Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Performance-Based Analysis Of Steel Buildings: Special Concentric Braced Frame, Scott Michael Adams

Master's Theses

The performance-based analysis methods and evaluation criteria in ASCE 41-06 were used to evaluate a special concentric braced frame building based on the design standards in ASCE 7-05. A rectangular, six-story office building was evaluated using linear static, linear dynamic, nonlinear static, and nonlinear dynamic procedures. The results showed that the linear procedures underestimated damage compared to the nonlinear procedures, with the building performing to Life Safety for the linear procedures, and the nonlinear procedures indicating component damage beyond the intended Life Safety limit for the 2/3 maximum considered earthquake (MCE) hazard. This trend continued to the maximum considered earthquake …

Methodology For Designing Structures To Withstand Extreme Environments: Performance Based Specifications, S. Nanukuttan, Niall Holmes, S. Srinivasan, L. Basheer, P.A.M. Basheer, L. Tang, J. Mccarter

Conference papers

Existing guidelines in BS 8500 allow the selection of concrete mix based on variables such as compressive strength, maximum water to binder ratio, minimum cement content and minimum cover thickness. This approach does not guarantee the durability and expected performance of the concrete structure in a given environment. One alternative is to develop performance- based specifications that supplement the existing guidelines in BS 8500, by specifying the required performance of concrete in terms of measurable properties such as resistance to environmental penetrations. This paper demonstrates one of such methodology for developing performance-based specifications for concretes exposed to marine environments. Chloride …

Implementation Of Lessons Learned From Change Orders: A Supplement To Kyspr 09-384, Paul M. Goodrum, Timothy R. B. Taylor, William Lester, Alex Mccoy, Mohammed M. Uddin, Yongwei Shan

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Which change orders tend to have the greatest impact on Kentucky transportation projects? How can I avoid them on future projects? If I do have a change order, what process can I follow to estimate a fair price for both the Cabinet and the Contractor? These are some of the questions that were addressed by research project Change Orders and Lessons Learned (KYSPR 09‐384) at the University of Kentucky’s Kentucky Transportation Center.

Why the Need for this Supplement?

Traditional research reports through the Kentucky Transportation Center contain a significant amount of scientific and technical discussion regarding the research activities and …

Performance Evaluation Of Open Graded Base Course With Doweled And Non-Doweled Transverse Joints, Robert Schmitt, Samuel Owusu-Ababio, James Crovetti

Transportation Reports with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation

The objectives of this study were to investigate the performance of 20-year old doweled/non-doweled and dense-graded/permeable base test sections on three concrete pavement segments in Wisconsin: USH 18/151 in Iowa and Dane counties, STH 29 in Brown County, and USH 151 in Columbia and Dane Counties. Five pavement bases were placed including: dense graded, asphalt-stabilized permeable, cement-stabilized permeable, and untreated permeable having two gradation sizes.

USH 18/151 test sections had similar performance (PDI) for doweled unsealed pavement on dense and permeable base. Distresses common to all segments included slight to moderate distressed joints/cracks and slight transverse faulting. Asphalt-stabilized permeable base …

Coated Steel Rebar For Enhanced Concrete-Steel Bond Strength And Corrosion Resistance, Genda Chen, Jeffery S. Volz, Richard K. Brow, Dongming Yan, Signo Tadeu Dos Reis, Chenglin Wu, Fujian Tang, Charles R. Werner, Xing Tao

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations on the use of enamel coating in reinforced concrete structures both for bond strength and corrosion resistance of steel rebar. Extensive laboratory tests were conducted to characterize the properties of one- and two-layer enamel coatings. Pseudostatic tests were performed with pullout, beam and column specimens to characterize mechanical properties and develop design equations for the development length of steel rebar in lap splice and anchorage areas. The splice length equation was validated with the testing of large-scale columns under cyclic loading. For corrosion properties, ponding, salt spray, accelerated corrosion, potentiodynamic and electrochemical impedance …

A Synthesis Of Overweight Truck Permitting, Muhammad K. Bilal, Muhammad Irfan, Anwaar Ahmed, Samuel Labi, Kumares C. Sinha

JTRP Technical Reports

For purposes of safety and system preservation, trucking operational characteristics are regulated through legislation and policies. However, special permits are granted for trucks to exceed specified operational restrictions. Thus, the Indiana DOT not only seeks highway operations policies that retain/attract heavy industry including those that haul large loads but also seeks to protect the billions of taxpayer dollars invested in highway infrastructure. As such, it is sought to avoid policies that may lead to premature and accelerated deterioration of assets through excess loading or undue safety hazard through oversize loads. This study was carried out primarily to document the state …

Refine Process To Identify, Evaluate, And Adopt New Technologies And Identify New Proven Technologies For Indiana, Joseph V. Sinfield

JTRP Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Determination Of Unit Hydrograph Parameters For Indiana Watersheds, Jared L. Wilkerson, Venkatesh M. Merwade

JTRP Technical Reports

Regression equations predicting Clark Synthetic Unit Hydrograph (SUH) parameters for time of concentration (tc) and storage coefficient (R) are developed for small watersheds across Indiana [drainage areas = 3-38 square miles (mi2)]. The state is partitioned into three regions: North, Central, and South, with consideration for past regionalization studies of Indiana and geomorphology. The equations are derived using multiple linear regression analysis for 30 watersheds with 90 observed rainfall-runoff events. Clark SUH parameters are optimized using Hec-HMS to match the observed rainfall-runoff events. The optimized Clark SUH parameters are related to geomorphologic parameters estimated using geographic information system (GIS) applications. …

Progressive Failure Simulation Of Security Cable Barriers, Christopher Y. Tuan, Ratul D. Sarmah, Alexander Y. Tuan, Ching-Sheng Kao, Q. S. Li

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Perimeter security cable barriers are widely used by various agencies all over the world to defeat threat vehicle penetration. New barrier designs require crash test validation prior to implementation. Full-scale vehicular crash tests are costly, whereas designs via finite element simulations are time consuming and require specialized skills. Based on full-scale crash tests, an innovative and simple algorithm has been developed to model the progressive failure of security cable barriers. A multi-body approach based on the first principles of physics was developed to substantially reduce computer runtime. The solution algorithm uses a large number of small time steps. Nonlinear vehicle …

Optimal Design Of Work Zone Median Crossovers, Karen Schurr, Brian R. Garnder, Shashwat Rijal

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Mixing Layer Dynamics In Separated Flow Over An Estuarine Sill With Variable Stratification, Stefan A. Talke, Alexander R. Horner-Devine, C. Chris Chickadel

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate the generation of a mixing layer in the separated flow behind an estuarine sill (height H ∼ 4 m) in the Snohomish River, Washington as part of a larger investigation of coherent structures using remote and in situ sensing. During increasing ebb flows the depth d and stratification decrease and a region of sheared flow characterized by elevated production of turbulent kinetic energy develops. Profiles of velocity and acoustic backscatter exhibit coherent fluctuations of order 0.1 Hz and are used to define the boundaries of the mixing layer. Variations in the mixing layer width and its embedded coherent …

The Effect Of Tidal Asymmetry And Temporal Settling Lag On Sediment Trapping In Tidal Estuaries, Alexander S. Chernetsky, Henk M. Schuttelaars, Stefan A. Talke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over decades and centuries, the mean depth of estuaries changes due to sea-level rise, land subsidence, infilling, and dredging projects. These processes produce changes in relative roughness (friction) and mixing, resulting in fundamental changes in the characteristics of the horizontal (velocity) and vertical tides (sea surface elevation) and the dynamics of sediment trapping. To investigate such changes, a 2DV model is developed. The model equations consist of the width-averaged shallow water equations and a sediment balance equation. Together with the condition of morphodynamic equilibrium, these equations are solved analytically by making a regular expansion of the various physical variables in …

Characteristics Of Transitions In Freeway Traffic, Robert L. Bertini, Soyoung Ahn

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research seeks to understand the characteristics of transitions as freeway traffic changes from one state to another. This study addresses the features of two types of transitions; transitions near a merge and transitions along shock waves during the onsets and dissipations of queues at several freeway sites.

Individual vehicle trajectory data were analyzed for studying the transitions near a merge. The length of a transition zone was measured by analyzing the spatial changes in flow, density and speed along kinematic waves near a merge. It was found that the length of transition in terms of flow, density and speed …

Liquid-Phase Chemical Sensing Using Lateral Mode Resonant Cantilevers, Luke A. Beardslee, Kemal S. Demirci, Y. Luzinova, B. Mizaikoff, Stephen M. Heinrich, Fabien Josse, Oliver Brand

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Liquid-phase operation of resonant cantilevers vibrating in an out-of-plane flexural mode has to date been limited by the considerable fluid damping and the resulting low quality factors (Q factors). To reduce fluid damping in liquids and to improve the detection limit for liquid-phase sensing applications, resonant cantilever transducers vibrating in their in-plane rather than their out-of-plane flexural resonant mode have been fabricated and shown to have Q factors up to 67 in water (up to 4300 in air). In the present work, resonant cantilevers, thermally excited in an in-plane flexural mode, are investigated and applied as sensors for volatile …

An Analysis Of The Travel Patterns And Preferences Of The Elderly, Sujan Sikder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of elderly is increasing; to meet their transportation needs, it is important to clearly understand their travel patterns and preferences. Since travel patterns and preferences depend on socio-demographic and other factors, it is essential to identify these factors first to understand the travel behavior of the elderly. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the travel patterns and preferences of the elderly age 65 and above using 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data. This thesis presents a detailed descriptive analysis of 2009 NHTS data to understand the travel patterns of the elderly. Along with a …

A Roof Runoff Strategy And Model For Augmenting Public Water Supply, Robert Carnahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is the essential resource that is becoming extremely scarce worldwide. The 21st century will further stress all available water resources through the growth and expansion of developing nations. It is not only the quantity of cheap water that is being depleted, but the quality of these waters is being endangered. Florida is an example where rapid development and an exploding population are competing for shrinking groundwater resources. Current water use does not address the use of alternative supplies and reuses in the United States.

The objective of this research was to determine a strategy for augmenting existing water supplies …

Enhancement Of Predictive Capability Of Transit Boardings Estimation And Simulation Tool (Tbest) Using Parcel Data: An Exploratory Analysis, Tejsingh Rana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

TBEST is a comprehensive third generation transit demand forecasting model, developed by the FDOT Public Transit Office (PTO) to help transit agencies in completing their Transit Development Plans (TDPs). The on-going project funded by FDOT, related to TBEST, aims at further enhancing the capabilities of the TBEST model based on additional opportunities identified by the research team. The project focuses on enhancing TBEST’s capabilities in following areas: 1) Improving the precision of socio- demographic data by using property appraisal data (parcel data) and, 2) Improving the quality of data regarding trip attraction. Based on the improvement areas, this study aims …

Construction Cost Models, Barry Dikeman

Economics and Finance

The following are a series of cost estimate models similar in format to a typical engineer’s estimate that were developed in support of our financial impact assessment report for LD 1725. The models us current material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs for the region to provide a comparative cost analysis of seven culvert replacement scenarios. The models provide information about what the cost impact of LD 1725 would be for typical culvert replacements in Maine. However, due to the inherent restrictions of the cost modeling framework we were not able to include the abundance of variables that would be …

Evaluating Effectiveness Of Best Management Practices To Control Accelerated Sedimentation Of The Morro Bay Estuary, Misgana K. Muleta

Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Morro Bay estuary, located on the central Coast of California approximately half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is one of the most important wetlands on the west Coast as it supports wide variety of habitats including numerous sensitive and endangered plant and animal species. Various studies have identified accelerated erosion and subsequent sedimentation as a major threat for sustainability of the bay. Watershed disturbances caused by agricultural activities are believed to be one of the major causes of the accelerated erosion and sedimentation. More than 200 conservation practices have been installed in the watershed since the mid-1990 …

Reuse The Bed Ash From Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion On Mortar Mixture, Hui-Mi Hsu, An Cheng, Sao-Jeng Chao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper investigates mortars consisting of various circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) bed ash contents. The CFBC bed ash used in this study was obtained from Taiwan’s petroleum industry. This study presents experimental results on the flowability, compressive strength, drying shrinkage, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) of mortar samples containing CFBC bed ash. The initial surface absorption tests (ISAT) and rapid chloride penetration test (RCPT) of mortar were used to measure water absorption and the ability to resist chloride ion characteristics for different mortar samples containing CFBC bed ash. CFBC bed ash is X-ray amorphous and …

An Analytical Solution To The Modified Mild-Slope Equation For Waves Propagating Around A Circular Conical Island, Sung-Shan Hsiao, Chun-Ming Chang, Chih-Chung Wen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

There are many analytical solutions to the mild-slope equation that employ Hunt’s direct solution of linear dispersion [7] to solve wave-scattering problems involving varying quiescent depths. The advantage of Hunt’s direct solution of linear dispersion is that it can extend the range of applicability of the mild-slope equation from long-wave to deep-wave conditions. However, because the bottom curvature and slope-squared terms are neglected, the mild-slope equation cannot preserve mass conservation. In this investigation, we derived an analytic solution of the modified mild-slope equation for a conical island by adopting Hunt’s direct solution of linear dispersion to be applicable to intermediate …

Siphoning Sea Water Back Into The Engine In Fast Boats, Osman Azmi Ozsoysal

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

A failure investigation has been conducted on the exhaust system of a high speed marine diesel engine in Turkish ambulance boats. Premature failures were reported on the poor starting, on the loss of power, on the lubricating oil leakage and on the engine overload. It was observed some significant tracks of sea water found its way into the exhaust passages from condensation of the salt water vapour and also from entering some sea water into the exhaust system. In order to initiate a more accurate cause investigation, the engine went through an overhaul inspection, in which it was determined that …

Risk Evaluation Of Ship Dynamic Stability In Regular Waves, Zhan-Jun Long, Seung-Keon Lee, Han-Suk Choi

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this paper, a method combined with the existing approaches is proposed for evaluating and predicting the safety of ship rolling in regular waves. Based on the uncoupled equation of a single degree of freedom, the nonlinear ship rolling in waves is presented and the differential equation is integrated in the time domain by the fourth order Runge-Kutta algorithm. The erosion of the safe basins of a ship roll equation is simulated and the survival probability of a typical ship is studied according to the statistical and simulation results. The numerical results show that the survival probabilities of ship excited …

Experimental Study On The Influence Of Geometrical Configuration Of Porous Floating Breakwater On Performance, Huan-Yu Wang, Zhao-Chen Sun

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The general aims of this paper were to present a novel floating breakwater fabricated with large numbers of diamondshaped blocks and find out the favorable characteristics of geometrical configurations basing on wave attenuation and mooring force debasement. The research are expected to offer a little of information for the design of floating breakwater. Four sorts (with equal number of blocks) of geometrical configurations had been involved in the contrasting analyses. Various factors including water depth, relative width of the floating body and wave steepness were considered. The results had shown that the proposed porous floating breakwater revealed favorable performance and …

Development Of Streamflow Projections Under Changing Climate Conditions Over Colorado River Basin Headwaters, W. P. Miller, Thomas C. Piechota, S. Gangopadhyay, T. Pruitt

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The current drought over the Colorado River Basin has raised concerns that the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) may impose water shortages over the lower portion of the basin for the first time in history. The guidelines that determine levels of shortage are affected by forecasts determined by the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC). While these forecasts by the CBRFC are useful, water managers within the basin are interested in long-term projections of streamflow, particularly under changing climate conditions. In this study, a bias-corrected, statistically downscaled dataset of projected climate is used to force a …

Comparison Of Winter Temperature Profiles In Asphalt And Concrete Pavements, Jeremy Brooks Dye

Theses and Dissertations

Because winter maintenance is so costly, Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) personnel asked researchers at Brigham Young University to determine whether asphalt or concrete pavements require more winter maintenance. Differing thermal properties suggest that, for the same environmental conditions, asphalt and concrete pavements will have different temperature profiles. Climatological data from 22 environmental sensor stations (ESSs) near asphalt roads and nine ESSs near concrete roads were used to 1) determine which pavement type has higher surface temperatures in winter and 2) compare the subsurface temperatures under asphalt and concrete pavements to determine the pavement type below which more freeze-thaw cycles …

Influence Of Relative Compaction On Passive Resistance Of Abutments With Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Mse) Wingwalls, Alec N. Strassburg

Theses and Dissertations

Large scale static lateral load tests were completed on a pile cap with wingwalls under several different sand backfill configurations: no backfill, loosely compacted unconfined, loosely compacted slip plane wall confined, loosely compacted MSE wingwall confined, and densely compacted MSE wingwall confined. The relative compaction of the backfill was varied during each test to observe the change in passive resistance provided by the backfill. The wall types were varied to observe the force placed on the walls and the wall displacement as a result of the laterally loaded pile cap and backfill relative compaction. Passive force-displacement curves were generated from …

An Adaptive Grid-Based All Hexahedral Meshing Algorithm Based On 2-Refinement, Jared D. Edgel

Theses and Dissertations

Adaptive all-hexahedral meshing algorithms have many desirable features. These algorithms provide a mesh that is efficient for analysis by providing a high element density in specific locations, such as areas of high stress gradient or high curvature and reduced mesh density in other areas of less importance. In addition, inside-out hexahedral grid based schemes, using Cartesian structured grids for the base mesh, have shown great promise in accommodating automatic all-hexahedral algorithms. In these algorithms mesh refinement is generally used to capture geometric features. Unfortunately, most adaptive mesh generation algorithms employ a 3-refinement method. This method, although easy to employ, provides …

Equilibrium Studies For The Removal Of Basic Dye By Sunflower Seed Husk (Helianthus Annuus), Siew-Teng Ong, Pei-Sin Keng, Siew-Ling Lee, Ming-How Leong, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The sorption characteristics of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seed husk (SSH) to remove Methylene Blue (MB) from aqueous solution under batch conditions have been investigated. Sorption of MB was found to be pH, concentration and agitation dependent. The kinetics of sorption was rapid with 80% sorption taking place within the first 60 min regardless of its initial concentration. The fast attainment of equilibrium implying the biosorbent could be suitable for continuous flow system. Using the pseudosecond order kinetics model, the predictive model for MB sorbed at time t (qt) with the initial concentration of (Co) is given by qt = Cot/[0.0607Co …