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Full-Text Articles in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Evaluation Of Surface (Top Down) Longitudinal Wheel Path Cracking, Terhi K. Pellinen, Geoff Rowe, Kalapi Biswas Jan 2004

Evaluation Of Surface (Top Down) Longitudinal Wheel Path Cracking, Terhi K. Pellinen, Geoff Rowe, Kalapi Biswas

JTRP Technical Reports

The research involved evaluating three surface cracked pavements during 2002 and 2003. A 500m section of I-65 North of Lafayette was chosen as the first site (designated as Site 1), an I-65 section in downtown Indianapolis was the second site (Site 2), and US-421 in Madison was the third site (Site 3). Site 1 had 11-year old pavement, Site 2 had 12-year old pavement and Site 3 had 4.5-year old pavement. All these sites exhibited longitudinal wheel path cracking which was later identified as top-down cracking. All sites had excellent structural capacity indicating that the top-down cracking was confined in …


Evaluation, Analysis, And Enhancement Of Indot's Utility Accommodation Policy, Carlos A. Arboleda, Hyung Seok Jeong, Dulcy M. Abraham, Sanjiv B. Gokhale Jan 2004

Evaluation, Analysis, And Enhancement Of Indot's Utility Accommodation Policy, Carlos A. Arboleda, Hyung Seok Jeong, Dulcy M. Abraham, Sanjiv B. Gokhale

JTRP Technical Reports

The Utility Accommodation Policy (UAP) is a collection of the regulations and practices to control the utility occupancy of all public highway rights-of-way under jurisdiction of the different States. UAPs not only help to regulate the installation of new utilities and the renovation of the currently installed by construction companies, subcontractors, and utilities companies, but also provide a framework to develop and preserve a safe roadside and to minimize possible interferences and impairment to the highway, its structures, appearance, safe operation, construction and maintenance. According to FHWA (2002) “Present FHWA regulations, policies, and practices dealing with utility relocation and accommodation …


Evaluation Of Indot Construction Smoothness Specifications, Terhi K. Pellinen, Shao-Fan Chou Jan 2004

Evaluation Of Indot Construction Smoothness Specifications, Terhi K. Pellinen, Shao-Fan Chou

JTRP Technical Reports

Currently, Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is using the California Profilograph as the standard measuring device in its smoothness specifications. The output derived from the profilograph is called Profile Index (PI). PI represents the total accumulated deviations of the profilograph output traces beyond a tolerance zone (blanking band). At present, INDOT is using 0.2-inch blanking band to evaluate the profile traces, which has raised some concerns because some small unpleasant surface irregularities are covered by the blanking band. The major objective of this study was to develop a rational method for interpreting profilograph traces using 0.0-inch blanking band (zero tolerance) …


Evaluation Procedures For Deploying Spread Spectrum Interconnect, J. V. Krogmeier Jan 2004

Evaluation Procedures For Deploying Spread Spectrum Interconnect, J. V. Krogmeier

JTRP Technical Reports

This purpose of this project was the design and construction of a testbed network for experimentation with spread spectrum communications in the 900 and 2400 MHz band. The current network consists of five fixed nodes and two portable nodes. Of the fixed nodes, three are located in the Purdue MSEE building, one is located in the Harold L. Michael Traffic Operations Laboratory, and one is located in the experimental traffic signal cabinet at the intersection of Stadium and Northwestern Avenues in West Lafayette. The testbed has been used to evaluate spread spectrum radio technologies from vendors Microwave Data Systems, GINA, …


Implementation Of Full-Width Bridge Deck Panels: A Synthesis Study, Jose David Versace, J. A. Ramirez Jan 2004

Implementation Of Full-Width Bridge Deck Panels: A Synthesis Study, Jose David Versace, J. A. Ramirez

JTRP Technical Reports

In this synthesis study, information related to full-depth precast deck systems has been collected and analyzed in order to facilitate implementation of full-depth precast deck systems in the state of Indiana. Nine full-depth precast deck systems were identified in the literature review. For girder bridges or similar, a full-depth precast, prestressed deck system (New England Region System) is recommended to be implemented. For bridges with decks spanning in the longitudinal direction, where no precast, prestress deck systems are available, the Exodermic™ Deck System is suggested to be implemented. This system is also an alternative to the New England Region System …


Innovative Environmental Management Of Winter Salt Runoff Problems At Indot Yards, James E. Alleman, Barry K. Partridge, Lee Yeung Jan 2004

Innovative Environmental Management Of Winter Salt Runoff Problems At Indot Yards, James E. Alleman, Barry K. Partridge, Lee Yeung

JTRP Technical Reports

This INDOT-JTRP project examined an innovative strategy for mitigating, and possibly obviating, the environmental impact of wintertime salt release within INDOT yard areas specifically associated with the generation and release of salt truck wash waters, whereby these waste streams may be beneficially reused in the manufacture of salt brine solutions suitable for subsequent pre-wetting and anti-icing applications. The associated environmental problem stems from the fact that these wash waters carry high-level (e.g., from 100’s of mg/L to percentile-level) salt concentrations whose uncontrolled release via local surface or ground waters will have to be discontinued pursuant to the onset of tightened …


Interaction Between Micro-Cracking, Cracking, And Reduced Durability Of Concrete: Developing Methods For Considering Cumulative Damage In Life-Cycle Modeling, Zhifu Yang, W. Jason Weiss, J. Olek Jan 2004

Interaction Between Micro-Cracking, Cracking, And Reduced Durability Of Concrete: Developing Methods For Considering Cumulative Damage In Life-Cycle Modeling, Zhifu Yang, W. Jason Weiss, J. Olek

JTRP Technical Reports

It is becoming increasingly popular to utilize numerical simulation models to predict the long-term performance of concrete pavements and structures. The majority of these models have been developed using laboratory test data that considers concrete in an uncracked state. While uncracked concrete exists as the best case scenario, frequent cracking occurs in real structures that could have a profound impact on life cycle performance. Cracks from several sources may accumulate and interact thereby accelerating the deterioration of concrete. For example, the distributed cracking caused by freeze/thaw damage can substantially increases the rate of water absorption and reduces the load carrying …


Mechanical Behavior Of Non-Textbook Soils (Literature Review), J. Antonio H. Carraro, Rodrigo Salgado Jan 2004

Mechanical Behavior Of Non-Textbook Soils (Literature Review), J. Antonio H. Carraro, Rodrigo Salgado

JTRP Technical Reports

Traditionally, soil mechanics has focused on the behavior of two distinct types of geomaterials: clean sands and pure clays. Under the application of external loads, these two types of geomaterials represent and are conveniently associated with two extreme types of soil responses: drained and undrained behavior. The drained behavior of clean sands and the undrained behavior of pure clays have been covered extensively in most soil mechanics textbooks. In order to provide some insight into the mechanical response of additional materials, a literature review on the mechanical behavior of “non-textbook” soils (i.e. soils other than clean sands and pure clays) …


Minimizing Truck-Car Conflicts On Highways, Srinivas Peeta, Weimin Zhou Jan 2004

Minimizing Truck-Car Conflicts On Highways, Srinivas Peeta, Weimin Zhou

JTRP Technical Reports

Trucks represent the predominant form of domestic freight movement. Due to the substantial increase in freight truck traffic on the nation’s highways, its influence on traffic flow performance, safety, and quality of travel experience, is garnering increased attention. Several existing studies have addressed the impacts of trucks on highway traffic flow conditions and crashes. This research models the behavior of non-truck drivers vis-à-vis their interactions with trucks by associating a “discomfort level” with every non-truck driver. This discomfort of non-truck drivers in the vicinity of trucks is assumed to be affected by situational factors such as time-of-day, weather, and ambient …


Methodology For The Development Of A Highway Asset Management System For Indiana, Zongzhi Li, Kumares C. Sinha Jan 2004

Methodology For The Development Of A Highway Asset Management System For Indiana, Zongzhi Li, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

Highway asset management is a systematic process that aims to preserve, expand, and operate highway assets in the most cost-effective manner. It is an analytical tool that facilitates organized, logical, and integrated decision-making in asset management practice. This study proposes a methodology for the development of a highway asset management system that addresses asset valuation, performance modeling, marginal benefit analysis, and multicriteria decision-making, including tradeoff analysis as well as project selection and programming. While most existing management systems deal with individual physical highway assets or system usage only under certainty or risk, this research focuses on the management of an …


Predicting Traffic Conditions At Indiana Signalized Intersections, Rafael I. Perez-Cartagena, Andrzej P. Tarko Jan 2004

Predicting Traffic Conditions At Indiana Signalized Intersections, Rafael I. Perez-Cartagena, Andrzej P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

All of the methods for predicting traffic conditions at intersections provide default values for saturation flow rates and their adjustment factors, lost times, and other parameters. Because these parameters are difficult to measure, the use of the default values is a common practice and it can cause significant bias in the results if the actual local values are different. The main objective of this research was to investigate the variability of capacity and delay parameters used in engineering tools for predicting delays and for determining level of service (LOS) at signalized intersections in Indiana. The variability investigation produced Indiana default …


Constructability, Maintainability, And Operability Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Frp) Bridge Deck Panels, Makarand Hastak, Daniel W. Halpin, Taehoon Hong Jan 2004

Constructability, Maintainability, And Operability Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Frp) Bridge Deck Panels, Makarand Hastak, Daniel W. Halpin, Taehoon Hong

JTRP Technical Reports

Recent advances in composite materials for civil engineering have created interesting possibilities for replacing conventional structural forms with components made out of fiber reinforced composite materials. Composite materials offer several advantages over conventional materials such as a superior strength/weight ratio, a better stiffness/weight ratio, a high degree of chemical inertness, and flexible custom design characteristics. Some of the potential down-stream benefits include lower life-cycle costs, lighter members, high corrosion and fatigue resistance, and higher live load capacity (Seible and Karbhari 1996). Composite materials are clearly having a major impact on how facilities are designed, constructed, and maintained. In order to …


Hazard Elimination Program - Manual On Improving Safety Of Indiana Road Intersections And Sections; Volume 1: Research Report And Volume 2: Guidelines For Highway Safety Improvements In Indiana, Andrzej P. Tarko, Mayank Kanodia Jan 2004

Hazard Elimination Program - Manual On Improving Safety Of Indiana Road Intersections And Sections; Volume 1: Research Report And Volume 2: Guidelines For Highway Safety Improvements In Indiana, Andrzej P. Tarko, Mayank Kanodia

JTRP Technical Reports

The Hazard Elimination Program (HEP) is the section of the Safety Management System that focuses on road improvements and includes analytical tools for identification of safety problems and their remedies. This research project reviews the results of the past research for Indiana and other states and to develop guidelines that present a set of tools for hazard elimination through road improvements. It also includes developing regression models for predicting crash frequencies at all-way and two-way stop-controlled intersections. Negative Binomial regression was used to develop separate models for two-way and all-way stop controlled intersections. These models predict typical frequency of all …


Regionalization Of Indiana Watersheds For Flood Flow Predictions Phase I: Studies In Regionalization Of Indiana Watersheds, A. Ramachandra Rao Jan 2004

Regionalization Of Indiana Watersheds For Flood Flow Predictions Phase I: Studies In Regionalization Of Indiana Watersheds, A. Ramachandra Rao

JTRP Technical Reports

The following five methods of regionalization of watersheds were tested with Indiana watershed and annual maximum flood data: (1) the L-moment based method, (2) the method based on hybrid cluster analysis, (3) the hybrid cluster method using rainfall data, (4) the fuzzy cluster method, and (5) the method based on artificial neural networks. The results of the L-moment based method and the hybrid cluster method with rainfall data were unacceptable because of the subjectivity involved with the former and the heterogeneity of the of the results obtained by the latter. The remaining three methods gave very similar results. The fuzzy …


The Development Of A Highway Tort Liability Management System For The Indiana Department Of Transportation, Thomas Giraud, Vorasett Chovichien, Samuel -1962 Labi, Kumares C. Sinha Jan 2004

The Development Of A Highway Tort Liability Management System For The Indiana Department Of Transportation, Thomas Giraud, Vorasett Chovichien, Samuel -1962 Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

The loss of states’ sovereign immunity in the 1970’s opened the gates for highway-related tort liability suits against the states. Between January 2001 and September 2002, the State of Indiana investigated and settled hundreds of highwayrelated tort cases, involving several millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money. There is a need to assess the frequency of occurrence and financial impacts of such claims, and to examine how the growth of highway tort claims could be arrested. This study aimed at reviewing existing highway tort liability risk management practices at other states for possible applicability to INDOT, developing a framework for managing …


Upgrading The Indot Pavement Friction Testing Program, Shuo Li, Samy Noureldin, Karen Zhu Jan 2004

Upgrading The Indot Pavement Friction Testing Program, Shuo Li, Samy Noureldin, Karen Zhu

JTRP Technical Reports

This study investigated many important issues associate with pavement surface friction testing, in particular using the smooth tire. This study utilized 3-D FEM program to investigate the fundamental friction phenomenon in light of energy dissipation during friction process. It was demonstrated that the pavement friction depends on many factors such as test tire, test speed, surrounding conditions, pavement surface texture, and pavement type. A great amount of friction data has been collected so as to investigate variations involved in pavement friction measurements. System variations depend on the feature of pavement surface. The standard deviations due to system errors are usually …


Using Precast Concrete Panels For Pavement Construction In Indiana, Luh M. Chang, Yu-Tzu Chen, Sangwook Lee Jan 2004

Using Precast Concrete Panels For Pavement Construction In Indiana, Luh M. Chang, Yu-Tzu Chen, Sangwook Lee

JTRP Technical Reports

The closure of roadways for new pavement, overlays, or removal and replacement applications constantly causes traffic congestions. To minimize the effects of traffic congestions, the study is intended to assess the feasibility of using Precsat Concrete Pavement (PCP) method in INDOT pavement construction. The research investigated the state-of-the-art of the PCP methods lately developed in United States. The conventional concrete pavement methods such as Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP) including Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP), Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP), and Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP) were reviewed and compared with PCP methods. With the speedy construction and lower user …


Life And Cost Comparison Of Three Rehabilitation Techniques On I-65 Between Sr-2 And Sr-114, Sedat Gulen, John Weaver, Samy Noureldin Jan 2004

Life And Cost Comparison Of Three Rehabilitation Techniques On I-65 Between Sr-2 And Sr-114, Sedat Gulen, John Weaver, Samy Noureldin

JTRP Technical Reports

Construction of hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlays on top of old concrete pavements is the most common concrete pavement rehabilitation strategy. These overlays, however, are usually subject to reflection cracking related to the movement of the old concrete slab. In addition, these overlays may also be vulnerable to rutting when subjected to large traffic volumes of heavy trucks. Concrete overlays have the advantage of being rut resistant compared to HMA overlays. However, the current national experience of the performance of these overlays is still, relatively, limited compared to HMA overlays. In addition, doubts are often raised about the cost effectiveness …


Determination Of Indot Highway Construction Production Rates And Estimation Of Contract Times, Yi Jiang, Hongbo Wu Jan 2004

Determination Of Indot Highway Construction Production Rates And Estimation Of Contract Times, Yi Jiang, Hongbo Wu

JTRP Technical Reports

The duration of a highway construction project depends primarily on the quantity or magnitude of the construction work and the productivity of the construction crew. In addition, many other factors may also affect the construction duration, such as the type of construction, traffic features, location (urban or rural site), and weather conditions. When a state highway construction project contract is bid, a reasonable time must set and specified in the contract documents for completion of the contracted project. The time for contract completion (often called “contract time”) is estimated based on the average completion times of individual construction items within …


Performance Metrics For Freeway Sensors, Christos D. Achillides, Darcy M. Bullock Jan 2004

Performance Metrics For Freeway Sensors, Christos D. Achillides, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

Performance measures play a critical role in the operation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), because they provide feedback to the operators regarding system operations and efficiency. Traffic management systems use archived data, provided by various sensors, as a basis for describing normal conditions and predicting traffic conditions that may be expected at a particular time and place in the highway system. However, data quality is one of the principal concerns of archived ITS data users for the following reasons: 1) Manual inspection techniques are unable to detect significant errors because of the large volume of ITS data; 2) Only minimal …


Quality Control Procedures For Weigh-In-Motion Data, Andrew P. Nichols, Darcy M. Bullock Jan 2004

Quality Control Procedures For Weigh-In-Motion Data, Andrew P. Nichols, Darcy M. Bullock

JTRP Technical Reports

For the past two decades, weigh-in-motion (WIM) sensors have been used in the United States to collect vehicle weight data for designing pavements and monitoring their performance. The use of these sensors is now being expanded for enforcement purposes to provide virtual weigh stations for screening vehicles in traffic streams for overweight violations. A study found that static weigh stations in Indiana were effective for identifying safety violations, but ineffective for identifying overweight vehicles. It was also determined that the alternative approach to identifying overweight vehicles using virtual weigh stations requires a high level of WIM data accuracy and reliability …


Safety Of Intersections On High-Speed Road Segments With Superelevation, Peter T. Savolainen, Andrzej P. Tarko Jan 2004

Safety Of Intersections On High-Speed Road Segments With Superelevation, Peter T. Savolainen, Andrzej P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

In recent years, the State of Indiana has built a number of intersections where one or both of the roads are located on curves. The AASHTO Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets recommends that in such cases “the alignment should be as straight and the gradient as flat as practical.” This wording, consistent with Part V of the Indiana Design Manual, allows for the design of intersections on curves if other solutions prove to be too expensive. Several of these intersections have raised safety concerns and led to expensive corrective measures. Due to these safety and economic issues, …


Evaluation And Repair Of Wrought Iron And Steel Structures In Indiana, Mark D. Bowman, Amy M. Piskorowski Jan 2004

Evaluation And Repair Of Wrought Iron And Steel Structures In Indiana, Mark D. Bowman, Amy M. Piskorowski

JTRP Technical Reports

Throughout the state of Indiana, there a number of older, historical bridges which have been in service since the late 19th century. Many, although not all, of these bridges are truss structures comprised either partially or completely of wrought iron members. Moreover, most of them need some degree pf maintenance or rehabilitation. However, engineers who must recommend repair or rehab operations typically do not know the material properties and behavior of wrought iron members. Consequently, an investigation was initiated to review and classify typical material properties of wrought iron members. This investigation involved three phases that included a literature review …


Reconciling Speed Limits With Design Speeds, Alberto Miguel Figueroa-Medina, Andrzej P. Tarko Jan 2004

Reconciling Speed Limits With Design Speeds, Alberto Miguel Figueroa-Medina, Andrzej P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

In recent years, context-sensitive highway design has been promoted to ensure that designers consider the environmental, scenic, aesthetic, historic, community, and preservation aspects of the road. Context-sensitive design may lead to situations where the current design standards cannot be met because of restricting local conditions. Indiana has road sections designed and built some time ago. In a considerable number of roads with the statutory limit of 55 mph (90 km/h), the road geometry does not meet the current standards. At individual intersections and on curves, advisory speeds are posted together with warning signs. Although this solution increases the safety of …


Remediation Of Soils And Ground Water Contaminated By Aromatic And Chlorinated Hydrocarbons And Metals, Inez Hua, P. Suresh Rao, Linda S. Lee, Barry K. Partridge, Ben Lawrence Jan 2004

Remediation Of Soils And Ground Water Contaminated By Aromatic And Chlorinated Hydrocarbons And Metals, Inez Hua, P. Suresh Rao, Linda S. Lee, Barry K. Partridge, Ben Lawrence

JTRP Technical Reports

Many of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) sites are contaminated with aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents; these contaminants often occur in the form of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) or dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). Considerable effort has recently been focused on developing in-situ technologies for removing or destroying NAPL source zones, and several potentially viable methods have emerged, including in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO). ISCO has become an attractive remediation option to managers at many contaminated sites. The three oxidants that are most often applied in-situ are hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with iron catalysts, potassium permanganate (KMnO4), and ozone (O3). …


Using Imaging Technology To Evaluate Highway Safety, Praprut Songchitruksa, Andrzej P. Tarko Jan 2004

Using Imaging Technology To Evaluate Highway Safety, Praprut Songchitruksa, Andrzej P. Tarko

JTRP Technical Reports

Crash-based safety analysis is set back by several shortcomings such as randomness and rarity of crash occurrences, lack of timeliness, and inconsistency in crash reporting. Non-crash-based safety analysis has been around for more than three decades but its potential was limited due to a difficulty in the data collection and the evaluation. Recent advancement in digital videos and image detection technology renewed our interest in facilitating the data collection and improving the evaluation method. Two image detection systems for the measurement of traffic characteristics were evaluated: (a) a commercial video detection system and (b) proprietary image processing software. The measurement …


Development Of Indiana's Sps9-A Site, Ayesha Shah, J. Olek Jan 2004

Development Of Indiana's Sps9-A Site, Ayesha Shah, J. Olek

JTRP Technical Reports

The Superpave system for hot mix asphalt (HMA) design was introduced in 1995 and adopted throughout most of the USA by 2000. This system uses performance-oriented approach to materials selection and mix design, and takes into account the local environmental and traffic conditions. It recognizes that the behavior of HMA depends on the temperature, loading and aging conditions and provides tools (in the form of materials selection and performance-related tests) that should help to protect pavements against low-temperature cracking, rutting and fatigue cracking. This report summarizes the field and laboratory studies conducted to investigate the influence of asphalt binder grade …


Evaluation Of Indot Hyperfix Project, Kumares C. Sinha, Bob G. Mccullouch, Darcy M. Bullock, Sravanthi Konduri, Jon D. Fricker, Samuel Labi Jan 2004

Evaluation Of Indot Hyperfix Project, Kumares C. Sinha, Bob G. Mccullouch, Darcy M. Bullock, Sravanthi Konduri, Jon D. Fricker, Samuel Labi

JTRP Technical Reports

In 2003 the Indiana Department of Transportation executed an ambitious interstate reconstruction project in Indianapolis, named Hyperfix. This project completely closed the I-65/70 section during reconstruction, on which approximately 250,000 vehicles travel daily. Due to the scope and risk involved, an extensive amount of planning, coordination, and cooperation occurred. The main section was rebuilt during the total closure phase, which lasted 55 days. The total closure approach had never been performed before by INDOT on such a high volume artery in a downtown metropolitan area. This present study analyzed the project and its impact on the Indianapolis area. The report …


New Combination Treatments For Control Of Johnsongrass Along Roadsides, D. James Morré Jan 2004

New Combination Treatments For Control Of Johnsongrass Along Roadsides, D. James Morré

JTRP Technical Reports

This project was to develop a cost-effective method for chemical eradication of Johnsongrass along Indiana roadsides. Johnsongrass, together with Canada thistle, represents Indiana’s most serious noxious weed invader where the need for control is mandated by law. Combined target-directed laboratory and greenhouse studies identified a new candidate herbicide, Outrider, which when combined with a new additive designated TR-IV gives eradication of Johnsongrass when applied to plants after less than 20 inches (70 cm) of growth or regrowth following mowing. The combination does not harm oversprayed established fescue or bluegrass. Based on limited implementation activities (two years experience), the recommendation is …


Construction Of Tire Shreds Test Embankment, Rodrigo Salgado, Sungmin Yoon, Nayyar Zia Siddiki Oct 2003

Construction Of Tire Shreds Test Embankment, Rodrigo Salgado, Sungmin Yoon, Nayyar Zia Siddiki

JTRP Technical Reports

According to recent research, it is estimated that there are more than 500 million tires stockpiled across the United States, and 270 million more are generated each year. A significant number of tires are left in empty yards and even dumped illegally. Tires have characteristics that make them not easy to dispose, and potentially combustible. For these reasons, there is a strong need to find beneficial ways to recycle or reuse tires. Civil engineering applications constitute one of biggest markets for scrap tires. Tire shreds can be used as fill material, for example. The objective of this research is to …