News: Oregon State University
Laser scanner helps predict landslides
The Oregon Department of Transportation, like DOTs in most other states, has an ongoing struggle to maintain public highways against earth movements such as erosion, earthquakes and landslides. An earthquake or landslide can close down a road for days, while highway workers fight to keep supply lines open and repair the damage.
In Oregon, particularly along the coastal roads, these natural processes are a constant threat to transportation infrastructure. The damage caused by gradual erosion is typically not detectable until there is a landslide or other disaster, costing the state considerable time and money to repair. New technology has the potential to change this. Many landslides, in fact, show some form of movement prior to catastrophic failure. A team of researchers, led by Michael J. Olsen of Oregon State University and sponsored by a research grant from OTREC, set out to improve upon the methods that ODOT uses to detect and prevent structural threats.
Olsen details his findings in an OTREC final report. Click here for more on the project, or download the final report.
The research centers on a three-dimensional remote sensing technology known as LiDAR. Short for Light Detection and Ranging, LiDAR has been used for the last fifteen years in fields as diverse as archaeology, seismology, forestry, geology, and atmospheric physics. It is a “line-of-sight” method of 3D scanning, in which laser beams are aimed at terrestrial formations. After taking multiple scans from different vantage points of an area, researchers merge the scans together to form a complete 3D model of the site. The technique is sensitive enough to represent fine details, even down to the texture of the leaves on the vegetation when a high-definition scan is used. When scans of a cliff or embankment, even in lower definition, are compared with past scans of the same area, it becomes possible to determine the rate of erosion and to predict the location of a landslide. Highway workers can then do preventive maintenance to shore up structural weak points, rather than have to perform emergency missions to clear a destroyed road.
Tags: earthquakes, erosion, highway maintenance, landslides, lidar, oregon department of transportation, road repair
OTREC research featured at Transportation Research Board national conference
A total of 133 researchers from OTREC campuses will have their work featured at the Transportation Research Board national conference the week of Jan. 13 in Washington, D.C. Seventy-two separate sessions will feature research from Portland State University, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the University of Utah.
The weeklong conference is the event of the year for transportation researchers across the country and an important opportunity for students and faculty to share research results, learn best practices and network.
As OTREC prides itself on developing the next generation of the transportation workforce, students are well represented at the conference. Nearly 50 students will have their research presented at lectern or poster sessions and many of those students are the lead authors of papers accepted for the conference.
Portland State University alone is sending 30 graduate and undergraduate students to the conference. Katherine Bell, a Portland state graduate student, will present research at a freight planning and logistics session on Monday. Bell worked with Miguel Figliozzi of Portland State’s civil and environmental engineering department on an OTREC research project that could mark a sea change in how freight data is collected and used.
Oregon is one of a few states to collect a tax on heavy trucks based on their weight and miles driven. In 2010, The Oregon Department of Transportation started a pilot project to automate and simplify this tax collection using a smart-phone app. Although the Truck Road Use Electronics, or TRUE, system was designed for tax purposes, the data collected can support a staggering array of other uses.
Bell and Figliozzi found that if TRUE or a system like it were implemented statewide it would supply enough data to develop highly accurate trip generation rates, mobility measures and performance measure categories such as safety, accessibility and connectivity, system condition, and environmental stewardship.
The conference paper details some of those potential uses. “The first stages of this research are a master plan on what can be done if this data becomes more widely available,” Bell said.
Tags: chris muhs, katherine bell, miguel figliozzi, nitc, otrec, steve gehrke, transportation research board
OTREC Small Starts RFP
OTREC announces the opportunity to apply for awards to support small faculty development research endeavors with priority given to untenured, tenure-track faculty and faculty who have not received an OTREC grant in the past. The purpose of these awards is to assist researchers interested in transportation but have not had an opportunity to undertake a small project that supports innovations in sustainable transportation through advanced technology, integration of land use and transportation, and healthy communities. A total of $60,000 is available to be awarded; with no individual award larger than $10,000. All grants require 1:1 match. Proposals are due January 31, 2013. Complete details for the Small Starts grants can be found in RFP and Budget Form. Contact Hau Hagedorn ([email protected]) with questions.
Eligibility: Faculty members and research faculty eligible to serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) at Portland State University, Oregon State University, the University of Oregon, or the Oregon Institute of Technology may submit proposals and serve as PIs with OTREC.
Priority will be given to:
- Applications from untenured, tenure-track faculty.
- Applications from faculty who have not previously received an OTREC grant.
- Applications from research projects that are interdisciplinary.
Electric Vehicles Research Matching Funds: There is a great opportunity for faculty interested in electric vehicles to receive matching funds for OTREC Small Starts grants through Drive Oregon. Drive Oregon is a nonprofit organization with diverse membership from across the range of Oregon companies and organizations involved in electrifying the transportation system (www.driveoregon.org). Research opportunities range from product development, vehicle adoption, economic analysis and business development. Please contact John MacArthur ([email protected]) and he help you coordinate with Drive Oregon and potential industry partners.
Tags: rfp
Attendance strong for 10th Region X Student Transportation Conference
PSU’s Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP) hosted the 10th Annual Region X Conference on November 16, and it was the most widely-attended Region X event in recent memory. With participating universities including Oregon State University, Cal Poly Pomona, University of Oregon, University of Utah, University of Washington and Washington State University, the more than 100 registrants “really surprised” STEP President S. R. Thompson. “The turnout was high compared to previous years.” This is likely in part due to the first-time participation of the two Washington schools.
This year’s conference featured student research presentations and a poster session, as well as three afternoon breakout sessions that offered tours of effective transportation engineering examples in the Portland Metro area. Thompson reports a unanimously positive response to the breakout sessions from those tour participants who followed up with her after the conference adjourned.
The conference’s morning keynote was also popular and garnered plenty of student participation in the discussion that followed. “We did things a little differently for the keynote presentation this year,” Thompson said. The presentation featured a panel of notable transportation professionals from the Portland area who each discussed their respective entries into the transportation field as well as the joys and challenges of the work.
Tags: alta planning + design, mia birk, region x, step
California students flock to Oregon for student-run transportation conference
While the annual Region X Student Transportation Conference in November always attracts students from across the northwest, this year’s conference pulled some from much farther south: Pomona, Calif.
The conference is a showcase for student transportation research in the Pacific Northwest (Federal Region X), which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Region X serves as a microcosm of transportation for the entire country, making it a prime testing ground for studies in transportation operations and planning.
The conference was sponsored by OTREC and hosted this year by Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), the Portland State University Student Chapter of ITE.
When professor Xudong Jia of Cal Poly Pomona learned about the conference, he was determined that his students would find a way to attend. With the support of OTREC, Cal Poly Pomona sent five students to the conference, a mix of undergraduate and graduate students in civil and transportation engineering. The students were interested in both the research and tours, as well as gleaning tips for how to organize a student-led conference: something the Cal Poly students will be doing when they host the TransModal Connection Conference in February in San Louis Obispo.
Tags: calpoly pomona, institute of transportation engineers, region x, step, traffic bowl
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