Digital Commons Network^™

Monitoring And Modeling The Hydrological Performance Of Extensive Green Roof Systems, Joseph Seidl

Theses and Dissertations

Urban stormwater runoff causes many problems for watersheds located within large metropolitan areas, including such detrimental effects as flooding, erosion, pollution, and the increased risk of combined sewerage overflows. Increased amounts of impervious areas resulting from urban sprawl have also been shown to escalate stormwater flows, which exacerbates water management issues in these metropolitan areas. Water resource engineers have progressively turned toward green infrastructure to solve stormwater problems, and green roof systems represent one type of this green infrastructure. As of current, however, green roof systems are largely underused in as an effective stormwater management tool.

The major factor limiting …

Spatial Variation In Fine Sediment And Microbial Transport Along Stream Cross Sections: Implications To Modeling And Monitoring, Thomas Michael Walton

Masters Theses

Spatial variations in suspended concentrations of fine sediment and indicator bacteria in streams is noted as a source of uncertainty in various applications of water quality datasets. Without proper analysis of the persistence and reasoning for this variance in natural systems, a finer resolution of model calibration is necessary to account for spatial variation in stream cross sections. This level of calibration has become of utmost importance due to technological advancements presenting the ability for water quality modeling frameworks to generate a much finer resolution of outputs. While the importance of model calibration has been noted for remediating levels of …

Bankfull Geomorphic Relationships And Hec-Ras Assessment In Small Catchments Of The Cumberland Plateau Ecoregion, Ryan Lee Hodges

Masters Theses

There is a great need for state governments to have effective watershed restoration and mitigation efforts to return degraded ecosystems to a stable, healthy condition. Given the growing investment in stream restoration efforts, there is an urgent need for tools to assess and improve the effectiveness of restoration efforts at local, state, and nationwide scales. In 2000 there was less than ten stream restoration permits provided by the state of Tennessee and has increased each year with almost forty permits issued in 2013. To better achieve successful stream restoration, appropriate channel designs must be used that reflect the hydraulic conditions …

Modeling Water Quality For Switchgrass Crop Production: Implications For Bioenergy Sustainability In East Tennessee, Zachariah Tzvi Seiden

Masters Theses

With passing of the US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, there has been considerable research conducted on the sustainability of bioenergy crop production in the United States; switchgrass has shown particular potential for bioenergy production in East Tennessee. Many studies evaluating the environmental impact switchgrass has on runoff and water quality use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for watershed modeling. Because SWAT is a lumped watershed model, it evaluates the result of hydrological processes for each hydrologic response unit (HRU), without accounting for the physical interactions between these HRUs. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) …

A Cloud-Based Gssha Index Map Editor Utility For Watershed Decision Support, Jocelynn Marie Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Preventing damages from flooding is critically important for city managers and planners.Efforts in protecting infrastructure from flooding are often coupled with building hydrologicmodels to provide predictions of what is likely to happen during storm events. As land usechanges, these models must be updated, which is more challenging with sophisticated models. Ateam of researchers from universities in Utah and Wyoming have been developing tools forwater management in the Intermountain West as part of a collaborative NSF research grantcalled CI-WATER. In particular, a free and open source web platform called Tethys has beendeveloped to support the development and hosting of hydrologic web …

Tethys Platform: A Development And Hosting Platform For Water Resources Web Apps, Nathan R. Swain

Theses and Dissertations

The interactive nature of web applications or “web apps” makes it an excellent medium for conveying complex scientific concepts to lay audiences and creating decision support tools that harness cutting edge modeling techniques. However, the technical expertise required to develop them represents a barrier for would-be developers. The barrier can be characterized by the following hurdles that developers must overcome: (1) identify, select, and install software that meet the spatial and computational capabilities commonly required for water resources modeling; (2) orchestrate the use of multiple FOSS and FOSS4G projects and navigate their differing application programming interfaces (APIs); (3) learn the …

Modeling Transportation Planning Applications Via Path Flow Estimator, Seungkyu Ryu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The current practice for modeling in the field of transportation planning is through a four-step travel demand forecasting procedure (i.e., trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, and traffic assignment); the practice is commonly referred to as the four-step model. Although such a modeling approach has become standard practice, it is deficient in several areas. Specifically, (1) it lacks capability for modeling non-motorized modes such as bicycles, (2) it is inadequate for modeling multiple vehicle types sharing the same roadway space, and (3) it is difficult to apply to small communities with limited resources. This dissertation recognizes these deficiencies and responds …

Creep And Shrinkage Behavior Of Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Concrete, Md Rashedul Islam

Doctoral Dissertations

The manuscript presented herein is based on the investigation of the short and long term properties of fly ash based geopolymer concrete (GPC) and their link to fly ash characteristics. Fly ash (FA) exhibits a significantly different particle morphology, which impacts the mechanical properties of the resulting GPC and typically contains impurities that fluctuate from one FA source to another. A key contribution of this research work is the capturing of the variability posed by the FA stockpile with a wide range of physical, chemical, and crystallographic characteristics as a source material to select the GPC mix design. In the …

Modeling And Simulation Of Evacuation Plan For Hancock Stadium, Nirmal Neranjan Weerasekara

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to use Modeling and Simulation of Evacuation Plan (MSEP) to support management to execute proper evacuation plan in case of emergency at Hancock Stadium in Illinois State University. Analyses of the research literature and evacuation scenarios are used to build a simulation system that will connect a description of emergency and evacuation situation with its context. It shows how an evacuation plan actually functions. The results of the study will help safety managers to understand the current situations of evacuation according to the specific simulation scenarios. The evacuation simulation is categorized according to the …

Evaluación De La Huella Hídrica Del Cultivo Lirio Japonés Hemerocallis En La Vereda Ricaurte Del Municipio De Rondón, Boyacá, Yuri Stephani Vanegas Rojas, Lorena Margoth Vera Ramírez

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

Colombia es uno de los países que posee una gran riqueza en biodiversidad y fuentes hídricas, siendo uno de los 10 países con mayor disponibilidad de este recurso en el mundo. Los seres humanos gastamos a diario agua para ducharnos, preparar alimentos, lavar los platos o la ropa, o simplemente para beberla directamente, pero también debemos saber que gastamos gran cantidad de agua en todo lo que consumimos (bienes, productos, servicios), ya que en su producción la requieren. La huella hídrica es utilizada como un indicador del uso de agua de los consumidores tanto domésticos como industriales, de forma directa …

Diseño Y Construcción De Un Túnel De Viento Para El Desarrollo De Aplicaciones Académicas En Contaminación Atmosférica, Wendy Johana Olarte Español, Karina Tatiana García Espitia

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

Con el fin de desarrollar una herramienta capaz de modelar dinámicamente la dispersión de contaminantes se diseña y construye un túnel de viento de 2,95 m de longitud y 0,73 m de alto, cuya operación consiste en la aplicación de las teorías de similitud desarrolladas a partir de la dinámica atmosférica a un estudio de caso. Debido a los alcances de la modelación, la obtención de los resultados se realiza por métodos visuales utilizando patrones de opacidad como referencia de una concentración determinada, mediante la cual se logran distribuir espacial y objetivamente las medidas de contaminación con un índice de …

Evaluación Del Impacto En Calidad Del Aire, Asociado A Resuspensión De Material Particulado Por La Pavimentación De La Vía Principal De Caracolí - Ciudad Bolívar, Bogotá D.C, Laura Catalina Pinto Herrera, Juan Felipe Méndez Espinosa

Ingeniería Ambiental y Sanitaria

En Bogotá D.C., la Unidad de Planeación Zonal Ismael Perdomo (UPZ- N°69), en la que se encuentra el Barrio Caracoli (zona estrato uno), es catalogada según Decreto 623 de 2011, como área-fuente de contaminación Clase I por PM10 (SDA, 2012), por lo que se hace imperativo según Resolucion 601/2006 (Art 9.), la ejecución de programas que contribuyan a la reducción y control de la resuspensión de material particulado, acciones encaminadas a pavimentación de calles, asi como la implementación de criterios ambientales por parte de entidades públicas como la Unidad Administrativa Especial de Rehabilitación y Mantenimiento Vial (UAERMV), el Instituto de …

Assessing Biofiltration Pretreatment For Ultrafiltration Membrane Processes, Andrea Cumming

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An engineered biological filtration (biofiltration) process treating a nutrient-enriched, low-alkalinity, organic-laden surface water downstream of conventional coagulation-clarification and upstream of an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane process was assessed for its treatment effectiveness. The impact of biofiltration pretreatment on UF membrane performance was evaluated holistically by investigating the native source water chemistry and extending the analysis into the drinking water distribution system. The biofiltration process was also compared in treatment performance to two alternative pretreatment technologies, including magnetic ion exchange (MIEX®) and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. The MIEX®, GAC adsorption, and biologically active carbon (BAC) filtration pretreatments were integrated with conventional …

Development Of Techniques For Assessing And Restoring Streams On Surface Mined Lands, Whitney Cole Blackburn-Lynch

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Surface mining is a commonly used method for extracting coal in the Appalachian Coalfields of the U.S. This mining practice produces excess spoil or overburden, which is often placed in adjacent valleys resulting in the creation of valley fills. These valley fills bury headwater streams, which in turn can negatively impact downstream ecosystems. In 2008, the University of Kentucky designed and constructed 1,020 m of ephemeral, intermittent and headwater streams on an existing valley fill (Guy Cove) as a proof-of-concept. The goal of the project was to evaluate whether or not a stream recreation could occur on mined lands, particularly …

Lateral Torsional Buckling Response In Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite Beams And Comparison With Ansys Modeling & Design Equations, Santosh Vangala

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites have the potential to replace the existing conventional materials in Civil Engineering like steel and concrete. Such potential can be attributed to the numerous advantages GFRP composites have over conventional materials. Some of the advantages are: high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, low life cycle cost and maintenance, nonmagnetic and electronic transparency. As the application of GFRP is on the rise, the need for developing accurate design equations for these materials has been imperative. The GFRP composites are manufactured through pultrusion and although they have numerous advantages they are less stiff than similar profiles made …

Micro- And Macro-Scale Modeling Of Filter Aging: Effects Of Particle Poly-Dispersity And Fiber Cross-Sectional Shape, Ahmed M. Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to further advance the state of the art in developing self-sufficient methods to predict the performance of an aerosol filter. The simulation methods developed in this study are based on first principles and consequently, they do not rely on empirical correction factors. These simulation methods can be used to predict the instantaneous collection efficiency and pressure drop of a filter under dust-loading conditions. In the current study, 3-D micro- and macroscale CFD models are developed to simulate the service life of flat-sheet and pleated filters. These CFD micro- and macroscale models are also used …