Engineering Commons^™

Informed Polluters: A Comparison Between Pollutant Sources Of Two Lakes And Resulting Remediation Strategies, Jeffrey Kennedy

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Excess nutrients are a problem for many lakes and rivers across the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires states to monitor polluted waterbodies and provide plans to remediate them. These plans are commonly submitted in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report where sources and polluters are identified. These reports have not been successful, however, at solving all nutrient problems.

Newman Lake in Washington and Mantua Reservoir in Utah are two lakes that continue to receive excess nutrients, notably phosphorus. High levels of these nutrients lead to increased biological activity and subsequent drops in dissolved oxygen. Many lakes …

Designing Technology For Different Scales Of Irrigation Scheduling, Paolo Alexander Consalvo

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Uncertainty in water availability is a significant challenge to the agriculture industry. Farmers and irrigators depend on novel uses of sensors and data to maximize water efficiency. Documented studies have demonstrated scheduling irrigation is a straightforward, deterministic means of achieving water efficiency. Irrigation scheduling uses several parameters to determine the moment of crop water stress due to available water in the soil. However, sensors and data for soil moisture and matric potential, a parameter describing water available to plants, have the potential to train machine learning algorithms to forecast water irrigation needs based on previous measurements. Satellite remote-sensing is another …

Combined Approaches For Quantifying Groundwater-Surface Water Exchanges In Karst Watersheds, Hyrum Tennant

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Increasingly, groundwater and surface water are thought of as a single source [Winter, 1998]. This is due to the frequent groundwater-surface water exchanges that can occur on a varying spatial and temporal scale within a watershed. Geology and topography are two key factors in dictating the spatial frequency of these exchanges [Winter, 1999]. Understanding groundwater-surface water exchanges both temporally and spatially is critical to managing watersheds effectively. Quantifying these exchanges can be further complicated by the presence of karst geology within a watershed [Lauber and Goldscheider, 2014]. Large karst features can supply groundwater to surface …

Design Of Logan City's Storm Water Conveyance System, Megan Gordon

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers’ (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge, helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Logan City is located in northern Utah’s Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will decrease due to new regulations. However, Logan City’s storm water system does …

Design Of Logan City's Stormwater Conveyance System, Kade Jacob Beck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers' (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge , helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Aerial Photo of the Area of Interest Current Conditions

Logan City is located in northern Utah's Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will …

Right Hand Fork Pedestrian Bridge Final Report, Ren Gibbons

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Right Hand Fork is a tributary canyon whose stream enters the Logan River nine miles east of the mouth of Logan Canyon near Logan, Utah. The access bridge to a popular recreational area, the Hobbit Caves, was damaged in 2011 by flooding. We propose that a new bridge be designed and constructed for the Forest Service to replace the current structure to ensure public safety and minimize environmental impact. We plan to use a longer bridge span that will situate the abutments higher on the stream bank and reduce possible water damage during flood events. Bridge costs will be minimized …

Usu Concrete Canoe, Promontory, Nathaniel Laurence Decker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In 1863, while the Civil War was dividing the East, a monumental project began in the West. Plans had been finalized for a railroad that would unify the country in commerce and migration. Two companies accepted the challenge of laying track across over 1700 miles of North American soil, from Sacramento, California to Omaha, Nebraska. The Union Pacific Railroad would come from the East and the Central Pacific Railroad from the West. Governor Leland Stanford of California broke ground for the project on January 8, 1863, and the line was finished at Promontory Summit, UT on May 10, 1869 (NPS, …

Canoebis, Mitchel Robert Dabling

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Egyptian mythology is full of legend and mystery. Ra, the Chief God of Ancient Egypt, used a mysterious canoe, named Meseket, to cross the underworld at night (Ions, 1983). Our fabricated legend begins with Aken, Ra's loyal ferryman. When Aken accidentally broke the canoe Meseket, he was left without a vessel to ferry Ra. Without proper materials to fashion another wooden boat, he asked Anubis, the god of embalming for assistance. Together they built a new canoe out of concrete using raw materials from the Egyptian landscape. The 2013 Utah State University Concrete Canoe Team has endeavored to recreate this …

Evaluation Of Pedestrian Risk On 700 N On Utah State University Campus, Kirk Jackson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

One of the biggest concerns that highway designers face when designing roadways is how to safely design the interface between highway users and pedestrians. This is never truer than on the Utah State University campus where pedestrian use is much higher than on an average road. Utah State University purchased 700 N, the main collector road which runs through the heart of USU’s campus, from the City of Logan in the summer of 2010. Since then, pedestrian safety on 700 N has become the first priority of USU Facilities in regards to their efforts to improve it. It has come …

Mix Design For A Concrete Canoe, Ryan Thomas Christensen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Each year the American Society of Civil Engineers sponsors a concrete canoe competition. This paper details the work performed by Ryan Christensen for the 2006 concrete canoe competition. His primary focus was on formulating a concrete mix to be used for the Utah State University canoe. Basic information regarding the building and design of concrete canoes is also presented. Finally, general competition results for 2006 are presented for the Utah State University canoe team.

Poseidon American Society Of Civil Engineers/Master Builders Rocky Mountain Regional Concrete Canoe Competition, William Spencer Guthrie

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The concrete canoe team has been selected in behalf of the Utah State University Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers to prepare an entry for the 1998 ASCE Rocky Mountain Regional Concrete Canoe Competition. This event is co-sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and Master Builders, Inc., and has become a tradition at annual ASCE regional conferences nationwide.