Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Kytc Sidewalk And Curb Ramp Inventory For Ada Compliance, Reginald R. Souleyrette, Brian K. Howell, William Nicholas Staats

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires that all public and private organizations providing services to the public ensure their facilities and infrastructure comply with regulations set forth therein. The ADA requires that a transition plan “identify physical obstacles in the public entity’s facilities that limit the accessibility of its programs or activities to individuals with disabilities.” In the first phase of Kentucky’s transition plan to become ADA compliant, KTC researchers inventoried sidewalks along all state-maintained roads in Kentucky to determine the presence or absence of pedestrian facilities. This sidewalk inventory was used to query Kentucky’s intersection database …

Analysis Of Traffic Crash Data In Kentucky (2012-2016), Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman, Paul A. Ross

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents an analysis of traffic crash data in Kentucky for the years of 2012 through 2016. A primary objective of this study was to determine average crash statistics for Kentucky highways. Rates were calculated for various types of highways and for counties and cities. Difference criteria were used for exposure.

The other primary objective of this study was to provide data that can be used in the preparation of the problem identification portion of Kentucky’s Annual Highway Safety Plan. County and city crash statistics were analyzed. A summary of results and recommendations in several problem identification areas is …

A Hierarchical Modelling Approach For Assessing The Impact Factors Of The Measured Of Mobility And Safety At Intersections, Hiba Eyesha Abou-Kassem

Civil and Environmental Theses

Measuring safety and mobility for various types of intersections is crucial in any transportation study. Many factors contribute to changing the effectiveness of the different types of intersections on mobility and safety. Deciding which type of intersection is most suitable in a particular environ and prevailing traffic conditions depends on the number of crashes, injuries, delay time, etc. This study focuses on two intersection types; signalized intersections and non-signalized intersections (only roundabouts). The aim of this research is to devise a theoretical modeling framework and hence a statistical-based methodology that can be used to assess the safety and mobility measures …

Application Of Ihsdm: Ky 30 Case Study, William Nicholas Staats, Adam J. Kirk

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A section of KY 30 in Jackson and Owsley Counties is targeted for redesign to provide a safer and more efficient corridor that will support economic activity in eastern Kentucky. Data for the existing KY 30 alignment and eight alternative alignments developed by HMB Professional Engineers Inc. were provided to researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC). KTC researchers also developed a new alternative that modified the existing alignment to improve the safety of various locations. Researchers applied safety analysis procedures from Part C of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) to the existing and alternative alignments of KY 30 using …

Hydrologic Impacts Of Bioswale Porous Media On Parking Lot Drainage, Jungseok Ho, James Jihoon Kang

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Bioswales are stormwater control structures designed stormwater runoff volume and filter stormwater solids and pollutant from surface runoff. Bioswale generally consists of sloped surface ground with native wetland plants to lead stormwater percolation and infiltration, porous media to allow for stormwater retention and stormwater contaminant filtration, and stormwater drain conduit under the porous media. In this study, we monitored the bioswale evaluation factors of stormwater total volume reduction, peak flow rate reduction, and peak time attenuation. It is concluded that, based on a total of 29 monitoring of storm events, pumice is a hydrologically best performing material for the bioswale …

Streamlined Project Closeout For Construction At Kytc, Tyler A. Johnson, Dominic A. Michaels, Roy E. Sturgill, Timothy R. B. Taylor

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Project closeout is the period between the end of construction and when a contract is finalized. During closeout, resources are held in encumbered funds intended for the project and in the contractor’s bonding capacity. Although the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) stated goal is to close out projects within 240 days of their ending, in 2016 the average duration of project closeout was 366 days. This report analyzes the Cabinet’s project closeout procedures, summarizes project closeout best practices adopted by other state transportation agencies, and recommends ways to improve KYTC’s practices. Streamlining project closeouts would free up sufficient funds to resurface …

Vulnerability Model Of Residential Structures Subject To Hurricane Induced Wind, Surge And Inundation, Mohammad Baradaranshoraka

Theses and Dissertations

Annualized hurricane-related losses to the built environment in the United States are in the billions of dollars. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2010 39% of the United States population, or 123.3 million inhabitants, lived in a coastal county. This population is expected to increase by 8% from 2010 to 2020. The majority of these people live in buildings prone to hurricanes. The hurricanes can result in wind damage (due to high wind and/or wind-driven rain infiltration) and water damage (due to storm surge and waves or freshwater flooding) to the building and its contents, which are …

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Estimating Vehicles Emissions At Signalized Intersections In The Highway Capacity Manual, Yuanyuan Fan

Dissertations

Over the past decades, motor vehicle volumes have continued to increase at a high rate. As a result, engineers in the transportation field not only need more robust knowledge of traffic operation control and transportation planning, but more attention is also needed to understand and estimate the influences that this increasing volume of vehicles has on the environment, especially the influence on air quality. The EPA has stated that reducing carbon monoxide (CO) from vehicle emissions is the most significant way to control air pollution from the transportation sector.

The Highway Capacity Manual is a national and international resource that …

15-06 Integrated Crowdsourcing Platform To Investigate Non-Motorized Behavior And Risk Factors On Walking, Running, And Cycling Routes, Ala Al-Fuqaha, Sepideh Mohammadi, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Fadi Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

There are several factors on the roads that impact bicyclists’ safety. This research aims to find the most important risk factors on roads, mainly in infrastructure facilities, to improve the safety for walkers, runners, and bicyclists. Most mobile cycling applications currently used by cyclists and runners were reviewed in this study in order to gain insight about the features that users care about. Features, such as speed, cumulative elevation gain, and connectivity to Google Fit, were found to be the most common features in the widely-used cycling apps. In this research, we developed and launched a mobile application for crowd-sourcing …

15-01 Effect Of Cycling Skills On Bicycle Safety And Comfort Associated With Bicycle Infrastructure And Environment, Jun-Seok Oh, Valerian Kwigizile, Kapseong Ro, Ahmad Feizi, Brent William Kostich, Raed Abdullah Hasan Hasan, Fadi Abdallah Mousa Alhomaidat

Transportation Research Center Reports

This study seeks to improve the methodology for determining the relationship between cycling dynamic performance and roadway environment characteristics across different bicyclists’ skill levels. To achieve the goal of this study, an Instrumented Probe Bicycle (IPB) equipped with various sensors was built. A naturalistic field experiment, including intersections, roundabout, alignment changes, and different road surface conditions, was conducted. Two self-reported questionnaires were used in order to obtain each participant’s skill level as well as perception on the level of cycling comfortability. The Cycling Comfortability Index (CCI) was derived from the probabilistic outcome of an Ordered Probit Model, which describes the …

Water Use In Irrigated Agriculture: An Approach To Water Productivity In Drip And Sprinkler Systems, Fernanda Lamede Ferreira De Jesus, Jéssica Garcia Nascimento, Rubens Duarte Coelho, Sergio Nascimento Duarte, Fernando Campos Mendonça

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Irrigation plays an important role in agriculture and the increase in the irrigated area and scarce water resources have encouraged the use of irrigation systems and management systems that increase the efficiency of water use. Thus, maximize water productivity has been one of the most important challenges in agriculture. The present study aimed to relate information on water productivity for two irrigation systems, drip and sprinkler systems, with the purpose of understanding the characteristics of these systems and contributing to the advancement of studies and research carried out in the area. Technological innovations aimed at reducing consumption and increasing water …

Designing And Implementing A Network For Sensing Water Quality And Hydrology Across Mountain To Urban Transitions, Amber Spackman Jones, Zachary T. Aanderud, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David P. Eiriksson, Dylan Dastrup, Christopher Cox, Scott B. Jones, David R. Bowling, Jonathan Carlisle, Gregory T. Carling, Michelle A. Baker

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Water resources are increasingly impacted by growing human populations, land use, and climate changes, and complex interactions among biophysical processes. In an effort to better understand these factors in semiarid northern Utah, United States, we created a real-time observatory consisting of sensors deployed at aquatic and terrestrial stations to monitor water quality, water inputs, and outputs along mountain to urban gradients. The Gradients Along Mountain to Urban Transitions (GAMUT) monitoring network spans three watersheds with similar climates and streams fed by mountain winter-derived precipitation, but that differ in urbanization level, land use, and biophysical characteristics. The aquatic monitoring stations in …

15-11 Assessing Transit Oriented Development Strategies With A New Combined Modal Split And Traffic Assignment Model, Guangchao Wang, Anthony Chen, Ziqi Song, Songyot Kitthamkesorn

Transportation Research Center Reports

Transit oriented development (TOD) has emerged in recent years as a promising paradigm to promote public transportation, increase active transportation usage, mitigate congestion, and alleviate air pollution. However, there is a lack of analytic studies investigating the benefits of TOD quantitatively. Two major challenges of modeling a multimodal transportation network with TOD areas are: (1) failing to consider differences in feasible travel options available to different households in TOD areas may lead to inaccurate representations of travelers’ mode choice behavior, and (2) route overlapping is one of the major concerns in the route choice models used in the traffic assignment …

Long-Term Assessment Of Climate Change Impacts On Tennessee Valley Authority Reservoir Operations: Norris Dam, Joseph Rungee, Ungtae Kim

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Norris Reservoir is the oldest and largest reservoir maintained and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Norris Dam received a new operating guide in 2004; however, this new guide did not consider projected climate change. In an aging infrastructure, the necessity to assess the potential impacts of climate change on water resources planning and management is increasing. This study used a combined monthly hydrologic model and a general circulation model’s (GCM) outcome to project inflows for three future time spans: 2030s, 2050s, and 2070s. The current operating guide was then assessed and optimized using penalty-function-driven genetic algorithms to gain …

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Engineering And Computer Science, Fall 2017, Buenaventura "Ven" Basco

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Enhancing The Performance Of Anaerobic Bioreactors For The Biological Degradation Of Volatiles Organic Compounds In Groundwater Using Alternate Electron Acceptors, Leslie Michele Pipkin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Engineered anaerobic bioreactors (ABR) constructed from mixed media and sand can biodegrade high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Sustainable treatment of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), chlorinated ethenes and ethanes were used to investigate the use of engineered ABRs, while also analyzing the system performance of a full-scale ABR system. Experimentations conducted on environmental and biological factors that affect ABR system performance was conducted through serum bottles, columns, and reactor studies.

Column and reactor ABR systems were designed to treat VOCs via biodegradation in groundwater with varying terminal electron acceptors (TEAs). Laboratory-scale column ABRs were constructed to treat …

Analysis Of Traffic Collisions In Dublin Using Gis Based System, Jagteshwar Singh, Niamh O' Reilly

Conference papers

This study aims to analyse traffic collisions in the Greater Dublin Region between the period 2006-2012, using GIS to identify hotspots and examine the relationship between collisions and a range of contributory factors including vehicular speeds, traffic volume, road curvature, road category and distance from intersection that could enable prediction of traffic collisions. To this end, Road Safety Authority (RSA) collision data for Dublin Region geocoded as point events, road profiles, traffic flow characteristics on which these occur are spatially merged using ArcGIS and FME software to establish if a significant relationship exists between collision frequencies on road links and …

Performance Evaluation And Development Of Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Procedure Of Thin Rcc Pavements, Moinul Islam Mahdi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the increasing shale gas exploration, agricultural and logging activities on the low volume roadways, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) and the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) are interested in thin applications of Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) to be used as a design alternative for those low volume roadways having frequently heavy truck trafficking. The objectives of this research were: (1) to evaluate the structural performance and cracking failure mechanism of thin RCC pavements; (2) to develop a mechanistic-empirical based RCC pavement thickness design procedure for LADOTD to use in their low-volume pavement design.

In this study, …

Diagenesis And Formation Stress In Fracture Conductivity Of Shaly Rocks; Experimental-Modelling Approach In Co2-Rock Interactions, Abiola Olukola Olabode

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In large scale subsurface injection of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as obtainable in carbon sequestration programs and in environmentally friendly hydraulic fracturing processes (using supercritical CO₂), long term rock-fluid interaction can affect reservoir and seal rocks properties which are essential in monitoring the progress of these operations. The mineralogical components of sedimentary rocks are geochemically active particularly under enormous earth stresses, which generate high pressure and temperature conditions in the subsurface. While geomechanical properties such as rock stiffness, Poisson’s ratio and fracture geometry largely govern fluid flow characteristics in deep fractured formations, the effect of mineralization can …

Bim+Blockchain: A Solution To The Trust Problem In Collaboration?, Malachy Mathews, Dan Robles, Brian Bowe

Conference papers

This paper provides an overview of historic and current organizational limitations emerging in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Building Owner / Operations (AECOO) Industry. It then provides an overview of new technologies that attempt to mitigate these limitations. However, these technologies, taken together, appear to be converging and creating entirely new organizational structures in the AEC industries. This may be characterized by the emergence of what is called the Network Effect and it’s related calculus. This paper culminates with an introduction to Blockchain Technology (BT) and it’s integration with the emergence of groundbreaking technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial …

Study On Ship Emissions And Countermeasures In Shanghai Port, Yunfeng Zhang

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Application Research On The Integrated Navigation Guarantee Information Service Platform In North China Sea Area, Jianping Li

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Rice Hull Bioreactor For Recirculating Aquaculture, Marlon A. Greensword

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The engineering of floating media biofilters has been optimized over the years. The backwashing process has made them more energy and water efficient. Likewise, moving bed bioreactors (MBBR) are gaining interest and popularity because they are relatively affordable to build. Yet, developing countries’ aquaculture production remains largely excluded from the advances made in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This discrepancy is partially driven by the high costs of media such plastic beads and Kaldnes (KMT) media, commonly used in MBBR.

This dissertation evaluates the usability and profitability of rice hulls (RH), an abundant by-product in many developing nations, as a sinking …

Pepso: Reducing Electricity Usage And Associated Pollution Emissions Of Water Pumps, Seyed Mohsen Sadatiyan Abkenar, Carol J. Miller

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Using metaheuristic optimization methods has enabled researchers to reduce the electricity consumption cost of small water distribution systems (WDSs). However, dealing with complicated WDSs and reducing their environmental footprint remains a challenge. In this study a multi-objective version of Pollution Emission Pump Station Optimization tool (PEPSO) is introduced that can reduce the electricity cost and pollution emissions (associated with the energy consumption) of pumps of WDSs. PEPSO includes a user-friendly graphical interface and a customized version of the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. A measure that is called “Undesirability Index” (UI) is defined to assist the search for a promising optimization …

Structure Analysis And Governance Strategy Of International Containerized Liner Market Under The Shipping Alliances, Xuming Fan

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Barge Fleet Composition For An Industrial Dry Bulk Transportation : Operating Between River Wharf And Coastal Floating Transshipment Platform, Boyu Jin

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Panama Canal Expansion On Container Liner Shipping Industry, Rongrong Xue

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Models And Policies Of Port Carbon Emission Reduction : A Case Study Of The Port Of Dalian, Jiaqiong Zhao

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Asphalt Healing And Incorporation In A Fatigue Damage Model, Umme A. Mannan

Civil Engineering ETDs

Healing is defined as the restoration of the material property during the rest period after damage. The healing property of the asphalt binder is opposite to fatigue damage, which occurs due to repeated traffic loading. On the other hand, healing occurs in the rest period between loading. Most of the existing methods for characterizing the fatigue damage and healing of asphalt are empirical in nature and do not consider the mechanism of healing. Although the asphalt concrete is a mixture of asphalt binder, fines and aggregates, most of the healing occurs in the asphalt binder. Therefore, it is important to …