The high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in occupational settings necessitates the development of economic, accurate, and convenient methods for quantifying biomechanical risk exposures. In terms of lifting, the occupational work environment does not provide resources for recording the start and end times of lifting tasks performed by individual workers. As a result, automatic detection of lift starts and ends is required for practical purposes. Occupational lifting styles vary depending on the asymmetry angle, which is the degree of shoulder or trunk rotation required by the lifting task. Predictive or machine learning (ML) algorithms have been increasingly used in the ergonomics field to identify occupational risk factors, such as lifting loads. However, such algorithms are often developed and validated using the dataset collected from the same lab-based experimental set-up, which limits their external validity. The recent development of wearable armbands with surface electromyography (sEMG) electrodes provides a low-cost, wireless, and non-invasive way to collect EMG data beyond laboratory settings. Despite their tremendous potential for field-based workload estimation, these armbands have not been widely implemented yet in automated lift detection and occupational workload estimation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of machine learning (ML) algorithms in the automatic detection of lifts and classification of hand loads during manual lifting tasks from the data acquired by a wearable armband sensor with eight surface electromyography (sEMG) electrodes. Twelve healthy participants (six male and six female) performed repetitive symmetric (S), asymmetric (A), and free dynamic (F) lifts with three different hand-load levels (5 lb, 10 lb and 15 lb) at two origin (24" and 36") and two destination heights (6" and 36"). Three ML algorithms were utilized: Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB). For lift detection, a subset of four participants was analyzed as a preliminary investigation. RF showed the best performance with the mean start and end errors of 0.53 ± 0.25 seconds and 0.76 ± 0.28 seconds, respectively. The accuracy score of 84.3 ± 3.3% was reported for lift start and 83.3 ± 9.9% for lift end. For hand-load classification, prediction models were developed using four different lifting datasets (S, A, S+A, and F) and were cross-validated using F as the test dataset. Mean classification accuracy was significantly lower in models developed with the S dataset (78.8 ± 7.3%) compared to A (83.3 ± 7.2%), S+A (82.1 ± 7.3%), and F (83.4 ± 8.1%). Overall, findings indicate that the implementation of ML algorithms with wearable EMG armbands for automatic lift detection in occupational settings can be promising. In hand-load classification, models developed with only controlled symmetric lifts were less accurate in predicting loads of more dynamic, unconstrained lifts, which is common in real-world settings. However, since both A and S+A demonstrated equivalent model accuracy with F, EMG armbands possess strong potential for estimating the hand loads of free-dynamic lifts using constrained lift trials involving asymmetric lifts. / Master of Science / Naturalistic occupational settings involve prolonged, frequent, and physically heavy lifting-lowering tasks that are associated with a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. This necessitates the development of economic, accurate, and convenient methods for quantifying risk exposures such as load magnitude, repetitiveness and duration. In terms of lifting, the occupational work environment does not provide resources for recording the start and end of lifting tasks performed by individual workers for analysis. As a result, automatic detection of lift starts and ends is required for practical purposes. Occupational lifting styles vary depending on the asymmetry angle, which is the degree of shoulder or trunk rotation required by the lifting task. Predictive or machine learning (ML) algorithms have been increasingly used in the ergonomics field to identify occupational risk factors, such as lifting loads. However, such algorithms are often developed and validated using the dataset collected from the same lab-based experimental set-up, which limits their external validity. Electromyographic (EMG) signals representing the neuromuscular activity associated with muscular contractions can be valuable for exposure assessment. The recent development of wearable armbands with surface electromyography (sEMG) electrodes provides a low-cost, wireless, and non-invasive way to collect EMG data beyond laboratory settings. Despite their tremendous potential for field-based workload estimation, these armbands have not been widely implemented yet in automated lift detection and occupational workload estimation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of machine learning (ML) algorithms in the automatic detection of lifts and classification of hand loads during manual lifting tasks from the data acquired by a wearable armband sensor with eight surface electromyography (sEMG) electrodes. Twelve healthy participants (six male and six female) performed repetitive symmetric (S), asymmetric (A), and free dynamic (F) lifts with three different hand-load levels (5 lb, 10 lb and 15 lb) at two origin (24" and 36") and two destination heights (6" and 36"). Three ML algorithms were utilized: Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB). For lift detection, a subset of four participants was analyzed as a preliminary investigation. RF showed the best performance with the mean start and end errors of 0.53 ± 0.25 seconds and 0.76 ± 0.28 seconds, respectively. The accuracy score of 84.3 ± 3.3% was reported for lift start and 83.3 ± 9.9% for lift end. For hand-load classification, prediction models were developed using four different lifting datasets (S, A, S+A, and F) and were cross-validated using F as the test dataset. Mean classification accuracy was significantly lower in models developed with the S dataset (78.8 ± 7.3%) compared to A (83.3 ± 7.2%), S+A (82.1 ± 7.3%), and F (83.4 ± 8.1%). Overall, findings indicate that the implementation of ML algorithms with wearable EMG armbands for automatic lift detection in occupational settings can be promising. In hand-load classification, models developed with only controlled symmetric lifts were less accurate in predicting loads of more dynamic, unconstrained lifts, which is common in real-world settings. However, since both A and S+A demonstrated equivalent model accuracy with F, EMG armbands possess strong potential for estimating the hand loads of free-dynamic lifts using constrained lift trials involving asymmetric lifts.

This thesis presents the results of a mathematical analysis of various live load combinations on highway bridge spans up to 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) total lengths. The analysis included continuous beams, but only the results for simple beams is presented. The analysis was performed using an independently developed Microsoft EXCEL spreadsheet computation, based on superposition and classical mechanics. In this thesis, several actual bridge live loadings and several hypothetical live loadings were analyzed and compared to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design method. Also considered was the new bridge design method adopted by the Louisiana Department of Transportation in March 2015. The evolution of bridge design loads is discussed, and the concept of the Military Load Classification is introduced and adapted to the bridge design analysis. The results of the analysis are presented, compared and interpreted for use in future bridge design.

Because little was known about how the masonry lighthouses constructed during the 19th century at exposed locations around the British Isles were responding to wave action, the dynamic response of the Eddystone lighthouse under wave impacts was investigated. Like other so called 'rock lighthouses', the Eddystone lighthouse was built on top of a steep reef at a site that is fully submerged at most states of the tide. Consequently, the structure is exposed to loading by unbroken, breaking and broken waves. When the breaking occurs, wave loading leads to complex phenomena that cannot be described theoretically due to the unknown mixture of air and water involved during the wave-structure interaction. In addition, breaking waves are generally distinguished from unbroken and broken wave due to the fact that they cause impulsive loads. As a consequence, the load effects on the structural response require a dynamic analysis. In this investigation the dynamic response of the Eddystone lighthouse is investigated both in the field and by means of a small-scale model mounted in a laboratory wave channel. In particular, field data obtained by the use of geophones, cameras and a wave buoy are presented together with wave loading information obtained during the laboratory tests under controlled conditions. More than 3000 structural events were recorded during the exceptional sequence of winter storms that hit the South-West of England in 2013/2014. The geophone signals, which provide the structural response in terms of velocity data, are differentiated and integrated in order to obtain accelerations and displacements respectively. Dynamic responses show different behaviours and higher structural frequencies, which are related to more impulsive loads, tend to exhibit a predominant sharp peak in velocity time histories. As a consequence, the structural responses have been classified into four types depending on differences of ratio peaks in the time histories and spectra. Field video images indicate that higher structural frequencies are usually associated with loads caused by plunging waves that break on or just in front of the structure. However, higher structural velocities and accelerations do not necessarily lead to the largest displacements of around a tenth of mm. Thus, while the impulsive nature of the structural response depends on the type of wave impact, the magnitude of the structural deflections is strongly affected by both elevation of the wave force on the structure and impact duration, as suggested by structural numerical simulations and laboratory tests respectively. The latter demonstrate how the limited water depth strongly affects the wave loading. In particular, only small plunging waves are able to break on or near the structure and larger waves that break further away can impose a greater overall impulse due to the longer duration of the load. As a consequence of the depth limited conditions, broken waves can generate significant deflections in the case of the Eddystone lighthouse. However, maximum accelerations of about 0.1g are related to larger plunging waves that are still able to hit the lighthouse with a plunging jet. When compared to the Iribarren number, the dimensionless irregular momentum flux proposed by Hughes is found to be a better indicator concerning the occurrence of the structural response types. This is explained by the fact that the Iribarren number does not to take into account the effects of the wide tidal range at the Eddystone reef, which has a strong influence on the location of the breaking point with respect to the lighthouse. Finally, maximum run up were not able to rise up to the top of the lighthouse model during the laboratory tests, despite this having been observed in the field. As a consequence, the particular configuration of the Eddystone reef and the wind could have a considerable bearing and exceptional values of the run up, greater than 40 m, cannot be excluded in the field.

This thesis explores the use of machine learning as a load classifier in a distribution grid based on the daily consumption behaviour of roughly 1600 loads spread throughout the areas Bromma, Hässelby and Vällingby in Stockholm, Sweden. Two common unsupervised learning methods were used for this, K-means clustering and hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC), the performance of which was analysed with different input data sets and parameters. K-means and HAC were unfortunately difficult to compare and there were also some difficulties in finding a suitable number of clusters K with the used input data. This issue was resolved by evaluating the clustering outcome with custom loss function MSE-tot that compared created clusters with subsequent assignment of new data. The loss function MSE-tot indicates that K-means is more suitable than HAC in this particular clustering setup. To investigate how the obtained clusters could be used in practice, two K-means clustering models were also used to perform some cluster-specific peak load predictions. These predictions were done using unitless load profiles created from the mean properties of each cluster and dimensioned using load specific parameters. The developed models had a mean relative error of approximately 8-19 % per load, depending on the prediction method and which of the two clustering models that was used. This result is quite promising, especially since deviations above 20 % were not uncommon in previous work. The models gave poor predictions for some clusters, however, which indicates that the models may not be suitable to use on all kinds of load data in its current form. One suggestion for how to further improve the predictions is to add more explanatory variables, for example the temperature dependence. The result of the developed models were also compared to the conventionally used Velander's formula, which makes predictions based on the loads' facility-type and annual electricity consumption. Velander's formula generally performed worse than the developed methods, only reaching a mean relative error of 40-43 % per load. One likely reason for this is that the used database had poor facility label quality, which is essential for obtaining correct constants in Velander's formula.

Sports events, festivals, construction sites, and film sites are examples of cases where power is required temporarily and often away from the power grid. Temporary Power Installations refer to systems set up for a limited amount of time with power typically generated on-site. Most load forecasting research has centered around settings with a permanent supply of power (such as in residential buildings). On the contrary, this work proposes machine learning approaches to accurately forecast load for Temporary Power Installations. In practice, these systems are typically powered by diesel generators that are over-sized and consequently, operate at low inefficient load levels. In this thesis, a ‘Pre-Event Forecasting’ approach is proposed to address this inefficiency by classifying a new Temporary Power Installation to a cluster of installations with similar load patterns. By doing so, the sizing of generators and power generation planning can be optimized thereby improving system efficiency. Load forecasting for Temporary Power Installations is also useful whilst a Temporary Power Installation is operational. A ‘Real-Time Forecasting’ approach is proposed to use monitored load data streamed to a server to forecast load two hours or more ahead in time. By doing so, practical measures can be taken in real-time to meet unexpected high and low power demands thereby improving system reliability. / Sportevenemang, festivaler, byggarbetsplatser och film platser är exempel på fall där kraften krävs Tillfälligt eller och bort från elnätet. Tillfälliga Kraft Installationer avser system som inrättats för en begränsad tid med Vanligtvis ström genereras på plats. De flesta lastprognoser forskning har kretsat kring inställningar med permanent eller strömförsörjning (zoals i bostadshus). Tvärtom föreslår detta arbete maskininlärning metoder för att noggrant prognos belastning under Tillfälliga anläggningar. I praktiken är thesis Typiskt system drivs med dieselgeneratorer som är överdimensionerad och följaktligen arbetar ineffektivt vid låga belastningsnivåer. I denna avhandling är en ‘Pre-Event Casting’ Föreslagen metod för att ta itu med denna ineffektivitet genom att klassificera ett nytt tillfälligt ström Installation till ett kluster av installationer med liknande lastmönster. Genom att göra så, kan dimensioneringen av generatorer och kraftproduktion planering optimeras därigenom förbättra systemets effektivitet. Load prognoser för Tillfälliga Kraft installationer är ook användbar Medan en tillfällig ström Installationen är i drift. En ‘Prognoser Real-Time’ Föreslagen metod är att använda övervakade lastdata strömmas till en server att förutse belastningen två timmar eller mer i förväg. Genom att göra så, kan praktiska åtgärder vidtas i realtid för att möta oväntade höga och låga effektbehov och därigenom förbättra systemets tillförlitlighet.