Civil Engineering Commons^™

Changes In Fresh Properties Of Flowable Concrete Induced By Pumping And Composition Of The Lubrication Layer, Alexis Salinas

Masters Theses

"Pumping is an easy method to move concrete while keeping stability. It is worldwide accepted as one of the principal methods for concrete placement, as it accelerates construction. Typically, concrete acceptance in terms of fresh quantitative empirical properties (i.e. slump/slump flow and air content) are performed prior to the pumping process. However, empirical measurements have the drawback that they only measure 1 point. Rheology is better tool to evaluate the behavior of concrete. Pumping is a process that induces considerable shearing in the concrete that can impact its rheological properties. Therefore, the magnitude of these changes in fresh properties depends …

Unmanned Aerial And Traversing Vehicle -- A Mobile Platform For Bridge Inspections, Clayton A. Fritsche

Masters Theses

“Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have been rapidly growing in popularity since their creation. This study aimed to create a robotic platform used to assist in the inspection process of the nation’s aging and deteriorating bridges. To this end, a multimodal inspection robot that utilized both flying and driving technologies, was designed, analyzed, and tested for aerial, traversing, and their transitional operability. The design, herein referred to as the “BridgeBot”, was evaluated both computationally and experimentally. A finite element model of the BridgeBot was established and analyzed under static loading scenarios to help determine stress distributions and …

Minimizing Trihalomethane Formation Through Source Water Monitoring And Optimizing Treatment Practices, Nashid Mirza

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Trihalomethanes, a family of halogenated disinfection byproducts, are prevalent in finished drinking water. According to USEPA’s Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (DBPRs), the regulatory standard of the total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) is 80 μg/L, and water treatment plant operators are required to closely monitor TTHMs in the finished water on a quarterly basis. Although total organic carbon (TOC) has been identified as a precursor for the TTHMs, knowledge gaps still exist in how specific water and treatment related factors (e.g., intake water quality, seasonal variation, contact time, and treatment train) affect TTHMs formation. Focusing on water treatment plants in southwestern Pennsylvania, …

Field Performance And Rating Evaluation Of A Modular Press-Brake-Formed Steel Tub Girder With A Steel Sandwich Plate Deck, Nicole Marie Hegele Underwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance (SSSBA) is a group of bridge and culvert industry leaders (including steel manufacturers, fabricators, service centers, coaters, researchers, and representatives of related associations and government organizations) who have joined together to provide educational information on the design and construction of short span steel bridges in installations up to 140 feet in length. The SSSBA technical working group has developed a shallow press-brake-formed tub girder, a trapezoidal cold bent girder, to address the demand in the short span steel bridge market for rapid infrastructure replacement solutions.

Following extensive experimental testing and design work at West …

Adapting The Surveying Curriculum To New Dimensions Of The Profession, Fahria Masum, Reinfried Mansberger, Audrey Martin, Gerhard Navratil, Anthony Mushinge

Articles

Today the surveying profession is very different from what it was twenty years ago. Recent technological innovations, globalization, and global land-related challenges have allowed a wide range of advances in the surveying profession. The vision is to promote surveying practices that can enhance the quality of services in a variety of tracks in the land profession. According to the new adjacent professional areas and the needs of the labor market, academic courses for surveyors have to be adapted to meet the broader scope of the surveying profession and to supply highly qualified land professionals. This paper outlines the new challenges …

Flood Inundation Mapping For Huron Creek, Houghton County, Michigan, Sarah Washko

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The 2018 Father’s Day Flood rattled the Houghton County, MI community. Thousands of dollars in damage to public and private property were incurred due to slope failure, scour and stagnant water. Though the flood was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event, hazard mitigation planning has become essential, as extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent with a changing climate. While Federal Emergency Management Agency funding will provide detailed flood hazard maps in the future, mapping is expected to be several years out. To aid the City of Houghton community with immediate flood hazard mitigation planning, a hydraulic-based flood depth …

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Advances and innovations in materials science and engineering have always played a substantial role in civil engineering, building structural design, and construction. In recent years, extensive effort has been devoted to the applications of stimuli-responsive smart materials and nanostructures in buildings. These smart materials used in the built environment can be defined as those offering specific functional and adaptable properties in response to thermal, optical, structural, and environmental stimuli. Not only do these materials enhance the overall performance of new building construction but also promise safer structures, longer durability of building elements, efficient building energy savings, greater environmental sustainability, and …

Detection And Elimination Of Rock Face Vegetation From Terrestrial Lidar Data Using The Virtual Articulating Conical Probe Algorithm, Kenneth John Boyko

Doctoral Dissertations

"A common use of terrestrial lidar is to conduct studies involving change detection of natural or engineered surfaces. Change detection involves many technical steps beyond the initial data acquisition: data structuring, registration, and elimination of data artifacts such as parallax errors, near-field obstructions, and vegetation. Of these, vegetation detection and elimination with terrestrial lidar scanning (TLS) presents a completely different set of issues when compared to vegetation elimination from aerial lidar scanning (ALS). With ALS, the ground footprint of the lidar laser beam is very large, and the data acquisition hardware supports multi-return waveforms. Also, the underlying surface topography is …

Smart Building And Construction Materials, Donglu Shi, Julian Wang, Wen Deng

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Use Of Wicking Geotextile To Dehydrate Road Embankments, Chuang Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

“Excess water within a pavement structure is the major cause of pavement deteriorations. A roadway is often constructed with soils compacted at the optimum water contents to achieve the best performance. After construction, the soil water content variation is controlled by the ambient environment. The base course aggregate is very sensitive to water content variations. Unfortunately, conventional drainage system can only drain gravity water, but not capillary water, and it cannot work under unsaturated conditions. Consequently, no matter how well the road is constructed, the water content is expected to increase with time and the excess water will inevitably accelerate …

Perceptions Of Vulnerability To Flooding, Hurricanes, And Climate Change On Grand Isle, Louisiana’S Only Inhabited Barrier Island, Lauren Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study used in-depth interviews of permanent residents on Grand Isle, Louisiana, a remote barrier island, to better understand their perceptions of structural flood measures, non-structural responses to flooding and hurricanes, and perceptions of vulnerability to flooding, hurricanes, and climate change on a remote barrier island-Grand Isle, Louisiana. Residents' perceptions regarding the various structural measures implemented by the federal, state, and local government appeared mixed. Non-structural responses to flooding risks implemented at the household, community, state, and federal level continue to strengthen resiliency on Grand Isle. According to interviewees, aspects of environmental, rural, and economic vulnerability on Grand Isle impact …

A Study On End-Anchorage And Bond Behavior Of Steel-Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Matrix Composites Externally Bonded To A Concrete Substrate, Christopher Michael Moore

Masters Theses

"Fiber reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites are a strengthening material consisting of continuous fibers embedded in an inorganic matrix that have the potential to provide additional flexural and shear strength to concrete and masonry members. When used for external strengthening, however, debonding of the material is often observed due to slippage of the fiber with respect to the matrix, causing loss of composite action and a reduction in load carrying capacity. The composite utilized in this study consisted of continuous steel fibers embedded in an inorganic cementitious matrix bonded to a concrete prism. Additionally, an end-anchorage system was implemented with …

Development Of Test Methods For Characterizing Extrudability Of Cement-Based Materials For Use In 3d Printing, Jonathan Thomas Kuchem

Masters Theses

"3D printing is the process of creating three-dimensional objects using an automated additive manufacturing process. The 3D printing process has been used with materials such as metals and polymers, but application with cement based materials for the construction industry has yet to be developed. In this research, two main problems were investigated for printing cement based composite materials: extrudability and tensile reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) was studied as an internal reinforcing system to increase tensile/flexural strength. First, FRC was studied to investigate mechanical properties and use of fibers from waste tires as an environmentally friendly option. A reference mixture with …

Abrasion Resistant Concrete Mix Design For Cold Climates, Diane Mariah Murph

Masters Theses

“Studded tire usage in Alaska contributes to rutting damage on pavements resulting in high maintenance costs and safety issues. In this study, binary, ternary, and quaternary highly-abrasion resistant concrete mix designs using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) were developed. The properties of fresh concrete and mechanical, and durability properties of hardened concrete for these mix designs were then tested to determine an optimum highly-abrasion resistant concrete mixture which could be placed in cold climates to reduce rutting damage. SCMs used included silica fume, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and type F fly ash. Tests including workability, air content, drying shrinkage, compressive …

Performance Of One-Part And Two-Part Class C Fly Ash-Based Alkali Activated Mortars, Cedric Chani Kashosi

Masters Theses

“Seeking an eco-friendly concrete, researchers have conducted studies to fully replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with fly ash (FA) producing alkali-activated concrete (AAC). Results showed better performance of AAC in terms of high early compressive strength, and durability compared to conventional concrete. However, much is still unknown about the behavior of AAC. From the type of materials used, the curing procedure, and long-term strength development of these binders; a thorough investigation is needed in order to fill the existing gap from previous studies and thus make a step forward to the safely use of AAC in the construction industry. The …

Feasibility Study For Sustainable Controlled Low-Strength Material (Clsm) Incorporating Off-Specification Fly Ash And Bottom Ash, Alexis K. Vandomelen

Masters Theses

“Controlled low-strength material (CLSM) is a self-consolidating cementitious material used in applications requiring high flowability and low strength. The primary components of this material, being cement and sand, however, negatively impact the environment. Cement is a large contributor to CO2 emissions, and the vast depletion of sand causes physical and political issues. Furthermore, over 100 million short tons of coal combustion products (CCP), including fly ash and bottom ash, are created annually in the United States, while nearly half of all CCP remain unused. No off-specification fly ash has been implemented in CLSM. This study uses coal ashes sourced from …

Development Of Lidar Assisted Terrestrial Radar Interferometry For Rock Deformation Monitoring, Ricardo Javier Romero Ramirez

Doctoral Dissertations

"Rock and soil slope movements cost millions of dollars annually. During the past few decades, engineers have relied on traditional methods to detect slope movements. These tools are valuable for small spatial areas but, may not be adequate or cost effective for large spatial areas. Remote sensing methods such as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) provide excellent spatial coverage, and with adequate post-data-processing software, sub-millimetric scale deformation sensitivity can be achieved.

This work will present a comparative experimental study between TLS and TRI. The comparative experimental study will allow us to achieve the two main objectives …

The Mechanics Of Precision Presplitting, Anthony Joseph Konya

Doctoral Dissertations

"Precision Presplitting is a widely used method of presplit blasting for the mining and construction industries. In recent years considerable effort has gone into the development of empirical equations based on field data to be able to better design the Precision Presplit for various rock types and structural environments. However, the most widely discussed theory about the mechanics of the presplit formation, that of shockwave collisions, does not appear to be applicable for this method of presplitting.

This research has disproven this theory based on insufficient magnitude of the shockwave from modeling with basic wave mechanics. Other authors have suggested …

Feasibility And Assessment Of Using Recycled Rubber For Infrastructure Applications, Ahmed A. Gheni

Doctoral Dissertations

“The United States needs to mine billions of tons of raw natural aggregate each year. At the same time, millions of scrap tires are stockpiled every year. Therefore, replacing natural aggregate with recycled crumb rubber aggregate will be beneficial to the construction industry and environment. This research aimed to investigate the feasibility of using recycled rubber in new construction applications. Based on size, recycled rubber was selected to match its natural counterpart. Different ratios of recycled crumb rubber were used as a fine aggregate replacement in concrete masonry units (CMUs) where the rubberized units showed a lower unit weight, higher …

Using Online Discussions To Develop The Entrepreneurial Mindset In Environmental Engineering Undergraduates: A Case Study, Lisa B. Bosman, Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Brooke K. Mayer, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Entrepreneurship is an important aspect of the U.S. and global economy. As such, developing an entrepreneurial mindset is crucial for both engineering students and practicing engineers. The purpose of this paper is investigate the role of online discussions, as a pedagogical approach, in the development of the entrepreneurial mindset, and explore a variety of approaches to assess student learning outcomes. Online discussions prompts were created for environmental engineering courses using the Kern Engineering Entrepreneurial Network (KEEN) framework. The framework proposes that an entrepreneurial mindset can be fostered in students by promoting curiosity, encouraging connections, and creating value. This paper describes …

Long-Term Impact On Environmental Attitudes And Knowledge Assessed Over Three Semesters Of An Environmental Engineering Sequence, Benjamin Michael Wallen, Nathaniel Sheehan, Luke Plante, Erick Martinez, Jeffrey A. Starke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The pedagogy employed in a three-course environmental engineering sequence is investigated to determine the efficacy of enabling long-term improvement of knowledge and attitudes toward the environment. These three courses incorporate concepts of the five grand challenges released by the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences and increase the breadth of knowledge for T-professionals. Previous studies of lengths from a few weeks to semester long courses evaluated the potential causality among various demographics and environmental knowledge and attitudes. The research presented herein contrasts and compares changes in environmental knowledge based upon a 12-question survey and changes in environmental …

Finite Element Modeling Of Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls Built With Welded Wire Wall Panels, Dejuan G. Solan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, a finite element modeling of Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls using welded wire wall panels was performed. The implementation of finite element modeling and analysis proved to be quite efficient in simulating the three-dimensional behavior of wall panels that are a part of MSE walls. The comprehensive finite element model included defined concrete and steel material properties in order to present both the realistic behaviors of each component in the model as well as better facilitating and increasing the accuracy of the simulation of numerous finite element analysis (FEA) cases. FEA was employed to simulate welded wire …