Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of Naturally Occurring And Anthropogenic Contamination In Missouri Streams, Christina Jane Sehrt

Masters Theses

"The goal of this study is to observe the values and variability of water quality parameters and benthic macroinvertebrates in watersheds with very little anthropogenic impact and to compare these values with those acquired in watersheds with more anthropogenic impact. The following five HUC 12-digit watersheds had very little anthropogenic impact and were considered "pristine": Rogers Creek, Mill Creek, Middle West Fork-Black River, Bee Fork, and Ottery Creek. Five largely urban sub-basins were also considered; these basins are: Grand Glaize Creek, Glaize Creek, Sugar Creek, Hominy Creek, and Grindstone Creek. For each watershed, both water quality parameters and benthic macroinvertebrates …

Using The Ert Method To Differentiate Resistivity Anomalies Attributed To Natural And Man-Made Activities, Ibrahim Faisal Alshareef

Masters Theses

"Karst terrain is considered to be a very complex topography compared with most other geological environments. Many features can be observed such as sinkholes, air-filled cavities, losing streams, and solution widened joints. These karst features can cause subsidence and damage infrastructure such as buildings and roads thus causing economic hardship and disruption of life. The typical geological and hydrological studies are not enough to understand the karst processes.

For this reason, two geophysical methods were involved in investigating the subsurface in the study area. In this research, the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and multichannel analysis of surface wave (MASW) data …

Temporal Changes Of Nutrients Within The Lower Grand River Watershed And Selected Sites, Weston Scott Duley

Masters Theses

"This report presents the results of a study carried out in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to estimate total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) at five USGS monitoring sites within Lower Grand River Watershed (LGRW) and two monitoring sites on the Missouri River. The objective of this study was to quantify temporal changes in TN and TP concentrations and compare those to best management practices (BMPs).

In this study, the approach to the analysis of long-term surface water-quality data by using Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge and Seasons models …

Geophysical Imaging Beneath Lake Chesterfield, Missouri, James Daniell Hayes

Masters Theses

"Lake Chesterfield in Wildwood, Missouri, has been leaking since construction of the earth-fill dam was completed in 1986, despite numerous mitigation efforts. The mitigation efforts, including the injection of grouting and the emplacement of clay liners, has not solve the leakage problem.

In the current study, geophysical (subsurface imaging) data was acquired across the drained and dry lake bed and along the base of the earth-fill dam to 1) map variable depth to top of bedrock, 2) determine the variable quality of the bedrock to depths on the order of 80 ft., 3) identify any significant karst features beneath the …

Detection And Elimination Of Rock Face Vegetation From Terrestrial Lidar Data Using The Virtual Articulating Conical Probe Algorithm, Kenneth John Boyko

Doctoral Dissertations

"A common use of terrestrial lidar is to conduct studies involving change detection of natural or engineered surfaces. Change detection involves many technical steps beyond the initial data acquisition: data structuring, registration, and elimination of data artifacts such as parallax errors, near-field obstructions, and vegetation. Of these, vegetation detection and elimination with terrestrial lidar scanning (TLS) presents a completely different set of issues when compared to vegetation elimination from aerial lidar scanning (ALS). With ALS, the ground footprint of the lidar laser beam is very large, and the data acquisition hardware supports multi-return waveforms. Also, the underlying surface topography is …

Assessment And Prediction Of Surface Water Vulnerability From Non-Point Source Pollution In Midwestern Watersheds, Fadhil K. Jabbar

Doctoral Dissertations

"Non-point source pollution is the leading cause of impairment in surface water in the Midwest. In this research, we seek to predict which watersheds are most vulnerable to point source pollution without field sampling using publically available GIS databases. Watersheds with higher vulnerability ratings can then be targeted for water quality monitoring, and funds used to improve watershed health can be distributed with greater efficacy. To better understand and target watershed vulnerability, we used three different approaches. In the first project, 35 sub-watersheds were sampled in the Lower Grand Watershed, which is a highly agricultural watershed in northern Missouri/southern Iowa. …

Development Of Lidar Assisted Terrestrial Radar Interferometry For Rock Deformation Monitoring, Ricardo Javier Romero Ramirez

Doctoral Dissertations

"Rock and soil slope movements cost millions of dollars annually. During the past few decades, engineers have relied on traditional methods to detect slope movements. These tools are valuable for small spatial areas but, may not be adequate or cost effective for large spatial areas. Remote sensing methods such as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) provide excellent spatial coverage, and with adequate post-data-processing software, sub-millimetric scale deformation sensitivity can be achieved.

This work will present a comparative experimental study between TLS and TRI. The comparative experimental study will allow us to achieve the two main objectives …

Using Lidar To Measure Subsurface Movement Of Slow-Moving Landslides And Study The Interaction Between The Soil And Lidar Scanning Targets, Chengxun Lu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) technology has been used for predicting and researching geological hazards for two decades. This research focuses on using LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) to measure the slow-moving displacement of both surface and subsurface soil of landslides. Two kinds of computer simulation software, FLAC3D® and PFC3D® were used to simulate the landslide process to compare with the LiDAR scanning results.

The primary contributions from this research are as follows:

1. Several error tests were done to prove that the three-dimensional LiDAR scanner used in this research can precisely obtain the three-dimensional position, the displacement and the rotational …

Military Applications Of Geological Engineering, Stephen H. Tupper

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work examines the premise that military engineering and geological engineering are intellectually paired and overlapped in practice to a significant extent. Geological engineering is an established, albeit young, academic discipline that enjoys wide industry and civil demand and is supported by many professional organizations. In contrast, military engineering is an ancient, empirically derived training or "OJT" program with practice-based trade-associations that has narrow government-only utility. The premise is formed by decades-long observation of U. S. Army military engineer officers completing a Master of Science degree in geological engineering as a complement to their practice-based training in military engineering at …

Thermomechanical Analysis Of Rock Asperity In Fractures Of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, Chao Zeng

Doctoral Dissertations

"Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) offer great potential for dramatically expanding the use of geothermal energy and become a promising supplement for fossil energy. The EGS is to extract heat by creating a subsurface system to which cold water can be added through injection wells. Injected water is heated by contact with rock and returns to the surface through production well. Fracture provides the primary conduit for fluid flow and heat transfer in natural rock. Fracture is propped by fracture roughness with varying heights which is called asperity. The stability of asperity determines fracture aperture and hence imposes substantial effect on …