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

Civil Engineering Commons™

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

University of Texas at Arlington

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 241 - 270 of 677

Full-Text Articles in Civil Engineering

Identification Of Legal And Policy Barriers To Timely Post-Disaster Reconstruction And Strategy Development For Effective Recovery Processes In United States, Vaibhav Dhamangaonkar May 2019

Identification Of Legal And Policy Barriers To Timely Post-Disaster Reconstruction And Strategy Development For Effective Recovery Processes In United States, Vaibhav Dhamangaonkar

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Communities resilient to disasters have the ability to return to the normal state quickly and with the least possible delay; however, the causes of delays in the post-disaster recovery phase remain an important concern. Yet, different scholars have studied the long-term post disaster recovery process, barriers in the long-term disaster reconstruction have been studied rarely. This study fills the major gap in the research by identifying barriers in post disaster reconstruction and best practice to increase the speed of the recovery. In this regard, an in-depth review of more than one-hundred scholarly papers in this area was performed, policies and …


Experimental Investigation Of Concrete Breakout Strength Of Anchor In Tension Within Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Karthik Vidyaranya May 2019

Experimental Investigation Of Concrete Breakout Strength Of Anchor In Tension Within Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Karthik Vidyaranya

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

This research investigates the effects of steel fibers on the concrete breakout of the cast-in-place headed stud anchors in tension. High strength anchors (F1554 G105) is used in this study for varying steel fiber dosage of 0.0%, 0.5% and 1.0% by volume fraction of concrete. The physical properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete were calculated through various test at the Civil Engineering laboratory Building. In total, 9-cylinder specimens of 4” diameter and 8” height, and 9 beam specimens, 6”x6”x20” were made and tested. After 28 days of curing, the specimens were tested for their compressive strength and modulus of rupture, …


Economical Design Of Cold-Resistant Biogas Digesters For Degrading Household Waste In Mountainous Areas Of Developing Countries, Sunita Baniya May 2019

Economical Design Of Cold-Resistant Biogas Digesters For Degrading Household Waste In Mountainous Areas Of Developing Countries, Sunita Baniya

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Energy is a basic tool for social and economic development. However, approximately 90% of rural households in low-income countries still rely on unprocessed traditional biomass fuel as the major source of daily energy. These biomass fuels are typically burned indoors, which leads to exposures to high levels of indoor smoke and associated health risks. Sustainable management of household waste is another environmental problem for rural peoples of developing countries. Currently, 90-95% of total generated wastes in most of developing countries is disposed of in open areas and street curbs.Anaerobic decomposition of waste to produce methane is a cost-effective way of …


Identification Of The Manageable Construction Rework Indicators And Related Successful Strategies, Piyush Taneja May 2019

Identification Of The Manageable Construction Rework Indicators And Related Successful Strategies, Piyush Taneja

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

In construction projects whether small or large scale, in the design and construction phases, contractors and owners face numerous reworks which finally leads to schedule delays and cost overruns. Although studying the causes of the rework has been of interest of many scholars and researchers, they have mainly focused on identifying the entity-based rework indicators. It is pivotal to identify the key project, organizational, and human factors that lead to the rework. Therefore, this study investigated, identified, and prioritized the human, organization, and project-based manageable indicators of rework. In addition, successful strategies which lead to overcoming rework challenges were evaluated. …


Long Term Performance Monitoring Of Shallow Slope Stabilization Utilizing Recycled Plastic Pins, Cory Alan Rauss May 2019

Long Term Performance Monitoring Of Shallow Slope Stabilization Utilizing Recycled Plastic Pins, Cory Alan Rauss

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Shallow slope failures are prevalent within the North Texas region. As highway slopes are underlain with high plastic clayey soils that experience cyclic shrinking and swelling, the soils shear strength generally decreases as the soil softens, making the soil more susceptible to sloughing and landslides. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) generally executes a rapid repair method as an economical option for repairing the slope. This method includes the failed soil removal, replacement, and recompaction to rectify the slope surface. While economical initially, this rapid repair technique may potentially prove to be costly with repeated repairs as the method does …


A Comprehensive Behavioral Study On Lane Changing Manuevers, Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi May 2019

A Comprehensive Behavioral Study On Lane Changing Manuevers, Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Since changing lanes might cause traffic congestion and car crashes, the investigation on different aspects of this behavior remains critical. In the past decades, most of lane changing behavior studies have continued to model this behavior mathematically. Lack of qualitative studies in traffic flow theory concepts, especially lane changing behavior is noticeable. This study tries to conduct a comprehensive view of lane changing behavior maneuvers with consideration and analysis the steps of the lane changing process. The author uses the mixed methodological approach to understand the factors which may cause drivers to change lane. After understanding the reasons that make …


Improving Multi-Reservoir Water Supply System Operation Using Ensemble Forecasting And Global Sensitivity Analysis, Reza Limon May 2019

Improving Multi-Reservoir Water Supply System Operation Using Ensemble Forecasting And Global Sensitivity Analysis, Reza Limon

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The objective of this research is to improve the cost-effectiveness, reliability and resilience of water supply system operation through the utilization of ensemble forecasting and optimization of the operating policies. For the effective operation of a multi-reservoir water supply system skillful inflow and outflow forecasts are required. To that end, this research first assesses the value of medium-range ensemble precipitation forecasts generated with the HEFS developed by the US NWS in increasing skill and lead time of ensemble inflow forecasts. The skill of reservoir outflow forecasts is then assessed using three different models with varying complexity. Also assessed in the …


Evaluation Of Best Practices For Implementation Of Slope Repair Methods In Texas, Milad Nabaei May 2019

Evaluation Of Best Practices For Implementation Of Slope Repair Methods In Texas, Milad Nabaei

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Embankment slope failures occur frequently in areas with extreme weather (frequent wetting and drying periods) and unstable soil conditions (high swelling potential clay) such as state of Texas. Despite all progresses in the geotechnical knowledge and the advancement of slope repair methods, still, many repaired slopes fail again after a period of time. The primary objectives of this study are to (1) Review and evaluate existing repair methods for shallow slope failures from the construction perspective, and (2) Recommend appropriate implementation procedures for successful implementation of slope repair methods. The research approach which has been followed to achieve the project …


Sustainable Ground Improvement Method Using Recycled Plastic Pins, Md Nur Basit Zaman May 2019

Sustainable Ground Improvement Method Using Recycled Plastic Pins, Md Nur Basit Zaman

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Failure of civil engineering infrastructures due to insufficient bearing and shearing capacity of the unsuitable foundation soil is a common problem in the area of North Texas which results in significant maintenance issues for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The major concerns regarding construction over such foundation soil includes excessive total and differential settlement of footing resulting in bearing capacity failure and sliding failure of the Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) retaining structure due to inadequate shear resistance. The most common technique followed by TxDOT to counter such problem is to remove and replace the existing soil with appropriate fill …


Applied Fluid Mechanics Lab Manual, Habib Ahmari, Shah Md Imran Kabir Jan 2019

Applied Fluid Mechanics Lab Manual, Habib Ahmari, Shah Md Imran Kabir

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

This lab manual provides students with the theory, practical applications, objectives, and laboratory procedure of ten experiments. The manual also includes educational videos showing how student should run each experiment and a workbook for organizing data collected in the lab and preparing result tables and charts.


Laboratory And Field Study Of A Liquid Ionic Soil Stabilizer, Sandesh Gautam Dec 2018

Laboratory And Field Study Of A Liquid Ionic Soil Stabilizer, Sandesh Gautam

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Chemical stabilization of expansive soil has been practiced for quite a time now. The use of lime/cement stabilization as a traditional method has been well acknowledged, understood and standard guidelines for practice have been developed. However, owing to certain demerits like high production and application cost, environmental impact, durability issues and most importantly incompatibility with high-sulfate soil leading to excessive heaving and swell, there is need to develop alternatives to these stabilizers. Non-traditional stabilizers like ionic soil stabilizer have been used by manufacturers in the past and claimed to effectively reduce the swell-shrink behavior of expansive soil. Undocumented results, the …


Structural Safety Of Bridge Decks With Variable Rebar Cover, Prem Egade Dec 2018

Structural Safety Of Bridge Decks With Variable Rebar Cover, Prem Egade

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Construction defects are common and are difficult to avoid completely. This arises due to improper workmanship, inspection, drawing and specification. On bridge decks, achieving the desired cover is necessary since inadequacy can cause accelerated corrosion in steel and for the most part spalling and delamination which ultimately led to failure. Tolerance provided by different standards and specification also restrict the amount of rebar. So, construction is more focused on increasing cover undermining the loss of strength as consequence. The objective of this research is to check the safety of decks by analyzing bridges for reduction in capacity due to cover …


Methane Oxidation Potential Of Uncomposted Yard Waste As A Landfill Biocover, Gomathy Radhakrishna Iyer Dec 2018

Methane Oxidation Potential Of Uncomposted Yard Waste As A Landfill Biocover, Gomathy Radhakrishna Iyer

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Biocovers are widely used in landfills to oxidize emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Biocovers used till date are fully or partially made of composts. Compost takes time and effort to create, and costs about $10 per cubic yard on an average. Even more importantly, however, production of compost, although theoretically an aerobic process, actually generates methane, from 3.2 to 362 kg CO2-equivalents per ton of wet waste composted, depending on the type of waste, whether open or enclosed composting technology is used, and other factors. To reduce the net greenhouse gas emissions from biocovers, this research explores the potential …


Hpfrc And Rc Slab-Beam-Column Connections Under Extreme Earthquake Loading And Further Improvement Of Novel Double-Beam-Coupling Beams, Youngjae Choi Dec 2018

Hpfrc And Rc Slab-Beam-Column Connections Under Extreme Earthquake Loading And Further Improvement Of Novel Double-Beam-Coupling Beams, Youngjae Choi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The work presented in this dissertation is divided into two parts. Each part has drawn its own results. Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings resist a strong earthquake through structural foundations, diaphragms, and vertical elements. Moment-resisting frames and shear walls are primary-used vertical elements in RC buildings. The moment-resisting frames consist of columns, beams that frame into the column and beam column joints where the columns and beams meet. A key point of designing the moment-resisting frames against a strong earthquake is to ensure beam-column connections to dissipate as much energy possible. The shear wall often becomes two separate slender cantilever walls …


Novel Infrastructure Monitoring Using Multifaceted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems - Close Range Photogrammetry (Uav - Crp) Data Analysis, Surya Sarat Chandra Congress Dec 2018

Novel Infrastructure Monitoring Using Multifaceted Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems - Close Range Photogrammetry (Uav - Crp) Data Analysis, Surya Sarat Chandra Congress

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Remote sensing is a method of collecting data without making any physical contact with the object under inspection. Modern day remote sensing kicked off with the invention of the camera and continued on to the invention of advanced satellite mounted sensors. Photogrammetry is defined as a science that measures distances using one or more images captured remotely. Remote collection of images within a range of 1000 ft is termed close-range photogrammetry (CRP). Unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAV or UAS) have become a popular means of remotely gathering information and assessing infrastructure conditions due to their versatile nature. Multirotor and fixed-wing …


Utilization Of Geocell-Reinforced Rap Material Base Layer In Flexible Pavements: Experimental And Numerical Studies, Anu Muthumala George Dec 2018

Utilization Of Geocell-Reinforced Rap Material Base Layer In Flexible Pavements: Experimental And Numerical Studies, Anu Muthumala George

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials have been considered as one of the most sustainable and cost-effective options in the pavement industry. The use of RAP materials in pavement construction reduces natural resources depletion and the volume of construction debris discarded into the landfills. However, the low shear strength and high permanent deformation (PD) of RAP materials often limit their application in road bases. Utilization of mechanical stabilizers, such as geocell, for stabilizing RAP bases, have found to be effective in improving the pavement performance. The main objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geocell …


Development Of The Urban Passenger Transportation Life Cycle Inventory For Comparison Across Modes Model (Transportlifecamm), Alma Angelica Hernandez Ruiz Dec 2018

Development Of The Urban Passenger Transportation Life Cycle Inventory For Comparison Across Modes Model (Transportlifecamm), Alma Angelica Hernandez Ruiz

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Against the backdrop of the increasingly complex urban passenger transportation challenges associated with megacities during the 21st century, and the effort to find the most sustainable modes of transportation for them, the spreadsheet-based model TransportLifeCAMM was developed. This model allows users in the US and Mexico to compare life cycle environmental impacts from automobile, bus, and/or subway. While other models to estimate environmental burdens from transportation exist, few of them consider emissions or energy consumption over the entire life cycle of the vehicle and the fuel (including vehicle manufacture, fuel production, maintenance, and end-of-life disposal). Furthermore, even fewer of the …


Post-Disaster Construction Labor Cost Fluctuations: Measurement And Modeling, Navid Ahmadi Esfahani Dec 2018

Post-Disaster Construction Labor Cost Fluctuations: Measurement And Modeling, Navid Ahmadi Esfahani

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The United States has been one of the top five countries most frequently hit by natural disasters. The post-disaster survival of cities and communities depend on their capabilities to reconstruct and repair damages to buildings and other infrastructure systems. The significant increase in the repair costs following large-scale natural disasters, also called “demand surge,” slows down the repair process that impacts many lives touched by large-scale natural disasters. Previous studies showed that post-disaster construction labor cost escalation drives the total post-disaster construction cost escalation in the U.S. The ultimate goal of this research is to (1) measure post-disaster construction labor …


Field Swcc Modeling And Soil Water Storage Evaluation Through Geophysical Testing, Linkan Sarker Dec 2018

Field Swcc Modeling And Soil Water Storage Evaluation Through Geophysical Testing, Linkan Sarker

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Evapotranspiration (ET) landfill cover is an emerging final cover system and offers several benefits over conventional landfill closure system. It is a cost-effective green solution for the sustainability of a landfill as its performance enhances with time compared to the conventional solution where low hydraulic conductivity soil barrier deteriorates with time. ET cover system relies on the water store-release principle and its performance depends on the site-specific factors such as on-site climatological conditions, soil hydraulic properties and native vegetation. To effectively monitor the performance of this type of cover system, its unsaturated behavior, field capacity, available moisture for plant growth, …


Experimental And Numerical Study Of Evaporation From Wavy Surfaces By Coupling Free Flow And Porous Media Flow, Bo Gao, Hossein Davarzani, Rainer Helmig, Kathleen M. Smits Oct 2018

Experimental And Numerical Study Of Evaporation From Wavy Surfaces By Coupling Free Flow And Porous Media Flow, Bo Gao, Hossein Davarzani, Rainer Helmig, Kathleen M. Smits

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

The macroscale roughness of the soil surface has significant influences on the mass/energy interactions between the subsurface and the atmosphere during evaporation. However, most previous works only consider evaporation behavior from flat surfaces. Based on experimental and numerical approaches, the goal of this work is to provide a framework for the understanding of the mechanisms of evaporation from irregular soil surfaces at representative elementary volume scale. A coupling free flow-porous media flow model was developed to describe evaporation under nonisothermal conditions. For simplicity, sinusoidal-type wavy surfaces were considered. To validate this modeling approach, an experiment using an open-ended wind tunnel …


Coupled Thermally-Enhanced Bioremediation And Renewable Energy Storage System: Conceptual Framework And Modeling Investigation, Ali Moradi, Kathleen M. Smits, Jonathan O. Sharp Sep 2018

Coupled Thermally-Enhanced Bioremediation And Renewable Energy Storage System: Conceptual Framework And Modeling Investigation, Ali Moradi, Kathleen M. Smits, Jonathan O. Sharp

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

This paper presents a novel method to couple an environmental bioremediation system with a subsurface renewable energy storage system. This method involves treating unsaturated contaminated soil using in-situ thermally enhanced bioremediation; the thermal system is powered by renewable energy. After remediation goals are achieved, the thermal system can then be used to store renewable energy in the form of heat in the subsurface for later use. This method can be used for enhanced treatment of environmental pollutants for which temperature is considered a limiting factor. For instance, this system can be used at a wide variety of petroleum-related sites that …


Evaluation Of Model Concepts To Describe Water Transport In Shallow Subsurface Soil And Across The Soil–Air Interface, Zhen Li, Jan Vanderborght, Kathleen M. Smits Sep 2018

Evaluation Of Model Concepts To Describe Water Transport In Shallow Subsurface Soil And Across The Soil–Air Interface, Zhen Li, Jan Vanderborght, Kathleen M. Smits

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

Soil water evaporation plays a critical role in mass and energy exchanges across the land– atmosphere interface. Although much is known about this process, there is no agreement on the best modeling approaches to determine soil water evaporation due to the complexity of the numerical modeling scenarios and lack of experimental data available to validate such models. Existing studies show numerical and experimental discrepancies in the evaporation behavior and soil water distribution in soils at various scales, driving us to revisit the key process representation in subsurface soil. Therefore, the goal of this work is to test different mathematical formulations …


Characterization Of Grain-Size Distribution, Thermal Conductivity, And Gas Diffusivity In Variably Saturated Binary Sand Mixtures, T.K.K. Chamindu Deepagoda, Kathleen Smits, J.R.R.N. Jayarathne, Benjamin M. Wallen, Timothy J. Clough Aug 2018

Characterization Of Grain-Size Distribution, Thermal Conductivity, And Gas Diffusivity In Variably Saturated Binary Sand Mixtures, T.K.K. Chamindu Deepagoda, Kathleen Smits, J.R.R.N. Jayarathne, Benjamin M. Wallen, Timothy J. Clough

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications - Archive

Characterization of differently textured porous materials, as well as different volumetric porous media mixtures, in relation to mass and heat transport is vital for many engineering and research applications. Functional relations describing physical (e.g., grain-size distribution, total porosity), thermal, and gas diffusion properties of porous media and mixtures are necessary to optimize the design of porous systems that involve heat and gas transport processes. However, only a limited number of studies provide characterization of soil physical, thermal, and gas diffusion properties and the functional relationships of these properties under varying soil water contents, especially for soil mixtures, complicating optimization efforts. …


Evaluation And Strengthening Of Elevated Slab On Grade With Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (Frp) Laminates, Natawut Chaiwino Aug 2018

Evaluation And Strengthening Of Elevated Slab On Grade With Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (Frp) Laminates, Natawut Chaiwino

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Elevating a residential house appears to be one of the most effective techniques to eliminate or alleviate flood losses. In general, the elevation procedures involve raising a house as well as its typical slab-on-grade (SOG) foundation and supporting it with an additional support system. The unconcerned effects of the drastic changes in support condition could lead to severe structural damages and failure of houses. After elevated, thus, such slabs must be properly supported and retrofitted, for which the available methodology and know-how is almost nonexistent. The fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) application, considered as a promising technique in the rehabilitation of …


Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Concrete Shear Strength Of Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts Under Uniformly Distributed Load, Masoud Ghahremannejad Aug 2018

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Concrete Shear Strength Of Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts Under Uniformly Distributed Load, Masoud Ghahremannejad

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This research resulted in the development of a new method for performing displacement control analysis of distributed loads to obtain the ultimate shear strength of structural components. A framework, consisting of several sub-frames, was designed to convert the single displacement applied at the top of the framework to equivalent uniformly-distributed forces applied to the beam. To validate the loading mechanism, using the proposed framework, the load was applied on the top of a reinforced concrete beam in the laboratory, and numerical studies were conducted. The shear capacity of the beam under a concentrated load at mid-span was compared with the …


In-Service Performance Evaluation Of Fire And Impact Damaged Bridges With Cfrp Laminate Strengthening, Santosh Timilsina Aug 2018

In-Service Performance Evaluation Of Fire And Impact Damaged Bridges With Cfrp Laminate Strengthening, Santosh Timilsina

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Fire events and impact damage on bridges are few of the least understood of common extreme events. Bridge infrastructures that are subjected to hazards such as fire or impact from over height vehicle can catastrophically collapse or be heavily damaged. External wrapping of damaged concrete bridge components with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) laminates has been used as a strengthening technique for these bridges. Two such in-service bridges, one of which was fire damaged and the other impact damaged, both aged more than 50 years old in Irving, Texas, were selected for this study. The damaged beams of the concrete bridges …


Developing A Framework To Optimize The Operations Of An Intermodal Underground Freight Transportation Terminal Using Simulation, Fatemeh Rezaeifar Aug 2018

Developing A Framework To Optimize The Operations Of An Intermodal Underground Freight Transportation Terminal Using Simulation, Fatemeh Rezaeifar

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), by 2040, nearly 30,000 miles of our busiest highways will be clogged daily and it is important to increase the capacity of our transportation system. Construction of intermodal underground freight transportation (UFT) systems for freight movement through underground pipelines or tunnels, can increase the capacity of the existing shipping network. The intermodal terminal is a major component of the UFT’s innovative infrastructure project. Increasing demand for container transportation systems in terminals will raise the risk of terminal congestion and delivery delay due to the increase in freight transportation system bottlenecks (traffic jams …


A Calibration Chamber For Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Studies Of Soil Behavior Via Resonant Column Testing, Daniel R. C. Green Aug 2018

A Calibration Chamber For Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Studies Of Soil Behavior Via Resonant Column Testing, Daniel R. C. Green

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Abstract A Calibration Chamber for Thermo-hydro-mechanical Studies of Soil Behavior via Resonant Column Testing Daniel R. C. Green The University of Texas at Arlington, 2018 Supervising Professor: Dr. Laureano Hoyos A considerable portion of the emerging geothermal infrastructure in the country is located in earthquake prone areas while being supported and/or surrounded by soil deposits located well above the groundwater table. Geotechnical earthquake research in the country, however, continues to be mostly focused on soil response under saturated conditions, especially soil liquefaction phenomena, while most of the work on dynamic response of compacted soils has not taken suction or thermal …


Development Of A Framework To Estimate Social And Environmental Costs Of Truck, Railroad, And Underground Freight Transportation, Amir Tabesh Aug 2018

Development Of A Framework To Estimate Social And Environmental Costs Of Truck, Railroad, And Underground Freight Transportation, Amir Tabesh

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Increasing freight transportation capacity is the most important factor to keep US economy viable. Trucks moved 11.5 billion tons of goods, or 63.8 percent of total freight shipments in 2015, which is projected to grow to 16.6 billion tons by 2045. It is predicted truck travel may increase from 282 million miles per day in 2012 to 488 million miles per day by 2045. The U.S. railroad system includes 138,000 rail miles, which 93,500 miles owned and operated by Class I railroad and the rest of them owned and operated by regional and local railroads. While the miles of railroad …


Planning, Design, And Operational Analysis Of Underground Freight Transportation Systems With Individual Autonomous Vehicles, Sirwan Shahooei Aug 2018

Planning, Design, And Operational Analysis Of Underground Freight Transportation Systems With Individual Autonomous Vehicles, Sirwan Shahooei

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Given the increases in freight transportation demand, the current infrastructure for freight transportation appears insufficient. Moreover, the future development of capacity for freight transportation infrastructure seems to be limited. Based on a U.S. DOT report, most of the U.S. freight transportation infrastructure’s construction dates back to the 1960s. This puts a heavy burden on the national highway and railroad systems. The growing demand for freight will increase truck traffic on both urban and rural highways. The increase in truck traffic on highways will result in multiple challenges, including traffic congestion, security concerns, infrastructure deterioration, environmental pollution, energy consumption, increase in …