Data On Major Power Outage Events in The Continental U.S.

This paper presents the data that is used in the article entitled “A Multi-Hazard Approach to Assess Severe Weather-Induced Major Power Outage Risks in the U.S.” (Mukherjee et al., 2018) [1]. The data described in this article pertains to the major outages witnessed by different states in the continental U.S. during January 2000–July 2016. As defined by the Department of Energy, the major outages refer to those that impacted atleast 50,000 custo- mers or caused an unplanned firm load loss of atleast 300 MW. Besides major outage data, this article also presents data on geo- graphical location of the outages, date and time of the outages, regional climatic information, land-use characteristics, electricity consumption patterns and economic characteristics of the states affected by the outages. This dataset can be used to identify and analyze the historical trends and patterns of the major outages and identify and assess the risk predictors associated with sustained power outages in the continental U.S. as described in Mukherjee et al. [1]

Intelligent Compaction of Asphalt Pavement Implementation

The main purpose of this research is to determine the possibility of substituting in-place core density (% Gmm) for Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Quality Assurance (QA) in Indiana Department of Transportation Specification with Intelligent Compaction (IC) measurements. A questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted to gather information on: (1) the usage of IC technology in other states, (2) the benefits of applying IC technology, and (3) the application of IC technology forQuality Control/ Quality Assurance (QC/QA). Also the data available from IC demonstration performed on US 52 in 2009 was analyzed to identify the relationship between in-place density values (i.e., Non-Nuclear Gauge, NNG)and the IC Measurement Values (ICMVs). According to survey responses from 26 agencies, there was no state DOT using IC for QA as of June 2014. Only twoDOTs, including Alaska and Vermont have adopted IC in HMA compaction for QC. The reasons for not using IC technology in current QC/QA practices were: (1) satisfaction with existing QC/QA procedure, (2) difficulty of adjustment due to the lack of specifications in determining stiffness in HMA, and (3) lack of availability of IC equipment with contractors. However, it was responded that the most benefits of IC was night time paving and uniform compaction in QC. Analysis of the ICMV data obtained from a demonstration project on US 52 indicated that a NNG correlation showed an R2 value of 0.67. This finding supports the IC implementation in the current INDOT HMA QC. It should be noted that a correlation between core-density and ICMV could not be determined due to lack of reliable data. In conclusion, the research could not identify any possibility of adding IC into the INDOT specification for QA based on the survey, phone interviews and analysis of the data obtained from IC demonstration on US 52

Compare and Contrast Major Nuclear Power Plant Disasters: Lessons Learned from the Past

The construction of nuclear power plants is a major step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to the conventional coal-fired or oil-fired power plants. However, some of the major nuclear accidents in the past have raised questions about the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants. This paper compares and contrasts the major nuclear accidents of the past for example, the Chernobyl disaster (USSR), the Fukushima Daiichi disaster (Japan), and the Three Mile Island incident (USA). Although each of the accidents was unique, a thorough comparison found some common issues, such as faulty design of reactors and safety systems, safety rules violations, and lack of trained operators. The primary impacts mostly involved radiation hazards such as exposure to varying doses of radiation, uninhabitable neighborhoods and health problems; the levels of impact varied mostly due to different intensities of warnings and precautionary measures taken by the local governments. The research findings would serve as an important resource for the nuclear professionals to plan proper precautionary measures in order to avoid the major issues that initiated or resulted from the accidents in the past

Selecting a Temporary Debris Management Site for Effective Debris Removal

The overall debris removal after disasters is often prolonged due to the huge amount of debris and lack of capacities such as a Temporary Debris Management Site (TDMS) in the community. This results in a delay of overall recovery and increases the total recovery cost. Strategic planning and building a TDMS will help in providing extra time for proper disposal of debris and clearing a disaster-impacted site that will facilitate the reconstruction process. This paper presents a unique approach for identifying and selecting TDMS locations for expediting debris removal from the community. A hypothetical example of a community impacted by a natural hazard is presented to explain how the the proposed model works. The research integrates data from a loss assessment report obtained from HAZUS-MH, Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), and Geographical Information System (GIS) in a dynamic simulation model. Various TDMS locations could be evaluated based on the existing capacity and infrastructure services and considering factors such as overall debris removal time, associated cost, productivity, and availability of resources. Debris management teams would greatly benefit from the research for strategically siting TDMS for accelerating the debris removal process

Simplified Construction Scheduling for Field Personnel

The main purpose of this research is to determine the issues that INDOT faces with respect to schedule review/monitoring and determine the best practices by other DOTs in order to suggest improvements to INDOTs practices. Two questionnaire surveys and six interviews were conducted to gather this information. The two questionnaires were divided into four areas: (1) scheduling specifications, (2) enforcing issues, (3) field personnel skill set and understanding of the specs and scheduling methods/commercial software, and (4) ideas for scheduling technologies/tools/software. Results from these questionnaires were used to target five DOTs that showed good practices as well INDOT to gather more details about the common scheduling issues and their response to them. Outcome of this research will (1) document current INDOT practices and challenges on tracking the projects in the field; (2) Identify scheduling methods and software packages used by other DOTs that would satisfy INDOT’s project control needs (3) provide guidelines to make the tracking and analysis of scheduled milestones more effective and easy to implement for the field personnel. According to the first survey that was distributed among INDOT personnel, some of the main issues they face include lack of contractor compliance in submitting schedules and following the scheduling specifications. Another issue is INDOT personnel’s lack of training and experience using the scheduling techniques. The second survey was distributed to all DOTs with thirty-five responses received. In order to enforce contractor compliance, DOTs have delayed and withheld payments. DOTs also train their employees in scheduling techniques to help them review contractors’ submittals. They also meet with the contractor before construction starts and discuss the schedule requirements to ensure that both parties are on the same page. Phone interviews were conducted with six DOTs in order to understand their means and methods. Some of the main items discovered were related to classification of projects (based on required level of scheduling), procedure requested by DOTs from contractors with regard to time impact analysis reports and how they handle weather shutdowns in their scheduling specifications. In conclusion, the research found many suggestions that could be implemented by INDOT in order to revise/update their specifications and practices, increase contractor compliance and to simplify their scheduling and review processes

Subsurface Condition Evaluation for Asphalt Pavement Preservation Treatments

This report presents a case study on the SR-70 section with microsurface for understanding its performance; a development of a methodology for evaluating the asphalt pavement subsurface condition for applying pavement preservation treatments; and a development of a tool for identifying and quantifying the subsurface distresses. From the case study, it was found that the main distresses on SR-70 were longitudinal cracks, fatigue cracks, and potholes. The longitudinal cracking was the most widely distributed distress with 22% of lane length in the 2-mile test section among the three distress types. Based on the water stripping test results and the core visual observations, it was confirmed that the test section on SR-70 had the water stripping problem. In order to have a representative condition indicator for the test section, the conditions were converted into the scores scaled from 0 to 100. Layers with closer to a score of 100 have the better subsurface condition. Therefore, the 28% of the test section length with the surface distress was detected as the fair subsurface condition with a score of 56. The rest 72% of the length was estimated as the good subsurface condition with a score of 78. Similarly, 20.5% of the test section length with the problem locations determined by GPR had the fair subsurface condition with a score of 56 and the rest 79.5 % of the length had the good subsurface condition with a score of 76. The lab test results showed poor correlations among the water stripping severities, air voids, and tensile strengths. Thus, the air voids or tensile strength cannot properly estimate the water stripping severity or vice versa. When the laboratory test results with the surface distresses or in the GPR-based problem locations were compared to that without the surface distresses or in the GPR-based non-problem locations, in general, average air voids and water stripping severities decrease and average tensile strengths increase. The observation confirms that the evaluation processes are applicable for evaluating the subsurface condition. Furthermore, the probability that a location determined to be problematic by GPR to be on one of poor conditions based on lab tests was 1.0. The same probability was obtained for a GPS-based problem location. Accordingly, it was concluded that the laboratory tests with the surface distresses survey or the GPR measurement were reliable method to evaluate the subsurface condition. The FWD results had a weak correlation with the laboratory test results possibly due to fairly long testing interval (i.e., 328 ft). The current FWD test protocol should be improved for evaluating the subsurface condition in pavement preservation application. Guidelines of subsurface condition evaluation for pavement preservation treatment application was developed utilizing the findings from the case study. A concept of hierarchy was used in the guideline by taking project importance and available resources into consideration. A tool including guidelines, computer software (e.g., iSub and iMoisture), and its manual was also developed based on the methodology as a research product. Based on the guideline, it was concluded that the subsurface condition of the case study section on SR-70 was inadequate for the application of the pavement preservation treatments

Safety, Mobility, and Cost Benefits of Closing One Direction of the Interstate in Rural Areas During Construction Work

With specific regard to interstates in the rural area, Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has expressed a need for research that sheds light on this Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) issue so the agency [INDOT and the contractor] can make informed decisions regarding the crossover sections versus the closure in one direction with detour roads. A number of studies have investigated the advantages and disadvantages of various MOT strategies; however, there is no specific study that can help INDOT traffic engineers and design engineers make decisions by comparing direct and indirect benefits of crossovers and detours (full lane closures). This research examined the advantages and disadvantages of entirely closing one direction of traffic over traditional work zone techniques (such as partial lane closure through median crossover) from the perspectives of the agency, road users, and the community. In the case of full closure, the study (a) examined the alternative MOT strategies and best practices through an extensive literature review and survey of agencies (b) investigated risk, benefit, and costs associated with selected detour routes (c) validated the identified critical factors through case studies in Indiana and at other states, and (d) implemented best practices in an expected project to evaluate the safety, mobility, and cost benefits of closing one direction. Through the literature review and four case studies, eleven KPIs for MOT strategy developments were identified. This study prioritized these KPIs through the survey questionnaire. The top five KPIs are (1) safety, (2) mobility, (3) budget constraint, (4) project duration, (5) complexity of project sites. Based on these KPIs and other findings presented in Section 4.3.3, this study has proposed a comparison tool for predetermined MOT strategies in the form of a flow-chart. This tool is followed by the scores or weights associated with each KPI. These scores are normalized—i.e., the most important KPI which is safety, has the maximum weightage 1 and rest of the KPIs are weighed relatively. INDOT has a set of editable documents which are references for making MOT decisions. This proposed flow-chart tool will “walk” the INDOT team through the use of these spreadsheets corresponding to the identified KPIs through this study. It will be at the discretion of the INDOT team as to which KPIs are relevant to the situation at hand. Therefore, the flow-chart tool is flexible to incorporate the dynamic nature of MOT strategy selection

The Impact of Offsite Construction on the Workforce: Required Skillset and Prioritization of Training Needs

Offsite construction has showed great potential in addressing many of the industry\u27s problems. While multiple research efforts have been directed at examining different offsite construction aspects, few studies investigated the workforce-related aspects. Therefore, this study aims to address this knowledge gap by examining the impact of offsite construction on the workforce, as represented by the following five workforce categories: offsite, onsite, engineering and design, construction and fabrication, and administrative workforce. To this end, this paper (1) determined the impact of offsite construction on the skillset (reskilling or upskilling) and the demand (shrink or growth) for the offsite and onsite construction workforce occupations; (2) evaluated the impact of offsite construction on the technical and managerial skills of the engineering, construction, and administrative workforce occupations; and (3) identified the specific required skills that need to be incorporated into the offsite construction training programs for the workforce. The results showed that the skillsets for all offsite and onsite workforce occupations need to be upskilled. While the demand for the offsite construction workforce will increase, the demand for around 79% of the onsite workforce occupations will decrease. The findings also reflected that a total of 20 main skills are needed for the offsite construction engineering and design workforce, a total of 24 key skills are needed for the construction and fabrication workforce involved in offsite construction operations, and 22 skills are needed for the offsite construction administrative workforce. This study adds to the body of knowledge by helping offsite construction industry practitioners in workforce planning and management, in the prioritization of training needs and programs, and in identifying the required skillset to improve the quality of the workforce involved in the offsite construction operations

Key Factors Affecting Labor Productivity in Offsite Construction Projects

Offsite construction has been shown to possess many advantages and benefits in dealing with the construction industry\u27s challenges, which include poor labor productivity. Nevertheless, all previous productivity-related research studies have focused mainly on factors impacting labor productivity in traditional stick-built construction methods. This paper filled this knowledge gap by following a multistep interrelated research methodology. First, a research team of 19 construction professionals and academics developed and distributed an industry survey to (1) quantify the likelihood of occurrence and relative impact of risk factors that adversely impact labor productivity in offsite construction projects; (2) identify and prioritize key risk factors that adversely affect labor productivity in offsite construction operations; and (3) examine how labor productivity risk factors are perceived by various project stakeholders. Second, different statistical analysis tests and methods (i.e., internal and external reliability, statistically significant differences, clustering analysis, and concordance analysis) were used to critically analyze the results and draw conclusions. Based on a total of 100 responses and 20 labor productivity risk factors, the findings reflected that the top five risk factors adversely affecting labor productivity in offsite construction projects included (1) unskilled labor and improper workforce training and development; (2) poor logistics; (3) errors, omissions, and rework; (4) work area congestion and overcrowding; and (5) insufficient coordination. Also, the findings indicated that labor productivity factors can be clustered into two groups: factors with high overall risk and factors with low overall risk on offsite construction labor productivity; 80% of the risk factors were found to fall into the first category. The results of this study also reflected the need for offsite construction companies and industry practitioners to carefully establish mitigation plans and corrective actions for the identified key risk factors adversely affecting offsite construction labor productivity. This study adds to the body of knowledge by exploring and ranking productivity factors in offsite construction projects. Ultimately, this study will help the industry and research communities better understand factors affecting offsite construction labor productivity, more effectively direct future efforts to enhance labor performance, and devise productivity improvement strategies

Quantification of the State of Practice of Offsite Construction and Related Technologies: Current Trends and Future Prospects

Although some researchers and practitioners have perceived that the current reliance on offsite construction methods is high, other studies have hypothesized that the use of offsite construction techniques is still considered to be somehow limited. To this end, this paper aims to quantify the state of practice of offsite construction in terms of current trends and future prospects for the overall industry as well as the following main sectors: industrial, building and commercial, and infrastructure. First, a questionnaire was formed, pilot-tested, distributed, and completed by 100 construction practitioners. Second, the questionnaire\u27s internal and external validity and reliability were examined using statistical analysis. Third, the research findings were validated. The results showed that the future offsite construction operations will be different from the current operations by shifting from single-trade fabrication to modularization, shifting from customized offsite construction components to standardized offsite construction components, shifting from permanent offsite construction structures to relocatable or portable offsite construction structures, and shifting the reliance on single-skilled labor to multiskilled labor. In addition, 87% of industry practitioners perceive that the future offsite construction growth rate in the coming decade will be higher than that of the previous decade. This research also showed that offsite construction will become the norm rather than the exception because (1) the current average offsite construction percentage of 33.64% will substantially grow to reach an average of 54.9% in the future, (2) the offsite construction industry will grow 4.33 times, on average, in the coming decade, (3) companies are planning to increase their offsite construction utilization rate by an average of 5.03-fold, and (4) the offsite construction automation percentage will increase by 7% in the future. The research outcomes also provided guidance on the key technologies that the industry shall currently invest in and consider leveraging in the future