Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Decision Support System For Selection Of Trenchless Technologies To Minimize Impact Of Utility Construction On Roadways, Dulcy M. Abraham, Hyeon-Shik Baik, Sanjiv B. Gokhale

JTRP Technical Reports

The need to replace deteriorating underground utility infrastructure and to expand utility services, increases the need for utility conduits to intersect roadways. Open-trench method is currently the most widely used method for installation of underground pipelines and conduits of all sizes. However, open-cut construction has several shortcomings, chief amongst which are: health and safety concerns of workers, surface disturbance, disruption to vehicular/pedestrian traffic and reduction of pavement life. Today, other cost-effective alternatives exist to traditional open-trench construction. These methods are categorized as "Trenchless Technologies" as they require minimum trenching (excavation). While the benefits of trenchless technology are quite apparent when …

Indot Guidance Document For In-Situ Soil Flushing, Linda S. Lee, Xihong Zhai, Jaesun Lee

JTRP Technical Reports

Many of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) sites are contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents; these contaminants often occur in the form of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) or dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). Considerable effort has recently been focused on developing in-situ technologies for removing or destroying NAPL source zones, and several potentially viable methods have emerged including cosolvent-enhanced source zone removal. Most recently, site-specific remedial designs involving a combination of in-situ methods (often referred to as a treatment train) have been proposed for which data are still sparse. The primary goal of the laboratory experiments is …

Software For Student Team Formation And Peer Evaluation: Catme Incorporates Team-Maker, Richard Layton, Matthew Ohland, Hal R. Pomeranz

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Last year, a multi-university research team designed a web-based peer evaluation instrument called CATME (Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness) that is simple to use. In a previous, smaller-scale research effort, a group of students and faculty developed a software package called Team-Maker that automates the process of assigning students to teams. The present work incorporates the functionality of the Team-Maker software package into the CATME system. The goal of the integrated package is twofold: 1) to provide a useful tool for faculty to manage teams at their institutions; and 2) to create a high-quality, easy-to-use tool for investigating research …

Enhancing The Capability Of Rapid Bridge Replacement After Extreme Events, Yong Bai, Seong Hoon Kim, William R. Burkett

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The potential threats of extreme events to highway bridges have received increased attention from government agencies, the engineering and construction communities, and the traveling public. These events include terrorist attacks as well as human‐induced and natural hazards such as earthquakes, explosions, fires, floods, and hurricanes. To respond to the potential threats on highway bridges, a research project was conducted to identify rapid bridge replacement processes, techniques, and needs for improvements.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the research objectives, a detailed case study of previous bridge replacement following an extreme event was conducted. The case study was performed using a three‐step approach. …

Dit Frequency Based Incremental Attribute Selection For Gre., John D. Kelleher

Conference papers

The DIT system uses an incremental greedy search to generate descriptions, (similar to the incremental algorithm described in (Dale and Reiter, 1995) ) incremental algorithm). The selection of the next attribute to be tested for inclusion in the description is ordered by the absolute frequency of each attribute in the training corpus. Attributes are selected in descending order of frequency (i.e. the attribute that occurred most frequently in the training corpus is selected first).

Novel Concepts For Enhanced Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Using Flow Area Tailoring And A Grooved-Ring Core Design, Julien Michel Apeloig

Theses and Dissertations

The most likely candidate for human missions to Mars and beyond will be spacecraft using Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP). NTP provides for high thrust-to-weight ratio and significantly improved specific impulse over even the best chemical rockets. The improved specific impulse reduces required trip times, thereby minimizing the exposure time of the crew to space radiation. Using the PHOEBUS 2A 5 GW reactor, developed in the 1960’s with a thrust of 1,113 N and a specific impulse of 820 s, as a basis for comparison this thesis focuses on efforts to improve the specific impulse and reactor longevity. Hydrogen is the …

Increasing Effectiveness Of Public Private Partnerships In The Irish Construction Industry, Louis Gunnigan

Doctoral

By 2003 the first Irish Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects had reached the operational stage. Media reports were emerging of significant differences in the effectiveness of these projects.

This research set out to find a means by which effectiveness of PPPs could be increased and to develop a model that would assist PPP practitioners with this task in the future. Through a literature review, the Irish PPP process was mapped, the changes encountered in the introduction of PPP were investigated and a conceptual model – based on a traditional process model - was proposed. The model was tested by examining …

2007 Civil And Environmental Engineering Department News, Department Of Civil And Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• Student Memorial Awards
• Student Awards
• Engineers Without Borders
• CEE Fulbright Scholars
• New Faculty
• Faculty Grants
• Faculty Awards
• Haltenhoff Memorial
• Environmental Outreach Center
• University Transportation Center
• Environmental Research
• Department Info
• Concrete Canoe

A Joint Data Rate - Error Rate Analysis In Correlated Space-Time-Wireless Channels, Hui Tong

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Segmented Anodes On The Performance And Plume Of A Hall Thruster, Alexander W. Kieckhafer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Development of alternative propellants for Hall thruster operation is an active area of research. Xenon is the current propellant of choice for Hall thrusters, but can be costly in large thrusters and for extended test periods. Condensible propellants may offer an alternative to xenon, as they will not require costly active pumping to remove from a test facility, and may be less expensive to purchase. A method has been developed which uses segmented electrodes in the discharge channel of a Hall thruster to divert discharge current to and from the main anode and thus control the anode temperature. By placing …

Nitrogen Oxides In The North Atlantic Troposphere: Impacts Of Boreal Wildfire And Anthropogenic Emissions, Maria Val Martin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Nitrogen oxides play a crucial role in the budget of tropospheric ozone (O sub(3)) and the formation of the hydroxyl radical. Anthropogenic activities and boreal wildfires are large sources of emissions in the atmosphere. However, the influence of the transport of these emissions on nitrogen oxides and O sub(3) levels at hemispheric scales is not well understood, in particular due to a lack of nitrogen oxides measurements in remote regions. In order to address these deficiencies, measurements of NO, NO sub(2) and NO sub(y) (total reactive nitrogen oxides) were made in the lower free troposphere (FT) over the central North …

Dispersion Of Water For Impulse Propagation, Shu Xiao, Karl H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

This paper calculates the dispersive loss of water when a Gaussian impulse, or a step function impulse travels over a distance. The minimum risetime t_mr was calculated.

Deriving The Cost Impacts Of Indiana's Storm Water Rule 13 On Indot Maintenance Facility Operations, Lynn A. Corson

JTRP Technical Reports

The objectives of this research were: 1. To classify maintenance facilities by ten or fewer “typologies” (categories) to analyze storm water collection and drainage from the sites and to estimate the cost of installing or implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs), identified by INDOT, to prevent or reduce contamination of the drainage that migrates to waters of the state; 2. To prepare an Environmental Management System (EMS) modeled on the ISO 14001 Standard and “pilot” the EMS in an INDOT District; conduct EMS Awareness training for affected employees. The research included the conduct of on-site operations and environmental assessments at 50 …

Evaluating And Enhancing The Safety Of Nighttime Construction Projects, Dulcy M. Abraham, Julia Jensen Spadaccini, Beau Braxton Burgess, Lindsay Rae Miller, Vanessa Valentin

JTRP Technical Reports

The increased demand on the current highway system has caused transportation agencies to increase scheduling for nighttime work in order to alleviate daytime work zone congestion, especially during peak traffic hours. Although traffic congestion is reduced, safety in nighttime workzones remains a concern among both transportation agencies and contractors. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), approximately one-half of the fatalities that occurred in workzones nationwide occurred at night. These work zone statistics have received increased attention among agencies to evaluate planning and safety issues concerning the workers and the general public on nighttime workzones. Four separate, but interrelated research …

Applicability Of Borman Decision Tree Its Management Tool To Other Expressway Systems, Ahmed S. Soliman, Robert Bertram Jacko, Barry K. Partridge

JTRP Technical Reports

An empirical model called the Traffic Air Quality Model (TAQ) was developed from meteorological and PM2.5 measurements adjacent to the Borman Expressway in Northwest Indiana to estimate PM2.5 road emissions. It concluded that on average a 74% improvement in air quality is expected (based on reduction of mass emitted per mile [g/mi]) when the average Borman speed range is improved from < 30 mph to >50 mph. An additional 39% (on average) improvement in the PM_2.5 emissions on the Borman Expressway was found when traffic flow speeds increased from 55 mi/h to 75 mi/h. The TAQ model was found to perform well when tested …

Safety Conscious Planning In Indiana: Predicting Safety Benefits In Corridor Studies, Volume 1: Research Report, Andrzej P. Tarko, Muhammad Asif Iqbal, Michal Adam Inerowicz, Hong Liang, Gopal Panicker

JTRP Technical Reports

INDOT units responsible for planning and pre-engineering analysis consider safety implications of studied alternative roadway and road network solutions to the extent allowed by the available tools. This project is meant to enhance the available tools of predicting crash frequencies in future road networks to improve the quality of safety consideration in intermediate and long-term road planning.

Safety Performance Functions are widely used to estimate and predict road safety at intersections and on segments. Evaluation of the performance of the functions developed for regions other than Indiana indicated that only full recalibration, which is in fact equivalent to developing own …

Economic Development Effects Of Indot Transportation Projects, Konstantina Gkritza, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

The evaluation of transportation projects has traditionally been carried out in the context of economic efficiency, in terms of savings in travel time, vehicle operating cost, and safety. The wider and longer-term effects on economic development (i.e., job, income and business growth) are a concern of transportation planners and decision-makers but have been often overlooked due to the lack of a reliable impact estimation methodology and/or data. Information on economic development impacts is valuable for understanding the total effect of projects and therefore, for a more balanced justification of proposed transportation infrastructure investments. This study extends the traditional transportation impact …

Capacitance Metrology Of Curved Surfaces: Study And Characterization Of A Novel Probe Design, Philip T. Smith Jr.

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Capacitive sensors are frequently applied to curved target surfaces for precision displacement measurements. In most cases, these sensors have not been recalibrated to take the curvature of the target into consideration. This recalibration becomes more critical as the target surface becomes smaller in comparison to the sensor. Calibration data are presented for a variety of capacitance probe sizes with widely varying geometries. One target surface particularly difficult to characterize is the inner surface of small holes, less than one millimeter in diameter. Although contact probes can successfully measure the inner surface of a hole, these probes are often fragile and …

Nebraska Summary: S664 Case-Ih Maxxum 155 Value, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Nebraska Summary: S693 Agco Rt110 A, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

Economic Analysis Of Cellulase Production Methods For Bio-Ethanol, Jun Zhuang, Mary A. Marchant, Sue E. Nokes, Herbert J. Strobel

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The cost of cellulase enzymes has limited the feasibility of producing ethanol from fibrous biomass. Traditional submerged fermentation (SmF) was compared to an alternative method of producing cellulase, solid state cultivation (SSC). Results from an economic analysis indicated that the unit costs for cellulase enzyme production were $15.67 (The prices are all 2004 prices in this article, except otherwise stated. We deflated newer prices to 2004 prices using a deflation factor 0.9 per year and inflated older prices to 2004 prices using an inflation factor 1.1.) per kilogram ($/kg) and $40.36/kg, for the SSC and SmF methods, respectively, while the …

Development Of Probalistic Techniques For Network Assessment With Significant Wind Generation, Asim Mumtaz

Masters

Due to increasing awareness of global warming and high energy costs, more electrical power is being generated by using renewable sources. However some of these sources are not as predictable as conventional generation and they also lack the ability to be dispatched in the same way. The increase in the amount of wind power connected to transmission networks has been significant in some countries. But due to the stochastic nature of wind power, it is difficult to predict exactly how much power can be generated at any given time. This variable nature of wind power can cause line overloading and …

The Potential For Ch4-Enriched Biogas As A Transport Fuel In Ireland, Niamh Power

Theses

Ireland needs a biofuel industry- to aid compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, the Biofuels Directive and to secure its energ>' supply. The overall aim of this work is to assess the potential of CH4-enriched biogas as a transport fuel in Ireland. Biogas is produced during the anaerobic digestion of biomass. This work investigates biogas production from two different feedstocks; biodegradable municipal waste and agricultural crops. To assess the potential for biogas as a transport fuel the alternatives to biogas are investigated and compared. Thus digestion and composting of biodegradable municipal waste, and biogas and ethanol production from agricultural crops …

The Smart Helmet, Michael Walsh

Theses

This thesis addresses the design, development and testing of a wireless sensor network for a sports helmet. The objective is to monitor an athlete's physiology and also physical impacts using a sensor network. A detailed literature review is presented addressing currently available appropriate wireless technologies, sensors and their operation, packaging, interconnections and applications. It gives a brief introduction to each sensor used in the smart helmet, accelerometers, temperature sensors, heart rate and blood oxygen sensors, along with a review of possible sensors which could be added at a later stage. The specific sensors and other related components for the helmets …

A Service Provisioning Platform For Beyond 3g - The Telecommunication Service Exchange, Donna Griffin

Theses

From the inception of mobile communications one of the most important factors contributing to its success has been a good understanding of user requirements. In the first generation, mobile networks offered subscribers the freedom to communicate regardless of their locations and the joy of instant access to voice telephony services. This provided a competitive edge over wire line communication networks and resulted in large revenue streams. However over the past decade, mobile network operators have been faced with a number of factors that have incurred significant costs and resulting reduced revenue. These factors include deregulation, increased competition and technological progress …

Effect Of Horizontal Piles On The Soil Bearing Capacity For Circular Footing Above Cavity, Rafael L. Arosemena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The design of foundation in normal soil conditions is governed by bearing capacity, minimum depth of foundation and settlement. However, foundation design in karst regions needs to consider an additional criterion associated to the possibility of subsurface subsidence and ravelling sinkholes. Under this environment, alternative techniques are needed to improve the subsurface soil. In this study general background information is given to understand the geological characteristics of Central Florida and why this area is considered to be a karst region and susceptible to sinkholes formation. Traditional foundation design techniques on karst regions are addressed in this paper. Finally, the use …

Controls Algorithm For A Satellite Using Earth's Magnetic Field: Orbit Maneuvers And Attitude Positioning, Karthik Ganesh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This document describes the design, analysis of Orbit Maneuvers and Attitude Control for NanoSat class satellites, which uses an electro-magnetic force controller which was proposed by the Florida Space Institute (FSI). Orbit Maneuvering and the Attitude Control System (ACS) play a very important role for the success of this mission, as that can allow making the satellite go to the desired orbit as well do the sun pointing of the solar arrays with su¢ cient accuracy to achieve desired power levels. The primary mission would be to attain attitude stabilization using the torque from the coils. This is also used …

Hybrid Photonic Signal Processing, Farzan Naseer Ghauri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes research of novel hybrid photonic signal processing systems in the areas of optical communications, test and measurement, RF signal processing and extreme environment optical sensors. It will be shown that use of innovative hybrid techniques allows design of photonic signal processing systems with superior performance parameters and enhanced capabilities. These applications can be divided into domains of analog-digital hybrid signal processing applications and free-space--fiber-coupled hybrid optical sensors. The analog-digital hybrid signal processing applications include a high-performance analog-digital hybrid MEMS variable optical attenuator that can simultaneously provide high dynamic range as well as high resolution attenuation controls; an …

Design For Auditory Displays: Identifying Temporal And Spatial Information Conveyance Principles, Ali Ahmad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Designing auditory interfaces is a challenge for current human-systems developers. This is largely due to a lack of theoretical guidance for directing how best to use sounds in today's visually-rich graphical user interfaces. This dissertation provided a framework for guiding the design of audio interfaces to enhance human-systems performance. This doctoral research involved reviewing the literature on conveying temporal and spatial information using audio, using this knowledge to build three theoretical models to aid the design of auditory interfaces, and empirically validating select components of the models. The three models included an audio integration model that outlines an end-to-end process …

Knowledge Based Measurement Of Enhancing Brain Tissue In Anisotropic Mr Imagery, Eric Leach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Medical Image Analysis has emerged as an important field in the computer vision community. In this thesis, two important issues in medical imaging are addressed and a solution for each is derived and synergistically combined as one coherent system. Firstly, a novel approach is proposed for High Resolution Volume (HRV) construction by combining different frequency components at multiple levels, which are separated by using a multi-resolution pyramid structure. Current clinical imaging protocols make use of multiple orthogonal low resolution scans to measure the size of the tumor. The highly anisotropic data result in difficulty and even errors in tumor assessment. …