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Civil and Environmental Engineering

Brigham Young University

Theses/Dissertations

Modeling

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Simple Models For Estimating The Rotational Stiffness Of Steel Column-To-Footing Connections, Joshua Edwin Tryon Mar 2016

Simple Models For Estimating The Rotational Stiffness Of Steel Column-To-Footing Connections, Joshua Edwin Tryon

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the crucial role they play in transferring loads from the superstructure to the foundation, steel column-to-footing connections have received little attention in research. Though shallow embedded connections are typically characterized as pinned, studies have shown that they exhibit significant rotational stiffness. The objective of this thesis is to quantify the rotational stiffness of such connections. A method named the continuum model is developed by which the rotational stiffness of embedded connections may be calculated. Outputs from this model are compared with experimental data on steel connections embedded in concrete. The continuum model is shown to be capable of reasonably …


A Cloud-Based Gssha Index Map Editor Utility For Watershed Decision Support, Jocelynn Marie Anderson Jul 2015

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 Jun 2015

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 …


Hexahedral Mesh Refinement Using An Error Sizing Function, Gaurab Paudel Jun 2011

Hexahedral Mesh Refinement Using An Error Sizing Function, Gaurab Paudel

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to effectively adapt a mesh is a very important feature of high fidelity finite element modeling. In a finite element analysis, a relatively high node density is desired in areas of the model where there are high error estimates from an initial analysis. Providing a higher node density in such areas improves the accuracy of the model and reduces the computational time compared to having a high node density over the entire model. Node densities can be determined for any model using the sizing functions based on the geometry of the model or the error estimates from the …


Stochastic Spatio-Temporal Uncertainty In Gis-Based Water Quality Modeling Of The Land Water Interface, Ahmad Mohamad Salah Feb 2009

Stochastic Spatio-Temporal Uncertainty In Gis-Based Water Quality Modeling Of The Land Water Interface, Ahmad Mohamad Salah

Theses and Dissertations

Integrated water resources management has been used for decades in various formats. The limited resources and the ever growing population keep imposing pressure on decision makers to better-, and reliably, manage the available waters. On the other hand, the continuous development in computing and modeling power has helped modelers and decision makers considerably. To use these models, assumptions have to be made to fill in the gaps of missing data and to approximate the current conditions. The type and amount of information available can also be used to help select the best model from the currently available models. Advances in …


Assessing Water Quality Modeling In Subtropical Regions Based On A Case Study Of The Aguamilpa Reservoir, Oliver Obregon Dec 2008

Assessing Water Quality Modeling In Subtropical Regions Based On A Case Study Of The Aguamilpa Reservoir, Oliver Obregon

Theses and Dissertations

The shortage of water in Mexico has made public and private institutions look at reservoirs as an alternative solution for present and future water supply. However, eighty percent of the existing reservoirs in Mexico are contaminated at some level, many severely. Water quality models are water-management tools used to diagnose water quality problems and the impact of various environmental conditions. They can be effective in assessing various measures of remediation leading to improved water quality. In most of the cases such water quality models have been successfully applied in reservoirs located in temperate climates. However, the use of water quality …


Parallel Processing Of Reactive Transport Models Using Openmp, Jared D. Mclaughlin Mar 2008

Parallel Processing Of Reactive Transport Models Using Openmp, Jared D. Mclaughlin

Theses and Dissertations

Transport codes are beginning to be parallelized in order to allow more complex add-ons, such as geochemical packages, to utilize finer, more accurate grids, and to reduce solution times making stochastic and Monte Carlo simulations more feasible. Most codes parallelized via MPI (message passing interface) offer good results, but require the development of a new parallel code. OpenMP, the shared-memory standard, offers incremental parallelization, allowing sequential codes to remain relatively intact with minimal changes or additions. OpenMP allows speedup to be seen on personal computers with dual processors or greater, unlike some other parallelization approaches that require a supercomputer. An …


Shear Modulus Degradation Of Liquefying Sand: Quantification And Modeling, Peter A. Olsen Nov 2007

Shear Modulus Degradation Of Liquefying Sand: Quantification And Modeling, Peter A. Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

A major concern for geotechnical engineers is the ability to predict how a soil will react to large ground motions produced by earthquakes. Of all the different types of soil, liquefiable soils present some of the greatest challenges. The ability to quantify the degradation of a soil's shear modulus as it undergoes liquefaction would help engineers design more reliably and economically. This thesis uses ground motions recorded by an array of downhole accelerometers on Port Island, Japan, during the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, to quantify the shear modulus of sand as it liquefies. It has been shown that the shear modulus …


Developing A Gis And Hydrological Modeling Approach For Sustainable Water Resources Management In The West Bank -- Palestine, Walid Wajeeh Sabbah Apr 2005

Developing A Gis And Hydrological Modeling Approach For Sustainable Water Resources Management In The West Bank -- Palestine, Walid Wajeeh Sabbah

Theses and Dissertations

This research deals with setting up a GIS and hydrological modeling based approach for sustainable water resources management in the West Bank of Palestine. This water sustainability approach took into consideration the water balance, the social, the economic, the demographic, the environmental, and the institutional components in order to enhance and promote the sustainable development in Palestine, both on the short and long runs. To evaluate the water balance component, a methodology was introduced to create the Water Sustainability Map (WSM). Since the groundwater is currently the only accessible water source by the Palestinians, the WSM is represented by the …