Roadway grades have a diverse effect on vehicle speeds, depending on vehicle and roadway characteristics. For example, passenger cars can generally negotiate grades of 5 percent or less without considerable reductions in vehicle speeds, while heavy-duty trucks are affected significantly by grades because of their inferior operating capability. Consequently, due to the potential significant speed differential between automobiles and heavy-duty trucks, these trucks can have a significant impact on the quality of flow, throughput, and safety of a traffic stream. Truck climbing lanes are typically constructed in an attempt to lessen this negative impact. Currently, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) represent the state-of-art and state-of-practice procedures for the design of truck climbing lanes. These procedures only consider the tangent vertical profile grades in the design of climbing lanes and do not capture the impact of vertical curvature on truck performance. The dissertation describes the TruckSIM framework for modeling vehicle motion along roadway sections by considering both the longitudinal and lateral forces acting on a vehicle. In doing so, the tool reflects the impact of horizontal and vertical alignment on a vehicle's longitudinal motion. The model is capable of reading Global Positioning System (GPS) (longitude, latitude, and altitude), roadway, and vehicle data. The dissertation demonstrates the validity of the software modeling procedures against field data and the HCM procedures. It is anticipated that by automating the design procedures and considering different vehicle and roadway characteristics on truck motion, the TruckSIM software will be of considerable assistance to traffic engineers in the design of roadways. The Global Positioning System (GPS) was originally built by the U.S. Department of Defense to provide the military with a super-precise form of worldwide positioning. With time, GPS units were introduced into the civilian domain and provided transportation professionals with an opportunity to capitalize on this unique instrumentation. With this GPS capability, this research investigates the feasibility of using inexpensive WAAS-capable units to estimate roadway vertical and horizontal profiles. The profiles that are generated by these inexpensive units (less than $500) are compared to the profiles generated by expensive carrier-phase DGPS units ($30,000 per unit including the base station). The results of this study demonstrate that the use of data smoothing and stacking techniques with the WAAS data provides grade estimates that are accurate within 10% of those generated by the carrier-phase DGPS units and thus offer a cost effective tool for providing input data to the TruckSIM software. Using the TruckSIM software, this research effort investigates truck performance reflective of various truck and road characteristics. These characteristics include vehicle engine power, weight-to-power ratio, pavement type, pavement condition, aerodynamic aid features, engine efficiency, tire type, and percentage mass on tractive axle. The study demonstrates that the vehicle weight-to-power ratio, vehicle engine power, pavement surface condition, tire type, aerodynamic aids, and engine efficiency are critical factors in the design of truck climbing lanes. / Ph. D.

Although Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are quickly becoming a reality, there is much that needs to be understood before mainstream commercialization can occur. One critical issue is the interplay between multiple fields of engineering. Whereas the first part of this work is a granular treatment of a specific issue, the second part simultaneously examines numerous fields within the transportation industry. In the surge to understand and develop AVs, researchers tend to study specific subdivisions within the "vehicle engineering umbrella". In particular, mechanical and civil engineers study vehicle dynamics in two different levels of specificity. Mechanical engineers typically investigate small-scale dynamic behavior which applies to a single vehicle, such as vehicle-terrain interactions or the behavior of mechanical components. On the other hand, civil engineers tend to study kinematic behavior: the behavior of platoons as it pertains to large-scale traffic flow. Regardless of the scale of study, each subdivision has a set of performance metrics. Due to the differences among subdivisions, some performance metrics may (unintentionally) compete. Compromises must be made in the design stage to produce a vehicle which caters to an appropriate audience. The first part of this work features two major contributions to bridge the gap between the dynamic and kinematic perspectives. One is the application of Design Envelopes that establishes a framework to balance constraints and assess design tradeoffs arising from each viewpoints. Three Design Envelopes are introduced to reach compromises on a vehicle's velocity, acceleration, and jerk. Another contribution is a methodology to tune the parameters of a car-following model analytically. Current tuning practices require empirically collected traffic count data, which is cumbersome to obtain. Analytically parameterizing car-following models facilitates more robust planning and encompasses both the dynamic and kinematic perspectives. The second contribution utilizes these Design Envelopes to improve a currently-existing speed profile generator. Integrating the Design Envelopes reformulates the existing algorithm as a constrained LQR problem, which enhances ride comfort and maintains dynamic stability for not just one vehicle, but a platoon. Simulations demonstrate that the refined algorithm can reduce the travel time on a specific route by 3-4.4%. More importantly, the simulations demonstrate it is possible to synthesize multiple engineering fields to enhance AV design. The second part of this work features two contributions aimed at revisions to modern-day highway design policies based on the concept of combining microscopic and macroscopic principles. One common belief is that AVs should drive better than the best human drivers, which suggests operating at or close to the vehicle's theoretical handling limits. Operating in this manner requires a thorough understanding of the associated risks, particularly the risks stemming from uncertainty. This is especially pertinent as there are many inherently probabilistic quantities that are conveniently treated as deterministic in vehicle performance simulations, such as the coefficient of friction. This is a questionable practice when operating on the precipice of compromised safety. Thus, the second part of this work probabilistically examines the chance of handling loss given the amount of tire-road friction and driver acceleration. The result is a mathematically rigorous quantification of a safety margin for various road conditions and driver ability levels. Changes to the official US highway design handbook are recommended based on the findings. / Doctor of Philosophy / Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are quickly becoming a reality. In the surge to understand and develop AVs, researchers tend to study specific subdivisions within the vehicle engineering umbrella. In particular, mechanical and civil engineers study vehicle dynamics in two different levels of specificity. Mechanical engineers typically investigate the dynamics of a single vehicle, such as vehicle-terrain interactions or how various mechanical components operate. On the other hand, civil engineers tend to study traffic flow, which involves platoons (large groups of vehicles). Regardless of the scale of study, each subdivision has a set of performance metrics. Due to the differences among subdivisions, some performance metrics may (unintentionally) compete. Compromises must be made in the design stage to produce a vehicle which caters to an appropriate audience. This work features four main contributions. The first contribution is the application of Design Envelopes that establishes a framework to balance constraints arising from the different ways of studying vehicle dynamics. Three Design Envelopes are introduced to reach compromises on various facets of a vehicle's behavior, such as the vehicle's speed. The second contribution utilizes these Design Envelopes to improve a currently-existing speed profile generator. The current speed profile generator determines how to smoothly transition between two speeds (such as needing to decelerate to remain under a speed limit), but the ride may be uncomfortable to passengers. Integrating the Design Envelopes into the algorithm enhances the ride comfort for not just one vehicle, but a platoon. Simulations demonstrate that the refined algorithm can reduce the travel time on a specific route by 3-4.4%. The third contribution examines how horizontal curves on highways are designed, and a revision based on an acceleration-based safety margin is proposed. Finally, the fourth contribution considers important design variables probabilistically to establish a link between a motorist's acceleration and the chance of a tire skidding failure, which can impact the way straightaway road segments are designed to accommodate sudden braking maneuvers. As a whole, this work demonstrates it is possible to synthesize multiple engineering fields to enhance both current and future (full-scale AV implementation) roadway design.

El presente trabajo de investigación, tiene un diseño de investigación (cuantitativo-cualitativo) que enfoca el problema de utilizar diferentes técnicas de diseño de pavimentos para un efecto económico e innovador para la conservación vial del tramo V de la carretera Acobamba – Puente Alcomachay en el Departamento de Huancavelica, que nos llevó a formular el objetivo de determinar la técnica de diseño de pavimento más económica: AASHTO 93 y NAASRA (antes AUSTROADS), desarrollando parámetros geotécnicos y de transitabilidad, obteniendo como resultado que: la técnica NAASRA, para las condiciones existentes del tramo, nos proporciona un pavimento económico con un espesor menor que la obtenida por el método AASHTO 93. This investigation study, has an investigation design (quantitative, qualitative) that focus the problem of using different pavement design techniques for an economical and innovative result for the Road Conservation Project of the highway Segment V, located between Acobamba until Alcomachay bridge, in the State of Huancavelica - Peru), that lead us to formulate the objective of finding the most economical pavement design technology AASHTO 93 and NAASRA (before AUSTROADS), developing geotechnical and passability parameters, obtaining as a result that: NAASRA technique, for the current road conditions gives us an economical pavement, with a lower width than the one obtained with the AASHTO 93 method.

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Balasubramaniam Natarajan / In this thesis, we present an automated system for detection and classification of cracks, based on the new standard proposed by `American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)'. The AASHTO standard is a draft standard, that attempts to overcome the limitations of current crack quantifying and classification methods. In the current standard, the crack classification relies heavily on the judgment of the expert. Thus the results are susceptible to human error. The effect of human error is especially severe when the amount of data collected is large. This lead to inconsistencies even if a single standard is being followed. The new AASHTO guidelines attempt to develop a method for consistent measurement of pavement condition. Gray scale images of the road are captured by an image capture vehicle and stored on a database. Through steps of thresholding, line detect and scanning, the gray scale image is converted to binary image, with 'zeros' representing cracked pixels. PCA analysis, followed by closing and filtering operation, are carried out on the gray scale image to identify cracked sub-images. The output from the filtering operation, is then replaced with its binary counterpart. In the final step the crack parameters are calculated. The region around the crack is divided into blocks of 32x32 to approximate and calculate the crack parameters with ease. The width of the crack is approximated by the average width of crack in each block. The orientation of the crack is calculated from the angle between direction of travel and the line joining the ends of the crack. Length of the crack is the displacement between the ends of the crack, and the position of the crack is calculated from the midpoint of the line joining the end points.

El Tramo I del proyecto “Mejoramiento de la carretera Oyón – Ambo” comprende 48, 9 km de longitud y beneficia a 93,878 usuarios entre los departamentos de Lima y Huánuco. El proyecto consiste en una vía con tramos de pavimento flexible y pavimento rígido. A lo largo del diseño se han identificado zonas críticas por las que debe atravesar la vía de las cuales los bofedales son los más complejos. Como medida de solución en el expediente técnico se ha propuesto el uso de geomallas biaxiales y geotextiles además de haber diseñado el pavimento rígido bajo la metodología AASHTO 93. La presente investigación está orientada en tres etapas. En la primera, se estabilizará con cal el tipo de suelo más representativo en las zonas críticas de bofedales. En la segunda, se diseñará el paquete estructural de la vía bajo la metodología de diseño de pavimento rígido AASHTO 93 y MPEDG. Finalmente, en la tercera etapa se analizará la influencia de la estabilización planteada en el diseño de pavimento rígido. Los resultados finales de esta investigación son dos. Por un lado, el porcentaje óptimo de dosificación de cal es de 10% y el CBR del suelo natural se ha incrementado en 7 veces el valor inicial. Por otro lado, se presentan dos diseños de pavimentos rígidos con reducciones de 2 cm. y 7 cm. de losa de pavimento en comparación del diseño presentado en el expediente técnico. / Section I of the project "Improvement of the Oyón - Ambo highway" comprises 48, 9 km in length and benefits to 93,878 users between the departments of Lima and Huánuco. The project consists of a road with flexible pavements and rigid pavements. Throughout the design, areas, things, things, other complexes have been identified. As a solution in the technical file has been used the use of biaxial geogrids and geotextiles, in addition to having been designed the rigid pavement under the methodology AASHTO 93. The present investigation is oriented in three stages. In the first, it will stabilize with the most representative type of soil in the critical areas of bofedales. In the second, the structural package of the road will be designed under the rigid pavement AASHTO 93 and MPEDG design methodology. Finally, in the third stage the influence of the stabilization proposed in the design of rigid pavement will be analyzed. The final results of this investigation are two. On the one hand, the optimum percentage of dosage of times is 10% and the CBR of natural soil has increased 7 times the initial value. On the other hand, there are two designs of rigid pavements with reductions of 2 cm. and 7 cm. of pavement slab in the comparison of the design presented in the technical file. / Tesis

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a new, innovative construction material that can be placed into forms without the need for mechanical vibration. The mixture proportions are critical for producing quality SCC and require an optimized combination of coarse and fine aggregates, cement, water, and chemical and mineral admixtures. The required mixture constituents and proportions may affect the mechanical properties, bond characteristics, and long-term behavior, and SCC may not provide the same inservice performance as conventional concrete (CC). Different SCC mixture constituents and proportions were evaluated for mechanical properties, shear characteristics, bond characteristics, creep, and durability. Variables evaluated included mixture type (CC or SCC), coarse aggregate type (river gravel or limestone), and coarse aggregate volume. To correlate these results with full-scale samples and investigate structural behavior related to strand bond properties, four girder-deck systems, 40 ft (12 m) long, with CC and SCC pretensioned girders were fabricated and tested. Results from the research indicate that the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design (AASHTO LRFD) Specifications can be used to estimate the mechanical properties of SCC for a concrete compressive strength range of 5 to 10 ksi (34 to 70 MPa). In addition, the research team developed prediction equations for concrete compressive strength ranges from 5 to 16 ksi (34 to 110 MPa). With respect to shear characteristics, a more appropriate expression is proposed to estimate the concrete shear strength for CC and SCC girders with a compressive strength greater than 10 ksi (70 MPa). The author found that girder-deck systems with Type A SCC girders exhibit similar flexural performance as deck-systems with CC girders. The AASHTO LRFD (2006) equations for computing the cracking moment, nominal moment, transfer length, development length, and prestress losses may be used for SCC girder-deck systems similar to those tested in this study. For environments exhibiting freeze-thaw cycles, a minimum 16-hour release strength of 7 ksi (48 MPa) is recommended for SCC mixtures.

Load and resistance factor design (LRFD) (often called limit states design (LSD)) has been mandated in the AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications and will be adopted in future editions of Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code for all transportation-related structures including reinforced soil retaining walls. The ultimate objective of this thesis work was to carry out reliability-based analysis for load and resistance factor design calibration for rupture and pullout limit states for steel and geosynthetic reinforced soil walls under self-weight and permanent surcharge loading conditions. In order to meet this objective it was necessary to generate large databases of measured load and resistance data from many sources and in some cases to propose new design models that improve the accuracy of underlying deterministic load and resistance models. Numerical models were also developed to model reinforced soil wall performance. These models were used to investigate load prediction accuracy of current analytical reinforcement load models. An important feature of the calibration method adopted in this study is the use of bias statistics to account for prediction accuracy of the underlying deterministic models for load and resistance calculations, random variability in input parameter values, spatial variation and quality of data. In this thesis, bias is defined as the ratio of measured to predicted value. The most important end product of the work described in this thesis is tabulated resistance factors for rupture and pullout limit states for the internal stability of steel and geosynthetic reinforced soil walls. These factors are developed for geosynthetic reinforced soil wall design using the current AASHTO Simplified Method, a new modified Simplified Method, and the recently proposed K-Stiffness Method. Useful quantitative comparisons are made between these three methods by introducing the concept of computed operational factors of safety. This allows designers to quantify the actual margin of safety using different design approaches. The thesis format is paper-based. Ten of the chapters are comprised of journal papers that have been published (2), are in press (2), in review (3) and the remaining (3) to be submitted once the earlier background papers are accepted. / Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-28 18:07:22.284

The purpose of this study is to investigate the footing fixity effect on the lateral deflection of a bridge pier for different types of soil. Generally, the rotational restraint coefficient at top and bottom of pier (degree of fixity of the pier) is used to compute the effective length factor of pier which is in turn used to determine the pier deflection. The magnitude of the deflection is used to determine whether the p-delta force effect should be considered while designing the pier. However, the pier deflection is usually computed by assuming that the pier footing is completely fixed to the ground. In case of soil under footing, rotational restraint coefficient is taken as five for all types of soils. In this study, finite element analysis method was used to determine the pier deflection by providing three actual soil environments and compare the results with the traditional approach. Hence, the rotational restraint coefficient will be modified according to the deflection computed from the finite element analysis.

[pt] A disseminação de programas computacionais que implementam o Método dos Elementos Finitos (MEF) influenciou a forma como os projetos estruturais são executados. Em projetos de pontes, onde os métodos simplificados de cálculo foram por muitos anos as principais formas de análise, o MEF se tornou uma ferramenta importante no processo. Atualmente os métodos simplificados complementam a utilização do MEF de diversas formas, desde o pré-dimensionamento dos elementos estruturais e fornecendo uma estimativa dos esforços cortantes e momentos fletores a serem encontrados, reduzindo a possibilidade de erros durante o projeto. Nos Estados Unidos a AASHTO LRFD (2012) apresenta um método simplificado de distribuição transversal de solicitações em suas especificações normativas que exige apenas o cálculo de um fator de distribuição. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar se este método pode ser usado como uma alternativa racional para o dimensionamento de pontes no Brasil. Para isso, foi necessário entender a diferença entre as normas brasileiras e americanas, sugerir um modelo de cálculo baseado na norma americana e que atenda às recomendações normativas brasileiras e validar este modelo com análises por elementos finitos e outros métodos simplificados. Os modelos de elementos finitos utilizados foram validados por meio da comparação dos resultados de suas análises com os resultados de testes de cargas em pontes realizados por outros autores. O modelo de cálculo proposto obteve para todas as situações analisadas resultados seguros, se mostrando capaz de determinar a distribuição transversal das solicitações e o deslocamento máximo das longarinas de pontes de vão único com vigas de concreto. Em pontes com vigas metálicas o método também obteve resultados seguros nas análises das solicitações, porém assim como os outros métodos simplificados, não é capaz de determinar de maneira confiável os deslocamentos máximos sofridos. Conclui-se, portanto, que a metodologia proposta pode ser utilizada no dimensionamento de pontes de um único vão no Brasil, desde que considerados os limites de aplicabilidade especificados. / [en] The dissemination of softwares that implement the Finite Element Method (FEM) influences the way the structural projects are made. For bridge projects, where the simplified methods have been for many years the main type of analysis, the FEM has become an important tool in the process. Currently the simplified methods complement the use of FEM in different ways, in the pre-dimensioning of the structural elements and providing an estimate of the shear and bending moments, reducing the possibility of errors during the design process. In the United States, AASHTO LRFD (2012) provides a simplified method for transverse wheel load distribution into their regulatory specifications that requires only the calculation of a load distribution factor. The objective of this work is to evaluate if this method can be used as a rational alternative for the design of bridges in Brazil. For this purpose, it was necessary to understand the difference between Brazilian and American standards, suggest a calculation model based on the American standard that meets Brazilian regulation and validate this model with FEM analysis and other simplified methods. The finite element models were validated by the comparison of the results of its analysis with the results of actual load tests on bridges performed by other authors. Safe results are obtained for all analyzed cases when using the proposed calculation model, therefore it was able to determine the transverse wheel load distribution and the maximum displacement of the stringers of bridges with only one span and concrete beams. In bridges with steel beams, the method also obtained safe results in the analysis of transverse wheel load distribution, but just as the others simplified methods, it is not able to determine the maximum displacements with high reliability. It follows, therefore, that the proposed methodology can be used in the design of bridges with one span in Brazil, if the applicability limits are specified.

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