Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Investigation Of Pressure Fluctuations In The Hyporheic Zone In Response To Flow Around A Hydraulic Structure, Timothy Calappi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Erosion around a cylinders is a well studied field. Particles erode when lift and drag forces overcome a critical threshold. These forces are typically studied from above the water-riverbed interface. This study maps hyporheic pressure fluctuations as they are related to surface water velocity. The pressure map is used to evaluate lift enhancement and destabilization forces on the riverbed. High pressure events in the subsurface help generate a destabilizing force from within the riverbed. This work develops a probability distribution function relating turbulent velocity fluctuations and subsurface pressure fluctuations.

A cylinder was fitted with differential pressure transducers such that the …

Evaluating Chemical Toxicity: A Novel Behavioral Assay Using Daphnia, Maya A. Zein

Wayne State University Dissertations

Pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs), and other emerging contaminants, such as pesticides, are increasingly being detected in the environment. Important sources of these contaminants are waste water treatment plants and agriculture. Many of these contaminants are biologically active at low concentrations, and may impair physiological processes in exposed organisms, alter reproductive, endocrine or immune system function, and ultimately affect fitness and survival. These chemicals are often found in the environment as complex mixtures, and this complicates their evaluation of their toxicity. There is a need for high-throughput assays to rapidly assess the toxicity of these emerging contaminants. A behavioral …

Evaluation Of Non-Stationarity In Annual Maximum Flood Series Of Moderately Impaired Watersheds In The Upper Midwest And Northeastern United States, Neila Salvadori

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

United States federal agencies assess flood risk using Bulletin 17B procedures which assume annual maximum flood series are stationary. This represents a significant limitation of current flood frequency models as the flood distribution is thereby assumed to be unaffected by trends or periodicity of atmospheric/climatic variables and/or anthropogenic activities. The validity of this assumption is at the core of this thesis, which aims to improve understanding of the forms and potential causes of non-stationarity in flood series for moderately impaired watersheds in the Upper Midwest and Northeastern US. Prior studies investigated non-stationarity in flood series for unimpaired watersheds; however, as …

Post-Project Assessment Of Pit Latrines In Rural Panama, Jacob B. Midkiff

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

In Panama, one of the Environmental Health (EH) Sector’s primary goals is to improve the health of rural Panamanians by helping them to adopt behaviors and practices that improve access to and use of sanitation systems. In complying with this goal, the EH sector has used participatory development models to improve hygiene and increase access to latrines through volunteer managed latrine construction projects. Unfortunately, there is little understanding of the long term sustainability of these interventions after the volunteers have completed their service. With the Peace Corps adapting their Monitoring, Reporting, and Evaluation procedures, it is appropriate to evaluate the …

Investigation Of Synergistic Effects Of Warm Mix Asphalt And High Fractionated Reclaimed Asphalt For Safe, Environmentally Sustainable Highway, Hosin David Lee Ph.D., P.E., Taha Ahmed Msc, E.I.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

To increase RAP materials by up to 75% by binder replacement, a fractionation method was applied to the RAP stockpile by discarding RAP materials passing No. 16 sieve. This fractionation method was effective in improving volumetric properties of the HMA mixture with high RAP contents. The mix designs were then performed for both HMA and WMA with varying fractionated RAP amounts accounting for a replacement of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 75% of the mixture’s optimum asphalt binder content. All mix designs met the Iowa DOT mix design requirements except the one with 75% RAP materials by binder replacement due …

New Highway Accident Location Manual For Missouri, Carlos Sun Ph.D., P.E., Jd, Praveen Edara Ph.D., P.E., Ptoe, Henry Brown M.S., P.E.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The Missouri HAL manual is used to identify, analyze, and correct high crash locations, and has not been updated since 1999. This new edition brings the manual up to date, while incorporating the methodology of the national Highway Safety Manual (HSM). This 4th edition represents a complete re-working of all existing chapters of the manual. The changes are both stylistic and substantive. A contemporary book-style stylesheet was used to improve the appearance of figures, tables, headings, and labels. Even the title of the manual was changed from HAL (Identification, Analysis, and Correction of High-Crash Locations) to S-HAL (Safety Handbook for …

Mercury Concentrations In Tropical Resident And Migrant Songbirds On Hispaniola, Jason M. Townsend, Christopher C. Rimmer, Charles T. Driscoll, Kent P. Mcfarland, Eduardo E. Inigo-Elias

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Despite growing concerns over mercury (Hg) exposure to humans and wildlife on a global scale, little is known about Hg bioaccumulation in the New World tropics. From 2005 to 2011, we monitored Hg concentrations in blood of nine avian species occupying a geographic range of tropical wet broadleaf sites on the island of Hispaniola, including eight passerines (two Nearctic- Neotropical migrant and six resident species) and one top order predatory accipiter. Invertivorous songbirds were further differentiated by foraging guild, with six species of groundforagers and two species of foliage-gleaners. Blood Hg concentrations were orders of magnitude higher in birds sampled …

Some Insights For The Prediction Of Near-Wall Turbulence, Farid Karimpour, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we revisit the eddy viscosity formulation to highlight a number of important issues that have direct implications for the prediction of near-wall turbulence. For steady wall-bounded turbulent flows, we make the equilibrium assumption between rates of production (P) and dissipation (ε) of turbulent kinetic energy (κ) in the near-wall region to propose that the eddy viscosity should be given by vt ε/S², where S is the mean shear rate. We then argue that the appropriate velocity scale is given by (STL)-1/2 k^1/2 where TL = k ε is the turbulence (decay) time scale. The …

Development And Implementation Of A Proactive Safety Performance Evaluation System For General Contractors, Ahmet Selim Alpmen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Construction safety is an essential aspect of the construction industry and measuring safety performance has been of continuing concern. Most of the preceding studies concentrated on two widely used metrics in industry to evaluate and improve safety performance, EMR and incidence rates. However, it is recognized that these metrics have shortcomings, such as being reactive and not proactive, or representing a macroscopic approach and not microscopic approach, or disregarding the events that lead to accidents and only being result-oriented. Improving safety is one aspect of a research but using an appropriate safety measure is as important. Using these parameters comes …

Development Of Geopolymer Concrete For Precast Structures, Preeti Shrestha

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

This study presents 'geopolymer' as a new binder to replace Portland cement in concrete to make concrete more environmentally friendly and durable. This utilizes industrial by-products like fly ash which is disposed in landfills. Therefore, the use of geopolymer as a binder in concrete production not only reduces the emission of CO2 because of elimination of cement, but also utilizes an industrial by-product to produce a green and sustainable construction material. In this research, the fly ash and alkaline liquid (mix of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate) were used as the basic constituents of the geopolymer. More than 1000 cylinders …

Development Of Finite Element Model For Analysis Of Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe-Embedded Cylinder Pipe With Experimental Comparison, Sangit Rauniyar

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) is a composite pipe that consists ofconcrete and steel, which has layers of concrete core, steel cylinder, prestressing wire andmortar coating. PCCP is generally constructed of two types; a steel cylinder lined with aconcrete core and a steel cylinder embedded in a concrete core. The former type is calledPCCP-Lined Cylinder Pipe (PCCP-LCP) and the latter type is called PCCP-Embedded CylinderPipe (PCCP-ECP). The scope of this paper is limited to PCCP-ECP.PCCP-ECP is a composite material with complex stress phenomenon due to prestressand interaction between different layers of components. A three dimensional non-linear finiteelement model is generated …

Durability Studies Of Controlled Low Strength Material Using Native Soils As Fine Aggregates, Durga Praveen Reddy Vanga

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Controlled Low Strength Material using native soils as fine aggregates is an effective option in addressing issues relating to strength requirements, sustainability, and project cost. Using native soil in the place of conventional aggregate will greatly reduce the overall project costs and will enhance the sustainability of the project as it eliminates dumping of excavated material in a landfill. CLSM mixes, designed for the particular flowing characteristics as well as the compressive strength should maintain targeted engineering properties throughout its design life period to minimize long term maintenance cost. Though CLSMs do meet the short term strength requirements, their long-term …

Quantification And Geostatistical Mapping Of Soluble Sulfates In Soils Along A Pipe Line Alignment, Justin David Thomey

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Sulfate induced heave is a growing concern for civil engineering projects utilizing calcium based soil stabilizers. Therefore, addressing sulfate concentrations in soils is vital to the success of a civil engineering project. Pavement, foundations, tunnels, embankments, pipe lines, etc. are all susceptible to sulfate induced heave if the appropriate conditions and constituents are present. The work presented here within focuses on the soluble sulfate testing completed on six (6) different geologic formations within the Integrated Pipe Line (IPL) alignment of North Texas. The testing and analyses were conducted to identify problematic zones and quantify sulfate values in order to prevent …

Finite Element Modeling Of Prestressed Girder Strengthening Using Fiber Reinforced Polymer And Codal Comparison, Muruganandam Mohanamurthy

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials provide effective and potentially economic solution for rehabilitating and upgrading the existing reinforced and precast concrete bridge structures that have suffered deterioration. Each year, there are a significant number of damaged bridges, mainly due to structural failure, reinforcing steel corrosion or vehicle collision. Using FRP materials has many advantages over other strengthening methods. This study consists of reviewing relevant guidelines, codes, standard practices and manufacturer's specifications that deals with FRP strengthening of damaged concrete bridges based on both U.S and international sources. Based on literature review, the available design guidelines are summarized and compared. …

Evaluating The Performance Of Controlled Low Strength Materials (Clsms) Prepared Using Sulfate Spiked High Plasticity Clay, Sadikshya Poudel

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

When large scale civil engineering projects such as Integrated PipeLine (IPL) are to be constructed, several factors play a significant role in the successful completion of the project on time and on budget. With pipeline construction, one of the important tasks is excavation, with excavation comes the hauling of the excess excavated trench material to the disposal site. The hauling of unwanted excavated dirt from the site and bringing in select backfill material that meets the project requirements not only adds to the overall cost of the project but also raises concerns about sustainability. Transport of unwanted excavated materials require …

Leachate Recirculation Modeling Using Vertical Wells In Bioreactor Landfills, Aminollah Ghorbanpourbabakandi

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is made up of household and commercial waste. Total MSW generated in USA in 2009 was 243 million tons and 54.3% of this waste generation was landfilled (EPA, 2009). MSW buried in landfills contribute a significant amount of gas (Landfill Gas or LFG) to atmosphere. The landfilled MSW is the third largest methane contributor to the atmosphere.One way to manage the LFG is the concept of bioreactor landfills. A bioreactor landfill is a controlled landfill where liquid and gas conditions are actively managed in order to accelerate or enhance biostabilization of MSW. Biostabilization of MSW is …

Testing And Design Life Analysis Of Polyurea Liner Materials, Siavash Ghasemi-Motlagh

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Certainly, water pipes, as part of an underground infrastructure system, play a key role in maintaining quality of life, health, and wellbeing of human kind. As these potable water pipes reach the end of their useful life, they create high maintenance costs, loss of flow capacity, decreased water quality, and increased dissatisfaction.There are several different pipeline renewal techniques available for different applications, among which linings are most commonly used for the renewal of water pipes. Polyurea is a lining material applied to the interior surface of the deteriorated host pipe using spray-on technique. It is applied to structurally enhance the …

Development Of Statistical Models For Predicting Leachate Parameters From Simulated Landfills, Arpita Hetal Bhatt

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Leachate generation and management is recognized as one of the greatest problems associated with environmentally sound operation of landfills, as leachate can cause major pollution problems to surrounding soil, ground water, and surface waters. There are many landfills, especially in developing parts of the world like India, Bangladesh, Africa, and Latin America, where open dump systems are used for final disposal of solid waste rather than engineered landfills. In the near future, regulations in developing countries will likely require installation of liner systems, leachate collection systems, and treatment operations. A major requirement for successful leachate treatment is quantifying its typical …

Improving Analysis Of Heavy To Extreme Precipitation Using Conditional Bias-Penalized Optimal Estimation, Ridwan Siddique

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Precipitation estimation is a very important topic from the societal perspective as heavy precipitation can cause flooding from which loss of lives and damage to properties can occur. In current practice, a number of spatial interpolation techniques are used for precipitation estimation using rain gauge data. Most of them are based on minimizing error variance but none of them consider Type-II conditional bias. As such, the existing techniques work well in the mid ranges of the precipitation distribution but tend to under- and overestimate large and small precipitation amounts, respectively. Conditional bias- penalized kriging (CBPK) adds a penalty term for …

Staged Construction Modeling Of Large Diameter Steel Pipes Using 3-D Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis, Mojtaba Salehi Dezfooli

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This study investigates the performance of large diameter steel pipes during stage construction. Using this study, metal pipes are designed utilizing existing native soil for embedment around the pipe rather than imported materials. This indeed, translates into a considerable amount of cost saving and advances in designing pipeline. This model is used for peer review/ designing of a 242 km (150 miles) pipeline project, Integrated Pipeline (IPL), that transports approximately hundreds of millions of gallons from Lake Palestine, 137 km (85 miles) southeast of Dallas, to Lake Benbrook, Tarrant County, Texas. The IPL project supplies water to more than1.8 million …

A Comparative Study Of Carbon Nanotubes And Granular Activated Carbon: Physicochemical Properties And Adsorption Capacities, Roja Haritha Gangupomu

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Adsorption technologies with activated carbon have proven their prominence in wide variety of industrial applications for the removal of pollutants from gaseous streams for generations. Nanoadsorbents due to their unique structure and the presence of high-energy binding sites can enhance adsorption of pollutants, particularly for hazardous pollutants difficult to control using conventional sorbents like activated carbon and can help industries in their struggle for greener technologies. The objective of this study was to characterize raw and purified CNTs and compare their physical and chemical properties to commercially available granular activated carbon (GAC). The CNT purification process was done in two …

Stabilization Of High Sulfate Soils, Nagasreenivasu Talluri

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Stabilization of expansive soils using lime and cement has been a favorite technique for practitioners over the years. However, recent heaving and premature pavement failures in lime and cement treated subgrades containing sulfates led to question the validity of calcium based stabilization. When expansive soils containing sulfates are treated with calcium based stabilizers, calcium from stabilizer reacts with soil sulfate and clay alumina to form expansive mineral Ettringite. Formation and growth of the mineral Ettringite was reported as the cause of severe heaving in several pavement failures. Under favorable environmental conditions Ettringite transforms in to another expansive mineral Thaumasite. This …

Development Of A Model For Estimation Of Buried Large Diameter Thin-Walled Steel Pipe Deflection Due To External Loads, Jwala Raj Sharma

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Design of buried pipeline systems involves solution of geotechnical and structural problems in addition to the hydraulics and mechanical issues. Just like any buried structure, it is of utmost importance to understand how the pipe interacts with the soil when subjected to external and internal loads. Based on the mode of withstanding loads, pipes are classified into two major categories, which are rigid and flexible pipes. Pipe material is the major factor governing the classification of a pipe being rigid or flexible. Rigid pipe is a pipe which is designed to withstand external dead and live loads and internal pressure …

Assessment Of Stress/Volume-Controlled Soil-Water Retention Properties Of Unsaturated Sandy Soils., Hailu Ayalew

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The main objectives of this work are to determine the effect of net normal stress and volume change on the soil-water retention properties of silty sand and clayey sand soils under stressed/volume-controlled conditions; to model soil-water retention parameters under stress/volume-controlled conditions; and to model the effect of higher net normal stress state on the soil-water retention characteristics of these two test soils based on the experimental test results. In order to investigate the effect of stress/volume change on the soil-water retention characteristics of these two test soils, two test methods were followed: the stress/volume-controlled soil-water characteristic test (Tempe pressure cell …

Resilience Quantification And Its Application To A Residential Building Subject To Hurricane Winds, Berna E. Tokgoz, Adrian V. Gheorghe

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In order to overcome negative consequences of a disaster, buildings and infrastructures need to be resilient. After a disaster occurs, they must get back to their normal operations as quickly as possible. Buildings and infrastructures should incorporate both pre-event (preparedness and mitigation) and post-event (response and recovery) resilience activities to minimize negative effects of a disaster. Quantitative approaches for measuring resilience for buildings and infrastructures need to be developed. A proposed methodology for quantification of resilience of a given building type based on different hurricane categories is presented. The formulation for the resilience quantification is based on a model embedding …

Physical, Mechanical And Chemical Aging Of Polyurea Nanocomposites, Ghanshyam Pal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two component polyurea systems, on one hand, are gaining popularity as corrosion and abrasion resistant coatings and linings while on the other hand there are a few polyurea compositions being used as barrier against blast and ballistic threats to protect nation's critical infrastructure. Physical properties of polymer composites can be tailored with appropriate choice of type, size and amount of reinforcement. In general, nano-sized reinforcements provide better reinforcing over conventional reinforcements due to higher surface to volume ratio. In this dissertation, the first aim is to study effect of nanoreinforcement addition on the overall character (mechanical, chemical and microstructural) of …

Gap Acceptance Parameters For Hcm 2010 Roundabout Capacity Model Applications In Italy, A. Gazzarri, Michael T. Martello, Antonio Pratelli, Reginald R. Souleyrette

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper deals with the field data observation and successive application of estimation procedures in order to estimate follow-up headway and critical headway at roundabouts. Average follow-up headway and average critical headway are two key parameters in the new roundabout capacity model presented in the 2010 edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). The HCM 2010 capacity model was developed as an exponential regression model with parameter estimates based on gap acceptance theory. Gap acceptance models are strongly affected by driver behaviour and local habits. Follow-up headways can be field measured, while critical headway cannot be obtained directly. The paper …

Analysis Of Fatal And Nonfatal Accidents Involving Earthmoving Equipment Operators And On-Foot Workers, Esref Emrah Kazan

Wayne State University Dissertations

In view of the limitations of univariate statistics for studying construction accidents, a multivariate approach was undertaken using crosstabulation analysis and logistic regression.

Heavy construction equipment accidents related data for four type of equipment; backhoe, bulldozer, excavator and scraper were incorporated in the study using categorical variables. Degree of injury indicating the severity of accident outcome (fatal vs. nonfatal) was selected as the dependent variable, and a variety of factors potentially affecting the outcome comprised the independent variables. Cross tabulation results enabled the understanding and evaluation of associations between the research variables, while logistic regression yielded predictive models that helped …

Occurrence Of Antimicrobials And Antimicrobial Resistance Genes In Beef Cattle Storage Ponds And Swine Treatment Lagoons, Yuping Zhang, Chiqian Zhang, David B. Parker, Daniel D. Snow, Zhi Zhou, Xu Li

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Livestock manure treatment and storage structures are potential environmental sources of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). In this study, the occurrence of antimicrobials and ARGs was investigated in the water and the sludge compartments of beef cattle storage ponds and swine lagoons. Analysis was focused on two families of antimicrobials (sulfonamide and tetracycline) and the corresponding ARGs (sul1, sul2, tetO, tetQ and tetX). Results showed that the pseudo-partitioning coefficients of tetracyclines were higher than those of sulfonamides, suggesting different distributions of these two classes of antimicrobials between water and sludge. The ARGs tested were …

Evaluation Of Surface Transportation Funding Alternatives Using Criteria System Established Through A Delphi Survey Of Texas Transportation Experts, Sasanka Bhushan Pulipati

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

For more than a decade, transportation officials have been concerned that, at current levels, the fuel tax, the primary funding source of surface transportation in the United States, would not provide enough revenue to satisfy the ever rising transportation needs. Recent studies have evaluated alternative funding strategies at the national and state levels. In this dissertation, the author improves this evaluation procedure by developing a multi-criteria evaluation of different funding options for implementation in Texas using a technique called PROMETHEE. This evaluation uses a new criteria system established through his Delphi survey of Texas-based experts who are experienced in transportation …