Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

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

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

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 …

Degree Of Scaffolding: Learning Objective Metadata: A Prototype Leaning System Design For Integrating Gis Into A Civil Engineering Curriculum, Richard H. Hall, Ronaldo Luna, Michael Gene Hilgers, Aaron Joseph Taylor, John Mckenna Sullivan, Matt Buechler

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

Digital media and networking offer great potential as tools for enhancing classroom learning environments, both local and distant. One concept and related technological tool that can facilitate the effective application and distribution of digital educational resources is learning objects in combination with the SCORM (sharable content objects reference model) compliance framework. Progressive scaffolding is a learning design approach for educational systems that provides flexible guidance to students. We are in the process of utilizing this approach within a SCORM framework in the form of a multi-level instructional design. The associated metadata required by SCORM will describe the degree of scaffolding. …

Administration And Management Of Local Roads And Streets 2004, Indiana Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This handbook begins by examining government officials’ authority to carry out their road and street work. Next is the ever important challenge of intergovernmental relations, becoming more routine, albeit challenging. Funding road and street efforts, inherent in the intergovernmental environment, and transportation planning follow. The chapter on right-of-way issues is varied and extensive because current topics are now often confrontational. The management chapter addresses such topics as managerial functions, training, and a number of related issues. The discussion then moves to the serious matter of risk management and transportation security, along with traditional tort liability topics, the imperative of transportation …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …

Configuration Of Traffic-Responsive Plan Selection System Parameters And Thresholds: Robust Bayesian Approach, Montasir M. Abbas, Anuj Sharma

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Traffic-responsive plan selection (TRPS) is one of the two major closed-loop system modes of operation. The TRPS mode is more beneficial than its competitor (time-of-day mode) because of its ability to accommodate abnormal traffic conditions such as incidents, special events, and holiday traffic. However, no guidelines are available for optimal setup of TRPS systems. Improper configuration of a TRPS system can result in inefficient system performance or unstable operation in which the closed-loop system operates in a perpetual transitioning state. The TRPS mechanism implemented in current traffic signal controllers is described, and a Bayesian-based methodology for selecting an optimal set …

Investigation Of A Fuzzy-Neural Network Application In Classification Of Soils Using Ground-Penetrating Radar Imagery, Lameck O. Odhiambo, R. S. Freeland, R. E. Yoder, J. W. Hines

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Errors associated with visual inspection and interpretations of radargrams often inhibit the intensive surveying

of widespread areas using ground-penetrating radar (GPR). To automate the interpretive process, this article presents an

application of a fuzzy-neural network (F-NN) classifier for unsupervised clustering and classification of soil profiles using

GPR imagery. The classifier clusters and classifies soil profile strips along a traverse based on common pattern similarities

that can relate to physical features of the soil (e.g., number of horizons; depth, texture, and structure of the horizons; and

relative arrangement of the horizons, etc.). This article illustrates this classification procedure by its application …

Review Of Spokane River Model For Washington Department Of Ecology, Chris Berger, Robert Leslie Annear, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This memorandum discusses changes made to the Spokane River model calibration since the original calibration of the model discussed in the following reports: Annear et al. (2001), Berger at al. (2002), Slominski et al. (2002), and Berger et al. (2003). The first group of refinements was made by the Washington Department of Ecology. Additional changes were made by Portland State University (PSU) and were discussed in this report along with the results of two alternative calibrations. The last section displays the original calibration results from Berger et al. (2003) as a basis for comparison to the changes made by Ecology …

Willamette River Basin Temperature Tmdl Model: Boundary Conditions And Model Setup, Robert Leslie Annear, Michael Lee Mckillip, Sher Jamal Khan, Chris Berger, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is developing a TMDL for temperature in the Willamette River basin shown in Figure 1. The study area included the Willamette River and all major tributaries (except the Tualatin River where a TMDL process was already concluded). A large section of the Columbia River was also modeled to provide adequate boundary representation of tidal flows in the lower Willamette River. The Willamette River below the Oregon City Falls in the Portland metropolitan area has a typical diurnal tidal range of 1 m. The development of a dynamic model of temperature and …

Involving Undergraduate And High School Students In Research: Opportunities, Challenges, And Rewards, Shashi S. Nambisan

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Historically student involvement in research at Universities and Colleges has primarily revolved around those in graduate programs. However, the NSF’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program and ABET’s evaluation criteria regarding undergraduate participation in research are examples of efforts and initiatives over the last decade to target and include undergraduate students in research efforts. Going one step further would be including high school students in such efforts. This paper summarizes efforts, experiences, and initiatives over the last six years at the UNLV Transportation Research Center to include undergraduate and high school students in research projects and lessons learned from the same …

Water Quality Variations During Nitrification In Drinking Water Distribution Systems, David W. Webb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents the relationship among the major water quality parameters during a nitrification episode. Nitrification unexpectedly occurred in a chloraminated pilot drinking water distribution system practicing with a 4.0 mg/L as Cl2 residual dosed at 4.5:1 Cl2:NH3-N. Surface, ground and sea water were treated and disinfected with monochloramines to produce finished water quality similar to regional utility water quality. PVC, galvanized, unlined cast iron and lined iron pipes were harvested from regional distribution systems and used to build eighteen pilot distribution systems (PDSs). The PDSs were operated at a 5-day hydraulic residence time (HRT) and ambient temperatures. As seasonal …

Application Of Absorptive Treatments On Traffic Noise Barriers In Florida, Chin Boon Chua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the parallel barrier analysis feature in the Federal Highway Administration Traffic Noise Model (FHWA TNM), which is based on RAYVERB was used to explore the effects of multiple reflections due to single and parallel barriers and the use of absorptive treatment. Database was developed from the data collected from previous research efforts was used to generate a best fit equation model that can be used as a predetermining tool to determine the magnitude of parallel barrier insertion loss. The best fit equation model was then used to test against measured/model result and TNM prediction results for its …

Inelastic Dynamic Behavior And Design Of Hybrid Coupled Wall Systems, Mohamed Hassan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A key consideration in seismic design of buildings is to ensure that the lateral load resisting system has an appropriate combination of strength, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity. Hybrid coupled wall systems, in which steel beams are used to couple two or more reinforced concrete shear walls in series, can be designed to have these attributes and therefore have the potential to deliver good performance under severe seismic loading. This research presents an investigation of the seismic behavior of this type of structural system. System response of 12- and 18-story high prototypes is studied using transient finite element analyses that …

Location Of Sinkhole Confining Breach Using Groundwater Flow Patterns Derived From Cone Penetration Testing, Natalie Romina Marinuzzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic forces in the hydrologic cycle move underground water through Florida's carbonate rocks dissolving chemical components of the rocks, leaving behind caves, solution pipes, and other voids that result in a karst terrain. Ravelling is the common subsidence mechanism throughout most of Florida where unconsolidated materials filter downward into voids in the underlying limestone. A cavity in the overburden develops and enlarges over a period of many years. The enlarged cavity is also known as sinkhole. The investigations of sinkhole characteristics and potential involve studying the regional geology, hydrology and mapping historic sinkholes that have occurred in the area. Use …

Detection And Evaluation Of Exisiting Pavement System With Brick Base, Karishma Desai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the turn of the century, the City of Orlando initiated the "Neighborhood Horizon Program." This program involved local citizens to help improve their community resources by engaging in a process of planning where the problems associated with the communities were identified. Many residents favored to bring back the brick roads that were overlaid with asphalt concrete to provided better transportation in the mid 1900s. With majority of the neighborhood streets already bricked, removing asphalt ensured safety, served as a technique for slowing traffic, and added to the historical integrity. Since there were no official documentations available that stated the …

Degradation Of Halogenated Aliphatic Compounds In Sequential Anaerobic, Scott Hoxworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to utilize an alternating anaerobic/aerobic sequence to biologically transform perchloroethylene to non-hazardous end products such as ethylene, CO2 and H2 using a single microbial consortia in a methanogenic and/or a homoacetogenic environment followed by a aerobic methanotrophic environment. Reductive dechlorination of PCE and TCE to cDCE and VC in an anaerobic environment is typically carried out by methanogens, sulfidogens, or homoacetogens but often (e.g. in-situ) leads to an accumulation of daughter compounds (cDCE, VC) which are more toxic than their parent compounds (PCE, TCE). Furthermore, PCE is resistant to degradation in aerobic environments while …

Two Dimensional Linear Finite Element Analysis Of Post-Tensioned Beams, Rodolfo Hutchinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research project was to create a Finite Element Routine for the Linear Analysis of Post-Tensioned beams using the program CALFEM® [20] developed at the division of Structural Mechanics in Lund University, Sweden. The program CALFEM and our own made files were written in MATLAB, an easy to learn and user-friendly computer language. The approach used in this thesis for analyzing the composite beam consists in embedding the steel tendons at the exact location where they intersect the concrete parent elements, without moving the concrete parent element nodes. The steel tendons are represented as one dimensional bar …

Dewatering Of Biosolids By Sodium Ferrate, Andrea Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the liquid form of ferrate for dewatering of biosolids from wastewater treatment facilities. Two different ferrate products prepared using calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite were used. Samples of anaerobic digested sludge and waste activated sludge with solids content of 2.1% and 0.95 %, respectively were conditioned with both products to evaluate and compare their effectiveness. Centrifugation and filtration of the sludge after conditioning were used. For centrifugation the volume reduction and the turbidity of the supernatant after centrifugation were evaluated. For filtration, the Capillary Suction Time test was used. The optimum …

Optimal Design Of Pump And Treat Remediation Systems : Treatment Modeling, Source Modeling And Time As A Decision Variable, Karen L. Endres

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Groundwater optimization and simulation is a maturing science. Research work contained in this thesis extends into areas that have not been fully explored. The incorporation of source and treatment systems selection and design produces information to help decision makers. Further insight is gained by evaluating some of the requirements and standards enforced by regulations such as, remediation time.

The technical aspects of a remediation system are set by the physical properties and the regulatory constraints enforced. As an example, the addition of a realistic treatment system gives more accurate cost estimates, but the pump and treat (PAT) systems parameters do …

Numerical Simulation And Field Verification Of Inclined Piezocone Penetration Test In Cohesive Soils, Lei Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A large strain finite element analysis is performed to analyze the effect of soil anisotropy on the inclined piezocone penetration test in normally consolidated cohesive soils. The piezocone penetration is numerically simulated using the commercial finite element code ABAQUS. The saturated clay is modeled as a two-phase material and the effective stress principle is used to describe its behavior. A frictional contact interface utilizing Mohr-Coulomb's theory was chosen to represent interactions between the surface of the cone and the soil. The Anisotropic Modified Cam Clay Model (AMCCM) by Dafalias (1987) was chosen and implemented into ABAQUS through user subroutine UMAT. …

Modeling Event-Based Coupled Hydrologic And Mass Transport In Small Urban Watersheds, Yuhong Sheng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To investigate the event-based coupled hydrologic and mass transport processes of particulate matter and their eventual fate in unit operations/processes, several methodologies were developed. Discrete rainfall-runoff events data were collected at two similar urban watersheds for model calibration and verification. A mathematically and physically-based criterion was proposed to differentiate rainfall-runoff events between either mass-limited or flow-limited. Statistical techniques of Logistic Regression and Discriminant Analysis were utilized to derive classification rules for event categories based on hydrologic data only. With watersheds assumed as either lumped systems or distributed systems, physically-based semi-empirical models were developed to simulate particulate mass delivery process during …