Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Behavior Of Staged Externally Bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Sheets For Improved Ductility, Laura Marie Rathe

Masters Theses

"Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) has become increasingly used for the retrofit of aging structures for increased lifespans and for the rapid repair of damaged structures. It has many advantageous such as ease in rapid installation, high strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. The main disadvantage of the material is brittle behavior with little warning of impending failures. The main objective of this study is to develop a new system of FRP that exhibits a more ductile behavior. To achieve this objective, separate sheets of FRP were applied at various staged levels and thus engaged at different loads. Ductile behavior was evaluated …

Analysis Of Passive Louver Shading Systems And Impact On Interior Environment, Cory Joseph Brennan

Masters Theses

An installed passive louver shading systems can affect the heating, cooling, and lighting loads of any building, by altering the amount of solar energy, in the form of light and heat, from entering. The benefits of a louver system are derived from the application of solar geometry incident on the site and the climate within the area. By optimizing a passive louver system's design parameters, a building can reduce the total annual energy consumption due to artificial heating, cooling loads and artificial lighting. This research has implemented simulation modeling software, Energy Plus, to predict the effect of passive louver shades …

Effects Of High Volumes Of Fly Ash On Cement Paste, Karl Wehking Beckemeier

Masters Theses

"The study of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete mixtures has become popular due to the significant environmental and economic benefits which the material may provide. By including fly ash at 50 percent or greater replacement levels, substantial benefits could be obtained. However, the inclusion of fly ash can have negative effects, including incompatibilities between constituents of a mixture. As the fly ash replacement level increases, the degree and likelihood of these problems increases.

In this study, paste mixtures were made, as part of a larger HVFA concrete study, in order to determine the degree to which varying levels of fly …

Depth Profiling Of Pahs Treated With Activated Carbon Using In-Situ Spme, Ryan D. Stringer

Masters Theses

"Novel and efficient methods to measure the bioavailability of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) in contaminated sediments will play an important role in the acceptance of alternative sediment remediation strategies. In this project, solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers, protected in perforated steel tubes, were used as in situ passive samplers to measure the treatment of activated carbon (AC) in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminated sediment. Contaminated sediment was treated with two modes of AC waterjet amendment. In the first treatment, a single 2-min injection was shot into the center of a test vessel and in the second treatment, multiple 7-sec injections …

Transport Of A Methamphetamine Surrogate Through Painted Drywall And Accumulation In Insulation, Nishanthini Vijayakumar Shakila

Masters Theses

"Methamphetamine is a drug of abuse in the United States and it is frequently produced in residential "meth labs." During a specific cooking stage called "salting out", a high concentration of methamphetamine is released into the air and can accumulate on and within indoor surfaces. Even after remediation, methamphetamine and other chemicals can be released into the occupied space by diffusion and desorption from insulation and painted drywall. To better understand the emission characteristics of methamphetamine, the diffusion coefficient of n- isopropylbenzylamine (NIBA; an isomer and surrogate for methamphetamine) was measured in latex painted drywall. To quantify the diffusion coefficient, …

Bond, Transfer Length, And Development Length Of Prestressing Strand In Self-Consolidating Concrete, Krista Beth Porterfield

Masters Theses

"Due to its economic advantages, the use of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has increased rapidly in recent years. However, because SCC mixes typically have decreased amounts of coarse aggregate and high amounts of admixtures, industry members have expressed concerns that the bond of prestressing strand in SCC may be compromised. While the bond performance of prestressing strand in a new material such as SCC is an important topic requiring investigation, the results are only applicable if the research is completed on strands with similar bond quality as the strands used in the field. Therefore, the objectives of this research program were …

Effects Of High Volume Fly Ash And Powder Activators On Plastic And Hardened Concrete Properties, Drew Alexander Davis

Masters Theses

This study was performed to examine the effects of high volumes of Class C fly ash modified by powder activators upon the plastic and hardened properties of concrete. In a companion study, five Missouri area cements and five Class C fly ashes were examined for incompatibilities, with the most and least reactive combinations being scaled up to full scale concrete testing. Two baseline concrete mixtures were examined, the only difference in mixtures being the sources of portland cement and fly ash. Fly ash replacement was examined at 50% and 70% replacement (by total cementitious mass). Three powder activators were used …

Trace Element Accumulation In Rice :Effects Of Soil Arsenic, Irrigation Management, Phosphate Application And Iron Oxide Amendment, Eric Michael Farrow

Masters Theses

A concern is growing over the accumulation of trace contaminants in rice, a plant which has been estimated to supply 50% of the caloric intake to the world's population. Contamination with arsenic (As) and other trace elements have been shown in many areas including the U.S. and rice intake poses a potential risk to human health. This research investigated the accumulation of selected trace elements including arsenic (As), selenium (Se), molybdenum (Mo) and cadmium (Cd) in as many as six rice cultivars and two control soils common to the south central U.S. A field study was completed to evaluate the …

Bond Behavior Of High-Volume Fly Ash And Self-Consolidating Concrete, Trevor Jay Looney

Masters Theses

"The main objective of this study was to determine the effect on bond performance of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete and self-consolidating concrete (SCC). The HVFA concrete test program consisted of comparing the bond performance of two concrete mix designs with 70% cement replacement with Class C fly ash relative to a Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) standard mix design. The SCC test program consisted of comparing the bond performance of normal and high strength SCC with their respective MoDOT standard mix designs.

Two test methods were used for bond strength comparisons. The first was a direct pull-out test based …

Investigation Of The Effects Of Shrinkage, Creep, And Abrasion On Self-Consolidating Concrete And High Volume Fly Ash Concrete For Use In Transportation Related Infrastructure, Brian Timothy Tucker

Masters Theses

"Concrete specimens were fabricated for shrinkage, creep, and abrasion resistance testing. Variations of self-consolidating concrete (SCC), high volume fly ash concrete (HVFA), and conventional concrete were studied. The results were compared to previous similar testing programs and used to determine the adequacy of the materials for use in practice. These two concrete variations offer significant benefits when used as replacements to conventional concrete. Because of the respective properties of both types of concrete, both economic and environmental benefits are achieved with the use of both. The lower labor costs of SCC and the lower material cost of HVFA lead to …

Self-Consolidating Concrete For Infrastructure Elements Shear Characteristics, Eric B. Sells

Masters Theses

"Because of its unique ability to maintain high flow-ability and remain homogeneous, self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has the potential to significantly reduce the costs associated with civil infrastructure; however, the use of higher paste and lower coarse aggregate volumes than non-SCC concretes raises concerns about shear strength of SCC mixes. This research focused on the components that contribute to the concrete's ability to provide shear by aggregate interlock. Variables investigated by push-off tests included concrete compressive strength, coarse aggregate type , and volumetric content level of the coarse aggregate portion . Post-failure digital imaging software was used to confirm fresh concrete …

Use Of High Volume Fly Ash-Wood Fiber And Polyurea Layers For Blast Mitigation, Anthony Francis Wulfers

Masters Theses

"This project is a continuation of research done by Natalia Carey and John Myers. The first part of Natalia's research was to develop and characterize an e-glass discrete fiber-reinforced polyurea (DFRP) system for infrastructure applications. She then recommended two polyurea systems (A and B) be further examined. These polyurea systems were then applied to plain reinforced concrete and steel fiber reinforced concrete panels (SFRC). Carey found that the SFRC panels sustained less overall damage. For this project SFRC was used as the base layer in combination with the DFRP systems. In addition to the DFRP and SFRC a high-volume fly …

A Novel Membrane Bioreactor Configuration For Nitrogen Removal, Timothy Harrison Canter

Masters Theses

"Population growth in the U.S. and abroad has led to a need for increased treatment of wastewater to limit the effects of additional pollution loadings on bodies of water. Additionally, this need is complicated by limitation on energy inputs. The solution is treatment reactors that are robust, simple to operate, effective in treatment, and energy efficient. This research will compare a traditional membrane bioreactor configuration with a design meant to address these issues.

The proposed configuration used differences in hydraulic head to move liquor from a pre-anoxic zone to the aerobic zone and return a portion of it to the …

Effect Of Side Edge Distance And Concrete Materials On Corrosion In Precast Prestressed Concrete Panels, Dayi Zhang

Masters Theses

"This study involved the spalling problem found in some partial-depth precast prestressed bridge decks in the state of Missouri. Recently, panels of several bridges have exhibited corrosion of the prestressing steel tendons causing concrete spalling at the edges of panels. Some of the exposed tendons are corroded to the point of rupture. The effect of factors, namely concrete side edge distance and concrete material type, on steel corrosion in chloride-contaminated reinforced concrete was investigated in this study. Wet-dry cycle tests and accelerated corrosion tests were carried out on sixty-three specimens designed with three different side edge distances and three different …

Hardened Mechanical Properties And Durability Performance Of Specialized Concretes, Kyle Richard Holman

Masters Theses

"Concrete is one of the most produced and utilized materials in the world. Due to the labor intensive and time consuming nature of concrete construction, new and innovative concrete mixes are being explored. Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is one such method of improving the overall cost and time efficiency of concrete production. SCC is a highly flowable form of concrete. This characteristic drastically reduces the amount of labor and time needed to place the concrete. The highly flowable nature also allows for much easier placement in applications of highly congested reinforcement.

Another rising concern in today's construction industry is environmental responsibility. …

Energy Efficiency In Wastewater Treatment: Standards For Missouri Facilities, Samantha Lauren Markus

Masters Theses

"Traditionally, energy has been used to treat wastewater. As energy costs rise, so does the financial burden on communities with municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Determining energy efficiency of small to mid-sized plants is difficult because these plants are the least likely to have the resources to conduct an energy audit and the most likely to be overlooked in national models due to their small contribution to the national energy burden. Data was gathered via personal contact the WWTPs in Missouri and from this data metrics fro comparison were developed. The data was also compared to the predicted energy use …

Commercial Construction Supply Chain Management Issues Involving Traveling Contractors, Fred Akers

Masters Theses

Supply chain management (SCM) is an important aspect of running any business. To stay competitive in today's marketplace a supply chain management system must be in place to achieve success in this volatile global environment (Fewings, 2005).

This research differentiates the issues between executing a construction project close to home compared to away from home. Being away from home, there typically is no supplier relationship established. Furthermore, the research intends to document certain issues of the commercial construction industry that develop during the execution of a project. This will be based on the comparison of having or not having an …

Driver Mandatory Lane Change Behavior: Use Of Governing Gap In Critical Gap Estimation, Srinadh Kandada

Masters Theses

"This study analyzed the driver gap acceptance and rejection behavior during mandatory lane changes on a multilane freeway in congested and uncongested traffic conditions. During a lane change, drivers were more receptive to either the leading or the trailing gaps with vehicles in the target lane which governed the drivers' lane change and is termed as the governing gap. Drivers maneuvered till the governing gap was greater than the critical gap, accepted the gap and made a lane change. In this process, drivers reduced the non-governing gap to increase the length of the governing gap. The drivers as a result …

A Method For Calibration Of Speed-Flow Curves In Hcm 2010 And Determination Of Highway Capacity, Seyed Hadii Khazraee Khoshroozi

Masters Theses

"This study proposes a method for calibration of speed-flow curves in a format suggested by the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 2010 and applies it to two sites in Missouri: a work zone on I-44 around Pacific, and a basic freeway segment on I-270 in St. Louis. The three-regime model proposed is based on the two-regime (free-flow and transition) uncongested relationship suggested by the HCM 2010, complemented with a third regime representing congested conditions. Further, this study proposes a systematic approach based on regression analysis to determine capacity i.e., the break-point (intersection) between the transition and congested regimes. The proposed method …

Laboratory Studies Of Compatibility Of Tamper Detection Materials With Improvised Explosive Device Crater Repairs, Levi Anthony Smith

Masters Theses

"Past methods for road repairs of craters caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on main supply routes (MSRs) and alternative supply routes (ASRs) in Iraq and Afghanistan have been problematic. Traditional temporary and permanent solutions have proven deficient by being easily penetrable or by exposing troops for long periods of time. The use of a pre-blended rapid hardening cementitious material for lED crater repair has solved issues such as quick placement of the repair and high strength of the repair within an hour of placement. However, there are still issues with IEDs being hidden in repairs tampered by or replicated …

"Long" Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete For Impact And Blast Resistance, Benjamin Paul Gliha

Masters Theses

"One of the most commonly used materials for protective structures and construction is traditional reinforced concrete. However, in a blast, conventional reinforced concrete (RC) is susceptible to significant spalling (small to medium size chunks of concrete detaching from the original member). The force of the blast turns spalled concrete into projectiles, resulting in secondary fragmentation and the majority of loss of life. Furthermore, the concrete debris makes for difficult and uncertain footing. Both phenomena endanger personnel and complicate post-blast recovery efforts. A very promising but barely explored change to conventional RC construction is the addition of "long" carbon fibers (fibers …

A Statewide Analysis Of Highway Safety In Arkansas, Uday R. R. Manepalli

Masters Theses

"This research concentrated on two major aspects of highway safety analysis, hotspot identification and identification of crash contributing factors on highways. The objective of the first part of this thesis is to evaluate two crash frequency, three crash severity and two composite hotspot ranking methods. Based on the limitations of the existing hotspot identification methods (HSID), crash factor method (CFM), a crash severity based HSID method is proposed. A composite rank method (F 1) based on principal component analysis is also proposed. These methods are evaluated using three tests, the site consistency test, the method consistency test, and the total …

Hardened Concrete Properties And Durability Assessment Of High Volume Fly Ash Concrete, Kyle Marie Marlay

Masters Theses

"Concrete is produced more than any other material in the world. Sustainable construction is extremely important in today's industry and fly ash is the leading material for sustainable concrete design. The addition of fly ash improves many fresh and hardened concrete properties. However, the slow hydration process associated with fly ash makes the use of the material in large amounts undesirable in conventional construction. This study evaluated the hardened concrete and durability performance of several high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete mixes. The various HVFA concrete mixes evaluated within this study consisted of 70 percent replacement of portland cement by weight …

Influence Of Particle Size And Specimen Preparation On The Iowa Pore Index, Christopher Paul Davis

Masters Theses

"This study was performed in order to identify a size correction that would allow aggregate of different sizes, other than the standard 1/2-3/4-inch fraction, to be used in the Iowa Pore Index (IPI) test. This size correction would allow for the IPI to be determined for aggregate gradations of material that have a nominal maximum size (NMS) smaller than 3/4-inch. The interest in a size correction for the IPI developed from its use in a Durability Factor (DF) estimation equation. The estimation equation was developed with the use of 19 different DF from Missouri aggregate sources, where eight aggregates had …

Bond Strength Of High-Volume Fly Ash Concrete, Michael Hayse Wolfe

Masters Theses

"Concrete is the most consumed man-made material in the world. Unfortunately, due to the production of cement, concrete has a large carbon footprint. Replacement of cement with fly ash, an industrial waste product, offers a sustainable alternative. The goal of this research was to explore the feasibility of using high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete for structural applications by testing the material's reinforcement bond properties. A series of pull-out tests and beam splice tests were performed on specimens with a 70 percent fly ash replacement of cement and then compared to identical tests performed on control specimens cast from a 100 …

Driven Pile Load Test Data For Load And Resistance Factor Design In Missouri, Joseph Ronson Cravens

Masters Theses

"The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has recently migrated from allowable stress design (ASD) to load and resistance factor design (LRFD) of driven piles. This transition was initiated when the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a policy stating that all new bridge designs shall be designed in accordance with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) LRFD Bridge Design Specifications to eliminate the difference in design methodologies for bridge superstructures and bridge substructures. However, the resistance factors for driven piles specified in the AASHTO LRFD specifications are based on nationwide pile data, consisting of a wide range …

Evaluation Of The Orientation Of 90⁰ And 180⁰ Reinforcing Bar Hooks, Nichole Lynn Podhorsky

Masters Theses

"This thesis describes test results of a study initiated to evaluate the potential influence of hook tilt angle of standard reinforcing hooks on the bond strength of concrete. The topic of the evaluation of the orientation of 90 and 180 degree reinforcing bar hooks in concrete members was identified by the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute (CRSI) as high-priority for the reinforcing steel industry. In this test program, a series of single bar and multiple bar specimens were designed and tested to examine bar behavior and potential group effects that may exist in wide flexural members with multiple bars, such as …

Ozone Uptake Rates And Secondary Product Emissions Of Green Building Materials, Seth Paul Lamble

Masters Theses

"Building materials considered "green" were tested for their ability to remove ozone and their potential to generate undesirable byproducts such as aldehydes. Three types of ceiling tile were tested, along with seven flooring materials and eight wall materials. These materials were selected based on "green" criteria. For several this means they were recycled or produced from renewable resources. Others were designed to be low emitting, or due to their composition were likely to be low emitting. Ozone deposition velocities ranged from 0.25 m h-1 for a type of resilient linoleum type flooring to 8.23 m h-1 for a clay based …

Installation And Performance Evaluation Of Coaxial Cable Sensors For Crack And Corrosion Detection, Iana Muchaidze

Masters Theses

"Even under service loads, reinforced concrete (RC) structures can develop cracks that result in excessive deflection of the structures and provide passages for moisture to corrode steel reinforcement. It is thus critical to develop a simple, cost-effective tool for real-time crack monitoring and associated corrosion detection that may affect the engineering maintenance of RC structures. The objectives of this study include: (1) to develop a die-cut manufacturing process of coaxial cables with spiral outer conductors, (2) to quantify the sensing properties of a miniaturized topology-based crack sensor, (3) to investigate the effectiveness of various sensor installation procedures in RC applications, …

Categorization And Experimental Evaluation Of Anchorage Systems For Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Laminates Bonded To Reinforced Concrete Structures, Stephen V. Grelle

Masters Theses

"While externally-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are commonly used for the strengthening of structurally deficient reinforced concrete (RC) members, the topic of anchoring FRP to concrete to achieve higher design strengths has not been addressed. Many innovative systems have been developed to anchor FRP to concrete, but the research involving these anchorage systems is not centralized and is therefore difficult to access. Additionally, systematic testing procedures for evaluating the strength of an anchorage system have not been widely used. To aid in the organization of anchorage system research and facilitate a better understanding of anchorage system behavior, a categorization system …