Civil Engineering Commons^™

Creation Of A Committed Johnsongrass Area And Implementation Study, D. James Morre

JTRP Technical Reports

This project was to develop a committed roadside Johnson grass research area with controlled mowing and date of spraying adjacent to US 63 from I 74 south to JCT US 36 and to continue studies of a cold-adapted Johnson grass ecotype identified in the Northern-most tier counties in Indiana in an area adjacent to IN 23 between South Bend and New Liberty, IN. The cold-adapted Johnson grass provides a further threat of encroachment of roadside-established Johnson grass onto adjacent cropland of considerable potential economic consequence.

Completed was a 3-year study with Roundup alone and in combination with Outrider either as …

Towards The Efficient Probabilistic Characterization Of Tropical Cyclone-Generated Storm Surge Hazards Under Stationary And Nonstationary Conditions, Senanu Kudjo Agbley

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The scarcity of observations at any single location confounds the probabilistic characterization of tropical cyclone-generated storm surge hazards using annual maxima and peaks-over-threshold methods. The EST and the JPM are indirect approaches aimed at estimating the probability distribution of the response variable of interest (i.e. storm surge) using the probability distributions of predictor variables (e.g. storm size, storm intensity etc.). In the first part of this work, the relative performance of the empirical simulation technique (EST; Borgman et al., 1992) and the joint probability method (JPM; Myers, 1970) is evaluated via stochastic simulation methods. It is shown that the JPM …

Geometrically Nonlinear Arc Length Sparse Finite Element Analysis And Optimal Design Of Truss Structures, Glenn A. Hrinda

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A technique for the optimization of stability-constrained geometrically nonlinear shallow trusses with snap-through behavior is demonstrated using the arc length method and a strain energy density approach within a discrete finite element formulation. The optimization method uses an iterative scheme that evaluates the performance of the design variables and then updates them according to a recursive formula that is controlled by the arc length method. A minimum weight design is achieved when a uniform nonlinear strain energy density is found in all members. This minimal condition places the design load just below the critical-limit load that causes snap-through of the …

Using Geographically Weighted Regression Models To Analyze Crash Harm, Libin Zheng

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Society pays a high cost for collisions in terms of property damage, injuries and loss of life. This paper has two objectives. One is to examine various factors associated with harm caused by highway collisions. Both global OLS and local GWR models are provided to identify specific variables influencing crash harm. Another objective is to demonstrate the use of a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) method in this complex safety problem, which can estimate models for each crash location and show spatial variation. The results show that the GWR model is a significant improvement on the OLS model; the test for …

The Impacts Of Biofuels On Transportation And Logistics In Indiana, Frank Dooley, Wallace Tyner, Kumares C. Sinha, Justin Quear, Lydia Cox, Maria Cox

JTRP Technical Reports

Like the rest of the US, the ethanol industry in Indiana has rapidly expanded, growing from one plant in 2006 to a projected 13 by 2010. One result of this expansion is that truck and rail traffic flows in Indiana are shifting, as more corn and beans are processed in state. Most of the change in transportation requirements will likely be concentrated in regions of Indiana where the ethanol plants are constructed.

The goal of this work was to determine how the entry of ethanol and biodiesel plants changes the inbound and outbound transportation flows of corn, soybeans, DDGS, and …

Construction Costs - Using Federal Vs. Local Funds, Varun Kishore, Dulcy M. Abraham

JTRP Technical Reports

Costs of highway construction projects have been rising with rising prices of construction materials such as asphalt, concrete and steel. Identifying cost saving strategies is one of the ways of efficient utilization of available funds (federal and local) by the state Department of Transportations (DOTs) and Local Public Agencies (LPAs). A case study comprising of a sample pair of projects (a federal-aid project and a 100% locally funded project) constructed in Elkhart County, Indiana was undertaken to compare construction costs when sources of funding vary. Based on analysis of cost details from these two projects and discussions with the general …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Socio-Economic Data For Travel Demand Modeling And Project Evaluation, Kevin M. Ford, Jon D. Fricker

JTRP Technical Reports

Small and medium-sized communities often lack data that are complete, current, representative of the community, and appropriate for the travel demand models/software to be applied. To aid such communities, this research was conducted to meet the following objectives:

(1) Identify and facilitate the communication of data that is updated more frequently than the Decennial Census for Indiana Travel Demand Models;

(2) Allow the use of cross-classification techniques within trip generation for planning organizations that lack the time and resources to conduct travel demand/household surveys;

(3) Evaluate the sensitivity of travel demand model outputs to varied parameters and inputs so as …

Auditing Of Traffic Signs And Road Markings In Dar Es Salaam City, Hannibal Bwire

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This study examines the efficacy of the traffic signs and road markings in Dar es Salaam City. The study focuses on the availability and conditions of traffic signs and road markings in some selected roads in the city. Auditing of traffic signs and road markings is carried out as one of the means of promoting road safety and improving road capacity in the city. The auditing procedure involved field studies through the use of traffic signs/markings checklists and ranking of road stretches according to the availability and conditions of traffic signs observed for improvement prioritization in case of financial constraints. …

The “Tea Cup Effect” And Removal Of Suspended Solids From Water, D.A. Mashauri

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Suspended solids problem in water is an issue as old as water treatment itself. Suspended solids can be causative to eroding through abrasion of impellers, pump casings, pipes and other water works related appurtenances. It is therefore appropriate that suspended solids must be removed as early as possible in the water works treatment facilities. It is usually done at the river/lake intakes to reduce the coarse particulate matter that would otherwise adversely affect the water works thereafter. The fine particles that will escape the entrapment at the intake works would therefore require further and more effective system that would remove …

Successes Of An Engineering Residential College Program Within An Emerging Residential Culture, Sondra Miller, Pat Pyke, Amy Moll, Melissa Wintrow, Cheryl Schrader, Janet Callahan

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Boise State University is in the process of transforming from a historically "commuter" campus into a metropolitan research university which includes a growing residential culture (currently 8% of students live in residence halls). First time, full time freshmen age 18 or younger have increased from 61% of the incoming class in 2000 to 72% of the incoming class in 2008. To support our growing residential culture, University Housing, in cooperation with six academic colleges, began the Residential College (RC) program in 2004. Key among the five current RC communities is the College of Engineering. The Engineering Residential College (ERC) admits …

Performance-Based Testing Methodology For Concrete Durability, Niall Holmes, P. A.Muhammed Basheer, Sreejith Nanukuttan, Lulu Basheer

Reports

This report presents an overview of performance based testing methodology for concrete durability and work currently underway jointly at Queens University Belfast and Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, to undertake this research under a EPSRC funded project (EP/G02152X/1).

EN206-1 superseded BS 5328 on 1^st December 2003 and allows designers and producers to use a wide range of cements and aggregate types for a variety of exposure conditions. In this new standard, the durability of concrete is specified in terms of the constituent materials of concrete, properties of fresh and hardened concrete, limitations for concrete composition, specification of concrete, delivery of …

Performance Monitoring Of Cover-Zone Concrete, Niall Holmes, John Mccarter, Malcolm Chrisp, Gerry Starrs, Sreejith Nanukuttan, Lulu Basheer, Niall Holmes, Muhammed Basheer

Conference papers

The concrete cover-zone is a major factor governing the degradation of concrete structures as it provides the only barrier to aggressive agents which initiate corrosion of the reinforcement. Knowledge of the protective qualities of cover-zone concrete is critical in attempting to make predictions as to the in-service performance of the structure with regard to likely deterioration rates for a particular exposure condition and compliance with specified design life. To this end, a multi-electrode array was used to study the surface 50mm of concrete specimens thereby allowing a detailed picture of the response of the covercrete to the changing environment. In …

Conductivity Sensors To Monitor Cover-Zone Performance, W. J. Mccarter, T. M. Chrisp, G. Starrs, E. Owens, Niall Holmes, L. Basheer, S. V. Nanukuttan, M. Basheer

Conference papers

This paper presents developments in the use of an embedded, multi-electrode conductivity sensor to study the response of the concrete cover-zone to environmental action. The sensor enables an evaluation of the temporal and spatial variation of electrical conductivity thereby allowing an integrated assessment of the cover-zone. Conductivity sensors were embedded within concrete samples to study the cover-zone response to cyclic wetting and drying under laboratory conditions. This work was extended to include the use of remote interrogation methods to study samples placed at a marine exposure site and preliminary results are presented.

Hydrological Behavior Of Grasslands Of The Sandhills Of Nebraska: Water And Energy Balance Assessment From Measurements, Treatments And Modeling, Venkataramana Sridhar, David A. Wedin

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding energy and water balance processes in the Sandhills is crucial to assess the land-atmosphere feedback effects. The Sandhills located in western Nebraska covers a vast grassland ecosystem with limited variability in vegetation and soil. However, the combined effect of topography, land cover and micrometeorology by subjecting the land surface to various disturbances and treatments is rarely studied. The NOAH Land Surface Model was used to estimate net radiation, latent, sensible and ground heat fluxes as well as water balance components for two growing seasons between 2005 and 2006 in various plots at the Grasslands Destabilization Experimental site where these …

Prestressing Concrete With Shape Memory Alloy Fibers, Skye M. Orvis

Master's Theses

Concrete is considerably stronger in compression than it is in tension. When cracks form in concrete members, the flexural stiffness of the member decreases and the deflection increases which increases the overall size of the member. Prestressing concrete remedies this problem by inducing a compressive stress in the concrete thereby reducing the net tension in the member and increasing the load required to crack the member. Traditional prestressing is generally limited to large, straight members. During the last decade, shape memory alloys (SMA) have become more prevalent in engineering and civil engineering applications. The shape memory effect refers to the …

Effectiveness And Service Lives/Survival Curves Of Various Pavement Rehabilitation Treatments, Panagiotis Ch. Anastasopoulos, Fred L. Mannering, John E. Haddock

JTRP Technical Reports

The pavement analysis in this study considers various combinations of pavement rehabilitation treatments (two-course HMA overlay with or without surface milling, concrete pavement restoration, three-course HMA overlay with or without surface milling, three-course HMA overlay with crack and seat of PCC pavement and 3-R and 4-R overlay or replacement treatments). Six road functional classes (rural and urban of interstates, non-interstates of the NHS, and non-interstates non-NHS) are considered. This allows for estimation of the performance and service life of the pavement, corresponding to each treatment and road functional class. Main findings;

• More than 95 percent of the data points …

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Speed Cameras On Road Safety In The Emirate Of Abu Dhabi Roads, Ali Humaid Ai Darei

Theses

The problem of road safety in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is eminent. According road crash data from the Ministry of Interior, from 1999 to 2007 the average percentage of deaths due to road crashes in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was 42 percent of the whole UAE. The high death rate due to road crashes has enormous economic and financial loss to the Emirate. The previous research on road safety in the UAE reported that the aberrant driving behavior is one of the major causes for road crashes in the UAE. The aberrant driving behavior includes careless driving, speeding, …

Coupling Of Integrated Biosphere Simulator To Regional Climate Model Version 3, Jonathan M. Winter, Jeremy S. Pal, Elfatih A. B. Eltahir

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Works

A description of the coupling of Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) to Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) is presented. IBIS introduces several key advantages to RegCM3, most notably vegetation dynamics, the coexistence of multiple plant functional types in the same grid cell, more sophisticated plant phenology, plant competition, explicit modeling of soil/plant biogeochemistry, and additional soil and snow layers.

A single subroutine was created that allows RegCM3 to use IBIS for surface physics calculations. A revised initialization scheme was implemented for RegCM3–IBIS, including an IBIS-specific prescription of vegetation and soil properties.

To illustrate the relative strengths and weaknesses of RegCM3–IBIS, …

Rainwater Harvesting Pilot Project Report, Liam Mccarton, Sean O'Hogain, Anna Reid, Niamh Mcintyre, Jenny Pender

Reports

The rainwater harvesting pilot project was commissioned by the National Rural Water Monitoring Committee in 2005 to assess the feasibility of supplementing treated mains water used for non-potable purposes. The project involved the design, installation, commissioning and monitoring of rainwater harvesting facilities in a rural housing development in County Carlow and in a 250-acre livestock farm in County Meath. Construction was carried out between 2005-2007.

Testing And Monitoring Concrete Using Novel Methods For Predicting Their Long Term Behaviour, Sreejith Nanukuttan, Lulu Basheer, Muhammed Basheer, Niall Holmes, John Mccarter, Malcolm Chrisp, Gerry Starrs

Conference papers

It is widely recognised that durability of concrete depends on its transport properties, viz. absorption, diffusion and permeability. As concrete cover provides the first line of defence against the ingress of many deleterious substances into the concrete, a measure of its transport properties is vital in assessing its long term performance in the given exposure condition. In new structures the rate of ingress of the deleterious substances could be monitored using array of electrical sensors which are embedded in the cover concrete. For structures which are currently in service, two in situ permeability apparatuses, viz. Autoclam Permeability System (for measuring …

An Investigation Of Human Induced Vibrations On Clemson Memorial Stadium, Benjamin Morris

All Theses

Human induced stadium vibrations have become of increasing concern to design engineers and facility managers as more energetic crowds and increasingly efficient structures have increased the likelihood of serviceability issues. The 'in-time' bouncing of spectators due to music has caused one such issue in the south upper deck of Clemson University's Memorial Stadium. To gain an understanding of the severity of vibrations in Memorial Stadium, a combination of experimental and analytical modeling is utilized. Data collected by an array of accelerometers installed on a main post tensioned precast cantilever girder provides a season and a half of response histories in …

Hot Mix Asphalt Longitudinal Joint Evaluation, Annette Porter

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Longitudinal joints are the portion of the road where two lanes meet and are formed because the lanes are paved at different times. Longitudinal joints tend to be the weakest portion of the roadway, and yet few regulations exist to control their quality. Currently, Arkansas specifications for asphalt pavement do not include any requirements for the measurement of joint quality. The purpose of this research project is to determine the most effective method for evaluating longitudinal joints in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. Most of the literature concerning longitudinal joints focuses on density as the determining factor of quality because density …

Reliability Of Light Frame Roof Systems Subject To High Winds, Angelina Gleason

All Theses

Recent hurricane damages have devastated coastal communities and focused national attention on hurricane damage mitigation. Structural damage is one of the most significant impacts of a hurricane. Even small levels of structural damage can result in large economic losses; when gaps open in the roof system, rain water can leak in, ruining the contents of the structure and rendering it uninhabitable although it is still standing. In order to prevent these secondary damages from occurring, a better understanding of the roof system behavior is essential. This research aims to ascertain the behavior of the roof system by determining the influence …

Characterizing Liquefaction Resistance Of Aged Sand Deposits, Hossein Hayati

All Dissertations

Presented in this dissertation are the results of various studies conducted to characterize the liquefaction resistance of aged natural deposits. The data considered include laboratory and field test results from sites in five countries with particular focus on multiple locations in the South Carolina Coastal Plain.
A new liquefaction potential map of the peninsula of Charleston, South Carolina, is presented. Liquefaction potential is expressed in terms of the liquefaction potential index (LPI) developed by Iwasaki et al. and calculated using 44 cone penetration test (CPT) profiles. The CPT profiles are supplemented with information from the 1:24,000 scale geologic map by …

Practices For Seamless Transmission Of Design Data From Design Phase To Construction Equipment Operation: A Synthesis Study, Philip S. Dunston, James Monty

JTRP Technical Reports

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), in response to requests from the construction contracting community, has chosen to examine how to facilitate their contractors’ use of three-dimensional machine control (3D-MC) systems, especially GPS-based systems. INDOT recognizes that the prerequisite 3D project model, if available in its intelligent electronic form, may be leveraged by both INDOT and its project partners to automate the performance of tasks other than construction. Therefore, INDOT was compelled to initiate this study to investigate the state of technology and the experiences of other state transportation agencies (STAs) and to synthesize that information to formulate recommendations for …

Earthquake Resistance Of Integral Abutment Bridges, Robert J. Frosch, Michael E. Kreger, Aaron M. Talbott

JTRP Technical Reports

intermediate length bridges. Integral abutment construction eliminates joints and bearings which reduce long-term maintenance costs. However, in the absence of joints and bearings, the bridge abutments and foundations must be able to accommodate lateral movements from thermal expansion and contraction of the superstructure and from seismic events. Previous research has focused on the response to thermal expansion and contraction. The current research examines the response of integral abutment bridges to seismic loading. A field investigation was conducted to examine the response of an integral abutment to lateral loading from thermal expansion and contraction. The results were used to calibrate analytical …

Water Allocation For Agricultural Use Considering Treated Wastewater, Public Health Risk, And Economic Issues, Ahmed E. Al-Juaidi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Increasing demand on limited water resources calls for more efficient and improved approaches to maximize the benefits of water use. Typically, agricultural water use has the largest share among all water use sectors. Therefore, finding the best agricultural water management alternatives to maximize profit and reduce financial and other related risks under limited water availability is essential. Treated wastewater is an important alternative source of agricultural water which has the potential to reduce the stress on freshwater sources from urban and industrial sectors. Thus, further research on optimal agricultural water management is needed to find the best management alternatives that …

Development Of Mechanically Stabilized Earth (Mse) Wall Inspection Procedure For Failure Mode Analysis And Risk Assessment, Ryan Bruce Maw

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A large component of the State of Utah's transportation network involves the use of MSE walls, which have proven useful in infrastructure for their reduced costs and footprint compared to other alternatives. As effective as MSE walls have been in responding to demands in transportation, they also have inherent challenges. For the majority of MSE walls the structure is limited in observation as structural components are buried as part of the soils mass. This inability to observe at can lead to the development of complex failure mechanisms, which can be difficult to assess and anticipate. As society becomes increasingly reliant …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.