Design Improvements Using Finite Elements and Optimizing with Approximate Functions
A design optimization module has been added to the finite element program ANSYS, designed to aid the engineer in reaching an improved or optimum design. The numerical technique employed...
Animated Response of Dynamic Systems
Understanding how a simple structural system responds to a dynamically applied load is a difficult concept for most students to grasp. The fundamental mathematical theory of this behavior...
Analysis and Design of Prestressed Concrete Spun Poles
A microcomputer package for the analysis and design of prestressed concrete spun poles is described. The package, named PCPAD, consists of six programs each having a specific analysis...
Attached Scientific Computers in Structural Analysis
The design and analysis process is explored in terms of its requirements for user decision-making and interaction. This is presented as a three-phase procedure: (1) the engineer developing...
Scenic Squeeze
Constructing a four-lane dual highway through the 12 miles of Colorado's Glenwood Canyon involves several engineering innovations: cantilevered roadways, unusual retaining...
Effective Pedestrian Safety Programs
Pedestrian fatalities account for 16 percent of all highway-related deaths and about 129,000 pedestrians are involved in accidents each year. Analyses of pedestrian accident data and determining...
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Highway Safety Improvements
The need exists for better information relative to the effectiveness of various safety treatments and actions. Reliable measures of effectiveness are required for determining the most...
Roadside Design in the Future
Since the first roadways were built, highway designers have constantly been striving to ensure that motorists can travel to their destinations on safe highways. However, their efforts...
Shoulder Rumble Strips at Narrow Bridges
The highways in the United States have thousands of minimum design narrow bridges. Replacement of these bridges with current state of the art designs is not cost effective nor feasible...
End Treatments for Deep Beam Highway Guardrail
End treatments on highway guardrail serve two functions: (1) to make the end safe in case of an impact there, and (2) to provide anchorage in case of an impact adjacent to the end. Two...
Hazardous Events After Redirectional Collisions
The potential for hazardous events occurring to vehicle occupants after a redirection from a longitudinal barrier has not been adequately addressed. Very few studies are available which...
What to Do When a Failure Occurs
When a major building problem involving structural failure occurs, action should begin immediately to determine the damage or failure and detect the underlying problem. This paper will...
Quality Assurance/Quality Control: Alternative Approaches to Reduce Failures
Efforts to achieve quality on construction projects usually center around code-compliant design, thorough specifications, and careful inspection. The alarming increase in both the frequency...
Seismic Acceleration Maps for Oregon
To evaluate the seismic hazard for the Corps dams in the Portland District, operating basis earthquakes (OBE) and maximum credible earthquakes (MCE) were established for seismic zones...
Seismic Resistance of an Elevated Water Tank?A Case Study
Current knowledge of earthquake risk and structural response has raised concern about the safety of elevated water storage tanks which were constructed several decades ago. This paper...
Future Containerships from a Ship Owner's Viewpoint
This paper is a presentation of the author's projection of size and design constraints of future containerships. There is a discussion of containers and on-deck container...
Design and Construction of the Spirit Lake Outlet Tunnel, Mount St. Helens, Washington
In 1982, a governmental task force was formed to evaluate the hazard posed by the blockage of Spirit Lake that resulted from the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May 1980. An analysis was...
Problem Solving Using Expert System Techniques
There are basically two approaches to problem solving currently used in expert systems: the derivation approach and the formation approach. The derivation approach involves deriving a...
Design of a Knowledge Based System to Convert Airframe Geometric Models to Structural Models
Airframe manufactures who use CAD tools to design airframes and finite element analysis software to analyze them, still generate the finite element models using semi-manual methods. Although...
An Expert System for Flood Estimation
This study was made to investigate the feasibility of expert systems for solving certain engineering problems. A prototype system was developed to demonstrate the applicability of these...
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