round of global warming meetings in Cancun could design new flexibility mechanisms that give credits, for example, for the reduction of black carbon by the adoption of cookstoves, and embrace small …

An Exploratory Survey Of Drivers’ Knowledge Of Right Of Way At Freeway On-Ramp Merging Areas, Deogratias Eustace, Stephen Owusu-Ansah, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The most recent data available show that in 2006 there were almost 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States where a total of 42,642 people were killed and an additional 2.6 million were injured. The majority of these motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections or within the intersection influence areas. Traffic conflicts occur at intersections due to traffic streams moving in different directions interfering with each other, and as a result they become areas with high potential for traffic crashes compared with …

The Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program Roller Compacted Concrete Pavement Manual For Local Government Agencies, Kyung Joon Shin, Neal Carboneau

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Technical Reports

Interest in the use of Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) pavement (RCCP) for local roads and streets has increased. The Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), which is a part of the Purdue University School of Civil Engineering, has developed this document to assist local agencies with the implementation of roller compacted concrete as a paving material. This manual is intended for those interested in planning, designing and constructing RCCP for local roads and streets. It provides design guidelines, construction guidelines, local case studies, guide specifications and paving plan guidelines.

Pendulum Testing As A Means Of Assessing The Crash Performance Of Longitudinal Barrier With Minor Damage, Doug Gabauer, Kristofer D. Kusano, Dhafer Marzougui, Kenneth Opiela, Martin Hargrave, Hampton C. Gabler

Faculty Journal Articles

Longitudinal barriers such as w-beam guardrails are subjected to a series of full-scale crash tests to determine their impact performance before being considered acceptable for use on the nation’s highways. Once longitudinal barriers are installed along a roadway, however, they often sustain minor damage in various ways. Since barriers are exclusively tested in an undamaged condition, there is very little known regarding the crash performance of barriers that have sustained minor damage. Transportation agencies responsible for deploying and maintaining these barrier systems need a better understanding of damaged barrier performance to make timely and cost-effective barrier maintenance decisions under the …

Changes In The Structure And Function Of Microbial Communities In Drinking Water Treatment Bioreactors Upon Addition Of Phosphorus, Xu Li, Giridhar Upadhyaya, Wangki Yuen, Jess Brown, Eberhard Morgenroth, Lutgarde Raskin

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Phosphorus was added as a nutrient to bench-scale and pilot-scale biologically active carbon (BAC) reactors operated for perchlorate and nitrate removal from contaminated groundwater. The two bioreactors responded similarly to phosphorus addition in terms of microbial community function (i.e., reactor performance), while drastically different responses in microbial community structure were detected. Improvement in reactor performance with respect to perchlorate and nitrate removal started within a few days after phosphorus addition for both reactors. Microbial community structures were evaluated using molecular techniques targeting 16S rRNA genes. Clone library results showed that the relative abundance of perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) Dechloromonas and Azospira …

Culvert Material Cost Comparison, New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

The following tables provide a detailed look at the role that culvert material and culvert diameter play in the overall cost of a culvert replacement project. Table 1 displays the cost per foot purchase price arranged by diameter size for the various culvert materials that are currently available. Table 2 displays the average additional culvert pipe material cost (increased cost to upsize minus original in-kind replacement cost) that would be incurred when upsizing a given diameter of culvert with a 50 foot length by factors of: 200%, 250% and 300%.

Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Permeability Performance, Javier Castro, Robert Spragg, Phil Kompare, W. Jason Weiss

JTRP Technical Reports

The objective of this project was to evaluate the transport properties of concrete pavement in the state of Indiana using common testing procedures. Specifically this work evaluated the absorption of water, the absorption of deicing solutions, and electrical conductivity. A series of concrete paving mixtures were tested to provide a range of values that were typical for the state of Indiana. While similar mixture proportions were used for the mixtures in Indiana differences in the magnitude of water absorbed occurred. A series of mortars were tested to illustrate the effect of curing conditions, water to cement ratio, and paste volume. …

Characterization And Pollutant Loading Estimation For Highway Runoff In Omaha, Nebraska, Camilo Torres

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Stormwater from roadways could have negative effects on the environment. Typical highway runoff pollutants include heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, gasoline constituents, PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), oxygen demanding compounds measured as COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), and road salts.

The objectives of this research were: characterize the pollutants in roadway runoff and determine the effectiveness of the existing stormwater BMPs at the study site. To accomplish these objectives, eleven rainfall events were sampled from November 2008 through November 2010.

First flush and composite highway runoff samples were analyzed for heavy metals, anions, nutrients, particulates, BOD, COD, VOCs, and …

Control And Repair Of Bridge Deck Cracking, Robert J. Frosch, Sergio Gutierrez, Jacob S. Hoffman

JTRP Technical Reports

Cracking of bridge decks poses a significant threat to the lifespan of our nation’s bridges. Cracking has been shown to occur in various climates and geographical areas and can be seen on various types of superstructures. Often these cracks appear before or shortly after opening the bridge to live loads. Cracks in the deck create a path for water and deicing salts to reach the steel, often leading to corrosion of the reinforcement, greatly reducing the durability of the deck. Measures must be taken during design and construction to control bridge deck cracking and prolong the lifespan of bridges. In …

Experimental Evaluation And Implementation Of Post-Tensioning In Concrete Bridge Decks, Julio A. Ramirez, Gerardo Aguilar

JTRP Technical Reports

A research program was conducted to evaluate the design recommendations for transverse post-tensioning of bridge decks developed in the FHWA/IN/JTRP/2002-26 (SPR-2409) report. The test specimen consisted of a 40x18 ft cast-in-place concrete deck on precast pretensioned girders. Thirty-two tests were carried out by applying different distributions of transverse post-tensioning force, in combination with a changing number of diaphragms, and two conditions of end-restraint at the supports. The transverse post-tensioning stress ranged from 400 to 1 200 psi and the number of diaphragms was reduced from five to zero.

The main findings support the notion that the presence of diaphragms affects …

A Laboratory Study Of Bendway Weirs As A Bank Erosion Countermeasure, Dennis A. Lyn, R. Cunningham

JTRP Technical Reports

Bendway weirs are being considered by INDOT as a potential alternative countermeasure for bank erosion at channel bends that might be more environmentally sensitive than the traditional riprap. These are linear structures extending riverwards from the bank to be protected, but unlike the more familiar spur structure, they are intended to be overtopped by the design flow. The flow over the weir crest is supposed to be directed perpendicular to the plane of the weir, and so by appropriate placement of the weir(s), the flow can be directed away from the bank, thus protecting it.

Design guidelines for such structures …

Determining Of The Binder Content Of Hot Mix Asphalt Containing Dolomitic Aggregates Using The Ignition Oven, Karol K. Kowalski, Rebecca S. Mcdaniel, Jan Olek, Ayesha Shah

JTRP Technical Reports

The binder content of an HMA mix is one of the critical factors affecting the quality of the mix. The ignition oven is one widely used method for determining the binder content, however, its use is problematic with some types of aggregates, including dolomites. With these aggregates, the mass loss continues after the binder is burned off as the aggregates decompose and the test does not terminate at a stable mass. This study investigated the factors that affect this mass loss in problematic aggregates and developed a modified ignition oven procedure to limit this mass loss. The mass loss in …

Env Engineering Engagement, Maya Trotz

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Development Of Internally Cured Concrete For Increased Service Life, John Schlitter, Ryan Henkensiefken, Javier Castro, Kambiz Raoufi, Jason Weiss, Tommy Nantung

JTRP Technical Reports

Higher strength, lower water to cement ratio (w/c) concrete has been advocated over the last two decades due to its increased strength and reduced permeability. The lower w/c of these concretes makes them susceptible to autogenous shrinkage. This autogenous shrinkage can be significant and can be a contributing factor to early age cracking. Internal curing was investigated as a potential method to improve the durability of concrete pavements and bridge decks. Prewetted lightweight aggregate was used to supply water to the hydrating cement paste. This additional water can counteract the hindered strength development, suspended hydration, autogenous shrinkage, and early age …

A Junction And Drop-Shaft Boundary Conditions For Modeling Free Surface, Pressurized, And Mixed Free Surface-Pressurized Transient Flows, Arturo S. León, Xiaofeng Liu, Mohamed S. Ghidaoui, Arthur R. Schmidt, Marcelo H. García

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A junction and drop-shaft boundary conditions (BCs) for one-dimensional modeling of transient flows in single-phase conditions (pure liquid) are formulated, implemented and their accuracy are evaluated using two Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models. The BCs are formulated for the case when mixed flows are simulated using two sets of govern- ing equations, the Saint Venant equations for the free surface regions and the compressible water hammer equations for the pressurized regions. The proposed BCs handle all possible flow regimes and their combinations. The flow in each pipe can range from free surface to pressurized flow and the water depth at …

Identification Of Laboratory Technique To Optimize Superpave Hma Surface Friction Characteristics, Karol J. Kowalski, Rebecca S. Mcdaniel, Jan Olek

JTRP Technical Reports

Wet pavement friction is known to be one of the most important roadway safety parameters. In this research, frictional properties of flexible (asphalt) pavements were investigated.

As a part of this study, a laboratory device to polish asphalt specimens was refined and a procedure to evaluate mixture frictional properties was proposed. Following this procedure, 46 different Superpave mixtures, one stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixture and one porous friction course (PFC) mixture were tested. In addition, 23 different asphalt and two concrete field sections were also tested for friction and noise.

The results of both field and laboratory measurements were used …

Quantifying Benefits Of Traffic Signal Retiming, Christopher M. Day, Thomas M. Brennan Jr., Hiromel Premachandra, Alexander M. Hainen, Stephen M. Remias, James R. Sturdevant, Greg Richards, Jason S. Wasson, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Improvements in the quality of service on a signalized intersection or arterial can be interpreted as a reduction in the user cost of service, which is expected to induce demand based on economic theory. This report presents a methodology for measuring and interpreting changes to user costs, and determining whether demand was induced. High-resolution signal event data and Bluetooth device MAC address matching are demonstrated in three case studies with the purpose of quantifying the impacts of changes in signal timing plans. In the first case study, 21 months of vehicle volume data are used to test whether demand was …

Forecasting Of Highway Revenues Under Various Options, Bismark R.D.K. Agbelie, Qiang Bai, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

Throughout the United States, state highway revenue, which is dominated by receipts from fuel taxes, has failed to keep up with expected investments required for infrastructure preservation and improvement. The reasons for this trend include the increasing fuel efficiency of vehicles, slowing of the growth in vehicle-miles of travel, and the erosion of the purchasing power of the dollar due to inflation. This development motivates highway agencies not only to seek revisions of existing funding structures but also to consider potential alternative sources.

To establish and implement an effective and efficient financing strategy that incorporates potential new funding sources, it …