Civil Engineering Commons^™

Enhancing Frp-To-Concrete Bond Behavior By Epoxy Ribs, Cheng Jiang, Baolin Wan, John Omboko

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The bond between external bonding (EB) of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials to concrete is the weakest link in the strengthened concrete flexural members. There are three mechanisms to transfer the interfacial shear between FRP and the concrete substrate, i.e., adhesion, interlocking and friction. This paper proposes a new approach by grooving on the concrete surface before applying epoxy to make epoxy ribs to increase interlocking. An experimental program was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed epoxy ribs. Six grooves perpendicular to the fiber direction were cut on the bonding surface of the concrete blocks. The grooves …

Identifying The Safety Impact Of Signal Coordination Projects Along Urban Arterials Using A Meta-Analysis Method, Michael R. Williamson, Ryan N. Fries, Yan Qi, Praveen Mandava

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The safety impact of changes to roadway operations have been of interests in recent years with the publication of the Highway Safety Manual. One area that is in need of further study is the safety impact of traffic signal coordination projects in urban areas. Specifically, this study seeks to identify the safety benefit from traffic signal coordination projects on major arterial roadways through urban areas using a before and after study with a comparison groups approach and a meta-analysis method. The findings suggest that traffic signal coordination could decrease total crashes by 21 percent, injury crashes by 52 percent and …

สมบัติเชิงกลของมอร์ตาร์เสริมท่อนาโนคาร์บอนและเส้นใยพอลิโพรไพลีนภายหลังอุณหภูมิสูง, นราธิป บุญชู

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาผลกระทบของการใช้ท่อนาโนคาร์บอนและเส้นใยพอลิ โพรไพลีน (PP) ต่อการต้านทานสภาวะเพลิงไหม้ของปอร์ตแลนด์ซีเมนต์มอร์ตาร์โดยตัวอย่างจะถูก น าไปเผาที่อุณหภูมิ400 ถึง 1,000 องศาเซลเซียส และประเมินความต้านทานต่อสภาวะเพลิงไหม้ โดยท าทดสอบหาค่าก าลังคงค้างและตรวจสอบการหลุดล่อนของตัวอย่าง ในการศึกษานี้จะใช้ท่อ นาโนคาร์บอนแบบผนังหลายชั้นผสมในปริมาณ 0%, 0.1%, 0.25% และ 0.50% โดยน้ าหนักของ ซีเมนต์ในขณะที่การผสมเส้นใย PP ในปริมาณร้อยละ 0.2 (โดยปริมาตร) มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อลด การหลุดล่อนของมอร์ตาร์ส าหรับส่วนผสมที่ไม่มีเส้นใย PP ผลการทดสอบบ่งชี้ว่าการผสมท่อนาโน คาร์บอน 0.1% สามารถเพิ่มก าลังอัดได้ร้อยละ 8 นอกจากนั้นยังพบว่ามอร์ตาร์ที่ผสมท่อนาโน คาร์บอนร้อยละ 0.1 มีก าลังดัดมากที่สุดซึ่งมีค่าเท่ากับ 12.22 MPa หลังจากการสัมผัสความร้อนที่ อุณหภูมิสูงพบว่าก าลังรับแรงของตัวอย่างมีค่าลดลง โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งเมื่อตัวอย่างสัมผัสกับความ ร้อนที่อุณหภูมิ1,000 องศาเซลเซียส จะพบว่าก าลังอัดของมอร์ตาร์มีค่าคงค้างอยู่ในช่วงร้อยละ 6.63 ถึง 12.60 อย่างไรก็ตามการผสมเส้นใย PP สามารถช่วยลดการหลุดล่อนของมอร์ตาร์ได้

Analyzing Destination Choices Of Tourists And Residents From Location Based Social Media Data, Md Mehedi Hasnat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ubiquitous uses of social media platforms in smartphones have created an opportunity to gather digital traces of individual activities at a large scale. Traditional travel surveys fall short in collecting longitudinal travel behavior data for a large number of people in a cost effective way, especially for the transient population such as tourists. This study presents an innovating methodological framework, using machine learning and econometric approaches, to gather and analyze location-based social media (LBSM) data to understand individual destination choices. First, using Twitter's search interface, we have collected Twitter posts of nearly 156,000 users for the state of Florida. We …

Preferential Pathways For Vapor Intrusion: Site Screening And Field Sampling Of Sewers To Assess Inhalation Exposure Risks, Evan James Willett

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazardous waste sites and aging wastewater infrastructure are common in the United States. There are hundreds of thousands of contaminated sites and more than a million miles of sewer pipes. Populations living close to hazardous waste sites often suffer from increased risk of adverse health effects due to exposure to contaminated environmental media. Vapor intrusion is one process by which nearby populations can be exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Aging wastewater infrastructure is important for vapor intrusion site assessments because sewer pipes can serve as preferential vapor transport pathways. Near contaminated sites, pipe deterioration allows migration of contaminants into …

Advanced Technologies For Efficient Transportation Construction Inspection, Clyde Wesley Newcomer Iv

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Collecting load tickets is an example of an antiquated practice that puts inspectors in harm’s way either adjacent to traffic, in close proximity to moving or backing equipment, or at times requires climbing onto trucks to reach tickets. Technology exists to collect this information electronically allowing for safer, efficient inspection methods. Departments of Transportation are charged with inspecting an increasing work load with a diminishing number of inspection staff. Recently, doing more with less has led to the prioritization of inspection activities and resulted in less collection of data and visual inspection on projects. Technology advancements are available to improve …

Performance Of The Grout Curtain At The Kentucky River Lock And Dam No. 8, Robert C. Hatton

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Karst bedrock conditions and deterioration of the lock and dam structures have resulted in significant leakage through, underneath, and around Lock and Dam No. 8 on the Kentucky River. During severe droughts, the water surface in Pool No. 8 has been observed to drop below the crest of the dam, resulting in water supply shortages and water quality issues for surrounding communities reliant on the pool. Presently, the primary purpose of Lock and Dam No. 8 is water supply. Pool No. 8 is currently where the cities of Nicholasville (Jessamine County, KY) and Lancaster (Garrard County, KY) draw their water. …

Numerical Modeling And Isotope Tracers To Investigate Karst Biogeochemistry And Transport Processes, Admin Husic

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This dissertation investigated the physical and biogeochemical processes affecting the source, fate, and transport of sediment, carbon, and nitrogen within a highly-coupled fluviokarst system. Elemental and isotopic datasets were collected at surface and subsurface locations for both dissolved and particulate contaminant phases, new methodology regarding data collection was presented to the karst research community, an in-cave sediment transport model coupling physical transport with elemental and isotopic mass balances of carbon and nitrogen was formulated, pathway and process control on nitrate leaching from agricultural karst watersheds was assessed, and nitrate mobilization and fractionation were modeled using high frequency storm sampling and …

Direct Measurement Of Crosstie-Ballast Interface Pressures Using Granular Material Pressure Cells, Travis James Watts

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The magnitudes and relative pressure distributions transmitted to the crosstie-ballast interface of railroad track significantly influences the subsequent behavior and performance of the overall track structure. If the track structure is not properly designed to distribute the heavy-axle loads of freight cars and locomotives, deficiencies and inherent failures of the crossties, ballast, or underlying support layers can occur, requiring substantial and frequent maintenance activities to achieve requisite track geometrical standards. Incorporating an understanding of the pressure distribution at the crosstie-ballast interface, appropriate designs can be applied to adequately provide a high performing and long-lasting railroad track. Although this can be …

High Resolution Sensing Of Nitrate Dynamics In A Mixed-Use Appalachian Watershed: Quantifying Nitrate Fate And Transport As Influenced By A Backwater Riparian Wetland, Alexandria Kosoma Jensen

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

As harmful algal blooms begin to appear in unexpected places such as rivers in predominantly forested systems, a better understanding of the nutrient processes within these contributing watersheds is necessary. However, these systems remain understudied. Utilization of high-resolution water quality data applied to deterministic numerical modeling has shown that a 0.42% watershed area backwater riparian wetland along the Ohio River floodplain can attenuate 18.1% of nitrate discharged from local mixed-use watersheds and improves in performance during high loading times due to coinciding increased hydrological connectivity and residence times of water in these wetlands. Loading from the Fourpole Creek watershed was …

Applying Machine Learning Techniques To Analyze The Pedestrian And Bicycle Crashes At The Macroscopic Level, Md Sharikur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents different data mining/machine learning techniques to analyze the vulnerable road users' (i.e., pedestrian and bicycle) crashes by developing crash prediction models at macro-level. In this study, we developed data mining approach (i.e., decision tree regression (DTR) models) for both pedestrian and bicycle crash counts. To author knowledge, this is the first application of DTR models in the growing traffic safety literature at macro-level. The empirical analysis is based on the Statewide Traffic Analysis Zones (STAZ) level crash count data for both pedestrian and bicycle from the state of Florida for the year of 2010 to 2012. The …

Safety Investigation Of Traffic Crashes Incorporating Spatial Correlation Effects, Khalid Alkahtani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One main interest in crash frequency modeling is to predict crash counts over a spatial domain of interest (e.g., traffic analysis zones (TAZs)). The macro-level crash prediction models can assist transportation planners with a comprehensive perspective to consider safety in the long-range transportation planning process. Most of the previous studies that have examined traffic crashes at the macro-level are related to high-income countries, whereas there is a lack of similar studies among lower- and middle-income countries where most road traffic deaths (90%) occur. This includes Middle Eastern countries, necessitating a thorough investigation and diagnosis of the issues and factors instigating …

Fusing Freight Analysis Framework And Transearch Data: An Econometric Data Fusion Approach, Salah Uddin Momtaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major hurdle in freight demand modeling has always been the lack of adequate data on freight movements for different industry sectors for planning applications. Freight Analysis Framework (FAF), and Transearch (TS) databases contain annualized commodity flow data. The primary motivation for our study is the development of a fused database from FAF and TS to realize transportation network flows at a fine spatial resolution (county-level) while accommodating for production and consumption behavioral trends (provided by TS). Towards this end, we formulate and estimate a joint econometric model framework grounded in maximum likelihood approach to estimate county-level commodity flows. The …

Sinkhole Detection And Quantification Using Lidar Data, Amirarsalan Rajabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The state of Florida is highly prone to sinkhole incident and formation, mainly because of the soluble carbonate bedrock which is susceptible to dissolution and groundwater recharge that causes internal soil erosions. Numerous sinkholes, particularly in Central Florida, have occurred. Florida Subsidence Incident Report (FSIR) database contains verified sinkholes with Global Positioning System (GPS) information. In addition to existing detection methods such as subsurface exploration and geophysical methods, a remote sensing method can be an alternative and efficient means to detect and characterize sinkholes with a wide coverage. the first part of this study is aimed at developing a method …

Optimizing Chlorine Disinfection By Chlorine Injection Location And Pipe Diameter Selection In A Water Distribution System, Margaret Neff

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Due to a variety of factors chlorination is common water disinfectant for community-scale distribution systems. The town of Suyo, Peru was already equipped with a gravity fed water system and drip chlorinator which achieved 4-log inactivation of viruses throughout the town, however, it was not providing 3-log inactivation of giardia cysts at all points of the system.

This project used an EPANET model to determine and compare the potential benefits of changes which could be made to the pre-existing water system in Suyo.

The model was used to compare current operating conditions of the Suyo system, 1.5 mg/L chlorine addition …

Understanding Large-Scale Natural Mine Water-Geologic Formation Systems For Geothermal Applications, Ting Bao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Geothermal energy recovery from flooded mines has been gaining momentum worldwide. Numerous mines are flooded after their closure, either naturally or artificially, in which the water in the mines can be heated by the surrounding geologic formations due to geothermal gradients, leading to sizeable man-made reservoirs of warm water. Such mine water, therefore, can be treated as a renewable geothermal resource for heating/cooling buildings, which has the potential to benefit over millions of people in the United States and much more around the world. Though some real projects and/or installations launched worldwide for the use of flooded mines for geothermal …

Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Infrastructure in the US is severely aged and outdated. This presents a seemingly paradoxical problem in the field of construction management: In order to fix and make roads and highways more safe, construction zones must become inherently less safe in the process. There is a high cost to taxpayers and drivers, as work zones experience a significant amount of crashes and fatalities each year. To mitigate some of the factors that contribute to these crashes, this paper attempts to deliver guidelines on how to update relevant crash data, identify relevant factors, and create recommendations accordingly. The research focused particularly on …

Bs News January/February

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

The Transport Of Non-Spherical Particles In A Simulated Ocean Environment, Hannah Reed

REU Final Reports

Plastic particles contaminating the world’s oceans and accumulating in oceanic gyres has become a ubiquitous problem and the solution involving how to clean up the debris efficiently has still not been found. One particular issue is understanding where the greatest densities of debris may be. It is known that floating trash will tend to accumulate in large circular systems of ocean water called gyres, however these areas span thousands of miles of ocean. The present study aims to understand the transport of anisotropic particles in conditions similar to an oceanic environment using experimental methods in an effort to better predict …

การพัฒนาคอนกรีตมวลเบาระบบเซลลูล่าผสมเส้นใยปาล์มน้ำมันและถ่านชีวภาพ, ปาณิศา แสงแก้ว

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ได้ทำการพัฒนาคอนกรีตมวลเบาระบบเซลลูล่า (Cellular Lightweight Concrete; CLC) โดยใช้วัสดุเหลือใช้ทางการเกษตร 2 ชนิด ได้แก่ เส้นใยปาล์มน้ำมันและถ่านชีวภาพ กลุ่มตัวอย่างทดสอบแบ่งออกเป็น 4 กลุ่ม ได้แก่ คอนกรีต CLC แบบปกติ, คอนกรีต CLC ผสมเส้นใยปาล์ม, คอนกรีต CLC ผสมถ่านชีวภาพ, คอนกรีต CLC ผสมเส้นในปาล์มและถ่านชีวภาพ จากผลการศึกษาพบว่า สัดส่วนเส้นใยปาล์มที่เพิ่มขึ้นส่งผลให้ความหนาแน่น กำลังอัด กำลังดึง การถ่ายเทความร้อนของคอนกรีต CLC สูงขึ้น แต่อัตราส่วนการดูดซึมน้ำลดลง สัดส่วนของถ่านชีวภาพที่เพิ่มขึ้นส่งผลให้ความหนาแน่นเปลี่ยนแปลงเล็กน้อย กำลังอัด กำลังดึง สูงขึ้น อัตราการดูดซึมน้ำและการถ่ายเทความร้อนลดลง งานวิจัยนี้ยังศึกษาความเป็นไปได้ในการใช้งานด้านคุณสมบัติและเศรษฐศาสตร์เบื้องต้น พบว่า กลุ่มตัวอย่างที่เหมาะสมในการนำไปใช้งานมี 2 กลุ่ม ได้แก่ คอนกรีต CLC (โฟมร้อยละ 50) ผสมถ่านชีวภาพร้อยละ 15 และคอนกรีต CLC (โฟมร้อยละ 60) ผสมเส้นใยปาล์มและถ่านชีวภาพร้อยละ 1.5 และ 10 กลุ่มตัวอย่างทั้งสองกลุ่มมีคุณสมบัติผ่านเกณฑ์มาตรฐาน มีความสามารถถ่ายเทความร้อนได้ต่ำ ซึ่งช่วยประหยัดการใช้พลังงานเครื่องปรับอากาศภายในอาคารได้ ในด้านเศรษฐศาสตร์เบื้องต้นสามารถลดต้นทุนในการผลิตได้และมีประโยชน์ในการลดค่าใช้จ่ายในการกำจัดของเสียต่อปี ดังนั้นการนำวัสดุเหลือใช้ทางการเกษตรมาเป็นส่วนผสมในคอนกรีต CLC นั้น จึงช่วยพัฒนาคุณสมบัติบางประการหากใส่ในปริมาณที่เหมาะสม เป็นแนวทางในการกำจัดของเสียและสามารถพัฒนาต่อยอดการผลิตคอนกรีต CLC ได้ในอนาคต

Tire-Derived Geo-Cylinders And Polymer Products For Enhancing The Properties Of Base/Sub Base Materials In Pavement Systems, Justin Scott Smith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As a critical part of the transportation network, pavements offer a safe means for vehicular traffic. Pavements are subjected to many forms of stress during their service life, and they are susceptible to environment related cracking and failures. Failures can be attributed to poor subgrade, freeze-thaw variations, and fatigue under repetitive axle loadings. Reinforcement products such as tire-derived geo-cylinders (TDGC) which make-up mechanical concrete and geo-polymers have been utilized in civil engineering practice, and this research aims to understand the potential life of tested pavement system components set at displacement limitations when reinforced with TDGCs and geo-polymers from exposure to …

Remotely Sensed Hydroclimatic Variability For Water Security In An Agricultural Basin, Ashish Kondal

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Indus Basin has supported agricultural practices since the Harappan civilization (3000-1500 BC). Abundance of water has always supported agriculture in the region and built the Indus Basin as one of the major agriculture based economies of the world. The obvious dependency of agriculture on weather and the vagaries of climate emphasizes the necessity of a comprehensive hydro-climate study of the region. The role of climate change in the Indus Basin has always been a contentious issue. Groundwater depletion is evident in the region, and its steady and alarmingly declining rate has brought concerns for the future of agriculture in …

Integrity Assessment Of Earthen Dams And Levees Using Cross-Plot Analysis Of Seismic Refraction And Electrical Resistivity Tomograms, Leti Teklu Wodajo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Geophysical methods provide a rapid, economical, non-invasive, and spatial coverage of the subsurface in terms of geophysical properties. On the other hand, geophysical methods can generate multiple geophysical anomalies. An anomaly on a seismic refraction or an electrical resistivity tomogram is an area that has different values compared to its surrounding. Geophysical anomalies in dams and levees can be due to the overall heterogeneity of the subsurface, structures such as principal spillways, artifacts of inversion software, or to a true compromised location, such as an air void due to internal erosion or seepage. Therefore, there is uncertainty involved with using …

Dynamic Hotspot Identification For Limited Access Facilities Using Temporal Traffic Data, Samer Al Amili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Crash frequency analysis is the most critical tool to investigate traffic safety problems. Therefore, an accurate crash analysis must be conducted. Since traffic continually fluctuates over time and this effects potential of crash occurrence, shorter time periods and less aggregated traffic factors (shorter intervals than AADT) need to be used. In this dissertation, several methodologies have been conducted to elevate the accuracy of crash prediction. The performance of using less aggregated traffic data in modeling crash frequency was explored for weekdays and weekends. Four-time periods for weekdays and two time periods for weekends, with four intervals (5, 15, 30, and …

Construction Methods Used For Controlling Temperature In Mass Concrete Structures, Mohamed Abdel-Raheem, Ofsman Quintana, Melissa Morales, Yahaira Marroquin-Villa, Dalinda Ramos, Sylvia Hernandez

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The hydration of cement can release a substantial amount of heat that can be problematic in mass concrete structure. This heat of hydration (HH) can produce thermal stresses that can crack the concrete and compromise the integrity of the structure leading to its failure. Throughout the years, different methods have been developed in order to mitigate the negative effects of the HH on mass concrete structures. This study presents a comprehensive review of the previous methods documented in the literature that have been utilized in controlling the temperature rise due to the HH in mass concreting. The reviewed methods were …

Long-Term Behavior Of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (Frp) Confined Concrete Cylinders Subjected To Severe Weather And Seawater Solution Conditions, Song Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

"This study presents an experimental investigation on durability of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete cylinders subjected to various environmental conditions. Two types of cylinders were tested in this experiment: concrete-filled FRP tube (CFFT) and hollow-core FRP-concrete-steel (HC-FCS), with FRP tubes having two different constitutive resin components: polyester and epoxy. The specimens were subjected to three different environmental conditions: combined freeze/thaw, wet/dry and heating/cooling cycles with options of continuous water immersion and sustained axial load in an environmental chamber, UV exposure in an UV chamber, and seawater immersion in water tanks with sustained axial load. Mechanical and material characterization tests were …

A Rupture Limit Equation For Pre-Loaded Composite Plates, William P. Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites offer inherent advantages over traditional metallic materials in a number of different ways; however, these materials are also highly susceptible to impact damage. In this paper, we explore the response of FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) composites under impact conditions that could result in their rupture or catastrophic failure. The work performed was aimed at developing a general, data-driven equation for initially-stressed, flat, composite plates that would differentiate between impact conditions that would result in only a hole or crack and those which would cause catastrophic plate failure or rupture. If this equation were to be subsequently shown …

Dragline Excavation Simulation, Real-Time Terrain Recognition And Object Detection, Godfred Somua-Gyimah

Doctoral Dissertations

"The contribution of coal to global energy is expected to remain above 30% through 2030. Draglines are the preferred excavation equipment in most surface coal mines. Recently, studies toward dragline excavation efficiency have focused on two specific areas. The first area is dragline bucket studies, where the goal is to develop new designs which perform better than conventional buckets. Drawbacks in the current approach include operator inconsistencies and the inability to physically test every proposed design. Previous simulation models used Distinct Element Methods (DEM) but they over-predict excavation forces by 300% to 500%. In this study, a DEM-based simulation model …

Basic Highway Workzone Safety, Collin Shamberger

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this essay will be to examine, and provide information detailing work zone safety practices, and maximizing safety in construction zones. This report will examine the functionality of components of a work zone and how they work together, the use of standard construction drawings of work zones, personal protective equipment of workers, possible hazards of work zones, minimizing risks and ultimately work zone safety training. Also this report will provide a spreadsheet which can be used to calculate and layout a construction work zone based on a GPS location.

Applying Control Logic To The End Of The Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel Based On Downstream Capacity To Reduce Overflow Of Akron’S Wastewater Collection System, William Troyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

During the Akron Waterways Renewed Program, the city of Akron is studying ways to improve efficiency in the existing sewer system while also reducing the number and scale of combined sewer overflow (CSO) events. Real time control logic can be developed to reduce CSO events by improving flow and storage capacity. Looking at one point in the system, when the target capacity of the downstream pipe was increased from 20% to 80%, the peak volume of overflow from the Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel decreased from 9,067 gallons to 5,965 gallons the total system overflow increased from 10.3 million gallons to …