Civil Engineering Commons^™

Water Resources Management - University Of California, Davis, Jay R. Lund

All ECSTATIC Materials

Graduate course in water resources management offered at University California, Davis in Fall 2013.

Deterministic Optimization And Design - University Of California, Davis, Jay R. Lund

All ECSTATIC Materials

Undergraduate course in deterministic optimization and design offered at U.C. Davis.

Infrastructure Systems Analysis - George Mason University, Mark Houck

All ECSTATIC Materials

To introduce the concepts of systems analysis and systems engineering within the domain of civil and infrastructure engineering To introduce/review a variety of tools and methods used in the analysis of infrastructure systems To prepare students for continued study in civil, environmental and infrastructure engineering. Course taught at George Mason University.

Water Resources Planning - University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Richard Palmer

All ECSTATIC Materials

Course taught at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Multi-Segment Multi-Criteria Approach For Selection Of Trenchless Construction Methods, Ashikul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The research work presented in this thesis has two broad objectives as well as five individual goals. The first objective is to search and determine the minimum cost and corresponding goodness-of-fit by using a different combination of methods that are capable of resolving the problem that exists in multiple segments. This approach can account for variations in unit price and the cost of the design and the inspection associated with multiple methods. The second objective is to calculate the minimum risk for the preferred solution set. The five individual goals are 1) reduction in total cost, 2) application of Genetic …

Characterization Of Fractures Subjected To Normal And Shear Stress, Min-Kwang Choi

Open Access Dissertations

Results from a series of laboratory experiments to determine fracture specific stiffness, for a fracture subjected to shear and normal stress, are presented and analyzed. The experimental work focuses on the determination of relations between normal and shear fracture specific stiffness and between spatial distribution of fracture specific stiffness and fluid flow through the fracture

The ratio of shear to normal fracture specific stiffness is experimentally investigated on a fracture subjected to shear as well as normal stress. Synthetic fractures made of gypsum and lucite were prepared with different fracture surface conditions: either well-mated or non-mated. For well-mated fracture surfaces, …

The Spatial Distribution Of Cancer Incidence In Fars Province: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Cancer Registry Data, Ali Goli, Mahbobeh Oroei, Mehdi Jalalpour, Hossein Faramarzi, Mehrdad Askarian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: Cancer is a major health problem in the developing countries. Variations of its incidence rate among geographical areas are due to various contributing factors. This study was performed to assess the spatial patterns of cancer incidence in the Fars Province, based on cancer registry data and to determine geographical clusters.

Methods: In this cross sectional study, the new cases of cancer were recorded from 2001 to 2009. Crude incidence rate was estimated based on age groups and sex in the counties of the Fars Province. Age standardized incidence rates (ASR) per 100,000 was calculated in each year. …

The Effect Of The Bicycle Detector Symbol And R10-22 Sign On Cyclist Queuing Position At Signalized Intersections, Stefan W. Bussey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Manual of Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) includes a roadway marking and accompanying explanatory sign which may be installed on public roads to help guide cyclists position themselves over detection at actuated traffic signals. While adopted into the MUTCD in 2003, little research is available on the effectiveness of the marking and sign. This study evaluates the influence that the roadway marking, roadway marking installed in conjunction with the explanatory sign, and an alternative detector marking comprised of the MUTCD marking installed over a one foot by two feet green rectangle, have on cyclist queuing position at actuated, signalized intersections. …

Optimization Of Demon® Sidestream Treatment And Potential For Anammox Mainstream Bioaugmentation, Andrea Lauren Nifong

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Anaerobically digested sludge dewatering liquors (e.g. centrate) can represent 15-25% of the total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) load on a typical municipal waste water treatment plant (WWTP). Sidestream nitrogen removal has been demonstrated to be an effective tool for improving nitrogen removal performance and reliability with a savings in aeration energy, chemicals (supplemental alkalinity and carbon), and sludge production.

Deammonification, partial nitritation by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) combined with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (AMX or anammox), provides near complete nitrogen removal with a 65% reduction in energy and 100% reduction in supplemental carbon and alkalinity requirements as compared to traditional nitrification-denitrification. The …

Dimensionless Criteria For Selecting Tidally-Influenced Advective-Dispersive Desalination Brine Mixing Plume Characterization Models, Alireza Shahvari

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The very nature of requirements for implementing a desalination process is highly spatial due to the need to secure both a source for the operation and sink for brine dilution. Thus, the applicable coastal location is bound to natural tidal mixing characteristics and subjected to a near- or a far-field availability for source and sink. Mixing characteristics of coastal waters are very different from one point to another due to the spatiotemporal tidal characteristic in loco in a manner that it can vary from being highly advective to completely dispersive dominant. Once a location is identified, estimation of corresponding water …

Developing A Framework For Determining The Contribution Of Transportation Project To Sustainable Development, Karim Ahmed Abdel Warith

Open Access Dissertations

In the past few years, stakeholders in the transportation industry have been concerned with sustainability. However, transportation decision makers have had difficulty incorporating sustainability into transportation infrastructure decisions. This is mainly attributed to the vagueness of the term. Incorporating sustainability into transportation decision making has been a desire put forth by engineers for that past 10 years. However, with no apparent method of defining sustainability, designers and decision makers have not been able to fulfill this desire.

This investigation attempts to define sustainability in a comprehensive and quantitative manner. The research proposes a new methodology that relies on the objective …

Influence Of Strand Debonding On The Shear Strength Of Prestressed Concrete, Michael David Wesson

Open Access Dissertations

Strand debonding is a common method used to reduce flexural stresses caused by prestress transfer in the end regions of pretensioned concrete beams. Debonding is especially useful when section geometries prohibit draping such as U-beams. Based on concerns regarding shear strength, the AASHTO bridge design specification currently limits the percentage of strands that can be debonded. These limits have been found in practice to limit both the efficiency and economy of bridge girders. For this reason, a number of states chose to ignore these limits. The objective of this research is to improve the understanding of the influence of debonding …

The Application And Analysis Of Automated Triangulation Of Video Imagery By Successive Relative Orientation, Jae Sung Kim

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is the analysis and evaluation of methods to orient a strip of images using an automated approach. Automatic orientation of strips of video frame imagery would facilitate the construction of three dimensional models with less demand on a human operator for tedious measurement. Often one has no control points, so only relative orientation is possible. The relative orientation process gives camera parameters such as attitudes and selected baseline components and it can be implemented by using either collinearity or coplanarity equations. To automate the point selection, the pass and/or tie points were detected by the …

Cloud To Cloud Registration For 3d Point Data, Darion Shawn Grant

Open Access Dissertations

The vast potential of digital representation of objects by large collections of 3D points is being recognized on a global scale and has given rise to the popularity of point cloud data (PCD). 3D imaging sensors provide a means for quickly capturing dense and accurate geospatial information that represent the 3D geometry of objects in a digital environment. Due to spatial and temporal constraints, it is quite common that two or more sets of PCD are obtained to provide full 3D analysis. It is therefore quite essential that all the PCD are referenced to a homogeneous coordinate frame of reference. …

Detecting And Quantifying Damage In Buildings Using Earthquake Response Data And Capacity Curves, Jeffrey David Dowgala

Open Access Dissertations

In the process of designing a building for seismic resistance, structural engineers design with the intent of preventing collapse while expecting inelastic behavior to occur in extreme strong ground motion events. Structural engineers rely on idealized mathematical models of the structural systems and nonlinear analysis methods to estimate the capacity of a building to resist the demand of strong earthquake ground motions. Compared to estimates and approximations based on numerical nonlinear analyses, a capacity curve constructed from actual building response data would be a more realistic representation of the behavior for the building. A method is presented on how capacity …

Manifold Learning Based Spectral Unmixing Of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data, Jun-Hwa Chi

Open Access Dissertations

Nonlinear mixing effects inherent in hyperspectral data are not properly represented in linear spectral unmixing models. Although direct nonlinear unmixing models provide capability to capture nonlinear phenomena, they are difficult to formulate and the results are not always generalizable. Manifold learning based spectral unmixing accommodates nonlinearity in the data in the feature extraction stage followed by linear mixing, thereby incorporating some characteristics of nonlinearity while retaining advantages of linear unmixing approaches. Since endmember selection is critical to successful spectral unmixing, it is important to select proper endmembers from the manifold space. However, excessive computational burden hinders development of manifolds for …

Swell And Shrinkage Characterizations Of Unsaturated Expansive Clays From Texas, Anand J. Puppala, Thammanoon Manosuthikij, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Expansive soils have long been recognized as problematic because they cause failure to civil structures constructed above them. The main problem of these soils can be attributed to poor understanding of the volume changes caused by moisture fluctuations. Current swell and shrinkage characterization models are limited by both the lack of standardized tests and tests that employ volume changes in uniaxial direction. In the present research, a comprehensive laboratory investigation was undertaken to study the volume change related swell–shrinkage behaviors of five different types of expansive clayey soils sampled from various regions in Texas, USA. Extensive experimental programs consisting of …

Design And Performance Of A Skid-Mounted Portable Compartment Fire Gas Furnace And Monitoring System, K. Mueller, Y. Kurama, M. Mcginnis, M. Lisk

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A custom, portable natural gas fire furnace was designed and constructed for use at the University of Notre Dame to experimentally investigate the out-of-plane behavior of full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) bearing walls under fire. The unique aspects of this furnace allowed the application of large mechanical loads and non-contact optical response monitoring to be done while subjecting the wall to elevated temperatures. The performance of the experimental furnace, mechanical loading, and response monitoring system is reported using the results from the first two RC wall test specimens.

Validation Of Earthquake Simulations And Their Effects On Tall Buildings Considering Spectral Shape And Duration, Ting Lin, Gregory Deierlein, Nenad Bijelic

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

2013 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2013 ENGR333 project focused on production and use of biofuels at Calvin University.

I asked the students “What would it take for Calvin College to operate a biofuel vehicle from campus resources?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Calvin’s Physical Plant director Phil Beezhold.

Response Of An Arch Dam To Non-Uniform Excitation Generated By A Seismic Wave Scattering Model, Reza Tarinejad, Rouzbeh Fatehi Shomeh, Ronald S. Harichandran

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Non-uniform ground motions are generated based on a single record available at a site and seismic wave scattering analysis. The Chino Hills 2008 earthquake records at the Pacoima Dam site are used to indicate the accuracy of the method. Dynamic analysis of the Pacoima dam-reservoir-foundation under uniform and non-uniform ground motions is carried out using the EACD-3D2008 software, and the results are compared to recorded responses at different locations on the dam. There is good agreement between computed and recorded displacements of the dam for non-uniform excitation. For uniform excitation, the displacements are underestimated in comparison with those obtained from …

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Consequences Of Electromagnetic Stimulation On Hydraulic Conductivity Of Soils, A. Farid, S. Azad, J. Browning, Elisa H. Barney Smith

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hydraulic conductivity is a measure of the rate at which water flows through porous media. Because of the dipole properties of water molecules, any electric field can affect hydraulic conductivity. In this study, the effect of radio-frequency (RF) waves on hydraulic conductivity is investigated. This is important both for the geophysical measurement of hydraulic conductivity as well as remediation using electromagnetic waves. Bentonite clay and sandy samples are tested in rigid-wall, cylindrical permeameters and stimulated using a CPVC-cased monopole antenna vertically centered in the permeameters. The permeameters are encased within RF cavities constructed of aluminum mesh in order to prevent …

Electromagnetic Stimulation Of Transport In Water For Geoenvironmental Applications, A. Farid, M. Azad, J. Browning, Elisa H. Barney Smith

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Air sparging is a popular soil remediation technique that enables the removal of contaminants by diffusing air into saturated zones of soil. The removal process is, however, slow. The goal of this work is to study the effect of electromagnetic (EM) waves - with minimal heat generation - on transport mechanisms such as diffusion, in order to improve airflow or contaminant transport and expedite the cleanup process using air sparging or similar technologies. This effect is studied through an experimental setup that examines the diffusion of a nonreactive dye in water under EM waves at a range of frequencies between …

Simultaneous Decision Making Of Optimal Toll Levels And Locations In A Multi-Class Network Equilibrium: Genetic Algorithm Approach, Zegeye K. Gurmu

Civil Engineering Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore bi-level genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization models to make decisions simultaneously for the second-best optimal toll locations and toll levels. The upper-level subprogram is to minimize the total travel time (system cost). The lower-level subprogram is a user equilibrium problem where all users try to find the route that minimizes their own travel cost (or time). The demand is assumed to be fixed and given a priority. First, two different versions of GA based solution procedures are developed and applied to an example Sioux Falls network assuming homogeneous road users in the …

The Effect Zeolite Addition In Natural Rubber Polypropylene Composite On Mechanical, Structure, And Thermal Characteristics, Nurdin Bukit, Erna Frida

Makara Journal of Technology

This study was conducted to determine the effect of zeolite as filler on mechanical properties, and thermal structure blends of natural rubber and polypropylene (NR/PP). In this study, NR/PP/PP-g-MA blends was filled uncalcined zeolite and calcined zeolite at different weight percent of the 2, 4, and 6%. Samples were characterized to determine the tensile strength, fracture elongation and Young's modulus. Structure of the samples was investigated using XRD method and thermal characteristics were analyzed using DTA/TGA technique. The results obtained for tensile strength showed a significant influence with the addition zeolite of the NR/PP blends at 2% by weight of …

Characteristics Of Vacuum Freeze Drying With Utilization Of Internal Cooling And Condenser Waste Heat For Sublimation, Muhammad Idrus Alhamid, Nasruddin Yusuf, Indra Teuku Meurah Mahlia, Engkos Ahmad Kosasih, Muhamad Yulianto, Rio Ricardi

Makara Journal of Technology

Vacuum freeze drying is an excellent drying method, but it is very energy-intensive because a relatively long drying time is required. This research investigates the utilization of condenser waste heat for sublimation as a way of accelerating the drying rate. In addition, it also investigates the effect of internal cooling combined with vacuum cooling in the pressure reduction process. Jelly fish tentacles were used as the specimen, with different configurations for condenser heat waste and internal cooling valve opening. The results show that heating with condenser heat waste can accelerate the drying rate up to 0.0035 kg/m2.s. In addition, pre-freezing …

A New Experimental Approach To Evaluate Plasma-Induced Damage In Microcantilever, Yuki Nishimori, Shinji Ueki, Masakazu Sugiyama, Seiji Samukawa, Gen Hashiguchi

Makara Journal of Technology

Plasma etching, during micro-fabrication processing is indispensable for fabricating MEMS structures. During the plasma processes, two major matters, charged ions and vacuum–ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation damage, take charge of reliability degradation. The charged ions induce unwanted sidewall etching, generally called as “notching”, which causes degradation in brittle strength. Furthermore, the VUV irradiation gives rise to crystal defects on the etching surface. To overcome the problem, neutral beam etching (NBE), which use neutral particles without the VUV irradiation, has been developed. In order to evaluate the effect of the NBE quantitatively, we measured the resonance property of a micro-cantilever before and after …

Fatigue Life Prediction Of The Keel Structure Of A Tsunami Buoy Using Spectral Fatigue Analysis Method, Angga Yustiawan, Ketut Suastika, Wibowo Harso Nugroho

Makara Journal of Technology

One of the components of the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) is a surface buoy. The surface buoy is exposed to dynamic and random loadings while operating at sea, particularly due to waves. Because of the cyclic nature of the wave load, this may result in a fatigue damage of the keel structure, which connects the mooring line with the buoy hull. The operating location of the buoy is off the Java South Coast at the coordinate (10.3998 S, 108.3417 E). To determine the stress transfer function, model tests were performed, measuring the buoy motions and the stress at …

The Plasma Electrolysis Phenomenon In A Two-Compartment Reactor For Chlor-Alkali Production, Nelson Saksono, Fakhrian Abqari, Setijo Bismo

Makara Journal of Technology

Chlor-alkali is one of the most important processes in the chemical industry. It produces chlorine and caustic soda, which become the main feedstock of daily products. The aim of this study is to report the phenomenon of plasma electrolysis and how it can be used in chlor-alkali production for more efficient energy consumption. When the plasma is formed, the current fluctuates and gradually declines. Plasma electrolysis begins with the process of electrolysis itself. Due to Joule heating, gas bubbles are formed and a sheath is made on both electrodes, resulting in the plasma field. Plasma electrolysis can be identified by …