Journal of Undergraduate Research

I am writing to thank you for the generous scholarship. I cannot express my gratitude for this endowment. My wife is having a baby in three weeks, so this truly is a blessing in our lives. This scholarship will help us to make ends meet while allowing me to finish my bachelor’s degree. I plan […]

Gregory J. Larson The IsoTruss Panel is a three dimensional composite grid structure, evolving from the IsoTruss®. The IsoTruss® implements a revolutionary idea of utilizing the very strong unidirectional characteristics in composite materials in a three dimensional manner. The IsoTruss® is utilized in pole-type applications. The IsoTruss Panel is based on similar principles but is […]

Josh Kvavle Introduction The purpose of my research was to fabricate air/dielectric interface diffraction grating couplers. This report will explain the obstacles that I encountered, and the resulting direction that my research took. In summary, soon after I began my research, a very expensive laser that I depended on for this research was sent away […]

Eric Jones and Dr. Jim Nelson, Civil and Environmental Engineering My project is to convert the file system of the program WMS (Watershed Modeling System) from an ASCII text file format to an updated HDF5, or XMDF file format. WMS was created and is maintained by BYU’s EMRL or Environmental Modeling Research Laboratories. The program […]

Eve S. Crow and Dr. Steven Benzley, Civil and Environmental Engineering In Finite Element Analysis (FEA), there are often times when the mesh on the model needs to be more dense or less dense in a certain region. Refinement and coarsening are the tools used to achieve the desired density of a mesh. The CUBIT […]

Amy L. Crook and Dr. Travis Gerber, Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction An important soil parameter in geotechnical engineering is relative density. Relative density is a measure of the compactness of a cohesionless soil when compared to the loosest and densest state of the soil. Three separate parameters are needed to calculate relative density: maximum […]

Samuel Gilstrap and Dr. T. Leslie Youd, Civil and Environmental Engineering The term liquefaction refers to the loss of strength in soils during earthquake shaking. Generally, liquefaction occurs in loose sandy soils which lie beneath the water table. Liquefaction-induced ground failures have been major causes of bridge damage during past earthquakes. My research was to […]

Thomas J. Weaver and Dr. Kyle M. Rollins, Civil and Environmental Engineering During earthquakes some soils loose their strength and flow like a liquid. This phenomenon is known as liquefaction. For many years, engineers and scientists have been studying the occurrence of liquefaction in silty and sandy soils. Recently, engineers and scientists have learned that […]

Aaron B. Smith and Dr. Travis Gerber, Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction When soils are compacted, they become stronger and experience less settlement. Because of these improved characteristics, soils are usually compacted to some specified level before a foundation is built on top of them. The difficulty encountered is how to determine what the specified […]

Rebecca Crane and Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering Cement treatment of aggregate base materials has been utilized in pavement construction since the 1930s (1). The addition of cement increases the strength and stiffness of the treated material and therefore offers greater structural support to the surface layer and greater protection of the […]