Analysis of IsoTruss Joints

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Robert Thompson and Dr. DAvid Jensen, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department The purpose of this project was to identify how different winding patterns of composite tow affects the strength of interwoven joints, like those that exist in IsoTruss and other composite lattice structures. Three different winding configurations were analyzed to compare and determine how the […]

Equilibration of Chloride Ions in Concrete Bridge Decks after Rehabilitation Using Hydro-Demolition and Concrete Overlay

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Elizabeth Newbill and Dr. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department In cold regions like northern Utah, harsh winters can lead to decreases in the service life of concrete bridge decks. Chloride-based deicing salts, which are commonly used to remove snow and ice from the surface of concrete bridge decks during winter months, are of […]

Geogrid-Reinforcement’s Zone of Influence

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Shaun Hilton and W. Spencer Guthrie, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction Geogrid is a polypropylene material manufactured with approximately 1-in. wide openings, called apertures. A triaxial geogrid configuration is illustrated in Figure 1. Geogrid reinforcement is typically positioned beneath and/or within an aggregate base layer in a pavement structure and is designed to […]

Characterization of Polyester Polymer Concrete Material Properties

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Robert Stevens and Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction The purpose of this project was to investigate selected material properties of polyester polymer concrete (PPC) using laboratory testing. PPC is a synthetic concrete that combines sand and coarse aggregate with a polyester resin binder that takes the place of conventional […]

Effect of Thickness on Fatigue Life on Creased Thin PLA

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Peter Schleede with Larry Howell, Mechanical Engineering Introduction Origami-based engineering creates products that solve problems inherent in other designs. For example, they can compress into smaller volumes, achieve new and unique motions, and lessen or mitigate numbers of welds, fasteners, or other joining methods. However, a weakness of these designs is the necessity of folding […]

Development of a Flow Duration Curve to Determine Hydropower Feasibility

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Susan Estep with Elise Estep and Dr. Jim Nelson, Civil and Environmental Engineering The purpose of this project was to derive Flow Duration Curves (FDCs) by three separate methods in order to compare the accuracy of these methods. The FDCs would be used to estimate the amount of water that would be consistently available for […]

Mentored Environment for Isogeometric Analysis

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Kevin Tew and Michael Scott The mentored environment for isogeometric analysis (IGA) has trained engineering and computer science students to develop isogeometric numerical methods and accompanying software to solve challenging problems in science and engineering. The mentoring environment consisted of: Weekly group meetings where research concepts were discussed, scientific literature was reviewed, and progress was […]

Finite Element Modeling of Shallow Embedded Connection Stiffness

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Trevor Jones and Dr. Paul Richards, Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction Shallowly embedded connections are a common and important connection of steel columns to reinforced concrete foundations, which can increase the building’s overall stiffness and strength. Until now, their contributions have been neglected because they are hard to quantify and study. Previous research at BYU […]

Thermal Properties of Natural-Colored and Darkened Portland Cement Concrete Pavement

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Tenli Waters and W. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering The purpose of this project was to measure thermal properties of natural-colored and darkened portland cement concrete in order to explain observations from field data already collected. While portland cement concrete pavement offers a durable surface and long service life when designed and constructed properly, […]

Evaluation of Nano-Lithium Silicate Sealers for Concrete

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Tenli Waters and Professor W. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of nano-lithium silicate sealers for protecting concrete parapet walls against chloride ingress along highways where deicing salts are applied as part of regular winter maintenance. For this research, testing was performed on parapets of […]