Structural Engineering Commons^™

Str-991: Energy Harvesting Methods For Structural Health Monitoring Using Wireless Sensors: A Review, Srishti Banerji, Ashutosh Bagchi, Shervin Khazaeli

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) implies monitoring the performance of structures using sensors to get an advance warning of the loss of structural capacity or potential collapse. Wireless-sensor based monitoring system is found to be advantageous over traditional wire-based system because of their ease of implementation and maintenance. However, power supply is an important concern for wireless sensors used in monitoring of civil engineering structures. While there are different efficient power usage methods and power supply solutions available for wireless sensors, their applications to SHM systems for civil infrastructure are not standardized. Energy harvesting by means of converting energy from the …

Str-994: Investigation Of L-Shaped Low-Rise And High-Rise Buildings Response To Nbcc 2005 And 2010 Seismic Loads, Ahmed Hamada, Ashraf A. El Damatty

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The current study builds on a previous study conducted by the authors that investigated the seismic provisions of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) 2005 and 2010, pertaining to the loading and analysis of irregular L-shaped buildings. The study uses low-rise and high-rise L-shaped buildings as case studies. Three-dimensional finite element models of the two irregular L-shaped buildings were developed and discussed in the previous study. The lateral resisting system of the low-rise buildings consists of concrete shear walls, while the high-rise building consists of a combination of concrete shear walls and concrete rigid frames. Low and high-rise concrete …

Str-995: Calibration Of An Analytical Method For Vehicle-Induced Vibrations On Flexible Bridges, Zachary J. Taylor, Pierre-Olivier Dallaire, Marco Accardo, Christian Mercier, Martin Talbot, Stoyan Stoyanoff

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The results of full scale trials of heavy vehicle-induced vibrations on the Pierre Laporte Bridge are presented. The Pierre Laporte Bridge spans approximately 1 km having the longest main span of any suspension bridge in Canada. The tests were performed during short periods of complete bridge closure on October 27 and 28, 2014. During the tests, the acceleration of the bridge was recorded at multiple locations in addition to measurements of the vertical and pitching accelerations of the testing vehicle itself. The results of these tests are used to calibrate an analytical tool developed to screen bridge designs for potential …

Str-996: Optimization For Bridge Type Selection Using Artificial Neural Networks, Elie M. Otayek, Ahmad Jrade

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Many Researchers have attempted to establish a methodology for the selection of bridge type in a systematic manner. Knowledge based systems (KBS) and other Expert Systems (ES) have been used for this purpose but they have some limitations and restrictions. This paper proposes a methodology to implement a Decision Support System (DSS) in an artificial intelligent environment that aims to suggest a bridge type with its main components at the conceptual design phase, based on the characteristics and performance of existing and similar bridges in order to predict the performance of proposed ones that have been analyzed by decision makers …

Str-997: Instrumentation And Long-Term Monitoring Of An Integral-Abutment Bridge Superstructure, Shelley A. Huntley, Arun J. Valsangkar

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Strain gauges were installed in the girders and deck of an integral abutment bridge to determine the behaviour of the superstructure to daily and seasonal thermal fluctuations. The two-span, 76 m-long bridge has no expansion joints; rather, the prestressed-concrete girders are cast directly into the abutments which are in turn supported by flexible pile foundations. Details of field instrumentation along with monitored data over a period of eight years are presented in this paper. Gauges measured the longitudinal strain in the girders and deck and were positioned at different elevations to provide a strain distribution across the superstructure depth. From …

Str-998: Design Of Fiber-Reinforced Tunnel Segmental Lining According To New Aci Report, Mehdi Bakhshi, Verya Nasri

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

Fiber reinforcement has emerged as an alternative to steel bars in precast concrete segments due to advantages such as saving cost and reducing production time while developing a more robust product with improved handling and long-term durability. ACI recently drafted a new report as the first design guideline on FRC tunnel segments to provide specific guidance for this emerging technology. This document offers general information on the history of FRC precast segments from tunneling projects throughout the world; a procedure for structural analysis and design based on governing load cases, and a description of the material parameters, tests and analyses …

Str-999: Intelligent Monitoring System Reveals New Information About The Champlain Bridge, Ehsan Sobhani, Armineh Garabedian, Dominic Lavigne, Chakib Kassem, René Tinawi

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering

The Champlain Bridge, constructed in 1957, is one of Canada’s busiest and most economically critical bridges. This 3.4km-long bridge consists of as many as 50 simply supported spans, 50 to 53 m long, plus an elevated truss structure over the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Each span has a cross-section of seven precast post-tensioned girders supporting cast-in-place infill strips that constitute a deck with six traffic lanes. Like many other structures, Champlain Bridge is subjected to environmental, traffic or hydrological loads, which adversely affect the structural condition of the bridge. This structural degradation is further accelerated for the Champlain Bridge due to …

The Design And Construction Of A Rear Bumper With Incorporated Spare Tire Rack, Alan C. Isaacson

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project outlines the design and construction of a rear bumper with incorporated spare tire and equipment rack for a 1946 Willys CJ2A Jeep. The spare tire rack is capable of swinging out away from the vehicle to allow for the use of the vehicle’s tailgate. The bumper was designed for strength, functionality and aesthetic qualities alike. Additionally, the bumper design considered all vehicle codes and regulations.

Structural Calculations For Nepal Vocational Learning Center, Nicholas Petrarca

Architectural Engineering

This project goal is to build a Leadership Vocational School for youth, women, differently abled, and local leaders of rural and Kathmandu Nepal. The client for this project is an organization called Sakcham Rural Nepal and they partnered with a humanitarian organization called Journeyman International to find Architecture and Architectural Engineering students to design a safe, attractive and functional building to fit their needs.

Evaluation Of The Use Of Painted And Unpainted Weathering Steel On Bridges, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Sudhir Palle, Bobby W. Meade, Rick Younce

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KTC researchers studied the use of unpainted weathering steel on bridges, using findings of inspections performed on Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) bridges constructed with both painted and unpainted weathering steel as well as laboratory testing. Laboratory tests were conducted on test panels of conventional and weathering grades of steel to determine the performance of barrier and zinc-based coatings over abrasive-blasted substrates of those steel types in both the new and corroded conditions. The report provides the following recommendations for the use of painted and unpainted weathering steel on Kentucky bridges based upon both the field and laboratory findings:

• KYTC should …

Broad Street Apartments, Carla Alejandra Simental, Viviana C. Sanchez

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Retrofitting Adobe Buildings, Ashley V. Gaur, Jessica E. Ellis

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Experimental Building Demonstration Model With Viscous Fluid Dampers, Blake Thomas Reeve, Brianna Jean Kufa, Aden Malek Stepanians, Sophie Carmion Ratkovich

Architectural Engineering

The Architectural Engineering major places a heavy emphasis on structural dynamics and the role of wind and seismic loading in building analysis and design. Buildings of high importance that are critical to community function, such as hospitals, often utilize supplemental damping devices like supplemental viscous fluid dampers or base isolators to reduce the overall demands on the structural system. The design and analysis of these dampers are typically not taught at the undergraduate level, and is frequently performed by mechanical engineers, in lieu of structural engineers.

To better understand and research building behavior with supplemental damping devices, our multi-disciplinary team …

Verifying Automated Prestressed Concrete Design Software For Mdot Bridge Design Standards, Hussein Kadhim Abood Khalaf

Masters Theses

The design and analysis of bridges is a very critical and time consuming process. The automation of bridges design can save us time and effort, but the designer must have enough background with structural design of bridges in order to be able to analyze and understand the output of the automated design. This research shows the design and analysis of the superstructure of the US-27 Interchange Bridge at M-57 in Gratiot County of Washington Township, Michigan. The main purpose of this research is to establish a comprehensive design example following AAHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and Michigan Bridge Design Manual. …

Development Of A Transition Between An Energy-Absorbing Concrete Barrier And A Rigid Concrete Buttress, Tyler Schmidt

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

From 2010 to 2015, MwRSF researchers developed the RESTORE barrier, which is a restorable MASH TL-4 median barrier with a steel and concrete rail supported by elastomer posts and steel skids. The research effort reported herein describes the initial development of a transition from the RESTORE barrier to a rigid TL-4 concrete buttress.

The previously-developed RESTORE barrier LS-DYNA model was validated against three full-scale vehicle crash tests. Several design concepts were generated through a series of brainstorming efforts. The primary transition concept consisted of a pin and loop connection between the RESTORE barrier and rigid concrete buttress, which was designed …

Temperature And Strain Measurements With Fiber Optic Sensors For Steel Beams Subjected To Fire, Yi Bao, Yizheng Chen, Matthew S. Hoehler, Christopher M. Smith, Matthew F. Bundy, Genda Chen

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents measurements of high temperatures using a Brillouin scattering based fiber optic sensor and large strains using an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric sensor for assessing the thermo-mechanical behaviors of simply supported steel beams subjected to combined thermal and mechanical loading. The distributed fiber optic sensor captures detailed, non- uniform temperature distributions that are compared with thermocouple measurements resulting in an average relative difference of less than 5 % at 95 % confidence level. The extrinsic Fabry- Perot interferometric sensor captures large strains at temperatures above 1000 C. The strain results measured from the distributed fiber optic sensors and extrinsic …

Seismic Design Of A Prestressed Concrete Bridge, Alperen Ozel

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Latest advancements in software have become an indispensable tool in structural analysis. The main goal of this thesis is to examine dynamic responses of bridges in seismic activity with the help of such tool as CSi Bridge. Therefore, throughout this study, a prestressed concrete bridge model will be thoroughly designed. In the first section, the required materials and structural components will be introduced. The following section will cover calculations required for modeling. The actual modeling of the structure will be carried out in Section 3. In Section 4, the set of required analysis for seismic design such as modal, pushover …

Effect Of The Inherent Eccentricity In Single-Lap Direct-Shear Tests Of Pbo Frcm-Concrete Joints, Tommaso D'Antino, Lesley Sneed, Christian Carloni, Carlo Pellegrino

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Investigation of the bond between fiber reinforced composites and the substrates onto which they are applied is of critical importance to understand their failure mechanisms. The bond behavior can be studied using different experimental test set-ups; the most commonly used are the single-lap and double-lap direct-shear tests. Although single-lap shear tests are simpler to carry out than double-lap shear tests, the presence of an eccentricity between the pulling and restraining forces leads to a mixed mode fracture process at the interface, which may influence the results. This study investigates the eccentricity effect on the bond behavior of fiber reinforced cementitious …

Volume-Change Restraining Effects In Continuous Precast/Prestressed Bridge Girders, Athul Alex

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A variety of design and construction practices are feasible when building precast concrete continuous bridges with long spans. Precast, prestressed concrete continuous bridges have been implemented by countries around the world. Although these bridges have been in service for many years, there has been limited verification of the ability of connection to provide the predicted continuity. Subsequently many states in the United States design the girders as simple spans for both dead and live loads without considering any moments developed by the connection. The effect of thermal expansion and contraction is hardly considered in the analysis, even though it is …

Design Of A Folding V-Scraper With Roller For Orchard Applications, Chase Ulrich

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

This senior project discusses the design of a folding 15 ft. wide leveler for orchard use. This design utilized a category 2 three-point hitch to connect the implement to a tractor. The folding mechanism uses the tractors hydraulic system to actuate the folding movement using hydraulic cylinders. The blades, when wings in operational position, are rigid with one another after some assembly. When the implement is folded the width is reduced to nine feet.

Towards A Fast Reconstruction Paradigm For Urban Environments In Developing Regions Affected By Natural Disasters, Christopher Maestri

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Natural disasters in developing regions often displace people from their homes, into temporary shelters. These temporary shelters often consist of single-story pre-assembled tents designed to provide short-term aid for individual families. Unfortunately, single-story temporary shelters are not sufficient for accommodating large displaced populations in urban settings due to issues of land overcrowding and disruption to utilities providing water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services (along with many other issues).

This study investigates the feasibility of implementing a multi-story steel structure, constructed with multi-use structural members and special end connectors, into future relief efforts. A multi-use structural member is an element whose …

Analysis Of Bolted Beam-Column Connections With Multiple Bolts Per Row And Column Web Stiffeners, Benjamin C. Sutherland

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bolted beam-column connections are a common moment connection used in the design of steel buildings. Existing design guides include design parameters for bolt configurations having one bolt on either side of the beam web for each row of bolts. There is potential for increasing connection strength by adding additional bolts on the outside of these rows. This addition could be useful in retrofit scenarios, or even in the design of new structures. In this research, finite element analysis is used to analyze various beam-column connections and t-stub connections. The modeling methods, research process, and conclusions are explained in the thesis …

Performance Assessment Of Deteriorated And Retrofitted Steel Hp Piles, Steven T. Stauffer

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Deterioration of aging bridges can be attributed to an assortment of mechanisms throughout the structure, with remediation policies also varying. This study focused on assessing the validity of the Nebraska Department of Roads’ (NDOR) reinforced concrete encasement retrofit for corroded steel HP piles. Experiments were designed and conducted to test the capacity of the NDOR retrofit and evaluate failure limit states. Two pile locations were considered: abutment and pile bent. For each location there was a non-deteriorated, deteriorated, and retrofitted case. These cases represented the pile at key stages during its life. NDOR’s concrete encasement retrofit provided the required stability …

Shear Behavior Of High-Strength Self-Consolidating Concrete In Nebraska University Bridge Girders, Alex Griffin, John J. Myers

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Current reinforced and prestressed concrete design equations were developed for conventional concrete elements. Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) typically contains a lower coarse aggregate content and size than conventional concrete, which potentially hinders the aggregate interlock contribution to a concrete's shear strength. Thus, shear design equations must be verified with SCC mixtures. Two full-scale precast, prestressed concrete Nebraska University girders were tested to assess the shear behavior of high-strength SCC. Both girders were designed to permit two tests on each girder, both with and without shear reinforcement. Ultimate shear loads and crack patterns were documented and compared with code estimates, finite element …

Evaluation Of Alternative Implementation Methods Of Failure Sampling Approach For Structural Reliability Analysis, Kapil Patki, Christopher D. Eamon

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

In this paper, several alternative approaches are used to implement the failure sampling method for structural reliability analysis and are evaluated for effectiveness. Although no theoretical limitation exists as to the types of problems that failure sampling can solve, the method is most competitive for problems that cannot be accurately solved with reliability index-based approaches and for which simulation is needed. These problems tend to have non-smooth limit state boundaries or are otherwise highly nonlinear. Results from numerical integration and three extrapolation approaches using the generalized lambda distribution, Johnson's distribution, and generalized extreme value distribution are compared. A variety of …

Improved Methodologies In Modeling And Predicting Failure In Aashto M-180 Guardrail Steel Using Finite Element Analysis, Phase I, Brandt M. Humphrey

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Steel guardrail systems have historic and widespread applications throughout the nation’s highways and roadways. However, catastrophic system failure can occur if the guardrail element ruptures, thus allowing an errant vehicle to pass uncontrolled through the system and potentially allow fractured ends to pierce the occupant compartment. To aid in the analysis and design of guardrail systems, further efforts are needed to develop and implement more reliable material failure criteria to predict and model guardrail steel rupture under all vehicle impact loading scenarios within impact simulation finite element method (FEM) software, such as LS-DYNA.

This Phase I study accomplished a number …

Structural Evaluations Of Bridges With Smartphones, Garrett P. Martindale, Dean Whitfield, Jeremiah Dixon

UCARE: Research Products

According to the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States has a bridge rating of C+. The C rating is classified by ASCE as a mediocre standing. Infrastructure that is awarded the C rating shows general signs of deterioration and requires attention.

Our Hypothesis: Smartphones have become readily available to anyone and is a relatively cheap device. They have instruments within them that can capture and collect usable data. An application can be downloaded to record the smartphone’s acceleration. The acceleration data can be used to evaluate vibrations within …

Decay Of Pressure Fluctuation In The Hyporheic Zone Around A Cylinder, Timothy Calappi, Carol J. Miller

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Erosion around a submerged cylinder is a well-studied problem, and is of particular interest in bridge pier scour applications. Particles erode when lift and drag forces overcome a critical threshold. These forces are typically studied from above the water-riverbed interface and are related to geometry and surficial processes. The present study maps hyporheic pressure fluctuations as they are related to surface water velocity fluctuations. Relatively, high-pressure events in the subsurface promote a destabilizing force from within the riverbed and increase the potential for the mobilization of sediment. Differential pressure transducers were fitted within a vertical cylinder in a movable bed …

Thermal Properties, Crystallinity, And Oxygen Permeability Of Na-Montmorillonite Reinforced Plasticized Poly(Lactic Acid) Film, Kurniawan Yuniarto, Yohanes Aris Purwanto, Setyo Purwanto, Bruce A. Welt, Hadi Karia Purwadaria, Titi Candra Sunarti

Makara Journal of Technology

Introducing unmodified organically clay/Na-montmorillonite (Na-MMT) was applied into plasticized poly(lactic acid) PLA to produce film composites by direct casting. Film composite structure, the crystallinity degree and form, and thermal properties were carried out using X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The effect of Na- MMT to the tortuous path and the crystallinity degree in the plasticized film composites were calculated in oxygen barrier properties. Chromatogram film composites resulted in an intercalated structure that showed peak diffraction angle shift at about 0.2o. Then, a peak diffraction pattern was indicated in α-form crystal structure. Plasticized PLA has a crystallinity degree at 34%, …

Residual Strength Analysisof Asymmetrically Damaged Ship Hull Girderusing Beam Finite Element Method, Muhammad Zubair Muis Alie

Makara Journal of Technology

The objective of the present study is to analyze the residual strength of asymmetrically damaged ship hull girder under longitudinal bending. Beam Finite Element Method is used for the assessment of the residual strength of two single hull bulk carriers (Ship B1 and Ship B4) and a three-cargo-hold model of a single-side Panamax Bulk Carrier in hogging and sagging conditions. The Smith’s method is adopted and implemented into Beam Finite Element Method. An efficient solution procedure is applied; i.e. by assuming the cross section remains plane, the vertical bending moment is applied to the cross section and three-cargo-hold model. As …