Engineering Commons^™

Experimental Investigation Of Utilizing Steel Fiber As Concrete Reinforcement In Bridge Decks, Samed Al Khafaji

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Research on utilizing steel fiber vs concrete reinforcement in bridge deck to replace more traditional reinforcing bars is sparse, therefore a research into this topic is interesting to identity opportunities for speeding up of construction by avoiding laying and tying reinforcement and verifying clear cover to reinforcing bars which is one of the most time-consuming processes involved in construction. This study investigates the efforts of steel fiber on the bridge deck from the strength and economical implementation. Four concrete mix design with vary steel fiber dosages of 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% used in this study. The physical properties of …

Assembly-Scale And Whole-Building Energy Performance Analysis Of Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (Uhp-Frc) Façade Systems, Bahram Abediniangerabi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The majority of building energy consumption is used to heat and cool enclosed spaces. An innovative ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) façade system could potentially reduce this energy consumption by utilizing UHP-FRC’s high structural strength and ductility hence more space for insulation. The energy performance assessment of innovative façade systems such as UHP-FRC panels could be misleading if the effect of building types and climate contexts on building energy consumption is not considered. Moreover, thermal bridging and hygrothermal analyses of UHP-FRC panels are needed to investigate the heat and moisture transfer within the panels. The main objectives of this study are …

Evaluation Of The Structural Performance Of Bridge Mse Retaining Walls, Zaid Sm Momani

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls have been used extensively since the first MSE wall constructed in California in the early 70’s. MSE walls proved that they are reliable, cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing, and easily constructible. However, the design criteria of an MSE wall does not always incorporate the comprehensive behavior. A reasonable number of MSE walls do not perform as expected; a few experienced catastrophic failure. The current study was inspired by multiple MSE walls showing excessive movement of the precast panels in Fort Worth and Hurst, Texas. Three most critical MSE walls were selected for this study. The main focus …

Effect Of Sewage Sludge And Wastewater Recirculation On The Degradation Of Municipal Solid Waste In Bioreactors, Afroza Ayub

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is the major environmental and economical concern for the world. Among all the MSW management alternatives, sustainable Bioreactor has potential to solve environmental and economic concerns related to organic waste. This potential of Sustainable Bioreactor can be enhanced by accelerated decomposition of waste. Accelerated decomposition of organic fraction of MSW can be achieved by the addition of nitrogen rich, macro and micro nutrients such as sludge and manures. Several studies have been conducted by using sludge as inoculum for degrading organic fraction of MSW in the anaerobic digester. However, this study is to compare the …

Automated Measurement Of Heavy Equipment Greenhouse Gas Emission: The Case Of Road/Bridge Construction And Maintenance, Reza Akhavian

Mineta Transportation Institute

Road/bridge construction and maintenance projects are major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2), mainly due to extensive use of heavy-duty diesel construction equipment and large-scale earthworks and earthmoving operations. Heavy equipment is a costly resource and its underutilization could result in significant budget overruns. A practical way to cut emissions is to reduce the time equipment spends doing non-value-added activities and/or idling. Recent research into the monitoring of automated equipment using sensors and Internet-of-Things (IoT) frameworks have leveraged machine learning algorithms to predict the behavior of tracked entities.

In this project, end-to-end deep learning models …

The Potential For Using Loyalty Rewards And Incentives Programs To Encourage Transit Ridership And Regional Transportation And Land Use Integration, Christopher E. Ferrell

Mineta Transportation Institute

Transit smart cards can be used as a tool for increasing transit ridership, increasing retail sales in transit-oriented developments (TODs) and eventually, increasing opportunities for retail development in TODs. Instead of providing separate loyalty rewards for each store, or chain of stores, such cards would provide loyalty rewards—in several possible forms, including free transit ride credits, cash rewards, retail purchase discounts, sweepstakes rewards—to all transit riders who patronize TOD retail businesses. Additional rewards could also be given to transit riders who live, work, and shop in TODs, and even to riders who take transit for specific shopping trips in TODs. …

Green Up Pavement Rehabilitation Design Tool, Dragos Andrei, Robert E. Kochan, Jose H. Perez

Mineta Transportation Institute

While designers produce pavement rehabilitation recommendations every day, for projects of all sizes, most designers have little information on the environmental impact of their recommendations. This research developed a new decision tool, called the “Green Up Pavement Rehabilitation Design Tool,” to allow the comparison of different rehabilitation solutions in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and to encourage sustainable practices such as materials recycling and the use of permeable, cool, and quiet pavement surfaces. The project aligns with the major goal of California Senate Bill 1, which is “to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street …

Effect Of Substrate To Inoculum Ratio On Bioenergy Recovery From Food Waste, Yard Waste, And Biosolids By High Solids Anaerobic Digestion, Phillip J. Dixon, Sarina J. Ergas, James R. Mihelcic, Shakira R. Hobbs

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Residual biosolids from wastewater treatment facilities and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), such as food and yard wastes (FW and YW), are difficult to manage due to increased waste generation and recent stringent regulations. This study investigated the effect of substrate to inoculum ratio (S/I) on biochemical transformation mechanisms and biomethane production during high solids anaerobic digestion of FW, YW, and biosolids. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays were set up under mesophilic conditions at S/I of 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 g OFMSW total solids (TS)/g inoculum TS. BMP with the lowest S/I (1.0) produced the highest cumulative …

Normalization Of Unconstrained Handwritten Words In Terms Of Slope And Slant Correction, Suman Kumar Bera, Akash Chakrabarti, Sagnik Lahiri, Elisa H. Barney Smith, Ram Sarkar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In offline handwritten text slope (or skew) and slant are inevitably introduced, but to varying degrees depending on several factors, such as the writing style, speed and mood of the writers. Therefore slope and slant detection in offline handwritten text and their subsequent correction have become the critical preprocessing steps for document analysis and retrieval systems to neutralize the variability of writing styles and to improve the performance of word and character recognition systems. In this paper, we present new methods that use two novel core-region detection techniques to estimate both the slope and slant angles of offline handwritten word …

Charging Infrastructure Of Electric Vehicle - An Overview, Vi George Dr.

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Since fuels like petrol, coal, and diesel are non-renewable sources of energy, there will be a deficiency of fuels in the future because of the increasing demand for mobility. The latest vehicles for the gasoline and petrol engine technology yield substantial greenhouse gas emissions and therefore create environmental issues. Electric vehicles will give a solution to this problem. Plug-in electric vehicles are implemented, to achieve environment-friendly transport and reduce greenhouse gases. Apart from the advantages, defects such as wear and tear of devices, electric spark, and carbon deposition make electric vehicle’s wired charging less efficient. To make power transfer more …

Constrained Optimization Of Mars Entry Phase Trajectory Using The Modified Predictor-Corrector Method, Siri L

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

In this paper, a modified predictor-corrector method is explored to get a constrained optimal trajectory for Mars entry phase. The method uses a parameterized bank angle equation, which is given in terms of specific energy and hence enabling a three-dimensional trajectory optimization. The reference trajectory needed for computation of bank angle in each guidance cycle is obtained using the steepest descent method. Variation in bank angle is restricted. Typical entry path constraints, heat rate, dynamic pressure, and load factor were successfully imposed while minimizing the terminal position and velocity errors.

Performance Assessment Of Basic And Hybrid Photovoltaic Array Configurations Under Partially Shaded Conditions, M Nandakumar

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Photovoltaic (PV) production systems are facing various issues during the partial shading conditions (PSCs). This can in turn affect the maximum production of power and the proficiency or capability of the system. By reducing the imbalance in power losses during considered partial shading conditions, the primary centre of attention of this research work is to model and replicate various PV array configurations as a way to extricate the maximum power production, and to analyze the output characteristics and to examine and compare the competence efficiency of PV array configurations under the same. In this work performance of basic PV, array …

Counting The Number Of Possible Fuzzy Controllers, Ambalal Vinayak Patel

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Fuzzy logic is prominent among all types of logics due to the inherent ability to express human intelligence qualitatively. Thus, it is being used in a variety of applications to design embedded intelligent systems. Although it originated to model the complex and ill-defined systems, it eventually also resulted in utilization for designing the intelligent controllers. While designing the fuzzy logic controllers (FLC), we came across a major challenge of selecting the various elements thereof. The flexibility in selecting the combinations of elements leads to arrive at a number of FLCs. Therefore, the challenge came across in selecting the suitable set …

Efficient The Optimal Sitting And Sizing Of Photovoltaic Generation With Load Growth Regards, M Ponnavaikko

Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Nowadays distributed generations are connected to the distribution network. The proper installation of DG improves the technical and economic impact of the system. The optimal siting and sizing improves system reliability and improves the capacity of the system. This paper discusses the optimum location and calculation of PV with load growth in the 400V and the 11kV feeders were studied. The load growth is made at the feeder up to the actual losses in the system. The test is conducted at each percentage of the load growth.

Enhancements Of Shear Tests For Asphalt Concrete, Yazeed Suleiman Jweihan

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The measurement of the fundamental shear properties of asphalt mixes is imperative to the improvement of modelling of rutting development in asphalt concrete. The Duplicate Shear Tester (DST) is a recent device developed at the University of Texas at Arlington as a replacement to the Superpave Shear Tester (SST). It measures the average shear properties of two asphalt concrete specimens at the same time. It has ability to perform the two common SST tests: the FSCH and RSCH in according to the standard test method AASHTO T-320. Although the DST has successfully satisfied the objectives of being a reliable, inexpensive …

Physical Characterization And Evaluation Of Energy Potential For Mined Waste From Irving Landfill, Vijay Kakara

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Historically landfills have been seen as the ultimate solution for storing waste at minimum cost. But, now it is a well-known fact that these deposits have numerous implications such as long term methane emissions, local pollution and many space-related issues etc. In most parts of the world, however, landfilling is the most common method to dispose waste. Even developed countries with recycling and waste treatment facilities have been no exception in landfilling. Therefore over the years, several old and operating landfills have been accumulated with an enormous amount of obsolete materials and products. To address such issues related to waste …

Driveability Of Recycled Plastic Pin (Rpp) In North Texas, Arif Mohammad Aziz

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The Recycled Plastic Pins (RPP) have been extensively used as an alternative to the conventional slope stabilization methods in stabilizing shallows slope failure in Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho in the United States. The RPP provides additional resistance along the potential slip surface when it is driven into the slope and increases the factor of safety. RPPs are fabricated from recycled plastics and waste materials (i.e. polymers, sawdust, and fly ash), and is nondegradable in nature. It is found to be very useful and beneficial engineering materials for civil engineering infrastructure projects. The cost-effectiveness of using any engineering material largely …

Analysis Of Laminated Curved Beam With And Without Defects And Imperfections, Wei-Tsen Lu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Several studies have focused on the modeling and response characterization of composite structural members, with particular emphasis on composite curved beams. The class of curved beam is explored to determine mechanical response in primary aerospace structural applications. The present work focuses on developing analytical closed-form solutions for investigating composite curved beams with and without fiber waviness and delamination. The present work can efficiently characterize the structural behavior of composite curved beams under bending. This work shows the development of a novel mathematical approach to predict structural performance by investigating axial stiffness, bending stiffness with consideration of shear deformation in composite …

Electrowetting-On-Dielectric (Ewod) Digital Microfluidic Device For Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Matin Torabinia

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Over the past decades, microscale chemical reaction technology has been attractive in diverse areas of chemistry. It allows the precise control of quantified reagents and highly efficient heat and mass transfer, because of a large interface-to-volume ratio–particularly in case of the exothermic reaction and mixing–, reduced consumption of toxic or expensive agents, improved reaction profiles, and enhanced selectivity compared to macro-scale reactions. The mainstream microscale reaction processes were established using continuous microchannel flow systems, which has emerged as a powerful complement to batch chemistry on the laboratory scale due to relative advantages, some of which include: increased safety, more accurate …

An Implementation Of The Regularized Extended Finite Element Method In Abaqus, Yu-Jui Liang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Regularized eXtended Finite Element Method (Rx-FEM) methodology is a discrete damage modeling (DDM) technique, which represents an approach to the progressive damage analysis (PDA) in laminated composites when multiple damage events such as matrix cracks and delamination are introduced into the model via the displacement discontinuities. In the Rx-FEM, the Heaviside step function that is typically used to introduce a displacement discontinuity across a crack surface in the eXtended Finite Element Method (x-FEM) is replaced by a continuous function approximated by using the finite element (FE) shape functions. This regularization offers unique possibility for the implementation of the Rx-FEM …

A Critical State Approach To The Mechanical Behavior Of Early-Age Cemented Paste Backfill, Amin B. Ghorbanpour

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Low plasticity to non-plastic mine tailings are typically transported to a storage area through pipelines in form of slurry or thickened tailings. The main concern with such tailings deposits is the possibility of liquefaction and the consequent failure of the tailings retaining dams. Tailings can also be used as Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) material to fill previously mined underground voids. The state of practice to improve the mechanical properties of tailings is to add a small quantity of cementitious materials or binder agents. Portland cement (PC) is the most common binder agent that is used to improve the mechanical properties …

Sub-Synchronous Resonance Analysis And Detection, Igor Brandao Machado Matsuo

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

With the increasing penetration of renewable generation resources, power grids have become more susceptible to sub-synchronous resonance phenomena, especially to sub-synchronous control interaction, which produces fast-growing oscillations. The power system operation requirements for a reliable, fast and accurate detection and monitoring system for protection and mitigation purposes are increasing. Besides, risk assessment analysis during grid planning and update studies can be extremely time-consuming due to a large number of possible grid configurations and small time-steps required for the simulation of detailed electromagnetic transient (EMT) models. The first part of this dissertation aims to provide an optimized tool for SSR risk …

Flexible Ph Sensor For Smart Sensing, Khengdauliu Chawang

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

pH level of biofluid is crucial in understanding physiological health. Commercial glass electrode pH sensors are bulky and cannot provide real time data. In this study, a novel miniature pH sensor capable of continuous wireless communication was developed, which is a promising technology for providing point-of-care diagnosis. Iridium Oxide because of its wide pH sensing range and biocompatibility has attracted attention from biomedical and food industries; high sensitivity of Iridium Oxide based sensor is attributed to its high charge density. Flexible polyamide Kapton substrate (127 µm) is taken as base substrate and E-Beam method is employed to deposit adhesion and …

Material Characterization And Fracture Prediction Of Fdm Printed Parts, Sanchita Sheth

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In order to take advantage of the design freedom that Additive Manufacturing offers, most applications require reliable material characterization. This can ensure that a design performs within its environment and life requirements. This work discusses two models. One investigates the raster angle dependency of stiffness properties and the other numerically predicts fracture in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printed polymer parts. Pre-processing of FDM geometry was done in Abaqus CAE (SIMULIA TM). FEA and post-processing was done in BSAM, which is a damage prediction software developed for composites. BSAM uses a regularized extended finite element approach of Discrete Damage Modeling. In …

A Robust Controller Design For A Tailless Uav With Effective Control Allocation, Ethem Hakan Orhan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Attempts to completely remove the tails from aircraft can be dated back to the early days of modern aviation. A number of stability and control problems arising from the unique characteristics of the configuration resulted in poor handling qualities and some dangerous flight characteristics in the early designs. Lately, this configuration is becoming widespread again and the current state-of-the-art of fly-by wire technology and modern control design techniques enable design of tailless aircraft which are safe to fly. In this thesis, a study on the application of modern robust control design techniques on a tailless UAV is presented. A nonlinear …

Effect Of Chicken Manure On Methane Production From Msw In Lab Scale Anaerobic Reactors, Md Tauhidul Islam

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

One of the major problems of urbanization is the production of a huge amount of Municipal Solid Waste. The cities and metropolitan areas are generating more and more solid waste and these wastes are filling up the landfill rapidly. Creating new landfills after a few years is not a solution as there is not much space in urban areas. Moreover, making the landfills far away from cities is not economically viable as longer hauling distance increases the cost. In this scenario, Bioreactor landfill is a viable solution to this problem. Bioreactor landfills can save a lot of space and it …

Effective Exploration Behavior For Chemical-Sensing Robots, Kevin Nickels, Hoa Nguyen, Duncan M. Frasch, Timothy F. Davison

Engineering Faculty Research

Mobile robots that can effectively detect chemical effluents could be useful in a variety of situations, such as disaster relief or drug sniffing. Such a robot might mimic biological systems that exhibit chemotaxis, which is movement towards or away from a chemical stimulant in the environment. Some existing robotic exploration algorithms that mimic chemotaxis suffer from the problems of getting stuck in local maxima and becoming “lost”, or unable to find the chemical if there is no initial detection. We introduce the use of the RapidCell algorithm for mobile robots exploring regions with potentially detectable chemical concentrations. The RapidCell algorithm …

Fluids Demonstrations Ii: Bubbles In Mondrian Painting, Eruption-Like Flow, Rotational Instability, And Wake Vortices, Said Shakerin

All Faculty Articles - School of Engineering and Computer Science

The purpose of this paper is to present five new devices that demonstrate a variety of flow phenomena in liquids and granular materials that exhibit fluid-like behavior. These devices complement and add on to a recent collection of demonstrations that was published in this journal. The devices are self-contained and portable, and can be utilized repeatedly without waiting or cleanup between uses. Furthermore, since the demonstrations result in visually engaging patterns, they are accessible to everyone regardless of age or science background. Descriptions are provided to enable replication by others. Significance of each demonstration is outlined and background information on …

Splice Performance Of #6 Reinforcing Bars In Masonry With Self-Consolidating Grout, Annie Ruth Nielson

Theses and Dissertations

Reinforced masonry grouted using self-consolidating grout (SCG) is a relatively new and economically competitive option for construction, providing advantages such as reduced construction time, decreased noise and vibration, and reliable consolidation. However, SCG has different properties than conventional grout and its performance should be verified using current governing code requirements. The purpose of this research program was to determine the development length of spliced reinforcing bars in masonry grouted with SCG.Twelve masonry panels, four courses high and two and a half blocks wide, were constructed using 8-inch concrete masonry units, each with two pairs of vertically spliced #6 reinforcing bars. …

Planning And Optimization Of A Stochastic Multi-Phase Multi- Criteria Multi-Echelon Humanitarian Logistics Network, A B M Mainul Bari

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Disasters, may that be anthropogenic or natural, cause much havoc to vast area and population. Property and infrastructures get destroyed. People are often in need of urgent relief like dry foods and water to survive. In a country which is in the underdeveloped part of the world, relief and evacuation activities are usually carried out by local government run aid agencies. Most of the time, the local decision makers do the coordination or planning of these humanitarian activities largely based on either past experience or sometimes just pure hunch, which is neither efficient nor economic. Proper planning and coordination in …