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Author Archives: School of Engineering

Dr. Andrew Bechtel Gives Evaluation of Pour-Stop Design Tables

As part of the Research Tuesday series, Dr. Andrew Bechtel, Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering department, recently gave a talk on the results he found through evaluation of steel deck institute pour-stop design tables.  He was asked to examine these pour-stops by the Steel Deck Institute, from which he received funding alongside some additional funding from the School of Engineering.  

Pour-stops are not designed to be structural pieces.  They are designed to be accessories placed on top of structural pieces in order to help direct concrete during construction.  Dr. Bechtel’s goal during the summer was to verify that a specific pour-stop design was functional and safe.

Validation testing was done in the labs of Armstrong Hall, where Dr. Bechtel took this pour-stop and physically tested it by itself, with concrete as a hydrostatic force, and with water as a hydrostatic force.  He also performed computer simulations where he modeled the pour-stops virtually in order to test them in the same ways they were being tested physically in order to compare the results.  Deformation and stress on the pour-stops were examined for these tests.

There was a large amount of variation in the results when comparing the experimental with the modeled results, though generally the modeling techniques agreed with what was observed during physical testing, which confirmed that tests were generally being done properly.  

While this research and testing was done mainly by himself due to time constraints, Dr. Bechtel noted that he would have liked to have had some students helping him and learning from him amidst the process.

Dr. Brennan Featured in UTRC Fall Research Review

The School of Engineering is happy to announce that Dr. Thomas Brennan has been featured in The University Transportation Research Center’s (URTC) Fall 2017 Research Review as the publication’s faculty profile.

Junior Civil Engineers win awards from ASHE

Two Civil Engineering students won awards from the American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), on April 20th.  Junior Charlotte Schum was awarded $3,500 and Junior Mickey Avenoso was awarded $5,000. 

Alberto Torres, Civil Engineer

Senior Civil Engineering major Alberto Torres is team leader of his senior project group, as well as a member of Humanitarian Engineering (he previously served as Vice President), ASCE and Tau Beta Pi, (he previously served as Treasurer). He has also had many jobs on campus, including Spanish Oral Hour Leader, Summer Research Assistant (MUSE),…

Women in Engineering: Lauren Santullo

Lauren Santullo, senior Civil Engineering major, did not always know that she wanted to be an engineer. However, she knew that she was interested in engineering and when she decided to take some classes TCNJ, she realized it was the right path for her. “I did not fully realize that I wanted to study engineering until I tried…

TCNJ Civil Engineers Recognized as Tau Beta Pi Scholars

TCNJ Senior Civil Engineering students Alberto Torres, Lauren Santullo and Leon Collins have received the honor of being recognized as Tau Beta Pi Scholars, the engineering national honor society. Tau Beta Pi received 791 scholarship applicants for the 2016-17 academic year, and only 210 students were selected. Of the 210 chosen, only 17 of the…