Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Performance Of Drilled Shaft Under Combination Of Complicated Loads Under Hurricane Event, Jie Huang, Sazzad Bin-Shafique

Publications

This project includes experimental and numerical studies to investigate and assess the impact of vertical loads on a laterally loaded drilled shaft under various conditions. The experimental study includes lab testing and lab-scale load test to examine a drilled shaft subjected to vertical and lateral loads at a reduced scale. With the data obtained from the lab-scale testing, a numerical model was calibrated, which was used to perform a parametric study to scrutinize the effect of many possible factors such as soil stiffness, soil friction angle, and drilled shaft geometry. With all the factors considered in this study, the vertical …

Investigation Of Physical And Dynamic Properties Of High Porous Concrete, Ildar Akhmadullin

Publications

This project pursued two main objectives: (1) providing opportunities to Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) students to develop hands-on laboratory skills and exposure to the transportation field, and (2) investigating porous concrete properties. Several BRCC student groups performed the work presented within this report; students prepared samples with different porosity and permeability according to standard specifications. The testing of the samples was performed at the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) facility under the supervision of LTRC specialists. Findings indicate that the porosity of samples is backward proportional to the compression strength. This function is not linear but can be estimated …

Toward Non-Corrosion And Highly Sustainable Structural Members By Using Ultra-High-Performance Materials For Transportation Infrastructure, Shih-Ho Chao, Ashish Karmacharya

Publications

This research focused on investigating a highly sustainable and efficient reinforced concrete structural member for future infrastructure by utilizing emerging high-performance materials. These materials include ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) and corrosion-resistant high-strength fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars. Four reduced scale UHP-FRC specimens were tested under large displacement reversals to prove the proposed new ductile-concrete strong-reinforcement (DCSR) design concept by fully utilizing these ultra-high-performance materials. Micro steel fibers were incorporated into three specimens and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers were blended into the fourth specimen. One specimen with ASTM A1035 MMFX high-strength steel rebars, one with high-strength glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) …

Evaluating How The Quality Of Pedestrian Infrastructure Affects The Choice To Walk, Gregory Rowangould, Alexis Corning-Padilla

Publications

While the benefits of walking are well understood, the physical design of sidewalks and their maintenance needs generally receive much less attention in both research and practice than the infrastructure used by other modes of transportation. As a result, we know comparatively little about how the design of sidewalks and quality of the overall pedestrian environment affect the decision to walk. In our study we conducted a household travel survey to collect data on walking frequency and attributes related to sidewalk quality and the quality of the walking environment in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We used summary statistics and statistical modeling …

Combining Virtual Reality And Machine Learning For Enhancing The Resiliency Of Transportation Infrastructure In Extreme Events, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Yimin Zhu, Ravindra Gudishala

Publications

Traffic management models that include route choice form the basis of traffic management systems. High-fidelity models that are based on rapidly evolving contextual conditions can have significant impact on smart and energy efficient transportation. Existing traffic/route choice models are generic and are calibrated on static contextual conditions. These models do not consider dynamic contextual conditions such as the location, failure of certain portions of the road network, the social network structure of population inhabiting the region, route choices made by other drivers, extreme conditions, etc. As a result, the model’s predictions are made at an aggregate level and for a …

Integrated Full-Scale Physical Experiments And Numerical Modeling Of The Performance And Rehabilitation Of Highway Embankments, Navid Jafari, Anand Puppala, Sayantan Chakraborty, Burak Boluk

Publications

The study aimed to fundamentally understand how soil strength and hydraulic properties are impacted by recurring cycles of wetting and drying induced by climate variability, with the practical implication of forecasting the stability of highway embankment slopes. The review of literature on the effects of long-term cyclic wetting-drying phases on hydro-mechanical properties of clayey soils suggests that only a few cycles of wetting and drying can impact the strength and hydraulic conductivity, where the latter can increase several orders of magnitude. Laboratory model-scale experiments of Louisiana and Texas soils are still ongoing and will relate the laboratory test results to …

Development Of Geopolymer-Based Cement And Soil Stabilizers For Transportation Infrastructure, Miladin Radovic, Anand Puppala

Publications

Geopolymer Cement (GPC) has drawn much attention in the recent years as an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) for soil stabilization, pavements, bridges and other transportation structures due to their good mechanical properties in comparison to OPC. In addition, GPC can be processed at room temperatures from aqueous solutions of waste materials (e.g. fly ash) or abundant natural sources (e.g. clay), thereby significantly reducing CO2 production associated with processing of OPC. As such, GPC proves to be a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative than OPC. This research explores methods to develop GPC with desired properties and evaluate their …

Effects Of Organizational Trust And Project Delivery Variables On Bim User Confidence, Jason D. Lucas, Saw Sri Neeharika Vijayarao

The Professional Constructor

The use of Building Information Models (BIM) for construction planning has increased in all areas except for automated processes such as quantity take-off. Many model users lack confidence that a model, typically created by a third party, has accurate enough information in it to rely on the data for planning the project. This research is looking at how factors of organization trust and variables related to project delivery can raise user confidence in these situations. Factors of organizational trust were identified through a literature review. Two surveys were utilized to identify which factors were significant in raising user confidence. Finally, …

Accuracy Of Drone Based Surveys To Measure Stockpile Volume, Joseph M. Burgett, Scott Shaffer, Eric Stuckey

The Professional Constructor

This paper outlines a two phase experiment evaluating the accuracy of volumetric calculations using a commercially available drone and structure-from-motion (SfM) software. In the first phase, a large cardboard pyramid with a known volume was used to simulate a stockpile. Using georeferenced images collected by a Phantom 4 Pro drone and the SfM software ContextCapture, the computed volumes ranged between 1.5% and 3.3% of the actual volume. In the second phase of the experiment, a photometric survey was created of a large SCDOT borrow pit. The volumetric calculations were computed using conventional survey practices and with drone collected images. There …

The Water/Energy Nexus: Climate, Consumption And Ecosystem Services, Hildegaard D. Link

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Water and energy are drivers of living systems. This work provides an assessment of the Water Energy Nexus in the United States, comparing the well-watered north-east and the arid west. Electric grid systems are most stressed on hot summer afternoons. Grid stress can lead to cascading failures of electricity, water and wastewater treatment systems. (Zimmerman, 2017) Water for power generation and/or water supply depend on ecosystem services. The ecosystem services and resource trade-offs embedded in provision of a watt of power and an ounce of potable water, however, have yet to be comprehensively enumerated nor have the cost relationships been …

Commercial Construction Schedule Collaborators And Current Scheduling Practices, Evan D. Bingham, Jay P. Christofferson, Mark Hutchings

The Professional Constructor

Construction mangers use the project schedule to communicate aspects of construction timing critical to project success. These schedules may be created using the collaboration of multiple project stakeholders or be the creation of a single manager. The tools used to create and communicate the schedule could range from hand drawn to critical path computer software. Because these practices may vary from company to company, commercial construction mangers can benefit from an understanding of common scheduling practices in the industry. This paper is a report of findings for commercial contractors working in the western United States. Construction managers working for 23 …

Attraction And Retention Of Minority Managerial Employees At Electrical Contractors, Ben F. Bigelow, Anthony J. Perrenoud, Anusree Saseendran

The Professional Constructor

Diversity in the managerial workforce in construction is limited, with a shortage of talent in the industry and the demand projected to grow over the next ten years. The challenge of attracting and retaining managerial talent is exacerbated for trade contractors as they have historically promoted management from the trades. This study explored differences, based on ethnicity, when it comes to factors that attract and retain managerial talent in electrical construction. Data was collected through a nationwide survey of management employees of electrical contractors. It was found that while some factors were influential for all ethnic groups, certain factors became …

Building Information Model-Based Quantity Takeoff – Leadership Support And Training, Morgan Tagg, James P. Smith, Jay P. Christofferson, Kevin R. Miller

The Professional Constructor

Building Information Modeling (BIM) plays an important role in the modern construction industry. BIM models are tools that help stakeholders perform a variety of functions including communication, visualization, trade coordination, and clash detection. A less commonly utilized functionality of BIM that shows strong potential to improve efficiencies and reduce error is model-based quantity take off (QTO). The literature identifies eight challenges to implementing BIM QTO. This paper focuses on the leadership and training elements inherent to two of the identified challenges – 1) New skills and training, and 2) reluctance of employees to adopt. Through semi-structured interviews with estimators, preconstruction …

How Effective Are Toll Roads In Improving Operational Performance?, Sonu Mathew, Srinivas S. Pulugurtha

Mineta Transportation Institute

The main focus of this research is to develop a systematic analytical framework and evaluate the effect of a toll road on region’s traffic using travel time and travel time reliability measures. The travel time data for the Triangle Expressway in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States was employed for the assessment process. The spatial and temporal variations in the travel time distributions on the toll road, parallel alternate route, and near-vicinity cross-streets were analyzed using various travel time reliability measures. The results indicate that the Triangle Expressway showed a positive trend in reliability over the years of its operation. The …

Effects Of Electro-Osmotic Consolidation Of Clays And Its Improvement Using Ion Exchange Membranes, Lucas Martin

Dissertations

Electro-osmosis is an established method of expediting consolidation of soft, saturated clayey soils compared to commonly used methods, such as preloading with wick drains. In electro-osmotic consolidation a direct current (DC) is applied via inserted electrodes. This causes hydrated ions in the interstitial fluid to migrate to oppositely charged electrodes. Because the clay particles have a negative surface charge, the majority of ions in the interstitial fluid are positively charged. Therefore, the net flow will be towards the negatively charged electrode (cathode), where the water can be removed and thus consolidation is achieved. Certain problems, such as pH changes in …

Toward Realistic Nonstationarity Of Semidiurnal Baroclinic Tides In A Hydrodynamicmodel, Arin D. Nelson, Brian K. Arbic, Edward Zaron, Anna Savage, James G. Richman, Maarten C. Buijsman, Jay F. Shriver

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Semidiurnal baroclinic tide sea surface height (SSH) variance and semidiurnal nonstationary variance fraction (SNVF) are compared between a hydrodynamic model and altimetry for the low- to middle-latitude global ocean. Tidal frequencies are aliased by ∼10-day altimeter sampling, which makes it impossible to unambiguously identify nonstationary tidal signals from the observations. In order to better understand altimeter sampling artifacts, the model was analyzed using its native hourly outputs and by subsampling it in the same manner as altimeters. Different estimates of the semidiurnal nonstationary and total SSH variance are obtained with the model depending on whether they are identified in the …

Organic/Inorganic Interfacial Interactions Affecting Metal Reactivity: Water Treatment And Sensor Applications, Mohamed Nabil Shaikh

Civil Engineering ETDs

The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the interactions occurring at the organic – inorganic interface between solid media and aqueous contaminants for water treatment and sensor applications. The gaps in current literature on these interfacial organic-inorganic interactions must be bridged in order to develop advanced water treatment and monitoring technologies for improving water quality and thus, restore and protect the contaminated water resources. As a part of this dissertation, manganese oxides-based composites and electrospun polymer mats were developed and investigated for gaining mechanistic insights of organic (bisphenol A and acetaminophen) and inorganic (uranium) contaminants removal, respectively. These reactions …

Properties Of High Early-Strength Type V Cement Concrete For Rapid Repair, Nader Ghafoori, Matthew O. Maler, Meysam Najimi, Ariful Hasnat

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

This study examines the suitability of ASTM Type V cement concrete for rapid repair applications. To this end, experimental results on transport and durability properties of high earlystrength concretes using ASTM Type V cement were compared with those of a more traditional cement used for rapid repair, i.e. Type III cement. A cement content of 445 kg/m3 (750 lb/yd3 ) was maintained for all studied concretes. The experimental program included compressive strength, absorption, rapid chloride migration, corrosion resistance, and mass loss due to freezing and thawing regimes. The results of this study revealed that use of Type III and V …

Abrasion Resistance Of High Early-Strength Concrete For Rapid Repair, Nader Ghafoori, Matthew O. Maler, Meysam Najimi, Ariful Hasnat

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

This paper examines the abrasion resistance of high early-strength concrete developed for rapid repair of highways and bridge decks. The cement types chosen for this study included ASTM Type III, ASTM Type V, and Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements. A cement content of 386 kg/m3 (650 lb/yd3 ) was maintained for all studied concretes. Test samples were tested after 24 hours and 28 days of curing in order to evaluate compressive strength and depth of wear. Test results revealed that the opening time to attain minimum required compressive strength for CSA cement concrete was one hour, whereas the values for Type …

High-Temperature Performance Of Polymer-Modified Asphalt Mixes: Preliminary Evaluation Of The Usefulness Of Standard Technical Index In Polymer-Modified Asphalt., Kezhen Yan, Lingyun You, Daocheng Wang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The objectives of this study are to evaluate the high-temperature performance of polymer-modified asphalt and asphalt mixtures, and to investigate if the standard technical indexes are useful in the performance evaluation of the polymer-modified asphalt. There are four typically used polymer-modified asphalt types employed in the study. The standard high-temperature rheological test, such as the temperature sweep test, was used to express the high-temperature performance of the polymer-modified asphalt. Also, considering the non-Newtonian fluid properties of the polymer-modified asphalt, the multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) and zero-shear viscosity (ZSV) tests were employed for the characterizations. Besides, based on the mixture …

Research On Optimization Of The Ship Routeing System In Qiongzhou Strait, Qifu Wang

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Study On The Reduction Of Carbon Emission，Results From The Vehicles In The Shanghai Port’S Container Collection And Distribution System, Chaofeng Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Our Envirome, Spring/Summer 2019, Issue 40

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Plastic Pollution, Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 39.3

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Plastic Pollution, Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 39.2

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Plastic Pollution, Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 39

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion On Unbonded Concrete Overlay Design And Performance, Gauhar Sabih

Civil Engineering ETDs

With the deterioration of highway pavements across the country, more emphasis is being laid on the rehabilitation of existing pavements. Unbonded concrete overlay (UBCO) is a cost-effective technique used to rehabilitate damaged concrete pavements. The design and performance of UBCO rely on various properties of concrete, of which coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is an important one. Concrete CTE has a direct impact on the design and performance of rigid pavements and overlays. CTE regulates the magnitude of curling and related stresses that impact the performance of overlays with regards to cracking, faulting and pavement roughness. Previous research revealed that …

Visualizing The Fate And Distribution Of Pahs In Spartina And Avicennia Tissues From Barataria Basin, La, Kristina Jeannette Sebastian

LSU Master's Theses

During crude oil spill events, vegetation in marsh environments sequester polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the crude oil by partitioning from the air phase through the waxy cuticle on the leaf surface. Recent studies from Macondo oil-impacted marshes have demonstrated that cycling of low molecular weight petrogenic PAHs occurs through the cuticle and other leaf tissue. At present, our understanding of how PAHs travel through the cuticle is coarse and limited by grab samples across the entire leaf, which preventing a full understanding the dynamics of PAH cycling in this environment. Multiphoton (MP) confocal microscopy visualizes the distribution of PAHs …

Water Quality Analysis Of Ecoroof Runoff In Portland, Pranoti P. Deshmukh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Portland, Oregon is internationally recognized for its implementation of sustainable stormwater management technologies. Ecoroof is one of the sustainable solutions to reduce stormwater runoff which also provides multiple environmental benefits. However, very little is known about the impact of ecoroofs on water quality of roof runoff. Stormwater runoff carries a significant amount of pollutants, which, if it directly enters a stream or river, degrades water quality and severely harms aquatic life.

This study evaluates the trends in the long-term water quality data from ecoroofs and conventional roofs in the Portland area. Mann Kendall trend test was used to detect the …

Modeling Vertical Migration Of Cyanobacteria And Zooplankton, Corina Christina Mae Overman

Dissertations and Theses

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, often cause harmful algal blooms and release toxic substances that can harm humans and other animals. Accurately modeling these phytoplankton is a step towards predicting, preventing, and controlling such blooms. Cyanobacteria and zooplankton species are known to migrate vertically in the water column on a daily cycle. Capturing this behavior is one aspect of correctly modeling their dynamics. Here, several models of cyanobacteria vertical movement were tested in proof-of-concept models before being applied to data from field studies. These models included both continuum and particle-tracking frameworks. Four continuum-framework models of cyanobacteria vertical migration were …