Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Towards An Alternate Evaluation Of Moisture-Induced Damage Of Bituminous Materials, Aboelkasim Diab, Zhanping You, Xu Yang, Mohd Rosli Mohd Hasan

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Moisture-induced damage is widely known to cause multiple distresses that affect the durability of constructed pavements and eventually lead to the costly maintenance of pavement structures. The reliability and practicality of the assessment protocol to evaluate moisture susceptibility of flexible pavements presents a dilemma within the asphalt community that arises from the complexity and interrelation of moisture mechanisms in the asphalt–aggregate system. Researchers worldwide are continuously trying to develop suitable evaluation methods to simulate the combined destructive field-induced effects of moisture in the laboratory to help practitioners identify and alleviate this complex problem. The main objective of this article is …

Assessment Of Differences Between Near-Surface Air And Soil Temperatures For Reliable Detection Of High-Latitude Freeze And Thaw States, Farjana Shati, Satya Prakash, Hamid Norouzi, Reginald Blake

Publications and Research

Near-surface air temperature and the underlying soil temperature are among the key components of the Earth’s surface energy budget, and they are important variables for the comprehensive assessment of global climate change. Better understanding of the difference in magnitude between these two variables over high-latitude regions is also crucial for accurate detections of freeze and thaw (FT) states. However, these differences are not usually considered and included in current remote sensing-based FT detection algorithms. In this study, the difference between near-surface air temperature at the 2-meter height and soil temperature at the 5-centimeter depth is assessed using ground-based observations that …

Performance Evaluation Of Rice Husk Ash (Rha) Modified Concrete, Mohammad Badrul Ahsan

Student Theses and Dissertations

Rice husk ash (RHA) is an agricultural by-product that has the potential of a pozzolanic material. It can be used as a partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in concrete. The present study investigates the performance of RHA-modified concrete with two amounts (10% and 20% by weight) of three types of RHA. Test results of RHA-modified concrete samples have been compared with those of the Control (no RHA) as well as concrete modified with a commonly used modifier called Class C fly ash (CFA) with 10% replacement. Effects of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and deicing chemicals have also been evaluated …

Datumate, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

Datumate is digitally transforming civil engineering processes used in construction, surveying and infrastructure inspection markets with fully automated, highly precise, cost effective and safe tools. It utilizes state-of-the-art image processing and advanced drones and camera technologies dramatically reducing the amount of time surveying crews spend in the field, speeding up construction progress checks and shortening infrastructure inspection duration, while maintaining survey grade accuracy. The intuitive, simple and automated solutions increase productivity by saving field and office time in civil engineering and inspection projects of roads, intersections, stockpile volumes, topography, piping, industrial facilities, bridges, property surveys, building facades, railways, cellular infrastructure …

Evaluating The Liquefaction And Reliquefaction Behavior Of A Carbonate Sand, Abouzar Sadrekarimi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Presentations

Despite extensive amount of research on liquefaction analysis of sands, reliquefaction behavior and cyclic liquefaction resistance of cohesionless soils under a repeated cyclic load have not received the same amount of consideration. This is important as most soil deposits in high seismic areas have been subjected to repeated number of earthquakes. This paper presents series of laboratory cyclic simple shear tests on specimens of a local carbonate sand from London, Ontario. Sand specimens are reconstituted at relative densities of 25%, 45%, and 65% and subjected to effective vertical stresses of 50, 100, 200, 400, and 600 kPa. Reconstituted samples are …

Dermal Uptake Of Benzophenone-3 From Clothing, Glenn C. Morrison, Gabriel Bekö, Charles J. Weschler, Tobias Schripp, Tunga Salthammer, Jonathan Hill, Anna Maria Andersson, Jørn Toftum, Geo Clausen, Hanne Frederiksen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Benzophenone-3 (also known as BP-3 or oxybenzone) is added to sunscreens, plastics, and some coatings to filter UV radiation. The suspected endocrine disruptor BP-3 has been detected in the air and settled dust of homes and is expected to redistribute from its original sources to other indoor compartments, including clothing. Given its physical and chemical properties, we hypothesized that dermal uptake from clothing could contribute to the body burden of this compound. First, cotton shirts were exposed to air at an elevated concentration of BP-3 for 32 days; the final air concentration was 4.4 μg/m3. Next, three participants wore the …

Green Vs. Gray Infrastructure Cost, Rosa A. Fernández Valasquez, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Grey To Green Infrastructure Transition - An Historical Shift In The Modern Infrastructure Paradigm, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Project Development Practices And Project Management Resources At State Transportation Agencies, Christopher Van Dyke, Bryan Gibson, Jeff Jasper, Doug Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Technical Assistance Report

At the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) Department of Highways, project development encompasses all the work activities needed to move a transportation project from concept and project initiation to construction letting. Developing projects efficiently requires the adoption of sound project management practices. And having recourse to validated project development practices is critical for helping KYTC project managers negotiate the variety of tasks and processes leading up to project implementation and delivery. For a project manager to be successful, they must possess a holistic understanding of how the complex interplay of engineering, environmental, and economic issues affect different stages and facets of …

An Artificial Neural Network Model For Predicting Freeway Work Zone Delays With Big Data, Bo Du

Dissertations

Lane closures due to road reconstruction and maintenance have resulted in a major source of non-recurring congestion on freeways. It is extremely important to accurately quantify the associated mobility impact so that a cost-effective work zone schedule and an efficient traffic management plan can be developed. Therefore, the development of a sound model for predicting delays or road users is desirable.

A comprehensive literature review on existing work zone delay prediction models (i.e., deterministic queuing model and shock wave model) is conducted in this study, which explores the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of different modeling approaches. The performance of those …

Erosion Behavior And Scour Risk Of Extremely Coarse Streambeds, Abolfazl Bayat

Dissertations

Bridge scour, which is the erosion of soil and rock around bridge abutments and piers, is the principal cause of bridge failure in the United States and around the world. Previous investigations of scour have focused mostly on fine sediments such as sand, silt, and small gravel, because such alluvium underlies a majority of bridges. The erosion resistance of coarser sediments has received limited attention to date, even though they dominate many small to medium-size rivers in the northern tiers of the United States, Europe, and Asia. This study focuses on the scour behavior of extremely coarse particles (ECP), namely …

Evaluating The Performance Of Contech's Stormfilter With Zpg Media Under The City Of Portland's 2016 Stormwater Management Manual Requirements For Manufactured Stormwater Treatment Technologies, Mawj T.H. Khammas

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Stormwater runoff is the water generated from excess rainfall or snowmelt that flows over impervious surfaces such as paved roads, parking lots, and on roofs, it often carries a variety of pollutants that adversely affect water quality in that region. Portland is a well-developed city; the majority of the streets are paved and impervious and will consequently generate a tremendous amount of stormwater this creates the necessity for management to help preserve and mimic natural hydrologic cycle through improving water quality. The StormFilter® with ZPG media, manufactured by CONTECH, is a manufactured stormwater treatment technology(MSTT) in which zeolite, perlite, and …

A Comparative Study On The Durability Of Geopolymer Mortars Produced With Ground Glass Fiber, Fly Ash, And Glass-Powder In Sodium Sulfate Solution, Hassan Rashidian-Dezfouli, Prasada Rao Rangaraju

Publications

An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the performance of geopolymers made with three different precursors consisting of fly ash, Ground Glass Fiber (GGF), and Glass-Powder (GLP) exposed to sodium sulfate solution. Precursors were activated using either sodium hydroxide solution or combinations of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution with varying levels of sodium and silica content. Among the mixtures with each of the three precursors, mortar mixtures with the highest compressive strength were selected to test their resistance against exposure to a 5% sodium sulfate solution. Changes in the weight and compressive strength of the specimens were monitored up …

Geopolitical Relations: Uganda’S Role In The Development Of The River Nile, Jordan Williams

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examined the geopolitical relations of the Nile Basin by looking at Uganda as a case study, and analyzed Uganda’s use and development of the River Nile. It reviews the history of transboundary politics and treaties along with Uganda’s development projects in the region. The paper then discusses modern relations and agreements, with a focus on the most recent agreement between the Riparian States, the Cooperative Framework Agreement, and how Uganda fits into them with regards to their interest in hydropower development within their borders on the Nile. It then explores possible future developments on the river and the …

Reliability Analysis Of Active Earth Pressure For Cantilever Walls On Mudflows And Residual Soils Of The Aburrá Valley, Juan David Castro, Juan Camilo Viviescas, Juan Pablo Osorio

Conference papers

According to the variability of the local geology of the Aburrá Valley, two geological strata with similar grain size distribution were analyzed. The geologies are composed of mudflows and residual soils from the San Diego stock in the Poblado neighborhood. These soils show a similar mechanical behavior in relation to the number of blows of the standard penetration test SPT. The analysis was carried out by reliability methods for the determination of the active earth pressure for the geotechnical design of a cantilever walls. The analysis consists in the variation of the height of the retaining wall between 1 and …

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Roads, Keith Pierce

News Items

No abstract provided.

Reliability Analysis Of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Walls, Michael Powers

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Geosynthetic reinforced soil walls have been widely used for earth retention and stabilization in many geotechnical applications. In the traditional design of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls, Allowable Stress Design (ASD) is used to address the uncertainties. However, it cannot explicitly consider the uncertainties in a systematic way in the design process; especially geotechnical uncertainties are typically at high levels and problem-specific. Traditional methods usually result in over-conservativeness, inconsistence, and empiricism in the design practice. Recently there has been a trend of the application of reliability methods for design of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls to explicitly address uncertainties in the design …

Performance-Based Contracting For Rest Area Maintenance, Michael Powers

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

To maintain rest area stops in the United States, three methods are used. They are the In-House method, Method-Based Contracting (MBC), and Performance-Based Contracting (PBC). In recent years, the PBC method has become increasingly popular because this method reduces the strain of managing In-House employees or MBC contracts, generates more business in the public sector, can increase the level of service (LOS), and generally reduces the costs of maintaining rest area stops up to 5%. In the United States, no less than 15 states use the PBC method to maintain their rest area stops, and the results from switching to …

Safety Concepts For Workers From An Osha Perspective, Zamaan Al-Shabbani, Roy E. Sturgill Jr., Gabriel B. Dadi

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Highway construction and maintenance workers face numerous hazards on job sites, many of which are unique by industry standards. Despite the exposure of state transportation agency employees and contractors to these hazards, there are few safety standards, regulations, programs that directly target the sector aimed at prevention and mitigation. To help the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) improve employee safety, researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) analyzed the frequency and causes of workplace injuries for 10 essential Cabinet maintenance operations. Most incidents were attributable to human factors or ergonomics. Based on this analysis, the leading causes of incidents, and a …

Understanding Sanitation Preferences: An Exploratory Study In The Sirohi District Of Rajasthan, Karen Mac

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Of all the countries in the world, India has the highest number of people practicing open defecation, causing adverse health outcomes from the unconfined spread of faecal matter. The Government of India is ambitiously aiming to end this practice through the construction of 12 million toilets by 2019, but historically, many toilets across India have gone unused. This study focused on understanding: (1) the reasons why people continue to openly defecate despite having toilets and (2) the requirements of a toilet that rural households would be willing to use. Along with 36 observations of household toilets, semi-structured group (n=8) and …

Effects Of Vacuuming Pervious Concrete On Infiltration Rate, Demetrios E. Maurakis, Eugene G. Maurakis

Virginia Journal of Science

The objectives of this research were twofold: test the infiltration rate of pervious concrete before and after vacuum cleaning and assess infiltration variability over time. Infiltration tests were performed on a 558.2 m2 area of pervious concrete, divided into sixteen 0.35 m2 test areas in a parking area at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia on five dates from November 4-December 30, 2013. Average infiltration rates (avg.= 22.8 and 36.3 L/m²/min) immediately after vacuuming were lower than those (avg.=30.7 and 41.3 L/m²/min) before vacuuming. We hypothesize that the vacuuming lifted materials towards the surface …

Geology Influence In The Slope Stability Analysis By Limit Equilibrium, Finite Elements And Random Finite Elements Methods, Juan Camilo Viviescas, Juan Pablo Osorio

Conference papers

Slope stability analyzes correspond to the evaluation of the safety factors commonly performed through the limit equilibrium and finite element methods. Due to the uncertainty of the geotechnical parameters, different statistical methods have emerged such as the limit equilibrium combined with the Monte Carlo simulation method and the random finite elements, which have been widely accepted in recent years. Normally, these analyzes are not performed taking into account the geological influence on the geotechnical properties, so in this work we proceed with the comparison of several geometrical typologies of slopes for mudflows and a residual soils of the Stock San …

Quantifying Pollutant Removal Rates Of Bioretention Basins As A Stormwater Best Management Practice, Evan Nathanial Waagen

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Water pollution is an ongoing problem that can be attributed to human activities. As world population increases and countries become more developed, this problem intensifies. Fortunately, the causes and solutions of water pollution are documented and have been implemented with various levels of success. These solutions, or Best Management Practices (BMPs), vary in type and function and remove pollutants from runoff prior to it reaching rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. This study investigates bioretention basins, a specific group of BMPs, and presents analysis and prediction of their performance, of which our knowledge is incomplete in the existing literature. …

Holistic Approach In Microalgae Conversion To Bioproducts And Biofuels Through Flash Hydrolysis, Ali Teymouri

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the demand for renewable energy, mainly biomass has increased. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that more than 13.3% of the total energy production in the first seven months of 2017 was produced from a biomass source. Among all biomass resources, microalgae has brought a lot of attention due to their numerous advantages such as higher growth rate and productivity compared with the conventional energy crops, higher energy conversion efficiency by photosynthesis, and less water requirement than terrestrial crops. However, its development is far behind industrial production. Several research efforts across the globe have been concerned with …

Elution Tailing Of Nonaqueous Phase Liquids In Porous Media, Louisa Orr

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A variety of porous media were studied to characterize contaminant dispersion over time. This work looked at a compilation of previously published studies to investigate the dependence of long term elution tailing trends on particular soil characteristics. Recession curve analysis was conducted on existing dispersed contaminant literature, to yield the low-concentration recession constant (K). The R² values correlating the soil properties to contaminant concentration ranged from 0.12494 to 0.95429. The low-concentration recession constant (K) values ranged from 0.9745407 0.9999988. The relationship between K and the soil properties porosity, organic carbon, and fines fraction is increasing. Bulk density and the …

Chemical Variations And Engineering Implications Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement And Chemically Modified Asphalt Binders, Md Shahriar Al Alam

Student Theses and Dissertations

Petroleum crude oil, the prime source of asphalt binder, originates from many naturally occurring crude sources, which vary widely in chemical compositions. These compositions are defined as Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, and Asphaltenes (SARA) fractions. Physical properties of an asphalt binder are closely linked to its crude-inherited SARA fractions. Thus, asphalt binders differ significantly from one another, while they are intended to serve the same way under a specified traffic loading intensity and temperature. To serve this need, asphalt binders are often modified chemically. Sometimes, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is added to this binder because of the limited supply of virgin …

Climate, Not Conflict, Explains Extreme Middle East Dust Storm, Anthony J. Parolari, Dan Li, Elie Bou-Zeid, Gabriel Katul, Shmuel Assouline

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The recent dust storm in the Middle East (September 2015) was publicized in the media as a sign of an impending ‘Dust Bowl.’ Its severity, demonstrated by extreme aerosol optical depth in the atmosphere in the 99th percentile compared to historical data, was attributed to the ongoing regional conflict. However, surface meteorological and remote sensing data, as well as regional climate model simulations, support an alternative hypothesis: the historically unprecedented aridity played a more prominent role, as evidenced by unusual climatic and meteorological conditions prior to and during the storm. Remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index demonstrates that vegetation cover …

Hydrologic Transport Of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon And Its Control On Chemical Weathering, Salvatore Calabrese, Anthony J. Parolari, Amilcare Porporato

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Chemical weathering is one of the major processes interacting with climate and tectonics to form clays, supply nutrients to soil microorganisms and plants, and sequester atmospheric CO₂. Hydrology and dissolution kinetics have been emphasized as factors controlling chemical weathering rates. However, the interaction between hydrology and transport of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in controlling weathering has received less attention. In this paper, we present an analytical model that couples subsurface water and chemical molar balance equations to analyze the roles of hydrology and DIC transport on chemical weathering. The balance equations form a dynamical system that fully determines …

The Bridge Newsletter Winter 2017, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-Hands-on experience in concrete materials research and construction practices
-Making ACML progress
-Taos bridge project

Development Of A Performance-Based Procedure For Assessment Of Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spread Displacements Using The Cone Penetration Test, Tyler Blaine Coutu

Theses and Dissertations

Liquefaction-induced lateral spread displacements cause severe damage to infrastructure, resulting in large economic losses in affected regions. Predicting lateral spread displacements is an important aspect in any seismic analysis and design, and many different methods have been developed to accurately estimate these displacements. However, the inherent uncertainty in predicting seismic events, including the extent of liquefaction and its effects, makes it difficult to accurately estimate lateral spread displacements. Current conventional methods of predicting lateral spread displacements do not completely account for uncertainty, unlike a performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) approach that accounts for the all inherent uncertainty in seismic design. The …