Modular construction is increasingly seen as an efficient construction method in terms of time, cost, and energy. The full realization of these advantages partly relies on the efficiency of the production process inside the modular factories, which currently rely on tedious manual monitoring methods or expensive automated techniques. As a...
Tsunami inundation of coastal communities can impose a wide array of forces on the
built environment. Forces generated by tsunami-driven debris damming have the potential to
cause failure of coastal structures and further accumulate flow-entrained debris. Since tsunami-resilient design standards were adopted by ASCE in 2016, debris damming considerations have...
When pavement markings on roadways are removed, scarring can occur leaving behind traces of where the marking used to be called ghost lines. These ghost lines can confuse drivers on the roadway and divert their attention from the correct lane markings leading them into the false lane. Previous research has...
Geospatial data analysis is a multifaceted discipline encompassing the collection, processing, and visualization of diverse datasets. It models and delineates the interactions of people, objects, and phenomena within geographical spaces and predicts patterns based on the relationships between different locations. Despite significant advancements in geospatial data engineering and analytics over...
Wildfires are a recurring disaster that threatens communities living close to forests and result in significant financial losses along with negative environmental effects, especially with the increase of wildfire season length and intensity due to climate change and increasing urbanization. Wildfire events can also have a significant impact on the...
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....
Aligning Real-Time Networks (RTNs) with the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) is crucial to ensure accuracy, consistency, interoperability, and long-term data integrity for geospatial applications. However, the effectiveness of different alignment methods as well as the need for monitoring approaches to maintain alignment consistency with the NSRS have not yet...
Sediment convergence and divergence zones create subaqueous morphological features that range from ripples O (cm) to coastlines O (km). However, there is a gap in knowledge associated with quantifying the contribution of small-scale ripple mobility to the evolution of large-scale morphology. To address this gap, we investigate how small-scale ripples...
To facilitate the design of Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) for flood protection, this thesis expands an existing engineering design methodology to NNBF systems. The existing approach is a Level III reliability method for the performance-based design of traditional coastal engineering systems. The expanded methodology incorporates uncertainties inherent to both...
Walking is the single most universal mode of transportation in the world, but being a pedestrian exposes a traveler to high risk. Historically, pedestrians have consistently experienced disproportionately high rates of fatalities and severe injuries in traffic crashes. Research has probed into factors influencing pedestrian crash injury severity outcomes, but...
Ice–ocean interactions have profound consequences for the ocean and climate, influencing the rate of sea level rise. Submarine melt is commonly parameterized using a three-equation formulation for the heat, salt, and momentum conservation equations coupled to a buoyant plume model, together called plume-melt theory. However, recent direct observations of terminus...
Reinforced concrete (RC) column-footing substructures are widely used to support bridges along critical transportation corridors in Oregon. Those built prior to 1971 were typically designed to resist only gravity loads. Therefore, they are vulnerable to damage or collapse during strong ground shaking. To prevent collapse, seismic retrofits have been developed...
Concrete has been categorized as a key contributor of CO2 (carbon) emissions into the atmosphere. This is mostly associated with the production of ordinary portland cement (OPC). The concrete and cement industries are pursuing a path to reduce their carbon emissions generally in accordance with the climate change goals outlined...
Wave energy converters (WECs) show promising potential to significantly contribute to global renewable energy goals. Numerous WEC designs have been proposed and investigated, but wave energy conversion technology has yet to reach convergence in the same way wind or solar has. Of the designs currently in existence, surface-piercing WECs are...
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant transformations in global mobility patterns, primarily driven by stay-at-home orders and economic shutdowns. These measures resulted in a substantial decline in travel activities worldwide. In the United States, there was a notable reduction in travel demand, with a corresponding decrease in...
High early strength concrete (HESC) allows for faster construction with less impact on traffic, thus reducing the indirect costs associated with a project. There are multiple methods for achieving early strength, such as alternative cements like calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) or chemically accelerated portland cements. The standard criteria for an HESC...
In recent decades, the occurrence of large, high severity wildfires has increased substantially in many parts of the world, including the western United States. These fires have the potential to impact water quality, aquatic ecosystems, and downstream communities for many decades. As such, it is increasingly important to understand the...
While the use of powered mobility devices for young children with mobility challenges has taken off in recent years following evidence that the use of powered mobility at a young age augments other traditional mobility skill interventions, the research is still limited and focuses on physical impacts more. Recently, the...
Wind energy has become a crucial resource in sustainably meeting increasing global energy demands. Recently, offshore wind energy has been gaining traction due to its higher gross resource and larger unclaimed real-estate relative to its onshore counterpart. Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are increasingly popular, particularly designs with semisubmersible platforms....
Asphalt pavements constitute more than ninety percent of the nation’s roadway network. Besides serving the key role of providing a smooth and durable all-weather surface that benefits a range of users, they are also the lifelines of the nation and the world and contribute tremendously towards economic and social development....
Transportation agencies continuously strive to improve driving quality and highway safety, which are both highly correlated with the level of smoothness of the road. The International Roughness Index (IRI) is a widely adopted, standardized metric calculated from longitudinal profile data collected on the road. Inertial profilers are devices mounted to...
Coastal landslides and erosion are major natural hazards resulting in unstable slopes, constituting immense challenges to modern infrastructure. Developing, maintaining, and performing risk assessments of infrastructure on, or close to, these hazards require a detailed understanding of the geophysical processes destabilizing the slope. These efforts start with the collection of...
Microbial-induced corrosion of concrete (MICC) is a multi-stage deterioration process caused by microbial activity in wastewater infrastructure. MICC is a worldwide issue due to the reduced service life of the wastewater infrastructure and the economic impact associated with increased maintenance and reconstruction costs. This thesis explores two critical aspect of...
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...
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices prohibits positioning a bike lane right-adjacent to a vehicle turn-only lane to mitigate the potential for right-hook crashes. However, it provides no specific guidance on positioning with respect to bus-only lanes. This thesis describes a before/after safety evaluation of bike lanes positioned left...
Most of the concrete in the world is produced using hydraulic cement (ordinary portland cement, OPC) and siliceous or alumino-siliceous supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). Due to the shift in focus toward environmental sustainability within the construction industry, alkali-activated cementitious systems (AAC) have gained significant attention to reduce the carbon footprint...
A curb ramp is an indispensable ramp system in the transportation network that provides a transition between a sidewalk and a roadway. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that the design, construction, and maintenance of curb ramps meet the ADA standards. However, many existing curb ramps are noncompliant, as...
Nearly 24% of Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) containing military munitions are in the nearshore coastal zone with approximately 30% of those sites containing heterogeneous sediment compositions of gravel-sand. Previous exploration in munition mobility was performed on beaches of sandy or muddy bottoms leaving the influence of heterogeneous sediment properties...
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...
A vital aspect of concrete construction is quality assurance and control (QA/QC). Engineered structures must meet pre-determined and agreed-upon strength and durability requirements. Concrete falls into a specific category of infrastructure material because in most cases, these strength and durability requirements cannot be found until the material has at least...
Previous research has found some bicyclists disregard circular red indications and stop signs. Possible justifications include a desire to increase safety, save energy, save time, and increase visibility. Because of this, many bicyclists feel as though stopping at stop signs, especially in the absence of conflicting vehicular traffic, is an...
Diatomaceous soils are a geological material whose engineering properties do not readily conform to the widely accepted and used mechanical and behavioral frameworks. This ambiguity results in design difficulties and geotechnical failures which can be costly. Diatomaceous soils have diatoms in their matrix. Diatoms are unicellular algae with an inert...
Previous research has shown that traveling in a work zone involves a higher risk of crashing compared to normal (non-work zone) driving conditions. Research further suggests that the severity of work zone crashes is greater on average than non-work zone crashes. The period of time in which the traffic control...
As e-commerce and urban deliveries spike, there is an increasing demand for curbside loading/unloading space. However, commercial vehicle drivers face numerous challenges while navigating dense urban road networks. Previous literature on the topic of how commercial vehicle drivers make choices about when and where to park is scarce, and data...
Considering the deadly impacts of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes on road safety, many previous studies have put in efforts to find the determinants of CMV crash injury severities. However, studies examining the impact of the different number of lanes on CMV crash
injury severities are lacking. Besides, the importance...
Engineering education research has led to a greater understanding of the gap in preparedness of students for the engineering industry. Multiple studies comparing the workplace and academic contexts and the participants in those contexts (i.e., students, faculty, and engineering practitioners) have emphasized similarities and differences between the two contexts by...
In coastal and ocean engineering, understanding the ocean environment and the forces from waves, tsunamis and waterborne debris on structures and floating bodies is an important aspect of designing safe and effective infrastructure. Understanding the impact of these forces on structures becomes an important question in the design process. Answering...
The behavior of mass timber beam-to-column connections under seismic loading is not yet well understood. Mass timber beam-to-column connections must have the ability to maintain load-carrying capacity despite the deformations that will be imposed on all components of the building during seismic events. This behavior is called deformation compatibility. The...
Lean construction and construction industrialization have been the focus of the construction industry in recent decades. Lean construction has been shown to reduce waste and uncertainty, and construction industrialization has a positive effect on improving efficiency and safety. Research on lean construction shows that lean construction practices are recognized by...
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...
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) species, such as seagrasses, are highly valued in estuaries because of the many economic, ecological, and cultural services that they provide, including shelter for fisheries, minimizing water turbidity, and improving am-bient water quality. SAV can also alter its physical environment by attenuating wave and current velocities,...
The Cone Penetration Test (CPT) has been widely-adopted for rapid, cost-effective exploration of the subsurface and reduction in the effort associated with drilling, sampling, and laboratory testing of soil. The adoption of the CPT has stemmed in part to the correlation of measurements to preliminary soil classification, stress history, drained...
Urban stormwater runoff with a high impervious area can significantly impact pollution concentrations of receiving water bodies. The use of low impact development (LID), which mimics the hydrological properties of the site before development, has been studied in an increasing number of studies, and the available database has shown to...
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...
Scour is the main cause of bridge failures in the United States. Bridge failures raise a hazard to the safety of the traveling public as well as the massive economic consequences due to the high cost of constructing a new or a replacement bridge. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)...
Conflicts and disasters displace millions of populations worldwide. There is a need for rapid and affordable housing to cater to the needs of the displaced and unhoused population. Experience from previous post-disaster responses shows that temporary housing should be rapidly deployable, planned for months to years, and should be environmentally...
Since the collapse of World Trade Center building number seven (WTC7), significant research has been done to understand the behavior of steel structures in fire and enable engineers to account for the behavior of steel framing systems exposed to fire during design. Despite these efforts, there are still significant barriers...
It is considered best practice when designing pedestrian access at intersections to provide two curb ramps at each street corner. In Oregon, there are many locations where long ramp runs cause curb ramps to be set back a significant distance from the apex of the intersection corner to meet this...
Projects in forestry and civil engineering depend on accurate information, which is often acquired through remote sensing techniques. One of the remote sensing technologies that has gained importance in the last decade is light detection and ranging (lidar), which describes the surveyed area with 3D points, presented as point clouds....
Centerline rumble strips (CLRS) have proven to be a cost-effective safety measure in reducing lane departure crashes. However, there are often unintended consequences associated with the installation of CLRS, particularly in rural mountainous areas or snow zones. These consequences include the accumulation of water and ice on the roadway and...