Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Urban Development Of Bronson Circle, Matthew Moulton

Honors Theses

Many suburban streets, and specifically Bronson Circle, in the city of Kalamazoo are in poor condition and in need of repair. Along with a new pavement design and additional drainage considerations, a complete redesign of the street’s cross-section with the concept of a “Complete Street” was created. A redesign of the site, traffic, pavement, drainage, and lighting were completed to lessen the street’s impact on the environment and make it more user friendly for all modes of transportation. This complete street design can be adjusted for terrain and used for any comparable urban street.

Included in this report is an …

On The Road To Flipping, Raji Lukkoor

Faculty Publications

The poster presentation will address the following topics: experience taking the Flip Workshop, How the instructor went from a “no” to a “yes” on considering implementing the flip, the frenzied list of activities that helped set up the framework for a mini-flip in approximately a week’s time, the actual development of content in under 4 weeks, and the role played by my support network.

Modern Roundabouts: A Challenge Of The Future, Tomaž Tollazzi, Raffaele Mauro, Daiva Žilionienė, Irena I. Otković, Nikiforos Stamatiadis

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Spectral Analysis Of Train-Rail-Bridge Coupling System Considering Frequency-Dependent Stiffness Of Rail Fastening Systems, Linya Liu, Jialiang Qin, Quanmin Liu, Jong-Dar Yau, Rui Song

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

A rubber rail-pad is typically inserted between the rail and the sleeper to attenuate wheel/rail vibrations for conventional train-rail-bridge (TRB) system. For mathematical modeling, a rail-fastener with rubber pad is simplified as a spring-dashpot unit, whose spring stiffness is related to the exciting frequency of external loads. To exhibit such characteristics of rail-pads on TRB dynamics, based on dynamic flexibility method, two computational models of constant/frequency-dependent stiffness (FDS) are considered for comparison. Numerical studies reveal that the FDS model provides a strengthening benefit for the wheelrail vibration, from which the shifted dominant frequencies in spectral response are observed.

Influence Of Fly Ash Fineness And High Replacement Ratios On Concrete Properties, Shihwen Hsu, Maochieh Chi, Ran Huang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The influence of fly ash (FA) fineness and a high cement replacement ratio on concrete properties was investigated. Class F FA with an original fineness of 3,150 cm2 /g (3F) and a high fineness of 5,690 cm2 /g (5F) was used; high cement replacement ratios of 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% by FA with different levels of fineness (two groups: 3F30, 3F40, 3F50, 3F60, and 5F30, 5F40, 5F50, 5F60 by weight of cement) were selected to produce the blended cement concrete. Tests regarding the heat of hydration, compressive strength, water absorption, rapid chloride penetration, and Mercury intrusion porosimetry were performed. …

Drivable Space Datasets Created By Airborne Lidar And Aerial Imagery, Ryan E. Dow

Civil Engineering ETDs

The civil engineering and construction industries are currently using geo browsers such as Google Earth to access satellite and aerial imagery to create and update design drawings for roadway construction, which leads to inaccuracies in the construction phase and in effect, delays the time, and increases the cost of a project. Technological advancements in the civil engineering and construction industries have enabled the design processes to be more efficient and accurate. This research focuses on using the cutting-edge technology of airborne LiDAR and aerial imagery to extract roadway network information from an urban area, which can be used to enhance …

Nitrate Dynamics In An Arid Irrgation Network: Can Nutrient Loops Be Closed With Management Techniques?, Kelsey B. Bicknell

Civil Engineering ETDs

Nutrients are the third leading cause of impairment in aquatic ecosystems, yet they remain necessary to support our growing agriculture system. Mining (as with phosphorus) and manufacturing (as with synthetic nitrogen) fertilizers deplete non-renewable resources and consume large amounts of energy. We have opportunities to optimize food-energy-water (FEW) resources, particularly in arid regions where wastewater, rather than agriculture, is the number one contributor of nutrients. This study evaluates the capacity of three unique channels (i.e., the Drain canal, the Delivery canal, and the Rio Grande River) within the agriculture system of the Middle Rio Grande Valley to process nutrients from …

Development Of Actionable Metrics For Water Loss Reduction In Water Distribution Systems, James R. Markham

Civil Engineering ETDs

Many water utilities lose significant amounts of treated water (and the revenue that does with it) through pipe breaks or undetected leaks in their underground distribution networks. To help utilities understand their water loss, the American Water Works Association developed a Water Audit Software program which calculates lost volumes and system performance indicators based on input supplied by the water utility.

To make the Water Audit Software a more useful tool for a greater number of utilities and the states that mandate auditing, additional fields should be added to the Water Audit Software to collect data about system pipe materials, …

Optimization Of Photocatalytic Degradation Of Acid Blue 113 And Acid Red 88 Textile Dyes In A Uv-C/Tio2 Suspension System: Application Of Response Surface Methodology (Rsm), Ali Saber, David E. James, Soroosh Mortazavian

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Textile industries produce copious amounts of colored wastewater some of which are toxic to humans and aquatic biota. This study investigates optimization of a bench-scale UV-C photocatalytic process using a TiO2 catalyst suspension for degradation of two textile dyes, Acid Blue 113 (AB 113) and Acid Red 88 (AR 88). From preliminary experiments, appropriate ranges for experimental factors including reaction time, solution pH, initial dye concentration and catalyst dose, were determined for each dye. Response surface methodology (RSM) using a cubic IV optimal design was then used to design the experiments and optimize the process. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was …

Strength Of Steel-To-Steel Screw Connections -- Update To Provisions, Thomas Stevens, Thomas Sputo, Jennifer Bridge

American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Specifications, Standards, Manuals and Research Reports (1946 - present)

The objective of this project is to review the existing provisions of the AISI S100-16 North American Specification for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, for screw connections loaded in shear and tension (but not combined actions). A recent study by the Steel Deck Institute (Sputo 2017) revealed possible unconservative results for screw pull-over, particularly in thinner sheets and/or lower ductility.

This study performed a comprehensive analysis of available steel-to-steel screw connection strength test data, totaling 702 shear tests, 143 pull-over tests, and 335 pull-out tests. The tested strength of these connections was compared to the predicted strength from the existing …

Probability Of Failure In Infrastructure Project Unbalanced Bidding, Yuhan Jiang, Yong Bai, Sisi Han, Ting Lin

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Design-Bid-Build infrastructure projects with Unit-Price Contracts have a high risk of quantity and price deviations. Those deviations might be the result of contractors' unbalanced bidding. At the same time, contractors' performance was unknown under unbalanced bidding situations. The researchers utilized the First Order Reliability Method and Statistical Analysis to evaluate contractors' bidding performances and engineers' estimating performances with bidding and settlement data of 163 NDDOT projects. Results showed that contractors adopted unbalanced bidding strategies as follows: if quantities were overestimated, then they underrated unit price; if quantities were underestimated, then they overrated unit price to maintain projects' Bid Total Amount …

Save Our Sound Obx, Inc. V. North Carolina Department Of Transportation, Mitch L. Werbell V

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of several governmental agencies seeking to construct a new bridge in the Pamlico Sound adjacent to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. For years, state and federal agencies have put forth a massive coordinated effort to address the constant weather damage and erosion which occurs to a section of North Carolina Highway 12. The court found the agencies properly cleared NEPA’s environmental review requirements for the bridge’s construction. Additionally, the opponent-litigants’ efforts to add claims challenging the project, based on new information about a shipwreck in the bridge’s path, were futile.

Electrically Conductive Concrete Mix For Electromagnetic (Em) Ground Plane, Christopher Tuan, Lim Nguyen

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Conductive concrete mixtures are described that are configured to reflect, for instance, EM waves propagating from an EM pulser onto the conductive concrete mixture forming a ground plane, rather than absorb or dissipate the electromagnetic energy. The conductive concrete mixtures include cement, aggregate, water, metallic conductive material, and conductive carbon particles.

Comparative Study Of Ethanol Foamed Asphalt Binders And Mixtures Prepared Via Manual Injection And Laboratory Foaming Device, Mohd Rosli Mohd Hasan, Zhanping You

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The consistency of the ethanol foamed binders and mixtures prepared using asphalt binders foamed by the manual injection technique and laboratory foaming device were evaluated and compared in this study. The asphalt binders foamed using both methods was prepared at 120 °C, 130 °C and 140 °C. The performance of ethanol-foamed binders was evaluated in terms of rotational viscosity, expansion ratio, and low temperature cracking. Meanwhile, the performance of foamed WMA mixtures was tested using semi-circular bending (SCB), disk-shaped compact tension (DCT), and tensile strength ratio (TSR) tests. In order to conduct the TSR test, the samples were conditioned using …

Moisture Susceptibility Of Warm Mix Asphalt (Wma) With An Organic Wax Additive Based On X-Ray Computed Tomography (Ct) Technology, Jie Ji, Zhikai Yuan, Zhi Suo, Ying Xu, Pengfei Li, Zhanping You

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Publications

The warm mix asphalt was fabricated with different moisture contents (0%, 1%, 2%, and 3%) of limestone aggregates using the Superpave gyratory compactor. The moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures with an organic wax additive RH was studied. The samples were compacted and tested using the modified Lottman test AASHTO T283, and the X-ray computed tomography technology was used to capture the internal structure images before and after the freeze-thaw cycles. The test results show that the air voids were distributed in the size range of 0–5 mm³ and 5–10 mm³. The number of air voids decreased with …

Analytical Models For 3-D Diffusion Of Ions From Salt-Contaminated Aggregates, Robert J. Thomas, Andrew D. Sorensen, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This article presents an analytical investigation of the mobility of salts from contaminated aggregates in concrete. Salt-contaminated aggregates may have varied effects on the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. These depend primarily on the mobility of salts within the concrete matrix. Existing diffusion-based models for the mobility of salts in concrete focus on their intrusion from external sources (e.g., chloride penetration from deicing salts and brines). Such problems are well described by the closed-form solution of Fick’s law for diffusion in one dimension from a continuous source. Salt-contaminated aggregates represent a case of diffusion from a finite internal source …

The Effect Of Fine And Coarse Recycled Aggregates On Fresh And Mechanical Properties Of Self-Compacting Concrete, Mahmoud Nili, Hossein Sasanipour, Farhad Aslani

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Today, the use of recycled aggregates as a substitute for a part of the natural aggregates in concrete production is increasing. This approach is essential because the resources for natural aggregates are decreasing in the world. In the present study, the effects of recycled concrete aggregates as a partial replacement for fine (by 50%) and coarse aggregates (by 100%) were examined in the self-compacting concrete mixtures which contain air-entraining agents and silica fumes. Two series of self-compacting concrete mixes have been prepared. In the first series, fine and coarse recycled mixtures respectively with 50% and 100% replacement with air entraining …

Lowering Emissivity Of Concrete Roof Tile's Underside Cuts Down Heat Entry To The Building, Xuejun Chen, Lei Wang, Zhikui Liu, Yinghong Qin, Ting Bao

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Publications

Buildings in Southern China widely use a double-skin roof to reduce heat entry through the roof to the building interior during summertime. Concrete roof tiles are preferably installed as the outmost layer of the double-skin roof due to their resistance to hail and wind damages and their attractive price. However, after construction, the tile’s top tends to be darkened by dust deposit and algae growth, increasing the heat entry through the roof to the building. Here, we show that this heat entry can be curtailed by lowering the emissivity at the tile’s underside. Temperatures and heat fluxes at different elevations …

Identification And Reduction Of Uncertainties In Watershed-Scale Flow And Water Quality Modeling, Maryam Roostaee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study identified important uncertainties affecting watershed-scale flow and water quality simulations and recommended modeling options for reducing the uncertainties by means of the Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF) model. Specifically, parameter-induced uncertainties in HSPF model were estimated along with uncertainties associated with DEM resolutions and sources. National Elevation Dataset (NED) DEMs with original and resampled resolutions of 3.5, 10, 30 and 100m were utilized for manual and automatic delineation of three watersheds with different gradients in HSPF model to identify the effects of DEM resolution, DEM resampling, delineation method and watershed gradient on the simulation of streamflow, nitrate (NO_{3 …}

Fluoride Removal From Water Using A 3d Printed Calcium Carbonate Filter, Sophia Bakar, David Kahler, Benjamin S. Goldschmidt

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Groundwater containing high concentrations of fluoride is the most common source of drinking water in rural areas in parts of east Africa, India, and China. The elevated levels of fluoride cause skeletal and dental fluorosis, which is the weakening and decay of bone structures due to the leeching of calcium from the body as calcium and fluoride bond by the process of adsorption. Over 150 million people are suffering from some form of fluorosis due to the consumption of groundwater. Calcium carbonate has been demonstrated to influence fluoride removal in several forms. To make fluoride removal a cost-effective and user-friendly …

Low-Cost, Open-Source, And Low-Power: But What To Do With The Data?, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Juan Caraballo, Maurier Ramírez, Anthony K. Aufdenkampe, David B. Arscott, Sara Geleskie Damiano

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

There are now many ongoing efforts to develop low-cost, open-source, low-power sensors and datalogging solutions for environmental monitoring applications. Many of these have advanced to the point that high quality scientific measurements can be made using relatively inexpensive and increasingly off-the-shelf components. With the development of these innovative systems, however, comes the ability to generate large volumes of high-frequency monitoring data and the challenge of how to log, transmit, store, and share the resulting data. This paper describes a new web application that was designed to enable citizen scientists to stream sensor data from a network of Arduino-based dataloggers to …

Examining The Effect Of Multiple Route Choice Criteria On Hurricane Evacuation Traffic Through External Validation Of Simulations, Haggai D. Davis Iii

LSU Master's Theses

Hurricane evacuations can be a chaotic experience for individuals involved, but researchers have attempted to find patterns in the routes people take. One paper laid out a model for predicting route choice based upon features that are different than standard route choice influencers. This thesis attempted to evaluate the accuracy of that model by using TransModeler modeling software. Using the building blocks of the HEMP project, this project compared the new model to the standard model and evaluated the two based upon the ability to reproduce real-world results. Interestingly, the two did not come out significantly different possibly because the …

Use Of Agglomerated Geopolymer Pellets As A Partial Replacement For Reactive Aggregates To Mitigate Alkali Silica Reaction (Asr), Omar Amer, Prasad Rangaraju

Graduate Research and Discovery Symposium (GRADS)

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Denitrification Bioreactor For St. Francis Retreat Center, Monique Hansen, Ashton Politz

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Senior Theses

The St. Francis Retreat Center located in San Juan Bautista, California has over 7000 visitors a year. The Retreat Center aims to provide a peaceful rejuvenating experience for its visitors through the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty and landscape it has to offer. Unfortunately, the Retreat Center has a lake on its property that, primarily during the summer months, is dry due to the lack of rain. In effort to solve this problem and make the property more visually appealing, the Retreat Center would like to use the water from a well to recharge the lake. The well, however, …

Experimental Investigation Of The Thermochemical Reduction Of Arsenite And Sulfate: Low Temperature Hydrothermal Copper, Nickel, And Cobalt Arsenide And Sulfide Ore Formation, Nicholas Allin

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Experiments were conducted to determine the relative rates of reduction of aqueous sulfate and aqueous arsenite (As(OH)₃,aq) using foils of copper, nickel, or cobalt as the reductant, at temperatures of 150ºC to 300ºC. At the highest temperature of 300°C, very limited sulfate reduction was observed with cobalt foil, but sulfate was reduced to sulfide by copper foil (precipitation of Cu₂S (chalcocite)) and partly reduced by nickel foil (precipitation of NiS₂ (vaesite) + NiSO₄·xH₂O). In the 300ºC arsenite reduction experiments, Cu₃As (domeykite), Ni₅As₂, or CoAs (langisite) …

Analysis And Application Of Log-Linear And Quantile Regression Models To Predict Bus Dwell Times, Travis B. Glick, Miguel Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the key factors that contribute to transit travel times and travel time variability is an essential part of transit planning and research. Delay that occurs when buses service bus stops, dwell time, is one of the main sources of travel time variability and has therefore been the subject of ongoing research to identify and quantify its determinants. Previous research has focused on testing new variables using linear regressions that may be added to models to improve predictions. An important assumption of linear regression models used in past research efforts is homoscedasticity or the equal distribution of the residuals across …

Integrating Landsat Tm/Etm+ And Numerical Modeling To Estimatewater Temperature In The Tigris River Under Future Climate And Management Scenarios, Muhanned Al-Murib, Scott Wells, Stefan Talke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Modeling the water quality of rivers and assessing the effects of changing conditions is often hindered by a lack of in situ measurements for calibration. Here, we use a combination of satellite measurements, statistical models, and numerical modeling with CE-QUAL-W2 to overcome in situ data limitations and evaluate the effect of changing hydrologic and climate conditions on water temperature (T_w) in the Tigris River, one of the largest rivers in the Middle East. Because few in situ estimates of Tw were available, remotely-sensed estimates of Tw were obtained from Landsat satellite images at roughly 2 week intervals for …

Behavior Of Geothermal Energy Piles Embedded In Rock, Ehab Sabi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Geothermal energy piles are categorized as closed systems. Energy piles are a relatively new technology which couples the structural role of traditional pile foundations to that of heat exchangers to fulfill the required energy demand of buildings and infrastructures. These foundations are equipped with pipes embedded in the concrete forming the pile. While connected to a heat pump, the fluid circulating inside these pipes provides the exchange of heat with the ground for heating and cooling purposes. As the undisturbed temperature at the shallower depths of the ground stays comparatively constant the whole year, being warmer than the surrounding temperature …

Impacts Of Freight Consolidation And Truck Sharing On Freight Mobility, Tieming Liu, Chaoyue Zhao

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 17ITSOKS02. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"The trucking industry is an important sector of the U.S. economy. However, it is quite fragmented, hindering the efficiency of cargo transportation and the ability for small carriers to identify demands to fill full truck loads. The focus of this research is to study models and algorithms in order to aid online freight marketplaces to identify efficient consolidation strategies. To accomplish this aim, a new mixed integer programming model for the pickup and delivery problem has been developed. The model is geared …

Daily And Seasonal Variability Of Offshore Wind Power On The Central California Coast And Statewide Demand, Matthew Douglas Kehrli

Physics

No abstract provided.