Civil Engineering Commons^™

Machine Learning-Based Tool To Predict The Retroreflectivity Of Pavement Markings Throughout The U.S., Ipshit I. Idris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Retroreflectivity plays a crucial role in pavement markings as it enhances nighttime visibility for drivers. Yet, due to budget constraints, many U.S state agencies rarely monitor retroreflectivity of their markings, and instead, restripe markings based on visual inspection or fixed schedule. Addressing this, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) introduced a new final rule, effective September 6, 2022, that established a new minimum standard for pavement marking retroreflectivity. This rule requires state agencies to implement a method within four years for maintaining pavement marking retroreflectivity at or above minimum levels. The ultimate objective of this study was to assist state agencies comply …

Augmenting External Surface Pressures’ Predictions On Isolated Low-Rise Buildings Using Cfd Simulations, Md Faiaz Khaled, Aly Mousaad Aly

Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper is to enhance the accuracy of predicting time-averaged external surface pressures on low-rise buildings by utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. To achieve this, benchmark studies of the Silsoe cube and the Texas Tech University (TTU) experimental building are employed for comparison with simulation results. The paper is structured into three main sections. In the initial part, an appropriate domain size is selected based on the precision of mean pressure coefficients on the windward face of the cube, utilizing Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models. Subsequently, recommendations regarding the optimal computational domain size for an …

Quantifying The Effect Of Covid-19 On Port Congestion, Corey R. Mayeux

LSU Master's Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions in global supply chains and port operations, leading to congestion, delays, and container shortages. Governments implemented containment measures, affecting social behavior and economic activity. Ports faced significant challenges due to shifts in demand, labor shortages, and supply chain bottlenecks. E-commerce surge and other disruptions intensified pressures on ports. The pandemic's impact exacerbated challenges for ports and supply chains, and triggered inflationary pressures. This research aims to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on port congestion and the global supply chain at the Port of Long Beach, Port of New York and New Jersey, Port of …

Evaluation Of Novel Jointless Engineered Cementitious Composites Ultrathin Whitetopping (Ecc-Utw), Ricardo Hungria

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ultrathin Whitetopping (UTW) is a rehabilitation technique that consists of placing a thin layer of concrete over a damaged asphalt pavement. While UTWs have demonstrated satisfactory performance in field tests, the inherent brittleness of concrete has led to the appearance of distresses. To address these distresses, Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) have been proposed for UTW applications, thanks to their exceptional attributes, including tensile ductility, flexural performance, and fatigue resistance. In this study, an ECC-UTW was constructed to investigate its potential as a viable solution. The project comprised two 18.3 m ECC sections with different thicknesses, namely 63.5 mm and 101.6 …

Failure Analysis Of Light Poles On Highway Bridges Exposed To Extreme Winds, Yanlin Chen

LSU Master's Theses

Light poles are critical secondary structural components that support the functionality and safety of transportation systems. However, they are tall slender structures vulnerable to wind load. This research attempts to analyze the mechanism of the widespread failure (69 poles failed) of light poles on an elevated highway bridge exposed to Category 4 Hurricane Laura (2020). To understand the mechanism of the failure, a comprehensive analysis is conducted. A nonlinear finite element model is created to simulate the structural responses. Wind pressures are obtained and applied to the FEM to perform nonlinear static and transient analysis. Research results indicate that, when …

Investigating The Influence Of Portland Limestone Cement Combined With Sugarcane Bagasse Ash And Different Types Of Fly Ash On The Mechanical Properties Of Engineered Cementitious Composites, Samuel Guidroz

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to implement Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) within our transportation infrastructure systems has been limited because of increased costs associated with the material’s high cement quantity. To improve cost- effectiveness and to create a more sustainable footprint, the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has been explored. This study evaluated the effects of utilizing cement interground with limestone, Portland limestone cement (PLC), as a replacement for ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Additionally, the performance of the composites was analyzed when mixed with sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) as well as different classes of fly ash (FA). In doing so, the experimental …

Size Effects In Additively Manufactured Inconel-718 Thin Elements And Cellular Structures, Reem Abdelkarim Abo Znemah

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A current focus in the additive manufacturing (AM) research community is the production of complex shaped metallic parts and cellular structures. Many researchers went on analyzing and simulating these structures without considering the effect of the element thickness and heterogeneous printing parameters on the resulting material behavior. To advance the application of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), an AM process, in producing Inconel718 (IN718) complex shaped parts and cellular structures, this study aimed to investigate the effect of thin-walled elements thickness on the mechanical characteristics of both the individual elements and overall cellular structure. A multiscale experimental evaluation of the …

Characterizing Wind-Wave Flow Physics And Loading Effects On Power Transmission Systems And Offshore Wind Turbines, Tianqi Ma

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent extreme hurricanes caused extensive damage to critical civil infrastructure. Accurate modeling of the extreme complex wind fields and coupled wind-wave fields is essential to quantify the single wind or combined wind-wave loading effects on the structures. This research aims to characterize wind and wind-wave flow physics to quantify the loading effect on power transmission systems and offshore wind turbines.

First, a microscale (∼km) high-fidelity high-resolution computational model is developed to simulate hurricane wind fields with detailed physics. The generated wind field is applied to analyze the structural response of a power transmission system. The proposed hurricane boundary layer (HBL) …

Automated Reinforcement In Construction 3d Printing: An Investigation Of Mechanical And Macrostructural Performance Of Reinforced 3d-Printed Structures, Hassan Ahmed

LSU Master's Theses

Conventional construction with steel reinforcement is widely accepted and utilized worldwide for its proven strength, durability, design flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and due to available standards and design codes. Integration of reinforcement in construction 3D printing, however, presents multi-faceted challenges that may influence the structural properties of printed components and have hindered the widespread adoption of reinforced 3D-printed structures. This study explored two complementary reinforcement techniques, namely, steel fibers and threaded reinforcement, to reinforce 3D-printed structures. This study explored both the fresh and hardened properties of 3D-printed mixtures that contain very high steel fiber dosages of up to 2.5% by volume. Additionally, …

Exploring Machine Learning In Deep Foundation And Soil Classification Application, Mohammad Moontakim Shoaib

LSU Master's Theses

The applicability of several Machine Learning (ML) models was explored in this research to predict the ultimate capacity and load-settlement behavior of axially loaded single-driven piles from Cone Penetration Test (CPT) data. Additionally, a common CPT-based soil behavior type (SBT) classification system was reproduced using those ML models. Eighty static pile load tests and corresponding CPT data close to those pile locations were collected from 34 sites in Louisiana for the deep foundation application. On the other hand, 70 CPT soundings were taken in 14 different parishes across Louisiana for the soil classification application. Specifically, tree-based ML models such as …

Optimization Of The Self-Healing Efficiency Of Bacterial Concrete Using Impregnation Of Three Different Precursors Into Lightweight Aggregate, Omar Omar

LSU Master's Theses

Concrete is the most broadly used construction material; thus, developing sustainable concrete is essential to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from concrete production. Implementation of self-healing concrete technologies is a promising approach to enhance the durability and sustainability of the transportation infrastructure. Among these technologies, bacterial concrete has the potential to seal microcracks through microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP). Bacterial protection is essential to ensure the viability of this technology due to concrete’s harsh environment. Additionally, the success of this technology depends on the presence of an adequate mineral precursor compound and nutrient for the bacteria. As such, the main …

Calibration And Use Of S3f Sensor For Normal And Shear Stress Measurements In Soil, Hussein Alqrinawi

LSU Master's Theses

Innovative sensors can provide new capabilities to monitor and understand the behavior of soil, rock, and geo-structures and help geotechnical engineers make informed decisions about the construction and maintenance of geo-structures. This study introduced, calibrated, and validated one such sensor, the Surface Stress Sensitive Film (S3F) point sensor, for both normal and shear stress measurements in soil along the soil-structure interface. The measurements of S3F sensor rely on the deformation of an elastic film that is monitored by a floating element embedded in the elastic film. This sensor provides measurements of the 3D deformation of the film which are converted …

Examining The Impact Of Different Street Lighting Schemes On Traffic Safety And Drivers’ Behaviors At Unsignalized Intersections, Hisham Mohamed Abdu Kunnah

LSU Master's Theses

Lack of visibility is one of the main challenges that significantly impact drivers’ ability to safely perform driving tasks at night especially at unsignalized intersections. Several prior studies indicated that lighting enhances nighttime traffic safety. Nevertheless, lighting is not mandatory at unsignalized intersections in many states including Louisiana. This study aimed to investigate if lack of lighting is a contributing factor that affects traffic safety at unsignalized intersections in Louisiana. In addition, this study strived to identify current lighting policies adopted by other states, examine if there are any low-cost countermeasures implemented by other states to improve nighttime visibility, and …

Physics-Based Crystal Plasticity Model For Predicting Microstructure Evolution And Dislocation Densities, Juyoung Jeong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work presents three different studies investigating plastic deformation mechanisms in metals and alloys using crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) modeling. The first study presents a new nonlocal crystal plasticity model for face-centered cubic single crystals under heterogeneous inelastic deformation. The model incorporates generalized constitutive relations that incorporate the thermally activated and drag mechanisms to cover different kinetics of viscoplastic flow in metals and describes the plastic flow and yielding of single-crystals using dislocation densities. The model is compared to micropillar compression experiments for copper single crystals and clarifies the complex microstructural evolution of dislocation densities in metals. The second …

Numerical Investigation Of Heat Generation And Accumulation Contributing To Elevated Temperature In Msw Landfills, Alborz Fathinezhad

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Landfills are complex geostructures which contains organic and inorganic municipal, and in some cases industrial, wastes and are expected to remain operational for long times. Due to the complex nature of physical, chemical, biological, and thermal reactions that carry on within the depths of a landfill, unexpected incidents such as elevated temperatures could become inevitable. While uncommon to happen, elevated temperatures cause health and environmental issues such as odors, rapid settlements, slope instabilities. In addition, elevated temperatures can negatively impact engineered components in composite bottom liners, cover systems, leachate collection, and gas extraction and recovery systems.

Air intrusion into municipal …

Incorporating Geopolymer Binders To Fully Utilize Recycled Concrete Aggregates, Matthew Upshaw

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study aims to develop a geopolymer concrete binder that will yield desirable strength and durability characteristics when applied to recycled aggregate concrete. In order to achieve this, a geopolymer binder consisting of a metakaolin-silica fume aluminosilicate source material blend activated by potassium-based alkaline solutions is developed and used in place of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with four different levels of recycled aggregate replacement ratios. The properties of these concretes were analyzed and compared with the properties of OPC concretes produced with the same replacement ratio levels. The results showed that the geopolymer recycled aggregate concrete (GRAC) achieved greater than …

Wetland Soil Development Along Salinity And Hydrogeomorphic Gradients In Active And Inactive Deltaic Basins Of Coastal Louisiana, Amanda Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands provide an abundance of ecosystem services that benefit society, such as essential habitat for commercial species, storm protection, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage. Louisiana faces rapid rates of relative sea level rise (natural subsidence and eustatic sea levels) that threaten wetland survival, which are amplified by a reduction of riverine sediment input. An important determining factor of marsh survival is the formation of wetland platform elevation, known as vertical accretion, which is determined by several processes including sediment deposition & erosion, below ground biomass (BGB) productivity, decomposition of organic matter, shallow & deep subsidence, and soil compaction. Feldspar …

Evaluating And Incorporating Site Variability In Different Geotechnical Engineering Applications, Md Habibur Rahman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Site investigation and characterization of subsurface soil conditions are crucial for geotechnical engineering design and analysis. Geotechnical properties vary inherently from one point to another within the same site. This study focused on evaluating the site variability from cone penetration tests (CPT) and soil boring data, and its implementation into the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) formulation. The total Coefficient of Variation (COV_R,total) for each site was estimated from COV_R,spatial (Spatial Coefficient of Variation) and COV_R,method (Method Coefficient of Variation) which were then used to calibrate the resistance factors (ϕ_spatial, ϕ_total) …

A Case Study Of Protecting Bridges Against Overheight Vehicles, Aly Mousaad Aly, Marc Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

Most transportation departments have recognized and developed procedures to address the ever-increasing weights of trucks traveling on bridges in service today. Transportation agencies also recognize the issues with overheight vehicles’ collisions with bridges, but few stakeholders have definitive countermeasures. Bridges are becoming more vulnerable to collisions from overheight vehicles. The exact response under lateral impact force is difficult to predict. In this paper, nonlinear impact analysis shows that the degree of deformation recorded through the modeling of the unprotected vehicle-girder model provides realistic results compared to the observation from the US-61 bridge overheight vehicle impact. The predicted displacements are 0.229 …

Optimizing The Self-Healing Efficiency Of Hydrogel Encapsulated Bacteria In Concrete, Ricardo Hungria

LSU Master's Theses

Calcium carbonate precipitation through microbial means is a promising pathway for concrete self-healing technologies, mainly for its microcrack sealing attributes. The main goal of this project was to study and optimize the crack healing efficiency of hydrogel encapsulated bacteria in concrete. To achieve this purpose, Bacillus pseudiformus was implemented as the bacteria strain at a concentration of 10⁸ cells/ml. This bacterium strain along with yeast extract was combined along with three different mineral precursors corresponding to magnesium acetate, calcium lactate, and sodium lactate. All these three precursors were evaluated at two concentrations (67.76 mM/l and 75 mM/l). For each …

A New Generation Of Open-Graded Friction Course For Enhanced Durability And Functionality, Hossam Abohamer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study aims at (1) enhancing Open Graded Friction Course (OGFC) mixes durability using additives and other by-products; (2) investigating the impacts of selected factors on OGFC pavements seepage characteristics; (3) developing a quantitative tool to model the deterioration in OGFC pavements functional performance; and (4) developing new guidelines of Air Void (AV) content for OGFC for optimum functionality and durability. For the durability objective, eight mixes were prepared with a PG 76-22 binder and two sources of aggregate (i.e., # 78 limestone and # 67 sandstone). Three Warm Mix Additives (WMA), one by-product (i.e., crumb rubber [CR]), and two …

Investigation Of Groundwater Depletion And Leveel Underseepage With Unstructured-Grid Modeling Approach, Ye-Hong Chen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Unstructured grid is a tessellation of geometric shapes in irregular patterns that provides flexibility in grid design for groundwater modeling. However, groundwater modeling is mostly developed with uniform grid tessellation and layer, which could simplify model structure or cause expensive computational costs in high-resolution simulations. Unstructured grid incorporates non-uniform horizontal and non-uniform vertical discretizations providing the capability to replicate complex hydrostratigraphy, capture geologic features that are crucial for groundwater flow simulation, and reduce computational costs while maintaining a high resolution for areas of interest. This study contains three parts to investigate unstructured-grid approach on constructing high-fidelity groundwater models, comparisons with …

Investigation Of Sand-Biochar Mixtures As A Potential Roadway Fill Material, Katia J. Lele Lagmago

LSU Master's Theses

Biochar is a sustainable and lightweight carbon-rich material with a high surface area and porosity. Previous studies reported that biochar can reduce soil erosion and cracking, retain contaminants, and enhance soil aggregation. Given these favorable properties, soil-biochar mixtures have the possibility to serve as a multifunctional lightweight fill material for roadway embankment applications. The purpose of this research is to develop sand-biochar mixtures as a sustainable and multifunctional lightweight fill material for roadway embankment applications.

This research investigated the consolidation and hydraulic properties of sand-biochar mixtures by (1) performing 1D consolidation tests, (2) performing permeability tests, and (3) assessing the …

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 …

A Conceptual Framework For Phase-Dependent, Composite Flood Risk Index (Fri) Curves Based On The Relationship Between Temporal Probability Of Flood Occurring (Ph) And Flood Vulnerability Index (Fvi) Along With Maps Of Fvi Within The Amite River Basin Based On The August 2016 Flood., Austin S. Guerin Mr.

LSU Master's Theses

Efforts directed at determining community vulnerability to flooding are limited and only include economic (dollar damages) and public safety impacts and do not consider the phase dependency of the system, i.e., pre-, during- and post-storm, both critical shortcomings for more broadly assessing community risk and developing comprehensive plans and mitigation strategies. This thesis first develops a framework based on a Flood-Vulnerability Index (FVI) approach and then demonstrates its usefulness, at the census tract level of detail, for three parishes in the Greater Baton Rouge, LA area, based on the August 2016 flood. FVI’s indicators are multidimensional and phase dependent: “Pre-Flood” …

Finite Element Numerical Modeling And Parametric Study Of Geosynthetic Reinforced Pile-Supported Embankments, Abdallah Ikbarieh

LSU Master's Theses

This study directed at investigating the performance of the pile-supported embankment system utilizing a geosynthetic reinforced load transfer platform (GRLTP) using Finite Element numerical modeling. A 2D Finite Element Modeling (FEM) methodology was first developed using PLAXIS 2D 2021 computer software and verified by well-documented case studies in the literature of this system. Second, a performance prediction was made for a field case study of the Amite River Project near French Settlement, which is located along Route LA 16 Livingston Parish in Louisiana State. A comprehensive FEM parametric study was then carried out to evaluate the performance of the system …

An Improved Earned Value Management Method Integrating Quality And Safety, Brian Briggs

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The construction industry invests significant time and money to improve quality and safety while reducing cost and schedule impacts. The industry has a sincere desire to improve construction project management methods to improve efficiency. Historically, quality and safety underperformances result from undermanaged quality control and safety activities. The cost and schedule impacts associated with poor quality work have always had an impact on construction operations. The unprecedented challenges and uncertainties of COVID-19 highlighted the need to improve the Earned Value Management (EVM) method within construction to reflect these quality and safety activities. The central goal of this dissertation is 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 …

Vertical Feature Delineation For Flood Hazard Assessments At The Coastal Land Margin, Shu Gao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Coastal and riverine flooding constitutes a major environmental hazard that affect millions of people residing along the world’s coastline. Improved understanding of the driving mechanisms that can cause flooding within coastal watersheds requires advanced hydrologic and coastal storm surge simulation. Such advanced simulation is dependent upon an accurate digital elevation model (DEM) for the optimal topographical representation of the true domain in the discretized model grid (mesh). However, it is not possible to afford mesh resolution as fine as contemporary DEMs, resolved at sub-10 meters, due to the impractical computational expense. Therefore, significant elevation barriers such as roadbeds, levees, railroads, …

Simulation Of Compound Flood Events In Low-Gradient Coastal Watershed, Felix Luis Santiago-Collazo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Low-gradient coastal watersheds are susceptible to flooding caused by various flows such as rainfall, tides, and storm surge. Compound flooding occurs when at least two of these mechanisms happen simultaneously or in close succession. Different inundation models, observed data, and/or a combination of these are coupled through varying techniques involving one-way, loosely, tightly, or fully coupled approaches to assess compound flooding. This study presents a one-dimensional (1-D), fully coupled compound inundation model based on the Shallow Water equations. This model approach simultaneously simulates the free water surface variations in the ocean domain (i.e., tide and storm surge modeling), rainfall-runoff in …