Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Geogrid Reinforcement On Railroad Ballast Performance Evaluated Through Triaxial Testing And Discrete Element Modeling, Yu Qian, Erol Tutumluer, Debakanta Mishra, Hasan Kazmee

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Geogrids have been found to effectively improve the performance of unbound aggregate layers in transportation applications by providing confinement and arresting movement through interlock between individual aggregate particles and their apertures. Geogrid reinforcement offers an effective remedial measure when railroad track structures are susceptible to track geometry defects resulting from excessive movement and particle reorientation within the ballast layer. This paper presents an ongoing research study at the University of Illinois aimed at quantifying the effects of geogrid reinforcement on the shear strength and permanent deformation behavior of railroad ballast. Geogrids with triangular, rectangular, and square apertures were tested in …

Column-Footing Connection Evaluation Of Hollow-Core Composite Bridge Columns, Mohanad M. Abdulazeez, Mohamed Elgawady

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents the seismic behavior of two large-scale hollow-core fiber-reinforced polymer-concrete-steel (HC-FCS) precast columns having two different footing connections. The precast HC-FCS column consists of a concrete shell sandwiched between an outer fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tube and an inner steel tube. The steel tube was embedded 635 mm (25 inches) into a reinforced concrete footing, while the outer FRP tube confined the concrete shell only i.e. it was truncated at the top surface of the footing. One connection included embedding the steel tube into the footing. The other one included using a corrugated steel pipe (CSP) embedded into the …

Feasibility Of Distributed Fiber Optic Sensor For Corrosion Monitoring Of Steel Bars In Reinforced Concrete, Liang Fan, Yi Bao, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the feasibility of distributed fiber optic sensor for corrosion monitoring of steel bars embedded in concrete. Two sensor installation methods are compared: (1) attaching the sensor along the bar and (2) winding the sensor on the bar. For the second method, optical fibers were winded spirally on steel bars with different spacings: 0 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, and 10 mm. Steel bar pull-out testing was conducted to evaluate the effect of presence of distributed sensor on the bond strength of steel—concrete interface. Electrochemical testing was carried out to assess the influence of the installation methods on …

Development Of Statewide Annual Average Daily Traffic Estimation Model From Short-Term Counts: A Comparative Study For South Carolina, Sakib Mahmud Khan, Sababa Islam, Md Zadid Khan, Mashrur Chowdhury, Nathan Huynh, Mohammad Torkjazi

Publications

Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) is an important parameter for traffic engineering analysis. Departments of Transportation continually collect traffic count using both permanent count stations (i.e., Automatic Traffic Recorders or ATRs) and temporary short-term count stations. In South Carolina, 87% of the ATRs are located on interstates and arterial highways. For most secondary highways (i.e., collectors and local roads), AADT is estimated based on short-term counts. This paper develops AADT estimation models for different roadway functional classes with two machine learning techniques: Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The models predict AADT from short-term counts. The results …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of The Ifloods Radar Rainfall Products For Hydrologic Applications, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, Felipe Quintero, Mohamed Elsaadani, Radoslaw Goska, Luciana K. Cunha, Brenda Dolan, David B. Wolff, James A. Smith, Steven A. Rutledge, Walter A. Petersen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study describes the generation and testing of a reference rainfall product created from field campaign datasets collected during the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) experiment. The study evaluates ground-based radar rainfall (RR) products acquired during IFloodS in the context of building the reference rainfall product. The purpose of IFloodS was not only to attain a high-quality ground-based reference for the validation of satellite rainfall estimates but also to enhance understanding of flood-related rainfall processes and the predictability of flood forecasting. We assessed the six RR estimates (IFC, Q2, CSU-DP, NWS-DP, Stage IV, …

Potential Use Of Dimocarpus Longan Seeds As A Flocculant In Landfill Leachate Treatment, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Nor Aini Rahim, Siti Fatihah Ramli, Motasem Y.D. Alazaiza, Fatehah Mohd Omar, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Landfill leachate is a highly polluted and generated from water infiltration through solid waste produced domestically and industrially. In this study, a coagulation-flocculation process using a combination of Polyaluminium chloride (PACl) as a coagulant and Dimocarpus longan seed powder (LSP) as coagulant aid was used in treating landfill leachate. LSP has been tested as the main coagulant and as coagulant aid with PACl. As the main coagulant, the optimum dosage and pH for PACl were 5 g/L and 6, respectively, with removal efficiencies of 67.44%, 99.47%, and 98% for COD, SS, and color, respectively. For LSP as the main coagulant, …

Modeling Socio-Economic Determinants Of Traffic Fatalities, Amin Azimian, Deogratias Eustace

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Over several decades, traffic growth has caused an increased number of traffic crashes, which are associated with economic losses and human sufferings. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [1] in 2016 there were a total of 34,247 fatal traffic crashes in the United States that resulted into 37,133 fatalities. Risk factors relating to the occurrence of fatal and injury severity of motor vehicle crashes have been extensively studied. Most studies [2-7] that have attempted to model the occurrences of traffic crashes and fatalities have been mainly confined to factors related to driver characteristics, roadway geometry characteristics, traffic characteristics, …

Analysis Of Student-Athletes And Summer Internship Experiences Int He Construction Management Department, Amanda R. Sandoval

Construction Management

Summer internships are a valuable way for implementing practical knowledge in the construction industry. Students can apply what they have learned during the school year and visualize the reality of how construction is managed. This project will research what student-athletes typically invest their time in over summer and the construction company’s connection to the student-athlete department. The analysis will identify if there is a need to propose a program that can improve the relationship between the construction management and student-athlete departments. Two surveys were conducted to collect information about student-athletes summer activity history and their perspective of internship experience, as …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Understanding Electricity Bills: Guidance For Nebraska Businesses And Municipalities, Elizabeth M. Regier, Bruce I. Dvorak

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

This publication is intended to help business owners and municipal managers understand the different types of charges in their electricity bills. By understanding these charges, they may be able to identify ways to reduce their electricity costs.

Self-Healing Microcapsules As Concrete Aggregates For Corrosion Inhibition In Reinforced Concrete, Homero Castaneda, Marwa Hassan, Miladin Radovic, Jose Milla

Publications

Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures are vital to the US’s civil infrastructure for their strength and versatility. Unfortunately, RC elements deteriorate rapidly when exposed to corrosive environments. One possible solution is to extend the life of RC elements and systems using microencapsulated corrosion inhibitors to reduce the rebar corrosion rate. The capsules house an anodic corrosion inhibitor agent including calcium nitrate (CN) and triethanolamine (TEA). The integration of such microencapsulated materials will enhance the durability and extend the useful life by controlling the corrosion precursors and the corrosion process during damage evolution. Therefore, this work aims to develop and characterize the …

Development, Training, Education, And Implementation Of Low-Cost Sensing Technologies For Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (Shm), Fernando Moreu, Chris Lippitt, Dilendra Maharjan, Marlon Aguero, Roya Nasimi

Publications

Transportation infrastructure needs continuous monitoring. However, traditional inspections cost money and are conducted visually. New technologies for bridge monitoring are expensive and complex. This project involved developing cost-effective sensor technologies that can be applied towards the maintenance of railroad bridges by recording reference-free transverse displacement. More specifically, this project developed new applications of new technologies (Arduino, wireless smart sensors, drones, Hololens) and promoted workforce development with an emphasis on outreach of high-school students. This project was carried out in three main phases: (1) development and validation of technologies, (2) education and outreach to students, and (3) outreach to industry consisting …

Removal Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes In An Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Treating Primary Clarifier Effluent At 20 °C, Anthony D. Kappell, Lee K. Kimbell, Matthew Seib, Daniel Elliott Carey, Melinda J. Choi, Tino Kalayil, Masanori Fujimoto, Daniel Zitomer, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) play a key role in future plans for sustainable wastewater treatment and resource recovery because they have no energy-intensive oxygen transfer requirements and can produce biomethane for renewable energy. Recent research results show that they can meet relatively stringent discharge limits with respect to BOD₅ and TSS when treating municipal wastewater primary effluent. Sustainable used water recovery plans should also consider removal of unregulated pollutants. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) represent an important emerging contaminant due to public health concerns surrounding the spread of infections resistant to common antibiotics. Conventional activated sludge processes have demonstrated mixed …

Sustainability-Based Long-Term Management Of Bridges Under Multi-Hazard Exposure, Mohamed Soliman

Publications

Bridges are under deterioration due to various mechanical and environmental stressors. Hydraulic-related hazards (e.g., flood and scour), aggressive environmental conditions, and seismic events (e.g., earthquake) are recognized as the most significant threats to the safety of bridges. In traditional risk assessment methods for structures susceptible to damage due to floods and other natural hazards (e.g., corrosion and seismic events), future hazard predictions are conducted using historic return periods and climate records. However, recent increase in flood intensity in central-southern states indicate that future hazard occurrence rate may not necessarily follow past trends. Accordingly, current design, assessment, and management methodologies should …

Measuring Liquefied Residual Strength Using Full-Scale Shake Table Cyclic Simple Shear Tests, Taylor R. Honnette

Master's Theses

This research consists of full-scale cyclic shake table tests to investigate liquefied residual strength of #2/16 Monterey Sand. A simple shear testing apparatus was mounted to a full-scale one-dimensional shake table to mimic a confined layer of saturated sand subjected to strong ground motions. Testing was performed at the Parson’s Geotechnical and Earthquake Laboratory at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. T-bar penetrometer pullout tests were used to measure residual strength of the liquefied soil during cyclic testing. Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) was performed on the soil specimen throughout testing to relate the laboratory specimen to field index test …

Erosion Rate Equations For Coarse- Grained Materials Using A Small Flume Testing, Ghada Ellithy, Johannes L. Wibowo, Maureen K. Corcoran

Publications

Erosion rate of soils during a levee or dam overtopping event is a major component in risk assessment evaluation of breach time and consequently in determining the downstream consequences. There is uncertainty in estimation of the erosion rate especially for coarsegrained materials that comprise the outer shell layer of dams as well as homogenous levees that are constructed of such materials. In this paper, erosion rate results are presented on three soil mixes that share the same median grain size D50 of 2 mm, the fines content varies between zero and 20%, and the gravel content between zero and 30%. …

Statistical Investigation Of Road And Railway Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety, Amirfarrokh Iranitalab

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

Transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat) in the United States (U.S.) constituted 22.8% of the total tonnage transported in 2012 with an estimated value of more than 2.3 billion dollars. As such, hazmat transportation is a significant economic activity in the U.S. However, hazmat transportation exposes people and environment to the infrequent but potentially severe consequences of incidents resulting in hazmat release. Trucks and trains carried 63.7% of the hazmat in the U.S. in 2012 and are the major foci of this dissertation. The main research objectives were 1) identification and quantification of the effects of different factors on occurrence and …

Effect Of Swine Manure Pit Additives And Facility Disinfectants On The Fate Of Antibiotics And Manure Composition During Simulated Swine Manure Slurry Storage, Jon Duerschner

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

This thesis investigates the effect of time and of swine manure slurry treatment on the physical properties, nutrient content, and the concentrations of antibiotics chlortetracycline, lincomycin, and tiamulin in simulated storage of swine manure. In one experiment the slurry was treated with six additive products. In a second experiment a set of four disinfectant products were used. Control consisted of unamended slurry. Manure was stored in 60 liter stainless steel bioreactors to simulate deep pit storage and was sampled 7 times over a 40 day incubation.

From an ANOVA of the results, it was concluded that evaporation may be contributing …

Comparison Of Bacterial And Viral Reduction Across Different Wastewater Treatment Processes, Aayushi R. Vagadia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today billions of people live without access to basic sanitation facilities, and thousands die every week due to diseases caused by fecal contamination associated with improper sanitation. It has thus become crucial for decision makers to have access to relevant and sufficient data to implement appropriate solutions to these problems. The Global Water Pathogen Project http://www.waterpathogens.org/ is dedicated to providing an up-to-date source of data on pathogen reduction associated with different sanitation technologies that are important if the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to health and sanitation provision. In this research, a subset of the …

Program Progress Performance Report #3, Missouri University Of Science And Technology. Inspire - University Transportation Center

Semi-Annual Progress Reports

No abstract provided.

Experimental And Numerical Study Of Evaporation From Wavy Surfaces By Coupling Free Flow And Porous Media Flow, Bo Gao, Hossein Davarzani, Rainer Helmig, Kathleen M. Smits

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

The macroscale roughness of the soil surface has significant influences on the mass/energy interactions between the subsurface and the atmosphere during evaporation. However, most previous works only consider evaporation behavior from flat surfaces. Based on experimental and numerical approaches, the goal of this work is to provide a framework for the understanding of the mechanisms of evaporation from irregular soil surfaces at representative elementary volume scale. A coupling free flow-porous media flow model was developed to describe evaporation under nonisothermal conditions. For simplicity, sinusoidal-type wavy surfaces were considered. To validate this modeling approach, an experiment using an open-ended wind tunnel …

Invasion Of The P Elements: Tolerance Is Not Futile, Colin D. Meiklejohn, Justin P. Blumenstiel

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Organisms are locked in an eternal struggle with parasitic DNA sequences that live inside their genomes and wreak havoc on their host’s chromosomes as they spread through populations. To combat these parasites, host species have evolved elaborate mechanisms of resistance that suppress their activity. A new study in Drosophila indicates that, prior to the acquisition of resistance, individuals can vary in their ability to tolerate the activity of these genomic parasites, ignoring or repairing the damage they induce. This tolerance results from variation at genes involved in germline development and DNA damage checkpoints and suggests that these highly conserved cellular …

Application Of A Floating Membrane Algal Photobioreactor For Freshwater Aquaculture, Hsiang-Yang Shyu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the global population grows, water and food demand also increase. The intensive aquaculture industry has helped to mitigate these problems. In order to make aquaculture sustainable, it is necessary to remove the abundant nutrients produced by fish in the water. In this study, the role of the microalga of Chlorella vulgaris in the Isolated Cultivation of Algal Resources Utilizing Selectivity (ICARUS) membrane photobioreactor was evaluated for nutrient control in the aquaculture system. The production of algal biomass, the removal rate of nutrients, and the impact of microalgae on cultured organisms were monitored during the operation of aquaculture systems. At …

Fungi: A Neglected Candidate For The Application Of Self-Healing Concrete, Congrui Jin, Rui Yu, Zhonghe Shui

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Self-healing mechanism in concrete has been so far achieved mainly by three approaches: autogenous healing, encapsulation of polymeric material, and biologically induced mineralization of calcium carbonate. The microbial approach prevails over the other two approaches due to the high compatibility between the filler material and the concrete compositions. Although the term “microbe” refers to many different types of organisms, research work on self-healing concrete has been so far restricted to bacteria. In this perspective article, we review the current status of bacteria-mediated self-healing concrete and summarize the prospects for future advances. In particular, we point out that fungi may have …

Adaptation Of Wood Processing Engineers To New Technologies, Ramadan Topuzi, Arben Bejtja

UBT International Conference

New technologies have recently got a rapid and wide spread. They consist of softwares, systems and advanced engineering machinery, but not limited to these. In the furniture manufacturing industry they have found a wide application for their own specific nature. Wood Processing Engineers, given their university education, have a very important role applying their knowledge in the use of technologies. Today CAD CAM systems are becoming part of furniture design and manufacturing through digitally commanded machineries. The problem faced is the qualified staff for the use of these systems and machineries. This requires scientific preparation and training of specialists on …

Investigation Of Production Of Brick With Waste Coal Powder Additive, Mehmedi Vehbi Gökçe, Semiha Akçaözoğlu, Besian Sinani

UBT International Conference

Wastes in coal quarries and coal power plants are significant issues. Coal washing plant tailings as waste coal powder is one of these issues. Today, their ecological and economical utilization, control and management are of main subjects for ongoing researches throughout the world. On the other hand, researchers still carry out intense investigations on the production of lightweight and sustainable products for construction industry. In Turkey, approximately 20 coal mines and 1 coal power plant do have coal washing plant. In this study, waste coal powder obtained from Soma, Manisa were replaced with clay obtained from Niğde Kolsuz Region in …

Small-Scale Physical Modelling Of Slope Failures In Sands, M. Tasevska, B. Susinov, J. Josifovski

UBT International Conference

This paper deals with small-scale physical and numerical calculation of slope stability. The aim is to define the critical slope angle at which failure occurs. The slope is constructed from material used in tailings dam construction. Many laboratory tests have been made to determine the physical and mechanical properties of the soil. The analyzed results show that the material is classified as silty sand. The first physical model refers to infinite slope with 45° slope angle under loaded conditions which represent an upslope extension. The second model wasn’t subjected to an external load, but raised upward to increase the slope …

Water Losses Management In Mitrovica Region, Faruk Hajrizi, Izet Ibrahimi

UBT International Conference

The purpose of this paper is to reduce water losses by presenting the unregistered customer situation, the number and where they are mainly distributed. In the context of analyzing the commercial and technical losses of the water in the Mitrovica region, a project for the reduction of water losses was devised. Financial support for project realization is ensured by the project funded by the Luxembourg Government for the Regional and Water Company Mitrovica, which has enabled to implement a project with significant activities to reduce water losses. During the project development we undertook site visits, field work evaluations were conducted …

Challenges Of Real Estate Appraisers In Kosovo, Marjan Ivezaj

UBT International Conference

Kosovo is a new country with a goal to integrate quickly into the large family of EU countries. To achieve this, old work practices are changing, and new practices are also being applied in different fields of human activity. Real estate property plays an important role in the process of economic development and is considered as sacred. To be treated this way, the property must be evaluated correctly. Following the examples of EU countries, the Kosovo institutions have organized training, testing and licensing of the first domestic real estate appraisers. The basic data to perform this profession are scarce, incomplete …

Does An(Y) Order Exist Within The Structural Art, Feti Selmani

UBT International Conference

Many authors have treated the beauty and aesthetics from the social and phylosofic point of view [Kant, Plato], whereas very few of them have meditated within the domain of Architecture let alone Structural Engineering [Leonhardt]. The Beautiful is beautiful, and the Ugly is ugly, but subjectivity apart, is any mean of defining a way or some Principles which can be of Guide for the designer. Is there any mathematics within the beauty, i.e., can the beauty be described in a mathematical way. It is a simple, yet a very difficult question answering, since both the beauty and aesthetics falls into …