Civil Engineering Commons^™

Dimensional Stability Of Geosynthetic Clay Liners In Landfill Applications, Gregory R. Olsen

Master's Theses

An investigation was conducted related to the dimensional stability of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) in landfill applications. Multiple occurrences of panel separation of overlap seams in GCLs have been documented; however, explanation for the relative contribution of various mechanisms causing shrinkage has been limited. A systematic test program was conducted to determine the effects of a variety of conditions on GCL dimensional stability.

Effects of initial moisture content, permeant type, and overburden pressure were tested by subjecting various GCL products to wet-dry cycles and measuring the dimensional change with each cycle. Different GCL types were each tested under various combinations …

Seamless Bridge And Roadway System For The U.S. Practice, Nima Ala

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Expansion joints are one of the main causes for high maintenance costs in bridges. The search for ideal expansion joints has proven fruitless. That is why it has been said that “the best joint is no joint”. A seamless bridge system is envisioned that results in bridges with long service lives by eliminating the joints over the entire length of the bridge, approach slab and a segment of the roadway called transition. All bridge thermal movements are dissipated to zero in the transition. The system is similar to a system developed in Australia but modifications had to be made to …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Design-Build And Design-Bid-Build Performance Of Public University Projects, James David Fernane

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With an unsure market and scarce work, owners across the United States, especially universities, are finding themselves in situations where they are unable to complete their projects within cost and schedule using the traditional delivery method: Design-Bid-Build (DBB). Under the DBB project delivery method, many competent contractors are electing to send low bids on projects just to keep work on their books, with plans to receive change orders once the project is underway; this practice is leading to cost and schedule overruns. Public universities across the United States are beginning to elect to use Design-Build (DB) as an alternate project …

Identification Of Risk Factors Associated With Motorcycle-Related Fatalities In Ohio, Deogratias Eustace, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru, Peter W. Hovey

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Out of the 7,138,476 motorcycles operating on U.S. roads, 346,925 were registered in the state of Ohio in the year 2007. Although motorcycles represent only 2.8% of all registered vehicles in the state of Ohio, motorcycling accounts for more than 13% of Ohio highway traffic fatalities. Since 2005, Ohio has had a distressing distinction of being among the fifteen states that have sustained more than half of all motorcycle fatalities recorded in the USA (NHTSA 2007; NHTSA 2008a). For the past ten years, the overall motorcycle crash fatalities have been increasing while the motor vehicle occupant crash fatalities have been …

Bs News July/August

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

How Do Millennial Engineering And Technology Students Experience Learning Through Traditional Teaching Methods Employed In The University Setting?, Elizabeth A. Howard

Department of Computer Graphics Technology Degree Theses

The purpose of the study was to document and analyze how Millennial engineering and technology students experience learning in large lecture classrooms. To help achieve this purpose, perceptions Millennials have toward traditional teaching methods employed in large lecture classes were analyzed and discussed. Additionally, this study documented how Millennials experienced technology within large lecture classrooms. A learning model depicting how Millennials experience learning within the large lecture classroom was created based on the results of this study. This model employed three separate tools utilized within the large lecture classroom. These tools: Lecture, Technology, and Homework, work together to synthesize learning …

Two Dimensional Modeling Of Wind Effects On A Bridge Section Using Finite Difference Method, Jessica Carreiro

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Wind effects on long span bridges are a major concern for bridge design. Wind acts as a dynamic load on the bridge deck causing the bridge to react in ways not accounted for in static load design. Attention to these effects increased tremendously after famous bridge collapses, such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. Due to this collapse and others, engineers were made painfully aware that wind phenomena, such as flutter and vortex shedding, can cause major structural damage if not considered in the design process. The solution for many years since has been to conduct wind tunnel tests …

Impact Of Design Cost On Project Performance Of Design Bid Build Projects, Nirajan Mani

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The majority of public projects in the United States are procured and constructed by state or local governments using the design-bid-build (DBB) project delivery method. In the DBB method, the detailed design is completed by a design firm, then, a contractor builds the project according to the plans and specifications prepared by the design firm. Some studies show that a project's performance depends upon the quality of the design. If the errors in a design are minimized, the construction cost and schedule growth of the project also will be minimized.

This study analyzed data from Clark County, Nevada public works …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Gis Based Pavement Maintenance: A Systematic Approach, Robert J. Kmetz

Purdue Polytechnic Directed Projects

Abstract

According to 2008 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) statistics, there are 2,734,102 miles of paved public roads in the United Sates, with an additional 1,324,245 miles of unpaved public roads.  Road conditions deteriorate with time as the result of weather effects, deicing salts, and vehicle loads.  The most common pavement distress includes cracking, rutting, and potholes.  These pavement defects must be repaired to restore the pavement to a satisfactory service level for road users. According to the FHWA, in 2006 approximately $54.2 billion dollars was spent on maintenance and expansion, just on U.S. highways alone.

Routine maintenance is a cost …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Optimal Loop Placement And Models For Length-Based Vehicle Classification And Stop-And-Go Traffic, Heng Wei, Qingyi Ai, Deogratias Eustace, Ping Yi

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Inductive loops are widely used nationwide for traffic monitoring as a data source for a variety of needs in generating traffic information for operation and planning analysis, validations of travel demand models, freight studies, pavement design, and even emission impact analysis of traffic operation. The loop data have also been used for vehicle length-based classification in many states including Ohio. The dual-loop detector consists of two single loop detectors which are placed apart at a fixed short distance, and this configuration enables the dual-loop detector data a potential real-time data source for speed and vehicle classifications. However, the existing dual-loop …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Warm-Mix Asphalt Additives On Asphalt Mixture Characteristics And Pavement Performance, Jun Zhang

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the feasibility of several WMA mixtures as potential asphalt paving mixtures for Nebraska pavements. To that end, three well-known WMA additives (i.e., Sasobit, Evotherm, and Advera synthetic zeolite) were evaluated. For a more realistic evaluation of the WMA approaches, trial pavement sections of the WMA mixtures and their HMA counterparts were implemented in Antelope County, Nebraska. More than one ton of field-mixed loose mixtures were collected at the time of paving and were transported to the NDOR and UNL laboratories to conduct comprehensive laboratory evaluations and pavement performance predictions of the …

Culvert Material Cost Comparison, New England Environmental Finance Center

Economics and Finance

The following tables provide a detailed look at the role that culvert material and culvert diameter play in the overall cost of a culvert replacement project. Table 1 displays the cost per foot purchase price arranged by diameter size for the various culvert materials that are currently available. Table 2 displays the average additional culvert pipe material cost (increased cost to upsize minus original in-kind replacement cost) that would be incurred when upsizing a given diameter of culvert with a 50 foot length by factors of: 200%, 250% and 300%.

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Improving Surveying Accuracy And Efficiency In Connecticut: An Accuracy Assessment Of Geoid03 And Geoid09, Thomas H. Meyer, Robert Baron

Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Articles

Comparing published NAVD 88 Helmert orthometric heights of First-Order bench marks against GPS-determined orthometric heights showed that GEOID03 and GEOID09 perform at their reported accuracy in Connecticut. GPS-determined orthometric heights were determined by subtracting geoid undulations from ellipsoid heights obtained from a network least-squares adjustment of GPS occupations in 2007 and 2008. A total of 73 markers were occupied in these stability classes: 25 class A, 11 class B, 12 class C, 2 class D bench marks, and 23 temporary marks with transferred elevations. Adjusted ellipsoid heights were compared against OPUS as a check. We found that: the GPS-determined orthometric …

A Life Cycle Cost Analysis Of Large-Scale Thermal Energy Storage Technologies For Buildings Using Combined Heat And Power, Kenneth Gaine, Aidan Duffy

Conference Papers

Buildings account for approximately 40% of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developed economies, of which approximately 55% of building energy is used for heating and cooling. The reduction of building-related GHG emissions is a high international policy priority. For this reason and because there are many technical solutions for this, these polices should involve significant improvements in the uptake of small-scale energy efficient (EE) systems. However the widespread deployment of many technologies, must overcome a number of barriers, one of which is a temporal (diurnal or seasonal) mismatch between supply and demand. Costeffective thermal storage solutions have …

Bs News July/August

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Performance Of Nevada’S Aggregates In Alkali-Aggregate Reactivity Of Portland Cement Concrete, Mohammad Shahidul Islam

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR) is a form of distress that occurs in concrete and results in serviceability problems, cracks, spalling, and other deterioration mechanisms. There are two categories of AAR, namely, alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and alkali-carbonate reaction (ACR). Alkali-silica reaction is one of the most recognized deleterious phenomena in concrete, and has been a major concern since its discovery in the 1940s. The reaction which occurs between reactive silica or silicates present in some aggregates and alkalis of Portland cement produces an alkali-silica gel that expands in the presence of moisture resulting in concrete cracks. ACR is also a chemical reaction …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Performance Of A Stormwater Filter And Bacteria Inactivation Using Biocidal Media, Alexander Scott Bowerman

Master's Theses

There are many possible ways to mitigate stormwater pollution, but this study focused on the DrainPacTM catchment basin insert and the feasibility of integrating N-halamine biocidal brominated beads into the filter system. This study was divided into three sections. The first section involved testing a DrainPacTM filter for treatable flow rates, head loss, and removal of solids, oil, and bacteria. The DrainPacTM filter is designed to be installed in a stormwater catch basin. The filter is composed of a 12 x 41 inch metal frame with textile filter media attached to it in a basket shape. The upper portion of …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Fieldmanager® – Construction Management Software, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The FieldManager® software is a construction management system jointly owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Info Tech, Inc. Designed for any size organization that manages construction projects, FieldManager software wraps up contract documentation and reporting, contract modifications, and pay estimates into one neat package for use on multiple hardware platforms, increasing productivity and accountability by implementing a standard business practice across the organization.

Appia® – Construction Management Web Application, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The Appia® software is a hosted web application for construction program administration. The Appia system can manage the business processes in the major functional areas of the project life-cycle – estimation, bid management and construction – due to its flexible configuration and customizable business rules, providing organizations the opportunity to simplify and standardize their processes.

Automated Tank Surface Finishing System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets Archive

The current finishing techniques are costly and laborious, and they expose workers to significant health and safety risks. The automated tank surface finishing system uses a computer-controlled motion module to refinish the vertical exterior walls of a tank. The module is configurable for both blasting and painting and utilizes conventional surface finishing equipment for these processes. An overspray hood is included to reduce contamination of the surrounding environment during painting. The module attaches to a tank’s wind girts with steel cables, and its position and velocity are controlled by servo-driven hoists.

B S News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.