Digital Commons Network^™

Long Term Risks Associated With Brownfield Containments, Shailesh Shirish Chirputkar

Dissertations

The sites at which the development is hindered by real or perceived contamination are called as Brownfield sites. It is a common trend in industry to develop these types of sites with surface and peripheral containments. It might prove unwise to develop the sites in this manner from a long term perspective without considering the associated risk. Because of this, a model has been proposed for long term risk assessments of brownfield containments.

Objectives of this study were to develop a contaminant transport model for flow of contaminants towards the surface and peripheral containments inside the site, a model for …

Physical And Geotechnical Characterization Of Water Treatment Plant Residuals, Swamy C. Basim

Dissertations

The study of Water Treatment Plant (WTP) residuals is of recent origin and very little information is available in literature regarding these residuals. These waste materials have high solids contents, even in the mechanically dewatered condition, making it difficult to handle. These, along with stringent environmental regulations have forced the water utilities to look for new disposal options for these residuals. For this purpose as well as for evaluating suitable options for the beneficial reuse of residuals, it is essential to characterize WTP residuals.

As the dewatered residuals are plastic, the researcher may be prompted to treat these materials as …

Development Of Computer Model And Expert System For Pneumatic Fracturing Of Geologic Formations, Brian Michael Sielski

Dissertations

The objective of this study was the development of a new computer program called PF-Model to analyze pneumatic fracturing of geologic formations. Pneumatic fracturing is an in situ remediation process that involves injecting high pressure gas into soil or rock matrices to enhance permeability, as well as to introduce liquid and solid amendments. PF-Model has two principal components: (1) Site Screening, which heuristically evaluates sites with regard to process applicability; and (2) System Design, which uses the numerical solution of a coupled algorithm to generate preliminary design parameters.

Designed as an expert system, the Site Screening component is a high …

Design And Engineering Of A Tensile Fabric Structure, Jairo Rios

Theses

Fabric structures are designed in an iterative process between architect and engineer, analysis input and output, and detail and patterning. There are three main steps in designing a fabric structure: shape finding, loading, and patterning/ detailing.

Shapefinding consists of finding the shape of the fabric where the fabric forces are in equilibrium. This type of structure is geometrically nonlinear which require iterative analysis to converge on a unique solution.

The loading of the structure is similar to that of any conventional structures. The departure is in the major effects that suction and ponding have on fabric surfaces.

Usually the details …

In Situ Enhancement Of Well Recovery By Pneumatic Media Injection, Michael Thomas Galbraith

Theses

The objective of this thesis was to develop a new process for enhancing recovery wells at hazardous waste sites. The process, known as an extended radius well (ERW), involves injection of ceramic beads directly into groundwater plumes to create drainage paths for liquid contaminants. This is a variant of Pneumatic Fracturing, which is a patented in situ remediation process developed to increase permeability of soil and rock formations by injection of high pressure gas.

The research study comprised laboratory investigations, engineering scale tests, and a field pilot demonstration. The laboratory investigations examined the properties of several candidate media to determine …

Fluorescence Spectroscopy For The Characterization Of Humic And Fulvic Acids And Their Disinfection By-Products Formation Potential, Ishvinder H. Kochar

Theses

Natural Organic Matter (NOM) plays a major role in the formation of undesirable organic by-products following disinfection/oxidation of drinking water. It is suspected that most precursors to disinfection by-products (DBPs) are humic although non-humic substances have not been studied and are suspected of also contributing to DBPs. NOM reacts with many of the disinfectants used to treat drinking water, such as chlorine, chioramine, and ozone, to form a variety of DBPs. Many of these DBPs have adverse health effects in humans (i.e. carcinogenic or mutagenic effects). The primary DBPs of concern include the trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), and haloacetonitrile …