Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Transport Contaminant In Flowing Water For Improving Water Quality, Ghassani Feta Adani, Antoine Aubeneau, Carlo Andrej Alviar, Xuqing Xiong, Shizhang Wang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Clean freshwater is fundamental to sustain human activities and the aquatic life. However, cities, industries, and agriculture wastes deteriorate water quality. For example, released fertilizer induces excess algal growth. This leads to major ecological problems such as eutrophication of freshwater ecosystems which has not only a great environmental cost impact, but can also affect the health and sustenance living of the people. This project investigates the transport of nitrate, a major plant fertilizer, in flowing freshwater. Streams and rivers can transform nitrate, thus mitigating its impact. Most of the biogeochemical reactions involved in nitrate removal take place where microorganisms usually …

Strength Of Reinforced Concrete Beams With High-Strength Steel, Brian C. Rogers, Aishwarya Puranam, Santiago Pujol

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Structures are commonly made of reinforced concrete, which is a composite material made of concrete and steel reinforcement. Using high-strength steel, with yield stress larger than 100 ksi, could help reduce the quantity of steel required in structural members, thus reducing costs and improving constructability. The hypothesis being tested is that smaller quantities of high-strength steel reinforcement (HSSR) can be used in place of conventional steel in reinforced concrete beams while maintaining similar strength and deformation at failure. Two reinforced concrete beams with two different types of longitudinal steel reinforcement were constructed. The beams were 18 in. wide, 30 in. …

Developing Methods To Characterize Cured-In-Place Pipe (Cipp), Emily N. Conkling, Mahboobeh Teimouri, Andrew Whelton

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) is quickly growing as a method to repair aging water pipes. It’s an attractive option for states’ Departments of Transportation, as CIPP doesn’t require any long term or invasive construction. The exact composition of CIPP is poorly understood, even though CIPP leaching is assumed to be the cause of algal blooms, fish kills, and some human illnesses. The goal of this study was to develop methods to characterize what chemicals are present in uncured and cured CIPP resin and at what magnitude. An exhaust capture system was designed, and the condensate collected from this was extracted using …

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Direct And Indirect Solar Water Disinfection Processes In Developing Countries, Jason K. Hawes, Margaret M. Busse, Ernest R. Blatchley Iii

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In July 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized the universal human right to sufficient water for health and sanitation (UN…, 2010). The reliable disinfection of this water plays a critical role in public health (Carter and Miller, 2005), and this study investigates the use of four ultraviolet (UV) disinfection methods for use in international development and disaster relief. The study focuses on the life cycle impacts of four direct and indirect solar ultraviolet disinfection systems. Direct solar disinfection refers to exposure of water to solar radiation, while indirect solar disinfection collects solar energy and uses this to power a UV …

High Strength Steel In The Reinforced Concrete Structures: Serviceability, Alan Kanybek, Aishwarya Puranam, Santiago Pujol

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The use of high-strength steel (yield stress larger than 100 ksi) in reinforced concrete structures can provide an effective alternative to using conventional steel (yield stress up to 80 ksi). The goal of this study is to investigate if slabs with reduced quantities of high-strength steel reinforcement meet the serviceability criteria. Instantaneous and long-term deflections in slab specimens with conventional steel and reduced amounts of high-strength steel (as compared with conventional steel) were studied. Two sets of two reinforced concrete slabs, each 14 ft. long, 30 in. wide, were built. The depth, quantity, and type of longitudinal reinforcement were varied …

Modeling, Control, And Impact Analysis Of The Next Generation Transportation System, Feng Zhu

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation aims to develop a systematic tool designated for connected and autonomous vehicles, integrating the simulation of traffic dynamics, traffic control strategies, and impact analysis at the network level.

The first part of the dissertation is devoted to the traffic flow modeling of connected vehicles. This task is the foundation step for transportation planning, optimized network design, efficient traffic control strategies, etc, of the next generation transportation system. Chapter 2 proposes a cell-based simulation approach to model the proactive driving behavior of connected vehicles. Firstly, a state variable of connected vehicle is introduced to track the trajectory of connected …

Laboratory Characterization Of #2q-Rok Sand, Wilson Fernando Espinoza Chavez

Open Access Theses

A series of laboratory tests were performed in a sand commercially known as #2Q-ROK to determine its response to loading. #2Q-ROK is a poorly-graded, clean silica sand composed of 99% of quartz (SiO2). Its specific gravity is 2.65 and its maximum and minimum void ratios are 1.03 and 0.7, respectively. In the absence of crushing, the #2Q-ROK sand direct shear critical-state friction angle is 32.8° and the ring shear critical-state friction angle is 29.6°.

One-dimensional compression tests were performed on samples compressed to a normal stress of 24,851.36kPa for time periods ranging from 4 hours to 11 days. The maximum …

Improving The Laboratory Design Of Asphalt Mixtures To Enhance Asphalt Pavement Durability, Ali Hekmatfar

Open Access Dissertations

Most departments of transportation, including Indiana’s, currently use the Superpave mixture design method to design asphalt mixtures. This method specifies that the optimum asphalt content for a given gradation be selected at 4 percent air voids. During construction, these mixtures are typically compacted to 7-8 percent air voids. If mixtures were designed to be more compactable in the field they could be compacted to the same density as the laboratory mixture design, which would increase pavement durability by decreasing the in-place air voids. The objective of this research was to enhance the asphalt mixture design method in order to increase …

Evaluating The Two-Stage Ditch As A New Best Management Practice, Andi Hodaj

Open Access Dissertations

A two-stage ditch involves modifications of a traditional drainage ditch to resemble more the features of a natural stream. The idea is to create or simulate extended benches on both sides of the ditch that would develop naturally over a period of time in a stream because of geomorphological processes. Previous research in Indiana and Ohio has shown that two-stage ditches offer the potential to reduce sediment load and extend the interaction time between water and vegetation on the benches allowing larger uptake of nutrients from the vegetation on the extended benches, and increasing the denitrification rates in the bench …

The Long-Term Performance Of Concrete Crack And Deck Surface Sealers, Emily A. Byl

Open Access Theses

Concrete bridge decks in the State of Indiana are undergoing continuous deterioration and loss of service life due to the use of deicing salts during winter weather conditions. As salt water penetrates the deck through cracks and the concrete surface, chlorides, water and oxygen are able to access the reinforcement to initiate corrosion. The corrosion of reinforcing steel over time creates an ongoing need for costly deck repairs and/or deck replacement. This study investigates the performance of crack sealers and deck surface sealers as a potentially cost-effective method of increasing bridge deck service life. An experimental program was developed and …

Mapping And Analyzing Energy Use And Efficiency In A Modified Hydroponic Shipping Container, Rachel E. Sparks

Open Access Theses

In urban centers today, vertical farming is becoming a popular alternative to conventional agriculture in an effort to increase local food production and improve urban food security by growing crops using hydroponic methods in controlled environment spaces. More specifically, one vertical method involves growing crops inside refurbished shipping containers, or a “farm-in-a-box” concept, which offers a flexible, mobile, and scalable means of year-round food production in a variety of climates. Despite benefits of producing food locally, some of the concerns associated with these vertical farming systems include high energy consumption from climate control and electric lighting systems as well as …

Algorithms For Lidar Based Traffic Tracking: Development And Demonstration, Vamsi K. Bandaru

Open Access Theses

The current state of the art of traffic tracking is based on the use of video, and requires extensive manual intervention for it to work, including hours of painstaking human examination of videos frame by frame which also make the acquisition of data extremely expensive. Fundamentally, this is because we do not have observability of the actual scene from a camera which captures a 2D projection of the 3D world. Even if video were to be automated, it would involve such algorithms as RANSACK for outlier elimination while matching features across frames or across multiple cameras. This results in algorithms …

Stochastic Modeling And Dem Simulation Of Granular Media Subsidence Due To Underground Activity, Rodrigo Borela Valente

Open Access Theses

Many communities around the world have been established in areas of ongoing, as well as ceased, underground mining activity. Ground movements induced by ore extraction methods and the collapse of abandoned cavities have long been recognized as a hazard to surface structures. A number of approaches have been proposed for the prediction of subsidence in underground mining regions, and their integration to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can produce a powerful risk management tool. Nevertheless, this application is often limited by either a lack of generality or excessive computational cost of the methods available.

In this work, the stochastic subsidence model …

Influence Of Stormwater Control Measures On Watershed Hydrology And Biogeochemical Cycling, Colin D. Bell

Open Access Dissertations

Urban development replaces vegetation with impervious surfaces and natural drainage channels with pipe networks that quicken flow paths and alter hydrologic regimes. Additionally, the import of food, application of fertilizer to lawns and gardens, and heightened atmospheric deposition increases nutrient availability in urban landscapes. These excess nutrients are ultimately routed to streams through the pipe networks before it can be processed by the vegetation and microorganisms of the landscape. This combination of physical and chemical disturbances impacts stream ecosystems and degrades their ability to perform valuable services such as removal of nutrients, degradation of pollutants, and provision of recreational and …

Response Of High-Strength Steel Reinforced Concrete Structures To Simulated Earthquakes, Lucas Laughery

Open Access Dissertations

In reinforced concrete (RC) structures expected to resist earthquake demands, substituting smaller amounts of high-strength steel for conventional steel reinforcement can help reduce reinforcement congestion and placement costs while keeping strength unchanged.

Provided cross-sectional dimensions remain unchanged, reducing the amount of longitudinal steel in a member will result in a member with similar initial stiffness but lower post-cracking stiffness. Nominal strength can be kept nearly the same if this reduction in the amount of steel is accompanied by a corresponding increase in the strength of the steel. The topic of this investigation is whether two frames with the same initial …

Modeling Of Frame Structures Undergoing Large Deformations And Large Rotations, Hui Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Numerical simulation of large-scale problems in structural dynamics, such as structures subject to extreme loads, can provide useful insights into structural behavior while minimizing the need for expensive experimental testing for the same. These types of problems are highly non-linear and usually involve material damage, large deformations and sometimes even collapse of structures. Conventionally, frame structures have been modeled using beam-frame finite elements in almost all structural analysis software currently being used by researchers and the industry. However, there are certain limitations associated with this modeling approach. This research focuses on two issues, in particular, of modeling frame structures undergoing …

Reactions Of Graphene Oxide And Buckminsterfullerene In The Aquatic Environment, Yingcan Zhao

Open Access Dissertations

Due to unique physical and chemical properties, carbon-based nanomaterials, including C60 and graphene oxide, now being used in an increasing number of applications. Considering their widespread use, nanoparticles will inevitably find their way to the natural environment. However, their environmental fate and transport have not been intensively explored, resulting in a general lack of knowledge regarding their risk assessment and life cycle exposure concentrations. To this end, this study has investigated: (i) the photo mineralization of aqu/nC60 clusters under photo irradiation, and (ii) environmental transformation of graphene oxide in the aquatic environment. This study shows that CO2 was produced from …

Laboratory Characterization Of Ohio Gold Frac Sand, Maria Gabriela Alvarado Calle

Open Access Theses

The mechanical response of sand depends on state variables (such as density, stress state and fabric) and intrinsic variables (such as particle size distribution and particle shape). The mechanical response of sand is also a function of sand crushability. Recent research studying the cone penetration process in a unique digital image correlation (DIC) chamber is underway at Purdue University. The test sand is Ohio Gold Frac sand, which meets criteria regarding particle size and gradation related to elimination of chamber boundary and scale effects.

The mechanical behavior of this sand can be simulated by a suitable constitutive model, such as …

Role Of River Bathymetry In Hydraulic Modeling Of River Channels, Sayan Dey

Open Access Theses

Accurate geometric representation of the river channel is required for accurate hydraulic modeling of rivers. These are generally obtained through remote sensing techniques such as Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR). However, these techniques lack the ability to model the submerged channel bed effectively and need to be complemented with surveyed bathymetric data for complete representation of the channel bathymetry, which can be time and cost prohibitive. An alternative to address this issue is to develop conceptual models that can estimate bathymetry.

This study aims to evaluate the potential of a conceptual model, the River Channel Morphology Model (RCMM) which estimates …

Roundabout Maintenance Flipbook, Indiana Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This flipbook is a summary of the work published in the Roundabout Maintenance Manual by Indiana LTAP. This information was collected through a series of interviews with city engineers, public works directors, and street commissioners experienced in roundabout maintenance. It serves as a model to guide work crews in correct maintenance procedures.

Roundabout Maintenance Manual, Indiana Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This maintenance manual serves as an additional resource for communities who have imple­mented roundabouts or are considering them. There are a few other published guides, such as the NCHRP Report 672, Roundabouts: An Informational Guide, and the Wisconsin DOT Facilities Develop­ment Manual. However, the information covered in these guides is very broad. This manual provides specific information regarding roundabout maintenance.

Visualizations Of Travel Time Performance Based On Vehicle Re-Identification Data, Stanley E. Young, Elham Sharifi, Christopher M. Day, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper provides a visual reference of the breadth of arterial performance phenomena based on travel time measures obtained from reidentification technology that has proliferated in the past 5 years. These graphical performance measures are revealed through overlay charts and statistical distribution as revealed through cumulative frequency diagrams (CFDs). With overlays of vehicle travel times from multiple days, dominant traffic patterns over a 24-h period are reinforced and reveal the traffic behavior induced primarily by the operation of traffic control at signalized intersections. A cumulative distribution function in the statistical literature provides a method for comparing traffic patterns from various …

Why This Flip Wasn't A Flop: What The Numbers Don't Tell You About Flipped Classes, Heather Noel Fedesco, Troy Cary

IMPACT Publications

This paper details the conversion of a large, required Civil Engineering fluid mechanics course into a more student-centered, active learning-oriented course through the flipping of one lecture per week. In the flipped class, students collaboratively solve homework problems in groups while receiving “expert” feedback from instructors and TAs. To offset the lost lectures, some course material that has been delivered in traditional lectures has been placed online in the form of short videos and textbook readings, with low-stakes quizzes for assessment.

Student learning gains were quantitatively assessed by comparing quiz and final exam scores for three semesters (1 pre-flip and …

Quantitative Risk Evaluation Of Obstacle Limitation Surfaces For Final Approaches At Airports, Amila Silva, Alexandre G. De Barros

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Obstacle limitation surfaces (OLS) are the main safeguard against objects that can pose a hazard to aircraft operations at and around airports. The standard dimensions of the most of those surfaces were estimated using the pilot’s experience at the time when they were included in the standard documents. As a result, some of these standards may have been overestimated, while others may not provide an adequate level of safety. With airports moving to the Safety Management System (SMS) approach to design and operations safety, proper evaluation of the level of safety provided by OLS at specific sites becomes important to …

Probability Model Of Corrosion-Induced Cracking Time In Chloride-Contaminated Reinforced Concrete, Chunhua Lu, Jinmu Yang, Ronggui Liu

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

Corrosion-induced concrete cover cracking caused by chloride ion is an important indication of durability limit state for marine reinforced concrete (RC) structures and can ultimately determine the structural service life. In this paper, considering the random nature of factors affecting the corrosion cracking process, a probabilistic model which expands on the deterministic model of cover cracking time is developed by using Monte Carlo simulation technique. The results showed that the time to corrosion cracking can be modelled by the Weibull distribution. Finally, the probabilistic analysis for the cracking time is applied to an in-site RC bridge girder with four different …

Progress Of Carbonation In Chloride Contaminated Concretes, Yaocheng Wang, P. A.M. Basheer, S. Nanukuttan, Y. Bai

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

Concretes used in marine environment are generally under the cyclic effect of CO₂ and chloride ions (Cl^-). To date, the influence of carbonation on ingress of chloride ions in concretes has been widely studied; in comparison, study on the influence of Cl^- on the progress of carbonation is limited. During the study, concretes were exposed to independent and combined mechanisms of carbonation and chloride ingress regimes. Profiles of apparent pH and chloride concentration were used to indicate the progress of carbonation and ingress of Cl^- in concretes. From the apparent pH profile, a carbonation front …

Carbon Fiber As Anode Material For Cathodic Prevention In Cementitious Materials, Emma Qingnan Zhang, Luping Tang, Thomas Zack

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

Cathodic prevention (CPre) technique is a promising method and has been used for the past two decades to prevent steel from corrosion in concrete structures. However, wide application of this technique has been restricted due to high costs of anode materials. In order to lower the cost and further improve this technique, carbon fiber composite anode has been introduced as an alternative anode material with affordable price and other outstanding properties. This paper presents the study of using carbon fiber mesh as anode material for long-term cathodic prevention system and the effect of accelerated current on macro- and microstructure of …

Investigation Of A Novel 3d Non-Destructive Evaluation For Corrosion Process In Reinforced Concrete, Guohao Fang, Biqin Dong, Ningxu Han, Feng Xing

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

X-ray computed microtomography (X-ray μCT) method is proposed to trace the corrosion features of steel bar in cementitious materials. Three-dimensional corrosion morphology (including morphology of steel corrosion, corrosion products and cracks formation) are characterized and reconstructed. Experimental results demonstrate that X-ray μCT can track time-dependent development of corrosion products and the subsequent initiation and propagation of corrosion-induced cracks. In addition, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) are used to morphologically and chemically analyze the corrosion result. The microscopic analysis result is found to be in a very good agreement with the image analysis measured by X-ray μCT. …

An Experimental Study On Effect Of Steel Corrosion On The Bond–Slip Performance Of Reinforced Concrete, Xiaolin Zhang, Xuebing Liang, Hancheng Huang, Haijun Zhou

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

This paper studied the effects of reinforcement corrosion on bond performance between rebar and concrete. Tests were carried out to evaluate the degradation of bond between reinforcing steel and concrete for different corrosion levels of reinforcing steel. A series of 20 specimens of different concrete strength with various reinforcing steel corrosion levels were designed and manufactured. Each specimen was casted as a 200-mm concrete cube, and a steel rebar was centrally embedded with two stirrups around it. The steel rebar were corroded using an electrochemical accelerated corrosion technique. The corrosion crack opening width and length were recorded after the corrosion …

Threshold Chloride Concentration Of Stainless Steels In Simulated Concrete Pore Solution, Hailong Wang, Jiayan Ling, Xiaoyan Sun

International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures

To evaluate whether stainless steel can replace carbon steel as rebar in reinforced concrete structures exposed to aggressive environment, the threshold chloride concentration of carbon steel, austenitic and duplex stainless steels were experimentally studied in this paper. The solutions with pH ranging from 9.5 to 13.6 were used herein to simulate the pore liquids in both alkaline and carbonated concretes. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests were carried out in the solutions with chloride concentration ranging from 0 to 5.0M and at a temperature around 25°C. The activation of pitting corrosion was determined when corrosion current increased and …