Search results
(141 - 160 of 322)
Pages
- Title
- The practical design of a steel skeleton office building with a detailed consideration of the caisson type of foundation
- Creator
- Mchugh, Lawrence John
- Date
- 2009, 1916
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/practicaldesigno00mchu
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology; Includes folded leaves in back pocket
- Title
- Power consumption tests of a bascule bridge
- Creator
- Schreiber, Armin L., Miller, Stuart N
- Date
- 2009, 1917
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/powerconsumption00schr
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- A practical problem in factory building design and construction
- Creator
- Koch, Raymond J.
- Date
- 2009, 1920
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/practicalproblem00koch
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- The proposed Washington Street Pavement Waukegan, Illinois
- Creator
- Douthitt, Merton James
- Date
- 2009, 1913
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/proposedwashingt00dout
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- Proposed three span arch subway of the C. M. & ST. P. RY. over Humboldt boulevard
- Creator
- Greifenhagen, P. F, Koch, Raymond J., Walin, H. S.
- Date
- 2009, 1913
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/proposedthreespa00grei
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology, 1913 B.S. in Civil Engineering, 1913
- Title
- METHODOLOGY FOR PERFORMANCE BASED TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT SIMULTANEOUSLY CONSIDERING DEMAND AND SUPPLY, WITH PRICING CONSIDERAnON
- Creator
- Patel, Harshingar
- Date
- 2015, 2015-05
- Description
-
The ever growing demands for the use of transportation infrastructure and its maintenance and repairs at an acceptable level of service are...
Show moreThe ever growing demands for the use of transportation infrastructure and its maintenance and repairs at an acceptable level of service are the prime concern for transportation agencies today. The available financial resources can never be sufficient to match the exorbitantly high requirements for construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of transportation systems. With the advent of the technological revolution, the intelligence transfer amongst various engineering fields has made it possible to reduce transportation costs. However, the slow growing budget caused by economic recession and revenue decrease over time puts transportation agencies under enormous pressure to effectively restore the deteriorated transportation facility and system operation conditions under the budget constraint. The proposed research aims to utilize the concept of roadway pricing coupled with a holistic framework of asset management to support performance-based management of transportation systems and help transportation agencies achieve the future vision of the nation's strategic planning requirements to enable sustainable management of the system. A computational study for the City of Chicago’s central district is conducted by using the proposed roadway pricing framework. The proposed roadway pricing framework can be utilized for urban as well as rural regions, by public as well as private agencies, to manage the system in a sustainable manner, by means of fair pricing to the users of the system, for their facility condition and usage impacts.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, May 2015
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- Title
- INVESTIGATING THE MEDIATION OF HEMOGLOBIN PROTEINS IN NITRIFICATION AT LOW DISSOLVED OXYGEN CONDITIONS
- Creator
- Arnaldos, Marina Orts
- Date
- 2012-10-30, 2012-12
- Description
-
Due to the high aeration and energy requirements of nitrifying activated sludge processes, there is great interest in developing biological...
Show moreDue to the high aeration and energy requirements of nitrifying activated sludge processes, there is great interest in developing biological nitrifying processes that operate efficiently under low dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions. In this framework, the present study has investigated the acclimation of ammonia-oxidizing communities (AOC) to low DO concentrations. Under controlled laboratory conditions, two sequencing batch reactors seeded with activated sludge from the same source were operated at high DO (near saturation) and low DO (0.1 mg O2/L) concentrations for a period of 385 days. Stable and complete nitrification at low DO after an acclimation period of approximately 140 days was demonstrated. Modeling of oxygen transfer and uptake behavior demonstrated the low DO reactor to achieve equal performance to the high DO reactor, when the latter is operated at design DO concentration (2 mg O2/L), with approximately 20 % improvement in aeration requirements and oxygen mass transfer efficiency. The effect of DO on AOC dynamics was evaluated using the 16S rRNA gene as the basis for phylogenetic comparisons and organism quantification. Ammonium consumption by ammonia-oxidizing archaea and anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria was ruled out in both reactors. Even though N. europaea was the dominant AOB lineage in both SBRs at the end of operation, this enrichment could not be linked to acclimation to oxygen-limited conditions. This finding challenges the hypothesis that low DO conditions select for ammonia-oxidizing lineages characterized by high oxygen affinities, and points to the alternative mechanism of a physiological change of a generalist nitrifying community. Acclimation brought about increased specific oxygen uptake rates and enhanced expression of a particular heme protein in the soluble fraction of the biomass in the low DO reactor as compared to the high DO reactor. The heme protein induced was determined not to be any of the enzymes playing a role in ammonia metabolism of ammonia oxidizing bacteria, including a soluble oxidase and soluble peroxidase of unknown function. Further molecular studies are required to verify the hypothesis put forward in this study that the heme protein detected is a hemoglobin.
PH.D in Environmental Engineering, December 2012
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- Title
- WIND TURBINE FARMS IMPACT ON POLLEN TRANSPORT DISPERSION PATTER S
- Creator
- Hsu, Chin Yu
- Date
- 2012-11-28, 2012-12
- Description
-
Wind energy has become more and more popular because electricity generation by wind power brings much less environmental impacts than...
Show moreWind energy has become more and more popular because electricity generation by wind power brings much less environmental impacts than conventional energy generation using coal. Also, energy generated by wind power does not require expensive fuel imported from overseas. Since the land in between turbines is still cultivated for crops and grazing, it is important to know the potential interference of wind turbines with pollen transport and dispersion, or the possible change of patterns established for thousands of years. However, these issues have not been studied in the literature. The co-existence of conventional crops with genetically modified (GM) crops has become a subject of debate. In particular, pollen transfer from GM crops to non-GM crops might result in the introgression of transgenes into natural populations as maize is mainly wind-pollinated. This study thus reports and assesses a comprehensive method that estimates maize pollen transport in the presence of turbines to ascertain the potential for maize pollen transport. The study on the concentrations of maize pollen transport affected by the wind turbines considers different dispersion parameters given the additional mechanical turbulence introduced by the presence of operating wind turbines. For instance, the wind turbines can increase surface roughness which subsequently causes increased mechanical turbulence. A high mechanical turbulence subsequently reduces downwind concentrations because of the mixing higher and wider into the atmosphere, which dilutes the maize pollen plume with more clean air. This study compares maize hourly concentrations and ground level flux levels inside and outside a virtual maize flux in the presence and absence of operating wind turbines. Results from a 14-day simulation of maize transport xii with and without operating wind turbines indicate that each difference of corresponding concentration and flux levels is statistically significant. Likewise, patterns of maize pollen transport inside the farm with turbine effects are significantly different from those without turbine effects. Overall, the average maize pollen concentration inside the farm in the absence of turbine effects is about 5 times greater than the corresponding maize pollen concentration with turbine effects. The total mass of maize pollen released into the air is the same whether the wind turbines are present or not. The portion of maize pollen staying inside the farm, on the other hand, is influenced by turbulence. For instance, the increased surface roughness caused by the turbine effects will increase the mechanical turbulence. Because the high mechanical turbulence carries a large portion of maize pollen away from the farm, only a small portion of maize pollen stays inside the farm due to the high turbulence that lifts maize pollen into higher levels of flow where the wind speed is stronger. In contrast, without turbine effects, a small portion of maize pollen leaves the farm while most of it deposits on the ground much sooner than it would with turbine effects. Therefore, maize pollen concentration and ground level flux in the presence of turbine effects will be greater than they are without turbine effects at a relatively far distance from the farm.
PH.D in Environmental Engineering, December 2012
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- Title
- DEVELOPMENT OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE FILTER SYSTEMS (PRFS) FOR TREATMENT OF URBAN STORMWATER RUNOFF
- Creator
- Prabhukumar, Giridhar
- Date
- 2013, 2013-05
- Description
-
Urban stormwater runoff is a major contributor of pollutants to nearshore beach water of Lake Michigan and other water bodies. Reduction of...
Show moreUrban stormwater runoff is a major contributor of pollutants to nearshore beach water of Lake Michigan and other water bodies. Reduction of pollutants levels to within safe limits in urban runoff from near shore areas by means of filtration using low-impact reactive multi-media systems is the subject of research in this dissertation. The key research issues addressed are the identification of effective filter materials and laboratory-scale testing of the selected materials for permeable reactive filter systems (PRFS) that are feasible for installation in urban environment. The focus was to evaluate different media materials for removal of total suspended solids (TSS), nutrients (nitrate and phosphate), heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene and phenanthrene) and microbial (E. coli.) contaminants from stormwater runoff to levels below standard discharge criteria. Eight different media materials were initially selected, including calcite, anthracite coal, zeolite, sand, iron-oxide coated sand (IOCS), iron filings, perlite and biochar. Of these, calcite (C), zeolite (Z), sand (S) and iron filings (Fe0) were screened based on preliminary column experiment results and used for further studies. Physical and chemical characterization studies were carried out to understand the material properties. Contaminant attenuation studies with lab-scale column experiments for the four individual media materials (C, Z, S and Fe0) were conducted with synthetic stormwater solution containing all the aforementioned pollutants. Results showed that calcite and sand were efficient in TSS, nutrients and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) removal, zeolite was efficient for metals removal and the only material that was able to lower E. coli level to below its safe xv limit of 126 most probable number (MPN) per 100ml, and iron filings was efficient in nutrients and metals removal. Column experiments were also conducted with three mixed media compositions, C-Z-S, C-Z-Fe0 and C-Z-S-Fe0. The results indicated that a multi-media based filtration system can perform efficiently to treat a wide range of pollutants and runoff flow conditions. Finally, several conceptual designs for PRFS were proposed that are suitable for application at various urban locations.
PH.D in Environmental Engineering, May 2013
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- Title
- FATIGUE AND BARKHAUSEN EFFECT
- Creator
- Tong, Wei
- Date
- 2013, 2013-05
- Description
-
Piezomagnetism designates a change in the magnetization of materials induced by mechanical actions such as tension or compression. The type of...
Show morePiezomagnetism designates a change in the magnetization of materials induced by mechanical actions such as tension or compression. The type of Barkhausen effect that occurs in this work consists of sudden, discontinuous jumps in a material’s magnetization that appear in response to smooth (continuous) stress variations. A series of strain controlled fatigue tests with an alternating sinusoidal waveform were carried out to study the relationship between the endurance limit and the Barkhausen effect. Results of fatigue tests on steel specimens exhibiting Barkhausen pulses at various stages are reported and a threshold-crossing analysis is applied to the test results. These studies show that when the fatigue limit is approached, the Barkhausen pulses become, in general, more intense in amplitude and quantity than at other stress levels. A hypothetical mechanism is proposed that relates the intensity of the Barkhausen response to the inception of micro-cracking and rearrangements of the mechanical lattice at the microscopic level.
PH.D in Civil Engineering, May 2013
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- Title
- Scientific location of carhouses in the Calumet district, Chicago
- Creator
- Ferrenz, Tirrell John
- Date
- 2009, 1915
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/scientificlocati00ferr
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- Secondary stresses in bridges
- Creator
- Stein, Aaron, Passialis, Constantine
- Date
- 2009, 1920
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/secondarystresse00stei
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology;Includes bibliographical references (leaf...
Show morehttp://www.archive.org/details/secondarystresse00stei
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology;Includes bibliographical references (leaf 31) and index
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- Title
- SEISMIC STUDY OF HYBRID SHEAR WALL SYSTEM
- Creator
- Xu, Lifeng
- Date
- 2013, 2013-07
- Description
-
This thesis represents the seismic behavior of new hybrid shear wall system, which consists of two exterior precast wall layers and one...
Show moreThis thesis represents the seismic behavior of new hybrid shear wall system, which consists of two exterior precast wall layers and one interior cast-in-place concrete layer. The “sandwich” shaped shear walls were already tested as a full scale specimen subjecting to vertical pressure and cyclic horizontal load in Anhui University of Architecture, China (2010). A series of 3D non-linear finite element models which include all significant details and specifications were then created in ABAQUS to simulate the experiments. The pushover analyses method was employed to reproduce the test procedures. The response of the structure was computed both at macro and micro level at the result in order to validate the correctness of the analytical model. After verifying the good agreement between the experimental observations and simulation results, an extended parametric study was conducted towards this hybrid shear wall system to explore its damage mechanism and design optimization. Based on hybrid shear wall's specific seismic resisting capacity which derived from the previous simulation, a series of 2D models were created in SAP2000 to evaluate the seismic performance of hybrid shear wall structure. What's more, in order to precisely represent the 3D model effect into 2D model in SAP2000,3D model was created in ABAQUS to account for the influence of semi-rigid connection between the concrete diaphragm and hybrid shear wall. After applying the ability of semi-rigid connection and hybrid shear wall, pushover method and time history analysis were conducted towards this 18 story structure model. The global seismic performance factor is finally evaluated according to the FEMA-P695.
PH.D in Civil Engineering, July 2013
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- Title
- Secondary stresses in 112 foot railroad pony truss
- Creator
- Appelbaum, A., Isaacson, S.
- Date
- 2009, 1921
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/secondarystresse00appe
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology;Bibliography: leaf 6
- Title
- A PARAMETRIC STUDY OF THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF DOUBLE SKIN FACADES AT DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS USING ANNUAL ENERGY SIMULATION
- Creator
- Pekdemir, Emir Aykut
- Date
- 2011-11-28, 2011-12
- Description
-
While Double Skin Façades [DSF] are considered one of the advanced techniques of designing energy efficient buildings, the decision to...
Show moreWhile Double Skin Façades [DSF] are considered one of the advanced techniques of designing energy efficient buildings, the decision to implement a DSF is usually driven by aesthetics. The project owners and unspecialized architects generally lack the knowledge of which types of DSFs are applicable in different climate zones. In some applications, DSF designs are increasing the energy costs of buildings due to incorrect assumptions during the system selection process. This research aims to come up with result patterns to show which types of DSFs are applicable in each American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers [ASHRAE] climate zone to guide project owners and unspecialized architects during their decision making process, when they choose to design a DSF. Using Building Energy Modeling [BEM] software, various types of DSFs are analyzed at different locations. The thermal performance of the DSF is determined by comparing the building energy use data of a generic office building. The BEM tool chosen to run the analysis is Virtual Environment by Integrated Environmental Solutions [IESVE]. The different types of DSFs are created following a set of parameters such as stratification type, permissibility of airflow, and width of interstitial space. The weather data for different locations is obtained from U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] website. Although there has been much research done regarding the thermal performance of DSFs, there is a significant gap in terms of parametric and location based evaluation. Moreover, previous research tend to focus on a very specific function or type of DSF, while this study aims to create a general guide for practitioners in the decision making level of the building construction industry.
M.S. in Civil Engineering, December 2011
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- Title
- MANAGING THE BIDDING PROCESS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OWNER – DETECTION AND PREVENTION OF UNBALANCED BIDS AND COLLUSIVE BIDS
- Creator
- Chotibhongs, Ranon
- Date
- 2011-09, 2011-12
- Description
-
There are two major problems that affect bidding efficiency: unbalanced bidding and collusive bidding. Unbalanced bidding is a serious...
Show moreThere are two major problems that affect bidding efficiency: unbalanced bidding and collusive bidding. Unbalanced bidding is a serious unethical problem in the construction industry. The owner may end up paying more money if the bid is unbalanced by the contractor. A bid can be rejected by the owner if it is unbalanced. A bidder unbalances a bid by inflating the unit price of some line items and reducing the unit price of other line items. Frontloading is the most common practice where a bidder can mathematically unbalance a bid by overstating the unit price of line items scheduled to be performed early in the project and understating the unit price of line items performed later. A bidder can also overstate the unit price of a line item whose quantity was somehow underrated by the engineer. If the owner proves that a mathematically unbalanced bid costs more to perform, the bid is said to be materially unbalanced, in which case the owner can reject the bid. A model is presented that formalizes and automates the process of detecting mathematically and materially unbalanced bids by comparing line item prices with the engineer’s estimates or the average prices offered by the bidders. This model allows owners to detect and reject unbalanced bids, and deters bidders from unbalancing their bid. Another matter that inflates bids and reduces bidding efficiency is collusion. Collusion is an insidious issue in the construction industry. Even though, it is widely acknowledged as unethical and illegal, there are not many research studies conducted to detect collusive bidding. This study proposes a two-step method to detect collusive bidding by analyzing historical bidding data provided by a construction owner. The construction owner in this study was a public agency that commissioned 108 construction projects that was worth $1.3 billion during a 10-year study period (2001-2010). The first step involves indentifying the potential cartel bidders using the residual test and the cost structure stability test developed in earlier work. The second involves comparing the behavior of the potential cartel bidders and non-cartel bidders by analyzing bid distributions, their cost dispersion, and the differences in their cost structures. After conducting the tests, it was found that the suspected cartel bidders identified in Step 1 behaved in ways to confirm collusion. Also, in an unrelated search, it was found that two of the six potential cartel bidders who were identified in this study had been audited by the public agency for bid fraud, and that another potential cartel bidder had been found guilty by the courts and forbidden from doing business with the public agency.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, December 2011
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- Title
- ANAEROBIC TREATMENT OF PETROCHEMICAL WASTE FOR DETOXIFICATION AND SOLIDS REDUCTION
- Creator
- Roy, Ratul
- Date
- 2015, 2015-07
- Description
-
Lab scale studies were conducted to test the anaerobic digestibility of two waste streams acquired from a petrochemical refinery. The waste...
Show moreLab scale studies were conducted to test the anaerobic digestibility of two waste streams acquired from a petrochemical refinery. The waste streams comprised of a float from the dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit and a waste activated sludge (WAS) from the biological treatment unit. Three semi continuous anaerobic digesters (AD) were fed with DAF, WAS and a combination of the two as substrates. Batch bioassays were used as a preliminary tool to determine the toxicity profiles and the biodegradability of the feeds. Out of the three combinations in AD, mono digestion of WAS yielded the highest gas production whereas feeds with portions of DAF showed inhibition in the overall process. Pretreatment of the feeds through ozonation was utilized in the latter phase of the study that exhibited a marked improvement in the mono digestion of DAF when the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was doubled. Both the solids destruction and the biogas recovery increased to 49% and 106 Lbiogas/kgVS respectively. Ozonized WAS saw solids destruction increase by 20% and the biogas recovery was more than double. Whereas ozonized co-digestion led to formation of an emulsified layer which further affected the overall performance and yielded lower biogas. However, pretreatment of influents containing portions of DAF saw substantial removal of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and semi volatile organics (SVOC) going into the lab scale digesters.
M.S. in Environmental Engineering, July 2015
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- Title
- METHODOLOGY FOR URBAN AREA SNOW REMOVAL USING NEW MACHINE AND PERFORMANCE-BASED ANALYSIS
- Creator
- Neishapouri, Mohammad
- Date
- 2015, 2015-12
- Description
-
The need for alternative methods that facilitate removal of snow on urban streets with minimal pavement and bridge damages, vehicles...
Show moreThe need for alternative methods that facilitate removal of snow on urban streets with minimal pavement and bridge damages, vehicles corrosions, and environmental impacts due to use of chemicals and salts has been growing over time. Conversely, this issue has not been thoroughly investigated. This is particularly true for large urban areas where the snow removal machine and background traffic share already congested streets. In this research, a new methodology is introduced for effectively managing snow removal that involves new machine and performance-based analysis. The new machine aims to melt snow and ice using technically adequate mechanical system including special engine, heat pumps and very fast ventilation pumps in order to suck and discharge water from pavement surface to road sides. The performance-based analysis employs a life cycle cost analysis approach to estimate reductions in expenditures to pavements and bridges, and vehicle corrosions of background traffic as a result of using new machine for snow melting instead of using chemicals and salts; and an optimization model for effective dispatching of new machine across a large area, leading to a significant level of travel timing savings to the background traffic owning to shorter duration oftravel way closures. The proposed methodology is implemented in a computational study to examine the current snow removal programs in the city of Chicago for a typical winter day involving moderate and severe snowfalls that correspond to its 50 percent and 100 percent programs for filed dispatching one-half and all snow plow trucks. Compared with the use of snow removal trucks coupled with chemicals and salts, the use of new machine could result in better equivalent annualized savings as benefits component and less amount of cost components which cause the project implementation has benefit to cost ratio Xl11The need for alternative methods that facilitate removal of snow on urban streets with minimal pavement and bridge damages, vehicles corrosions, and environmental impacts due to use of chemicals and salts has been growing over time. Conversely, this issue has not been thoroughly investigated. This is particularly true for large urban areas where the snow removal machine and background traffic share already congested streets. In this research, a new methodology is introduced for effectively managing snow removal that involves new machine and performance-based analysis. The new machine aims to melt snow and ice using technically adequate mechanical system including special engine, heat pumps and very fast ventilation pumps in order to suck and discharge water from pavement surface to road sides. The performance-based analysis employs a life cycle cost analysis approach to estimate reductions in expenditures to pavements and bridges, and vehicle corrosions of background traffic as a result of using new machine for snow melting instead of using chemicals and salts; and an optimization model for effective dispatching of new machine across a large area, leading to a significant level of travel timing savings to the background traffic owning to shorter duration oftravel way closures. The proposed methodology is implemented in a computational study to examine the current snow removal programs in the city of Chicago for a typical winter day involving moderate and severe snowfalls that correspond to its 50 percent and 100 percent programs for filed dispatching one-half and all snow plow trucks. Compared with the use of snow removal trucks coupled with chemicals and salts, the use of new machine could result in better equivalent annualized savings as benefits component and less amount of cost components which cause the project implementation has benefit to cost ratio respectively 2.15 and 2 by CPI analysis and 3 and 3.04 by CCI analysis. Compared with the current practice of filed dispatching of snow plow trucks or new machine for snow removal, the optimization model for vehicle dispatching could further improve the snow removal productivity by 2-4 percent for the 100 percent program and 3-8 percent for the 50 percent program, respectively.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, December 2015
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- Title
- A new method for testing reinforced concrete slabs
- Creator
- Ecklund, Conrad Arthur, Ebert, Alfred August, Youngberg, Harry Walter
- Date
- 2009, 1909
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/newmethodfortest00eckl
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- The pitometer and its uses in water works operation
- Creator
- Wolfe, Thomas F.
- Date
- 2009, 1921
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/pitometeritsuses00wolf
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology