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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Cloud Dynamics Features Extracted From Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images, Guillermo Terrén-Serrano
Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Cloud Dynamics Features Extracted From Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images, Guillermo Terrén-Serrano
Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs
Due to the increasing use of photovoltaic systems, power grids are vulnerable to the projection of shadows from moving clouds. An intra-hour solar forecast provides power grids with the capability of automatically controlling the dispatch of energy, reducing the additional cost for a guaranteed, reliable supply of energy (i.e., energy storage). This dissertation introduces a novel sky imager consisting of a long-wave radiometric infrared camera and a visible light camera with a fisheye lens. The imager is mounted on a solar tracker to maintain the Sun in the center of the images throughout the day, reducing the scattering effect produced …
Soil Moisture Dependent Runoff In A Dryland Region: An Investigation Of The Role Of Antecedent Conditions, Monitoring, And Modeling Strategies, Gerhard Schoener
Soil Moisture Dependent Runoff In A Dryland Region: An Investigation Of The Role Of Antecedent Conditions, Monitoring, And Modeling Strategies, Gerhard Schoener
Civil Engineering ETDs
Approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface is characterized as arid or semiarid, including much of the western United States. Accurate runoff predictions are important for informed watershed management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas. Infiltration excess overland flow is the dominant mechanism for runoff generation in many dryland basins, and event-based infiltration or loss models are commonly used to estimate runoff. However, predictions are associated with considerable uncertainty due to the role antecedent soil moisture, an initial condition that must be set by the modeler. The objectives of my research were to (1) evaluate the impact of antecedent soil moisture …
Nonlinear Least Squares 3-D Geolocation Solutions Using Time Differences Of Arrival, Michael V. Bredemann
Nonlinear Least Squares 3-D Geolocation Solutions Using Time Differences Of Arrival, Michael V. Bredemann
Mathematics & Statistics ETDs
This thesis uses a geometric approach to derive and solve nonlinear least squares minimization problems to geolocate a signal source in three dimensions using time differences of arrival at multiple sensor locations. There is no restriction on the maximum number of sensors used. Residual errors reach the numerical limits of machine precision. Symmetric sensor orientations are found that prevent closed form solutions of source locations lying within the null space. Maximum uncertainties in relative sensor positions and time difference of arrivals, required to locate a source within a maximum specified error, are found from these results. Examples illustrate potential requirements …
Comprehensive Silica Removal With Ferric Compounds For Industrial Wastewater Reuse, Ehren D. Baca
Comprehensive Silica Removal With Ferric Compounds For Industrial Wastewater Reuse, Ehren D. Baca
Civil Engineering ETDs
Cooling towers, integrated circuit (IC) manufacture and reverse osmosis (RO) generate copious amounts of wastewater high in colloidal and reactive silica inhibiting on-site or synergistic reuse. Silica present in cooling water can reach solubility limits via evaporation and form impervious scale on heat transfer surfaces that decreases efficiency. When water is treated by RO operating at high rejection, silica forms difficult-to-remove scale on the membrane feed side in the form of glassy patches and communities of aggregate particles, inhibiting aspirations for zero liquid discharge. Current methods for silica scale mitigation include abundant dosing with chemical antiscalents or complex operating schemes. …