University of Delaware civil engineering professor offers implications of the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge
University of Delaware
In the aftermath of the collapse of Baltimore’s Frances Scott Key Bridge, authorities are trying to figure out what went wrong and how the collision of the heavily traveled structure with a container cargo ship brought it crumbling down into the Patapsco River. Video shows the massive bridge buckling and tumbling into the water in a matter of seconds. Erin Bell, chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire, is an expert on bridge construction and points to the structure of the bridge as a possible weakness. She can provide insight into how such a large span could come down so easily—sharing details on how bridges are made, what needs to happen to cause such a devastating collapse and if this could happen with other major bridges.
An interdisciplinary team of experts from the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with the University of Maryland and University of Utah, have found a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze a household’s passive design characteristics and predict its energy expenses with more than 74 percent accuracy. By combining their findings with demographic data including poverty levels, the researchers have created a comprehensive model for predicting energy burden across 1,402 census tracts and nearly 300,000 households in Chicago.
Historically "redlined" areas – neighborhoods with primarily Black or immigrant communities – are exposed to more air pollution than other urban neighborhoods. According to research published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, the cause could relate to nearby highways or industrial parks.
We’re all about finding new ways to save energy and money at the Department of Energy (DOE), especially when it comes to our facilities.
Our built environment is aging and failing faster than we can maintain it. Recent building collapses and structural failures of roads and bridges are indicators of a problem that’s likely to get worse, according to experts, because it’s just not possible to inspect every crack, creak and crumble to parse dangerous signs of failure from normal wear and tear. In hopes of playing catch-up, researchers in Drexel University’s College of Engineering are trying to give robotic assistants the tools to help inspectors with the job.
Leading scientists are today calling for an urgent step change in global governance to save the future of worldwide cities and the planet at large.
The software tool sorts through messy data to reveal what’s really going on with solar panels on cloudy and sunny days.
Researchers from Osaka University and their collaborating partners improve the efficiency of thermoelectric conversion from a semiconductor, which could help optimize the efficiency and sustainability of the global digital transformation.
Conserving water won’t be enough to restore the depleted Great Salt Lake, the signature Utah landscape whose existence as a functioning ecosystem remains seriously imperiled from low water levels and rising salinity. Much of the water saved by Utah cities and farms through various conservation measures will have to be allowed to flow into the terminal lake if its levels are to rebound and remain at a safe level, according to Utah’s Great Salt Lake Strike Team. The panel of university and agency experts has released its latest data analysis just ahead of Utah’s upcoming legislative session.
A new report from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt evaluates potential scenarios for electric grid transmission development to support floating offshore wind along the northern coast of California and the southern coast of Oregon.
The latest articles on occupational medicine, workplace culture, and the labor market are in the "In the Workplace" channel on Newswise.
A professor from Binghamton University, State University of New York will lead a research team that recently won a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore the possible faults that could lead to power failures.
The National Academies of Sciences has awarded funding to Argonne National Laboratory and others to improve safety of offshore oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Khaled Abdelghany, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at SMU (Southern Methodist University), has been awarded a three-year, $1.2 million grant by the Federal Highway Administration. The grant aims to develop a computer program that utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance the safety and efficiency of intersections for both vehicles and pedestrians.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been leading a project to understand how a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, could threaten power plants.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a land change model that simulates interactions between urban growth, increased flooding and how humans adapt in response. The new model could offer a more realistic assessment of risk for urban planners, natural resource managers and other local government stakeholders.
Thousands of people are dead and at least 10,000 missing after devastating flooding in Libya. The Mediterranean storm brought heavy rains to the northeastern part of the country, already crumbling from more than a decade of conflict. “Although Storm Daniel caused the devastating flood, a combination of factors exacerbated the nation's vulnerability to natural hazards, resulting in enormous casualties,” says Virginia Tech geophysicist Manoochehr Shirzaei.
Alexander Brand, assistant professor in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received a $600,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award.
A new cybersecurity technology that relies on the unique digital fingerprint of individual semiconductor chips could help protect the equipment of electrical utilities from malicious attacks that exploit software updates on devices controlling the critical infrastructure.
Dam constructions have flooded over 1.13 million acres of tribal land in the US contributing to the historic and ongoing struggle against land dispossession for Indigenous peoples in the United States.
Researchers are using data from Hurricane Maria to assess the critical infrastructure vulnerabilities that still exist in Puerto Rico around extreme weather events, specifically for socially vulnerable populations.
An asteroid discovery algorithm — designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky — has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth’s vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on.
A new paper from researchers at UD, the University of Maryland and George Washington University published in Nature Sustainability shows the spread and cost of saltwater intrusion from 2011-2017 in farms located in those mid-Atlantic states. The paper highlights how between the years 2011-2017, the area covered by visible salt patches almost doubled, with over 19,000 acres converted to marsh. Potential economic losses from the salt patches during that time period totaled over $427,000.
Fertilizer restrictions along Florida’s 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon were intended to reduce nutrient inputs from urban and agricultural land uses. The hope was that water quality would improve by reducing the nitrogen load. While these restrictions were well-intended, a study finds fertilizer use is not the root cause of the lagoon’s environmental issues. It’s sewage. For decades, fertilizer use was implicated for about 71 percent of the lagoon’s environmental impairments. In fact, current estimates show 79 percent of nitrogen loading is from septic systems; 21 percent is from residential fertilizer use.
There is a “silent hazard” lurking underneath our major global cities, and our buildings were not designed to handle it.
Newswise offers a roundup of the latest expert commentary on the recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy continue negotiations on raising the United States debt ceiling. More contenders enter the Republican presidential nominee run. Get your expert commentary on Politics here.
Findings in a new PNNL report show long-duration energy storage will be a necessity in decarbonizing the grid and recommends the planning and procurement process to identify those needs start immediately.
Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden's new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempt to cross before the measure expires on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must go through.
A new study, published in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research: Sustainability and Infrastructure, investigates the feasibility of meeting these electricity demands through on-site solar panel installations for different regions and manufacturing sectors across the United States.
Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping modernize power management and enhance reliability in an increasingly complex electric grid.
Communities that are constructing new multi-sport facilities for major events could run the risk of ending up with expensive under-used complexes, but a new study suggests there are several factors that can keep them productive in the long run.
It is simply false to claim that data from the Climate Reference Network show no warming over the last 18 years. There is a warming trend. Even if it was true, the US represents only 1.9 % of the Earth's surface.
New research from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center (RIDER) shows how repurposing regular hurricane shelters to special needs shelters could cut travel times for vulnerable populations.