Salt-encrusted flats, or Sabkha, are common in arid and semi-arid regions worldwide, including coastal and inland areas. Due to their low shear strength and high compressibility, these soils are often unsuitable for supporting infrastructure or structures. The unique salt content of sabkha formations sets them apart from other soil types....
Civil engineers frequently use lime to improve the mechanical properties of weak clayey soils. The production of lime is associated with significant CO₂ emissions. Sequestering carbon dioxide into the stabilized soil can effectively reduce the carbon footprint of the lime. In the presence of CO₂, unreacted lime in the stabilized...
This thesis focuses on the fundamental behavior of CLT floor-to-wall connections during a fire.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panelized structures rely on floor-to-wall connections for the load path and stability of the structure. Additionally, the fire performance of these connections is critical to prevent horizontal or vertical fire spread within these...
There are many existing bridges around the world that were designed without consideration for seismic effects. Many of these bridges were designed before modern earthquake engineering design standards and practices existed and thus are expected to perform poorly during strong ground shaking. Common structural deficiencies are found in their reinforced...
Background: Studies indicate that problems utilized in traditional undergraduate engineering education do not adequately prepare students for the workforce. Calls to implement authentic, ill-structured problems into upper level engineering experiences may address this issue but adopting authentic engineering problems without considering barriers to adoption of faculty has not been fully...
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Fig 12. Problem 1, Problem Set B – Portal Frame with Pipe Load
To ensure the safety of the nation’s bridges, the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) require all bridges to undergo routine load rating analyses to assess their structural capacity. Accurate geometric information for each structure is necessary for load rating analyses. This information is typically ascertained from as-built plans. Still, when...
The goal of this thesis is to ease the adoption of energy-efficient (EE) building strategies for affordable homes in the United States (US). Low-wage earning households spend nearly three times the proportion of their gross annual income on home energy bills resulting in higher energy burden for them when compared...
The variety of natural disasters provide different sets of characteristics and properties with unique challenges. One significant difference between hazard types is prewarning lead time, the amount of time individuals have from a potential warning to the disaster occurring. Rapid onset disasters may not provide an official warning about a...
Physical modelling is instrumental to the progression of coastal engineering research and our understanding of the offshore and nearshore environments. Scaled models are designed and built to be tested in coastal research laboratories, where a wave basin or flume generates the desired wave conditions for experimentation. The surrounding hydrodynamics of...
Steel moment-resisting frames (MRFs) are widely used in the United States to resist seismic forces. MRFs have many advantages, including architectural versatility, vetted member and connection detailing requirements, and high ductility for special MRFs (SMRF). However, MRFs require large members to meet story drift criteria. Moreover, strong-column-weak-beam requirements can result...
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Appendix B