Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Hardware-In-The-Loop And Digital Twin Enabled Autonomous Robotics-Assisted Environment Inspection, Johnny Li, Bo Shang, Iresh Jayawardana, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Empowered by the advanced 3D sensing, computer vision and AI algorithm, autonomous robotics provide an unprecedented possibility for close-up infrastructure environment inspection in an efficient and reliable fashion. Deep neural network (DNN) learning algorithms, pretrained on the large database can empower real-time object detection as well as fully autonomous, safe robotic navigation in unstructured environments while avoiding the potential obstacle. However, the development and deployment of the robots, inspection planning and operation procedures are still tedious and segmented with tremendous manual intervention during environmental inspection and anomaly monitoring. The proposed digital twin approach is able to provide a virtual representation …

Evaluations Of Frp Composite Coupons Under Impact And Puncture, Lekhnath Bhandari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Evaluations of FRP Composite Coupons Under Impact and Puncture

Lekhnath Bhandari

Railroad tank cars are the main mode of transportation for carrying flammable liquids and other hazardous materials, in any mode of ground transportation system. These tank cars, if punctured during derailments may explode releasing large amounts of hazardous materials and posing serious threats to human life and leading to economic losses. To minimize such catastrophes, in 2015, United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) proposed to improve the thermal and puncture performances of these tank cars and introduced two new design specifications: DOT-117 and DOT-117R. Tank cars with 9/16 inches …

Development And Validation Of Improved Live Load Distribution Factors For Moment In Press-Brake-Formed Steel Tub Girder Bridges, Brook Teklu Woldegabriel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Press-brake-formed tub girders (PBFTGs) offer innovative solutions for short-span steel bridge applications, possessing efficiency, versatility, and sustainability. These girders are galvanized shallow trapezoidal boxes fabricated from cold-bent structural steel plates. Depending on the design requirements, a concrete deck or other deck options, such as a steel sandwich plate system, can be placed on the girders. The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) extensively researched the steel PBFTG bridge system. As a testament to its potential, the AASHTO Innovation Initiative (AII) recognized it as a 2021 Focus Technology. AII has shown commitment to promoting the adoption of PBFTG among its member …

Analyzing Ground Motion Records With Cvi Fuzzy Art, Dustin Tanksley, Xinzhe Yuan, Genda Chen, Donald C. Wunsch

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper explores using Cluster Validity Indices Fuzzy Adaptative Resonance Theory (CVI Fuzzy ART) to cluster ground motion records (GMRs). Clustering the features extracted from a supervised network trained for predicting the structure damage results in less overfitting from the trained network. Using Cluster Validity Indices (CVIs) to evaluate the clustering gives feedback to how well the data is being classified, allowing further separation of the data. By using CVI Fuzzy ART in combination with features extracted from a trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), we were able to form additional clusters in the data. Within the primary clusters, accuracy was …

Hdd Dataset: Optimising Retrofitted Insulation For Irish Residential Building Walls, Rakshit D. Muddu, Aimee Byrne, Anthony James Robinson

Datasets

In this study, a thermal-economic analysis was conducted to determine the optimum insulation thickness of retrofitted insulation walls in different regions in Ireland. This was based on the Heating Degree Day method (HDD). This dataset contains optimum insulation thickness, payback period, cost savings and carbon emission for all 25 counties in the Republic of Ireland

Robotic Inspection And Data Analytics To Localize And Visualize The Structural Defects Of Civil Infrastructure, Jinglun Feng

Dissertations and Theses

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) serves as a significant nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technique to inspect and survey underground objects (e.g., rebars, utility pipes) in complex urban environments. In addition to GPR, visual-based surface defect detection plays a crucial role in assessing and maintaining civil infrastructure. To facilitate deployment on a robotic platform and enhance inspection capabilities, the integration of GPR and visual-based sensors, such as RGB-D cameras, is crucial to obtain accurate subsurface and surface information. This thesis presents a novel robotic-based inspection system for the efficient collection of NDE data and accurate 3D reconstruction of both subsurface and surface infrastructure …

Strengthening Of Damaged Structural Members With External Frp, Krishna Tulasi Gadde

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are excellent alternatives to traditional materials for civil infrastructure. Several researchers have worked on the application of FRP composites for construction, repair, and rehabilitation of structures. This research aims at evaluating the use of carbon, glass, basalt, and hybrid FRPs with epoxy and polyurethane resin systems for rehabilitation of damaged structural components. Following evaluations were carried out in this research: (i) tension testing of FRP coupons, (ii) compression testing of concrete cylinders with and without damaged sections/FRP reinforcements, (iii) flexural testing of external-FRP reinforced RC beams with and without damages, (iv) pull-off tests on FRP …

Frp Pedestrian Bridges, Joseph Ryan Virga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Advanced fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are being used as mainstream structural materials to build complex infrastructure systems. Such application of FRP composites can be attributed to their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios, corrosion resistance, higher energy absorption, durability, and competitive life-cycle costs. FRP composites are increasingly being considered as suitable alternative structural materials to traditional construction materials such as timber, concrete, and steel.

In this work, detailed experimental investigation has been carried out on different types of glass FRP composite pedestrian bridges with FRP and/or timber deck. Four full-scale FRP pedestrian bridges, including 70`×8.5’ and 70’×10’ single-span bridges, a 16’×8’ …

Implementation Of Ground Penetrating Radar (Gpr) And Complementary Non-Destructive Testing On Concrete Structures, Macy Spears

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study analyzes the application and practicality of different non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for the inspection of reinforced concrete. There are two studies discussed in this paper. The first one is a laboratory investigation, utilizing ground penetrating radar (GPR) on concrete slabs that consisted of simulated defects to mimic those found in real concrete structures. This served as a preliminary experiment to verify the GPR data with the design of the slabs. The following study describes a field investigation on an old bridge deck, which involved multiple testing methods. The techniques used were GPR, impact echo (IE), ultrasonic pulse echo …

An Investigation Into Aluminum’S Torsional Behavior Of Circular, Rectangular, And Square Cross-Sections, Marly Mcclintock

Honors Theses

The Specifications for Aluminum Structures (2020) provides the standards that structural engineers follow for aluminum design. Included in these specifications are limit state equations that use strength properties to calculate a member’s initial yield, full yield, and rupture values. One limit state that the standards currently neglect is the torsional failure of solid bars. Torsion is the act of rotation caused by a twisting force, otherwise known as torque. Future installments of the specifications hope to include torsional yielding and rupture equations, so this study investigates the validity of these proposed equations.

Two different aluminum alloys were investigated for this …

Performance And Durability Assessment Of Concrete Bridge Deck Sealants, Bipin Adhikari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Electronic Waste As Synthetic Aggregate For Portland Cement Concrete, Md Shafaul Islam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lightweight concrete has grown in popularity in the building industry in recent years. Due to its environmental and economic benefits, the construction sector favors using lightweight concrete in applications allowed by the technical specifications. On the other hand, electronics waste (e-waste) is the world’s most rapidly growing waste problem. Given the scale and the volume of global concrete construction, incorporating e-waste as a lightweight concrete construction material can potentially reduce sending electronic waste to landfills, which is an environmental benefit. Additionally, it will help with saving the consumption of virgin aggregates. This study was undertaken to determine the feasibility of …

Comparison Between Different Codes In Design Cold-Formed Steel Lipped Channel Section Subjected To Axial Load Or Bending Moment, Samar El-Sayed Ibrahim Atya, Ahmed Hussain Ali Abdelrahman, Fikry Abdo Salem, Nabil Sayed Mahmoud, Mohamed Ghannam

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This paper presents a comparative analysis between Eurocode3 (EC3), the North American Specification (AISI), and the Egyptian Code of Practice (ECP-205) to design Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) compression and flexural members with channel profiles. The research recognizes similarities and variations in strength measures to facilitate the learning process in the design codes, as well as the expressions and limits provided in the ECP, EC3, and AISI design codes. A computer program was designed to improve the speed of the calculation process. The software was created utilizing the C+ programming language and was programmed to calculate the axial load and bending moment …

Elevation-Distributed Multistage Reverse Osmosis Desalination With Seawater Pumped Storage, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A seawater reverse osmosis (RO) plant layout based on multistage RO with stages located at different elevations above sea level is described. The plant uses the weight of a seawater column from pumped storage as head pressure for RO (gravity-driven multistage RO) or to supplement high-pressure pumps used in RO (gravity-assisted multistage RO). The use of gravitational force reduces the specific energy for RO compared to using high-pressure pumps. By locating the RO stages at different elevations based on demand sites, the total specific energy consumption for RO and permeate transport to different elevations above sea level is reduced from …

Concrete Technology In A Rapidly Growing Urban Environment – The Case Of Dar Es Salaam City, John K. Makunza Jkm

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Concrete is a building material that is used in great quantities second only to our use of water. The ingredient materials of concrete include cement, fine and coarse aggregates plus a reasonable amount of water, and sometimes additives. The construction of various structures like, residential buildings, commercial buildings, hospitals, schools, bridges, etc., needs good quality concrete. Good modern technologies are needed by the construction industry in order to effectively construct buildings which are durable. A study has been done with the main objective of assessing the concrete technologies existing in rapid growing cities in Sub-Sahara Africa like Dar es Salaam, …

Damage Stability Study Of A 500 Dw Ro-Ro Ferry Vessel, Zulfaidah Ariany, Budhi Santoso, Sarwoko Sarwoko, Nauval Abdurrahman Prasetyo

Makara Journal of Technology

The development of the crossing transportation industry is currently increasing in the island areas. The use of Ro-Ro type ferry boats is extremely efficient in moving people, goods, and vehicles. The current research focuses on the damage stability of the 500 DWT Ro-Ro ferry, which aims to meet the needs of the Ro-Ro ferry in the archipelago area. The previously existing initial design of a barge hull with a main size Lpp = 40.15 m, B = 12 m, H = 3.2 m, and T = 2.15 m was used to analyze the damage stability condition further. First, the drawings …

Fire-Resistance Testing Procedures For Construction Elements—A Review, Shashikant Chaturvedi, Ajitanshu Vedrtnam, Maged A. Youssef, Martin T. Palou, Gonzalo Barluenga, Kishor Kalauni

Civil and Environmental Engineering Publications

Fire accidents are a significant risk to human life and civil infrastructure. As a countermeasure, the regulatory bodies of different countries have established standards for evaluating the performance of construction elements during fire exposure. ISO 834 is the globally accepted fire-resistance testing standard. Other standards include ASTM E119, BS 476, IS 3809, JIS A 1304, AS 1503, EN 1363, and GB/T 9978, which are utilized by the US, Britain, India, Japan, Australia, Europe, and China, respectively. This article presents a summary and comparison of the fire-resistance testing standards. In reality, standard tests for isolated structural members may not efficiently portray …

Design, Concept, And Visualization Of Urban Multi-Level Growing Table Systems In Hyper Urban Areas, Aaryan Manoj Nair, Shaheed Mohammed, Omar Rahama

Publications and Research

As of a 2019 study conducted by the National Urban Gardening Program (National Urban Gardening Program), urban farming accounts for approximately 19% of the total national farming output and is expected to triple to almost 45% by 2025. There is intensive research being conducted on aspects of reduced recidivism, communal health benefits, natural carbon capture systems, improved urban ecology and the necessity for reducing the carbon footprint of food, (informally dubbed “food miles”) there is little substantive research on optimisation, and maximation of crop productivity in hyper-urban areas.

The purpose of this report is to understand the functionalities of urban …

Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Various seismic and wind engineering designs and retrofit strategies have been in development to meet structures' proper and safe operation during earthquake and wind excitation. One such method is the addition of fluid and particle dampers, such as sand dampers, in an effort to reduce excessive and dangerous displacements of structures. The present study implements the discrete element method (DEM) to assess the performance of a pressurized sand damper (PSD) and characterize the dissipated energy under cyclic loading. The idea of a PSD is to exploit the increase in shearing resistance of sand under external pressure and the associated ability …

Reduction Of Embodied Carbon In Buildings Through Use Of Low Carbon Strategies And Standardization And Enforcement Of Life Cycle Assessment, Bhargavi Sai Sudhakar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The building and construction industry is energy intensive and as of 2021, this industry is responsible for 37% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. In previous studies of conventional buildings, the operational energy of a building contributed to 80% and the embodied energy contributed to 20% of the total life cycle energy. With increase in policies and standards that focus on reducing the operational energy, low energy and certified green buildings have emerged where the operational energy has considerably reduced. The relative and absolute share of embodied energy in these energy efficient buildings have increased due to excessive use …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

Evaluating Arkansas Weathering Steel Bridge Performance, Yessenia Gonzalez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weathering steel enhances corrosion-resistant steel features over conventional steel when a patina properly forms on the weathering steel surface. Weathering steel is a low carbon steel of less than 0.3% carbon by weight and has a chemical composition including other alloying elements such as nickel, copper, and chromium that develops a patina. The patina is a dense protective oxide film layer that develops on the steel member surface. The patina defends the steel from corrosion by preventing moisture, oxygen, and contaminant penetration. However, long periods of moisture and deicing chemicals applied during wet wintry conditions hinder proper patina formation. Without …

Improving Building Cfd Peak Pressure Computation Using Les With A Focus On Inflow Turbulence Methods And Grid Spacing Size., Zahra Mansouri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Structural failures by extreme winds often leads to economic losses and even deaths. Proper design of buildings requires accurate estimation of wind loads to prevent structural damage. Using routine guidelines generally leads to the underestimation of buildings’ peak pressures, in which most failures occur. To estimate wind loads more accurately three different methods (i.e., field measurement, wind tunnel (WT), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD)) are in use. A well-validated CFD provides more flow field details at lower costs compared to field measurements and WT. As strong winds are extremely turbulent, the effects of turbulence in wind should be incorporated into …

Performance Based Design And Machine Learning In Structural Fire Engineering: A Case For Masonry, Deanna Craig

All Theses

The volatile and extreme nature of fire makes structural fire engineering unique in that the load actions dictating design are intense but not geographically or seasonally bound. Simply, fire can break out anywhere, at any time, and for any number of reasons. Despite the apparent need, fire design of structures still relies on expensive fire tests, complex finite element simulations, and outdated procedures with little room for innovation. This thesis will make a case for adopting the principles of performance-based design and machine learning in structural fire engineering to simplify the process and promote the consideration of fire in all …

Use Of Precious Plastic Method Of Bricks For The Construction Of Tiny Homes, Haylie E. Tallon

Architectural Engineering

Precious Plastics, a Netherlands based company, created an open source project that can be used to create different objects from recycled plastics. The San Luis Obispo area has a large amount of recyclable plastic that is being treated as trash, adding to the pollution of the ocean and the air. This project is to determine the necessary steps to create plastic building blocks, using the Precious Plastic process, as a construction material for low-income, temporary housing. This report covers the process that was used to build two of the machines that will be used to create the bricks. This requires …

Flexural Testing Of Precast Reinforced Concrete Bridge Slabs, Evaluation Of Deterioration And Strengthening Applications, Alyssa Leaman

All Theses

This thesis investigates the strength of flat precast concrete slabs that were taken from decommissioned South Carolina bridges. The specimens tested spanned 14 ft (4.3 m) or 15 ft (4.6 m), were 5 ft (1.5 m) or 5.5 ft (1.7 m) wide, and 8.25 in (210 mm) thick. In South Carolina, there are approximately 3000 similar bridges that use these slab members. Testing was conducted to determine the flexural capacity of “typical” slabs and the residual strength of slabs having visible deterioration of both the rebar and the concrete. For the slabs that were load rated below the new standards, …

Dynamic Analysis, Characterization, And Design Of Rigid-Flex Pcb Robotics, John Bell

All Dissertations

The era of space exploration is driven by and fuels large advances in technological progress.
Over the last decade, engineering practices for spacecraft, space structures, robotics, software and
hardware, manufacturing techniques, and the implementation of new and novel materials has been
revolutionized. Space exploration pushes the envelope in terms of technological capabilities and
robotic systems (rovers) become lighter, smaller, and more capable of sustaining damage. This
dissertation aids in the advancement of design knowledge for a class of rovers characterized by
their chassis architecture: rigid-flex printed circuit board (PCB) robotics. These rovers leverage
the printed circuit cards as the structural …

Schematic Design And Peer Review Of Gayaza Medical Center And Walk-In Clinic, Abigail Coffing, Alexis Buhr

Architectural Engineering

This report outlines the structural portion of the work done for the Gayaza Medical Center in Kampala, Uganda. This project was funded by HIINGA, an impact fund doing work in Eastern Africa, who tasked an interdisciplinary group of Cal Poly students with developing a preliminary design for the the medical center. The team consisted of Annebel van der Meulen (architecture), Abigail Coffing and Alexis Buhr (structural), and Arley Landis and Brett Shank (construction management). After completing the initial design, the structural team at Cal Poly rejoined the project the following quarter to do a peer analysis of the finalized structural …

Flexural Bond Strength Of Masonry Assemblies With Lightweight Grout, Benjamin L. Hiner

All Theses

Lightweight grout has many potential benefits in masonry construction, including minimizing mass, improving thermal performance, and potentially reducing shrinkage cracking via internal curing. However, insufficient testing of masonry assemblies with lightweight grout has been conducted to suggest appropriate design modification factors akin to the lambda factor in ACI 318-19. The objective of this paper is to study the tensile bond behavior of masonry assemblies grouted with lightweight grout and to suggest appropriate equations for predicting design capacity. A moment couple test is designed specifically for grouted masonry assemblies and has additional capacity compared to the traditional ASTM 1072 bond wrench …

A Multi-Criteria Ranking System For Prioritizing Maintenance Of Levee Systems In Arkansas, Nguyen Danh Phan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are 208,009 properties in Arkansas that have more than a 26% chance of being severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years, which represents 13% of all properties in the state. A levee system is designed to reduce the flooding risk for urban and rural communities; however, most of the state's levees have been significantly outdated or built with engineering standards less rigorous than current best practices. The Levee Safety Action Classification (LSAC), as recorded in the National Levee Database (NLD), communicates the risk associated with living behind a particular levee and assists local, state, and federal stakeholders …