In open channels, the relationship between the specific energy and the flow depth exhibits a minimum, and the corresponding flow conditions are called critical flow conditions. Herein they are reanalyzed on the basis of the depth-averaged Bernoulli equation. At critical flow, there is only one possible flow depth, and a new analytical expression of that characteristic depth is developed for ide...

The seismic safety levels provided by the three most recent editions of ACI and ASCE regulations for new moment frame structures are determined. Five special RC frames having 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 stories designed separately based on 318-99, 318-05, 318-11, associated UBC 97, 7-05, 7-10. A suit 10 consistent earthquake records is selected non-linear dynamic analysis buildings. Incremental conducted,...

Safety Cases are complex bodies of interdependent evolving information demonstrating safety of some system. The body of material contained therein presents the justification that appropriate safety requirements are met for a system or service including documenting the safety process itself. Safety Case Reports are projections from Safety Cases at a point in time and are usually key deliverables...

This paper applies two-stage stochastic quadratic programming to optimize conjunctive use operations of groundwater pumping and artificial recharge with farmer’s expected revenue and cropping decisions. The two-stage programming approach allows modeling of water and permanent crop production decisions, with recourse for uncertain conditions of hydrology, annual crops, and irrigation technology ...

An efficient ramp control strategy may not be politically attractive due to its negative impacts on equity. This paper addresses this issue and presents a new objective for ramp metering—minimizing weighted travel time—which is able to balance efficiency and equity. A quasioptimization/simulation approach is used to achieve the new objective. BEEX, a new family of control strategies with variou...

This paper presents the project management process maturity (PM) model that determines and positions an organization’s relative project management level with other organizations. The comprehensive model follows a systematic approach to establish an organization’s current project management level. Each maturity level consists of major project management characteristics, factors, and processes. T...

In this paper we develop a general minimum principle of analytical dynamics that is applicable to nonideal constraints. The new principle encompasses Gauss’s Principle of Least Constraint. We use this principle to obtain the general, explicit, equations of motion for holonomically and/or nonholonomically constrained systems with non-ideal constraints. Examples of a nonholonomically constrained ...

Although the importance of civil infrastructure is universally recognized, the funding to maintain the U.S. system has proven insufficient over the last several decades. As has been reported recently by ASCE, an estimated $2.2 trillion is needed to bring the country’s overall infrastructure up to good working order. While the increase in infrastructure funding that will accompany this attention...

During the 1970s, Wachspress developed shape functions for convex n-gons as polynomials of n!2 degree divided by the one of n!3. Originated from projective geometry these interpolants are linear on the sides and can exactly reproduce arbitrary linear fields. Here an alternative derivation is presented. The wide availability of computer algebra programs makes these high accuracy elements accessi...

In this paper, optimum design of three-dimensional (3D) multi-story reinforced concrete (RC) structures is obtained using an improved version the plasma generation optimization (IPGO) algorithm. The reinforcing bars and geometry cross-sections are considered as discrete variables that chosen from a prearranged section database. objective function cost framework, steel concrete. moment shear fra...