What have engineers learned from Katrina?
Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, James N. Jensen, PhD, University at Buffalo professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, says that probably the biggest lesson learned from that disaster was that municipalities and citizens now take orders to evacuate much more seriously.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9317
Study offers historic buildings protection from climate change
Some of the nation's most historic buildings and monuments may be better protected from decay in future, following a development by engineers. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have devised a method of forecasting damage caused by the weather to stone buildings – including statues, monuments and other historic sites, as well as modern masonry buildings.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9310
Study to Examine Rising Sea Level’s Impact on Estuaries, Coastal Communities
A new University of Central Florida study will examine how rising sea level could harm estuaries and coastal communities along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama and Mississippi coasts.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9299
Stanford engineers use rocket science to make wastewater treatment sustainable
Two Stanford University engineers are developing a new sewage treatment process that would actually increase the production of two greenhouse gases – nitrous oxide (aka, "laughing gas") and methane – and use the gases to power the treatment plant.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9282
Purdue University Research Could Cut Winter Heating Bills in Half
The research involves changes to the way heat pumps operate to make them more efficient in extreme cold temperatures. The technology also promises to expand the geographic range in which heat pumps are capable of operating.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9266
Computer modeling to build better mud bricks
Craig Foster, assistant professor of civil and materials engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago will use what is called the finite element method of computer modeling to focus on the shear behavior of these materials in response to wind and earthquakes.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9261
110-foot concrete bridge withstands 8.0 earthquake simulation
After a succession of eight separate earthquake simulations, a 110-foot long, 200-ton concrete bridge model at the University of Nevada, Reno withstood a powerful jolting, three times the acceleration of the disastrous 1994 magnitude 6.9 Northridge, Calif. earthquake, and survived in good condition.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9248
Corps focuses on eradicating Cheyenne water contaminant
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' move to further reduce the level of a chemical in Cheyenne's water supply is the most crucial part of the cleanup of contamination from an old nuclear missile site, a state scientist said Friday.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9233
Can a Bridge Built in Days, Not Months, Survive a Major Earthquake?
The major earthquake that "struck" a 70-ton, 60-foot-long concrete bridge today in the University at Buffalo's Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory will help engineers evaluate if a fast, new construction method results in bridges strong enough to withstand seismic activity.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9215
Hydrological lessons from the Mayans
In 1999, archaeologists found a puzzling water feature while working at Palenque, the much studied Mayan city-state in the southern Mexico state of Chiapis.
Source: http://www.icivilengineer.com/News/news.php?id=9211