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- All Subjects: Civil Engineering
- All Subjects: 19765
- Creators: Hjelmstad, Keith
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
In the Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 semesters, a survey was taken of students enrolled in the principal undergraduate civil engineering structures course, CEE 321: Structural Analysis and Design, to assess both the prevalence of technology in the lives of the students and the potential ways this information could be use to improve the educational experience. The results of this survey indicated that there was a considerable demand for additional online resources outside of the formal classroom. The students of CEE 321 requested online lecture videos in particular, and so a project was launched at the start of the Spring 2014 semester to deliver a large body of academic instructional videos. In total, a collection of 30 instructional videos which covered all key topics covered over a semester of CEE 321 was published. The driving interest behind this creative project is to increase the level of understanding, comfort, and performance in students enrolled in the class. Although the quantity of initial student feedback is relatively small, the reactions are distinctly positive and reflect an improvement in understanding amongst the responding students. Over the course of upcoming semesters, qualitative and quantitative assessments of the impact of the videos are expected to provide a better indication of their quality and effectiveness in supporting student comprehension and performance in CEE 321. Above all, the success of these videos is directly tied to their ability to function as living, adaptable resources which are continuously molded and improved by student feedback.
ContributorsReasor, Drew Donn (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
DescriptionIn this creative project, a treehouse is designed for a cottonwood tree in Dolores, Colorado. The treehouse design was rooted in engineering principles, and brought to life with using the commercial civil engineering program Risa-3D.
ContributorsOlder, Hunter Donovan (Author) / Ward, Kristen (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
Description
As a student and then an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UGTA), I have had the opportunity to personally witness the learning process of both myself and approximately 75 additional incoming Civil Engineering students taking the Mechanics courses after me. While watching the student learning process as an UGTA, I realized that there were consistent points of confusion amongst the students that the teaching staff could not efficiently communicate with the electronic or physical classroom materials available. As a physical learner, I am able to learn more comprehensively if I have a physical model to manipulate, and often found myself in the position of wanting to be able to physically represent and manipulate the systems being studied in class.
ContributorsCamillucci, Allyson Nicole (Co-author, Co-author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Chatziefstratiou, Efthalia (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The loading provisions were compared between the ASCE 7-10 standard and ASCE 7-16 standard. Two different structural models were considered: an office building with a flat roof located in Tempe and a community center with a gable roof located in Flagstaff. The following load types were considered: dead, live, wind, and snow loads. The only major changes between the standards were found in the wind load calculations. The winds loads were reduced by approximately 22% for the office building in Tempe and 37% for the community center in Flagstaff. A structural design was completed for the frame of the Flagstaff community building. There was a 19% reduction in cost from the design using ASCE 7-10 provisions compared to the design utilizing ASCE 7-16 provisions, leading to a saving of $7,599.17. The reduction in loading, and subsequently more cost-effective design, is attributed to the reduction in basic wind speed for the region and consideration of the ground elevation factor. The introduction of the new ASCE 7-16 standard was met with criticism, especially over the increase in specific coefficients in the wind load and seismic load chapters. Proponents of ASCE 7-16 boast that the new chapter on tsunami loads, new maps for various environmental loads, and a new electronic hazard are some of the merits of the newest standard. Others still question whether the complexity of the provisions is necessary and call for further improvements for the wind and seismic provisions. While tension exists in the desire for a simple standard, ASCE 7-16 prioritizes in having its provisions provide economical and reliable results. More consideration could be devoted to developing a more convenient standard for users. Regardless, engineering professionals should be able to adapt alongside newly developed practices and newly discovered data.
ContributorsCajegas, Cyam Joshua Dato (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Arizona's transportation infrastructure is in need of an update. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) State Infrastructure 2017 Report Card scores Arizona's roads at a D+ and Arizona's bridges at a B. These grades are indicative that the serviceability levels of the roads and bridges are less than adequate. These grades may seem tolerable in light of a national bridge C+ grade and a national road D grade, but the real problem lies in Arizona's existing funding gap that is in danger of exponentially increasing in the future. With an influx of vehicles on Arizona's roads and bridges, the cost of building, repairing, and maintaining them will grow and cause a problematic funding shortage. This report explores the current state of Arizona's roads and bridges as well as the policy and funding sources behind them, using statistics from the ASCE infrastructure report card and the Federal Highway Administration. Additionally, it discusses how regular, preventative maintenance for transportation infrastructure is the economically responsible choice for the state because it decreases delays and fuel expenses, prevents possible catastrophes, and increases human safety. To prioritize preventative transportation infrastructure maintenance, the common mentality that allows it to be sidelined for more newsworthy projects needs to be changed. Along with gaining preventative maintenance revenues through increasing vehicular taxes and fees, encouraging transportation policymakers and politicians to make economic decisions in favor of maintenance rather than waiting until failure is a reliable way to encourage regular, preventative maintenance.
ContributorsBurdett, Courtney (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Pendyala, Ram (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SSEBE) used to have a shake table where FSE 100 professors would use students' model structures to demonstrate how failure occurs during an earthquake. The SSEBE has wanted to build a shake table ever since the original table was no longer available to them. My creative project is to design and build a shake table for FSE 100 use. This paper will go through the steps I took to design and construct my shake table as well as suggestions to anyone else who would want to build a shake table. The design of the shake table that was constructed was modeled after Quanser's Shake Table II. The pieces from the shake table were purchased from McMaster-Carr and was assembled at the TechShop in Chandler, Arizona. An educational component was added to this project to go along with the shake table. The project will be for the use of a FSE 100 classes. This project is very similar to the American Society of Civil Engineers, Pacific Southwest Conference's seismic competition. The main difference is that FSE 100 students will not be making a thirty story model but only a five story model. This shake table will make Arizona State University's engineering program competitive with other top universities that use and implement shake table analysis in their civil engineering courses.
ContributorsLockhart, Laura E. (Author) / Ward, Kristen (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The 8.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico City in 1985 left 10,000 people dead, and over 400 buildings collapsed. The extent of the damage left behind by this powerful quake has been extensively studied to make improvements to engineering and architectural practices in earthquake-prone areas of the world. Thirty-two years later, on the exact anniversary of the devastating earthquake, Mexico City was once again jolted by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Although still significant, the 2017 earthquake collapsed only about a tenth of the buildings collapsed by the 1985 Earthquake, and in turn resulted in a lower death toll. Even though these earthquakes struck in the same seismic region, their effects were vastly different. This thesis completes a comparison between the two earthquakes focusing on the structural impacts including background on Mexico City's unique geology, basic concepts necessary to understand the response of structures to earthquake excitation, and structural failure modes observed in both earthquakes. The thesis will also discuss the earthquake's fundamental differences that led to the discrepancy in structural damage and ultimately in lower death tolls. Of those discussed, is the types of buildings that were targeted and collapsed. In 1985, buildings with 6 or more floors had the highest damage category. Resonance frequencies of these buildings were similar to the resonance frequencies of the subsoil, leading to amplified oscillations, and ultimately in failure. The 2017 earthquake did not have as much distance from the epicenter for the high frequency seismic waves to be absorbed. In contrast, the shorter, faster waves that reached the capital affected smaller buildings, and spared most tall buildings.
ContributorsGonzalez, Diana Laura (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Ward, Kristen (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In the structural engineering industry, the design of structures typically follows a prescriptive approach in which engineers conform to a series of code requirements that stipulate the design process. Prescriptive design is tested, reliable, and understood by practically every structural engineer in the industry; however, in recent history a new method of design has started to gain traction among certain groups of engineers. Performance-based design is a reversal of the prescriptive approach in that it allows engineers to set performance goals and work to prove that their proposed designs meet the criteria they have established. To many, it is an opportunity for growth in the structural design industry. Currently, performance-based design is most commonly utilized in regions where seismic activity plays an important role in the design process. Due to its flexible nature, performance-based design has proven extremely useful when applied to unique structures such as high-rises, stadiums, and other community-centric designs. With a focus placed on performance objectives and not on current code prescriptions, engineers utilizing performance-based design are more adept to implement new materials, design processes, and construction methods, and can more efficiently design their structures to exist on a specific area of land. Despite these many cited benefits, performance-based design is still considered an uncommon practice in the broad view of structural design. In order to ensure that structural engineers have the proper tools to practice performance-based design in instances where they see fit, a coordinated effort will be required of the engineers themselves, the firms of which they are employed, the professional societies to which they belong, and the educators who are preparing their next generation. Performance-based design holds with it the opportunity to elevate the role of the structural engineer to which they are informed members of the community, where the structures they create not only perform according to design prescriptions, but also perform according to the needs of the owners, engineers, and society.
ContributorsMaurer, Cole (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis advisor) / Chatziefstratiou, Efthalia (Committee member) / Dusenberry, Donald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Innovative teaching methods must be studied and implemented to optimize student learning and prepare future generations for complex challenges. Dr. Keith Hjelmstad, a professor at Arizona State University, developed such an approach, “The Mechanics Project,” and has implemented it in foundational engineering mechanics courses. Although course instructors have used traditional “lecture and read” approaches for generations, the world is changing, requiring a modified policy. In this thesis, I research, discuss, and analyze the positive effects of The Mechanics Project for civil engineering students based on its fundamental principles.
ContributorsWoodward, Caleb (Author) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Thesis director) / Chatziefstratiou, Efthalia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Composite materials have gained interest in the aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering industries due to their desirable properties - high specific strength and modulus, and superior resistance to fatigue. Design engineers greatly benefit from a reliable predictive tool that can calculate the deformations, strains, and stresses of composites under uniaxial and multiaxial states of loading including damage and failure predictions. Obtaining this information from (laboratory) experimental testing is costly, time consuming, and sometimes, impractical. On the other hand, numerical modeling of composite materials provides a tool (virtual testing) that can be used as a supplemental and an alternate procedure to obtain data that either cannot be readily obtained via experiments or is not possible with the currently available experimental setup. In this study, a unidirectional composite (Toray T800-F3900) is modeled at the constituent level using repeated unit cells (RUC) so as to obtain homogenized response all the way from the unloaded state up until failure (defined as complete loss of load carrying capacity). The RUC-based model is first calibrated and validated against the principal material direction laboratory tests involving unidirectional loading states. Subsequently, the models are subjected to multi-directional states of loading to generate a point cloud failure data under in-plane and out-of-plane biaxial loading conditions. Failure surfaces thus generated are plotted and compared against analytical failure theories. Results indicate that the developed process and framework can be used to generate a reliable failure prediction procedure that can possibly be used for a variety of composite systems.
ContributorsKatusele, Daniel Mutahwa (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis advisor) / Mobasher, Barzin (Committee member) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021