Engineering Commons^™

Pltl Develops Scholars For Majors In The Built-Environment​, Shpat Halili, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

The National Science Foundation S-STEM program at NYC College of Technology (City Tech), Developing an Ecosystem of STEM success for Built Environment Scholars (Award Number 2150432), focuses on supporting and developing scholars in the majors relating to the Built Environment. The proposed project includes the expansion of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) at City Tech. The PLTL model creates a supportive learning environment and supplements the faculty-centered classroom with student-led and student-oriented workshops. At City Tech, existing workshops provide curricular support in statics and mathematics. The PLTL program benefits promising first-year STEM students, and the S-STEM program utilizes the PLTL model …

The Use Of Repurposed Whole Textiles To Modify The Mechanical And Hydrogeological Properties Of Green Roof Media And Granular Soils, Angelis Almanzar-Chevalie, Yehya Elfgeeh, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

This study investigates using repurposed whole textiles to modify the mechanical and hydrogeological properties of lightweight Green Roof media and granular pavement soils.

Green Roof Media Green roofs aim to bring the advantages of suburban agriculture to urban environments while improving energy efficiency and enhancing stormwater management in public, commercial, and residential buildings. Previous studies by City Tech undergraduate research assistants demonstrated significant modification in hydrogeological properties when incorporating textile fabric up to 3% textile by weight (%Tex) at an aspect ratio of 1:1. The effects of mixing repurposed whole textile fiber with Green Roof media is evaluated with regards …

Quality Assurance And Quality Control For Reinforced Concrete Inspections, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

Ensuring the safety and longevity of structures is paramount in concrete construction projects. Cases like the Big Dig ceiling collapse, which occurred on July 10, 2006, when a concrete ceiling panel measuring 20' x 40' and debris weighing 26 short tons (52,000 lb) fell within Boston's Fort Point Channel Tunnel, underscore this importance (Wald, M. L., 2007). Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) are crucial in mitigating such risks. QA ensures that materials and methods meet predetermined performance, design, and reliability standards specified in contracts and customer arrangements. On the other hand, QC is a strategic process businesses use …

The Utilization Of Repurposed Whole Textiles To Modify The Mechanical And Hydrogeological Soil Properties: Green Media, Angelis Almanzar-Chevalie, Yehya Elfgeeh, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

The utilization of repurposed whole textiles to modify the mechanical and hydrogeological soil properties investigates the impact of adding repurposed textiles to lightweight engineered soil, documenting changes in unit weight, water content, and hydraulic conductivity. This study builds upon prior findings, which demonstrated significant alterations in hydrogeological properties when incorporating textile fabric (3% by weight at an aspect ratio of 1:1). Functioning as reinforcement, these fibers enhance the soil's strength, stability, and structural integrity—especially advantageous in erosion-prone areas, regions susceptible to landslides, or locations requiring heightened load-bearing capacity. The outcomes of this parametric study lead to green roof farms playing …

Compound Flooding In A Non-Stationary World: A Primer For Practice, Gerarda M. Shields, J. Rolf Olsen, Miguel Medina Jr., Jayantha Obeysekera, Poulomi Ganguli, Carlo Demichele, Gianfausto Salvadori, Mohammad Reza Najafi, Hamed Moftakhari, Ferdinand Diermanse, Amir Aghakouchak

Publications and Research

Compound flooding conditions present a significant challenge for civil engineers in their pursuit to design for and maintain the integrity of a structure’s entire life cycle. Coupled with non-stationary processes due to a changing climate and land use change, risk is a moving target. Through the support of ASCE’s Task Committee on Compound Flooding, the Hydroclimatology Engineering Adaptation (HYDEA) sub-committee is developing a Manual of Practice (MOP) to provide a synthesis of available tools and methods of best practice for civil engineers designing for compound flooding conditions. This paper presents a primer for practicing civil engineers on this work. Hydrodynamic …

Devlopment Of A Practical Method To Quantify Infiltration Rate Through Building Entrance, Eric Reed, Ferasuddin Siddiqui, Louidelson Deguerre, Steve. Boodram

Publications and Research

Infiltration through entrance doors, vestibules, cracks and other areas have a large impact in building energy consumption. It also has a significant impact on indoor air quality. There are only a few studies about air infiltration and air tightness in the literature. The purpose of this study is to develop practical methods to measure air infiltration rates through entrance doors. We have read research articles and identify several methods in the literature. Further investigation is required to help more accurately find infraction rate, crack size and location of cracks to help reduce air infiltration, energy costs, maintain comfortable indoor conditions …

Design Aspects Of Deep Water Distribution Shafts, Navid Allahverdi, V. Nasr

Publications and Research

This paper covers aspects of planning and designing of deep shafts with reference to two water distribution shafts under construction in New York City. The new shafts will be sunk into soil and rock to a depth to connect to existing Queens-Brooklyn tunnel section of City Tunnel No. 3 (CT3). The inside diameter of the upper parts of both shafts is 14.9 meter. Artificial ground freezing is specified as preferred method of excavation support for the entire stretch in soil. Excavation in competent rock will be performed using drill and blast technique preceded by a pre-excavation grouting program. Membrane waterproofing …

Design, Concept, And Visualization Of Urban Multi-Level Growing Table Systems In Hyper Urban Areas, Aaryan Manoj Nair, Shaheed Mohammed, Omar Rahama

Publications and Research

As of a 2019 study conducted by the National Urban Gardening Program (National Urban Gardening Program), urban farming accounts for approximately 19% of the total national farming output and is expected to triple to almost 45% by 2025. There is intensive research being conducted on aspects of reduced recidivism, communal health benefits, natural carbon capture systems, improved urban ecology and the necessity for reducing the carbon footprint of food, (informally dubbed “food miles”) there is little substantive research on optimisation, and maximation of crop productivity in hyper-urban areas.

The purpose of this report is to understand the functionalities of urban …

Allocative Efficiency Of Grid Farming In Urban Green Built Environments, Aaryan Manoj Nair

Publications and Research

As of a 2019 study conducted by the National Urban Gardening Program (National Urban Gardening Program), urban farming accounts for approximately 19% of the total national farming output and is expected to triple to almost 45% by 2025. There is intensive research being conducted on aspects of reduced recidivism, communal health benefits, natural carbon capture systems, improved urban ecology and the necessity for reducing the carbon footprint of food, (informally dubbed “food miles”) there is little substantive research on optimization, and maximation of crop productivity in hyper-urban areas. The article attempts to study allocative efficiency in hyper urban built environments.

Cmce 2351 Fluid Mechanics Lab, Course Outline, Rosemary Brybag

Open Educational Resources

This course studies the fundamentals of fluid mechanics including: properties of fluids, fluid statics, manometers, center of pressure, buoyancy, stability, principles of fluid flow, flow measurements, frictional head losses, conservation of momentum and energy, pump power and efficient, and open channel flow.

Quo Vadis Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo: A Future Outlook For Two Of The Caribbean Basin's Largest Lakes, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

Lakes Azuei (LA) and Enriquillo (LE) on Hispaniola Island started expanding in 2005 and continued to do so until 2016. After inundating large swaths of arable land, submerging a small community, and threatening to swallow a significant trade route between the Dominican Republic and Haiti; worries persisted at how far this seemingly unstoppable expansion would go. The paper outlines the approach to a look forward to answer this question vis-à-vis climate change scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It uses numerical representations of the two lakes, and it examines how the lakes might evolve, deploying three …

Slowing The Spread Of Covid-19: Review Of “Social Distancing” Interventions Deployed By Public Transit In The United States And Canada, Camille Kamga, Penny Eickemeyer

Publications and Research

This paper presents a review of social distancing measures deployed by transit agencies in the United States and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses how specific operators across the two countries have implemented changes. Challenges and impacts on their operations are also provided.

Social distancing is one of the community mitigation measures traditionally implemented during influenza pandemics and the novel coronavirus pandemic. Research has shown that social distancing is effective in containing the spread of disease. This is applicable to the current situation with the novel coronavirus, given the lack of effective vaccines and treatments in the United States …

Benefits Of Pre-Construction Analysis: Cet Senior Capstone Expands Understanding Of An Urban Refuge At Gallopnyc Sunrise Stables, Aalaa Mohammed

Publications and Research

For any construction project, there exists a phase of planning known as “pre-construction.” This initial phase of the project provides a definition of the project, identification of potential issues, planning and scheduling, scope, cost estimation, and analysis of needs for the job. My research analyzes a pre-construction case study conducted for Gallop NYC’s Stable in Howard Beach, Queens. The findings suggest that the practice of construction planning is effective in order to avoid delays in construction itself and ensure successful project completion. Supporting literature examines some of the best practices for pre-construction analysis. These include but are not limited to: …

Environmental Engineering Senior Design Ii, Pamela Jb Clenance

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for Engineering Class 59870: Environmental Engineering Senior Design II, Grove School of Engineering, The City College of CUNY - Spring Semester 2020.

Environmental Engineering Senior Design I, Pamela Jb Clenance

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Half And Quarter Space Penetration Into Granular Media, Ivan L. Guzman, Magued Iskander, Stephan Bless

Publications and Research

In this study, two experimental techniques are compared for the purpose of visualizing projectile penetration at speeds ranging between 60 and 150 m/s into granular media. The two techniques are half space penetration into a transparent synthetic soil surrogate and quarter space penetration of an opaque natural sand and transparent soil surrogate against an observation window. In both techniques a pneumatic projectile accelerator was employed to launch the projectiles, and high-speed imagery was employed to visualize the penetration events unintrusively. Transparency in transparent targets was achieved by saturating angular fused quartz with a refractive index matched pore fluid made of …

National Summer Transportation Institute: Increasing Career Awareness In Civil Engineering For Underserved High School Students, Melanie L. Villatoro, Janet Liou-Mark

Publications and Research

Our nation needs to increase the number of students pursuing degrees in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and those leading to transportation-related careers. In order to meet the demand for qualified graduates in transportation, it is necessary to diversify the pool of students entering college with an interest in these fields. The National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) is an educational initiative developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Department of Transportation (DOT). The NSTI at City Tech was designed to increase awareness of transportation-related careers among New York City high school students. The structure of …

Exploring The Evolution Of Drought Characteristics In Balochistan, Pakistan, Shoaib Jamro, Falak Naz Channa, Ghulam Hussain Dars, Kamran Ansari, Nir Krakauer

Publications and Research

In the wake of a rapidly changing climate, droughts have intensified, in both duration and severity, across the globe. The Germanwatch long-term Climate Risk Index ranks Pakistan among the top 10 countries most affected by the adverse effects of climate change. Within Pakistan, the province of Balochistan is among the most vulnerable regions due to recurring prolonged droughts, erratic precipitation patterns, and dependence on agriculture and livestock for survival. This study aims to explore how the characteristics of droughts have evolved in the region from 1902–2015 using 3-month and 12-month timescales of a popular drought index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration …

Lake Volume Data Analyses: A Deep Look Into The Shrinking And Expansion Patterns Of Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo, Hispaniola, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

This paper presents the development of an evenly spaced volume time series for Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo both located on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The time series is derived from an unevenly spaced Landsat imagery data set which is then exposed to several imputation methods to construct the gap filled uniformly‐spaced time series so it can be subjected to statistical analyses methods. The volume time series features both gradual and sudden changes the latter of which is attributed to North Atlantic cyclone activity. Relevant cyclone activity is defined as an event passing within 80 km and having regional monthly …

Energy & Carbon Neutral Nyc, Evan Banks, Elena Zimareva, Elena Malysheva

Publications and Research

In 2016, the world's leading countries signed the Paris Agreement which focused on reducing anthropogenic climate change on the planet. On May 2019, New York State and New York City declared its own ambitious goals aimed at decarbonizing the city and restricting the state’s energy use to relying completely on renewables.

Some of these goals specifically target infrastructure in the city since estimates cite buildings as accounting for nearly 70% of New York’s energy use. The main law of New York’s Climate Policy, Local Law 97, requires all buildings over 25,000 sq ft to reduce their CO2 footprint by 40% …

Land Surface Temperature Variability Across India: A Remote Sensing Satellite Perspective, Satya Prakash, Hamidreza Norouzi

Publications and Research

Land surface temperature (LST) plays a key role in the surface energy budget computation and land surface process studies. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors onboard the Aqua and Terra satellites provide comprehensive global LST estimates at a fine spatial resolution. The MODIS products were recently upgraded to Collection 6, and shown to be more accurate than its predecessor Collection 5 products. In this study, LST and its variability have been examined across India from Collection 6 of the Aqua MODIS data at 0.05° spatial resolution for the period of 2003 to 2017. All-India mean LST characteristics show distinctive …

Spatio-Temporal Variability Of Drought In Pakistan Using Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, Shoaib Jamro, Ghulam Hussain Dars, Kamran Ansari, Nir Krakauer

Publications and Research

Pakistan is among the top ten countries adversely affected by climate change. More specifically, there is concern that climate change may cause longer and severer spells of droughts. To quantify the change in the characteristics of droughts in Pakistan over the years, we have evaluated spatio-temporal trends of droughts in Pakistan over the period 1902–2015 using Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Additionally, the Spatial “K” luster Analysis using Tree Edge Removal (SKATER) method was employed to regionalize droughts into five contiguous zones. The run theory was then applied to each zone to identify drought events and characterize them in terms …

Precipitation Trends Over The Indus Basin, Nir Krakauer, Tarendra Lakhankar, Ghulam Hussain Dars

Publications and Research

A large population relies on water input to the Indus basin, yet basinwide precipitation amounts and trends are not well quantified. Gridded precipitation data sets covering different time periods and based on either station observations, satellite remote sensing, or reanalysis were compared with available station observations and analyzed for basinwide precipitation trends. Compared to observations, some data sets tended to greatly underestimate precipitation, while others overestimate it. Additionally, the discrepancies between data set and station precipitation showed significant time trends in many cases, suggesting that the precipitation trends of those data sets were not consistent with station data. Among the …

Trends In Drought Over The Northeast United States, Nir Y. Krakauer, Tarendra Lakhankar, Damien Hudson

Publications and Research

The Northeast United States is a generally wet region that has had substantial increases in mean precipitation over the past decades, but also experiences damaging droughts. We evaluated drought frequency, intensity, and duration trends in the region over the period 1901–2015. We used a dataset of Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), a measure of water balance based on meteorology that is computed at multiple timescales. It was found that the frequency of droughts decreased over this period, but their average intensity and duration did not show consistent changes. There was an increase in mean SPEI, indicating mostly wetter conditions, but …

Evaluation Of The Uncertainty In Satellite-Based Crop State Variable Retrievals Due To Site And Growth Stage Specific Factors And Their Potential In Coupling With Crop Growth Models, Nathaniel Levitan, Yanghui Kang, Mutlu Özdogan, Vincenzo Magliulo, Paulo Castillo, Fred Moshary, Barry Gross

Publications and Research

Coupling crop growth models and remote sensing provides the potential to improve our understanding of the genotype x environment x management (G X E X M) variability of crop growth on a global scale. Unfortunately, the uncertainty in the relationship between the satellite measurements and the crop state variables across different sites and growth stages makes it diffcult to perform the coupling. In this study, we evaluate the effects of this uncertainty with MODIS data at the Mead, Nebraska Ameriflux sites (US-Ne1, US-Ne2, and US-Ne3) and accurate, collocated Hybrid-Maize (HM) simulations of leaf area index (LAI) and canopy light use …

An Urban Flash Flood Alert Tool For Megacities—Application For Manhattan, New York City, Usa, Rafea Hashim Al-Suhili, Cheila Cullen, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Urban flooding is a frequent problem affecting cities all over the world. The problem is more significant now that the climate is changing and urbanization trends are increasing. Various, physical hydrological models such as the Environmental Protection Agency Storm Water Management Model (EPA SWMM), MIKE URBAN-II and others, have been developed to simulate flooding events in cities. However, they require high accuracy mapping and a simulation of the underground storm drainage system. Sadly, this capability is usually not available for older or larger so-called megacities. Other hydrological model types are classified in the semi-physical category, like Cellular Automata (CA), require …

Development Of Digital Bathymetry Maps For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo Using Sonar And Remote Sensing Techniques, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Jorge Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This article presents an improved algorithm for optimization and development of a digital bathymetric model (DBM) for Lake Azuei (LA) (Haiti) and Lake Enriquillo (LE) (Dominican Republic) using the ANUDEM method. Both sonar data and contour lines of the lakes’ layout extracted using Landsat imagery were compiled for bathymetry development. We show that the performance of the ANUDEM method was strongly dependent on the density and irregularity of the spatial distribution of the data. Changing the resolution of the output grids and deriving auxiliary topographically corrected contours improved the ANUDEM performance and minimized the systematic errors of the method. Statistical …

Observational Time Series For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo: Surface Area, Volume, And Elevation, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

In this report, we present historical time series of surface area, volume, and elevation for lakes Azuei (Haiti) and Enriquillo (Dominican Republic). The intention is to present a history of the lakes’ levels for both bodies of water as derived from Landsat imagery that is augmented by reports and narratives that reach further back in time. We also summarize lake level time series data collected and developed through various other efforts and compare these data sets to our time series. The time series contains 45 years’ worth of data ranging from 1972 to 2017 which we developed from Landsat imagery …

An Overview Of Smartwater Management System: Strategic Potential In Bangladesh, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Mir F. Karim, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Jowaher Raza

Publications and Research

Water loss management is becoming an increasingly important as supplies are stressed by population growth or water scarcity. A SmartWater system ensures optimum consumption and prediction of future water use. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries due to global climate change considering its rapid urbanization, inequitable land use, low income and greater reliance on climate sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture. Agricultural lands used for cropping and livestock rearing are more susceptible to degradation than non-agricultural lands. Most farmers irrigate through flooding, losing up to 75% of water to evaporation and creating a substantial drawdown of much needed water for …

Season-Ahead Forecasting Of Water Storage And Irrigation Requirements – An Application To The Southwest Monsoon In India, Arun Ravindranath, Naresh Devineni, Upmanu Lall, Paulina Concha Larrauri

Publications and Research

Water risk management is a ubiquitous challenge faced by stakeholders in the water or agricultural sector. We present a methodological framework for forecasting water storage requirements and present an application of this methodology to risk assessment in India. The application focused on forecasting crop water stress for potatoes grown during the monsoon season in the Satara district of Maharashtra. Pre-season large-scale climate predictors used to forecast water stress were selected based on an exhaustive search method that evaluates for highest ranked probability skill score and lowest root-mean-squared error in a leave-one-out cross-validation mode. Adaptive forecasts were made in the years …