Civil Engineering Commons^™

Comprehensive Studies On Deep Soil Mixing And Lightweight Aggregates Applications To Mitigate Approach Slab Settlements, Ekarut Archeewa

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Bridge approach settlement is a common problem to the Transportation Departments nationwide. This uneven transition causes inconvenience to passengers and increases the cost of maintenance and repair of the distressed approach slabs. The Texas Department of Transportation spends millions of dollars annually to mitigate this problem across the state. The potential causes for this problem are numerous and purely site specific. Hence this problem may not have a unique solution. In this research, two methods were selected to mitigate the approach slab settlements. The first one is an improvement of ground foundation technique by using Deep Soil Mixing (DSM) columns …

Development Of An Accident Model For Construction Industry, Hoda Alavi

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Safety has always been a persistent problem in the construction industry. Construction accidents are a major concern for the construction industry and the researchers. In spite of the role of many construction accident causation models in understanding the accident process, none adequately explain the underlying reasons for construction accidents because of their dynamic nature.To overcome this restriction a new advancement in understanding construction accidents has been proposed by Howell et al (2002) based on the work of Rasmussen (1997). The model recognizes that organizational and individual forces push workers in to hazardous conditions. These forces overcome efforts to impose safe …

Characteristics Of Fresh Municipal Solid Waste, Tashfeena Taufiq

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The characteristics of fresh municipal solid waste (MSW) are critical in planning, designing, operating or upgrading solid waste management systems. Physical composition, moisture content, compacted unit weight, permeability are the most important MSW characteristics to be considered in planning a system. When the landfill is operated as enhanced leachate recirculation (ELR) landfill, the physical and hydraulic characteristics are of particular interest in determining the amount of moisture to be recirculated and to design the leachate recirculation and gas collection systems. The current study presents the physical and hydraulic characteristics of MSW collected from the working face of Denton Landfill. The …

Development Of A Suction-Controlled Resonant Column Apparatus With Self-Contained Bender Elements, Eduardo Alfonso Suescun-Florez

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Small-strain soil stiffness properties such as shear modulus, shear wave velocity, and material damping, are key subsoil parameters for an adequate analysis and design of unsaturated earth structures subject to static and non-static loading. Most conventional geotechnical testing techniques, however, are not able to capture this small-strain behavior and, hence, enormously underestimate the true soil stiffness, primarily due to inaccuracies in small-strain measurements. Around the world, a great deal of research efforts has been dedicated to field and laboratory based measurements of soil suction, assessments of soil-water retention properties, and analyses of swell-collapse behavior. However, very few efforts have been …

Development Of A Preliminary Cost Estimation Method For Water Treatment Plants, Jwala Raj Sharma

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Reliable cost estimates for construction, and operation and maintenance (O&M) of water treatment plants are essential for their project planning and design. During the planning phases of the project, preliminary cost estimates are developed for major project components, and for screening of alternatives.Construction and O&M cost curves are widely used for developing preliminary cost estimates. This method is time consuming and there is possibility of human errors. Therefore, for this thesis, construction, and O&M cost equations were developed considering historical cost data for different unit operations and processes involved in a water treatment plant. These equations were developed from historical …

Modeling Studies To Assess Long Term Settlement Of Light Weight Aggregate Embankment, Seema Kalla

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Expanded clay and shale (ECS) is a low weight material derived from clay and shale, and has been used in large quantities throughout the world. Very few studies have been performed to investigate the behavior of ECS and how it can reduce the settlements of embankments when used as a fill material. This thesis presents research findings of numerical modeling to assess the long term settlements of ECS embankment on a soft clay deposit and supports both pavement and traffic loading. Observed settlements near the pavement of a light weight ECS embankment built on soft clay indicated that this material …

Field Investigations On Performance Of Short Drilled Shafts Under Inclined Loading, Richard S. Williammee Jr

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

In the Kaufman County area within the Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas District, several short drilled shaft foundations supporting three-cable median barrier systems wereobserved to be distressed during severe winter storm conditions in late 2006 through early 2007. A research study was initiated at UT Arlington to determine and understand the mechanisms causing these shaft failures. The ends of the three-cable median barrier systems are fastened to a single drilled shaft foundation. In general, these shafts are short in depth and of the same dimensions, diameter, and depth. They are typically used in all soil conditions. This paper presents the …

Effect Of Frame Shape And Geometry On The Global Behavior Of Rigid And Hybrid Frame Under Earthquake Excitations, S.M. Ashfaqul Hoq

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The primary focus of this study is to present a shape which will improve building performance in earthquake excitations. The investigation started with 3-, 9-, 12- and 20-story rectangular frame. The seismic performance is observed for different earthquake data with different frequency content. Then, the Rhombus shape is introduced to compare with the Rectangular shape frames, keeping the height-to-width ratio and loading same. For the first part of the investigation, deflection and member forces are compared between rhombus and rectangular shape considering all connections rigid. In the second part of the study partially restrained connections are introduced in mid levels …

Investigation Of The Lower Bound Compressive And Flexural Strengths Of Conventional Concrete And Clay Masonry, Benchmark Henry Harris

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Conventional masonry is a handcrafted product in which units are placed by hand in a mortar bedding that is prepared during construction. TMS 402 Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures (also referred to by the industry as the Masonry Standards Joint Committee or MSJC) and referenced standards consequently permit a range of various field conditions so as to allow practical construction (1). The primary objective of the testing program was to measure a statistically significant number of test results to investigate the lower bound compressive and flexural strengths of conventional concrete and clay masonry under simulated field conditions.96 compression tests …

Effect Of Leachate Recirculation On Methane Generation Of A Bioreactor Landfill, Shahed R. Manzur

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal is of current concern due to the green-house effect and rising temperature all around the globe. Landfill gas is generated from aerobic & anaerobic biodegradation of organic materials in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill. Along with leachate, generation of Methane happens to be a by-product of the entire biodegradation process in MSW landfills. Conventional landfilling or dry cell concept minimizes the amount of moisture infiltration into the waste. In contrast, Enhanced Leachate Recirculation (ELR) or bioreactor operation facilitates leachate recirculation and distribution through the landfill that leads both reduction of time for waste stabilization and …

Impact Of Hurricanes On Structures - A Performance Based Engineering View, Vijay Mishra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The magnitude of damage caused to the United States (US) coast due to hurricanes has increased significantly in the last decade. During the period 2004-2005, the US experienced seven of the costliest hurricanes in the country's history (NWS TPC-5, 2007) leading to an estimated loss of ~ $158 billion. The present method for predicting hurricane losses, HAZUS (HAZard US), is solely based on hurricane hazard and damage caused to building envelopes only and not to structural systems (Vickery et al., 2006). This method does not take into account an intermediate step that allows for better damage estimates, which is structural …

On The Use Of Polyurethane Matrix Carbon Fiber Composites For Strengthening Concrete Structures, Zachary Haber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials have effectively been used in numerous reinforced concrete civil infrastructure strengthening projects. Although a significant body of knowledge has been established for epoxy matrix carbon FRPs and epoxy adhesives, there is still a need to investigate other matrices and adhesive types. One such matrix/adhesive type yet to be heavily researched for infrastructure application is polyurethane. This thesis investigates use of polyurethane matrix carbon fiber composites for strengthening reinforced concrete civil infrastructure. Investigations on mirco- and macro-mechanical composite performance, strengthened member flexural performance, and bond durability under environmental conditioning will be presented. Results indicate that polyurethane …

Characteristic Dynamic Increment For Extreme Traffic Loading Events On Short And Medium Span Highway Bridges, Eugene J. Obrien, Daniel Cantero, Bernard Enright, Arturo González

Articles

More accurate assessment of safety can prevent unnecessary repair or replacement of existing bridges which in turn can result in great cost savings at network level. The allowance for dynamics is a significant component of traffic loading in many bridges and is often unnecessarily conservative. Critical traffic loading scenarios are considered in this paper with a model that allows for vehicle-bridge interaction and takes into account the road surface condition. Characteristic dynamic allowance values are presented for the assessment of mid-span bending moment in a wide range of short to medium span bridges for bi-directional traffic.

Integrated, Multi-Attribute Decision Support System For The Evaluation Of Underground Utility Construction Methods, John C. Matthews

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation research work described herein is comprised of three primary objectives: (1) the development of a rehabilitation method selection software (TAG-R) for the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) and its subsequent validation and combination with TAG (a sister decision support system (DSS) software developed by the author in an earlier work); (2) the development of a social cost calculator (SCC) and its validation; and (3) the development of a proposed framework for multi-segment optimization for construction methods selection using the tools developed in the first two objectives as well as additional project related data.

The selection of …

Probabilistic Analysis Of Concrete Fracture, Mustafa Abushaala Aldalinsi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It is well known to civil engineers that fatigue leads to the bulk of structural failures. In plain and reinforced concrete structures, fatigue might account for excessive deformation, excessive of crack widths, de-bonding of reinforcement and rupture of the reinforcement, all of these can lead to structural collapse. Fatigue crack propagation can be a method to predict a remaining life of a structures. Herein will show some works that have been done in order to analyze the fatigue crack growth for plain concrete specimen. The goals of this study are to estimate the critical crack length and remaining life of …

Impact Of Moisture Content And Density On Stiffness-Based Acceptance Of Geomaterials, Lourdes Guadalupe Pacheco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Modulus-based quality management of compacted layers has been considered by a number of highway agencies. Even though simple in concept, the paradigm shift from density to modulus for quality acceptance has generated some technical and institutional challenges. One of these complications is that for a given density, the modulus can vastly vary depending on the moisture content at the time of compaction and at the time of acceptance. The results of a systematic study carried out to qualify and quantify the impact of compaction moisture content, moisture content at the time of field testing and density on the modulus and …

Pseudo-Probabilistic User Equilibrium Assignment In Travel Corridor Networks Containing Managed Facilities, Alireza Khaleghi-Soroush

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Throughout the years, transportation organizations and agencies have been unable to keep up with increasing demand for roadway facilities. Similarly, traditional public-sector funding such as motor fuel taxes is falling short in meeting the growing demand for new transportation infrastructure. With deficit financing and congestion problems common to many highways throughout the United States, DOTs are turning to tolling the roadway facilities as a means of financing transportation improvements for inter-urban and urban facilities.In turn, in order for managed facilities such as toll roads or managed lanes to be attractive and viable for the potential investors, the facilities must be …

The Influence Of Correlation On The Extreme Traffic Loading Of Bridges, Eugene J. Obrien, Bernard Enright, A. T. Dempsey

Conference papers

Accurate traffic loading models based on measured data are essential for the accurate assessment of existing bridges. There are well-established methods for the Monte Carlo simulation of single lanes of traffic, and this can easily be extended to model the loading on bridges with two independent streams of traffic in opposing directions. However, a typical highway bridge will have multiple lanes in the same direction, and various types of correlation are evident in measured traffic. This paper analyses traffic patterns using multi-lane WIM data collected at two European sites. It describes an approach to the Monte Carlo simulation of this …

Management Strategies For Special Permit Vehicles For Bridge Loading, Bernard Enright, Eugene J. Obrien

Conference papers

An examination of weigh-in-motion data collected recently at sites in five European countries has shown that vehicles with weights well in excess of the normal legal limits are found on a daily basis. These vehicles would be expected to have permits issued by the responsible authorities. It can be seen from the measurements that most of them are travelling at normal speeds. Photographic evidence indicates that, while many are accompanied by an escort vehicle, normal traffic is flowing alongside in other lanes. As European freight volume grows, the frequency of these special vehicles can be expected to increase. Hence, the …

Optimal Design Of Trusses With Geometric Imperfections, Mehdi Jalalpour, Takeru Igusa, James K. Guest

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper focuses on optimization of trusses that have randomness in geometry that may arise from fabrication errors. The analysis herein is a generalization of a perturbation approach to topology optimization under geometric uncertainties. The main novelty in the present paper is in the consideration of potential buckling due to misaligned structural members. The paper begins with a brief review of the aforementioned perturbation approach, then proceeds with the analysis of the nonlinear effects of geometric imperfection. The paper concludes with some numerical examples.

Infrared Thermography-Driven Flaw Detection And Evaluation Of Hot Mix Asphalt Pavements, Yong K. Cho, Yong-Rak Kim Ph.D., Thaddaeus Bode

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This research was conducted to study more realistic explanations of how variables are created and dealt with during hot mix asphalt (HMA) paving construction. Several paving projects across the state of Nebraska have been visited where sensory devices were used to test how the selected variables contribute to temperature differentials including density, moisture content within the asphalt, material surface temperature, internal temperature, wind speed, haul time, and equipment type. Areas of high temperature differentials are identified using an infrared camera whose usefulness was initially confirmed with a penetrating thermometer. A non-nuclear density device was also used to record how the …

Investigating Rfid For Roadside Identification Involving Freight Commercial Vehicle Operators (Cvo), Erick C. Jones Ph.D., Judy Perkins Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an emerging technology to track commercial vehicles. This transcript describes research that investigates the ability for RFID technologies to work in license plates. Mile markers are common fixtures on the roadside and may provide infrastructure to support identifying RFID to enabled Commercial Vehicle Operators (CVO). This research considers variables that affect the performance of a RFID License Plate System that uses a scanner located at the mile marker. Mile marker characteristics, such as horizontal distance and vertical height, were evaluated along with RFID tag characteristics, such tag type and license plate location.

Safety Investigation And Guidance For Work-Zone Devices In Freight Transportation Systems Subjected To Passenger Car And Truck Impacts With New Crash Standards, Ronald K. Faller Ph.D., P.E., Dean L. Sicking Ph.D., P.E., Karla A. Lechtenberg M.S.C.E., E.I.T., James C. Holloway M.S.C.E., E.I.T., Jennifer D. Schmidt

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Crashworthy, work-zone, portable sign support systems accepted under NCHRP Report No. 350 were analyzed to predict their safety peformance according to the TL-3 MASH evaluation criteria. An analysis was conducted to determine which hardware parameters of sign support systems would likely contribute to the safety performance with MASH. The acuracy of the method was evaluated through full-scale crash testing. Four full-scale crash tests were conducted with a pickup truck. Two tall-mounted, sign support systems with aluminum sign panels failed the MASH criteria due to windshield penetration. One low-mounted system with a vinyl, roll-up sign panel failed the MASH criteria due …

Impact Of Truck Loading On Design And Analysis Of Asphaltic Pavement Structures, Yong-Rak Kim, Hokie Ban, Soohyok Im

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is an improved methodology for pavement design and the evaluation of paving materials. However, in spite of significant advancements to pre-existing traditional design methods, the MEPDG is known to be limited in its accurate prediction of mechanical responses and damage in asphaltic pavements. This restriction is both due to the use of simplified structural analysis methods, and a general lack of understanding of the fundamental constitutive behavior and damage mechanisms in paving materials. This is additionally affected by the use of circular tire loading configurations. Performance prediction and pavement life are determined based on the …

Layer Moduli Of Nebraska Pavements For The New Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (Mepdg), Yong-Rak Kim, Soohyok Im, Hoki Ban

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

As a step-wise implementation effort of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) for the design and analysis of Nebraska flexible pavement systems, this research developed a database of layer moduli — dynamic modulus, creep compliance, and resilient modulus — of various pavement materials used in Nebraska. The database includes all three design input levels. Direct laboratory tests of the representative Nebraska pavement materials were conducted for Level 1 design inputs, and surrogate methods, such as the use of Witczak’s predictive equations and the use of default resilient moduli based on soil classification data, were evaluated to include Level 2 and/or …

Foundation Design For High Tension Cable Guardrails, John R. Rohde Ph.D., P.E., Ling Zhu Ph.D., Ryan J. Terpsma B.S.M.E

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

High tension cable guardrail is becoming increasing popular in median and roadside applications due to the promise of reduced deflections upon impact and reduced maintenance. As the performance of these systems is observed in service, there is a growing concern over the end anchorage foundation performance of current systems. Foundations for high tension systems must not only be capable of restraining the impact load of a vehicle but must also restrain the initial pretension on the cable system as well as temperature induced loads. While it may be acceptable for many roadside safety devices to require foundation repair after impact, …

Estimating Highway Pavement Damage Costs Attributed To Truck Traffic, Yong Bai, Steven D. Schrock, Thomas E. Mulinazzi, Wenhua Hou, Chunxiao Liu, Umar Firman

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Kansas is one of the leaders in meat production in the United States. In the southwest Kansas region, there are more than three hundred feed yards and several of the biggest meat processing plants in the nation. Heavy trucks (e.g., tractor-trailers) have been used primarily for transporting processed meat, meat byproducts, grain, and other related products. With the continuous growth of these industries, there will be more trucks on highways transporting meat and meat-related products in southwest Kansas. These trucks cause noteworthy damage to Kansas highway pavements, which in turn leads to more frequent maintenance actions and ultimately more traffic …

Extending Pavement Life Using Thin Surfacing To Counter The Effect Of Increased Truck Traffic Due To Freight Movements On Highways, Mustaque Hossain Ph.D., P.E., Vikranth S. Manepalli, Shaidur Rahman, Haritha Y. Musty

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The highways in the Midwest are experiencing a considerable amount of truck traffic due to increased freight transportation. There is clearly a risk to the highway infrastructure caused by this additional truck traffic that will also have an increasingly detrimental effect on the safety of the citizens, the traveling public in terms of congestion, and the economy of the entire region. Traditionally the life of the pavements has been extended by a variety of rehabilitation techniques. For example, techniques used by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) include route and crack seal, chip seal, 1- to 4-inch overlay, 1- to …

Automated Erosion System To Protect Highway Bridge Crossings At Abutments, Thanos Papanicolaou Ph.D., Christopher Wilson Ph.D., Mohamed Elkakeem Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

A new instrument (Photo-Electronic Erosion Pin, or PEEP) was examined in collecting field data and remotely monitoring bank erosion near bridge abutments during floods. The performance of PEEPs was evaluated through a detailed field study to determine factors affecting their records. Proper calibration of the instrument was important in obtaining accurate erosion lengths. Calibration of the PEEPs within the banks nearby the study reach provided the most accurate erosion lengths. In addition, comparison with traditional, manual methods was recommended. Bank erosion was monitored at two study sites at the Clear Creek Watershed (CCW), IA between May 2009 and December 2009 …

Closed Course Testing Of Portable Rumble Strips To Improve Truck Safety At Work Zones, Steven D. Schrock, Yong Bai

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The purpose of this research was to compare the attention-getting characteristics, movements and vertical displacements of several portable, reusable rumble strips. The attention-getting characteristics and displacement were measured after passes of a fully loaded heavy truck and a passenger vehicle. Sound and vibration tests revealed that the portable plastic rumble strips were more effective on cars than trucks for generating in-vehicle vibration and increasing in-vehicle sound levels. Further, they were generally better able to match the characteristics of the tested permanent rumble strip compared to the adhesive rumble strips, and that this was also true for the configurations that contained …