Engineering Commons^™

Evaluating 1d And 2d Small-Strain Ground Response Analyses At The I-15 Downhole Array Using Recorded Aftershocks From The M5.7 2020 Magna, Utah Earthquake, Tyler S. Jackson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

As earthquake waves exit rock and travel up through softer subsurface strata on their way to the surface, the intensity of ground shaking is significantly influenced by the subsurface soil layering and often increases in areas with deeper, softer soil deposits. The soft soils present in Utah’s valleys, deposited during the era of Lake Bonneville, tend to amplify the energy and intensity of ground motion felt by people and structures alike. Thus, the first step to designing earthquake resilient infrastructure in Utah is understanding how the subsurface soil layers amplify and/or attenuate ground motions induced by an earthquake. Methods used …

Application Of Winslamm To Evaluate The Effect Of Green Infrastructure Implementation In Northern Utah, Rosa A. Fernández Velásquez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study provides an evaluation of the performance of the WinSLAMM model in two cities of northern Utah, a region in which it has not been validated to date. Runoff volumes for a series of events from 2015 to 2017 were calculated for six study areas. These results were compared to model outputs to evaluate the prediction accuracy. The model performed poorly when default parameters where used, as expected. Thus, the calibration of runoff coefficient was done with local data. Total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) were also evaluated and calibrations were developed. The …

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 …

The Development And Validation Of An Isokinetic Calibration System For Multiple Aerosol Instruments, Wendy Michelle Merkley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

A multi-port calibration xture for the cross calibration of aerosol point sensors has been developed. The system was designed for comparative calibrations of instruments using differing measurement methods such as optical particle counters, aerodynamic impactors, etc. Four isokinetic sampling ports are attached to a laminar ow plenum such that all four sampling ports sample identical aerosol concentrations under identical ow conditions. Correlation and correction factors are applied to each instrument creating a standard method. This standard method can be applied to inter-compare and calibrate aerosol sensing instrumentation and/or to characterize the microphysical properties of a test aerosol. The performance of …

The Calibration And Uncertainty Evaluation Of Spatially Distributed Hydrological, Jongkwan Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the last decade, spatially distributed hydrological models have rapidly advanced with the widespread availability of remotely sensed and geomatics information. Particularly, the areas of calibration and evaluation of spatially distributed hydrological models have been attempted in order to reduce the differences between models and improve realism through various techniques. Despite steady efforts, the study of calibrations and evaluations for spatially distributed hydrological models is still a largely unexplored field, in that there is no research in terms of the interactions of snow and water balance components with the traditional measurement methods as error functions. As one of the factors …

Montana Flume Flow Corrections Under Submerged Flow, Ryan P. Willeitner, Steven L. Barfuss, Michael C. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A Montana flume is a Parshall flume without a diverging downstream section and is used to measure open channel flow. Under free-flow conditions, the Parshall flume and the Montana flume have the same calibration characteristics, but under submerge flows, their calibrations significantly differ. Tests were conducted at the Utah Water Research Laboratory on an acrylic 15.2-cm (6-in.) Montana flume to determine the effects of submergence on the flow readings. This type of investigation has not been previously analyzed. It was found that a standard Parshall flume rating curve overpredicted flow rates in the submerged Montana flume, up to 48%. Parshall …

Strategies For Lidar Characterization Of Particulates From Point And Area Sources, Michael D. Wojcik, Kori D. Moore, Randy S. Martin, Jerry Hatfield

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Use of ground based remote sensing technologies such as scanning lidar systems (light detection and ranging) has gained traction in characterizing ambient aerosols due to some key advantages such as wide area of regard (10 km2 ), fast response time, high spatial resolution (m) and high sensitivity. Energy Dynamics Laboratory and Utah State University, in conjunction with the USDA-ARS, has developed a three-wavelength scanning lidar system called Aglite that has been successfully deployed to characterize particle motion, concentration, and size distribution at both point and diffuse area sources in agricultural and industrial settings. A suite of massbased and size distribution …

Algorithm Development Of The Aglite-Lidar Instrument, Christian Marchant

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Particulate emissions from agricultural operations are increasingly receiving attention from regulatory bodies as a potential source of air pollution. The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) has developed the Aglite system, a suite of instruments including a lidar that is capable of measuring particulate emission levels from agricultural facilities. This system provides a novel method of measuring particulate mass (PM) pollution, allowing measurements to be taken of diverse types of facilities with high temporal and spatial resolution. This high resolution allows for the measurement of emission levels generated by specific activities, fostering the development and determination of best management practices.

The Aglite …

1997 Calibration Of Flow Model And Optimal Pumping Strategies To Capture Tce Plume At Travis Afb, Ca, Richard C. Peralta, A. H. Aly, J. Atkinson, J. Williams

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to develop a ground-water model that can be used in conjunction with an optimization model to optimize the containment and remediation of ground water contaminated with organic compounds at Travis AFB, California (TAFB). Based on studies by WESTON (Roy F. Weston, Inc.), RADIAN (Radian Corporation), and others, the major ground-water quality problem is a plume of TCE that originates at the Oil Spill Area (OSA) and bas migrated to the south and east under the runway. The immediate remediation objective is to stop the movement of the plume.