Am. Society of Civil Engineers

Analysis of asphalt pavement materials and systems; emerging methods; proceedings.

Repairing and replacing America's crumbling infrastructure will cost well over a trillion dollars. These 13 relevant papers, drawn from those presented at the June 2006 symposium, describe recent research in characterizing, modeling and simulating the behaviors of asphalt pavement systems. Topics include using stress concentration factors as performance indicators for mixes, modeling particle-to-particle interaction, studying linear and nonlinear as well as damage-coupled viscoelastic properties of asphalt mixtures, estimating stiffness of mastics using the Hirsch model, studying compaction through FEM and DEM models, understanding temperature dependence in the Kuhn model, validating viscoelastic interconversion in hot mix asphalt and on the cracking potential of binder course asphalt mixtures, using relative root-mean-square errors in pavement response, considerations for nonlinear analyses of using finite element modeling in studying flexible pavements, using monotonic and repeated load triaxial tests to determine geogrid benefits and understanding the permanent deformation of subgrade soils. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Aviation, a world of growth; proceedings.

Twenty-one papers from the August 2007 conference share lessons learned from airport development projects and airport sustainability, and discuss airfield design and construction, airport people movers, planning and safety, modeling and simulation, and security issues. Case studies depict construction of a new runway at Washington Dulles, relocation of the Panama City-Bay County airport, and redevelopment of the San Antonio airport. Other topics include China's air cargo demand, a fuzzy decision making approach to facilities maintenance, an aggregate model of controller requirements for enroute traffic control, and concrete mixture standards for runways and taxiways. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Civil works for hydroelectric facilities; guidelines for life extension and upgrade.

This work sets forth guidelines on applying rehabilitation, life extension, and upgrade engineering techniques to aging civil hydroelectric infrastructure. Separate chapters are devoted to four types of civil works: structures, water conveyances, water control devices, and ancillary systems and related safety and security systems. These chapters describe common problems, their causes, and some typical solutions, and detail 80 real-world case studies. The chapter on ancillary systems covers topics including instrumentation, flood proofing, and oil containment. A list of technical references, organized by principal project feature, is included at the end of each chapter. There is also material on planning and evaluation. Although focused on hydroelectric projects, the book contains information applicable to other projects without a generation component. Limited to civil works only, the book does not cover mechanical or electric works associated with power generating equipment. Appendices compile sources of standards and references, describe types of information to be used during planning, evaluation, and implementation, and offer reference tables. The guidelines will aid hydroelectric infrastructure owners, operators, regulators, and engineers. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Computing in civil engineering; proceedings.

Proceedings of a July 2007 conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, focusing on information technology support for advanced infrastructure systems. The 103 contributions are organized into sections on data modeling, management, and mining; life-cycle assessment and sustainable infrastructure; sensing; and mobile/wearable computing. A sampling of topics; an optimization method for designing the highway horizontal alignment, information and communication management in building design case studies, semantic level integration of heterogeneous building models, probabilistic seismic structural assessment, the analysis of life cycle cost and maintenance strategy in transportation facilities, virtual experiments to investigate steel corrosion in concrete, measurement system design using damage scenarios, e-business transformation stages for construction companies, a physics based simulation for crane manipulation and cooperation, and a building blackbox for urban disaster response and relief. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Constructability concepts and practice.

According to civil engineers Gambatese (Oregon State U.), Pocock (US Air Force Academy), and Dunston (Purdue U.), constructability is defined as "the integration of construction knowledge and experience in the planning, design, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning phases of projects consistent with overall project objectives." They present eight papers by industry practitioners and academicians that examine various constructability topics, including how it is defined and characterized, the current state of constructability practice, keys to the implementation of constructability programs, design tools for addressing constructability, and the costs and benefits of incorporating constructability into a project. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Energy production and reservoir water quality; a guide to the regulatory, technical, and theoretical basis for required studies.

Eighteen academics, engineers, researchers, and consultants from the U.S. and Scotland contribute seven chapters to a report created by the Environmental Effects Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineer's Energy Engineering Division. The text brings together the regulatory framework driving the need for technical evaluations of the issues being raised concerning energy production and reservoir water quality, and the tools presently available for assessing those issues. Coverage includes an introductory overview to the issues, the regulatory framework, fundamental water quality processes, numerical hydrodynamic and transport models for reservoirs, water quality modeling theory, and modeling systems and their application. The text also contains six case studies illustrating different aspects of applying the principles and procedures outlined in the text. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gravity sanitary sewer design and construction, 2d ed.

Aimed at engineers, this report, which was prepared by a Joint Task Force of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Water Environment Federation, gives theoretical and practical guidelines for the design and construction of gravity sanitary sewers. It details the administrative and organizational phases of these projects and the parameters for establishing design criteria, completion, and awarding a construction contract. The report then ends with a description of the commonly used trenchless and conventional methods of sanitary sewer construction. The manual is based on the experience of engineers in the field of sanitary sewer structural and hydraulic design, and incorporates charts, illustrations, and example problem solutions. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Hurricane Katrina damage assessment; Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi ports and coasts.

This report assessing the damage to coastal, ports, harbors, and marine infrastructure, as well as the protection levees in New Orleans, resulting from the infamous 2005 hurricane was produced by the Ports, Harbors, and Marine Team of the Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The report characterizes itself as a "broad brush overview" of damage along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast and to river and coastal ports in Louisiana. Aside from damage assessment, it also considers lessons learned regarding storm surge and wave action, wind forces, and engineering issues and policies. Some half or more of the volume consists of black and white photographs of hurricane damage. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Permafrost foundations; state of the practice.

In introducing eight chapters treating the challenges in building in conditions frequently encountered north of latitude 60 in North America, Clarke (Soils Alaska, PC, Fairbanks) defines permafrost as soil that remains frozen for more than two years. Adhering to the principle of "if it's frozen, keep it that way," experts describe and illustrate techniques for selecting an appropriate foundation in sub- arctic regions. With maps and lessons learned from case studies, they detail a structurally-enhanced foundation model and design innovations that take into account the often discontinuous nature of such zones. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Risk and reliability analysis; a handbook for civil and environmental engineers.

Civil and environmental engineers and senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students are the audience for this text, which concentrates on risk and reliability issues in the planning, design, construction, and management of engineering systems. Singh (biological and agricultural engineering, Texas A&M U.) et al. cover, in the first section, decision making under uncertainty, background on probability and random variables and moments and expectations of data. Subsequent sections discuss techniques for probability distributions and parameter estimation, uncertainty analysis, and risk and reliability analysis, including water distribution networks. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Transportation engineering; proceedings; 4v.

690 papers were selected for this 4-volume proceedings from the approximately 800 that were presented at the First International Conference of Transportation Engineering, held in July 2007 at the Southwest Jiaotong U. in Chengdu, China. The papers are not grouped by topic, but a brief subject index is provided. A sampling of titles includes a high-order continuum model of mixed traffic flow, analysis of freight information market based on game theory, vessel information service system based on ECDIS and AIS, and evacuation model and algorithms for emergency management system. A number of articles concern various aspects of railway transportation. The majority of the contributors are engineers in China. Some of the articles are written in an awkward English that is difficult to understand. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)