Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Local Evaluation For The Cumberland Gap Tunnel Regional Its Deployment, John Crossfield, Len O'Connell, Candice Wallace, Jennifer Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report is the local evaluation of an Intelligent Transportation System deployment for the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and U.S. 25E corridor in Tennessee and Kentucky. This report examines the planning for the deployment and the systems and components used to achieve the goals of the deployment. The goals and expectations of the ITS deployment were to provide updated travel information to drivers in the vicinity of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel and along the U.S. 25E corridor; to improve the integration of the tunnel systems; to improve incident detection, verification, and response times along the U.S. 25E corridor; and to develop, …

Investigating The Use Of A New Universal Breakaway Steel Post -- Phase Iii, Dean L. Sicking, Ronald K. Faller, Robert W. Bielenberg, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Jennifer D. Schmidt

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

A Numerical And Experimental Study Of Differential Settling In Cohesive Sediment, Chad Heiliger

All Theses

Accurate sedimentation modeling has important applications in a number of fields. This includes modeling the accumulation of sediment in harbor channels and modeling the sedimentation and accumulation of particles in retention ponds in the still waters behind dams in order to calculate the trap efficiency. By accurately modeling sedimentation, engineering failures such as the 2008 TVA spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant could possibly be avoided. Three different numerical models comparing the settling rates of individual particles in quiescent waters were created to compare the change of settling velocity due to particle size distributions, change of local concentrations, and flocculation …

Tangerine Avenue Retrofitting Project, Ni-Bin Chang, Martin Wanielista

BMP Trains Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Design Charts For Retaining Walls In Seismic Areas, Yingwei Wu, Shamsher Prakash

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Retaining walls have failed either by sliding away from the backfill or due to combined action of sliding and rocking displacements, during earthquakes. Performance based design of the retaining walls in seismic areas must account for the likely displacements, in addition to calculating the usual factors of safety against failure in bearing, sliding and overturning. a realistic model for estimating dynamic displacement has been developed, which accounts for the combined action of sliding and rocking and takes into consideration, non-linear soil stiffness in sliding, and rocking, geometrical and material damping in sliding, and rocking, and coupling effects. This model was …

An Investigation Of Initially Delaminated Composite Sandwich With Delamination Arrest Mechanism Under Buckling Loading, Tony D. Tran

Master's Theses

This thesis involves the development of a fiberglass-foam composite sandwich structure with the introduction of delamination arrestment keys; therefore, a study of an initially delaminated composite sandwich structure was the experimental analysis on multiple configurations in how the arrestment keys are placed.

The first part of this thesis research was to the experimental design and manufacturing of the composite sandwich plates. These plates were later cut down to the specific test dimensions and manufacturing processes for the composite sandwich plates and test specimens were created. The composite sandwich plates were manufactured using a vacuum resin infusion process. The dimensions of …

Characterization Of Acetogenic And Methanogenic Leachates Generated From A Sanitary Landfill Site, Aik Heng Lee, Hamid Nikraz, Yung Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Decomposition processes take place in landfill generate leachates that can be categorized mainly of acetogenic and methanogenic in nature. BOD:COD ratio computed in this study for a landfill site over a 3 years duration revealed as a good indicator to identify acetogenic leachate from methanogenic leachate. Correlation relationships to predict pollutant level taking into consideration of climatic condition are derived.

The Effectiveness Of Silica Sand In Semi-Aerobic Stabilized Landfill Leachate Treatment, Ezlina Othman, Mohd Suffian Yusoff, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Mohd Nordin Adlan, Mohammed J.K. Bashir, Yung Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

© 2010 by the authors. This study examines the suitability of natural silica sand as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen and heavy metals, particularly iron and zinc, from semi-aerobic stabilized landfill leachate. Leachate samples were collected from the Pulau Burung landfill site (PBLS) in Penang, Malaysia. The above-mentioned contaminants are highlighted in this study because of their unsafe concentrations at PBLS. The effects of shaking time, settling time, and silica sand dosage on the study parameter removal efficiencies were investigated to predict the performance of the process. The adsorptions of ammoniacal nitrogen, iron, and zinc were …

Sustainable Practices And Related Performance Measures At State Highway Agencies, Lenahan O’Connell

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report identifies seven ways in which an SHA can harm the environment: (1) excessive consumption of virgin materials; (2) unnecessary levels or amounts of storm water runoff; (3) release of environmental contaminants by SHA employees and contractors; (4) inadequate environmental training of employees and contractors; (5) wasteful use of energy by SHA employees and contractors; (6) the promotion of excessive driving by the public and concomitant release of green house gases; and (7) inadequate oversight mechanisms and procedures to prevent unsustainable practices. The report then identifies the sustainable practices and related performance measures SHAs can use to prevent or …

Safety Enhancement Of The Indot Network Pavement Friction Testing Program: Macrotexture And Microtexture Testing Using Laser Sensors, Shuo Li, Samy Noureldin, Karen Zhu

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation has conducted annual network inventory friction testing using the locked wheel trailer to reduce wet pavement crashes. However, issues have arisen concerning the data credibility and field operation safety on high-speed highway facilities. Some researchers have investigated the evaluation of pavement friction using macrotexture measurements and found the relationship between friction and macrotexture is extremely weak. Currently, macrotexture can be readily measured at highway speeds, but microtexture is evaluated using friction at low speeds from a surrogate device. Microtexture plays an important role in friction force. The evaluation of pavement friction from texture measurements will …

Development Of The Mgs Approach Guardrail Transition Using Standardized Steel Posts, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Ronald K. Faller, Robert W. Bielenberg, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Second Generation Precast Deck Panel (Nudeck) System, Kromel E. Hanna, George Morcous, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Impact Testing Of Wood Posts For The Midwest Guardrail System Placed Adjacent To A 2h:1v Fill Slope, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Robert W. Bielenberg, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, Mary D. Mcghee, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Performance Evaluation Of Brass Breakaway Couplings, Joseph G. Putjenter, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Ronald K. Faller, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Layer Moduli Of Nebraska Pavements For The New Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide, Soohyok Im, Yong-Rak Kim, Hoki Ban

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Sensitivity Analysis Of Uranium Speciation Modeling In Groundwater Systems With A Focus On Mobility, Andrew Scott

All Dissertations

Uranium is an important natural resource used in production of nuclear reactor fuel and nuclear weapons. The mining and processing of uranium has left a legacy of environmental contamination that remains to be addressed. There has been considerable interest in manipulating the oxidation state of uranium in order to put it into an environmentally immobile form. Uranium forms two stable oxidation states in nature, uranium (IV) being much less soluble than uranium (VI), and therefore the preferred state with regard to limiting the potential exposure of man. One of the tools used in evaluating potential effects of manipulating the natural …

Site Verification Of Weigh-In-Motion Traffic And Tirtl Classification Data, Shuo Li, Yingzi (Eliza) Du, Yi Jiang

JTRP Technical Reports

Quality weigh-in-motion (WIM) traffic data is essential not only in general transportation application, but also in pavement design. The new AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for New and Rehabilitated Pavement Structures requires information on the detailed truck traffic, such as truck traffic volume, truck traffic monthly and hourly variations, vehicle class distribution, axle load, and axle load distributions, instead of the traditional ESALs. In addition, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) needs to collect traffic data frequently so as to timely provide accurate traffic information for planning, program development, operations, and pavement management. Currently, INDOT is using the pneumatic …

Retrieval Of Aerosol Mass Concentration From Elastic Lidar Data, Christian C. Marchant

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural aerosol sources can contribute significantly to air pollution in many regions of the country. Characterization of the aerosol emissions of agricultural operations is required to establish a scientific basis for crafting regulations concerning agricultural aerosols. A new lidar instrument for measuring aerosol emissions is described, as well as two new algorithms for converting lidar measurements into aerosol concentration data. The average daily aerosol emission rate is estimated from a dairy using lidar.

The Aglite Lidar is a portable scanning lidar for mapping the concentration of particulate matter from agricultural and other sources. The instrument is described and performance and …

Destructive Testing Of Composite Precast Concrete Deck Panels And Built-Up Steel Plate Girders, Wesley J. Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has implemented the use of precast concrete panels for bridge deck construction. A bridge utilizing these panels as a reconstruction method was decommissioned three years after the new deck installation, due to unrelated matters. Two sections of this bridge were salvaged and sent to Utah State University (USU) for destructive testing.

Each bridge section consisted of two built-up steel plate girders intact with the precast concrete deck panels. The precast panels were designed and constructed to achieve full composite action between the deck and built-up steel plate girders through the use of Nelson shear …

Safety Evaluation Of Work Zone Practices In Utah, Tomás Ernesto Lindheimer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Work zones present a risk to drivers and to personnel constructing the roadway. In 2005 work zones accounted for 2.5% of fatalities nationwide, 3.5% for the state of Utah. The goal of this research is to make work zones safer by quantifying the risk that they present to drivers. The approach of this research has been to review part 6 of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and compare the differences from the 2003 and 2009 editions, conduct field studies of Utah work zones, and develop a tool for measuring risk in work zones. In the 2009 MUTCD …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2010, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Discontinuous Galerkin Method For 1d Shallow Water Flow With Water Surface Slope Limiter, Wencong Lai

All Theses

A water surface slope limiting scheme is applied to numerically solve the one dimensional shallow water equations with bottom slope source term. The total variation diminishing Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin finite element method with slope limiter schemes based on water surface and water depth are investigated for solving one-dimensional shallow water equations. For each slope limiter, three different Riemann solvers based on HLL, LF, and Roe flux functions are used. The three different solvers with slope limiters based on water surface and water depth are applied to simulate idealized dambreak problem, hydraulic jump, quiescent flow, subcritical flow, supercritical flow, and transcritical …

Investigation Of Northeast Extreme Tee (Next) D Beam Bridges As An Alternative To Precast Hollow Core Bridges: An Exploration Of Appropriate Slab Design Forces, Daniel Deery

All Theses

Adjacent precast, prestressed concrete beam bridges have become a popular solution throughout the country because deck forming can be eliminated and construction is rapid. In South Carolina, adjacent beam bridges primarily consist of flat slab or hollow core sections, and they are currently only used on secondary, low-volume, short-span bridges. Durability and load sharing issues stemming from cracking, however, have caused concern with the longevity of these bridge types. Thus, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has sought an alternative to the flat slab for short span bridges that can be used on high volume roads without an overlay. …

Molecular Characterization Of Enrichment Cultures That Grow On Tetrachloroethene, 1,2 Dichloroethane And Ethylene Dibromide, Hari Shankar Peethambaram

All Theses

Halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons are among the most common contaminants in soil and groundwater found at hazardous waste sites throughout the United States. Among them are tetrachloroethene (PCE), 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) and ethylene dibromide (EDB). Organohalide respiration of each compound has been reported. However, considerably less information is known about EDB than PCE and 1,2-DCA, including the yield that occurs during growth with EDB as the sole TEA. The main objective of this project was to determine which types of chlororespiring microbes predominate during growth of enrichment cultures when PCE, 1,2-DCA and EDB served as the TEA, and what their yield is. …

Evaluation Of Utility Relocation Costs And Best Management Practices, Michael Reinke

All Theses

In recent years, the SCDOT has experienced a significant variation in estimated costs for the relocation of utilities on many projects. This has led to cost overruns and caused concerns for the district engineers responsible for the projects. Through meetings with SCDOT personnel and utility company representatives it was determined that a standardized cost estimate form combined with improved change order management and cost management strategies was needed. Recently submitted estimates were analyzed and rated by a panel on multiple criteria to generate a list of 'poor', 'good', and 'excellent' estimates. The 'excellent' estimates provided insight into the development of …

Determining The Global Maximum Biofuel Production Potential Without Conflicting With Food And Feed Consumption, Watcharapol Pumkaew

All Theses

This study tries to resolve the competition between food and biofuel by balancing the allocation between food and feed areas and biofuel areas for the entire world. The maximum energy production is calculated by determining the theoretical amount of energy that can be grown, once food and feed consumption is taken into account, based on the assumption that unprotected grass and woody lands and forest lands can be converted into cultivated lands. The total optimum land area for biofuel energy, 4,926.49 Mha, consists of corn, rapeseed, sugar beet, sugar cane, and grasses. When considering energy conversion efficiency, the maximum energy …

Anaerobic Co-Digestion Of Wastewater Treatment Pond Algae With Wastewater Sludge, Daniel Eric Heimel

Master's Theses

Microalgae harvested from wastewater treatment ponds can be anaerobically digested to produce biogas, a renewable fuel resource. However, past experiments have shown some limitations of algae digestion. Algal cell walls are thought to be resistant to digestion, and the high protein content of algae can lead to ammonia toxicity in digesters. Co-digestion of algae with substrates containing higher C:N ratios (e.g., waste paper) can be used to maintain non-inhibitory ammonia concentrations and increase methane production. However, high carbon waste co-substrates have become costly or are not readily available in many communities. Although domestic wastewater sludge has only a marginally higher …

Hydraulic Conductivity, Infiltration, And Runoff From No-Till And Tilled Cropland, Jessica H. Deck

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Infiltration and runoff are important processes that affect the efficiency of center pivot irrigation systems. No-till planting systems potentially influence the hydraulic properties of soils and the soil surface conditions. The result of long-term use of no-till could be higher infiltration and lower runoff from rainfall and irrigation.

This potential was investigated in Nebraska on two center pivot irrigated sites; Fillmore County and Phelps County, one furrow irrigated site; South Central Agriculture Laboratory (SCAL), and one dryland site; Rogers Farm. Paired treatments were used at each location, one that was no-till planted and one that used two to three operations …

Analysis And Evaluation Of Safety Impacts Of Median Types And Midblock Left Turn Treatments For Urban Arterials, Timur Mauga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Urban growth leads to new land-uses abutting arterials requiring driveways for their accessibility. Uncontrolled number and locations of such access points causes safety, mobility and accessibility problems. The solution to these problems is access management (AM) which controls the number and location of the access points. AM techniques are normally documented in the form of guidelines for engineers and planners to follow when implementing the techniques. However, AM guidelines may not cover every technique due to the fact that AM is still growing. For example, the current AM guideline prepared by The Nevada Department of Transportation addresses many AM techniques. …

Estimating And Verifying Household Potential To Conserve Water, Francisco J. Suero

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis identifies impacts of behaviors and technology on residential indoor water use and conservation efforts. We use pre-existing detailed end-use data collected before and after toilets, faucets, showerheads, and clothes washers were retrofitted in 96 owner-occupied, single-family households in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; and Tampa, Florida between 2000 and 2003.

Water volume, duration of use, and time of use were recorded and disaggregated by appliance for two weeks before and four weeks after appliances were retrofitted. For each appliance, we compare observed differences in water use before and after retrofits to water savings predicted by analytical engineering, semi-analytical engineering, …