Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Choice Of Thixotropic Index To Evaluate Formwork Pressure Characteristics Of Self-Consolidating Concrete, Ahmed F. Omran, Kamal H. Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Formwork lateral pressure exerted by concrete is affected by mixture composition, placement conditions, and formwork characteristics. The mixture composition includes binder type and content, supplementary cementitious materials, fillers, water-to-cementitious ratio, content and characteristics of coarse aggregate, paste volume, chemical admixtures, concrete unit weight, concrete consistency, and temperature. Thixotropy of concrete expressed here in terms of structural build-up at rest is employed to collectively reflect the effect of combined mix design factors on formwork pressure. This research demonstrates relationships between 12 indices that can be used to evaluate the structural build-up at rest of concrete, determined using portable vane, inclined plane, …

Four-Dimensional Reflectivity Data Comparison Between Two Ground-Based Radars: Methodology And Statistical Analysis, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, James A. Smith

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A methodology is proposed to compare radar reflectivity data obtained from two partially overlapping ground-based radars in order to explain relative differences in radar-rainfall products and establish sound merging procedures for multi-radar observing networks. To identify radar calibration differences, radar reflectivity is compared for well-matched radar sampling volumes viewing common meteorological targets. Temporal separation and three-dimensional matching of two different sampling volumes were considered based on the original polar coordinates of radar observation. Since the proposed method assumes radar beam propagation under standard atmospheric conditions, anomalous propagation cases were eliminated from the analysis. The reflectivity comparison results show systematic differences …

Acoustic Properties Of Concrete Panels With Crumb Rubber As A Fine Aggregate Replacement, Niall Holmes, Alex Browne, Christopher Montague

Articles

This paper presents the acoustic performance of small scale crumb rubber concrete (CRC) panels in terms of the sound absorbance and insulation at low (63, 125, 250 & 500 Hz) and high (1000, 2000, 4000 and 5000 Hz) frequencies. Acoustic tests were conducted with differing levels of fine aggregate replacement with crumb rubber (7.5 and 15%) with four different grades following freezing and heating. Analysis of the workability, compressive strength and density are also presented. The results found that CRC performed well in terms of sound absorbance particularly with higher proportions (15% here) and grades of crumb rubber. As an …

The Sky Is Falling Ii: Impact Of Deposition Produced During The Static Testing Of Solid Rocket Motors On Corn And Alfalfa, William J. Doucette, Scout Mendenhall, Laurie S. Mcneill, Justin Heavilin

Reports

Tests of horizontally restrained rocket motors at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah,USA result in the deposition of an estimated 1.5 million kg of entrained soil and combustion products (mainly aluminum oxide, gaseous hydrogen chloride and water) on the surrounding area. The deposition is referred to as test fire soil (TFS). Farmers observing TFS deposited on their crops expressed concerns regarding the impact of this material. To address these concerns, we exposed corn and alfalfa to TFS collected during a September 2009 test. The impact was evaluated by comparing the growth and tissue composition of controls relative to the treatments. …

Safety Measures For Trucks: A Comparison Between Eu And U.S., Jan Kapusta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Road transportation is playing an important role in almost all of the freight movements and contributes to the economy. It has the highest share in the modal division of transported goods. This situation is not about to change in next years to come. Therefore, it is necessary to change the current situation and create rules and regulations that would lead to decrease in number of accidents either in EU or in U.S. The goal of this research is to analyze selected parameters related to the safety of truck transportation in EU and in U.S. This thesis also identifies and compares …

Water Recovery From Silica Saturated Ro Concentrate By The Concentrate Enhanced Reverse Osmosis Process, Gautam Patwardhan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Membrane fouling due to silica precipitation during reverse osmosis (RO) continues to be documented as the most common challenge in attaining stable continuous operation of RO systems across water treatment plants (1). Silica scale precipitation is time dependent and involves multiple steps leading to aqueous polymerization, condensation of polymers to form colloids, and deposition onto a solid surface (2). Exceeding the solubility of silica, widely considered to be in the range of 100-140 ppm, under a pH of 8 at 25 °C by various researchers, results in the precipitation of silica on the membranes, thereby limiting water recovery. Once the …

Civil Engineering Accreditation Document 2013 (Revised 2014), Georgia Southern University Libraries

Program Accreditation Reports (2013-2023)

This is the revised 2013 report for 2014.

Industrial Relations And The Construction Sector: The Implications Of Mcgowan And Ors V The Labour Court, Ruairi Hayden

Other Resources

On the 9^th May 2013 the Supreme Court in McGowan and Ors v The Labour Court and Ors found Registered Employment Agreements to be incompatible with the Constitution. Registered Employment Agreements (REA) are provided for in Part III of the Industrial Relations Act 1946. Collective bargaining has traditionally been the method for employees and employers to negotiate terms of employment within the construction industry. These agreements would then be registered with the Labour Court and they would have legal effect. Registered Employment Agreements are particularly suited to the construction industry due to the labour intensive nature of the industry …

Why Ricker Wavelets Are Successful In Processing Seismic Data: Towards A Theoretical Explanation, Afshin Gholamy Salehabady

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In many engineering applications ranging from engineering seismology to petroleum engineering and civil engineering, processing seismic data plays a key role. In processing seismic data, it turns out to be very efficient to describe the signal's spectrum as a linear combination of Ricker wavelet spectra.

In this Thesis, we provide a possible theoretical explanation for this empirical efficiency. Specifically, signal propagation through several layers is discussed, and it is shown that the Ricker wavelet is the simplest non-trivial solution for the corresponding data processing problem, under the condition that the described properties of the approximation family are satisfied.

Transition Zone Design Final Report, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Adam J. Kirk, Andrea Cull, Austin Dahlem

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The purpose of this report is to document the activities of the research effort and present the findings of the work accomplished. Transition zone is the area in which it is communicated to drivers that the roadway environment is changing (i.e., from rural to built-up) and that their speed should change as well. This study evaluated treatments that could advise drivers to this. Based on the study findings, it is recommended to add additional speed warning sites to such transition zones.

Concession Analysis For Highway Infrastructure Projects Financed As Public-Private Partnerships, Tanaphat Jeerangsuwan

Open Access Dissertations

Public funds allocated to the improvement and maintenance of highway infrastructure have reached the limits due to a rapid rate of socioeconomic growth and deterioration in infrastructure system performance. A public-private partnership (PPP) concessions a contractual and project financing mechanism that helps public authorities lessen the impact of their limited financial resources. In this project financing scheme, a public authority enters into a partnership with a private concessionaire for the purpose of developing a specific infrastructure facility. In return, the concessionaire receives the right to operate for a specified period of time. This creates strong potential for the delivery of …

Methods For Estimating Sediment Yield And Dam Capacity In The Great Lakes Watershed, Jennifer Hui

Wayne State University Theses

Sedimentation is the most important factor in the longevity of dams built in the United States. As most dams are reaching their capacity for sediment storage, this study investigated the historical and predicted future rates of sediment accumulation as well as the remaining storage capacity. This study examined the mechanisms influencing sediment production and storage in the watershed to provide future insight regarding potential control of this process. Twelve reservoirs throughout the Great Lakes watershed were selected and analyzed for their greater applicability to the entire watershed. Both historic and new data were collected on these dams to determine how …

Trends In Coal Utilization And Coal Combustion Product Production In Kentucky: Results Of The 2012 Survey Of Power Plants, James C. Hower, Gerald A. Thomas, Shelley G. Hopps

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research has conducted a survey of Kentucky’s utility coal-fired power plants every 5 years since 1992. The survey includes a collection of the feed coal and the coal combustion products (CCPs). The latest collection was in 2012, with the accompanying information survey covering trends in 2011. Overall coal-fired energy production decreased, and the nature of the CCPs changed for a number of reasons, including but not limited to, increased gas production in the Appalachians, a series of warm winters, energy conservation, depletion of Appalachian coal reserves, and utility responses to regulations. From …

Quantifiying The Effectiveness Of A Grout Curtain Using A Laboratory-Scale Physical Model, Elliot N. Magoto

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

In the past decade, the grouting industry has made significant technological advancements in real-time monitoring of flow rate and pressure of pumped grout, stable grout mix design, and with grout curtain concepts dealing with placement and orientation. While these practices have resulted in improved construction practices in the grouting industry, current design guidelines for grout curtains are still predominately based on qualitative measures such as engineering judgment and experience or are based on proprietary methods. This research focused on the development of quantitative guidelines to evaluate the effectiveness of a grout curtain in porous media using piezometric and hydraulic flow …

2014 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link, Ryan Chapman

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain high quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on nearly 17,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, more than 134,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, as well as the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

2014 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2014, Nebraska Water Center

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

Letter from the Director

I am pleased to present this annual report on the activities, finances and many accomplishments of the Nebraska Water Center (NWC) during 2013 and 2014, a time when the NWC is celebrating its Golden Anniversary. More than being a simple look back at where we’ve been and what we have accomplished over the past year, this report looks forward to the complex challenges and exciting opportunities that lie ahead of us. We are now an integral part of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI), a growing global institute focused on one of the …

Measurements Of Fluvial Sediments Using A Single-Frequency Acoustic Attenuation System, Thomas Alexander Kajdan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suspended sediments are a global-scale pollutant that threaten the integrity of our waterways and pose an environmental threat to many aquatic ecosystems. Innovative techniques are required to continuously monitor this pollutant. Ultrasonic acoustic measurements have the potential to improve the temporal resolution of fluvial sediment data. This work investigates the use of a prototype field grade single-frequency acoustic attenuation system that was developed at the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA), located at the University of Mississippi. This field-deployable unit consists of two 20 MHz immersion transducers that are aligned in a "pitch-catch" configuration at a fixed distance of 18 …

Damage Prediction Of Low-Rise Buildings Under Hurricane Winds, Fang Pan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Low-rise buildings are defined as the buildings with a mean roof height less than the least horizontal dimension and less than 18.3 m in ASCE 7-10. They represent the majority of commercial, residential, and industrial buildings. Approximate 90% of the existing low-rise residential buildings are constructed as wood light-frame buildings that are not fully engineered and thus more vulnerable to extreme wind pressures, wind borne debris and rain water intrusion. The resulting hurricane-induced economic loss is primarily attributed to the insufficient performance of building envelope instead of the catastrophic failure of their main structural system for Category 1 to 4 …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Degradation In Tidally Influenced Coastal Marsh Wetland Studied In Laboratory Mesocosm, Doorce S. Batubara

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The compact mesocosm which was designed for a laboratory scale was used for the kinetic study of refractory organic compounds in a tidally influenced coastal marsh wetland soil. The tidal cycles were controlled pneumatically using an air chamber inside the mesocosm tank. Phenanthrene as the test compound showed that its degradation in the intertidal wetland soil was faster than that in the subtidal wetland soil. Oxygen resupply during the tidal cycles to the intertidal wetland soil would enhance the degradation. Comparison of degradation rates of phenanthrene (Phe), pyrene (Pyr), and benzo[e]pyrene (BeP) were also studied using the mesocosm. The degradation …

Comparison Of Costs Of Personal Protective Equipment For All Workers To Avoid Costs Of Fall Accidents, Sultan Noori Al-Karawi

Masters Theses

"The construction industry is one of the most important industries in the United States. It is the biggest contributor in the growth of the U.S. economy. Despite the great achievements and prominent role for this sector in the U.S. economy, the construction industry is suffering from neglect and dereliction by related government institutions and private companies. This neglect led to formation of a negative image about the construction industry that has caused a deep impact in productivity and economic growth. One of the reasons is a high percentage of accidents that occur within the construction industry which leads to injuries …

Two Driven Pile Load Tests For Use In Missouri Lrfd Guidelines, Matthew Garry Stuckmeyer

Masters Theses

"A static pile load test program was initiated by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to evaluate the use of pile load tests in Missouri LRFD guidelines. The program's approach involves two phases to achieve the appropriate levels of reliability for driven piles in the state of Missouri. This thesis focuses on the data collection efforts of Phase 1. Two quick static pile load tests were performed to failure on test piles in the Southeast Lowlands geologic region of Missouri. The piles were dynamically monitored during installation and subsequent restrike tests performed. The results of the static and dynamic pile …

Shear Behavior Of High Strength Self-Consolidating Concrete In Nu Bridge Girders, Alexander Michael Griffin

Masters Theses

"As the nation's infrastructure continues to age, advanced concrete technologies have been developed to both reduce a structure's costs and increase its life expectancy. Since the early 1990's, self-consolidating concrete (SCC) has been one of these technologies. Many, however, have been reluctant to implement SCC in highway girders due to the mixture constituents. One of these concerns is the reduced content and size of the coarse aggregate. These differences in the concrete potentially hinder SCC's mechanical properties and shear resistance. Additionally, for high strength concretes (HSC) with weaker aggregates, shear cracks tend to propagate through the coarse aggregate, reducing the …

Adsorption And Desorption Capacity Of Methamphetamine In Gypsum Drywall, Hongwan Li

Masters Theses

"Drywall (gypsum boards) commonly used in buildings can adsorb indoor air pollutants and release them later exposing occupants over long periods of time. Methamphetamine is a drug of abuse that contaminates building materials in many homes, including painted drywall. The objective of this study is to quantify the meth-gypsum equilibrium partition coefficient, K_eq. This partition coefficient is defined as the mass of meth adsorbed per volume of gypsum per mass-concentration of gas-phase meth and has these units: (µg meth/m³ gypsum)/(µg meth/m³ air). The steady state equilibrium partition coefficient ranges from 1.1 to 3.0x10⁵ for one …

Understanding Hydrothermal Carbonization Of Mixed Feedstocks For Waste Conversion, Xiaowei Lu

Theses and Dissertations

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an environmentally beneficial means to convert waste materials to value-added solid and liquid products with minimal greenhouse gas emission. Research is lacking on understanding the influence of critical process conditions on product formation and environmental implication associated with HTC of waste streams. This work was conducted to determine how reaction conditions and heterogeneous compound mixtures (representative of municipal wastes) influence hydrothermal carbonization processes. The specific experiments include: (1) determine how carbonization product properties are manipulated by controlling feedstock composition, process conditions, and catalyst addition; (2) determine if carbonization of heterogeneous mixtures follows similar pathways as that …

Pile-Soil Interaction In Unsaturated Soil Conditions, Megan Hamilton

Honors Theses and Capstones

The degree of saturation has been proven to significantly affect geotechnical engineering designs for foundations. The changes in water content will influence the way the soil behaves, including its strength and stiffness parameters. These characteristics were analyzed for a uniform silty sand by developing P-Y curves, which relate lateral loading to lateral deformations. These P-Y curves were input into FB-Multipier, a software developed by the Bridge Software Institute. The software is capable of generating deformations as a result of user-defined loading cases. The results indicated that the middle range of degrees of saturation produced the least amount of deformation. This …

Dynamic Testing Procedures For Performance Assessment Of Nuclear Fuel Rods, Travis M. Adams

Honors Theses and Capstones

Existing transportation probabilistic risk assessment for spent nuclear fuel in the United States is based on short-term (decades) on-site storage at power plants before transport. Updated risk assessment estimates will be required as extended on-site storage (centuries) and higher burnup levels in fuel become standard. Nuclear fuel rods under these two conditions are more brittle than rods from short-term storage and intermediate burnup due to several mechanisms, including hydrogen embrittlement. Development of risk assessment requires characterizations of dynamic behavior of these degraded rods under transportation scenarios. This Honors thesis provides an initial literature review for a larger project that will …

Flash Hydrolysis Of Microalgae Biomass For Biofuels Intermediates Production, Protein Extraction, And Nutrients Recycle, Jose Luis Garcia Moscoso

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Microalgae have shown much higher growth rates and productivity when compared to conventional agricultural crops, aquatic plants and tree species, requiring much less land area than other biodiesel feedstock. To harness that potential the hydrothermal liquefaction of algae biomass was studied and a new process called "Flash Hydrolysis" was developed to use water under subcritical conditions, this process capitalizes on the difference in reaction kinetics of algae polymeric components and fractionates proteins in liquid phase in seconds of residence time.

The main objectives for this study are: Analyze the effect of temperature in FH process to maximize the extraction of …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Crash Frequency Data, Mojtaba Ale Mohammadi

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study comprises mainly of three papers. First, a systematic evaluation of the effects of Missouri's Strategic Highway Safety Plan between 2004 and 2007 is presented. Negative binomial regression models were developed for the before-through-change conditions for the various collision types and crash severities. The models were used to predict the expected number of crashes assuming with and without the implementation of MSHSP. This procedure estimated significant reductions of 10% in crashes frequency and a 30% reduction for fatal crashes. Reductions in the number of different collision types were estimated to be 18-37%. The results suggest that the MSHSP was …

Evaluation Of Long Term Effects Of Erosion Due To Groin Placement In The Northern Yucatan Peninsula, Andrew V. Mahfood

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis documents the results of a study conducted to evaluate the long term effects of groin placement on beach re-nourishment and beach restoration in the Yucatan peninsula. The study includes the evaluation of six control points located on Chelem beach in Yucatan, Mexico, very close to the Progreso pier. The control points were set up in an active groin field to record data on the re-nourishment project covering the Chelem beach area. These erosion control groins were constructed as part of an experimental project to see how the adopted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidelines, for installing groins, affected …