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Vicarious Calibration Of Suas Thermal Imagery For Scientific Remote Sensing Applications [B53h-0607], Alfonso F. Torres-Rua

AggieAir Presentations

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) have become an accessible technology for collection of spatially distributed temperature data at fine resolution. Nevertheless, lack of standard procedures for atmospheric temperature correction can have an adverse impact on the conclusions and replicability of studies using this technology. This work presents a vicarious calibration methodology for sUAS thermal imagery traceable back to NIST standards. For this methodology, a 3-yr. data collection campaign with a sUAS technology, called “AggieAir”, developed at the Utah Water Research Laboratory, was performed under different daytime conditions. A comparison between original and vicarious calibration for the sUAS thermal imagery is …

Investigating And Improving Bridge Management System Methodologies Under Uncertainty, Minwoo Chang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation presents a novel procedure to select explanatory variables, without the influence of human bias, for deterioration model development using National Bridge Inventory (NBI) data. Using NBI information, including geometric data and climate information, candidate explanatory variables can be converted into normalized numeric values and analyzed prior to the development of deterministic or stochastic deterioration models. The prevailing approach for explanatory variable selection is to use expert opinion solicited from experienced engineers. This may introduce human influenced biases into the deterioration modeling process. A framework using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) penalized regression and covariance analysis are …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and permittable option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services …

Cee Dept. Announces Water Cluster Hire | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) seeks talented applicants for a cluster hire of three tenure eligible positions at the assistant or associate level whose research will yield more holistic approaches to solving water problems in natural, built, and/or agricultural environments. We seek bright, creative and interdisciplinary researchers who can increase Utah State University’s (USU) capacity to lead and develop the next generation of resilient solutions to water problems in these linked environments. We especially seek applicants with the passion and ability to work with others from a broad range of disciplines to advance fundamentally new and innovative …

Usu Awwa Tour | Civil And Environmental Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

The newly formed student chapter of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) recently went on tours of two water facilities. In early October, ten students attend a tour of the Utah Water Research Laboratory here at USU. The students enjoyed seeing applied research that is conducted at the lab. This week, the chapter also visited the Franklin Idaho Drinking Water Treatment Plant. This exposure to the industry has been a remarkable professional and academic experience for the Chapter.

Hydroshare – A Case Study Of The Application Of Modern Software Engineering To A Large Distributed Federally-Funded Scientific Software Development Project, Ray Idaszak, David G. Tarboton, Hong Yi, Laura Christopherson, Michael J. Stealey, Brian Miles, Pabitra Dash, Alva Couch, Calvin Spealman, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Daniel P. Ames

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

HydroShare is an online collaborative system under development to support the open sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and computer models. With HydroShare, scientists can easily discover, access, and analyze hydrologic data and thereby enhance the production and reproducibility of hydrologic scientific results. HydroShare also takes advantage of emerging social media functionality to enable users to enhance information about and collaboration around hydrologic data and models. HydroShare is being developed by an interdisciplinary collaborative team of domain scientists, university software developers, and professional software engineers from ten institutions located across the United States. While the combination of non–co-located, diverse stakeholders …

A Career In Innovation | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Oct. 10, 2016 – If you want to see Bruce Brothersen’s portfolio, just look up. His life’s work is built into the structures that make up our communities, spanning the schools, office buildings and aircraft hangars that keep the economy ticking.

The Layton, Utah, native came to USU for an undergraduate degree in the 1980s and quickly decided that engineering was a good fit.

Water Resources Systems Analysis Reading Assignments, Marcio Giacomoni

All ECSTATIC Materials

Read these articles:

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9496%282000%29126%3A3%28118%29

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9372%281990%29116%3A1%28182%29

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9496%281986%29112%3A3%28339%29

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11269-015-0970-6

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9496%282005%29131%3A6%28441%29

Answer the following questions:

1) Describe in your own words what is the problem that is being addressed? Why is it important?

2) What system is being modeled? Identify the system boundaries, processes, inputs and outputs.

3) How the system is being modeled? Identify the main state variables, parameters, initial conditions and boundary conditions.

4) What is the optimization method used to solve the problem. Describe the method.

5) What are the objective functions, constraints and decision variables?

6) What are the main conclusions and insights generated by the use of optimization? …

Summer Ozone Concentrations In The Vicinity Of The Great Salt Lake, John Horel, Erik Crosman, Brian Blaylock, Seth Arens, Ansley Long, John Sohl, Randy S. Martin

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Residents near the Great Salt Lake in northern Utah, USA have been exposed to ozone levels during recent summers exceeding the current United States National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Accurately forecasting those exceedances has been difficult as a result of the complex meteorological and photochemical processes fostering them. To help improve such forecasts, a low-cost field study was conducted during summer 2015 to provide comprehensive observations of boundary-layer ozone concentrations in the context of the prevailing meteorological conditions. A network of surface ozone sensors was supplemented by sensors mounted on vehicles, a public transit light-rail car, news helicopter, tethered sonde, …

Civil And Environmental Engineering Phd Student Wins Major Award | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

July 26, 2016 – Civil & Environmental Engineering PhD student Caleb Buahin has won a major award at the 8^th International Congress on Environmental Modeling & Software. He received one of the best student paper awards at the event held in Toulouse, France July 10-14.

A Tool For Downscaling Weather Data From Large-Grid Reanalysis Products To Finer Spatial Scales For Distributed Hydrological Applications, Avirup Sen Gupta, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A downscaling tool was developed to provide sub-daily high spatial resolution surfaces of weather variables for distributed hydrologic modeling from NASA Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications reanalysis products. The tool uses spatial interpolation and physically based relationships between the weather variables and elevation to provide inputs at the scale of a gridded hydrologic model, typically smaller (∼100 m) than the scale of weather reanalysis data (∼20–200 km). Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) measures greater than 0.70 were obtained for direct tests of downscaled daily temperature and monthly precipitation at 173 SNOTEL sites. In an integrated test driving the Utah Energy …

Repair Of Failing Spirit Lake Outlet Tunnel At Mount St. Helens, J. P. Britton, S. K. Askelson, C. M. Budai, D. H. Scofield

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

The 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens resulted in one of the largest debris avalanches recorded in history. The debris avalanche blocked the natural outlet of Spirit Lake. To prevent an uncontrolled and catastrophic lake break-out, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) constructed the Spirit Lake Outlet Tunnel from 1984 to 1985. Because Spirit Lake is located in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, the project was transferred to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for ownership and management. During original tunnel construction, the most difficulty occurred within the 90-m-wide Julie and Kathy L. shear zone complex. …

Optimization Of Air Entrained Grout Enriched Roller Compacted Concrete For Improving Freeze-Thaw Resistance Of Hydraulic Structures, E. S. Musselman, R. J. Flynn, G. J. Zimmer, J. R. Young Pe

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Roller compacted concrete (RCC) is frequently used to construct gravity dams, stepped spillways, and to armor earthen embankments for passing extreme floods. Early experience on RCC dam applications in the 1980s showed a tendency for seepage to develop along the lift lines. Therefore, RCC dam designers started including an upstream facing system as a watertight barrier. An alternative facing material that has been used extensively overseas and is starting to gain more widespread acceptance in the United States is Grout Enriched RCC (GERCC). The grout enriched method of face construction has been shown to be less expensive than other facing …

South Channel Dam Rehabilitation Project - Successfully Addressing Dam Rehabilitation Challenges, M. D. Graeser, M. C. Jensen

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

The Post Falls South Channel Dam is located on the Spokane River in Post Falls, Idaho. The concrete gravity dam was constructed in 1906 and was recently rehabilitated. The rehabilitation project included several design elements; the primary objectives were the replacement of the six spillway gates and hoists and significant rehabilitation of the concrete. The South Channel Dam rehabilitation encountered several challenges due to the age and condition of the existing structure, the large scale of the rehabilitation, and the location of the project. The concrete rehabilitation addressed several challenges which are presented in detail. The existing concrete consisted of …

Fish Passage Behavior Behavior Through Baffled And Nonbaffled Culvert, M. A. Khodier, Blake P. Tullis

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Culverts can have a negative impact on fish passage. Installing baffles inside culverts can potentially improve culvert fish passage by decreasing the flow velocity and increasing the flow depth. Fish passage behaviors of wild brown trout through a small prototype-scale (0.6 m diameter), 18.3 m in length, baffled, and non-baffled culverts were observed in the laboratory for a variety of discharges and pipe slopes (up to 6%). The baffle height and spacing was 0.15 and 0.9 times the culvert diameter, respectively. The correlation between successful fish passage, sample fish population, and the fish length was evaluated. The influence of baffles …

Technical Developments In Fish Exclusion, Guidance, And Collection Materials, A. L. Peters

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Construction of mills, dams and other structures in rivers and streams, and the withdrawal of water for irrigation or cooling industrial facilities vital to social and economic progress, have impacted the survival of marine life. Barriers and guidance or collection nets can protect fish and aquatic species while allowing water to flow unimpeded for commercial and industrial use. However, nets can attract aquatic growth, fill with debris, degrade with environmental stress, and be expensive to operate and maintain.

A closer look at the technical developments of materials and net designs in diverse settings can offer guidance that will be of …

Evaluation Of Flexible Barrier And Sabo Dam To Control Effects Of Debris Flow In Santo Domingo Ravine, J. W. Cabrera Cabrera, L. F. Castillo Navarro

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Coast of Peru is characterized for the presence of ephemeral creeks which drain water only on wet season. The extremely dry soil and pebble combined with precipitation produce debris flow in a seasonal geodynamic. This is the case of Santo Domingo ravine which is located at eastern Lima, and drains their water to Rimac River. In this article the vulnerability of villages near to Santo Domingo ravine by debris flow and use of flexible barrier and sabo dams are analyzed. In a first stage, the liquid hydrograph to a 100 years return period was built and a solid hydrograph, a …

St. Mary Diversion Dam – Case Study Of A 100 Year Old Diversion, B. J. Heiner, J. Wagner

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

After 100 years of service, the St. Mary Diversion Dam is being replaced with a new design that will provide more effective fish passage and protection. The diversion is located in northern Montana, adjacent to the east side of Glacier National Park. It diverts water from the St. Mary River 1.21 km (0.75 mile) downstream of Lower St. Mary Lake. The existing 60.35-meter-long and 1.83-meter-high (198-foot-long and 6-foot-high) concrete weir diverts up to 24 cubic meters per second (850 cubic feet per second) design flow from the St. Mary River into the North Fork of the Milk River through a …

The Role Of Physical And Numerical Modeling In Design Development Of The Priest Rapids Fish Bypass, T. C. Lyons, M. Politano, C. Dotson, L. J. Weber, D. Hay

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

This paper describes a number of years of physical and numerical modelling that were instrumental in the development of the final fish bypass design at Priest Rapids Dam. Three physical models and multiple numerical models were used to guide the design of the fish bypass including its location on the dam, impact on forebay and tailrace flow patterns, intake configuration, design flow rates, flow control scheme, tailrace egress, potential for scour near the dam, potential impacts on total dissolved gas (TDG), impacts on spillway and powerhouse operation, and overall fish friendliness of the bypass.

Throughout those years of design work, …

Study On The Proceeding Of Hydraulic Problem Of Simulating Natural Fish Passage, Zhijuan Wang, Qingyuan Yang, Minghai Huang, Yong He

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Fish passage in water conservancy projects is an important means of improving river connectivity, and reducing the impact on the ecological environment. Simulating natural fish passage, which aims at the purpose of the river ecological corridor by the means of ecological optimization on the structure and section type based on the traditional fish passage, is promoted and applied in recent years gradually. At the same time, the hydraulic research related to the simulating natural fish passage has made great progress. In this paper, we firstly collected and summarized the research experience of the domestic and foreign typical fish passage, analyzed …

Application Of The Optical Flow Method To Velocity Determination In Hydraulic Structure Models, D. B. Bung, Daniel Valero

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Optical flow estimation is used in Computer Vision for detection of moving obstacles in a sequence of images. The optical flow (OF) is defined as the displacement of brightness patterns between two sequent images. In this paper,this method is applied to high-speed images taken in hydraulic structure models for determination of velocity fields.Water is seeded with tracer particles in two cases and is self-aerated in a third case. It will be shown that the OF method gives valuable results which compare well to other velocity measurements, e.g. by Particle ImageVelocimetry. The OF method is generally more time-consuming compared to PIV, …

Optimizing A New Flow Diversion Structure For The Planned Expanding Of The Spillway For The Malter Dam In Germany Using A Physical Hydraulic Model, J. Schmidt, J. Wieland, J. Jensen

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

The State Reservoir Administration of Saxony is planning to expand the spillway discharge capacity of the 102-year-old Malter Dam. After a catastrophic flood in 2002, updated hydrologic modeling indicated that the design discharges for the dam had increased significantly. As a result, the original spillway discharge capacity was insufficient to pass the revised design flows. A design concept was developed to add a second spillway and stilling basin to the dam, and to pass flow into this spillway using a novel vertical flow separator. The design and performance of this system was evaluated using a 1:25-scale physical model. The modeling …

Evaluation Of Spillway Stilling Basin Performance And Reservoir Sediment Flushing In A Physical Model Case Study: Due Hydroelectric Project In Ecuador, Ali Habibzadeh, Brian Hughes, Hernan Barahona

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

The Due Hydroelectric Project is a proposed 50 MW run-of-river hydroelectric project being developed by Hidroalto SA. The project will be located on the Rio Due in Ecuador. The civil works of the intake facility will be comprised of a 133.45 m wide diversion weir, with two overflow spillways and six gated sluice channels; a four bay intake structure with sediment excluder; and, a fish bypass facility. Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC) evaluated the initial design of the Due intake and spillway facilities using a 1:35 Froude-scaled physical model for river discharges ranging from the intake design discharge of 57.2 m3 …

Impacts Of Tailwater On The Design Of Several Stilling Basins In The Usa, L. E. Shearin-Feimster

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

The dissipation of excess energy from flows exiting a spillway is often needed to prevent or reduce to acceptable levels conceivable negative impacts to the downstream channel, spillway, and dam (e.g., erosion, undermining). The optimization of a hydraulic jump type stilling basin using general purpose published design methodologies (i.e., USBR, SAF, etc.) for a project can be challenging, as these methodologies may not account for all site specific conditions and structure formulations by designers. Also, it is not often clear to a designer as to which flow rates (and corresponding flood events) will have the greatest influence on the basin …

A Remotely Controlled Siphon System For Dynamic Water Storage Management, Arturo Leon, Ali Alnahit

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Previous research has concluded that upland wetlands could be effective to control small floods, yet for large floods their value may be greatly reduced as their storage capacity may be exceeded. A potential solution could be to release water from wetlands ahead of (e.g., few days before) a heavy rainfall event that is forecasted to produce flooding. In this case, the wetlands would be partially empty when this rainfall occurs. This work is part of a long term project which aims at developing a decision support system (DSS) that will determine optimal flooding scenarios with dynamic management of wetlands using …

Predicting Velocity At Limit Of Deposition In Storm Channels Using Two Data Mining Techniques, H. Bonakdari, I. Ebtehaj

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

In storm channel system design, the system should have the ability to transfer the entire input flow to the system as well as prevent sediment settling. Existing methods of determining the velocity at limit of deposition are minimum velocity or regression-based equations. Because minimum velocity methods fail to consider the effective flow and sediment transfer parameters, while regression-based equations are not flexible in terms of various hydraulic conditions and they do not perform well. Thus, using such equations leads to a lack of designs with optimum, confident coefficients. In this study, Extreme Learning Machines (ELM) are employed to predict velocity …

Stepped Chute Training Wall Height Requirements, S. L. Hunt, K. C. Kadavy

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Stepped chutes are commonly used for overtopping protection for embankment dams. Aerated flow is commonly associated with stepped chutes if the chute has sufficient length. The aeration and turbulence of the flow can create a significant amount of splash over the training wall if not appropriately accounted for in the design of the structure. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Technical Release 60 Earth Dams and Reservoirs, a structural spillway should be designed to pass the freeboard hydrograph such that it does not cause serious damage to the embankment or the structure itself. …

A Risk Based Framework For Evaluating Gated Spillway Operations, Greg Paxson, Marty Mccann Jr, Mark Landis

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Gated spillways are often necessary to provide both operational flexibility and discharge capacity to pass large flood events. However, gated spillways present operational challenges to dam owners and operators, often necessitating development of a flood operations plan (FOP) that is used in tandem with the dam’s emergency action plan (EAP). Even a well-intentioned and robust FOP/EAP can require personnel to predict flooding, use judgment particular to the requirements of the plan, and react quickly. In addition, all of the equipment required to operate the gates need to function as designed and be operated in accordance with the FOP.

This paper …

Determining Optimal Discharge And Optimal Penstock Diameter In Water Turbines, Arturo S. Leon

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Minimizing water consumption for producing hydropower is critical given that overuse of flows for energy production may result in a shortage of flows for other purposes such as irrigation and navigation. This paper presents a dimensional analysis for finding optimal flow discharge and optimal penstock diameter when designing impulse and reaction water turbines for hydropower systems. The objective of this analysis is to provide general insights for minimizing water consumption when producing hydropower. This analysis is based on the geometric and hydraulic characteristics of the penstock, the total hydraulic head and the desired power production. As part of this analysis, …

Turbulence And Energy Dissipation In The Developing Non-Aerated And The Fully-Developed Aerated Flows On A Stepped Spillway, G. Zhang, H. Chanson

International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures

Stepped spillways are characterised by highly turbulent air-water flows and a large rate of energy dissipation compared to smooth chutes. Herein detailed measurements were performed in both the developing non-aerated and fully-developed air-water flow regions on a large 1V:1H stepped spillway model. In the developing flow region, large total pressure fluctuations and turbulence intensities were recorded next to the pseudo-bottom. Downstream of the inception point, large total pressure fluctuations were recorded which were mainly induced by density fluctuations. The water turbulence intensities in the air-water flow region did not differ significantly from those in the developing flow region. The steps …