Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Feasibility Of Using Untreated And Treated Rice Straw Fibers As A Modifier For Hot Mix Asphalt, Aditya Chowdhury

Civil Engineering Theses

Flexible pavements are subject to progressive deterioration driven by repeated traffic loading, environmental exposure, and material degradation, which causes distress. This study presents an integrated research framework that combines laboratory performance evaluation of rice straw fiber (RSF)-modified hot mix asphalt with machine learning-based pavement distress prediction to advance sustainable pavements. Three plant-produced HMA mixtures were modified with untreated and alkali-treated RSF at dosage levels of 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% by total mixture weight. FTIR spectroscopic analysis confirmed that alkali treatment induced significant chemical modifications to the fiber surface, increasing hydroxyl group availability and enhancing fiber–binder adhesion. Alkali-treated RSF consistently outperformed …

Kentucky Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (Mmucc) Sixth Edition Report Card, William Staats, Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Eric Green, Nathaniel Swallom

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (6th Edition) (MMUCC) in 2024. This updated version of the MMUCC contains recommendations for improving and standardizing electronic crash data. Its guidelines address the collection and presentation of 105 data elements and 1,056 data attributes. To facilitate a possible redesign of Kentucky’s crash reporting process, Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers reviewed the updated criteria and evaluated the degree to which the state complies with its recommended methods of gathering, storing, and presenting crash data. At the level of data elements, Kentucky is 25 percent compliant; for data …

Calibrating Airfield Pavement Asset Management For A Changing Global Climate: A Case Study At Fairchild Air Force Base, Emily L. Worthy

Theses and Dissertations

Military airfields and civilian airports serve as foundational nodes in the global transportation network, enabling travel, economic growth, and the projection of national security. This study investigates the relationship between climate variables projected through climate change and pavement degradation, with a focus on Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB). Using principal component regression (PCR), the research integrates historical pavement condition index (PCI) data with climate variables, including snowfall, precipitation, freeze-thaw cycles, solar irradiance, and wind speed to develop a predictive model of pavement performance under future climate scenarios, Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5. These models, for both Portland …

Quantifying Subsurface Pavement Temperatures Subject To Future Climates And Implications For Pavement Resilience, Austin Michael Jarrell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Assessment of anthropogenic climate change impacts in pavement design and analysis remains limited within engineering practice, despite growing recognition of the need for climate-resilient roadway infrastructure. Research efforts have increasingly focused on integrating future climate projections into mechanistic-empirical pavement design, which represents the leading edge of the state of practice. However, a lack of consensus persists regarding the optimal methods for incorporating climate projections, particularly in the selection of downscaling techniques and global climate models (GCMs) to ensure accuracy and applicability for pavement performance analysis. This research investigates the impact of statistical downscaling methodologies and GCM selection routines on subsurface …

Implementation And Performance Evaluation Of Plastic Road Mix Design In Parking Lot, Ishraq Faruk

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The uncontrolled proliferation of plastic waste has emerged as a global environmental crisis, with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) constituting a substantial fraction of the waste stream due to its extensive use in packaging and its resistance to degradation. In parallel, asphalt pavements particularly in urban infrastructure such as parking lots experience accelerated deterioration from raveling, rutting, and cracking as a result of thermal cycling, repetitive loading, and inadequate drainage. These converging challenges present an opportunity for innovative, circular-economy-based sustainable pavement technologies that simultaneously improve surface durability and mitigate plastic waste accumulation.

This research investigates the full-scale implementation and monitoring of HDPE …

Ultra High-Performance Concrete As A High Friction Surface Treatment For Pavements And Bridges, Kyle Maeger

All Dissertations

High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) is a proven technology to reduce crashes on roadways by increasing the coefficient of friction between vehicle tires and the pavement. However, it is an expensive solution due to the high cost of the two commonly used constituent materials, calcined bauxite aggregate and epoxy resin binders.

This study evaluated the abrasion resistance performance of four alternative HFST aggregates to calcined bauxite using Los Angeles Abrasion and Micro-Deval Abrasion tests, and studied the surface texture utilizing a high-resolution laser scanner and friction utilizing the British Pendulum Test.

This study also assessed the performance of non-proprietary Ultra …

Analysis On Design Concept Of Subgrade And Pavement Of Colombia High‑Grade Highway, Liu Tao, Hu Guanhua, Yuan Yi

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

Colombian highway design predominantly adheres to American Standards，emphasizing design concepts reflective of the United States while encompassing Colombia's engineering design habits，concepts，and characteristics.This paper introduced the main design schemes of the Colombia MAR 2 Highway Project in northern Colombia，including protection engineering，drainage engineering，subgrade filling，spoil ground，and pavement.It conducted a comparative analysis between Colombian and Chinese design concepts，highlighting similarities and disparities，and put forward the thinking of mutual learning.

Use Of Recycled Plastics To Improve Strength And Reduce Swelling Of Expansive Subgrade, Merina Thapa

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Managing solid waste, particularly non-degradable plastics, is a growing environmental concern due to its persistence and limited disposal options. With landfill space dwindling and costs increasing, innovative and sustainable solutions are critical. One promising approach is incorporating plastic waste into construction materials, specifically for subgrade soil stabilization in pavements. This study suggests a method that involves mixing recycled plastic with soil to enhance its properties.

To find out how useful this method is, LDPE, HDPE, PET, and PP plastics were shredded and mixed with soil in different amounts (2%, 3%, 4%, and 5% by weight). Laboratory tests, including compaction, unconfined …

Enhancing Resilience Of Critical Infrastructural Systems Against Severe Weather Conditions, Miaomiao Li

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As climate change intensifies natural hazards and extreme weather events, critical infrastructure systems like power networks and pavements are increasingly vulnerable to damage. While significant progress has been made in studying individual hazards for specific systems, there remains a need for comprehensive frameworks addressing parametrized fragility for key components in critical infrastructure and their application in system risk and resilience evaluation. This dissertation investigates the failure mechanisms and fragility of power systems and pavements under extreme conditions, including winter storms, hurricanes, heatwaves, and flooding. Using structural analysis, numerical modeling, and statistical methods, this work evaluates system vulnerabilities, develops fragility models, …

Sustainable Cities: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Of Integrating Piezoelectric Harvesters Into Roadways, Heba Mohamed Gaber

Theses and Dissertations

Energy is essential in our modern era. Because of the increasing electricity consumption, sustainable and Renewable energy became a necessary global approach to fill the gap of the ongoing energy shortage in addition to the climate change crisis due to using conventional ways for energy production. Renewable energy is a global approach that has achieved great accomplishments during the last decades and is gradually increasing. Energy harvesting is considered one of the main resources for renewable energy. Energy harvesting from the roadways is an ingenious horizon for sustainable, clean, and renewable energy generation. Harvesting energy from the roadways by using …

Deep Learning Techniques For Efficient Evaluation Of Asphalt Pavement Condition, Kamel Mahdy, Ahmed Zekry, Mohamed Moussa, Ahmed Mohamed, Hassan Mahdy, Mohamed Elhabiby

Mansoura Engineering Journal

For the last few decades, researchers have been devising a simple and cost-effective method to evaluate pavement distresses to give decision-makers adequate feedbacks about the pavement condition of a certain road. Fortunately, with the evolution and progression of computer vision tools and techniques, good results had been achieved regarding the detection, classification, and quantification of road distress. In this paper, a new efficient process of road distress analysis using deep learning models is introduced. This new process was tested on a collected road dataset to evaluate the efficiency and speed of this low-cost road maintenance system. Promising results were obtained …

Rigid Pavement Analysis System (Rpas): An Enhanced Graphical User Interface, Samina Samrose

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent decades there has been a significant interest among researchers in developing pavement analysis tools that will work with high efficiency and provide accurate results within a short timeframe. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has developed a finite element-based pavement analysis software named â??Rigid Pavement Analysis Systemâ?? (RPAS) capable of analyzing Jointed PCC pavements of any number of PCC and soil layers. The processing core of this software was developed in MATLAB with a pre- and post-processing user interface developed in C++. The MATLAB code is compiled into an executable and together with the C++ interface …

Nebraska Balanced Mix Design – Phase I, Farzad Yazdipanah, Mahdieh Khedmati, Hamzeh Haghshenas

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Balanced mix design (BMD) is an alternative concept for designing asphalt mixtures that mainly focuses on performance of mixtures rather than only volumetric analysis. Using this concept, it would be possible to account for the incorporation of recycled asphalt mixtures, warm technology, polymers, rejuvenators, and other foreign additives, as well as external effective factors on the mix design such as environmental effects. This project sought to investigate performance-based methodologies for the asphalt mix design by taking a step to develop a preliminary Nebraska BMD framework. With that, selection of appropriate performance tests, finding a functional laboratory aging protocol, and defining …

Study On Interlayer Bonding Properties And Influence Factors Of Cape Seal, Li Yan, Zhang Chengxue, Qiu Yeji, Zhang Haijun

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To address pavement issues such as shoving and rutting caused by insufficient bonding strength in cape seal layers, this paper investigates the interlayer bonding properties and influencing factors of cape seal. Mechanical tests were conducted using a pavement interlayer shear-pull testing device. Through interlayer pull-off, direct shear, and torsional shear tests, the maximum tensile force, shear force, and torque at failure were obtained. The interlayer bonding performance of cape seal was analyzed in terms of gravel coverage rates, as well as upper and lower layer combinations. The results show that when the gravel coverage rate is 80%-90%, and the cape …

A New Generation Of Dense-Graded Asphalt Mixtures With Superior Performance Against Stripping And Moisture Damage, Mostafa Elseifi, Zahid Hossain, Md. T.A Sarkar, Hossam Abohamer, Mohammad Oyan

Data

The presence of moisture beneath the pavement surface is a matter of great concerns as it is responsible for significant distresses such as asphalt concrete (AC) stripping, fatigue cracking, rutting, and poor durability of asphalt mixes. The objective of this study was to evaluate and recommend an asphalt mixture design that would provide superior performance against AC stripping and cracking. To achieve this objective, a laboratory test factorial was developed to evaluate the use of nanomaterials, emerging anti-stripping agents, warm-mix asphalt technologies, and adhesion promotors. In the experimental program, the modified Lottman test (AASHTO T 283) and the Indirect Tensile …

A New Generation Of Dense-Graded Asphalt Mixtures With Superior Performance Against Stripping And Moisture Damage, Mostafa Elseifi, Zahid Hossain, Md. T.A. Sarkar, Hossam Abohamer, Mohammad Oyan

Publications

The presence of moisture beneath the pavement surface is a matter of great concerns as it is responsible for significant distresses such as asphalt concrete (AC) stripping, fatigue cracking, rutting, and poor durability of asphalt mixes. The objective of this study was to evaluate and recommend an asphalt mixture design that would provide superior performance against AC stripping and cracking. To achieve this objective, a laboratory test factorial was developed to evaluate the use of nanomaterials, emerging anti-stripping agents, warm-mix asphalt technologies, and adhesion promotors. In the experimental program, the modified Lottman test (AASHTO T 283) and the Indirect Tensile …

Variation Of Moisture Content And Temperature Under The Road Shoulder Improved With Wicking Geotextile, Javad Galinmoghadam, Xiong Zhang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Several Pavement Distresses Are Associated with Excess Water in the Pavement System. Hence, Controlling Subsurface Water is Crucial to Pavement's Long-Term Performance. Improving Pavement Drainage is Commonly Used to Control the Water Content in Pavement Layers. Conventional Drainage Systems Can Work under Saturated Conditions but Cannot Effectively Drain Capillary Water. a New Type of Wicking Geotextile Has Been Developed that Can Drain Water under Both Saturated and Unsaturated Conditions. in This Study, the Performance of This New Type of Geotextile in Draining Water from a Paved Road Shoulder is Evaluated. a Full-Scale Test Section Along Interstate 44 Was Constructed and …

A Deep Learning Tool For The Assessment Of Pavement Smoothness And Aggregate Segregation During Construction, Mostafa Elseifi, Ramchandra Paudel, Md Tanvir Ahmed Sarkar, Hossam Abohamer, Nirmal Dhakal

Data

Pavement construction monitoring and quality assurance (QA) practices are mostly based on costly, discrete, and destructive methods. Most quality assurance programs are based on pavement construction procedures encompassing in-situ coring for layer thickness determination, density measurements, laboratory testing to measure volumetric properties, and smoothness measurements in case of the availability of a profiler. The main objective of this study was to develop a machine learning-based classifier for predicting pavement roughness and aggregate segregation based on digital image analysis, image recognition, and deep learning machine models. The developed Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) models were trained, tested, and validated using 600-pavement surface …

A Deep Learning Tool For The Assessment Of Pavement Smoothness And Aggregate Segregation During Construction, Mostafa Elseifi, Ramchandra Paudel, Md Tanvir Ahmed Sarkar, Hossam Abohamer, Nirmal Dhakal

Publications

Pavement construction monitoring and quality assurance (QA) practices are mostly based on costly, discrete, and destructive methods. Most quality assurance programs are based on pavement construction procedures encompassing in-situ coring for layer thickness determination, density measurements, laboratory testing to measure volumetric properties, and smoothness measurements in case of the availability of a profiler. The main objective of this study was to develop a machine learning-based classifier for predicting pavement roughness and aggregate segregation based on digital image analysis, image recognition, and deep learning machine models. The developed Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) models were trained, tested, and validated using 600-pavement surface …

Comparing The Stiffness Of Cold In-Place Recycled Asphalt Pavement To Hot Mix Asphalt: Determining The Reproducibility Of The Stiffness Rebound Test, Tanner Turben

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Stiffness Raveling Mechanism Test (SRMT) was originally developed as an indirect measure of pavement stiffness to determine a pavement’s tendency to ravel, a type of damage. Regarding rehabilitation of existing roadways by Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR), concern of field repeatability was expressed (Hill & Braham, 2016).

An analysis of lab-compacted samples of CIR and Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) was performed to determine if the results could be reproduced between CIR and HMA. Additionally, the experiment observed the effects of percent air voids, temperature, and moisture conditioning on CIR and HMA. Three samples were prepared for …

The Effect Of Concrete Material Properties On Rigid Pavement Design In South Carolina, Nicolet Anne Devine

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the effect of concrete material inputs on rigid pavement design in the state of South Carolina. The impact of concrete strength input parameters in the historical AASHTO pavement design method and MEPDG method is investigated using three newly constructed concrete sections, I-85 in Cherokee County, I-20 in Lexington County, and I-85 in Spartanburg County. Strength data obtained from the sections were the result of QA/QC testing provided by the SCDOT during construction, as well as from UofSC laboratory testing. The compressive strength data from these tests was correlated to the elastic modulus and modulus of rupture (which …

An Investigation Of The Flexural Strength And Toughness Of Hybrid Plain And Fiber Reinforced Concrete For Pavement Applications, Wesley Keys

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For decades, many solutions have been evaluated to combat cracking in concrete pavements. The study presented in this paper evaluates and compares the flexural performance under a third point loading configuration of plain concrete (PC) beams, fully fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) beams, and hybrid PC and FRC beams, with a top PC and bottom FRC layer. The purpose of this hybrid approach was to provide FRC in only half the section, saving cost, while providing a PC surface layer that is easier to finish. All PC top layers were applied at an age of 7-days, considered a reasonable time for …

Relating The Dongre Workability Test To Cold In-Place Recycled Asphalt Pavements, Gus Williams

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Dongre Workability Test (DWT) is a test for determining an asphalt pavement’s relative workability from the stress-strain curve of a sample. While the DWT has seen favorable results with warm mix and hot mix asphalt, Casillas and Braham (2020) attempted to apply this test to cold in-place recycled (CIR) asphalt pavements with limited results. This paper looked at the process of reexamining the DWT method to more favorable results with CIR samples. Phase 1 consisted of defining ten possible metrics from the stress-strain curve and applying them to samples with three different curing conditions. From these preliminary results, the …

An Innovative Thermo-Energy Harvesting Module For Asphalt Roadway Pavement, Seyed Amid Tahami, Samer Dessouky

Data

The importance of green technologies for generating renewable energy and sustainable development is widely accepted. Road surfaces are exposed to solar radiation that generates thermal gradients and heat flow in the pavement layers. The heat stored can be harvested providing an untapped source of renewable energy. This report presents the design, construction, and assessment of an improved thermoelectric energy prototype for harvesting heat energy from roadway pavements. To accomplish this, various prototype designs were simulated using Finite Element (FE) analysis, followed by design construction and laboratory testing of the most promising prototypes to evaluate their power harvesting capabilities. The main …

An Innovative Thermo-Energy Harvesting Module For Asphalt Roadway Pavement, Seyed Amid Tahami, Samer Dessouky

Publications

The importance of green technologies for generating renewable energy and sustainable development is widely accepted. Road surfaces are exposed to solar radiation that generates thermal gradients and heat flow in the pavement layers. The heat stored can be harvested providing an untapped source of renewable energy. This report presents the design, construction, and assessment of an improved thermoelectric energy prototype for harvesting heat energy from roadway pavements. To accomplish this, various prototype designs were simulated using Finite Element (FE) analysis, followed by design construction and laboratory testing of the most promising prototypes to evaluate their power harvesting capabilities. The main …

Engineered Cementitious Composite For Pavement Applications: Materials Development And Design Framework, Hassan Noorvand

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECCs) are a novel class of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites characterized by their high tensile strain capacity. While ECCs have been presented as a promising material alternative for the construction of durable pavements and overlays, the cost of these materials is a major drawback, which limits their widespread implementation. More importantly, performance prediction models for ECC pavements existing in the literature are incomplete as the effect of ECC plasticity has not been considered in the integration of finite element (FE) analysis and beam flexural fatigue experimental test results. Moreover, the existing ECC pavements performance prediction models are …

Reusing Of Recycled Plastic As Pavement Base And Sub-Base Materials, Tanvir Imtiaz

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A large percentage of waste materials is recycled back into the same product from which they originated. In spite of considerable progress in recycling waste materials generated in urban environments, the materials are sometimes not able to be recycled into the same product due to their quality or technical requirements and are as a result dumped or incinerated. Recycling concrete aggregate (RCCA) and recycled waste plastics are examples of recycled materials that can be used as an alternative to natural aggregates during the construction of newer structures as well as demolition of existing structures like buildings, bridges, and pavements. Materials …

Concrete Maturity Method Applied To Rapid-Setting Calcium-Sulfoaluminate (Csa) Concretes For Pavement Repair Under Different Ambient Temperatures, Ryan Nicholas Langford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With more and more people using roadways the need for fast and efficient repair work is becoming increasingly important. Lane closures impede traffic flow and result in congestion. To further limit the amount of time lane closures are needed for repair work, calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement concrete has become an increasing popular construction material for its ability to reach adequate strength requirements within four hours. Because of this accelerated repair time, advanced testing methods are needed to verify that the replaced concrete does indeed meet or exceed the minimum compressive strength requirements.

The maturity method is one test used to …

Assessment Of Long-Term Performance Of Pavements Containing Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies In Louisiana, Kwadwo Ampadu Boateng

LSU Master's Theses

This study focused on the assessment of long-term performance of asphalt pavements containing warm mix asphalt technologies in Louisiana. A total of five rehabilitation projects were studied in the state of Louisiana. The study consisted of engineering desk analyses of field performance indicators, indices and the initial laboratory performance indicators measured for five rehabilitation projects.

The engineering desk study consisted of a review of literature from previous WMA technology projects done in Louisiana. Additionally, data was acquired and validated from the Louisiana Pavement Management System (PMS). Pavement performance indicators (i.e., cracking (transverse, longitudinal, and fatigue cracking), roughness, rutting, and pavement …

Quality Assessment Of Flexible Pavement Automated Cracking Data In Louisiana, Mostafiz Emtiaz

LSU Master's Theses

Pavement distress survey is the most critical and integral part of pavement management system. Transportation agencies all over the world depends on the accurate pavement distress survey to take major decisions like pavement rehabilitation or reconstruction. Pavement management at the network level requires accurate pavement distress survey to decide the allocation of budget for pavement maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction. This study started collected network-level cracking distress data through manual measurements on high-resolution pavement images and the results were used as the ground truth measurements to evaluate the corresponding automated distress data from the Pavement Management System database. Results showed that …