Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 14431 - 14460 of 39858

Full-Text Articles in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Devcon's In-House Design Department Benefiting Their Construction Process: A Case Study, Neeka M. Nazhand Dec 2017

Devcon's In-House Design Department Benefiting Their Construction Process: A Case Study, Neeka M. Nazhand

Construction Management

Devcon Construction Inc. is a general contracting company that implements a design department in-house to aid them with their design-build projects. Since their doors opened in 1976, Devcon has imbedded an in-house design department that now delegates about twenty-five percent of their design-build projects, and acts as a resource center for their other construction projects. Having this unique design department benefits both the design and construction side of projects, because working for the same company motivates the teams to work together and solve problems faster. The design department is not for direct profit and only works with Devcon’s contractors, mainly …

Go to article

Construction Of A House In Tijuana, Mexico, Adam Scianna Dec 2017

Construction Of A House In Tijuana, Mexico, Adam Scianna

Construction Management

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Best Practices For Preparing For The Reno Commercial Problem, Cole Range Dec 2017

Best Practices For Preparing For The Reno Commercial Problem, Cole Range

Construction Management

The ASC Region 7 Commercial competition is one of the largest and most popular student competition in the country. Students from some of the most prestigious construction management and construction engineering schools compete in a rigorous eighteen hour competition. These teams have around 6 months to prepare for the competition. Their preparation methods have a significant impact on how they place in the competition. The amount of time spent with the teams industry sponsor, number of practice problems completed, hours spent practicing, number of team bonding events, and many other factors contribute to the team’s success. Many of the schools …

Go to article

Best Practices And Applications Of 3d Printing In The Construction Industry, Jake Kidwell Dec 2017

Best Practices And Applications Of 3d Printing In The Construction Industry, Jake Kidwell

Construction Management

The construction industry is constantly looking for new ways to improve project efficiency and profitability. Many new technologies such as Business Information Modeling (BIM) programs, and project management software have been introduced to aid in preconstruction and on site coordination. However, traditional building methods have remained relatively unchanged for decades. 3D printing (3DP) is a promising new technology that has the potential to not only be an effective means of increasing project efficiency and profitability in the field, but also have positive environmental impacts. However, as it exists today, this technology is highly limited by size, material, skilled labor, and …

Go to article

Evaluating The California Contractors Licensing Exam And Its Relevance To The Construction Industry, Austin O'Mara Dec 2017

Evaluating The California Contractors Licensing Exam And Its Relevance To The Construction Industry, Austin O'Mara

Construction Management

The California contractors licensing exam tests aspiring contractors on their knowledge of the construction industry on other legal and trade topics. This paper is a case study that evaluates the contractors licensing exam and its ability to evaluate contractors. It concludes that the test itself is not responsible for increasing quality due to it being a simple process of memorization, but that California’s strict licensing requirements correlate to lower percentages of negative reviews. Various contractors from California were interviewed to understand their opinions of the licensing exam and how the knowledge from the exam related to their time in the …

Go to article

A Case Study On The Compliance Of The Heavy Duty Diesel Vehicle Regulation, Kyle Potts Dec 2017

A Case Study On The Compliance Of The Heavy Duty Diesel Vehicle Regulation, Kyle Potts

Construction Management

In December of 2008 the California Air Resource Board approved the On Road Heavy Duty Diesel Vehicle Regulation. The purpose of this new law is to reduce the emissions from existing on-road diesel vehicles operating throughout California. However, this new regulation is drastically affecting trucking companies throughout the state of California. Trucking companies across state lines are left with a few costly options to comply with the On Road Heavy Duty Diesel Vehicle Regulation. This case study focuses on two similar trucking companies and how they went about complying with the new regulation and which options have been most effective …

Go to article

Certifications In The Construction Industry: A Look Into Industry Standards, Shawn T. Pacaoan Dec 2017

Certifications In The Construction Industry: A Look Into Industry Standards, Shawn T. Pacaoan

Construction Management

Becoming certified in various areas of construction is a task that requires completing rigorous courses to become more knowledgeable and give those the tools to succeed in a certain path within construction. Having a multitude of certifications diversifies your portfolio, and strengthens your resume but acquiring multiple certifications can be a very expensive and time-consuming task. Is the time commitment and expenses worth it? By the end of this paper students will finally know the answer to a question they have always been asking, “Do construction certifications actually better your chances to get a job?” Since there are numerous certifications …

Go to article

Value Of Utilizing Tubular Daylighting Devices In Csu, Channel Islands' Gateway Hall, Blake T. Walsh Dec 2017

Value Of Utilizing Tubular Daylighting Devices In Csu, Channel Islands' Gateway Hall, Blake T. Walsh

Construction Management

Daylighting is becoming an increasingly more important aspect of building design as our planet’s natural resources deplete and the cost savings for daylighting systems grow. California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI) values the use of daylighting and aims to incorporate it into its upcoming project, Gateway Hall. One option of daylighting that the campus is considering for this project is tubular daylighting devices (TDD). This paper will study the use of tubular daylighting devices and the potential cost savings that they could have on Gateway Hall. The company leading the way in TDD technology is Solatube, whose products are among …

Go to article

Case Study: Diesel Excavators Compared To Hybrid Excavators, Corey Mcgrillen Dec 2017

Case Study: Diesel Excavators Compared To Hybrid Excavators, Corey Mcgrillen

Construction Management

The construction industry is constantly evolving and developing equipment that is more efficient, materials that promote sustainability and practices that emphasize lean construction principles to enhance productivity on projects. Modern day construction projects have become highly reliant on these ideals due to the highly competitive nature of the industry. In regards to heavy civil construction, specifically the underground utilities market, equipment costs count for a large percentage of overall project costs. Reducing these costs allows a contractor to be more competitive. As the focus on infrastructure construction continues to grow and expand, many heavy civil contractors are turning to alternative …

Go to article

Metallica Worldwired Tour: Case Study, Phillip Matthews Dec 2017

Metallica Worldwired Tour: Case Study, Phillip Matthews

Construction Management

The concert touring industry is financially performing at its highest level in history. A shifting trend from selling records to selling live entertainment experiences has caused a boom in the event production field. This project examines one of the most successful global tours of 2017, Metallica’s WorldWired Tour. This tour was able to achieve success with an unconventional stage design. The goal was to enhance the audience experience and interaction with the band. To achieve this, Metallica toured with a roofless stage. This unique stage design proposed challenges for all areas of concert production, including lighting, audio, video, and atmosphere. …

Go to article

Earned Value Analysis Lesson Plan And Activity, Nick A. Halle Dec 2017

Earned Value Analysis Lesson Plan And Activity, Nick A. Halle

Construction Management

At California Polytechnic State University, in the Construction Management Department there is a need for a lesson plan which teaches students the concepts of earned value analysis as it applies to construction projects. As many construction management students from Cal Poly go into industry and take part in complex projects, it will be beneficial to understand project management tools such as earned value. Earned value analysis focuses on two critical components, time and money and how they relate to each other and compare to the original estimate throughout the duration of a project. Comparing the estimated values to actual values …

Go to article

Bridging The Gap Between Technology Usage In The Construction Industry And In The Classroom, Marco Maffioli Dec 2017

Bridging The Gap Between Technology Usage In The Construction Industry And In The Classroom, Marco Maffioli

Construction Management

As construction begins to advance more and more every day, technology is one of the most volatile aspects due to its ever changing nature. Technology, and all the software’s that encompass it, is the future of this industry and if we want to keep improving and growing as an industry we need to better align our future new hires with the most prevalent technology and that starts in the classroom. Specifically, the Construction Management Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, one of the most advanced in Nation, still struggles to align with the expectations and reality of the CM …

Go to article

Forney Residence Accessory Dwelling Unit, Nicholas J. Zygutis Dec 2017

Forney Residence Accessory Dwelling Unit, Nicholas J. Zygutis

Construction Management

This project involves the project management of a proposed 1,000 square foot accessory dwelling unit that is to be constructed in Alamo, California. The objective is to provide the necessary and efficient means of construction in order to properly establish this unit from conception to permitting. This has been done by obtaining all necessary paperwork, forms, and stamp approvals needed to allow for groundbreaking. The design of the project includes the basic pre-construction activities required to obtain an issued building permit such as collecting bids from architects, working with the client, obtaining plans, developing an adequate schedule and cost estimate, …

Go to article

Case Study On Student Competence In Construction Surveying And Layout, Dejah Hilliard Dec 2017

Case Study On Student Competence In Construction Surveying And Layout, Dejah Hilliard

Construction Management

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Construction Management (CM) curriculum requires its students to enroll in BRAE 239, a course that educates students on field surveying using equipment such as a total station and an automatic optical level (builder’s level). The class focuses on how to use the specified equipment to calculate distances, heights, and angles over fixed benchmarks to create labeled contour maps and land plot diagrams. The information and methods of calculation are taught in a classroom, and the physical surveying with the provided equipment is done in the agricultural field on campus. The course does touch on …

Go to article

Integrating Radiant Flooring With Insulation, Zachary J. Faber Dec 2017

Integrating Radiant Flooring With Insulation, Zachary J. Faber

Construction Management

Radiant flooring has gained traction in recent years becoming very common in residential construction, especially in custom homes. There are different types of radiant flooring that has been deployed into the construction of residential homes, but not all of them have been effective. Currently, radiant flooring must be installed either during construction of a new home, or requires the removal of existing flooring in order to place radiant components below and then reinstall the flooring. Not only does it require the removal of flooring, it is also quite expensive to purchase and install. This paper looks into whether or not …

Go to article

Mobile Applications To Aid Office To Field Communication, William Hunter Bryson Dec 2017

Mobile Applications To Aid Office To Field Communication, William Hunter Bryson

Construction Management

The advancements in new age communication technology are changing and shaping the construction industry more than ever, and this technology can be utilized to solve the many issues faced in the realm of office to field communication. Currently, many companies in the construction industry struggle to effectively manage office to field communication. In an industry where details surrounding RFI’s, change orders, and submittals are constantly changing, it is imperative that information is communicated effectively and in a timely manner to the necessary people. If communication is not flowing in an accurate and succinct manner, very costly mistakes can be made …

Go to article

Solutions And Findings Of The San Diego Homeless Paradox, Devon A. Nicklas Dec 2017

Solutions And Findings Of The San Diego Homeless Paradox, Devon A. Nicklas

Construction Management

There is no question that San Diego is facing a chronic problem of their increasing homeless population. According to HUD, the homeless count as of January 2016 reached a high of 9,116 homeless people in San Diego County. Oddly enough, the city of San Diego reports that the city has seen an increase in new construction by 3.2% over the past several years and expects to see an increase of new construction as high as 12.9% by 2017. This draws the question of why there is still an increasing amount of homeless when so much new construction is underway, and …

Go to article

Moblie Applications To Aid Office To Field Communcation, Will H. Bryson Dec 2017

Moblie Applications To Aid Office To Field Communcation, Will H. Bryson

Construction Management

The advancements in new age communication technology are changing and shaping the construction industry more than ever, and this technology can be utilized to solve the many issues faced in the realm of office to field communication. Currently, many companies in the construction industry struggle to effectively manage office to field communication. In an industry where details surrounding RFI’s, change orders, and submittals are constantly changing, it is imperative that information is communicated effectively and in a timely manner to the necessary people. If communication is not flowing in an accurate and succinct manner, very costly mistakes can be made …

Go to article

Case Study: Mitigating Schedule Impacts From Oshpd Regulations On Medical Equipment, Peter K. Lee Dec 2017

Case Study: Mitigating Schedule Impacts From Oshpd Regulations On Medical Equipment, Peter K. Lee

Construction Management

The vast majority of healthcare construction projects in the state of California work with OSHPD—Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development—to meet California’s Hospital Seismic Safety Law. While meeting the state’s Hospital Seismic Safety Law is important and even critical, working with OSHPD’s stringent regulations does imply additional concerns to be addressed by the project team. One concern regards the approval of bigger medical equipment and its impact on the overall construction schedule. This paper examines the factors that contribute to delays in the construction schedule, responsible parties for the delay, and responsibilities of each involved party. Based on an …

Go to article

Setback Distance Requirements For Removal Of Swine Slurry Constituents In Runoff, John E. Gilley, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Kent M. Eskridge, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt, Daniel D. Snow Dec 2017

Setback Distance Requirements For Removal Of Swine Slurry Constituents In Runoff, John E. Gilley, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Kent M. Eskridge, Xu Li, Amy M. Schmidt, Daniel D. Snow

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The use of setback distances for manure application on cropland areas adjacent to surface water bodies could serve a function similar to vegetative filter strips. However, little information currently exists to identify the setback distances necessary to effectively reduce the transport of contaminants in runoff. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of setback distance and runoff rate on concentrations of selected constituents in runoff following land application of swine slurry to a no-till cropland area in southeast Nebraska. The study site had a residue cover of 7.73 Mg ha-1 and a slope gradient of 4.9%. The …

Go to article

Combining Non-Destructive Tests To Improve The Reliability Of Evaluating Concrete Quality, Afra Al Asri Mohammed Obaid Al Dhaheri Dec 2017

Combining Non-Destructive Tests To Improve The Reliability Of Evaluating Concrete Quality, Afra Al Asri Mohammed Obaid Al Dhaheri

Civil and Environmental Theses

Non-destructive tests (NDT) are commonly used in construction to evaluate concrete quality for both existing structures and during construction. The reliability of these tests have been questioned. This thesis is concerned with evaluating concrete strength and durability using different non-destructive tests (NDT). Also, it focuses on applying different combination of NDT to predict the concrete strength and durability using regression models. The main objective of the study was to investigate how to improve the reliability of nondestructive tests NDT to evaluate the concrete quality by combining more than one NDT test for concrete mixtures commonly used in Al Ain city, …

Go to article

Higher Education On Buildings: Case Study In The North Dakota Region, Houjun Yang, Malini Srivastava, Yanmei Xie, Yong Bai Dec 2017

Higher Education On Buildings: Case Study In The North Dakota Region, Houjun Yang, Malini Srivastava, Yanmei Xie, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Because of the growing demand for local skilled professionals to improve the health, energy efficiency, and sustainability of residential and commercial buildings in North Dakota, this case study reports the current situation of higher education relating to buildings in the state’s vicinity, including Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In this region, 116 programs relating to buildings were found in 41 postsecondary institutions, and both their majors and courses were then studied with frequency lists. The frequency information was analyzed over nine sets of curriculum areas at both graduate and undergraduate levels for the four states. After the current …

Go to article

Project Management: Skills, Tools, And Knowledge Construction Professionals Consider Important For Keeping Projects On Schedule, Lyle Scott Davies Dec 2017

Project Management: Skills, Tools, And Knowledge Construction Professionals Consider Important For Keeping Projects On Schedule, Lyle Scott Davies

Theses and Dissertations

Project managers have a major role in the construction and completion of projects. Much of their work consists of reviewing, clarifying, and coordinating information required by the field management and subcontractors performing the work on the job site. The assistance they give with the transfer of information helps with successfully completing projects. For many people, the largest indicator that a project was successful is that construction activities were completed on schedule. While finishing on schedule may be the primary focus of those involved with construction activities, projects still struggle to finish on time. The purpose of this study is to …

Go to article

Analysis Of Safety Impacts Of Access Management Alternatives Using The Surrogate Safety Assessment Model, Kyung Min Kim Dec 2017

Analysis Of Safety Impacts Of Access Management Alternatives Using The Surrogate Safety Assessment Model, Kyung Min Kim

Theses and Dissertations

In a traditional safety impact analysis, it is necessary to have crash data on existing roadway conditions in the field and a few years must pass before accumulating reliable crash data. This is a time-consuming approach and there remains uncertainty in the crash data due to the random nature of crash occurrences. The Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) was developed for resolving these issues. With SSAM, a conflict analysis is performed in a simulated environment. A planned improvement alternative under study is modeled and no physical installation of the alternative is needed. Hence, the method using a simulation software along …

Go to article

Determination Of Safe Ballasts For Anchoring Event Tents By Finite Element Analysis, Sandeep Manoharan Dec 2017

Determination Of Safe Ballasts For Anchoring Event Tents By Finite Element Analysis, Sandeep Manoharan

All Theses

Event tents are large structures made of fabric covers attached to a structural frame and poles. Every year, many temporarily installed tents are subjected to large wind conditions that lead to sliding or lift of the frame due to improper anchoring to the ground. When ballasted, as opposed to anchored using stakes that penetrate the ground, non-certified tents are generally installed without proper analysis of sufficient ballast weights, which results into tent movements and lack of safety. The objective of this thesis is to determine load factors for non-certified tents affected by high wind loads. The load requirements (load factors) …

Go to article

Coupling K-12 Music Education With Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula: Implementation Of A Stemusic Outreach Program, Mallory Maestri Dec 2017

Coupling K-12 Music Education With Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula: Implementation Of A Stemusic Outreach Program, Mallory Maestri

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many studies have investigated the effects of music on evoking human emotions and diverse types of brain responses. One study by Juslin and Vastfjall indicates that hearing music can stimulate brain stem reflexes, create emotional contagion, recall episodic memories and provoke visual imagery. Due to the influence music has on human brain waves, researchers have been studying the effect of music on enhancing the spatial abilities of young students. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professions rely heavily on spatial skills. Research on the connection of music with spatial skills proposes that when the brain processes rhythm a “mental rotation” …

Go to article

Life Cycle Assessment In Foundry Sand Reclamation – Comparison Of Secondary Reclamation Processes, Samuel Keith Ghormley Dec 2017

Life Cycle Assessment In Foundry Sand Reclamation – Comparison Of Secondary Reclamation Processes, Samuel Keith Ghormley

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Foundries represent a significant part of the base of the world’s economy and as a sector are one of the largest consumers of energy and producers of solid waste in the United States. Sand casting foundries use approximately 5-10% of their total energy on sand handling processes. By adding a secondary sand reclamation process, foundries can expect to become more energy efficient as well as reducing solid waste from the foundry. To measure the broader environmental impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used. The goal of the current research was to examine a medium-sized foundry in the United States …

Go to article

Current State Of Practice Associated With The Use Of Building Information Modeling (Bim) In The Custom Home Building Industry, William Noble Smith Dec 2017

Current State Of Practice Associated With The Use Of Building Information Modeling (Bim) In The Custom Home Building Industry, William Noble Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has entered the construction industry and has permeated the commercial sector. Research is continually performed to expand the capabilities and applications within the industry. However, research has historically been mostly limited to the commercial sector and has seen little expansion to other sectors of the industry including the residential sector. The potential cause for this may be the limited number of industry professionals who utilize the software to the benefit of their companies. The focus of this study was specifically the custom home building sector of residential construction in the United States because of the unique …

Go to article

Reliability Of Feqdrain For Modeling Performance Of Sand Treated With Large-Diameter Prefabricated Drains For Liquefaction Mitigation, Travis Hatch Meservy Dec 2017

Reliability Of Feqdrain For Modeling Performance Of Sand Treated With Large-Diameter Prefabricated Drains For Liquefaction Mitigation, Travis Hatch Meservy

Theses and Dissertations

Finite element modeling of laminar shear box testing that consisted of loose sand treated with large diameter prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs), was performed. The objective of the modeling was to evaluate the reliability of the computer program FEQDrain for predicting excess pore pressure ratios (Ru) at sites treated with prefabricated drains. FEQDrain was found to be capable of successfully modeling measured excess pore pressure ratio time histories from the laminar shear box experiment, as long as an appropriate combination of €˜number of equivalent cycles and €˜shaking duration was chosen, and sensitive parameters were in the range of measured values. Hydraulic …

Go to article

Methodologies For Solving Integrated Transportation And Scheduling Problems, Fereydoun Adbesh Dec 2017

Methodologies For Solving Integrated Transportation And Scheduling Problems, Fereydoun Adbesh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research proposes novel solution techniques to optimize two real-world problems in the area of scheduling and transportation. We first consider a model for optimizing the operations of dredges. In this problem, scheduling and assignment decisions are integrated across a finite planning horizon. Additional constraints and problem elements explicitly considered include, but are not limited, to environmental work window restrictions, budget limitations, dredge operation rates and schedule-dependent dredge availability. Our approach makes use of Constraint Programming (CP) to obtain quality and robust solutions within an amount of time small enough to be useful to practitioners. The expanded feature set of …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last