Leslie Connelly

Reston

Director, Publications Marketing at American Society of Civil Engineers

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asce.org

Articles

Can water treatment plant sludge be recycled into a shield from gamma radiation?

1 week ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Just hearing the term gamma radiation might make you think of The Incredible Hulk, the giant green comic antihero transformed due to exposure to gamma rays. And you’d be forgiven if the title of a new study, “Utilization of Water Treatment Plant Sludge for Creating Green Bricks and Examining Its Gamma Radiation Shielding Potential,” would make you ask if water treatment plant sludge could have protected Bruce Banner (the Hulk’s normal-human alter ego).
Option contracts improve urban water security in drought conditions

2 weeks ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

The increased number and severity of weather events resulting from climate change have a big impact on water quality and availability. Water scarcity and drought are often a result. Drought is a silent, slow-moving natural hazard whose effects such as dwindling reservoirs and declining crop yields take time to appear and have wide-ranging impacts.
Predict pavement conditions on a budget using datasets and AI

3 weeks ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Pavement sure takes a beating. If it’s not road traffic, it’s the weather, particularly extreme weather and climate change. The heat expands the pavement and cold contracts it, resulting in poor road conditions. Our society is very automobile-centric, so reliable roads help foster community resilience and safety. The ability to predict pavement conditions has a big impact on maintenance. However, collecting data, using sensors, and conducting lab experiments can be costly for many communities.
Which brick pattern makes for a stronger wall?

1 month ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Walls that support load-bearing concrete block masonry buildings need to account for a variety of situations. From resisting out-of-plane and in-plane axial combinations, to fire and sound barriers, and possibly serving as an exposed architectural finish. That’s a lot for one wall to manage! And then there are the aesthetics, running bond patterns (think overlapping bricks) versus stack patterns (one brick stacked directly over another). How does this design element change the load for that wall?
3 concrete repair mortars compared for adherence, durability

1 month ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

The choice to rehabilitate aging infrastructure rather than start new builds shifts costs to maintenance and repair. Being integral to most projects, concrete ages, erodes, and cracks. To combat this the materials industry has developed repair mortars and identified minimum requirements for strength, compatibility with the substrate, and protection of the structure. With lots of different retrofitting materials available, what combinations work best to repair and ensure continued sustainability?
Evaluating the potential of drones to monitor road conditions

1 month ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Aerial drone usage has exploded with recent technological advances. Use cases include medical supply delivery, insurance risk assessment, and various forms of infrastructure monitoring. The US transportation industry has been using drones for some roadway condition monitoring, an important economic priority, as the American Trucking Association estimates that 72% of US freight is moved by trucks.
Tapping anaerobic digestion’s potential as a renewable energy source

1 month ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Anaerobic digestion, or the use of microorganisms to break down wastes, is used by wastewater facilities to improve waste decomposition, remove pathogens, lower greenhouse gases, reduce energy for treatment, and other benefits. Previous findings indicate that mixing biosolids (which have limited biodegradable organic matter) with food waste (highly biodegradable matter) improves anaerobic digestion.
Understanding variations in bridge clearance for massive Panamax ships

1 month ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Shipping by sea has long been the most cost-effective option for transporting cargo. Larger ships mean more goods can be moved in a single shipment, further reducing costs. As a result, ships have increased in size. But how big is too big? Can ports and inland waterways accommodate these larger ships? The answer to this question comes down to existing infrastructure, specifically bridges that cross these waterways. What is the maximum vertical clearance that will allow ships to navigate these waters?
Innovative strategies for accurate construction cost forecasting

2 months ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

Applying cost escalation rates to commercial construction projects used to be relatively straightforward, but post-pandemic economic volatility has made estimating more challenging. Such turbulence has led to unprecedented fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index, complicating the task of accurately forecasting cost escalation for future projects. Does the turmoil indicate that recent cost escalations are risking overestimation and are potentially obsolete?
First the wildfires, then the flooding? How to assess the risk

2 months ago | asce.org | Leslie Connelly

The frequency and severity of wildfires has grown over the last several decades, and with disasters such as the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles, their destructive power is at the forefront of people’s minds. Outside the obvious impacts to vegetation, soil, wildlife, and property, wildfires also affect water resources within watersheds.