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UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO CEAE DEPARTMENT
FACULTY MEETING MINUTES
Date March 20, 2013 Time 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Facilitator Keith Molenaar Scribe Morris
Location ECCE 1B41
Subject Bi-Weekly Meeting
Attendees See Attached
Key Points discussed
No. Topic Highlights
1 2012-13 Faculty Search Updates
The department was searching for one environmental engineering candidate. Due to the excellence of the candidates and the growth of the undergraduate environmental program, the dean has approved two hires – the second being a college growth position. Two offers have been made. After 3/22/13, all candidates will be evaluated and our upcoming recommendations will be forwarded to Rob Davis.
2 CEAE Enrollments – Good News
Initial CEAE admissions offers are at 101% compared to end of season last year. The college as a whole is at 92% compared to end of season. CEAE is currently at 65% enrollment confirmations compared to last year’s final enrollment numbers and compared to the college at 47%. There are 98 admission offers for ArchE and 139 for CivE.
3 NSF Career Project Overview
John McCartney, Matt Hallowell and Abbie Liel gave presentations regarding their NSF Career Projects. Each presentation addressed the three objectives of the projects - teaching, research and outreach. See the attached presentations.
A Multi-‐Scale Methodology for Assessing the Reductions in
Seismic Risk Possible through Building Retrofit Design & Policy
from Buildings to Communities
NSF CAREER Award Abbie Liel March 20, 2013
Motivation
• Older buildings contribute disproporBonately to losses and
fataliBes in earthquakes.
• Few requirements that owners seismically retrofit and voluntary
rates of retrofit are low: only 1-‐8% of older buildings.
• State and local policy mandaBng or incenBvizing retrofit is the
primary measure for overcoming barriers to retrofit, but the
impacts of these policies on safety of the built environment are
not well-‐understood.
Proposed Service Learning Modules • Intended to prepare today’s students to be leaders in designing,
building and maintaining hazard-‐resistant and sustainable
structures.
• Service learning acBviBes will focus on energy retrofits, and
structural analysis challenges associated with implemenBng these
retrofits.
• Modules evaluated through surveys of students and parBcipaBng
organizaBons, student exam responses and FCQs.
4/6/2013
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4/6/2013 1The University of Colorado at BoulderThe University of Colorado at Boulder
Predictive modeling of construction injuries in complex environments
Matthew Hallowell
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4/6/2013 2The University of Colorado at Boulder
A Grand Opportunity
6 million US workers employed in construction
1,200 fatalities per year
460,00 disabling injuries each year
$15 Billion in direct costs
Hispanic workers are 18% more likely to be injured
30 % high school students in CO are Hispanic
Only 8% of undergrads and 3% of graduate students at CU are Hispanic
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4/6/2013 3The University of Colorado at Boulder
Problem Statement
BIM, Sensing, Augmented Reality may be used to improve safety
Unlimited number of tasks and objects in construction environments.
No reliable and robust data
Research Objectives
Empirically identify fundamental causes of injuries
Reduce dataset to principal attributes
Relate principal attributes in probabilistic models
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4/6/2013 4The University of Colorado at Boulder
Framework
Genome projects
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4/6/2013 5The University of Colorado at Boulder
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4/6/2013 6The University of Colorado at Boulder
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4/6/2013 7The University of Colorado at Boulder
Research, Teaching, and Outreach Integration
Research output: probabilistic models of construction injuries based on robust attributes
Teaching: Attribute recognition, site optimization, and control during design and planning
Augmented Virtuality, Video Analysis
Outreach: An integrated approach to sharing new knowledge with students and industry members through combined andragogy and pedagogy.
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4/6/2013 8The University of Colorado at Boulder
New approach to integrating research, teaching, and outreach
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4/6/2013 9The University of Colorado at Boulder
Targeted Impacts
Recruitment of Hispanic graduate and undergraduate students
Hispanic industry mentors and agents for dissemination
Integration of new attributes with augmented virtuality
Activities packaged for sharing with Skyline STEM, classes, and industry
Improved safety through proactive decisions
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4/6/2013 10The University of Colorado at Boulder
People who helped BIG TIME
Ross Corotis
Hari Rajaram
Amy Javernick-Will
John McCartney
Rich Regueiro
Mark Hernandez
Angie Bielefeldt
Balaji Rajagopalan
Paul Chinowsky
Steve Sheldon
4/6/2013
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NSF CAREER Project Overview
John S. McCartney
University of Colorado Boulder
Presentation to CEAE Faculty
March 20, 2013
Geotechnical Engineering Group
NSF CAREER Project Scope
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• Integrated research and education initiative
• Research: Understand issues involved with using spurious heat from buildings and industry to improve the performance of geotechnical systems involving unsaturated soils
• Education: Train student researchers to effectively disseminate research results to audiences with varying levels of technical expertise– Improve personal engagement in educational success
– Start successful careers as leaders in this new market sector
4/6/2013
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Practical MotivationGeotechnical Engineering Group
• Backfill material selection options for earthen embankments and mechanically-stabilized earth (MSE) walls:• Freely-draining backfills (gravel, sand)
✗ Typically unavailable without hauling✗ Expensive Low influence of degree of saturation
on deformation response• Poorly-draining backfills (silt, low PI clay)
Often readily available Inexpensive✗ High influence of degree of saturation on
deformation response
• Most geotechnical design guides require use of freely-draining backfills (Sabatini et al. 1997)
Stress State in Unsaturated Soils
Geotechnical Engineering Group
waa uuu '
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11
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1van Genuchten (1980)
Soil-water retention curve
Lu et al. (2010)Effective-stress
parameter
Bishop (1959) Effective stress
Effective stress integrating SWRC
'tan'' Example of dependency of soil properties on effective stress
4/6/2013
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Thermal Improvement of Unsaturated Soils
Geotechnical Engineering Group
Goal: Maintain unsaturated conditions in backfill by inducing thermally driven water flow out of the backfill• Unsaturated conditions lead to greater shear strength and
stiffness of backfill• Include permeable reinforcements (nonwoven geotextiles) to
provide an intermediate drainage path between heat exchangers
• Backfill becomes a sink for sustained heat sources:• Cooling of buildings• Dry cooling for
industrial facilitiesHot
Cold
NSF CAREER Project Scope
Geotechnical Engineering Group
Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Properties of Unsaturated Soils
Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical
Soil-Geosynthetic Interaction
Soil-Geosynthetic Thermo-Hydro-
Mechanical Constitutive Model
Outcome: Dissemination of results to wide audience and recruiting of new students to
STEM fields
Outcome: Engagement of students in success of
interdisciplinary training
Lab TestingCentrifuge-Scale
Modeling
Atmosphere Interaction Model
for Heat/Water Flow in
Thermo-active Geotechnical
Systems
CommunicationTraining
Outcomes:Validated Design
and Analysis Tools;Wider Class of
Backfills Available for Construction;Energy Efficiency
External Presentations
4/6/2013
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Interesting Phenomena to Study
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• Thermally driven water flow in unsaturated soils
• Thermal volume change of unsaturated soils
• Impact of temperature on the water retention of unsaturated soils
• Impact of suction and temperature on the shear strength of unsaturated soils
• Impact of temperature on the shape of elasto-plastic yield surface (thermal softening)
• Impact of temperature on the deformation response of geosynthetic reinforcements
Project Personnel
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• John McCartney, PI
• Nahed Alsherif (PhD candidate, post-comprehensive)– Impact of high suction and high temperatures on the shear
strength of unsaturated soils
• CJ Coccia (PhD student, pre-comprehensive)– Constitutive modeling considering mechanisms of thermal
volume change in unsaturated soils
– Thermally driven water flow in unsaturated soils
• Melissa Stewart (PhD student, pre-preliminary)– Impact of temperature on soil-geosynthetic interaction
4/6/2013
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Thermally Driven Water Flow
Geotechnical Engineering Group
Coccia and McCartney (2013)
Thermo‐Hydro‐Mechanical Triaxial Cell System
Components:‐ Suction control system‐ Temperature control
system‐ Mechanical loading
control system• Load control for heating• Displacement control for
shearing
Geotechnical Engineering Group
Alsherif and McCartney (2013)
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Total stress failure envelope for unsaturated Bonny silt
at room temperature of 23 C
Principal stress difference versus axial strain
at room temperature of 23C
Room Temperature Constant Water Content Triaxial Test Results
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Axial Strain εa, (%)
Prin
cipl
e st
ress
dif
fere
nce σ 1
-σ3,
(kPa
)
Pn=300 kPa
Pn=200 kPa
Pn=100 kPa
Geotechnical Engineering Group
(σ1-σ3) = 6.068(σ3 - ua) + 1319.5R² = 0.98650
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350Confining net stress σ3 - ua, (kPa)
Failure envelopeψ= 126 MPaψ= 290 MPa
Prin
cipl
e st
ress
dif
fere
nce σ 1
-σ3,
(kPa
)
Alsherif and McCartney (2013)
Thermal Volume Change
Geotechnical Engineering Group
McCartney et al. (2013)
Saturated Soils Unsaturated Soils
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Thermal Shear Strength
Geotechnical Engineering Group
McCartney et al. (2013)
Yield Stress Stress-Strain Curve
Confinement Effects on Geosynthetic Creep
Geotechnical Engineering Group
McCartney et al. (2013)
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Communication for Geotechnical Engineers
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• Although useful for all engineers, communication skills are essential for geotechnical engineers because of the challenges they face in practice
• Even though the geotechnical component of civil engineering systems involving soils is typically constructed first, the geotechnical engineer is often the last subcontractor to be hired
• The geotechnical component of these systems has a high potential to add inefficiency and risk to a project, as soils are inherently variable
Communication for Geotechnical Engineers
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• Prescriptive designs cannot be applied to solve every problem in geotechnical engineering
• Opportunities to develop creative solutions that address site-specific problems in a cost-effective and sustainable manner
• When the geotechnical engineer is hired last, solutions must be conveyed to peers in the design office, owners, architects, structural engineers, contractors, regulators, and construction quality control supervisors
• As these individuals have diverse technical backgrounds, geotechnical engineers who can communicate technical information to audiences with varying levels of technical expertise will be in high demand in the workplace
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Educational Plan Objectives
Geotechnical Engineering Group
• Developing a communication workshop for student researchers which incorporates lectures on effective communication skills, guided presentation planning using written case statements, and presentation practice with film feedback analysis
• Organizing presentations by student researchers to:– High school freshmen from Denver East High School
– Diverse student organizations housed within the CU BOLD center
– Industry stakeholders in the Geothermal Academy
– National engineering firms
• Assessing the program’s success by comparing audience feedback with students’ written case statements