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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Port-Of-Entry Simulation Model For Potential Wait Time Reduction And Air Quality Improvement: A Case Study At The Gateway International Bridge In Brownsville, Texas, Usa, Benjamin Stewart, Hiram Moya, Amit U. Raysoni, Esmeralda Mendez, Matthew Vechione
Port-Of-Entry Simulation Model For Potential Wait Time Reduction And Air Quality Improvement: A Case Study At The Gateway International Bridge In Brownsville, Texas, Usa, Benjamin Stewart, Hiram Moya, Amit U. Raysoni, Esmeralda Mendez, Matthew Vechione
School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
The mathematical study known as queueing theory has recently become a major point of interest for many government agencies and private companies for increasing efficiency. One such application is vehicle queueing at an international port-of-entry (POE). When queueing, fumes from idling vehicles negatively affect the overall health and well-being of the community, especially the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents that work at the POEs. As such, there is a need to analyze and optimize the border crossing queuing operations to minimize wait times and number of vehicles in the queue and, thus, reduce the vehicle emissions. For this …
Exploring The Role Of Perceived Range Anxiety In Adoption Behavior Of Plugin Electric Vehicles, Fatemeh Nazari, Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian, Thomas Stephens
Exploring The Role Of Perceived Range Anxiety In Adoption Behavior Of Plugin Electric Vehicles, Fatemeh Nazari, Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian, Thomas Stephens
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
A sustainable solution to negative externalities imposed by road transportation is replacing internal combustion vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs), especially plug-in EV (PEV) encompassing plugin hybrid EV (PHEV) and battery EV (BEV). However, EV market share is still low and is forecast to remain low and uncertain. This shows a research need for an in-depth understanding of EV adoption behavior with a focus on one of the main barriers to the mass EV adoption, which is the limited electric driving range. The present study extends the existing literature in two directions; First, the influence of the psychological aspect of driving …
Tree Ring Reconstructions Of Streamflow For The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, Adedolapo Mutiyat Adeyanju
Tree Ring Reconstructions Of Streamflow For The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, Adedolapo Mutiyat Adeyanju
Theses and Dissertations
The Rio Grande River is a major water source for people living within the USA-Mexico border. The Rio Grande River has its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico before flowing into Texas through El-Paso. The water supply issues facing the Lower Rio Grande Basin (LRGB) are extremely complex from international restrictions to severe climate change. The river shares its flow between the U.S.A and Mexico based on the provisions of the 1944 treaty between the U.S.A and Mexico. The LRGB flow is regulated by releases from Falcon and Amistad Reservoirs managed …
Investigation Of A Simultaneaous Direct And Indirect Contact Dehumidifier Using Parallel Strings For Hdh Desalination, Josue Perez Perez
Investigation Of A Simultaneaous Direct And Indirect Contact Dehumidifier Using Parallel Strings For Hdh Desalination, Josue Perez Perez
Theses and Dissertations
Freshwater is a limited and precious resource. Currently, half a billion people in the world face sever water scarcity all year round. Humidification dehumidification (HDH) systems have received special attention among the variety of small-scale desalination technologies due to its potential to create affordable and sustainable seawater desalination, especially when combined with natural power sources such as waves, wind, and solar rays. Improvements in the development of HDH desalination systems have been achieved in recent years. Nonetheless, the improvements that have received most attention focus on solar heaters and humidifiers. Dehumidification systems have often been adapted from air conditioning condensation …
Water Quality Monitoring To Assess Pollutant Loadings In Brownsville Ship Channel Watershed, Ivan Rene Santos Chavez
Water Quality Monitoring To Assess Pollutant Loadings In Brownsville Ship Channel Watershed, Ivan Rene Santos Chavez
Theses and Dissertations
The Brownsville Ship Channel (BSC) was listed as an impaired waterway from 2010 to 2018 due to screening levels of bacteria concentration. This study aims to address water quality at the three main tributary ditches draining into Brownsville Ship Channel to model present along with future pollutant loads within Brownsville Ship Channel Watershed. Load Duration Curves (LDCs) and Spatial Explicit Load Enrichment Calculation Tool (SELECT) models were developed to determine if current pollutant loads meet water quality standards stablished by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and to estimate average daily potential E. Coli loading contribution from sub-watersheds within …
Hydrologic Modeling Study To Determine Hydrologic Impact Of Resacas On The Lower Laguna Madre Watershed, Antonio L. Reyna
Hydrologic Modeling Study To Determine Hydrologic Impact Of Resacas On The Lower Laguna Madre Watershed, Antonio L. Reyna
Theses and Dissertations
During a high intensity storm events, a series of catastrophic events occur. These catastrophic events include flooding and destruction of infrastructure. Engineers have determined a method to design for high intensity storms based off hydrologic analysis of previous storms. With this data engineers can determine the outflow of major rivers and streams that may impact infrastructure. By determining the watershed engineers can predict the flow of the water and as well as the location of the outfall. In the Rio Grande Valley, water quality is very important because after rain events stormwater from cities is carried out towards the Laguna …
Development Of A Cyberinfrastructure For Assessment Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley North And Central Watersheds Characteristics, Linda Isabel Navarro Navarro
Development Of A Cyberinfrastructure For Assessment Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley North And Central Watersheds Characteristics, Linda Isabel Navarro Navarro
Theses and Dissertations
Due to an increase in urbanization in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV), there have been substantial modifications to hydrology causing a decline in water quality to the Laguna Madre watershed. The major concern is the inflow of freshwater from the North and Central waterways released to the Lower Laguna Madre which is designated as an impaired watershed for high concentrations of bacteria and low dissolved oxygen. The objective of this study is to perform a watershed characterization to determine potential pollution sources of each watershed by developing a cyberinfrastructure and collect a wide inventory of data. The objective will …
Campus Carbon Footprint Study At A South Texas University, Monica Garcia, Christian Florez, Diego Lopez, Jongmin Kim, Maysam Pournik
Campus Carbon Footprint Study At A South Texas University, Monica Garcia, Christian Florez, Diego Lopez, Jongmin Kim, Maysam Pournik
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
A campus carbon footprint study was conducted at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Southern Texan university. This initiative was the school’s strategic plan to set a baseline for overall campus resource utilization status as well as to answer global requests to track and reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions and achieve greater sustainability on campus. For fiscal years of 2016 to 2018, an overall increase of campus carbon footprint was about 0.6%. The biggest increase was observed from sources owned or controlled by the school while the emissions associated with power usage decreased. The university’s carbon footprint was …
Impacts Of Compaction Load And Procedure On Stress-Deformation Behaviors Of A Soil Geosynthetic Composite (Sgc) Mass—A Case Study, Meenwah Gui, Truc Phan, Thang Pham
Impacts Of Compaction Load And Procedure On Stress-Deformation Behaviors Of A Soil Geosynthetic Composite (Sgc) Mass—A Case Study, Meenwah Gui, Truc Phan, Thang Pham
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
Fill compaction in the construction of Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) mass is typically performed by operating a vibratory or roller compactor, which in turns imposed a compaction load in direction perpendicular to the wall face. The compaction process resulted in the development of the so-called compaction-induced stress (CIS), which may subsequently increase the stiffness and strength of the fill material. Compaction process is normally simulated using one of the following compaction procedures—(i) a uniformly distributed load acting on the top surface of each soil lift, (ii) a uniformly distributed load acting on the top and bottom surface of each soil …
South Texas Coastal Area Storm Surge Model Development And Improvement, Sara E. Davila, Cesar Davila Hernandez, Martin Flores, Jungseok Ho
South Texas Coastal Area Storm Surge Model Development And Improvement, Sara E. Davila, Cesar Davila Hernandez, Martin Flores, Jungseok Ho
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The intensification of climatic changes, mainly natural geophysical hazards like hurricanes, are of great interest to the South Texas region. Scientists and engineers must protect essential resources from coastal threats, such as storm surge. This study presents the development process and improvements of a hydrodynamic finite element model that covers the South Texas coast, specifically the Lower Laguna Madre, for the aid of local emergency management teams. Four historical tropical cyclone landfalls are evaluated and used as a means of verification of the hydrodynamic model simulation results. The parameters used to improve the accuracy of the model are the tidal …
Energy And Exergy Analysis Of A Novel Multiple-Effect Vapor Chamber Distillation System For High-Salinity Wastewater Treatment, Hamidreza Shabgard, Ramkumar Parthasarathy, Ben Xu
Energy And Exergy Analysis Of A Novel Multiple-Effect Vapor Chamber Distillation System For High-Salinity Wastewater Treatment, Hamidreza Shabgard, Ramkumar Parthasarathy, Ben Xu
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
A novel modular thermally-driven multiple-effect vapor chamber distillation (MVCD) system is presented for compact and portable desalination applications. The MVCD system consists of several vapor chambers connected in series with the condenser section of the upstream vapor chambers serving as the evaporator section of the following effect. A heat transfer model accounting for the major thermal resistances was developed to predict the heat transfer and distilled water production rates. A mass transfer analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of the accumulation of the non-condensable gasses within the chambers. An exergy analysis was also conducted to quantify the efficiency of …
Pressure Effect On An Ocean-Based Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination Process, Yingchen Yang
Pressure Effect On An Ocean-Based Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination Process, Yingchen Yang
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
A new humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination process is proposed and analyzed. Being ocean based, the process does not produce any brine. It is largely powered jointly by solar energy, wind energy, and various types of ocean energies in a nearly natural way. A vacuum pump is employed to drive the air circulation throughout the HDH process. It is the only unit that consumes electricity. The HDH process is analyzed under various conditions, including using a low pressure (as low as to 0.2 atm) for humidification and the ambient pressure for dehumidification, running the entire HDH process around a low pressure (as …
A Comparison Of Three Types Of Permeable Pavements For Urban Runoff Mitigation In The Semi-Arid South Texas, U.S.A, Taufiqul Alam, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Juan Cesar Bezares-Cruz, Javier Guerrero
A Comparison Of Three Types Of Permeable Pavements For Urban Runoff Mitigation In The Semi-Arid South Texas, U.S.A, Taufiqul Alam, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Juan Cesar Bezares-Cruz, Javier Guerrero
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
This study examines the hydrologic and environmental performance of three types of permeable pavement designs: Porous Concrete Pavement (PCP), Permeable Interlocking Concrete (PICP), and Interlocking Block Pavement with Gravel (IBPG) in the semi-arid South Texas. Outflow rate, storage, Normalized Volume Reduction (NVR), Normalized Load Reductions (NLR) of Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) were compared to results obtained from adjacent traditional pavements at different regional parking lots. A notable percentage of peak flow attenuation of approximately 31–100% was observed when permeable pavements were constructed and implemented. IBPG was capable to hold runoff from rainfall depths …
Winslamm Simulation Of Hydrologic Performance Of Permeable Pavements—A Case Study In The Semi-Arid Lower Rio Grande Valley Of South Texas, United States, Taufiqul Alam, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Juan Cesar Bezares-Cruz, Javier Guerrero
Winslamm Simulation Of Hydrologic Performance Of Permeable Pavements—A Case Study In The Semi-Arid Lower Rio Grande Valley Of South Texas, United States, Taufiqul Alam, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Juan Cesar Bezares-Cruz, Javier Guerrero
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
his study used the Source Loading and Management Model for Windows (WinSLAMM) to develop a set of calibrated hydrologic models for three types of regional permeable pavements—porous concrete pavement (PCP), permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP), and interlocking block pavement with gravel (IBPG). The objective was to assess the hydrologic performance of permeable pavements, including the runoff depth, peak discharge, percentage increment in runoff reduction of pavements as a function of rainfall depth, development area, and base aggregate porosity, respectively. The permeable pavements were monitored over a wide range of rainfall events in the semi-arid Lower Rio Grande Valley of South …
Development Of Lower Rio Grande River Water Quality Transportation Numerical Model For Bi-National River Management, Jose O. Gonzalez
Development Of Lower Rio Grande River Water Quality Transportation Numerical Model For Bi-National River Management, Jose O. Gonzalez
Theses and Dissertations
Traditionally, water quality modelling has focused on modelling individual water bodies. However, water quality management problems must be analyzed at the larger scale to include influences from various water bodies that are interconnected. This paper provides a study on the hydrologic and quality transportation calculation by developing a hydrodynamic (unsteady state) channel routing model using a water-balanced approach. A one dimension Lagrangian river model was developed and applied to the 210 plus miles for the lower Rio Grande River Basin from the Falcon Dam to the head water of Brownsville that pours onto the Gulf of Mexico. This model can …
Development Of Disaster Management In Turkey: From 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake To 2011 Van Earthquake, Mert Tolon, Kağan Cenk Mızrak
Development Of Disaster Management In Turkey: From 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake To 2011 Van Earthquake, Mert Tolon, Kağan Cenk Mızrak
Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The natural disasters that have occurred in Turkey are categorized as % 61 earthquakes, followed by landslides, floods, rock falls, fires and storms. Between the years of 1903 and 2000, there have been nearly 150 earthquakes in Turkey which led to damage and this is a challenge for Turkey. The management and plans of these natural disasters in Turkey were first developed in 1959. In 1999, with the magnitude of 7.4, The Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes affected a region of Turkey that constitutes % 23 of the country’s population. After that, in 2000 necessary laws have been prepared and enacted. …
Parametric Analysis Of A Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit Operating On Syngas Produced By Autothermal Reforming Of Hydrocarbon Fuels, Jun Dong, Xinhai Xu, Ben Xu, Shuyang Zhang
Parametric Analysis Of A Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Auxiliary Power Unit Operating On Syngas Produced By Autothermal Reforming Of Hydrocarbon Fuels, Jun Dong, Xinhai Xu, Ben Xu, Shuyang Zhang
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
A 1 kWe integrated auxiliary power unit (APU) system consisting of an autothermal reformer and a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) unit, as well as balance-of-plant components, was designed and analyzed. A relatively easy-to-approach SOFC model was developed in order to conveniently calculate V-I and P-I curves and the system's net efficiency at different operating conditions. The effects of steam to carbon and oxygen to carbon ratios in the reactants, channel dimensions of the SOFC unit, and hydrocarbon fuel types on the integrated APU system's performance were discussed. Five hydrocarbon fuels including diesel, Jet-A, gasoline, ethanol, and methanol were studied …