CECOS University of IT & Emerging Sciences, Peshawar,

Pakistan
Board of Advanced Studies and Research
MSc Degree programmes
Submission of Thesis Proposal

1. Student Name:

2. Student ID:

3. CGPA:

4. Contact Phone No.:

5. Email:

6. Department: Electrical Engineering

7. Date of Registration:

8. Major Area of Study:

1.
2.
3.
4.
9. Courses Completed
5.
6.
7.
8.
10. Research Topic:

11. Proposed Starting Date:

Expected Completion
12.
Date:

13. Supervisor Name:

Dr. Zahid Ullah

PGS Advisor
Department of Electrical Engineering
CECOS University, Peshawar
 BOARD OF ADVANCED STUDIES AND RESEARCH
CECOS UNIVERSITY OF IT & EMERGING SCIENCES

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR MSC DEGREE

PROGRAMME

Contact Number: ………………… CGPA: ………………………

Email: …………………………….

(Note: CGPA must be 2.5 or greater, otherwise not eligible for thesis and award of
MS Degree. Student is responsible for confirming his CGPA from controller section if
not known to him. In case of quoting wrong CGPA, thesis fee will be not refunded,
nor will MS Degree be awarded)
Sign of Student: …………………

1. Name and ID of Student: Ali Khan, CU-209-2009

2. Department: Electrical Engineering

3. Date of Registration in the M.Sc. Degree Program: Spring 2015

4. Major Area of Study: Communication Engineering

5. Courses Studied
1. Advance Digital Communication
2. Wireless and Mobile Communications
3. Advance Digital Signal Processing
4. Computer and Telecom Networks
5. RF Communication Systems Design
6. Adaptive Filter Theory
7. Research Methodology
8. Advanced Digital System Design

6. Summary of Research Proposal

(i) Research Topic:

PERFORMANCE OF POLYMERIC CONCRETE WITH SYNTHETIC
FIBER REINFORCEMENT AGAINST REFLECTIVE CRACKING IN RIGID
PAVENMENT OVERLAY

(ii) Introduction/Problem Statement:

Concrete shrinks as the cement paste hardens. If a concrete slab of moderate
dimensions rests freely on its supports, it can contract to accommodate the shortening
of its length produced by shrinkage. However, in the overlay system, concrete overlay
and old pavement are in contact with each other and the overlay cannot contract

1
freely. Thus, as overlaid concrete shrinks, a certain amount of tensile stresses will be
developed in the overlay. A change in temperature also results in stresses in the
overlaid slab. The stresses caused by shrinkage and temperature changes are
illustrated in Figure 1.2 [1].

Figure 1. Temperature or
temperature induced tensile stresses in concrete overlay

Traffic loading over pavement induces bending stresses in the slab. Due to the
influence of existing cracks in old pavement (no load transfer through the existing
cracks), the bending stresses in the overlay achieve the maximum value at and/or
close to the existing cracked section, i.e., in or close to the cross-section of existing
cracks. In addition, due to the difference in deformation behavior between new
constructed overlay and old pavement, a certain delamination along the interface of
overlay and old pavement starting from the existing cracks will take place. Therefore,
the above maximum bending stress zone is extended to both sides from the existing
cracks to the endpoints of the delamination zone on each side [2].
As the tensile stress produced by shrinkage and/or temperature changes and traffic
loading attains the tensile strength of the overlay material, cracking occurs. These
cracks are known as reflective cracks in overlaid pavements. Generally, these
reflective cracks are present around existing cracks in the old pavement due to above-
stated reasons. These reflective cracks are subjected to freeze and thaw cycles.
Freezing water expands and results in additional damage, increase of crack width and
depth. Cracking in slab surface is exacerbated by traffic loads. Each passage of a
heavy wheel may cause a strain/ stress concentration, which leads to further cracking
and disintegration of the slabs. In addition, further development of concrete shrinkage
or temperature change also leads to the growth of the transverse cracks. These
combined factors lead to the formation of through-thickness cracks [3].
Water gradually moves downward through the cracks. Under repeated traffic load,
the through crack faces are gradually worn out, leading to the loss of load distribution
in the longitudinal direction. As a result, the overlay slab does not behave as a plate

2
any longer but acts as transverse beam. The presence of water accelerates the wearing
out procedure. Finally, passages of truck wheels on the cracked overlay result in
severe spalling, reducing or terminating the ability to carry traffic.
The above studies indicate that in overlaid pavements, the initial shrinkage and/or
temperature change and traffic loading induced reflective cracking and subsequent
through slab-thickness crack propagation under repeated traffic load are the principal
reasons for limiting the service life of the structures. Therefore, the prevention of
reflective cracking in overlaid slabs is crucial, and the sequence of deterioration
stages described above has to be interrupted before final pavement failure. Hence,
reducing shrinkage crack width and enhancing fatigue crack growth resistance of the
material become critical objectives to prolong the service life of the overlaid
pavements.
Any crack or joint in a pavement tends to reflect through an overlay placed on the
cracked pavement. The rate at which the reflection process develops depends on the
magnitude of the stress concentration at the tip of the crack or joint, the resistance of
the overlay material to crack propagation and the characteristics of the interface
between overlay and existence pavement. The stress concentration at the tip of the
crack or joint develops as a result of the bending, shearing and tearing actions of
traffic loads and tensile bending actions caused by temperature and movements as
well as temperature and moisture gradient. The possibility of occurrence of reflection
crack is dependant on the relative thickness of the overlay and the cracked pavements.
Thermal variations within the pavement also play an important role in the occurrence
of reflection cracking. According to the classical fatigue theory, cracks due to traffic
loads are initiated at the bottom of the bound layers and propagate upwards to the
surface.

(iii) Objectives
The objective of this work is to assess the performance of polymeric concrete
with synthetic fiber reinforcement against reflective cracking in the overlay system.

(iv) Methodology: To achieve the objective the study will focus on the following
tasks.
a. To measure the performance of polymeric concrete with synthetic
fibers as an overlay material in terms of the load-deflection, strain-

3
 deflection and load –strain behavior of beams of the polymeric
concrete.
b. Testing of cubes of plain concrete and of concrete with synthetic fiber
needles after 7 and 28 days for compressive strengths.
c. Flexure testing of beams of the polymeric concrete.
d. Preparing Finite element models in Ansys software for the beams.

7. References:

[1] N. Mohan, W. Fung, D. Wright, and M. Sachdev, “Design techniques and

test methodology for low-power TCAMs,” Very Large Scale Integration
(VLSI) Systems, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 14, no. 6, pp.573–586, 2006.
[2] P. Mahoney, Y. Savaria, G. Bois, and P. Plante, “Parallel hashing
memories: an alternative to content addressable memories,” in IEEE-
NEWCAS Conference, 2005. The 3rd International, 2005, pp. 223–226.
[3] Z. Ullah, K. Ilgon, and S. Baeg, “Hybrid partitioned SRAM-based ternary
content addressable memory,” Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers,
IEEE Transactions on, vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 2969–2979, 2012.

8. Contributions to the Field/ Benefits:

The results of this research work will be useful for highway industry. It will
make the pavement surface more durable and suitable for comfortable riding. It
will reduce the risk of failure. It will make the construction economical.

9. Work schedule/plan

Literature Review Four weeks

Material selection Two weeks

Analysis Six weeks

Development of testing plan Four weeks

Conclusion and results Eight weeks

Thesis writing Four weeks

Proposed Starting Date: February 2011

Expected Date of Completion: August 2011

Are Major facilities available for the work? Yes

Are Additional facilities required? Give detail: Nil

4
Name of the Candidate: Ali Khan
Signature of Candidate:
Dated:

Supervisor

Name: Dr. Ali Khan

Signature _____________

Instructions:
1. Prepare your thesis/research proposal as per specimen
2. Carefully read the guidelines for thesis writing
3. Care to follow the format given in the guidelines for quoting references in the
text
4. Care to follow the format for preparing list of references at the end.
5. Care for font size, margin, line spacing etc.
6. Use IEEE references and citation styles.

5
 Guidelines for Thesis

CECOS University of IT & Emerging Sciences, Hayatabad Peshawar

Components of Thesis
Thesis includes the following components in the given sequence.
 Title Page
 Approval Page
 Copy of the Anti-plagiarism Certificate, issued by CECOS University
 Dedication (optional)
 Acknowledgements
 Abstract
 Table of Contents
 List of Tables
 List of Figures
 List of abbreviations
 Introduction
 Review of Literature
 Research Methodology (Materials and Methods)
 Results and Discussion
 Conclusions and Recommendations
 References
 Appendices, if any

Page Size and Margins

 Use size A- 4
 Numbering of Pages
− Before introduction, all preliminary pages (Title page, Approval page,
Dedication page, Acknowledgements page, Abstract page, Table of Contents
page…List of Figures, and List of Abbreviations) are numbered with small
roman numbers (e.g. i, ii, iii…….). Number on Title page should be hidden.
− Beginning with the first page of introduction, pages are numbered with Arabic
numerals consecutively through to the last page of the thesis including
appendices. Page numbers are placed at the bottom center or bottom right of
each page.

 Line Spacing: one and an half spacing between the lines (1.5 pts)
Left Margin: 3.75 cm (1.5 inch)
Right Margin: 2.5 cm (1 inch)
Bottom Margin: 2.5 cm (1 inch)
Top Margin: 2.5 cm (1 inch)

 Font Size and Type:

Normal and plain text
Font Type: Time New Roman
Font Size: 12

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 Headings:
Chapter Heading: Font Arial Bold Size: 16
Heading1: Font Arial Bold Size: 14
Heading2: Font Arial Bold Size: 12
Heading3: Font Arial Bold Size: 12

 Title Page: Use caps for the title of the thesis and the title appears in bold
type.

 Table of contents: Only the headings for table of contents, title and page are
bold. For chapter title use title capitalization i.e. capitalize the first letter of
each word in the title. For section heading use either title capitalization or
sentence capitalization i.e. only the first letter of the first word is capitalized;
all other words appear in lower case.
 Do not use all capital letters for chapter titles or subsection heading.
 Words like “and” at, ‘a’ and ‘the’ are not capitalized unless they happened
to be the first word in the title.
 Level of headings: Sections and subsections: commonly four levels can be
used including the chapter title. More than three levels of subheading
below chapter title should be avoided. Number chapter title in Arabic
numerals (1, 2, 3). While constructing table of contents, use the following
format for sections and subsections. Give one blank line between the
chapter headings i.e. 1, 2, 3… 5.
Example: 1 Chapter Title………….
1.1 ……………
1.2……………
1.2.1………….
1.2.2………….
1.2.2.1…………
1.2.2.1 means chapter 1, section 2, and subsection 2.1.

 Tables, Figures, Equations and Units: Tables, figures and equations should
be given immediately after the relevant part of the text. Tables, figures and
equations should be numbered to indicate the chapter and sequence of the text.
Always use capital letter when making reference to a table, figures or
equations in the text.

Examples: Figure 1.2 (means figure 2 in chapter one)

Table 5.4 (Fourth table in chapter 5)
Equation 2.3 (Third equation in chapter 2)
Equations numbers are commonly given in the right front of the equations, and
equation should be centered.

Qd = 1/(x+y) [Eq. 3.12] or just put 3.12

Tables’ titles (captions) are given at the top and figures titles (captions) at the
base below the X-axis. Each table and figure is given a number followed by a
title. Only the first letter of the first word is given in cap. Units such KJ, h, d,
should be given above the data in a given column. If the same unit is used for
7
several column use it: …………..KJ …….; covering all relevant column.
Always use the international system of units (S1) and always consult standard
correct form of abbreviations for the S.I. Units. The S.I. Units are available in
various reference manuals and some journals also provide the list of S.I Units.

Table 1 shows the seven base and two supplementary units with names and
symbols.

Table 1. Base and Supplementary S.I Units.

Quantity Unit Symbol

Amount of Substance mole mol
Electric Current Ampere A
Length meter m
Luminous Intensity Candels cd
Mass Kilogram kg
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Time Second s
Plane angel radian Rad
Solid angle Steradian sr

Derived units (Table 2) are expressed algebraically in terms of base units. An

example of a derived unit with a special name is Newton (N) for force. The
Newton is expressed in basic units as meter kilogram per second square (m kg
s-2).
Another special unit is the Pascal, used for pressure, stress. Pascal is Newton
per square meter. N m-2 = m-1 kg s-2 = kg m-1 s-2
Table 2. Derived S.I Units with special names.
Quantity Name Symbol Expression Expression in
in terms of terms of SI
other units base units
Absorbed dose, specific Gray Gy J/Kg m2 s-2
energy imparted, kerma,
absorbed dose index
Activity (of a Becquerel bq s-1
radionuclide)
Capacitance farad F C/V m-2 kg-1 s4 A2
0
Celsius Temperature degree C K
Conductance Siemens S A/V m-2 kg-1 s3 A2
Electric potential, Volt V W/A m-2 kg s-3 A-1
potential difference,
electromotive force.
Electric Resistance Ohm Ω V/A m2 kg s-3 A-2
Energy, work, quantity, Joule J Nm m2 kg s-2
of heat.
Force Newton N m kg s-2
Frequency Hertz Hz s-1
Power, radiant flux Watt W J/s m2 kg s-3
Pressure, stress Pascal Pa N/m2 m-1 kg s-2
Quantity of electricity, coulomb C sA
electric charge

8
 Table 3. SI prefixes.
Order of magnitude Prefic Symbol
1018 exa E
1015 peta P
1012 tera T
109 giga G
106 mega M
103 kilo k
102 hecto h
101 deca da
10-1 deci d
10-2 centi c
10-3 milli m
10-6 micro µ
10-9 nano N
10-12 pico P
10-15 femto T
10-18 atto a

 Please note that punctuation is sparingly used with SI units and center dot is
omitted. A solidus (oblique stroke) a horizontal line or negative powers may
be used to express a derived unit formed from two other units by division. e.g.
m/s or m s-1.
 Only one solidus may be used in combination of units, unless parentheses are
used to avoid ambiguity, e.g g m-1 s-1 or g / (cm2 s) but not g / m2 /s
 Periods (.) are not used after SI Units Symbol except at the end of the
sentences.
Remember use of %, ppt, and ppm are no longer accepted. Percent (%) can be
used only to express % increase or decrease in dependent variable or %
coefficient of the variation, percent relative humidity and soil texture practices
( % and, clay and salt) .
Similarly parts per thousand (ppt) and parts per million (ppm) are confusing
and ambiguous because the numerator and denominator are not identified. For
example 5% sand, it could be interpreted as 5 kg sand, or 5m 3 and. Similarly 5
ppt, or 5ppm can convey dual meaning and create confusion. It is therefore
imperative to express it in such a way that the volume cm 3, L, m3 or mass l g,
kg, Mg= ton) are clearly mentioned.
Never forget to provide units for your data whether given in the table form or
in the Figures or any other type of illustration. Data without units become
meaningless.
 Punctuation: Consult any standard grammar reference for rules of
punctuation. Take care with spacing before and after punctuation. There are no
leading spaces before the comma, period, colon, simi colon or question mark
but remember there is always a space following these marks.
After parenthesis do not forget to give a space before and after. For example,
David (2010) concluded ……… is the correct style.
 Quotation: Short quotation should be included in the text and enclosed in
double quotation, marks (“).if omitting parts of the author’s original sentence,
use ellipsis (…) to show what part is missing. If the omitted words are from

9
 the end of the author’s original sentence, use four dots (….). The forth dot is
period.

 Citing references in the text:

IEEE references and citation style should be followed in the thesis. The
Reference List appears at the end of your thesis (before appendices) and
contains all the references you have used in your thesis. List all references
numerically in the order they have been cited within your thesis, and include
the bracketed number (for example [1]) at the beginning of each reference.
Please note the following instructions for references. You may find IEEE
references examples in Table 4. Title your list as References either centered or
aligned left at the top of the page.
a. Create a hanging indent for each reference with the bracketed numbers
flush with the left side of the page. The hanging indent highlights the
numerical sequence of your references.
b. The title of an article is listed in quotation marks.
c. Single reference citation examples.
− As demonstrated by Smith [10].
− According to [6] there is little evidence that …
d. Multiple references citation examples
− As Jones demonstrates in [2]–[5].
− Ss demonstrated earlier [10], [12]–[14], [16].
e. Reference within reference citation example.
− Demonstrated in [2, pp.21-26].
f. If three or more authors, citation example. Zang et al. [19] found.
g. While writing references, use only the initials for the first and middle
author names. For example Zahid Ullah should be written Z. Ullah. Give
the names of all authors in a reference unless there are seven or more, in
which case you may use, for example, “A. Smith et al.”, where Smith is
the name of the first author. Capitalize the important words in the title.

Table 4. IEEE references examples.

10
Material Type Works Cited

Book in print [1] B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986.

Chapter in book [2] L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New
York: Wiley, 1994, pp. 55-70.

eBook [3] L. Bass, P. Clements, and R. Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd
ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book.

Journal article [4] J. U. Duncombe, "Infrared navigation - Part I: An assessment of

feasability," IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices, vol. ED-11, pp. 34-39, Jan. 1959.

Conference paper [5] L. Liu and H. Miao, "A specification based approach to testing polymorphic
attributes," in Formal Methods and Software Engineering: Proceedings of the
6th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004,
Seattle, WA, USA, November 8-12, 2004, J. Davies, W. Schulte, M. Barnett, Eds.
Berlin: Springer, 2004. pp. 306-19.

Newspaper article [6] J. Riley, "Call for new look at skilled migrants," The Australian, p. 35, May
(from database) 31, 2005. [Online]. Available: Factiva, http://global.factiva.com. [Accessed May
31, 2005].

Technical report [7] J. H. Davis and J. R. Cogdell, “Calibration program for the 16-foot
antenna,” Elect. Eng. Res. Lab., Univ. Texas,
Austin, Tech. Memo. NGL-006-69-3, Nov. 15, 1987.

Patent [8] J. P. Wilkinson, “Nonlinear resonant circuit devices,” U.S. Patent 3 624 125,
July 16, 1990.

Standard [9] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969.

Thesis/Dissertation [10] J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect.

Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1993.

 You may take further help from the document entailed “IEEE Style Guidelines &
Examples” available on
http://www.nait.ca/libresources/citations/ieee_examples.pdf.

Plagiarism
CECOS University has zero tolerance for plagiarism. Any material without citing the
original source comes under the definition of plagiarism. Every thesis has to be
checked for plagiarism using HEC approved software program, Turnitin.

Thesis cover page, title page, spine, and approval certificate.

11
Use the following templates for thesis cover page, title page, spine, and approval
certificate in your thesis. Other formats are not acceptable. The templates are in the
following order:

 Cover page (Don’t put page number. It is cover page of your thesis)
 Title page (Put page number, which is “i” but it is hidden)
 Approval certificate (It’s page number is “ii”)
 Thesis spine

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 THESIS TITLE

Thesis Number:

Submitted By

Student Name
Student Number

Supervised By

Supervisor Name

Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

CECOS University of Information Technology and Emerging

Sciences Peshawar, Pakistan

Date
 THESIS TITLE

Thesis Number:

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering

Submitted By

Student Name
Student Number

Supervised By

Supervisor Name

Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

CECOS University of Information Technology and Emerging

Sciences Peshawar, Pakistan

Date
 Approval Certificate

This is to certify that the work contained in this thesis entitled “Thesis title” by
“Student name” was carried out under my supervision and in my opinion is fully
adequate in scope and quality for the degree of Master of Science in Electrical
Engineering.

Supervisor Name and Sign

Date:

ii
 ii
Student Name Thesis Title Date