Hand book for Iowa Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, 1898.

A narrative of the history of the Soldiers' and Sailor's Monument on the State Capitol grounds.

Field Data Acquisition Technologies for Iowa Transportation Agencies, HR-366 August 1994

This report describes the results of the research project investigating the use of advanced field data acquisition technologies for lowa transponation agencies. The objectives of the research project were to (1) research and evaluate current data acquisition technologies for field data collection, manipulation, and reporting; (2) identify the current field data collection approach and the interest level in applying current technologies within Iowa transportation agencies; and (3) summarize findings, prioritize technology needs, and provide recommendations regarding suitable applications for future development. A steering committee consisting oretate, city, and county transportation officials provided guidance during this project. Technologies considered in this study included (1) data storage (bar coding, radio frequency identification, touch buttons, magnetic stripes, and video logging); (2) data recognition (voice recognition and optical character recognition); (3) field referencing systems (global positioning systems [GPS] and geographic information systems [GIs]); (4) data transmission (radio frequency data communications and electronic data interchange); and (5) portable computers (pen-based computers). The literature review revealed that many of these technologies could have useful applications in the transponation industry. A survey was developed to explain current data collection methods and identify the interest in using advanced field data collection technologies. Surveys were sent out to county and city engineers and state representatives responsible for certain programs (e.g., maintenance management and construction management). Results showed that almost all field data are collected using manual approaches and are hand-carried to the office where they are either entered into a computer or manually stored. A lack of standardization was apparent for the type of software applications used by each agency--even the types of forms used to manually collect data differed by agency. Furthermore, interest in using advanced field data collection technologies depended upon the technology, program (e.g.. pavement or sign management), and agency type (e.g., state, city, or county). The state and larger cities and counties seemed to be interested in using several of the technologies, whereas smaller agencies appeared to have very little interest in using advanced techniques to capture data. A more thorough analysis of the survey results is provided in the report. Recommendations are made to enhance the use of advanced field data acquisition technologies in Iowa transportation agencies: (1) Appoint a statewide task group to coordinate the effort to automate field data collection and reporting within the Iowa transportation agencies. Subgroups representing the cities, counties, and state should be formed with oversight provided by the statewide task group. (2) Educate employees so that they become familiar with the various field data acquisition technologies.

Scour Around Bridge Piers and Abutments, HR-30 and Iowa Highway Research Board Bulletin No. 4, 1956

Man’s never-ending search for better materials and construction methods and for techniques of analysis and design has overcome most of the early difficulties of bridge building. Scour of the stream bed, however, has remained a major cause of bridge failures ever since man learned to place piers and abutments in the stream in order to cross wide rivers. Considering the overall complexity of field conditions, it is not surprising that no generally accepted principles (not even rules of thumb) for the prediction of scour around bridge piers and abutments have evolved from field experience alone. The flow of individual streams exhibits a manifold variation, and great disparity exists among different rivers. The alignment, cross section, discharge, and slope of a stream must all be correlated with the scour phenomenon, and this in turn must be correlated with the characteristics of the bed material ranging from clays and fine silts to gravels and boulders. Finally, the effect of the shape of the obstruction itself-the pier or abutment-must be assessed. Since several of these factors are likely to vary with time to some degree, and since the scour phenomenon as well is inherently unsteady, sorting out the influence of each of the various factors is virtually impossible from field evidence alone. The experimental approach was chosen as the investigative method for this study, but with due recognition of the importance of field measurements and with the realization that the results must be interpreted so as to be compatible with the present-day theories of fluid mechanics and sediment transportation. This approach was chosen because, on the one hand, the factors affecting the scour phenomenon can be controlled in the laboratory to an extent that is not possible in the field, and, on the other hand, the model technique can be used to circumvent the present inadequate understanding of the phenomenon of the movement of sediment by flowing water. In order to obtain optimum results from the laboratory study, the program was arranged at the outset to include a related set of variables in each of several phases into which the whole problem was divided. The phases thus selected were : 1. Geometry of piers and abutments, 2. Hydraulics of the stream, 3. Characteristics of the sediment, 4. Geometry of channel shape and alignment.