Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Investigating Physical Processes Associated With Chesapeake Bay And Changjiang Estuary, Arash Niroomandi

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Coastal and estuaries are landforms that not only have great impacts on large marine ecosystem, but also play a significant role in moderating or aggravating natural hazards and erosion risks that are expected to increase with climate change. This dissertation explores some of the concerns associated with coasts and coastal systems. In the second chapter, a thirty seven year wave hindcast (1979-2015) in Chesapeake Bay using NCEP's Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) wind is presented. The long-term significant wave heights are generated by the third-generation nearshore wave model SWAN, which is validated using the wave height measurements at buoy stations …

A Simulator-Based Analysis Of Engineering Treatments For Right-Hook Bicycle Crashes At Signalized Intersections, Jennifer Warner, David S. Hurwitz, Christopher M. Monsere, Kayla Fleskes

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A right-hook crash is a crash between a right-turning motor vehicle and an adjacent through-moving bicycle. At signalized intersections, these crashes can occur during any portion of the green interval when conflicting bicycles and vehicles are moving concurrently. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of four types of engineering countermeasures – regulatory signage, intersection pavement marking, smaller curb radius, and protected intersection design – at modifying driver behaviors that are known contributing factors in these crashes. This research focused on right-hook crashes that occur during the latter stage of the circular green indication at signalized intersections …

An Improved Method Of Arsenic (Iii) Removal By Reverse Osmosis Membrane, Yizhi Hou

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Arsenic is a Group 1 carcinogen as there is abundant research to support that ingestion of arsenic in drinking water and food can lead to liver, lung, kidney, or bladder cancer in humans. The recommend World Health Organization (WHO) arsenic standard in drinking water is 10 µg/L, while the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of arsenic in drinking water is 10 µg/L. Globally, at least 40 million people face more than 10 µg/L arsenic contamination in their drinking water. As(III) (trivalent state, such as arsenite), and As(V) (pentavalent state, such as arsenates) are the dominant arsenic forms …

Restoration Of Historic Buildings In Zanzibar, John K. Makunza Jkm

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Looking at current state of most repaired historic buildings in Stone Town of Zanzibar, it is quite clear that the repair attempts made have not been very successful. Modern materials and techniques introduced in the repair works have often proven to be incompatible with the original materials causing accelerated deterioration of buildings fabric. This shows that, there is no comprehensive study undertaken so far on identifying the appropriate materials and restoration techniques. To solve this problem, a study has been made with the main objective of developing the means of restoring historic buildings by using materials existing in Stone Town …

Impact Of Mastering Engineering On Student Learning And Perceptions In A Strength Of Materials Course, Harry G. Cooke, Md Abdullah Al Faruque

Presentations and other scholarship

The impact of Mastering Engineering on student learning of key concepts in strength of materials has been assessed in this study by comparing homework and examination grades received by students who used Mastering to those from prior years when it was not used. Student perceptions of the effectiveness of Mastering for helping promote learning were obtained through weekly surveys that students completed about their use of the tutorials and videos. In addition, student ratings of teaching effectiveness and the accomplishment of course learning outcomes were evaluated to see if there were any impacts on student perceptions of the course. From …

Everglades Drainage District: Biennial Report 1927-1928 To The Board Of Commissioners Of Everglades Drainage District, F C. Elliot

City and Regional Planning -- Florida

Everglades Drainage District report 1927-1928

Quantifying And Modeling Surface Inflow And Groundwater Infiltration Into Sanitary Sewers In Southern Pinellas County, Fl, Megan E. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following large rain events, excess flow in sanitary sewers from inflow and infiltration (I/I) cause sanitary sewer overflows (SSO), resulting in significant problems for Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area. Stormwater enters the sanitary sewers as inflow from improper or illegal surface connections, and groundwater enters the system as infiltration through cracks in subsurface infrastructure. This pilot study was designed to develop methods to separate and quantify the components of I/I and to build a predictive model using flowmeter and rainfall data.

To identify surface inflow, daily wastewater production and groundwater infiltration patterns were filtered from the flow data, …

Mechanical Characterization Of Polymer Concrete With Nanomaterials, Alaeddin Douba

Civil Engineering ETDs

Nanomaterials are defined by those whose characteristic length scale lies within the nanometer scale. Their extreme dimension achieves extraordinary mechanical properties superior to other micro and macro additives. The introduction of nanotechnology to Civil Engineering utilizes low volume inclusions of nanomaterials to alter the properties of conventionally used bulk materials. Polymer Concrete (PC) where epoxy polymer binders replace cement binders, has become a common repair material among many other application and often can be considered an alternative to Portland cement concrete (PCC). PC is often used in bridge deck overlays, manholes, machine foundations and repairs. Its diverse chemical composition and …

An Expert System For Local Flood Response Coordination And Training, Xiaoyin Zhang, Gary Moynihan, Andrew Ernest, Joseph Gutenson

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Flood response is an essential component of flood management to rescue people, reduce property loss, and limit the impact to the environment. Effective flood response depends on a sound coordination structure with unified responsibilities, smooth communications, and scalable response plans. An efficient coordination system, including command and management structures, is built on a thorough understanding of the responsibilities and actions of each role for delivering the response core capabilities. Collecting, sharing, using, and handling the knowledge require great efforts in knowledge management. To further enhance such efforts, an expert system for local flood response coordination and training (LFRS) was developed …

Comprehensive Silica Removal With Ferric Compounds For Industrial Wastewater Reuse, Ehren D. Baca

Civil Engineering ETDs

Cooling towers, integrated circuit (IC) manufacture and reverse osmosis (RO) generate copious amounts of wastewater high in colloidal and reactive silica inhibiting on-site or synergistic reuse. Silica present in cooling water can reach solubility limits via evaporation and form impervious scale on heat transfer surfaces that decreases efficiency. When water is treated by RO operating at high rejection, silica forms difficult-to-remove scale on the membrane feed side in the form of glassy patches and communities of aggregate particles, inhibiting aspirations for zero liquid discharge. Current methods for silica scale mitigation include abundant dosing with chemical antiscalents or complex operating schemes. …

Increasing Probability Of Mass-Mortality During Indian Heatwaves, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rising global temperatures are causing increases in the frequency and severity of extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. Here, we analyze changes in summer temperatures, the frequency, severity and duration of heatwaves, and heat-related mortality in India between 1960 and 2009, using data from the India Meteorological Department. Mean temperatures across India have risen by more than 0.5 °C over this period, with statistically significant increases in heatwaves. Using a novel probabilistic model, we further show that the increase in summer mean temperatures in India over this period corresponds to a 146% increase in the probability of …

The Soil Moisture Velocity Equation, Fred L. Ogden, Myron B. Allen, Wencong Lai, Jianting Zhu, Mookwon Seo, Craig C. Douglas, Cary A. Talbot

Publications

Numerical solution of the one-dimensional Richards' equation is the recommended method for coupling groundwater to the atmosphere through the vadose zone in hyperresolution Earth system models, but requires fine spatial discretization, is computationally expensive, and may not converge due to mathematical degeneracy or when sharp wetting fronts occur. We transformed the one-dimensional Richards' equation into a new equation that describes the velocity of moisture content values in an unsaturated soil under the actions of capillarity and gravity. We call this new equation the Soil Moisture Velocity Equation (SMVE). The SMVE consists of two terms: an advection-like term that accounts for …

Recommendation Of A New Transit Performance Measure In The National Transit Database, Fatemeh Baratian-Ghorghi, Hossein Ahmadianyazdi

Journal of Public Transportation

The frequency of incidents negatively changes public perception with regard to the public safety in transit systems. The level of safety expressed as performance measures, ensures contractors and users that a quality safety level is maintained. Both the private and public sectors in the U.S. annually report accurate data to the National Transit Database (NTD) to be used in assessing the progress of the nation's public transportation systems. Although they must provide both the annual report and monthly reports including Safety and Security data, measures are only grouped into the indicators of efficiency and effectiveness of a system and there …

Target Reliability Approach To Study The Effect Of Fiber Reinforcement On Ucs Behavior Of Lime Treated Semi-Arid Soil, Arif Ali Baig Moghal, Bhaskar C.S. Chittoori, B. Munwar Basha, Mosleh Ali Al-Shamrani

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of stabilizing expansive soil with two different types of fibers, Fiber Mesh® (FM) and Fiber Cast® (FC), in conjunction with chemical stabilization. The intention of this study is to evaluate the effect of these fibers and lime in stabilizing expansive soil by improving its UCS behavior. The effect of varying lengths (6 mm and 12 mm) and amounts (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% dosage by weight of soil) of FC and FM fibers and curing periods (0, 7, 28, 60, 120, 180 and 360 days) on the UCS and on secant modulus of a semi-arid expansive …

Multivariate Copula Analysis Toolbox (Mvcat): Describing Dependence And Underlying Uncertainty Using A Bayesian Framework, Mojtaba Sadegh, Elisa Ragno, Amir Aghakouchak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a newly developed Multivariate Copula Analysis Toolbox (MvCAT) which includes a wide range of copula families with different levels of complexity. MvCAT employs a Bayesian framework with a residual-based Gaussian likelihood function for inferring copula parameters and estimating the underlying uncertainties. The contribution of this paper is threefold: (a) providing a Bayesian framework to approximate the predictive uncertainties of fitted copulas, (b) introducing a hybrid-evolution Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach designed for numerical estimation of the posterior distribution of copula parameters, and (c) enabling the community to explore a wide range of copulas and evaluate them relative …

Building Information Modelling In Ireland 2017, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Reports

BIM is perhaps the most topical issue in construction throughout the world at present, as it is associated with solving so many of the present concerns in our industry.

Our lack of housing, shortage of skilled workers, poor document management, overrunning project budgets and sustainability challenges are just a few of the challenges that BIM promises to assist in solving.

The increasing importance of “digitisation” to modern construction and engineering businesses is becoming more apparent as more and more clients are explicitly asking for BIM in the design and delivery of new facilities and infrastructure.

This report provides a snapshot …

Shrinkage Cracking In Concrete Tilt-Up Construction, Stewart Hooks, Jack Robinson

Architectural Engineering

The purpose of this project is to investigate a particular, undesirable cracking pattern in concrete tilt-up panels that, until now, did not have a known definite cause. The cause of this cracking pattern is hypothesized to be due to shrinkage restraint of the concrete panels. The cracking under investigation occurs at the bottom corners of the Tilt-Up panels, suggesting that the base of the panel is restrained from shrinkage. This project models various components of Tilt-Up Construction that have potential for restraining the panels from shrinking. This project consists of the following main components.

The first aspect of this project …

Quantifying The Impact Of Truck Only Lanes On Vehicular Emissions On A Limited-Access Highway, Edward Chee Tang

Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to estimate CO₂ emissions on a portion of the U.S. 101 highway in San Luis Obispo County before and after construction of a truck only lane on the Cuesta Grade. Towards that aim, the microsimulation software, VISSIM, was used in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions model, MOVES. The microsimulation model was calibrated and validated against historical and present traffic volumes obtained from Caltrans with good results using several validation measures. It was found that CO₂ emissions did decrease between 1998 and 2012 (pre and post lane addition), but this effect was shown to …

Effects Of Vegetation On Slope Stability: A Review, Roberto José Marín Sánchez, Juan Pablo Osorio

Articles

Slope stability is usually affected by factors that reduce soil strength and increase driving forces acting on the slope material, sometimes generating mass movements. Among these factors, vegetation has an important role related to hydrological (e.g. evapotranspiration and infiltration) and mechanical (e.g. tree surcharge and root reinforcement provided by trees) mechanisms. In this review, vegetation influences associated to slope stability are identified, describing the mechanisms involved in the occurrence of mass movements. Finally, the way these factors affect slope stability is explained according to soil properties, climatic conditions and environmental characteristics.

Corrosion Map For Metal Pipes In Coastal Louisiana, Sanjay Tewari

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Transportation agencies often allow metal pipes as an option for cross drains under/along roads and highways. Metal culverts can corrode over time at various rates based on their environmental conditions (e.g., corrosive nature of coastal soils, high water table, and saltwater intrusion).

This project was focused on applying available soil data, such as spatial distribution of soil types and soil characteristics (e.g., pH and conductivity), towards creating a Geographic Information System (GIS) based map to identify corrosion zones in coastal Louisiana. The effect of the soil characteristics (pH and conductivity) was incorporated in to the published corrosion models for calculating …

Rca: Use And Future Possibilities, Bushra Marium Islam

Theses

Reuse and recycling of concrete is essential for construction purposes. There has been progressive development in construction projects but at the same time it has an inverse effect on the environment. Concrete structures are built and demolished continuously all over the world, generating tons of waste materials which are actually reusable in concrete production itself. This paper emphasis on recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and many characteristics of RCA. This paper studies RCA’s different properties. RCA’s replacement in the place of natural aggregate is discussed. The proper amount and researches done on RCA improvement have also been discussed for further in …

Schedule And Cost Performance Analysis And Prediction In Louisiana Dotd, Mahmoud Hamide

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Many construction projects in the United States are facing the risk of cost overrun and schedule delays. This is also happening here in the State of Louisiana. When these things happen, it causes cost overrun which can then be passed on to the tax payers and may also cause the state to take on less projects than they normal. Many researchers have studied the reasons behind both the cost overrun and the delays resulting in private firms, developing project management tools and best practices to prevent this risk. In this research, I aim to study the historical trend in 2912 …

Evaluating The Effect Of Temporary Casing On Drilled Shaft Rock Socket Capacity, Daniel J. Hagerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on side shear resistance in limestone when temporary casing is used. Due to testing in actual limestone being an unrealistic goal, simulated limestone mixes were prepared and cast into 6 – 42 in. diameter beds. Limestone throughout Florida can be quite varied (e.g. 50-5000 psi) but where stronger limestone is not likely to be penetrated by casing installation. Therefore, target unconfined compressive strengths of the study specimens ranged between 60 psi to 850 psi.

A simulated limestone material was developed based on over 200 cylinders cast for unconfined compression testing …

Children's Law Center Site Redevelopment, Caroline Olivia Haggard, Javonte Isaac, Joshua Joslin, E'Lexus Nelson, Ana Vieira, Adrien Williams, David Zalla

Senior Theses

Soda City Engineering and Consulting was contracted by the USC School of Law to redevelop the Children’s Law Center site in Columbia, SC. Currently, the site does not comply with current standards and specifications. The objective of this project is to completely redevelop the site with a new annex building and ensuring everything is up to code, while still allowing the historic structure to maintain its use throughout construction.

Fluid Isolator, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The reliability of concrete infrastructure is vital to ensuring daily life, as well as commerce, can progress without interruption. From the pavement of interstate highways to the driveways and sidewalks in a local neighborhood, concrete is expensive to install and often even more expensive, and intrusive, when it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, to maintain functionality in winter climates concrete is heavily exposed to deicing salts. This not only affects the roads, driveways, and sidewalks where salt is applied directly, but many other areas such as parking and residential garages where vehicles (and people) will track salt along with water …

Netpoint®, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The vast majority of construction scheduling software uses a combination of spreadsheets and Gantt charts for developing and depicting Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules. While this paradigm works for the expert scheduler, it is not conducive to collaboration, and it is prohibitively difficult for non-scheduling experts to understand.

NetPoint® provides a dynamic, visual interface conducive to touch and gestural input. Activities are drawn directly on a time-scale and may be placed on the same row or arranged automatically using codes or the WBS. Such control of the presentation makes it easier to communicate the plan to any type of audience. …

Vulnerability Of Coastal Connecticut To Sea Level Rise: Land Inundation And Impacts To Residential Property, Rebecca Andreucci, Can B. Aktas

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Vulnerability indices at the global or national scales require considerable data aggregation where local economic and social impacts remain unnoticed. The goal of this study was to analyze the extent of inundated land from sea level rise and its economic impacts to residential property in coastal communities. Geographic data were integrated with economic and social data at parcel level resolution through GIS. Cumulative land inundation in seven coastal municipalities was calculated as 15 and 25 km², while direct economic costs to residential property was estimated to be $1.3 billion and $2.2 billion for 1 and 2 m sea …

Gis Internship At Tighe And Bond, Yuanting Qu M.S.

Sustainability and Social Justice

I started working as GIS Intern at Tighe and Bond Worcester Office on May 11, 2016. I was given a multitude of civil engineering related projects to edit, verify, do analysis and process data. I was able to apply my computer programming skills to help the GIS team develop a useful script tool set that will improve efficiency work. This internship provided me insight into how GIS operate as a part of engineering project on a day-to-day basis. Working background, my responsibilities and what I have learned from this internship is discussed in this report.

Exploring Compaction Effects On Cold In-Place Recycling Mixtures Using Emulsified Asphalt, Erica Ann Yeung

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cold in-place recycling (CIR) is a process that takes three to four inches of existing pavement surface and reuses 100% of it by milling and crushing it, adding asphalt emulsions and/or additives to it, before placing and re-compacting it. There is currently very little research regarding the interaction between the crushed aggregate and asphalt emulsion during the CIR process. In this study, the interactions between the combinations of crushed aggregates and asphalt emulsions were investigated along with select compaction metrics and a raveling performance test. The three types of aggregates included coated limestone, recycled asphalt pavement (RAP), and coated syenite. …

Feasibility Of Additive Manufactured Materials For Use In Geotechnical Laboratory Testing Applications, Matthew P. Watters

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The factors affecting the positive volumetric strain, or dilatancy, typically observed in response to shearing of a dense granular material have long been investigated; however, there still lacks a direct relationship between particle shapes and the resulting dilatant response. The typical Mohr-Coulomb strength parameter associated with granular material is known as the effective friction angle (φ’). For a dense granular assemblage, the peak friction angle has been described as being comprised of a dilatant friction angle (φ’d) component and a critical state friction angle (φ’cv) component. While the topic of dilatancy and factors (both inherent and extrinsic) affecting its behavior …