Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Colorado River Compact (1922), Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the 1922 Colorado River Compact seeking to fairly distribute Colorado River water to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and their increasing populations.

Hydroelectric Power, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of federal government support for hydroelectric power in the American West.

Oil Industry, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of the historical and contemporary development of the American oil industry and how it has impacted U.S. natural resources policies in the American west.

Pavement Management Analysis Of Hamilton County Using Hdm-4 And Hpma, Trisha Sen

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

According to the 2009 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, Tennessee roadways have received a B- due to lack of funding. This thesis focuses on the optimal utilization of available funds for Hamilton County using PMS. HDM-4 and HPMA are used to assess the existing pavement conditions and predict future conditions; estimate fuel consumption; calculate road agency costs and user costs; determine cost-effective maintenance treatment; and suggest optimum utilization of funds. From this study, fuel consumption is higher at peak hours due to reduced traffic speeds. User cost is higher on the state route than the interstate due to stop-and-go motion. Road …

Floatovoltaics: Quantifying The Benefits Of A Hydro-Solar Power Fusion, Abe Mckay

Pomona Senior Theses

To slow climate change, humans should take immediate and widespread action. One way to slow climate change is by switching to switch to renewable power plants such as solar fields. Recently, pioneering companies have built solar fields on water bodies. This study found that such a pairing of water and solar could increase production efficiency by 8-10% through panel cooling, save millions of liters of water from evaporation, and produce energy with under-utilized space.

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Two-Dimensional Blood Flow Velocity Estimation Using Ultrasound Speckle Pattern Dependence On Scan Direction And A-Line Acquisition Velocity, Tiantian Xu, Gregory R. Bashford

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

We have previously investigated the change of apparent lateral speckle size caused by the direction and spatial rate of scanner A-line acquisition (scan velocity). An algorithm which measures the lateral component of blood flow velocity was developed based on the increase in speckle size resulting from relative motion between moving scatterers and the scan velocity. In this paper, the change of the apparent dominant angle of the speckle pattern in a straight vessel was investigated and a new method of two-dimensional blood flow velocity estimation is introduced. Different scan velocities were used for data acquisition from blood flow traveling at …

Canoebis, Mitchel Robert Dabling

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Egyptian mythology is full of legend and mystery. Ra, the Chief God of Ancient Egypt, used a mysterious canoe, named Meseket, to cross the underworld at night (Ions, 1983). Our fabricated legend begins with Aken, Ra's loyal ferryman. When Aken accidentally broke the canoe Meseket, he was left without a vessel to ferry Ra. Without proper materials to fashion another wooden boat, he asked Anubis, the god of embalming for assistance. Together they built a new canoe out of concrete using raw materials from the Egyptian landscape. The 2013 Utah State University Concrete Canoe Team has endeavored to recreate this …

The Hydraulic Performance Of Perforated Pipe Under-Drains Surrounded By Loose Aggregate, Patrick Murphy

All Theses

Perforated pipes are commonly used in the construction industry for subsurface drains. These subsurface drains are installed to intercept and convey infiltrated runoff or groundwater. One common application of perforated pipe is to provide an under-drain for an infiltration trench or porous pavement best management practice (BMP). Perforated pipe is installed into a trench on a bed of aggregate ranging from 0 to 28 cm thick and, depending on the design objective, is laid flat or on a slope. However, the actual hydraulic performance of these pipes, i.e. the stage storage relationship, is poorly understood. The resulting flow is quite …

A Methodology For Designing Pervious Bicycle Lanes For Stormwater Management, Donald West Iii

All Theses

Bicycles have proven to be an efficient and reliable form of transportation in urban settings. Therefore, the addition of bicycle lanes into the transportation network could significantly impact and improve the sustainability of our infrastructure by reducing greenhouse emissions and improving the health of individuals who cycle on a regular basis. Pervious pavements are an approved (LID) strategy that could potentially be used to construct these new facilities thereby reducing the quantity of stormwater runoff and improving the water quality. Practicing engineers need both a design aid and research supported methods for designing these improvements before they can be fully …

Numerical Study Of The Structural Performance Of Large Panelized All-Wood Roof Diaphragms, Sami Pant

All Theses

The use of flexible roof diaphragms is very common in the United States, both for multi-family residential buildings and large-scale commercial buildings. Due to its simplicity, the traditional diaphragm design method is commonly used in diaphragm design, in particular for the design of diaphragms with relatively small dimensions. The traditional diaphragm design method assumes the axial forces developed in framing members under in-plane loading carried only by the perimeter chords. The traditional diaphragm design method has always been thought to be a conservative design method, especially when applied to large diaphragms. In recent years, the engineering community began to question …

College Level Residential Building Code Education: Current Status And Best Practice, Earl Shealy

All Theses

Community destruction and loss of life due to residential building code (RBC) violations still occur too frequently. Increasing RBC enforcement is often not possible due to lack of funds and resources. Teaching RBC to college-level construction students is another way to encourage greater code compliance and enhanced community resilience. This research assesses the current status of RBC education in accredited construction programs, identifies academic and industry perspectives of RBC education, and constructs 'best practice' RBC teaching strategies.
A mix method, exploratory approach including three distinct phases explains the current phenomenon - RBC education emphasis within university curriculums. My research found …

Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration Enabled Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles For Energy Management, Yiming He

All Dissertations

The U.S. federal government is seeking useful applications of Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) to encourage a greener and more efficient transportation system; Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are considered as one of the most promising automotive technologies for such an application. In this study, the author demonstrates a strategy to improve PHEV energy efficiency via the use of VII. This dissertation, which is composed of three published peer-reviewed journal articles, demonstrates the efficacies of the PHEV-VII system as regards to both the energy use and environmental impact under different scenarios.
The first article demonstrates the capabilities of and benefits achievable for …

Incorporating Natural Hazard Resistance Into The Life Cycle Assessment Framework, Jeffery Plumblee

All Dissertations

Hazard resistant building materials are not adequately represented by current LCA approaches, which do not account for environmental benefits of the avoided losses (e.g. avoided waste, avoided materials for repairs) promised by hazard resistant materials. The goal of this study was to encourage a more complete understanding of materials' environmental impacts by developing a framework to include hazard related damages in LCA.
Catastrophe modeling is a well-developed tool used by the insurance industry to assess the probability of hazard and quantify related impacts. These models were studied to identify required input data as well as the format of output results. …

A Method To Quantify Road Safety Audit Data And Results, Joshua Reid Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah Local Technical Assistant Program (Utah LTAP) with assistance from the Utah Department of Transportation conducted over 18 Road Safety Audit (RSA’s) projects on existing roadways. The projects ranged from roads on minor rural collectors to major urban collectors as well as intersections and unpaved roads. Part of this research shows the lessons learned and the common recommendations for each type of facility.

After all the RSA projects were conducted a tool was developed to help quantify the risk for drivers and pedestrians on the roadway. The tool is able to analyze the risk before and after recommended safety …

Analysis Of Aggregate Distribution In Self-Consolidating Concrete, Brendan Ho

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concrete consists of several key ingredients: cement, water, and coarse and fine aggregate. Depending on the proportions of these ingredients, the strength and workability of a concrete mix can be affected adversely. Segregation is the separation of aggregate and cement paste, resulting in a lack of homogeneity. Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) does not require traditional consolidation; however, it can be affected by segregation. This project examines different SCC mixtures and establishes ranges of values for slump flow, T20 , Visual Stability Index (VSI), J-ring flow and J-ring flow spread that ensures proper aggregate distribution and therefore reduces the potential of segregation. …

Internal Curing Using Lightweight Fine Aggregate, Jonathan Kerby

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Curing refers to the process of maintaining the hydration of the concrete as it hardens, or sets up. Concrete is cured to prevent things such as cracking and shrinkage. Autogenous shrinkage occurs internally in concrete because there isn’t enough water in the concrete for hydration, so the concrete rapidly draws out water to complete the hydration cycle, causing internal drying of concrete. There are two types of curing: external and internal. External curing utilizes water from external sources such as saturated burlap mats, ponding, or fogging. Internal curing supplies water from an internal source inside the concrete, such as saturated …

Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Investigation Of Steel Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacted Concrete, Belayhun Tesfaye Gebretsadik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Concrete is a basic material used for a number of applications in civil engineering projects. Structural concrete is brittle material under normal conditions. Therefore, by adding short and randomly distributed steel fibers, it is possible to improve the ductility and other basic properties of concrete. However, the addition of steel fibers results in loss of workability of the concrete, especially in self-compacted concrete. Therefore, in this study, ADVA-140 high range water reducer (HRWR) superplasticizer was added to improve the workability of self-compacted (SC), steel-fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC). The amount of superplasticizer varied with the volume percentage of fiber for the beams; …

Hazard Classification And Hydraulic Remediation Options For Flat-Topped And Ogee-Crested Low-Head Dams, Riley J. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The dangerous hydraulic conditions that can form downstream of a low-head dam were investigated. These dangerous hydraulic conditions have been the cause of hundreds of drowning incidents since the construction of the first low-head dams. Two primary objectives were identified for this study, each of which were primarily performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics software, Flow-3D^®, with physical models used to verify the numerical results. The first objective was the identification of a risk factor made up of easily measured parameters that could accurately predict when the dangerous hydraulic conditions are present at a low-head dam. The risk …

Investigation Of Crashes And Identifying The Best Practices For Setting Up Speed Zones In Towns Along Rural Highways In Nevada, Krishna Prasad Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2010, 51,664 crashes occurred in Nevada. Only about 9% of those crashes occurred in rural areas of the state. However, if only fatal crashes are considered, 41% of those fatal crashes occurred in rural areas. Generally, speed zones are provided in towns along rural highways to reduce speed-related crashes. However, a guideline is necessary for a consistent procedure to setup speed zones throughout the state. The main objectives of this study are to determine factors associated with crashes and to identify the best practices for setting up speed zones in towns along rural highways.

Eleven towns along rural highways …

Evaluation Of Liquefaction Potential Of An Earth Dam Foundation Using In Situ Tests, Ikram Guettaya, Mohamed Ridha El Ouni

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

This paper presents a case study of liquefaction potential assessment carried out under an earth dam foundation in Tunisia. An emphasis was made on the exploration of geotechnical conditions and the interpretation of field tests results collected before and after soil densification using the vibrocompaction technique. The assessment of soil liquefaction susceptibility was made using deterministic and probabilistic simplified procedures developed from several case histories. Conclusively, the obtained results show that before vibrocompaction the soil was prone to the liquefaction hazard. However, after vibrocompaction, a significant improvement of the soil resistance reduces the liquefaction potential of the sandy foundation. Indeed, …

An Investigation On The Stack Vibrations And Geotechnical Rehabilitation Solutions Case-Study: Khangiran Gas Refinery, Hadi Ghodrat, Abolfazl Yazdinejad, Javad Hosseini Masum, Mehdi Barjini Khabbaz, Arsalan Ghahramani

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The 75 (m) high stacks of the sulfur recovery units of Khangiran Gas Refinery in Iran exhibited significant levels of vibration in winds. Field observations reported that vibration occurred in the stacks 9 times during reel years. The longest vibration duration is 8 hours and maximum tip deflection is 1 (m). In most intensive vibration occurrence much amount of water exits from around of foundation and some crack is created in the structure. Stack diameter is 4.57 (m) at the bottom and 3.43 (m) at the top and its total weight is 182.3 (Ton). The octagonal foundation diameter is 14 …

Ground Improvement For The Smithland Hydroelectric Project, Thomas Andrews, Lin Zhao, Luling Yang, Abid Mirza

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

American Municipal Power is developing the Smithland Hydroelectric Project adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ existing Smithland Locks and Dam on the Ohio River. The site geology is characterized by over 100 feet of variable alluvial deposits overlying karstic limestone. The investigation program revealed loose to medium dense sands and sandy gravels along with some interbedded clay. Large voids were encountered in rock and ground loss into solution features was believed to have created ‘chimneys’ of loosened soil. A project-specific seismic hazard evaluation determined that the maximum credible earthquake (MCE) is a 7.5M event associated with the New …

Estimation Of Site Effects In The Iranian Plateau Using The Quarter-Wavelength Method, Mohammad Ebrahim Fakhimnia, Hamid Zafarani, Shima Shams Rad

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The characteristics of strong ground motion at a given site depend upon the source mechanism, the transmission path together with the geological characteristics of source to the site, and the local soil conditions at the site, mostly known in the engineering and seismological literature as site effects. In the context of the stochastic simulation methods (e.g. Boore 1983), site effects play a significant rule in ground-motion studies. The objective of this paper is the assessment of site effects (both crustal amplification and near surface attenuation) in the Iran plateau. The effects in different parts of Iran were estimated based on …

Experimental Investigation Into Natural Base Isolation System For Earthquake Protection, Srijit Bandyopadhyay, Aniruddha Sengupta, G. R. Reddy

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

This paper presents the results of experimental investigations into the performance of a well-designed layer of sand, and layer of sand mixed with shredded tire (rubber) as low cost base isolators. The building foundation is modeled by a 200 mm by 200 mm and 40 mm thick rigid plexi-glass block. The model footing is placed in the middle of a 1m by 1m tank filled with sand. The selected base isolator is placed between the footing and the sand foundation. The whole setup is mounted on the shake table and subjected to sinusoidal motion with varying amplitude and frequency. Acceleration …

Estimating Seismic Settlements From Liquefaction And Cyclic Softening And Their Impact To Design Of A School Building, James Wetenkamp, Jorge Meneses, Zia Zafir

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Estimation of static and seismic settlements is critical for the design of a structure to assess whether the structure can tolerate given levels of total and differential settlements and angular distortion. The design of a public school building required the estimation of both liquefaction-induced settlement due to the presence of a potentially liquefiable layer, and settlement from cyclic softening of soft clay layers. Tolerable levels of differential settlements for the proposed school building were not to exceed 2 inches across the building. The soft clay had a plasticity index of 12, a liquid limit of 32, and SPT blow counts …

Lessons From The Seismic Performance Of Pile-Supported Bridges Affected By Liquefaction During The M8.8 2010 Maule Chile Earthquake, Christian Ledezma

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Ground failure case studies have been the source of the most important advances in geotechnical earthquake engineering over the past 50 years. Documented case histories from the 2010 M8.8 Maule Chile earthquake will, if carefully studied, further advance this field. The 2010 M8.8 earthquake in Chile showed that liquefaction-induced soil-foundation-structure interaction problems are still far from being completely understood. The observed damage and partial collapse of pile-supported bridges like Juan Pablo II, Llacolén, Tubul, La Mochita, and Raqui, is most likely due to the effects of liquefaction-induced lateral and vertical ground displacement, which often causes large ground deformations that impose …

Performance Of Lightweight Structures During Liquefaction From Recent Earthquakes, Jorge F. Meneses, Yun Liao

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Several case histories of lightweight structures performance during liquefaction from recent earthquake are reviewed. The review is focused on performance of lightweight structures in terms of liquefaction-induced vertical settlement, tilting, lateral displacement and their effects on occupancy and functionality of the structures. These case histories were reported during the 1997 M_w 7.4 Caucete- Argentina, 2007 M_w 8.0 Pisco-Peru, 2010 M_w 8.8 Chile, 2010 M_w 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah, 2010-2011 New Zealand, and 2011 M_w 9.0 Great East Japan earthquakes. The review is performed to identify similarities, discuss conditions, and their effects on foundation and structures. Financial …

Seismic Hazard Assessment And Design Ground Motion: Lessons Learned From Recent Earthquakes, Zhenming Wang

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

Recent earthquakes, the 2008 Wenchuan, 2009 L’Aquila, 2010 Haiti, and 2011 Christchurch and Japan in particular, have called attention to the probabilistic seismic hazard maps, particularly the ground motions with 10, 5, and 2 percent probabilities of exceedance in 50 years. As discussed in this paper, these ground motions are artifacts because they were produced from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). PSHA is a mathematical formulation derived from a rigorous probability analysis of the distribution of earthquake magnitudes, locations, and ground-motion attenuation. Some of the assumptions and distributions that PSHA is based on have been found to be invalid in …

Variation Of Intrinsic And Scattering Attenuation Of Seismic Waves With Depth In The Bam Region, East-Central Iran, Majid Mahood

International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering

The attenuation properties of the lithosphere in the Bam region, East-Central Iran, have been investigated. For this purpose, 42 local earthquakes (aftershocks of Bam earthquake, M_w 6.5, 2003) having focal depths less than 25 km have been used. The quality factor of coda waves (Q_c) has been estimated using the single backscattering model. The quality factors Q_p, Q_d (P and direct S-waves) have been estimated using the extended-coda normalization method. Q_i and Q_s (the intrinsic and scattering attenuation parameters) have been estimated for the region. The values of Q_p, Q …