Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Structural Health Monitoring Of Reinforced Concrete Columns Subjected To Reversed Cyclic Loading Using Innovative Smart Aggregates, Yashar Moslehy, Haichang Gu, Abdeljalil Belarbi, Y. L. Mo, Gangbing Song

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Structural health monitoring is an important issue for the maintenance of large-scale civil infrastructure, especially for bridge columns. in this paper, an innovative piezoceramic-Based approach is developed for the structural health monitoring of reinforced concrete columns. an innovative piezoceramic-Based device, smart aggregate, is utilized as a transducer for health monitoring purposes. to investigate the seismic behavior of RC bridge columns, structural health monitoring tests were performed on two bridge columns under combined reversed cyclic loading at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Experimental results show that the proposed smart aggregate-Based approach successfully evaluated the health status of concrete columns during …

Culvert Material Cost Comparison, New England Environmental Finance Center

Water

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.

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%.

Research Agenda For Transportation Infrastructure Preservation And Renewal: Conference Report, Joseph L. Schofer, Leonard Evans, Michael P. Freeman, Larry L. Galehouse, Samer Madanat, Ali Maher, Sue Mcneil, John J. Myers, Robert L. Peskin, Butch Wlaschin

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Influence Of Diaphragm Flexibility On Building Design Through A Comparison Of Forced Vibration Testing And Computational Analysis, Blake Alan Roskelley

Master's Theses

An assessment of the validity of idealizing a concrete diaphragm as rigid was performed through the modal analysis of three existing buildings. Modal analysis was performed both by physical experimentation and computational analysis. Experimental determination of the mode shapes shows that two of the three buildings’ diaphragms exhibited flexible behavior. The experimental results were compared to computational analysis results and were shown to be similar, confirming that that the two building diaphragms are not rigid. As a standard, diaphragms with aspect ratios less than three are permitted to be idealized as rigid per ASCE 7-05. To determine the effect of …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Foundations For Dynamic Loads, Vijay K. Puri, Shamsher Prakash

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Design of foundations in earthquake prone areas needs special considerations. Shallow foundations may experience a reduction in bearing capacity and increase in settlement and tilt due to seismic loading. the reduction in bearing capacity depends on the nature and type of soil and ground acceleration parameters. in the case of piles, the soil-pile behavior under earthquake loading is generally nonlinear. the nonlinearity must be accounted for by defining soil-pile stiffness in terms of strain dependent soil modulus. a comparison of observed and predicted pile behavior under dynamic loads has attracted the attention of several investigators. the lateral dynamic pile response …

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Construction Cost Models, Barry Dikeman

Economics and Finance

The following are a series of cost estimate models similar in format to a typical engineer’s estimate that were developed in support of our financial impact assessment report for LD 1725. The models us current material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs for the region to provide a comparative cost analysis of seven culvert replacement scenarios. The models provide information about what the cost impact of LD 1725 would be for typical culvert replacements in Maine. However, due to the inherent restrictions of the cost modeling framework we were not able to include the abundance of variables that would be …

Intricacies Of Professional Certifications For Quality Management (Qm), Edmund R. Martelli

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The modern manufacturing marketplace is extremely complex and constantly changing. Career professionals often seek job placement, career advancement, and continuing education through professional certifications. Professional certifications in the United States (U.S.) have been evolving since 1911. In the 1950s, engineering groups established professional certifications and licenses. In the 1980s, administration of accreditation of certification programs proliferated, and by the 1990s, many government and professional organizations sought to standardize procedures for the industry. Currently, professional certifications are available for virtually every profession and issued by multitudes of organizations.

Quality management (QM) encompasses an extensive combination ofprofessional abilities. Providers of professional certifications …

Seismic Assessment Of An Existing Non-Seismically Designed Major Bridge-Abutment-Foundation System, Aman Mwafy, Oh Sung Kwon, Amr Elnashai

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A comprehensive study carried out to assess the seismic response of a 59-span bridge using a refined inelastic modeling approach and considering Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) is summarized in this paper. the focus is on describing the methodology adopted to idealize the bridge and its foundation system, while only highlights from the extensive elastic and inelastic analyses are presented. the bridge represents a typical case of vulnerable complex bridges since it was built in the early seventies with minimal seismic design requirements at a distance of about 5 km from a major fault. the SSI analysis is significant in this study …

Cyber-Physical Codesign Of Distributed Structural Health Monitoring With Wireless Sensor Networks, Gregory Hackmann, Weijun Guo, Guirong Yan, Chenyang Lu, Shirley Dyke

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Our Deteriorating Civil Infrastructure Faces the Critical Challenge of Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring for Damage Detection and Localization. in Contrast to Existing Research that Often Separates the Designs of Wireless Sensor Networks and Structural Engineering Algorithms, This Paper Proposes a Cyber-Physical Co-Design Approach to Structural Health Monitoring based on Wireless Sensor Networks. Our Approach Closely Integrates (1) Flexibility-Based Damage Localization Methods that Allow a Tradeoff between the Number of Sensors and the Resolution of Damage Localization, and (2) an Energy-Efficient, Multi-Level Computing Architecture Specifically Designed to Leverage the Multi-Resolution Feature of the Flexibility-Based Approach. the Proposed Approach Has Been Implemented …

Low Viscosity Pore Fluid To Manufacture Transparent Soil, Honghua Zhao, Louis Ge, Ronaldo Luna

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Transparent soil has been investigated for its potential as a substitute research media for natural soil. the mechanism for manufacturing the transparent soil is through adding an appropriate pore fluid to silica gel particles with the same refractive index. Two types of high viscosity pore fluids were identified by Iskander in 1994. However, because of the high viscosity of these two pore fluids, air was easily entrapped, which made the manufacture of a large mass of transparent soil difficult. in addition, the identified pore fluids caused serious membrane deterioration during triaxial laboratory testing. This research presented herein is an experimental …

Bs News July/August

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Static And Fatigue Bond Characteristics Of Frp Rebars Embedded In Fiber-Reinforced Concrete, Huanzi Wang, Abdeldjelil Belarbi

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A research project was initiated to develop a nonferrous hybrid reinforcement system for concrete bridge decks by using continuous fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) rebars and discrete randomly distributed polypropylene fibers. This hybrid system may eliminate problems related to the corrosion of steel reinforcement while providing requisite strength, stiffness, and desired ductility, which are shortcomings of FRP reinforcing system in plain concrete. This article presents the results of a part of this research program, i.e., the bond behaviors of this hybrid reinforcing system under monotonic and fatigue loading. Test results indicate that the addition of polypropylene fibers does not increase the ultimate …

Structural Damage Detection Robust Against Time Synchronization Errors, Guirong Yan, Shirley J. Dyke

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Structural Damage Detection based on Wireless Sensor Networks Can Be Affected Significantly by Time Synchronization Errors among Sensors. Precise Time Synchronization of Sensor Nodes Has Been Viewed as Crucial for Addressing This Issue. However, Precise Time Synchronization over a Long Period of Time is Often Impractical in Large Wireless Sensor Networks Due to Two Inherent Challenges. First, Time Synchronization Needs to Be Performed Periodically, Requiring Frequent Wireless Communication among Sensors at Significant Energy Cost. Second, Significant Time Synchronization Errors May Result from Node Failures Which Are Likely to Occur during Long-Term Deployment over Civil Infrastructures. in This Paper, a Damage …

An Exploratory Study On Energy Consumption Of Energy Star And Non-Energy Star Homes, Prajakta Kulkarni

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The reduction of energy consumption is one of the economic necessities in the United States due to depleting energy sources in the world. The construction industry is stepping forward to reduce the energy consumption of buildings by efficient designs or by constructing buildings with energy efficient materials and features. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE) introduced the Energy Star Program to promote energy efficient products with the same or improved services. According to the EPA, Energy Star homes, which use these products, will consume 20 to 30 percent less energy than non-Energy Star …

Evaluation Of Safety Impact Of Access Management In Urban Areas, Xuecai Xu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The access provided by streets and highways to adjacent lands are managed by controlling the spacings between the access points including signals, driveways, and media openings on mid-block segments, and setting the limit on the corner clearances around intersections. There have been studies on evaluating the impact of access management techniques on safety and mobility in urban areas. Samples of mid-block segments and intersections can be collected from selected arterials. Because the mid-block segments or intersections in the same arterials share the same missing information, safety and mobility on them show unique features that should be taken into account when …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 3, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

This report is the third in a series of efforts by students at the Muskie School of Public Service, Community Planning and Development Master’s program, in a core class called “Sustainable Communities.” In this course students seek to understand principles of sustainability and how efforts to implement Sustainability programs can become more successful. The report assembles term papers students completed on particular efforts by municipalities, universities, and other groups to achieve sustainability goals. Students worked on each project in a service learning format with real world clients. They were asked to fashion their papers around lessons learned by other organizations …

Investigation Of The Thermal Conductivity Of Compacted Silts And Its Correlation To The Elastic Modulus, Robert D. Hotz, Louis Ge

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Thermal conductivity measurement is a quick and easy test for compacted soils. This study presents the results of thermal conductivity testing on silt compacted under standard and modified Proctor efforts. a comparison of moisture content measurements from both lab oven and field oven is also presented and discussed. Measured thermal conductivity was correlated to the bulk density and water content. It is further correlated to Young's modulus and Shear modulus of the compacted silt, which were determined through ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements. Several trends were observed which may be used to correlate soil thermal conductivity of the compacted silt to …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

City Of Davis Greenbelt Master Plan, Brandon Haydu

Master's Theses

The City of Davis is currently updating its Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan. During the update, greenbelts were identified as a highly used and desired facility. This Greenbelt Master Plan serves as a plan focused on the opportunities greenbelts can provide as recreational and transportation facilities. This report has analyzed community feedback, greenbelt coverage, greenbelt capacity, and existing local, state, and federal design guidelines. The final plan is a set of goals, objectives, policies, and programs, along with a greenbelt map, which is aimed at improving the greenbelt infrastructure in Davis through the year 2020.

On The Turbulent Prandtl Number In Homogeneous Stably Stratified Turbulence, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy, Derek D. Stretch

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we derive a general relationship for the turbulent Prandtl number Prt for homogeneous stably stratified turbulence from the turbulent kinetic energy and scalar variance equations. A formulation for the turbulent Prandtl number, Prt, is developed in terms of a mixing length scale LM and an overturning length scale LE, the ratio of the mechanical (turbulent kinetic energy) decay time scale TL to scalar decay time scale Tp and the gradient Richardson number Ri. We show that our formulation for Prt is appropriate even for non-stationary (developing) stratified flows, since it does not include the reversible contributions in …

Identification Of Physical Changes To A Steel Frame, Daniel Eric Means

Master's Theses

The thesis utilized physical testing and computer modeling to determine the feasibility of identifying a change to the mass or stiffness of a steel frame. Physical testing was performed using an accelerometer, linear shaker, and arbitrary function generator. Two methods of laboratory testing were developed: ambient vibration testing (AVT) and forced vibration testing (FVT). AVT was able to preliminarily identify the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the frame. FVT was able to precisely identify four distinct natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping ratios. The baseline frame then underwent two physical changes: the addition of mass to its roof, and …

Estimation Of Flight Delay Costs For U.S. Domestic Air Passengers, Hojong Baik, Tao Li, Naveen K. Chintapudi

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Evaluating the economic value of flight delays has always been a keen interest of research groups as well as of federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and FAA. However, because of the complexity of the question as well as the incompleteness of available data sets, the estimation of flight delay costs is considered a challenging task in practice. This paper presents a method for estimating domestic air passengers' delay costs incurred by flight delays in U.S. airports. a unique feature of the method is that the costs incurred by flight delays relative to the original flight schedules …

Some Comments On The Protection Of Lunar Habitats Against Damage From Meteoroid Impacts, William P. Schonberg, F. Schäfer, R. Putzar

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The establishment of human habitats on the Moon and on Mars will require protecting them from the hazards of near-Earth and interplanetary space. in addition to solar radiation, another hazard to be faced by these habitats is the damage that can result from the high-speed impact of a meteoroid on a critical structural component. Therefore, lunar habitats and their accompanying support facilities need to be designed with adequate levels of protection that will allow them to also withstand the damage that can result from a meteoroid impact. in this paper we discuss some approaches to shielding for lunar habitats, focusing …

A Study Of The Economical Feasibility Of Installing Heating, Ventilation, And Air-Conditioning Condensate Recovery System, Rafid M. Kully

Theses

The objective of this study is to establish a guide line or an analytical frame work to predetermine the economic benefits associated with the installation of Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) condensate recovery systems to capture the air-handler’s condensate water and use it as makeup water for the cooling tower. Some factors should be considered such as; the location, building operation, amount of outside air required, type of energy recovery system, and indoor conditions setup. Experimental data was used from Emory University in Georgia, where a condensate recovery system was installed and the condensate water from four air-handler units at …

Evaluation Of A Web-Based Learning Tool For Teaching Gis Within The Context Of Transportation Engineering, Ashley Banaszek, Hong Sheng, Richard H. Hall, Ronaldo Luna, Ghulam Bham

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

An Exploratory Study Was Conducted to Evaluate a Web-Based Learning Module for Teaching Geographic Information Systems to Civil Engineering Students within the Context of a Problem Related to Crash Data Analysis. This Module is One Part of a National Science Foundation Course, Curricula, and Laboratory Improvement Project in Which GIS Modules Are Being Developed for Several Areas of Civil Engineering. the Module Was Used as a Laboratory Assignment in a Transportation Engineering Course. Two Days Later Students Completed Both an Objective Multiple-Choice Quiz over the Material Covered in the Lab and a Subjective Questionnaire. Quantitative Analysis Was Carried Out on …

Diapycnal Diffusivities In Homogeneous Stratified Turbulence, D. D. Stretch, S. K. Venayagamoorthy

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Quantifying diapycnal mixing in stably stratified turbulence is fundamental to the understanding and modeling of geophysical flows. Data of diapycnal mixing from direct numerical simulations of homogeneous stratified turbulence and from grid turbulence experiments, are analyzed to investigate the scaling of the diapycnal diffusivity. In these homogeneous flows the instantaneous diapycnal diffusivity is given exactly by Kd= ∈ρ/ (∂ ρ /∂z)²where ∈ρ is the dissipation rate of density fluctuations, and ∂ ρ /∂z is the mean density gradient. The diffusivity Kd may be expressed in terms of the large-scale properties of the turbulence as K d = γLE …