Civil Engineering Commons^™

Spatial Variability Models And Prediction Analysis Of Soil Properties Using Geostatistics, Tejo Vikash Bheemasetti

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Soils are composed of solid, water and air phases whose characteristics are highly variable. The interactions of these phases in the soil matrix can lead to different types of topographical formations and characteristics. Due to the uncertainty and complex interactions among these phases, studies on soils have always been a challenging problem for engineers. These variations and uncertainties make it necessary for engineers to adopt new techniques and methods to analyze soil properties in order to determine or interpret their generalized behaviors and patterns. Existing research in variability analysis tends to focus on the distribution of the soil properties, reliability-based …

Evaluation Of Lightweight Geofoam For Mitigating Bridge Approach Slab Settlements, Pinit Ruttanaporamakul

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The bump at the end of a bridge infrastructure is one of the frequent problems found in Texas and other states. Transportation agencies spend millions of dollars annually to repair the bump problem. The major cause of the problem is the settlement of backfill materials and foundation soils, as well as the erosion of backfill. Research was undertaken at the University of Texas at Arlington to study the embankment located on US 67 over SH 174 in Johnson County, Cleburne, Texas. The embankment was reconstructed, replacing the top of existing fill soil with lightweight EPS 22 geofoam blocks to reduce …

Response Of Unsaturated Silty Sand Over A Wider Range Of Suction States Using A Novel Double-Walled Triaxial Testing System, Ujwalkumar Dashrath Patil

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In recent decades, the state-of-the-art of our understanding of unsaturated soil performance has been considerably enhanced by incorporating novel and advanced features to the conventional testing devices such as direct shear device, ring shear device, triaxial device and true triaxial device. The novel suction-controlled triaxial system used in this research is fully automated and has enhanced features such as volume change device and double-walled cell to monitor the volume change accurately during all the stages of unsaturated triaxial test. Despite the sophistication, such devices can help in testing mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils only up to matric suction (s) value …

Numerical Modeling Of Ground Movements Associated With Trenchless Box Jacking Technique, Babak Haji Mohammad Hasan Mamaqani

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Trenchless Technology (TT) is defined as a family of methods used to install, renew, replace or renovate new pipe/box or existing pipe/box underground with little or no surface disruption. TT is divided into two main categories including Trenchless Construction Methods (TCMs) and Trenchless Renewal Methods (TRMs). TCMs are used to install new utilities and pipes underground while TRMs are used to renew, renovate and replace an existing utility or pipe. Box jacking (BJ) is a TCM used to install rectangular box culverts under existing facilities such as highways and railroads. In this method, box culverts are pushed through the …

Water And Nutrient Reuse Within Closed Hydroponic Systems, Emerson Christie

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Currently, little research exists on the maintenance of individual nutrient balance within the nutrient solutions of closed hydroponic systems and how this maintenance may result in reductions in water and nutrient consumption. In this study, a nutrient solution management procedure was developed to maintain outputs while minimizing inputs. Lactuca sativa (lettuce) crops were grown in six closed hydroponic systems utilizing the nutrient film technique. Electrical conductivity was used as the primary indicator of nutrient solution quality and determined if the nutrient solution was discarded and replaced (control systems) or restored (test systems). Restorations in test systems were made individually to …

Geotextile Tubes And Their Application To Dewatering, Kevin R. Morgan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Geotextile tubes are a proven cost-effective technology offering speed, efficiency, and minimal impact to the environment for dewatering of sediment or sludge from dredging operations. Common applications include: removal of solids from municipal water and waste water treatment, agricultural remediation, marine dredging operations, construction dewatering, and beach preservation and protection. Geotextile tubes are manufactured in a variety of configurations.

Geotextile tubes are used for a wide variety of environmental applications including dewatering and slurry containment. One of the most important design aspects of the tubes themselves is the ability to be flexible and expand and hold form under high pressure …

Evaluation Of Truck Signal Priority At N Columbia Blvd And Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Intersection: Vissim Micro Simulation Analysis Of Truck Signal Priority, Maisha Mahmud

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Given the importance of over growing freight transportation system worldwide, engineers and planners are faced with the challenge of improving freight service in urban area using low cost measure. Truck Signal Priority is one of the strategy that can be used to improve operational efficiency with enhance safety benefits (red light running) of freight service, without major capital investment. In light to this interest this study focus on evaluating the impacts of freight signal priority on a high truck density intersection like N Columbia Blvd and NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Using a simulation tool, VISSIM, these impacts were …

Numerical Evaluation Of The Extended Endplate Moment Connection Subjected To Cyclic Loading, Mehdi Ghassemieh, Mehdi Jalalpour, Ali Akbar Gholampour

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, the seismic behaviour of extended endplate moment connection is analysed using finite element method (FEM). First, an existing test setup is modelled and analysed using ANSYS computer program. The model is validated by comparing the results from the finite element with the experimental ones. Afterwards, by changing the dimensions of members of the connection, their effect on the overall seismic performance of connection is investigated. The results show that by enlarging the column depth and stiffening the connection, the seismic performance is improved and the thickness of endplate should be chosen in a way that its moment …

Acoustic Properties Of Concrete Panels With Crumb Rubber As A Fine Aggregate Replacement, Niall Holmes, Alex Browne, Christopher Montague

Articles

This paper presents the acoustic performance of small scale crumb rubber concrete (CRC) panels in terms of the sound absorbance and insulation at low (63, 125, 250 & 500 Hz) and high (1000, 2000, 4000 and 5000 Hz) frequencies. Acoustic tests were conducted with differing levels of fine aggregate replacement with crumb rubber (7.5 and 15%) with four different grades following freezing and heating. Analysis of the workability, compressive strength and density are also presented. The results found that CRC performed well in terms of sound absorbance particularly with higher proportions (15% here) and grades of crumb rubber. As an …

Safety Measures For Trucks: A Comparison Between Eu And U.S., Jan Kapusta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Road transportation is playing an important role in almost all of the freight movements and contributes to the economy. It has the highest share in the modal division of transported goods. This situation is not about to change in next years to come. Therefore, it is necessary to change the current situation and create rules and regulations that would lead to decrease in number of accidents either in EU or in U.S. The goal of this research is to analyze selected parameters related to the safety of truck transportation in EU and in U.S. This thesis also identifies and compares …

Water Recovery From Silica Saturated Ro Concentrate By The Concentrate Enhanced Reverse Osmosis Process, Gautam Patwardhan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Membrane fouling due to silica precipitation during reverse osmosis (RO) continues to be documented as the most common challenge in attaining stable continuous operation of RO systems across water treatment plants (1). Silica scale precipitation is time dependent and involves multiple steps leading to aqueous polymerization, condensation of polymers to form colloids, and deposition onto a solid surface (2). Exceeding the solubility of silica, widely considered to be in the range of 100-140 ppm, under a pH of 8 at 25 °C by various researchers, results in the precipitation of silica on the membranes, thereby limiting water recovery. Once the …

Civil Engineering Accreditation Document 2013 (Revised 2014), Georgia Southern University Libraries

Program Accreditation Reports (2013-2023)

This is the revised 2013 report for 2014.

Methods For Estimating Sediment Yield And Dam Capacity In The Great Lakes Watershed, Jennifer Hui

Wayne State University Theses

Sedimentation is the most important factor in the longevity of dams built in the United States. As most dams are reaching their capacity for sediment storage, this study investigated the historical and predicted future rates of sediment accumulation as well as the remaining storage capacity. This study examined the mechanisms influencing sediment production and storage in the watershed to provide future insight regarding potential control of this process. Twelve reservoirs throughout the Great Lakes watershed were selected and analyzed for their greater applicability to the entire watershed. Both historic and new data were collected on these dams to determine how …

Measurements Of Fluvial Sediments Using A Single-Frequency Acoustic Attenuation System, Thomas Alexander Kajdan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suspended sediments are a global-scale pollutant that threaten the integrity of our waterways and pose an environmental threat to many aquatic ecosystems. Innovative techniques are required to continuously monitor this pollutant. Ultrasonic acoustic measurements have the potential to improve the temporal resolution of fluvial sediment data. This work investigates the use of a prototype field grade single-frequency acoustic attenuation system that was developed at the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA), located at the University of Mississippi. This field-deployable unit consists of two 20 MHz immersion transducers that are aligned in a "pitch-catch" configuration at a fixed distance of 18 …

Effect Of Construction Worker Demographic On E-Learning With Hazard Communication Standard, Serhan Kaya

Wayne State University Theses

Construction safety and health training can be delivered by different training methods, such as traditional, online and blended learning. E-learning is a newly introduced method whose effectiveness is still being investigated. This study focuses on the effect of construction worker demographics on the effectiveness of e-learning. The univariate analysis technique was used to find out the distribution and frequency of data collected by an internet based system. Further, multivariate analysis (cross tabulation) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to determine the association between the independent variables which are age, gender, ethnic background, union status, number of employees in the …

Pile Load Distribution Behavior Of Pile Group Foundations Subjected To Combined Vertical Load And Moment, Janine Correa Faustino

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this thesis is to perform parametric studies of maximum pile force, pile settlement, pile cap rotation and pile force distribution on square shape pile group foundation by employing three-dimensional finite element software, PLAXIS 3D. The square pile group foundation is subjected to combined vertical load and moment under the elastic material of two soil layers. For this study, a special element in PLAXIS 3D, called embedded pile element is used to model each pile in the pile group foundation. To simulate the pile group foundation, a small gap between pile cap and subsoil is introduced in the …

ผลเฉลยสถานะวิบัติของเสาเข็มรับแรงดันด้านข้างในดินเหนียวโดยการวิเคราะห์ไฟไนต์อิลิเมนต์, สุรภาพ แก้วสวัสดิ์วงศ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วัตถุประสงค์ของวิทยานิพนธ์นี้เพื่อศึกษาเสาเข็มแรงดันด้านข้างวิบัติในดินเหนียว วิธีไฟไนต์อิลิเมนต์สองมิติและสามมิติถูกนำมาใช้เพื่อหาผลเฉลยในการศึกษานี้ การวิเคราะห์ไฟไนต์อิลิเมนต์แบบสามมิติบนระนาบความเครียดถูกนำมาใช้สำหรับการจำลองหน้าตัดแนวราบและหน้าตัดแนวดิ่ง การจำลองหน้าตัดแนวราบแสดงการประมาณของเสาเข็มรูปวงกลมหรือท่อรับแรงด้านข้างที่จุดศูนย์กลาง ในทางกลับกัน การจำลองหน้าตัดแนวดิ่งแสดงการประมาณของกำแพงฝังในดินซึ่งรับแรงดันด้านข้างและโมเมนต์ที่จุดบนสุด สำหรับกรณีเสาเข็มหน้าตัดแนวดิ่งและเสาเข็มจริงในระบบสามมิติ ที่หัวเสาเข็มถูกจำลองโดยแบ่งออกเป็นสองกรณีคือกรณีที่มีการยึดรั้งที่หัวเสาเข็มและไม่ยึดรั้งที่หัวเสาเข็ม นอกเหนือจากนี้ ผลกระทบของความหนาสำหรับการจำลองเสาเข็มหน้าตัดแนวดิ่งก็ถูกนำมาศึกษาเช่นกัน สำหรับการวิเคราะห์ทั้งหมด เสาเข็มถูกจำลองด้วยวัสดุแบบอิลาสติกและไม่เกิดการวิบัติขึ้นในโครงสร้าง ดินเหนียวถูกจำลองด้วยวัสดุแบบมอร์-คูลอมบ์ในสภาพไม่ระบายน้ำ ชิ้นส่วนเชื่อมต่อระหว่างดินและโครงสร้างถูกใช้ที่ผิวสัมผัสระหว่างดินเหนียวและเสาเข็มของทั้งสองหน้าตัด นอกจากนั้น ชิ้นส่วนเชื่อมต่อระหว่างดินและโครงสร้างถูกจำลองเป็นสองแบบคือ การเชื่อมต่อแบบแรงดึงสมบูรณ์ และ การเชื่อมต่อแบบไม่มีแรงดึง กรณีแรกจำลองสภาพไม่เกิดการแยกตัวระหว่างดินและโครงสร้าง แต่กรณีสองจำลองสภาพการแยกตัวระหว่างดินและโครงสร้าง ผลเฉลยแรงวิบัติของเสาเข็มรับแรงด้านข้างถูกนำเสนอในรูปของพารามิเตอร์ไร้มิติ ผลการศึกษาของงานวิจัยนี้ถูกเปรียบเทียบกับผลการศึกษาในอดีต นอกเหนือจากนี้ เส้นขอบเขตการวิบัติของผลเฉลยของเสาเข็มรับแรงในแนวราบและโมเมนต์ร่วมกันสำหรับกรณีเสาเข็มหน้าตัดแนวดิ่งและเสาเข็มจริงในระบบสามมิติก็ถูกนำเสนอเช่นกัน ท้ายที่สุด ผลกระทบสามมิติที่มีต่อผลเฉลยของตัวแปรไร้มิติของเสาเข็มรับแรงดันด้านข้างก็ถูกนำเสนอในงานวิจัยนี้

Laboratory Investigation And Numerical Modelling Of Track Foundation For High-Speed Railway Construction On Bangkok Soft Soil, Phitsanu Pholkainuwatra

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The government of Thailand has recently decided to launch a high-speed railway project to promote regional economy and improve the logistics of trade to connect with other countries in Southeast Asia community. Raising a complication regarding the load transfers will certainly induce many problems to the railway system. Moreover, the constructions of railway substructures in the past often involve the low quality of materials especially in the Central Plain of Thailand. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the sources of construction materials for railway substructure materials. This study consists of two main objectives. The first objective is to investigate the …

Role Of Force Resultants Interaction On Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Titchenda Chan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a recently developed concrete gaining a lot of interest worldwide, and a lot research has been conducted to determine its material properties. UHPC is known for its very high strength and high durability. Association Francaise de Genie Civil (AFGC) has defined UHPC as a concrete exhibiting compressive strength greater than 150 MPa (22 ksi). To utilize the full compressive strength of UHPC, complementary tension reinforcement is required. A recent research study to find light weight yet high strength alternative deck systems for Florida movable bridges demonstrated that a composite UHPC and high strength steel (HSS) …

Design Considerations For A Rotating Retractable Stadium Roof, Charles S. Jenkins

Honors Theses

This thesis presents a novel type of retractable roof, adapting the pivot-based retraction system used in Miller Park to a stadium without a circular geometry. Existing stadiums with retractable roofs are reviewed, and lessons learned are used to present theoretical structural engineering design for a roof truss and recommendations for carriers. The presented concept likely requires light-weight structural systems and closely-spaced roof trusses to minimize loads on roof carriers. Actual mechanical designs of the roof carriers are quite complex as they must be able to roll in two directions and pivot about a third. The design herein is incomplete for …

Stiffness Response Of Chemically Stabilized Sulfate Rich Soil Via Resonant Column Test, Miftah Semane

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Stabilization of expansive soils using lime and cement additives have been used by practitioners over the last few years. However, recent heaving and premature pavement failures in lime and cement-treated subgrades containing sulfates led to questioning the validity of calcium based stabilization. When expansive soils containing sulfates are treated with calcium-based stabilizers, the calcium from the stabilizer reacts with soil sulfates and alumina to form the expansive mineral Ettringite.A series of resonant column (RC) tests (ASTM D 4015-92) was conducted on several chemically stabilized specimens of high-plasticity, sulfate-rich expansive clay from Sherman, Texas. Test results were used to assess the …

Deformation And Shear Behaviors Of Weathered Compacted Shale, Xu Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

As an abundant sedimentary rock, shale is widely used as construction material around the world. However, shale is a fissile and laminated material and is therefore subject to deterioration due to environmental and chemical forces (i.e., weathering), which is possible to cause high maintenance cost on associated structures and failures of earth slopes and embankments. However, currently, there is lack of efficient method to monitor the weathering process of shale. This thesis uses several shale samples collected from the commonwealth of Kentucky to study the deformation and shear behaviors of weathered compacted shale. A new electrical approach was developed to …

Development Of Indirect Ring Tension Test For Fracture Characterization Of Asphalt Mixtures, Alireza Zeinali Siavashani

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Low temperature cracking is a major distress in asphalt pavements. Several test configurations have been introduced to characterize the fracture properties of hot mix (HMA); however, most are considered to be research tools due to the complexity of the test methods or equipment. This dissertation describes the development of the indirect ring tension (IRT) fracture test for HMA, which was designed to be an effective and user-friendly test that could be deployed at the Department of Transportation level. The primary advantages of this innovative and yet practical test include: relatively large fracture surface test zone, simplicity of the specimen geometry, …

Calibration Of Non-Nuclear Devices For Construction Quality Control Of Compacted Soils, Joshua E. R. Wells

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Inadequate compaction of a soil subgrade can lead to detrimental outcomes that are not only costly but dangerous to the general public. To avoid this, quality control (QC) devices such as the nuclear density gauge (NDG) are currently being used to monitor the compaction and moisture content of soil subgrades. However, regulatory concerns associated with the NDG have encouraged federal and state agencies, as well as the heavy civil construction industry to consider non-nuclear devices for QC testing of compacted soils. One such non-nuclear device is the Soil Density Gauge (SDG), which utilizes electromagnetic wave propagation to obtain soil properties …

Development Of Cementitious Materials For Adhesion Type Applications Comprising Calcium Sulfoaluminate (Csa) Cement And Latex Polymer, Joshua V. Brien

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The objective of this research was to develop high performing polymer modified calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement materials for use in applications requiring superior adhesion characteristics. Little information is available describing interactions of CSA cement containing minor phase tri-calcium aluminate (C₃A) with commonly used admixtures. Given the scarcity of information, a basic approach for developing cementitious materials was followed. The basic approach consisted of four tasks: cement design, admixture design, polymer design and testing developed materials. The iterative, time consuming process is necessary for understanding the influence of specific constituent components on overall system behavior. Results from the cement …

Uncertainty Treatment In Performance Based Seismic Assessment Of Typical Bridge Classes In United States, Mohammad Mehdizadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bridge networks are expensive and complex infrastructures and are essential components of today's transportation systems. Despite the advancement in computer aided modeling and increasing the computational power which is increasing the accessibility for developing the fragility curves of bridges, the complexity of the problem and uncertainties involved in fragility analysis of the bridge structures in addition to difficulties in validating the results obtained from the analysis requires precaution in utilization of the results as a decision making tool. The main focus of this research is to address, study and treatment of uncertainties incorporated in various steps of performance based assessments …

Transferability And Calibration Of The Highway Safety Manual Performance Functions And Development Of New Models For Urban Four-Lane Divided Roads, Kaaf, Khalid Al

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many developing countries have witnessed fast and rapid growth in the last two decades due to the high development rate of economic activity in these countries. Many transportation projects have been constructed. In the same time both population growth and vehicle ownership rate increased; resulting in increasing levels of road crashes. Road traffic crashes in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considered a serious problem that has deep effects on GCC's population as well as on the national productivity through the loss of lives, injuries, property damage and the loss of valuable resources. From a recent statistical study of traffic crashes …

Applications Of Transit Signal Priority Technology For Transit Service, Frank Anthony Consoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research demonstrated the effectiveness of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) in improving bus corridor travel time in a simulated environment using real world data. TSP is a technology that provides preferential treatment to buses at signalized intersections. By considering different scenarios of activating bus signal priority when a bus is 3 or 5 minutes behind schedule, it was demonstrated that bus travel times improved significantly while there is little effect on delays for crossing street traffic. The case of providing signal priority for buses unconditionally resulted in significant crossing street delays for some signalized intersections with only minor improvement to …

Beneficial Utilization Of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Ashes As Sustainable Road Construction Materials, Kazi Tasneem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW) is common for energy recovery, and management of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ashes has received a growing attention around the world. In the U.S., generation of MSW has increased up to 65% since 1980, to the current level of 251 million tons per year with 53.8% landfilled, 34.5% recycled and composted, and 11.7% incinerated with energy recovery. In the process of incineration, MSWI ash is being produced as byproducts; about 80 to 90% of the MSWI ash is bottom ash (BA) and 10 to 20% is fly ash (FA) by weight. The current …

A New Multidimensional Psycho-Physical Framework For Modeling Car-Following In A Freeway Work Zone, Taylor Lochrane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the United States continues to build and repair the ageing highway infrastructure, the bearing of freeway work zones will continue to impact the capacity. To predict the capacity of a freeway work zone, there are several tools available for engineers to evaluate these work zones but only microsimulation has the ability to simulate the driver behavior. One of the limitations of current car-following models is that they only account for one overall behavioral condition. This dissertation hypothesizes that drivers change their driving behavior as they drive through a freeway work zone compared to normal freeway conditions which has the …