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Technology Transfer Reports and Presentations

University Transportation Center for Railway Safety (UTCRS) College of Engineering and Computer Science

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University Transportation Center for Railway Safety (UTCRS)

Technology Transfer - Related Links

  • Journal Articles
  • Conference Papers
  • Reports and Presentations
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Webinars
  • Educational Scholarship
  • 2024 CUTC Summer Meeting
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Contact Us

Center for Railway Safety (UTCRS)
Engineering Portable
EPOB4 1.100
Email: railwaysafety@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 665-8878
Fax: (956) 665-8879
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  • USDOT
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Reports and Presentations

Books

  • Little D.N., Allen D.H., Bhasin A. (2018) Introduction. In: Modeling and Design of Flexible Pavements and Materials. Springer, Cham. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58443-0_1 

Technical Reports

  • Allen, D.H. and Fry, G.T., “Finite Element Formulation for Thermal Buckling of Rails,” Center for Railway Research, Texas A&M University, CRR-2016-02, 2016.
  • Allen, D.H. and Fry, G.T., “Analysis of a Rail Subjected to Mechanical and Thermal Loading,” Center for Railway Research, Texas A&M University, CRR-2016-01, 2016.

Professional Presentations

  • Tarawneh, C. Use of an Advanced Onboard Condition Monitoring Technology as Opposed to Wayside Detection Systems for Freight Rail Revenue Service. Invited Speaker for the Boeing Distinguished Research and Scholar Seminar (B-DRASS), Virtual, Online, December 7, 2023.
  • Chapman, A., and Tarawneh, C. Reimagining Engineering Education through a Community of Practice. Understanding Interventions Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 25-26, 2023.
  • Tarawneh, C. An Overview of the Bearing Reconditioning Process in the Freight Rail Industry and its Effectiveness. Invited Speaker for the Rail Transportation Engineering Advancement and Management (RailTEAM) Center, Las Vegas, NV, April 28, 2023.
  • Tarawneh, C. Assessing the Efficacy of Railroad Bearing Reconditioning through Service Life Performance Testing. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Baltimore, MD, April 11-13, 2023.
  • Tarawneh, C. Pilot Field Test of an Onboard Wireless Health Monitoring System for Railroad Rolling Stock. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 20-21, 2022.
  • Villafranca, L*, Noruzoliaee, M., Tarawneh, C., and Sanchez-Trinidad. A.** Predicting the Remaining Service Life of Railroad Bearings: Leveraging Machine Learning and Onboard Sensor Data. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 20-21, 2022.
  • Amaro, M.*, Tarawneh, C., Foltz, H., and Aguilera-Toro, R.*. Performance of a Thermoelectric-Based Energy Harvesting Device on a Realistic Railroad Route. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 20-21, 2022.
  • Aguilera, J.*, Tarawneh, C., Siegel, H.**, Jones, R., and Gutierrez, S.**. Conductive Polymer Pad for Use in Freight Railcar Bearing Adapters. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 20-21, 2022.
  • Arroyo, J.*, Tarawneh, C., Fuentes, A., Garcia, R.*, and Peña, C.**. Transient Thermal Analysis of a Railroad Bearing Adapter for Optimal Placement of Onboard Sensors. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 20-21, 2022.
  • Tarawneh, C. Fostering Successful Partnerships: Best Practices. Invited Speaker for the 2021 Engaged Scholar Symposium, UTRGV, Virtual, Online, April 21, 2021.
  • Tarawneh, C. Estimating the Inner Ring Defect Size and Residual Service Life of Freight Railcar Bearings Using Vibration Signatures. ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 19-21, 2021.
  • Tarawneh, C. Optimization of Railroad Bearing Health Monitoring System for Wireless Utilization. 2021 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Virtual, Online, April 19-21, 2021.
  • Tarawneh, C. NSF Grant Writing Session: Team Building and Writing your Budget. Invited Presenter for the 3rd Annual RGV STEM Education Conference, McAllen, TX, February 14, 2020.
  • Tarawneh, C. STEM Panel Discussion: An Opportunity for Students and Teachers to ask the STEM Professionals about their Journey Toward a STEM Career. Invited Panelist for the 2nd Annual RGV STEM Education Conference, McAllen, TX, February 9, 2019.
  • Tarawneh, C. Advanced Rolling Stock Condition Monitoring Technologies for Freight Rail Transport. Invited Speaker for the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) Seminar Series, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, October 26, 2018.
  • Tarawneh, C. Defect Detection System for Freight Railcar Tapered-Roller Bearings Using Vibration Techniques. Fourth International Conference on Railways Technology (Railways 2018), Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018.
  • Tarawneh, C. Onboard Load Sensor for Use in Freight Railcar Applications. Fourth International Conference on Railways Technology (Railways 2018), Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018.
  • Tarawneh, C. An Investigation into Wayside Hot-Box Detector Efficacy and Optimization. Fourth International Conference on Railways Technology (Railways 2018), Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, September 3-7, 2018.
  • Rodriguez, O. Impact of Hysteresis Heating of Railroad Bearing Thermoplastic Elastomer Suspension Pad on Railroad Bearing Thermal Management. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • Tarawneh, C. An Analysis of the Efficacy of Wayside Hot-Box Detector Data. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • Montalvo, J. Vibration-Based Defect Detection System for Freight Railcar Tapered-Roller Bearings. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • De Los Santos, N. Defect Prognostic Models for Spall Growth in Railroad Bearing Rolling Elements. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • Albakay, N. Novel Insights for Railroad Maintenance Using Big Data Analytics. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • Banerjee, S. A New Railyard Safety Approach for Detection and Tracking of Personnel and Dynamic Objects Using Software-Defined Radar. 2018 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 18-20, 2018.
  • Banerjee, S. A Novel Proposal for Implementing Massive MIMO and User Control Plane Decoupling with UPWARC. International Conference Communication Systems & Networks (COMSNETS), Bengaluru, India, January 3-7, 2018.
  • Lingenfelter, J. L. Highway-Rail Grade Crossings and Low Clearance Vehicles. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), Pueblo, CO, July 2018.
  • Lingenfelter, J. L. Rail Grade Crossings and Low Ground Clearance Vehicles. WoPhyS Conference, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2018.
  • Rilett, L. R. At-Grade Railway Safety Research: A Nebraska Perspective. Scientific Conference of the Committee for Calculating Land and Water and the PZITB Science Committee, Krynica-Zdrój, Poland, 2018.
  • Allen, D.H. A Model for Predicting Lateral Buckling in Rails. 11th International Heavy Haul Association Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, September 2-6, 2017.
  • Fry, G. Analysis of Rail Grinding as a Means to Optimize Rail Head Fatigue Life under Heavy Axle Loads. 11th International Heavy Haul Association Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, September 2-6, 2017.
  • Multidisciplinary Safety Research. Invited Plenary Speaker, COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals, CICTP 2017, Shanghai, China, July 8, 2017. Sponsor: CICTP 2017*.
  • Critical Civil Infrastructure Systems: Challenges and Opportunities. Invited Talk, Tsingua University, Department of Civil Engineering, Beijing, China, July 5, 2017.
  • Micro-Simulation Calibration Using Intelligent Transportation Systems Data: Lessons Learned. School of Information Engineering, Chang’An University, Xian, China, July 3, 2017. Sponsor: Chang’An University.
  • Murru, P., Grasley, Z., Rajagopal, K.R., and Alagappan, P. Damage in Concrete in Terms of Microscopic Density Changes. 8th Advances in Cement-Based Materials, Atlanta, GA, June 28, 2017.
  • Sharif, H. A Review of Workspace Challenges and Wearable Solutions in Railroads and Construction. 13th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), Valencia, Spain, June 26-30, 2017.
  • Tarawneh, C. Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis of Railroad Bearings for Wayside Hot-Box Detector Optimization. 2017 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 4-7, 2017.
  • Banerjee, S. A Survey of Railyard Worker Protection Approaches and System Design Considerations. 2017 ASME/IEEE Joint Rail Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 4-7, 2017.
  • De Los Santos, N. Development of Prognostic Techniques for Surface Defect Growth in Railroad Bearing Rolling Elements. 2017 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 4-7, 2017.
  • Rodriguez, O. Hysteresis Heating of Railroad Bearing Thermoplastic Elastomer Suspension Element. 2017 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 4-7, 2017. [Received Best Paper Award]
  • Jones, R. Models for the Residual Life of Railroad Bearing Grease in Laboratory and Industry Applications. 2017 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 4-7, 2017.
  • Tafti, S. High Speed Trains and Ground Mach 1. Geo Institute of ASCE Congress, Orlando, FL, March 12-15, 2017.
  • Tarawneh, C. Advanced On-Board Condition Monitoring System for Freight Railcar Applications. Invited Speaker, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R) Transportation Innovation Series, Washington, D.C., February 15, 2017.
  • Sharif, H. High Speed Rail with Multi Antenna-to-Logical Cell Circular FIFO Mapping Strategy. International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, Silicon Valley, CA, January 26-29, 2017.
  • Khattak, A. J. Railway Engineering Programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Presented at the 2016 Summer Rail Conference, Council Bluffs, IA, August 10, 2016.
  • Briaud, J. L. High Speed Rail Geotechnics. The Delta Group, San Diego, CA, July 7, 2016.
  • Tarawneh, C. Temperature Profiles of Railroad Tapered Bearings with Defective Inner and Outer Rings. 2016 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Columbia, SC, April 12-15, 2016. [Link to presentation (776KB)]
  • Rodriguez, O. Heat Generation in the Railroad Bearing Thermoplastic Elastomer Suspension Element. 2016 ASME Joint Rail Conference, Columbia, SC, April 12-15, 2016. [Link to presentation (3MB)]
  • Tarawneh, C. University Transportation Center for Railway Safety (UTCRS) Activities. Invited Speaker, A Summit of University Transportation Centers for Safety, Washington, D.C., March 30-31, 2016. [Link to presentation (2.1MB)]
  • Tarawneh, C. On-Board Sensor Technologies for Effective Bearing Condition Monitoring. Annual Research and Development Meeting of Amsted Rail, Granite City, IL, January 18th, 2016.
  • Tarawneh, C. Keys for a Successful University Transportation Center Operation. Invited Speaker, USDOT OST-R Session for UTC Grantees, New Brunswick, NJ, June 2-5, 2015. [Link to presentation (4MB)]
  • Tarawneh, C. University Transportation Center for RailwaySafety (UTCRS) Activities. Invited Speaker, A Summit of University Transportation Centers for Safety, Pittsburgh, PA, March 19-20, 2015. [Link to presentation (2MB)]
  • Timmer, D., Martinez, T., Jones, R., and Tarawneh, C., "Modeling the Useful Life of Railroad Bearing Grease," 2014 Informs Conference, San Francisco, CA, November 9-12, 2014. [Link to presentation (6MB)]
  • Tarawneh, C. Service Life Testing of Railroad Bearings with Known Subsurface Inclusions Detected with Advanced Ultrasonic Technology. Invited Special Lecture, Second International Conference on Railway Technology, Ajaccio, Corsica, France, April 8-11, 2014. [Link to presentation (1.1MB)]
  • Tarawneh, C. Field Implementation Statistical Analysis of an Emerging Bearing Condition Monitoring System. Second International Conference on Railway Technology, Ajaccio, Corsica, France, April 8-11, 2014. [Link to presentation (1.8MB)]

Poster Presentations

  • Sanchez Trinidad, A.D., Mensah, P., Tarawneh, C., "Onboard Load Sensor for Freight Railcar Service" presented at the Transportation Research Board poster session, Washington D.C., January 9-11, 2023.
  • Gutierrez, S., Gutierrez, M., Tarawneh, C., "Design of a Dynamic Test Rig for Railroad Wheel Axle Assembly" presented at the Transportation Research Board poster session, Washington D.C., January 9-11, 2023.
  • Spor Leal, L.B., Jungseok, H., "Georeferencing Analysis of Emergency Evacuation Traffic Capacity Impacted by International Border Crossing" presented at the Transportation Research Board poster session, Washington D.C., January 9-11, 2023.
  • Capitanachi Avila, D., Tarawneh, C., Foltz, H. "Optimization of Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Device for Rail Service", presented at the Transportation Research Board poster session, Washington D.C., January 9-11, 2023.
  • Lingenfelter, J. UTCRS – Rail Grade Crossings and Low Ground Clearance Vehicles. Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physical Sciences, Lincoln, NE, November 9, 2017.
  • Mohammadrajabi, M. and Fry. G., “Dynamic Live Load Effects of Railroads on Retaining Walls and Temporary Shoring,” poster presented at the 22nd Annual Research Review, Technology and Innovation to Improve the Safety of North American, March 21-22, 2017.
  • Benham, G., Lechtenberg, R., Bensen, J., and Tarawneh, C., "Design and Construction of an Automated Solenoid Spooler," poster presented at the High Scholars Research Competition, Edinburg, TX, August 5th, 2016.
  • Vail, A., Aranda, J., Montalvo, J., and Tarawneh, C., "Using Computational Fluid Dynamics to Test Air Flow and Heat Generation for a Four Bearing Test Rig," poster presented at the High Scholars Research Competition, Edinburg, TX, August 5th, 2016.
  • Infante, E., Mealer, A., and Tarawneh, C., "Demonstrating and Studying the Emissivity Difference Over a Single Railroad Bearing and a Population of Bearings," poster presented at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Program Closing Ceremony, Edinburg, TX, July 29th, 2016. [Won First Place Honors]
  • Siegel, H., Ontiveros, M., Jones, R., and Tarawneh, C., "The Effects of Residual Crystallization on the Resistivity of TPU-CNF Blend," poster presented at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Program Closing Ceremony, Edinburg, TX, July 29th, 2016.
  • Villarreal, A., Ontiveros, M., Tarawneh, C., Jones, R., "Conductive Polymer Nano-Composites for Rail Suspension Applications," poster presented at the UTC Safety Summit, Washington, D.C., March 30-31, 2016.
  • Montalvo, J., Trevino, A., Fuentes, A. A., and Tarawneh, C., “Structural Integrity of Conventional and Modified Railroad Bearing Adapters for Onboard Monitoring Applications,” poster presented at HESTEC Science Symposium, Edinburg, TX, September, 2014.
  • Montalvo, J., Trevino, A., Fuentes, A. A., and Tarawneh, C., “Structural Integrity of Conventional and Modified Railroad Bearing Adapters for Onboard Monitoring Applications,” poster presented at University Transportation Center for Railway Safety Inauguration, Edinburg, TX, February, 2014.
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