Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Simultaneous Equation Modeling For Crash Rate Of Freeway Segments, Anthony Ramos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2010, the total number of reported traffic crashes in the state of Nevada was 51,664 of which 235 (0.6%) resulted in one or more deaths (Nevada Department of Transportation, 2012). The state's "Zero Fatalities" traffic safety campaign aims to reduce the rate even further. Out of the total number of crashes, Clark County (includes Las Vegas) accounted for 78.89%. This study examines safety improvement by developing advanced crash prediction models. The system of crash prediction equations consider geometric conditions and traffic volume using simultaneous equation modeling (SEM). The models are based on geometric characteristics and traffic volume data collected …

Laboratory Modeling Of Erosion Potential In Dam Foundations Due To Foundation Voids, Tyler K. Coy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Earthen dams and levees create high gradients and increased hydraulic pressures in the underlying soil, which can lead to erosion and other challenges. Karst formations and other defects such as cracks in the foundation and/or abutments can lead to failure mechanisms such as internal erosion. Generally these voids or cracks are filled with soil, but due to the increased pressures and gradients that dams and levees create, the original soil is pushed out, thus creating a void that acts as a conduit for more soil to follow. Different soils will erode at different rates and some even create a natural …

Impact Of Organic Matter Composition From Urban Streams And Storm Water On Oxygen Consumption In The Jordan River, Jacob Matt Richardson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The water quality of the Jordan River has been the subject of a Total Maximum Daily Load study conducted under the direction of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality's Water Quality Division (DWQ). They have determined the oxygen impairment issues in the river are most likely tied to the amount of organic material entering the river from various sources.

The focus of the study conducted by Jacob Richardson was organic material that enters the Salt Lake City storm drain system, and is eventually released into the Jordan River. He found that leaves, grass, and wood particles that enter the storm …

Models And Solution Algorithms For Asymmetric Traffic And Transit Assignment Problems, Donghyung Yook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Generally, modeling is a simplified representation of the real world; however, this research adds value to the modeling practice by investigating the asymmetric interactions observed in the real world in order to explore potential improvements of the transportation modeling. The enhanced representation of the transportation system by the asymmetric transportation equilibrium problem is promising because there are various asymmetric interactions in real transportation such as intersections, highway ramps, toll roads and in the structure of the transit fares.

The dissertation considers the asymmetric interactions of flows in the traffic and transit assignment problems with an efficient solution algorithm. The study …

Numerical Investigation Of One-Dimensional Shallow Water Flow And Sediment Transport Model Using Discontinouous Galerkin Method, Farzam Safarzadeh Maleki

All Dissertations

A one-dimensional shallow water flow and sediment transport model is developed using a discontinuous Galerkin finite element scheme. As a first step, four different time marching schemes as well as three different slope limiters have been investigated to find the optimum modeling combination. The efficiency and accuracy of the time marching schemes and slope limiters are quantitatively examined using CPU runtime and comparison between the simulated results and theoretical/experimental data. It is found that using the second order Adam-Bashforth time marching scheme and Monotonized Central method leads to most efficient and accurate results. As the second part of this research, …

Minimizing Bridge And Pavement Deterioration From Large Trucks: A Policy Analysis For Damage Recovery, Kakan Dey

All Dissertations

Facing an exceptional challenge of maintaining state roadways with ever-shrinking financial resources, this research examined multiple facets of the impact of overweight trucks. The objectives of this research were to investigate the impact of overweight trucks on pavements and bridges, and develop policy recommendations based on technical analysis and the modern political and institutional environment in South Carolina. To achieve the objectives, this research modeled pavement and bridge deterioration, investigated the adequacy of standard practices in state agencies, examined how trucking industry perceives those practices, and developed policy analysis models. Pavement and bridge deterioration analysis revealed that pavement and bridge …

Development Of An Integrated Incident And Transit Priority Management Control System, Faisal Ahmed

Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to develop a distributed adaptive control system which can work standalone for a single intersection to handle various boundary conditions of recurrent, non-recurrent congestion, transit signal priority and downstream blockage to improve the overall network in terms of productivity and efficiency. The control system uses link detectors’ data to determine the boundary conditions of all incoming and exit links. Four processes or modules are deployed. The traffic regime state module estimates the congestion status of the link. The incident status module determines the likelihood of an incident on the link. The transit priority module …

Comparison Of Selected Differential Producing, Ultrasonic, And Magnetic Flow Meters, Johnny B. Prettyman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Flow meters are used to measure flow accurately. There are many different flow meters and it is necessary to know which will function best for specific situations. A wide variety of flow meters were selected for the study to assist in showing that each flow meter has its tradeoffs. The selected meters include: three types of Venturi meters, a wedge meter, a V-cone meter, an electromagnetic flow meter, and an ultrasonic flow meter. The characteristics researched in this study are discharge coefficient (Cd) over a range of Reynolds numbers (Re), head loss across each flow meter, life, and cost of …

Drinking Water In The Developing World: Sources Of Fecal Contamination In Pitcher Pump Systems And Measurement Alternatives, Meghan Wahlstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been reported that globally we have achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7C, to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water; however, there is a major flaw with this statement. While Target 7C calls for access to `safe' drinking water, what is actually being measured and reported is access to an `improved' water source. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that they must use this proxy measure because the methods for water quality testing are too expensive and logistically complicated, but by doing so, they may be over reporting safe water coverage.

This …

A System Dynamics Approach To Integrated Water And Energy Resources Management, Yilin Zhuang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and energy are two of the most important resources for societal prosperity and economic development. It is clear that water and energy are intrinsically linked together and depend on one another in modern society. To date, however, efforts on water-energy nexus concentrate on quantifying the energy use in water cycle or the water use in energy production. From management perspective, water and energy are still managed separately. Little work has been done to investigate the impacts of the management options associated with one resource on the other and examine the integrated water and energy management options. Accordingly, the overall …

Numerical Simulation Of Flow In Ozonation Process, Jie Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has shown great potential as a powerful and cost-efficient tool to troubleshoot existing disinfection contactors and improve future designs for the water and wastewater treatment utilities.

In the first part of this dissertation two CFD simulation methodologies or strategies for computing turbulent flow are evaluated in terms of the predicted hydraulic performance of contactors. In the LES (large eddy simulation) methodology, the more energetic, larger scales of the turbulence are explicitly computed or resolved by the grid. In the less computationally intensive RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) methodology, only the mean component of …

An Assessment Of The Emas Pump And Its Potential For Use In Household Water Systems In Uganda, Jacob Daniel Carpenter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rural improved water supply coverage in Uganda has stagnated around 64% for a number of years and at this point more than 10 million rural people do not have access to an improved drinking water source. It has been recognized that progress toward improved water supply coverage and increased service levels may be gained through Government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) support of private investment in household and shared water supplies, commonly known as Self-supply. Self-supply can be promoted by introducing and building local capacity in appropriate and affordable water supply technologies such as hand-dug wells, manually drilled boreholes, low-cost pumps, …

Occurrence And Removal Of Ultra-Low Level Hexavalent Chromium In Drinking Water, Christel Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project provides insight for drinking water utilities to better understand chromium behavior in their own waters. Seven full-scale treatment plants developed a snapshot profile of chromium behavior and treatability. If ultra-low level Cr6 is to be controlled, the key treatment processes in need of further investigation are lime softening, oxidation by chlorine, chloramines, or permanganate, and reduction-coupled coagulation using ferrous iron.

Chlorine was shown to oxidize ultra-low levels of Cr3 to Cr6 in less than seven hours. The distribution system investigations showed the concentration of Cr6 could change between the point of entry and the tap. It is therefore …

Statistical Models Of The Lambert Road Bridge: Changes In Natural Frequencies Due To Temperature, Nickolas Ryan Foust

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have become tools for understanding how a civil structure truly behaves. In bridge structures, vibration-based SHM systems can be used to monitor the bridge’s modal parameters. Changes in modal parameters may indicate a change in the structure itself, boundary conditions, or damage. These modal parameters also vary with environmental factors, mainly temperature. Statistical models help show the correlation between modal parameters and temperature and can be used to filter out unimportant temperature effects. If done successfully, physical changes can be indicated and further inspection can be accomplished to minimize further damage.

The bridge structure utilized …

Analysis Of Full-Scale Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Mse) Wall Using Crimped Steel Wire Reinforcement, Joshua Aaron Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Utah State University partnered with Hilfiker Retaining Walls to study the behavior and feasibility of crimped steel wire mat reinforcements. Researchers from Utah State University organized the study and created design for a full-scale model. Construction efforts were completed in cooperation of laborers from Utah State University, Hilfiker Retaining Walls, and Circle C Construction. The purpose of the study was to analyze the behavior and feasibility of a full-scale MSE wall using crimped steel wire mat reinforcements.

The estimated cost of the project was $53,600. The cost included the material cost of the …

Shear And Flexural Capacity Of Four 50-Year-Old Post-Tensioned Concrete Bridge Girders, Wing Hong Louis Lo

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During the fall of 2012, two separate Interstate 15 highway bridges over the 400 South roadway in Orem, Utah were demolished after 50 years of service. Four post-tensioned girders were salvaged from both the north-bound and south-bound bridge. A series of tests was performed with these girders in the System Material And Structural Health Laboratory (SMASH Lab). The girders were tested with different loading criteria to determine the strength and material properties of the girder. The experimental results were compared with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load Resistance Factored Design (AASHTO LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications and …

In Situ Decomposition Of Northern Hardwood Tree Boles: Decay Rates And Nutrient Dynamics In Wood And Bark, Chris E. Johnson, Thomas G. Siccama, Ellen G. Denny, Mary Margaret Koppers, Daniel J. Vogt

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

The decomposition of coarse woody debris contributes to forest nutrient sustainability and carbon balances, yet few field studies have been undertaken to investigate these relationships in northern hardwood forests. We used a paired-sample approach to study the decomposition of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), American beech (Fagus grandifolia Erhr.), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) boles at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. Mass loss over 16 yr followed a first-order exponential decay pattern with half-lives ranging from 4.9 to 9.4 yr in bark, and 7.3 to 10.9 yr in wood. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations …

Palanquin (Norimono) With Tokugawa And Ichijo Crests, Risd Museum, Melissa Carr

Channel

This elaborate palanquin, or onna norimono (“ride for a woman”), transported a bride of high social standing to the groom’s residence on their wedding day. The exterior is constructed in wood and embellished with black lacquer, gold paint, and metal fittings. Two repeated crests serve as decoration and signify that the groom descended from Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the first military ruler, or shogun, of the Edo Period. The compact interior is embellished with an armrest and scenes from The Tale of Genji, an 11th-century masterpiece of Japanese literature, written by a noblewoman about court life. On the back wall is …

Damage Mapping Of Powdery Mildew In Winter Wheat With High-Resolution Satellite Image, Lin Yuan, Jingcheng Zhang, Yeyin Shi, Chenwei Nie, Liguang Wei, Jihua Wang

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Powdery mildew, caused by the fungus Blumeria graminis, is a major winter wheat disease in China. Accurate delineation of powdery mildew infestations is necessary for site-specific disease management. In this study, high-resolution multispectral imagery of a 25 km2 typical outbreak site in Shaanxi, China, taken by a newly-launched satellite, SPOT-6, was analyzed for mapping powdery mildew disease. Two regions with high representation were selected for conducting a field survey of powdery mildew. Three supervised classification methods—artificial neural network, mahalanobis distance, and maximum likelihood classifier—were implemented and compared for their performance on disease detection. The accuracy assessment showed that the ANN …

Development Of A Mash Tl-3 Transition Between Guardrail And Portable Concrete Barriers, David A. Gutierrez

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Often, road construction causes the need to create a work zone. In these scenarios, portable concrete barriers (PCBs) are typically installed to shield workers and equipment from errant vehicles as well as prevent motorists from striking other roadside hazards. For an existing W-beam guardrail system installed adjacent to the roadway and near the work zone, guardrail sections are removed in order to place the portable concrete barrier system. The focus of this research study was to develop a proper stiffness transition between W-beam guardrail and portable concrete barrier systems. This research effort was accomplished through development and refinement of design …

Termediator-Ii: Identification Of Interdisciplinary Term Ambiguity Through Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Owen G. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Technical disciplines are evolving rapidly leading to changes in their associated vocabularies. Confusion in interdisciplinary communication occurs due to this evolving terminology. Two causes of confusion are multiple definitions (overloaded terms) and synonymous terms. The formal names for these two problems are polysemy and synonymy. Termediator-I, a web application built on top of a collection of glossaries, uses definition count as a measure of term confusion. This tool was an attempt to identify confusing cross-disciplinary terms. As more glossaries were added to the collection, this measure became ineffective. This thesis provides a measure of term polysemy. Term polysemy is effectively …

Effects Of Stratospheric Ozone Recovery On Photochemistry And Ozone Air Quality In The Troposphere, H. Zhang, Shiliang Wu, Y. Huang, Y. Wang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

There has been significant stratospheric ozone depletion since the late 1970s due to ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). With the implementation of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments and adjustments, stratospheric ozone is expected to recover towards its pre-1980 level in the coming decades. In this study, we examine the implications of stratospheric ozone recovery for the tropospheric chemistry and ozone air quality with a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). With a full recovery of the stratospheric ozone, the projected increases in ozone column range from 1% over the low latitudes to more than 10% over the polar regions. The sensitivity factor …

Effects Of Calcium Treatment On Forest Floor Organic Matter Composition Along An Elevation Gradient, Ankit Balaria, Chris E. Johnson, Peter M. Groffman

Civil and Environmental Engineering - All Scholarship

Calcium amendment is a restorative option for nutrient-depleted, acidic soils in the forests of the northeastern United States. We studied the effects of watershed-scale wollastonite (CaSiO₃) application on the structural composition of soil organic matter (SOM) and hot-water extractable organic matter (HWEOM) at the Hubbard Brook Experiment Forest in New Hampshire 7-9 years after treatment, along an elevation gradient. Soils in the high-elevation spruce/fir/birch (SFB) zone contained significantly greater amounts of HWEOM compared to lower elevation hardwood soils, likely due to differences in litter quality and slower decomposition rates in colder soils at higher elevation. The only significant …

A Junction Tree Based Reinforcement Learning Algorithm For Coordinated Multi Agent Systems To Solve Network Level Signal Control Problems, Feng Zhu, Husain M. Abdul Aziz, Zinwu Qian, Satish Ukkusuri

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.

A Meta-Heuristic Approach To Reposition Bicycles In A Public Bicycle Sharing System, Binh Luong, Pulkit Parikh, Satish Ukkusuri

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.

Concrete Conductivity: Effects Of Temperature, Saturation And Air Content, Parth Panchmatia, Jan Olek, Nancy Whiting, Mike Byers, Tommy Nantung

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.

Examining The Impact Of Pavement Rehabilitation Trigger Values And Annual Rehabilitation Funding On The Long-Term Network-Level Pavement Condition: A Case Study With The Indiana State Urban Road Network, Menna Noureldin, Jon D. Fricker, Kumares C. Sinha

Purdue Road School

Management of highway assets, including pavements, is immensely challenging in an era of uncertain funding for transportation agencies and higher service expectations from the public. Furthermore, the maintenance of pavement assets in good serviceable condition is one of the most cost-intensive operations for a highway agency.

Between 1996 and 2008, the Indiana DOT spending on improvement of pavement assets fluctuated between 35% and 50% of its asset management budget annually (Everett2012). Therefore, pavement managers are constantly exploring strategies to fulfill their mission of maintaining roads in good condition with the minimumbudget. Strategies may include examining the effectiveness of individual pavement …

Winter Storm Interstate Travel Times (January 5, 2014 Storm), Michelle Mekker, Darcy M. Bullock

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.

Mobile Tools For Ltap Centers, Indiana Ltap

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.

I-65/I-70 South Split Pavement Reconstruction: Documentation & Quantitative Analysis Using Time Lapse Photography, Steven Lavrenz, Teresa Morris, Darcy M. Bullock

Purdue Road School

No abstract provided.