Markov Decision Processes in Structural Optimization
Initial structural design and its associated inspection and maintenance policies are modelled as a Markov Decision Process. This approach attempts to realistically capture the dynamics...
Structural System Design under Uncertainty Via Pareto Optimization
Structural systems are generally designed under safety, serviceability and economy requirements. The single objective optimal design problem of both deterministic and nondeterministic...
Bridge Overloading Criteria
Considerable concern is being expressed by the public and government agencies over the deteriorating state of the country's infrastructure. At the same time, there is a general feedling...
A Multiple Presence Load Model for Bridges
This paper utilises weigh-in-motion data to simulate multi-lane traffic crossing short span multiple-lane bridges. In this manner the reduction factors for a multiple lane bridge are derived....
On the Fatigue Loading for Local Components
Fatigue provisions in the North American Codes for design of highway bridges may not be applicable to the design of local components which are subjected to high axle overloads and dynamic...
Optimizing Economic Returns in Drainage Design
Soil wetness is a limitation to high agricultural productivity in Northern New York (NNY) where some 325,000 ha of cropland require drainage treatment. Drainage is needed for trafficability...
Agricultural Drains and Safety of Dams
Bonny Dam is located in east central Colorado on the South Fork Republican River. The dam's foundation is in the relatively porous Ogallala formation. Throughout the history of the dam,...
Irrigation Project Modernization
Project modernization for sustainable irrigation requires a design and operation plan which will provide water deliveries with flexibility and reliability at each level within the system....
Technology Transfer for Projects in South America
Engineering services were provided for three projects in South America. One project was located in the Pampa Region of Argentina and two others in northern Brazil. The projects were: 1)...
Design and Maintenance Factors Affecting Application Uniformity of Low Pressure Center-Pivot Irrigation Systems
Uniformity tests were conducted on 30 center-pivot sprinkler systems installed with one of six different low pressure nozzle types or high pressure impact sprinklers. Well designed and...
Stochastic Simulation and Optimization of Irrigation Canal Network Flows
This paper investigates the effects of parametric and objective uncertainty on simulation and optimal hydraulic design of irrigation canal networks. A model of spatially-varied flow in...
Design of Latticed Steel Transmission Structures
This standard,
Water's New World
Potential applications of computer automation in the water industry have become increasingly apparent in the last several years. A growing number of water agencies are considering purchasing...
Highway Design in 3-D
Limitations in the flexibility and intelligence of commercial roadway design packages led Hart-Freeland-Roberts, Inc., Brentwood, TN, to write its own highway design software. From the...
The Evolution of an Environmental Monitor
After more than 40 years of planning, litigation, design and construction, one of the nation's most controversial highway projects is finished. The completion earlier this...
Taming Tornado Alley
Some structures�such as nuclear power plants�need complete protection from tornadoes regardless of the high costs of design and construction. Public facilities need protection too, but...
Expert Systems: Ready to Hit the Road?
Expert systems, programs that take the rules a person uses to solve a problem and encodes them into a computer, are starting to get serious examination from DOTs around the country. The...
CAD and the Corps
CAD has been a near standard feature of engineering design for the last decade, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found that the way their installations have gone about designing...
Pile Installation and Testing at Ningbo Port, China
As part of an ambitious development program at the Port of Ningbo, the People's Republic of China constructed a 694 m (2277 ft) long offshore pier structure to provide a container berth...
Analysis of a Wharf for a Container Terminal
A balanced combination of sophisticated computer programs was employed to model the soil strata, foundation and structure of a wharf for a new container terminal in the Port of Topolobampo,...
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