Construction Engineering and Management Commons^™

Seeing What Matters: Safety-Critical Semantic Segmentation Via Transfer Learning On Construction Sites, Obiora J. Odugu

LSU Master's Theses

Autonomous robots are increasingly deployed on construction sites for tasks such as progress monitoring, inspection, and safety assessment. For these robots to operate effectively, they must perceive and interpret complex, dynamic environments populated by workers, machinery, and unstructured terrain. Achieving reliable perception depends on high performing semantic segmentation models trained on large volumes of annotated data—an expensive and logistically challenging requirement in construction due to privacy restrictions, variable site access, and slow digitalization. This research addresses the challenge of limited labeled data by investigating transfer learning as a label-efficient approach for construction-site segmentation. Specifically, it explores whether road construction imagery—abundant …

Sustainable Robotic Construction: A Computational Particle Packing Approach For The Development Of Sustainable, Low-Cement 3d Printable Materials, Aranya Aumit Paul

LSU Master's Theses

Construction 3D Printing (C3DP) holds great potential for automated construction but faces key challenges, including the high Portland cement content of its printing materials. The high cement content raises material costs, causes shrinkage and thermal cracking, and increases its carbon footprint. This study introduces a novel hybrid computational pipeline that combines image based automated gradation analysis with 2D stochastic particle packing simulation, to design low-cement printable materials with minimal experimental testing. The image-based gradation system achieved a mean absolute error under 3.64% across six fine and coarse aggregate types. The particle packing simulation demonstrated an average error of less than …

Ai-Based Object Detection And Risk Identification For Enhanced Construction Site Safety, Mahdi Bonyaniakbarabadi

LSU Master's Theses

Recent advancements in computer vision for construction site safety have encountered significant hurdles, especially in the nuanced tasks of object detection and the identification of unsafe worker behaviors. These challenges are often exacerbated by complex and cluttered backgrounds, wide variations in object scale, and inconsistent image quality. While existing methodologies have utilized attention mechanisms to analyze spatial and temporal features, they frequently neglect the benefits of adaptive sampling and channel-wise feature adjustments, thereby failing to exploit potential spatiotemporal redundancies. This thesis introduces a two-pronged approach to address these limitations. First, we propose the Optimized-Position Network (OP-Net), a novel architecture for …

The Operational Performance Of Buildings In A Humid Subtropical Climate: Insights From Empirical Data And Assessment Models, Oluwafemi Awolesi

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis evaluates the operational performance of residential and non-residential buildings in a humid subtropical climate, emphasizing Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and energy performance through empirical data and assessment models. Motivated by the increasing need for integrated sustainability evaluations, this study combines a systematic review with multi-method field investigations to advance understanding in this domain. The systematic review critically analyzed 99 case study articles, identifying dominant IEQ assessment methodologies and highlighting methodological inconsistencies that hinder cross-study comparability. Emerging computational approaches, although promising, remain underutilized. The review advocates for standardized, climate-responsive, and feedback-oriented evaluation frameworks. Field investigations assessed IEQ and energy …

Efficient Small Tool Detection In Construction Via Lightweight Deep Neural Networks, Maryam Soleymani

LSU Master's Theses

Construction sites are dynamic and inherently hazardous environments, where small hand tools—although essential—pose serious safety risks due to their frequent use, portability, and tendency to be misplaced or dropped. This study introduces a novel and lightweight deep learning-based architecture, Lightweight Small Tool Detection (LSTD), specifically designed for fast detection of small tools in unstructured and challenging construction environments. Recognizing that small object detection remains a persistent limitation in existing computer vision models, particularly under poor lighting or cluttered backgrounds, LSTD integrates advanced modules for enhanced feature extraction, fusion, and classification. It achieves notable improvements in accuracy, recall, and computational efficiency …

Empirical Analysis Of Incentivized Energy Assessment Recommendations And Iiot Cost-Effectiveness In U.S. Smes, Fatemeh Ghafari

LSU Master's Theses

The industrial sector in the United States accounted for 33% of total energy consumption in 2022. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which comprise 99.9% of U.S. businesses present a critical opportunity for energy efficiency improvements. Although energy audits provide actionable Assessment Recommendations (ARs) to reduce consumption, high implementation costs remain a key barrier to adoption.

While prior studies have explored rebate programs, most are limited to residential and commercial sectors or focus narrowly on specific technologies or geographic areas for the industrial sector. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the “Incentivized Assessment Recommendation” (IAR) trends and to …

Ergonomic And Biomechanical Assessment Of Vertical Ladder Climbing For Exoskeleton Integration In Construction Tasks, Ehsan Shourangiz

LSU Master's Theses

Active exoskeletons are increasingly utilized in physically demanding industries such as construction and manufacturing to reduce strain and lower the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, supporting worker safety and long-term health. However, most existing systems are designed for repetitive tasks like lifting or prolonged standing, with limited consideration for dynamic activities such as vertical ladder climbing. Ladder climbing is common and physically demanding in industrial environments, often required to access elevated areas like scaffolding, tanks, or rooftops. Since exoskeletons are intended to remain worn throughout multiple tasks, requiring workers to remove and re-don the device during ladder climbing would reduce …

Next Generation Permeable Pavement For Enhanced Durability And Functionality, S M Tanvir

LSU Master's Theses

Porous Asphalt Concrete (PAC), also known as Open-Graded Friction Course (OGFC), is known for its high permeability, which provides benefits such as enhanced rainwater drainage, improved skid resistance, and reduced hydroplaning risks. These characteristics are due to its high air void content, allowing water to flow through the pavement and reducing splash, spray, and noise compared to conventional asphalt mixes. However, this high air void content also contributes to durability concerns, such as raveling, stripping, and clogging, which can reduce service life and increase costs, making OGFC more expensive than conventional asphalt mixtures.

This research focuses on identifying the failure …

Development Of Multifunctional Wood Composites With Integrated Phase Change Materials For Enhanced Thermal Management, Self-Healing, And Sustainability., Emmanuel Igbokwe

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract

This study focused on incorporating self-healing, flame retardancy, and energy harvesting capabilities into the wood composite to contribute to more sustainable and energy-efficient building practices. Oriented strand board has been widely used as sheath for roofing or dry walls in residential buildings. Residential buildings account for a large portion of energy consumption. Therefore, an oriented strand board with energy harvesting capability is highly desired. Additionally, flame retardancy and damage self-healing and end-of-life recycling are also critical features for buildings.

In this study, we prepared a novel oriented strand board by constructing sandwich structures. The face sheets of the sandwich …

Reality Capture Technologies For Continuous Inline Quality Monitoring In Construction 3d Printing, Michael J. Martin Ii

LSU Master's Theses

Extrusion-based construction 3D printing (C3DP) is an innovative and emerging technology aiming at the modernization of the construction industry. It uses robots and computer control to reduce the need for human labor and to decrease construction time and cost. C3DP creates elements layer by layer without using formworks, and it is critical to detect layer defects and deformations to ensure that each layer is printed with the desired dimensions. These defects can lead to a variety of issues during or after the construction process, including the collapse of freshly printed elements. In order to detect such deformations and to enable …

Bim And Digital Twins In Infrastructure Projects: An Overview From The Transportation Professional's Perspective, Natállia Mendes

LSU Master's Theses

Transport infrastructure has undergone significant changes in recent years due to the digitalization of construction methods. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for more productive and cost-effective technologies to optimize various aspects such as time, cost, changes, waste, and errors in projects. Notably, technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Digital Twin (DT) hold the potential to enhance the performance of infrastructure projects. While BIM has received substantial attention in recent years, Digital Twin is relatively new to the construction industry. This leads to a scarcity of studies on DT and its integration with other emerging technologies like BIM. …

Automated Reinforcement In Construction 3d Printing: An Investigation Of Mechanical And Macrostructural Performance Of Reinforced 3d-Printed Structures, Hassan Ahmed

LSU Master's Theses

Conventional construction with steel reinforcement is widely accepted and utilized worldwide for its proven strength, durability, design flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and due to available standards and design codes. Integration of reinforcement in construction 3D printing, however, presents multi-faceted challenges that may influence the structural properties of printed components and have hindered the widespread adoption of reinforced 3D-printed structures. This study explored two complementary reinforcement techniques, namely, steel fibers and threaded reinforcement, to reinforce 3D-printed structures. This study explored both the fresh and hardened properties of 3D-printed mixtures that contain very high steel fiber dosages of up to 2.5% by volume. Additionally, …

Optimizing The Self-Healing Efficiency Of Hydrogel Encapsulated Bacteria In Concrete, Ricardo Hungria

LSU Master's Theses

Calcium carbonate precipitation through microbial means is a promising pathway for concrete self-healing technologies, mainly for its microcrack sealing attributes. The main goal of this project was to study and optimize the crack healing efficiency of hydrogel encapsulated bacteria in concrete. To achieve this purpose, Bacillus pseudiformus was implemented as the bacteria strain at a concentration of 10⁸ cells/ml. This bacterium strain along with yeast extract was combined along with three different mineral precursors corresponding to magnesium acetate, calcium lactate, and sodium lactate. All these three precursors were evaluated at two concentrations (67.76 mM/l and 75 mM/l). For each …

Variability In The Hamburg Wheel-Tracking Device (Hwtd) Data And Results, Ilerioluwa S. Giwa

LSU Master's Theses

Over the years, the Hamburg Wheel-Tracking Test (HWTT) has become one of the most popular devices used for characterizing asphalt mixtures for rutting potential and moisture susceptibility. However, although the HWTT is a reliable standard test for evaluating asphalt mixtures, it is not exempt from variability in the test data and result. Variability in the HWTT test data and results have been majorly attributed to imprecision in the test practice and due to some limitations in the HWT device setup.

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the variability in the HWTT data and result by investigating a …

A Decision-Making Tool For Incorporating Cradle-To-Gate Sustainability Into Pavement Design, Sujata Subedi

LSU Master's Theses

The need to continually maintain an aged and crumbling national roadway network, together with a growing demand for upgrading has resulted in major environmental and economic impacts around the nation. This has led to an interest in developing a structured framework to quantify the sustainability performance of pavements by balancing economic and environmental performance against engineering criteria. This study developed an Environment Product Declaration (EPD) based, decision-making framework to quantify the sustainability of pavement design alternatives. In this study, the sustainability of pavement is described in tandem with Environmental and Economic performance criteria. First, the Environmental analysis was inclusive of …

Analysis Of Cost And Energy Performance Of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems In Southern Louisiana, Claudia De Lourdes Duran Tapia

LSU Master's Theses

In the last three decades of geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry, there has been an urge to present data, especially performance and itemized installation cost, as a plan to reduce the lack of knowledge and trust towards GHP systems for heating and cooling. The potential of GHPs in hot and humid climates is significant [Tao and Zhu, 2012]. However, past research efforts have demonstrated this potential through the use of simulation rather than real-time data. Therefore, the scope of work for this research is to investigate GHP system applications for residential buildings in areas with hot and humid climates. Based …

Flood Damage And Shutdown Times For Industrial Process Facilities, Matthew Lane Flynn

LSU Master's Theses

The vulnerability of the Gulf Coast to inundation poses a real threat to both national security and the regional economy due to the concentration of the nation’s energy infrastructure throughout the waterways of the southeastern United States’ waterways. Mitigation efforts thus far have been qualitative and fail to provide raw, quantitative data to aid in the successful management of flooding liabilities. This paper proposes a novel approach to analyzing infrastructure susceptibility by means of a component-based approach to consequences posed by water-borne incursions. Systems are simplified to collections of components, each with a lowest-member elevation, thereby identifying the benchmark for …

Single-Family Housing Construction Cost In The Greater Baton Rouge Area, Justin Pierce Estes

LSU Master's Theses

Most research focused on housing costs has noted a paucity of empirical cost data for residential construction, and researchers have suggested that collecting these data for individual metropolitan areas is ideal. The goal of this study is to obtain these data and compare them to national average sources to determine how well national data represent local costs. Data collection included obtaining prices from big box stores and through a survey of local Baton Rouge residential contractors for material, square foot and assembly costs for the major components of a house (i.e. foundation, wall, roof). From the material cost data evaluated, …

Micro-Encapsulation Of Asphalt Rejuvenators Using Melamine-Formaldehyde, Max Abelardo Aguirre Deras

LSU Master's Theses

Self-healing microencapsulation in asphalt concrete is an emerging technology that would allow this particular material to resist cracking damage caused by vehicular and environmental loading. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of an asphalt rejuvenator on asphalt binder in reversing the aging process and to develop a synthesis procedure for the production of microencapsulation of asphalt rejuvenators. Production parameters such as agitation rate, heating temperature and EMA concentration were varied to determine the effect on microcapsules properties such as size, shell thickness and morphology. Based on the results of the experimental program, it was concluded that …

Integrating Recycled Glass Cullet In Asphalt Roof Shingles To Mitigate Heat Island Effect, Micah Kiletico

LSU Master's Theses

As an approach to mitigate the harmful effects of Urban Heat Island (UHI), the use of glass cullet in the production of asphalt roof shingles has the potential to be employed as a cool roof strategy. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the use of recycled glass increases solar reflectance index (SRI) without affecting the performance of asphalt roof shingles. In order to evaluate the feasibility of recycled glass for alternative uses, the engineering properties of glass cullet were investigated and compared to conventional aggregates used in the production of asphalt roof shingles. Laboratory samples …

Effect Of Different Alarm Interfaces On Controller Response, Aritra Datta

LSU Master's Theses

Pipelines transport millions of barrels of petroleum products every day. Oil and gas pipelines have become important assets of the economic development of almost any country. Government regulations or internal policies regulate the safety of the assets for the population and environment where these pipelines run. Various strategies and technologies have been introduced for monitoring pipelines, but the most common technology to protect pipelines from occasional hazardous incidents is Computational Pipeline Monitoring (CPM). This technique collects and gathers information from the field related to pressures, flows, and temperatures to estimate the hydraulic behavior of the product being transported. Using the …

Evaluating The Impact Of Lean On Employee Ergonomics, Safety, And Job Satisfaction In Manufacturing, Amanda Morse

LSU Master's Theses

The goal of this study was to explore the proposed relationship between employee satisfaction, ergonomics, and safety while implementing a Kaizen event. In order to address this goal, two Kaizen events (K1 and K2) were conducted in a heavy equipment manufacturing plant. Before and after both events, levels of employee satisfaction were documented for Kaizen and Non-Kaizen (NK) participants using the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS). The objective of the first event (K1) was to improve the efficiency of the task of torqueing the rear axle bolts in Station #1- skid assembly. The K1 methodology followed a traditional Kaizen structure, enhanced …

Documenting Postural Changes And Repetition Among Violin Players And Their Influence In The Development Of Musculoskeletal Disorders, Cristina Handal

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to document the changes in posture and the number of wrist and forearm repetitions among violin/viola players during an experiment session to attempt to understand the development of musculoskeletal disorders. Also, the perception of discomfort and pain felt by the violin/viola players in the past and the number that had been diagnosed with a disorder was documented. Finally, possible correlations were calculated between pain/discomfort with variables like the number of years playing the violin, hours of practice/day, frequency of pain, gender, and dominant hand and among different pain/discomfort variables (pain/discomfort before the experiment, after …

The Effects Of Lean Intervention (5s) On Perceived Musculoskeletal Workload And Perceived Hazardous Working Conditions In A Health Center Pharmacy, Jastinder Singh Dhindsa

LSU Master's Theses

The healthcare industry involves a significant level of health and safety risks in various work processes, and healthcare professionals are at risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders and other health problems. In recent years, Lean has been introduced in healthcare with the goal of eliminating waste and improving efficiency. Lean is also believed to affect the health and safety of workers. The present research studies the effects of Lean (5S) implementation in an acute care pharmacy of a health center. A version of the Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (DMQ) was used to record the perceived musculoskeletal workload and perceived hazardous working conditions. …

Evaluation Of Methods To Operate Gate Valves Using Elapsed Time, Rating Of Perceived Exertion, And Electromyography, Francis Williams Hutchinson

LSU Master's Theses

Hutchinson, Francis Williams, B.G.S., Louisiana State University, 1989 Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, Summer Commencement, 2012 Major: Industrial Engineering Evaluation Of Methods To Operate Gate Valves Using Elapsed Time, Rating Of Perceived Exertion, And Electromyography Thesis directed by Professor Fereydoun Aghazadeh, Ph.D., PE Pages in thesis, 86. Words in abstract, 253. ABSTRACT Industrial valve handwheels are in common use in many industries to block, allow, or regulate the flow of materials within a system. Significant numbers of musculoskeletal disorders have been attributed to turning valve handwheels. The torques encountered to “break” and/or turn these handwheels often exceeds 100 Nm …

Impact Of Lean Production On Workers' Exposure To Risk In Modular Home Building Manufacturing, Joel James

LSU Master's Theses

The construction industry records the highest number of work-related injuries and fatalities in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers’ exposure to risk may be affected by implementing Lean concepts. This study describes the effects on worker’s safety environment after a Kaizen event, a Lean tool, conducted in three workstations within a modular home manufacturer: base-framing, sheet-rock hanging, and painting. The effects of Lean on safety hazards at each of the three workstations were determined by conducting a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) before and after each Kaizen. Based on the JSAs a risk assessment tool (questionnaire) …

Microencapsulation Of Self-Healing Concrete Properties, James Gilford Iii

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT Recent studies in the literature have demonstrated the ability of self-healing processes to be effective in enhancing the overall life of concrete. The main goal of this project is to evaluate and to control specific parameters for the production of an effective self-healing matrix that can be utilized within the application of self-healing concrete. Therefore, the project objective is to synthesize microcapsules using dicyclopentadine and sodium silicate and to evaluate the effects of pH, temperature, and agitation rate on microcapsule morphology. The microcapsule diameter, yield analysis, and shell thickness were characterized using scanning electron microscopy. During the experimental analysis, …

Optimal Production And Delivery Scheduling Models For A Supply Chain System Of Deteriorating Items, Bingqing Wu

LSU Master's Theses

The market is varying from minute to minute nowadays. Increase cooperation and pursue the optimal interest of the integrated supply chain become a more effective way than act alone in the competition. In this research, an integrated inventory policy between singleproducer and multi-buyer is developed and two inventory models are built. The first model extends the research of Lin and Lin (2007) by changing the single-buyer system to the multibuyers one. Both backorder of buyers and deteriorating items of each party (producer’s level, buyers’ level, and during transport) are considered herein. The second model is based on the research of …

The Impact Of 5s On The Safety Climate Of Manufacturing Workers, Siddarth Srinivasan

LSU Master's Theses

The occupational injury rate in the manufacturing sector is higher than the average of all private industries, necessitating safety studies. Occupational safety can be measured through different approaches. Safety climate, a predictive measure of safety, studies the workers’ perceptions of safety of the workplace. This measure includes several dimensions of safety like management commitment, involvement and work place hazard evaluation and was chosen as a method of evaluation in this study. Even though occupational safety is an important concern, management often prioritizes reducing waste and cost. So, there is a necessity for some technique which reduces waste and simultaneously improves …

An Intelligent Computational Approach To The Optimization Of Inventory Policies For Single Company, Qinglin Duan

LSU Master's Theses

This study develops and tests a computational approach for determining optimal inventory policies for single company. The computational approach generally comprises of two major components: a meta-heuristic optimizer and an event-driven inventory evaluation module. Meta-heuristic is a powerful search technique, under the intelligent computational paradigm. The approach is capable of determining optimal inventory policy under various demand patterns regardless their distribution for a variety of inventory items. Two prototypes of perishability are considered: (1) sudden deaths due to disasters and (2) outdating due to expirations. Since every theoretical model is specially designed for a certain type of inventory problem while …