FY 2012 Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report

The Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report covers all equipment and vehicle purchases through the highway materials and equipment revolving fund during FY 2012.

FY 2013 Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report

The Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report covers all equipment and vehicle purchases through the highway materials and equipment revolving fund during FY 2013.

A Computer Based Information System for County Equipment Cost Records, Interim Report, HR-173, 1975

This report describes the work accomplished to date on research project HR-173, A Computer Based Information System for County Equipment Cost Records, and presents the initial design for this system. The specific topics discussed here are findings from the analysis of information needs, the system specifications developed from these findings, and the proposed system design based upon the system specifications. The initial system design will include tentative input designs for capturing input data, output designs to show the output formats and the items to be output for use in decision making, file design showing the organization of information to be kept on each piece of equipment in the computer data file, and general system design explaining how the entire system will operate. The Steering Committee appointed by Iowa Highway Research Board is asked to study this report, make appropriate suggestions, and give approval to the proposed design subject to any suggestions made. This approval will permit the designer to proceed promptly with the development of the computer program implementation phase of the design.

A Computer Based Information System for County Equipment Cost Records, Final Report, HR-173, 1975

This appendix is divided into three sections. The first section contains abstracts of each of the eight computer programs in the system, instructions for keypunching the three input documents, and computer operating instructions pertaining to each program. The second section contains system flowcharts for the entire system as well as program flowcharts for each program. The last section contains PL/l program listings of each program.

Audit report on the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program administered by the Iowa Utilities Board Division of the Iowa Department of Commerce for the year ended June 30, 2013

Audit report on the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program administered by the Iowa Utilities Board Division of the Iowa Department of Commerce for the year ended June 30, 2013

Audit report on the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program administered by the Iowa Utilities Board Division of the Iowa Department of Commerce for the year ended June 30, 2014

Audit report on the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program administered by the Iowa Utilities Board Division of the Iowa Department of Commerce for the year ended June 30, 2014

Effects of plant population and nitrogen fertilizer on yield and efficiency of maize-bean intercropping

Nitrogen supply and plant population are basic parameters for cereal-legume intercropping. In order to study plant population and nitrogen fertilizer effects on yield and yield efficiency of maize-bean intercropping, a field experiment was established. Three bean plant populations and three nitrogen levels were used. Maize dry matter accumulation decreased with increases in bean plant population. Competitive effect of intercrop beans on maize yields was high at higher plant populations, being decreased by nitrogen fertilizer; application of 50 kg ha-1 N was very efficient in increasing maize cob yield. Intercropping significantly decreased harvest index of beans in all plant population and nitrogen fertilizer situations. The efficiency of intercropping, compared to sole cropping, was evidenced by the values obtained for Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) for biomass, cob and pod yields that increased with increases in bean plant populations and nitrogen fertilizer levels.

FY2014 Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report

The Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report covers all equipment and vehicle purchases through the highway materials and equipment revolving fund during FY 2014.

Automated Traffic/Truck Weight Monitoring Equipment (Weigh-in-Motion), HR-282, 1988

This report documents work undertaken in the demonstration of a low-cost Automatic Weight and Classification System (AWACS). An AWACS procurement specification and details of the results of the project are also included. The intent of the project is to support and encourage transferring research knowledge to state and local agencies and manufacturers through field demonstrations. Presently available, Weigh-in-Motion and Classification Systems are typically too expensive to permit the wide deployment necessary to obtain representative vehicle data. Piezo electric technology has been used in the United Kingdom and Europe and is believed to be the basic element in a low-cost AWACS. Low-cost systems have been installed at two sites, one in Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement in Iowa and the other in Asphaltic Cement Concrete (ACC) pavement in Minnesota to provide experience with both types of pavement. The systems provide axle weights, gross vehicle weight, axle spacing, vehicle classification, vehicle speed, vehicle count, and time of arrival. In addition, system self-calibration and a method to predict contact tire pressure is included in the system design. The study has shown that in the PCC pavement, the AWACS is capable of meeting the needs of state and federal highway agencies, producing accuracies comparable to many current commercial WIM devices. This is being achieved at a procurement cost of substantially less than currently available equipment. In the ACC pavement the accuracies were less than those observed in the PCC pavement which is concluded to result from a low pavement rigidity at this site. Further work is needed to assess the AWACS performance at a range of sites in ACC pavements.

Evaluation of Hot Mix Asphalt Moisture Sensitivity Using the Nottingham Asphalt Test Equipment, TR-555, 2010

Pavements are subjected to different stresses during their design lives. A properly designed pavement will perform adequately during its design life, and the distresses will not exceed the allowable limits; however, there are several factors that can lead to premature pavement failure. One such factor is moisture sensitivity. AASHTO T 283 is the standard test used in the moisture susceptibility evaluation of asphalt mixtures, but the results of the test are not very representative of the expected behavior of asphalt mixtures. The dynamic modulus test measures a fundamental property of the mixture. The results of the dynamic modulus test can be used directly in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and are considered a very good representation of the expected field performance of the mixture. Further research is still needed to study how the dynamic modulus results are affected by moisture. The flow number test was studied in previous research as a candidate test for moisture-susceptibility evaluation, but the results of that research were not favorable. This research has four main objectives. The first objective of this research is to evaluate the usefulness of the dynamic modulus and flow number tests in moisture-susceptibility evaluation. The second objective is to compare the results to those achieved using the AASHTO T 283 test. The third objective is to study the effect of different methods of sample conditioning and testing conditions. The fourth objective of the research is to study the variability in the test results.

Investigation of Materials for the Reduction and Prevention of Corrosion on Highway Maintenance Equipment, TR-472, 2009

The issue of corrosion of winter maintenance equipment is becoming of greater concern because of the increased use of liquid solutions of ice control chemicals, as opposed to their application in solid form. Being in liquid form, the ice control chemicals can more easily penetrate into the nooks and crannies on equipment and avoid being cleansed from the vehicle. Given this enhanced corrosive ability, methods must be found to minimize corrosion. The methods may include coatings, additives, cleansing techniques, other methods, and may also include doing nothing, and accepting a reduced equipment lifetime as a valid (perhaps) trade off with the enhanced benefits of using liquid ice control chemicals. In reality, some combination of these methods may prove to be optimal. Whatever solutions are selected, they must be relatively cheap and durable. The latter point is critical because of the environment in which maintenance trucks operate, in which scrapes, scratches and dents are facts of life. Protection methods that are not robust simply will not work. The purpose of this study is to determine how corrosion occurs on maintenance trucks, to find methods that would minimize the major corrosion mechanisms, and to

Effects of Implements of Husbandry (Farm Equipment) on Pavement Performance, TR-563, 2012

The effects of farm equipment on the structural behavior of flexible and rigid pavements were investigated in this study. The project quantified the difference in pavement behavior caused by heavy farm equipment as compared to a typical 5-axle, 80 kip semi-truck. This research was conducted on full scale pavement test sections designed and constructed at the Minnesota Road Research facility (MnROAD). The testing was conducted in the spring and fall seasons to capture responses when the pavement is at its weakest state and when agricultural vehicles operate at a higher frequency, respectively. The flexible pavement sections were heavily instrumented with strain gauges and earth pressure cells to measure essential pavement responses under heavy agricultural vehicles, whereas the rigid pavement sections were instrumented with strain gauges and linear variable differential transducers (LVDTs). The full scale testing data collected in this study were used to validate and calibrate analytical models used to predict relative damage to pavements. The developed procedure uses various inputs (including axle weight, tire footprint, pavement structure, material characteristics, and climatic information) to determine the critical pavement responses (strains and deflections). An analysis was performed to determine the damage caused by various types of vehicles to the roadway when there is a need to move large amounts agricultural product.

FY2015 Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report

The Equipment and Vehicle Revolving Fund report covers all equipment and vehicle purchases through the highway materials and equipment revolving fund during FY 2015.

Multispectral remote sensing for site-specific nitrogen fertilizer management

The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of multispectral remote sensing for site-specific nitrogen fertilizer management. Satellite imagery from the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (Aster) was acquired in a 23 ha corn-planted area in Iran. For the collection of field samples, a total of 53 pixels were selected by systematic randomized sampling. The total nitrogen content in corn leaf tissues in these pixels was evaluated. To predict corn canopy nitrogen content, different vegetation indices, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (Savi), optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index (Osavi), modified chlorophyll absorption ratio index 2 (MCARI2), and modified triangle vegetation index 2 (MTVI2), were investigated. The supervised classification technique using the spectral angle mapper classifier (SAM) was performed to generate a nitrogen fertilization map. The MTVI2 presented the highest correlation (R²=0.87) and is a good predictor of corn canopy nitrogen content in the V13 stage, at 60 days after cultivating. Aster imagery can be used to predict nitrogen status in corn canopy. Classification results indicate three levels of required nitrogen per pixel: low (0-2.5 kg), medium (2.5-3 kg), and high (3-3.3 kg).