Engineering Commons^™

How Do Changes To The Railroad Causeway In Utah’S Great Salt Lake Affect Water And Salt Flow?, James S. White, Sarah E. Null, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Managing terminal lake elevation and salinity are emerging problems worldwide. We contribute to terminal lake management research by quantitatively assessing water and salt flow for Utah’s Great Salt Lake. In 1959, Union Pacific Railroad constructed a rock-filled causeway across the Great Salt Lake, separating the lake into a north and south arm. Flow between the two arms was limited to two 4.6 meter wide rectangular culverts installed during construction, an 88 meter opening (referred to locally as a breach) installed in 1984, and the semi porous material of the causeway. A salinity gradient developed between the two arms of the …

Long-Term Winter Inversion Properties In A Mountain Valley Of The Western United States And Implications On Air Quality, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, Lawrence E. Hipps, Oi-Yu Chung, Robert R. Gillies, Randy S. Martin

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Because of the geography of a narrow valley and surrounding tall mountains, Cache Valley (located in northern Utah and southern Idaho) experiences frequent shallow temperature inversions that are both intense and persistent. Such temperature inversions have resulted in the worst air quality in the nation. In this paper, the historical properties of Cache Valley’s winter inversions are examined by using two meteorological stations with a difference in elevation of approximately 100 m and a horizontal distance apart of ~4.5 km. Differences in daily maximum air temperature between two stations were used to define the frequency and intensity of inversions. Despite …

Development And Evaluation Of A Physically Based Multiscalar Drought Index: The Standardized Moisture Anomaly Index, B. Zhang, X. Zhao, Jiming Jin, P. Wu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, a new physically based multiscalar drought index, the Standardized Moisture Anomaly Index (SZI), was developed and evaluated, which combines the advantages of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). The SZI is based on the water budget simulations produced with a sophisticated hydrological model, and it also includes a multiscalar feature to quantify drought events at different temporal scales taken from SPEI. The Chinese Loess Plateau was selected to evaluate the performance of the SZI. Our evaluation indicates that the SZI accurately captures the onset, duration, and ending of a multiyear …

Dehalococcoides Abundance And Alternate Electron Acceptor Effects On Large, Flow-Through Trichloroethene Dechlorinating Columns, Babur S. Mirza, Darwin L. Sorensen, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Trichloroethene (TCE) in groundwater is a major health concern and biostimulation/bioaugmentation-based strategies have been evaluated to achieve complete reductive dechlorination with varying success. Different carbon sources were hypothesized to stimulate different extents of TCE reductive dechlorination. Ecological conditions that developed different dechlorination stages were investigated by quantitating Dehalococcoides 16S rRNA (Dhc) and reductive dehalogenase gene abundance, and by describing biogeochemical properties of laboratory columns in response to this biostimulation. Eight large columns (183 cm × 15.2 cm), packed with aquifer material from Hill AFB, Utah, that were continuously fed TCE for 7.5 years. Duplicate columns were biostimulated with whey or …

An Upscaled Approach For Transport In Media With Extended Tailing Due To Back-Diffusion Using Analytical And Numerical Solutions Of The Advection Dispersion Equation, Jack C. Parker, Ungtae Kim

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The mono-continuum advection-dispersion equation (mADE) is commonly regarded as unsuitable for application to media that exhibit rapid breakthrough and extended tailing associated with diffusion between high and low permeability regions. This paper demonstrates that the mADE can be successfully used to model such conditions if certain issues are addressed. First, since hydrodynamic dispersion, unlike molecular diffusion, cannot occur upstream of the contaminant source, models must be formulated to prevent “back-dispersion.” Second, large variations in aquifer permeability will result in differences between volume-weighted average concentration (resident concentration) and flow-weighted average concentration (flux concentration). Water samples taken from wells may be regarded …

Hydroshare: Sharing Diverse Environmental Data Types And Models As Social Objects With Application To The Hydrology Domain, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Mohamed M. Morsy, Anthony M. Castronova, Jonathan L. Goodall, Tian Gan, Hong Yi, Michael J. Stealey, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The types of data and models used within the hydrologic science community are diverse. New repositories have succeeded in making data and models more accessible, but are, in most cases, limited to particular types or classes of data or models and also lack the type of collaborative and iterative functionality needed to enable shared data collection and modeling workflows. File sharing systems currently used within many scientific communities for private sharing of preliminary and intermediate data and modeling products do not support collaborative data capture, description, visualization, and annotation. In this article, we cast hydrologic datasets and models as “social …

The Fort Collins Commuter Study: Impact Of Route Type And Transport Mode On Personal Exposure To Multiple Air Pollutants, Nicholas Good, Anna Mölter, Charis Ackerson, Annette Bachand, Taylor Carpenter, Maggie L. Clark, Kristen M. Fedak, Ashleigh Kayne, Kirsten Koehler, Amy L. Stuart

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Traffic-related air pollution is associated with increased mortality and morbidity, yet few studies have examined strategies to reduce individual exposure while commuting. The present study aimed to quantify how choice of mode and route type affects personal exposure to air pollutants during commuting. We analyzed within-person difference in exposures to multiple air pollutants (black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO), ultrafine particle number concentration (PNC), and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5)) during commutes between the home and workplace for 45 participants. Participants completed 8 days of commuting by car and bicycle on direct and alternative (reduced traffic) routes. Mean within-person …

Little Bear And Blacksmith Fork Rivers Environmental Flows: Background Report, Bio-West, Inc.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This report describes existing information and first steps related to developing environmental flow recommendations for the Little Bear and Blacksmith Fork Rivers in Cache County, Utah. This project was undertaken by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in partnership with Trout Unlimited (TU), Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR), Cache County, and Utah State University (USU). Both rivers have been identified as conservation priorities, primarily for Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) and their riparian and aquatic systems.

Modifying The Adm1 Model To Predict The Operation Of An Anaerobic Digester Co-Digesting Municipal Sludge With Bakery Waste, Morris E. Demitry, Jianming Zhong, Conly Hansen, Michael Mcfarland

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Anaerobic Digestion Model Number1 (ADM1) was modified in order to predict accurately the impact of co-digesting bakery waste (BW) with municipal sludge (MS). BW is an industrial waste (300,000 gallons per day in USA) that contains a high concentration of organic matter (carbohydrates, low lipids and non-detected proteins). BW is an easily biodegradable substrate for creating a favorable microorganism growth environment, which enhances the biogas production needed for wastewater facilities. The modified ADM1 successfully predicted changes in pH, volatile fatty acids (VFA), propionic acid and methane gas production. The ADM1 outputs were compared to experimental batch reactor results of actual …

Development Of A Decision-Making Methodology To Design A Water Quality Monitoring Network, J. Keum, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The number of water quality monitoring stations in the USA has decreased over the past few decades. Scarcity of observations can easily produce prediction uncertainty due to unreliable model calibration. An effective water quality monitoring network is important not only for model calibration and water quality prediction but also for resources management. Redundant or improperly located monitoring stations may cause increased monitoring costs without improvement to the understanding of water quality in watersheds. In this work, a decision-making methodology is proposed to design a water quality monitoring network by providing an adequate number of monitoring stations and their approximate locations …

Sustainable Treatment Of Landfill Leachate, Mohamad Anuar Kamaruddin, Mohd. Suffian Yusoff, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Landfill leachate is a complex liquid that contains excessive concentrations of biodegradable and non-biodegradable products including organic matter, phenols, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, heavy metals, and sulfide. If not properly treated and safely disposed, landfill leachate could be an impending source to surface and ground water contamination as it may percolate throughout soils and subsoils, causing adverse impacts to receiving waters. Lately, various types of treatment methods have been proposed to alleviate the risks of untreated leachate. However, some of the available techniques remain complicated, expensive and generally require definite adaptation during process. In this article, a review of literature reported …

Effects Of Pipe Wall Offsets On Differential Pressure Meter Accuracy, Jesse M. Pope, Steven L. Barfuss, Michael C. Johnson, Zachary B. Sharp

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurate flow measurement is essential for the management of any type of fluid system. This research investigated the effect on accuracy that five types of 12-in. differential-pressure flow meters have as a result of being installed in pipelines of differing inside diameter. The types of meters chosen for this research were the classical Venturi meter, Halmi Venturi Tube, wedge meter, V-cone meter, and the X-meter. Each meter was tested for accuracy with 10 pipe wall offsets varying from a 0.125-in. sudden contraction to a 0.937-in. sudden expansion of the pipe radius. The meters' reading during each test series was compared …

A Virtual Tile Approach To Rastel-Based Calculations Of Large Digital Elevation Models In A Shared-Memory System, Ahmet Artu Yildirim, Daniel W. Watson, David G. Tarboton, Robert M. Wallace

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Grid digital elevation models (DEMs) are commonly used in hydrology to derive information related to topographically driven flow. Advances in technology for creating DEMs have increased their resolution and data size with the result that algorithms for processing them are frequently memory limited. This paper presents a new approach to the management of memory in the parallel solution of hydrologic terrain processing using a user-level virtual memory system for shared-memory multithreaded systems. The method includes tailored virtual memory management of raster-based calculations for datasets that are larger than available memory and a novel order-of-calculations approach to parallel hydrologic terrain analysis …

Biostimulation And Bioaugmentation To Enhance Reductive Dechlorination Of Tce In A Long-Term Flow Through Column Study, Joan E. Mclean, Jared Ervin, Jing Zhou, Darwin L. Sorensen, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Large laboratory columns (15.2 cm diameter, 183 cm long) were fed with groundwater containing trichloroethylene (TCE), were biostimulated and bioaugmented, and were monitored for over 7.5 years. The objective of the study was to observe how the selection of the carbon and energy source, i.e., whey, Newman Zone® standard surfactant emulsified oil and Newman Zone nonionic surfactant emulsified oil, affected the rate and extent of dechlorination. Column effluent was monitored for TCE and its degradation products, redox indicators (nitrate-N, Fe(II), sulfate), and changes in iron mineralogy. Total bacteria and Dehalococcoides mccartyi strains were quantified using q-PCR. Complete dechlorination was only …

Estimating Chlorophyll With Thermal And Broadband Multispectral High Resolution Imagery From An Unmanned Aerial System Using Relevance Vector Machines For Precision Agriculture, Manal Elarab, Andres M. Ticlavilca, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Inga Maslova, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Precision agriculture requires high-resolution information to enable greater precision in the management of inputs to production. Actionable information about crop and field status must be acquired at high spatial resolution and at a temporal frequency appropriate for timely responses. In this study, high spatial resolution imagery was obtained through the use of a small, unmanned aerial system called AggieAirTM. Simultaneously with the AggieAir flights, intensive ground sampling for plant chlorophyll was conducted at precisely determined locations. This study reports the application of a relevance vector machine coupled with cross validation and backward elimination to a dataset composed of reflectance from …

Integration Of An Energy Balance Snowmelt Model Into An Open Source Modeling Framework, A. Sen Gupta, David G. Tarboton, P. Hummel, M. E. Brown, S. Habib

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a data model for organizing the inputs and outputs of an energy balance snowmelt model (the Utah Energy Balance Model, UEB) that provides a foundation for its integration into the EPA BASINS modeling framework and enables its coupling with other hydrologic models in this system. Having UEB as a BASINS component has facilitated its coupling with the Geospatial Streamflow Forecast Model (GeoSFM) to compute the melting of glaciers and subsequent streamflow in the Himalayas. The data model uses a combination of structured text and network Common Data Form (netCDF) files to represent parameters, geographical, time series, and …

A Unified Approach For Process-Based Hydrologic Modeling: 2. Model Implementation And Case Studies, Martyn P. Clark, Bart Nijssen, Jessica D. Lundquist, Dmitri Kavetski, David E. Rupp, Ross A. Woods, Jim E. Freer, Ethan D. Gutmann, Andrew W. Wood, David J. Gochis, Roy M. Rasmussen, David G. Tarboton, Vinod Mahat, Gerald N. Flerchinger, Danny G. Marks

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This work advances a unified approach to process-based hydrologic modeling, which we term the “Structure for Unifying Multiple Modeling Alternatives (SUMMA).” The modeling framework, introduced in the companion paper, uses a general set of conservation equations with flexibility in the choice of process parameterizations (closure relationships) and spatial architecture. This second paper specifies the model equations and their spatial approximations, describes the hydrologic and biophysical process parameterizations currently supported within the framework, and illustrates how the framework can be used in conjunction with multivariate observations to identify model improvements and future research and data needs. The case studies illustrate the …

Particulate-Matter Emission Estimates From Agricultural Spring-Tillage Operations Using Lidar And Inverse Modeling, Kori D. Moore, Michael D. Wojcik, Randy S. Martin, Christian C. Marchant, D. S. Jones, W. J. Bradford, G. E. Bingham, R L. Pfeiffer, J. H. Prueger, J. L. Hatfield

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Particulate-matter (PM) emissions from a typical spring agricultural tillage sequence and a strip–till conservation tillage sequence in California’s San Joaquin Valley were estimated to calculate the emissions control efficiency (ηη) of the strip–till conservation management practice (CMP). Filter-based PM samplers, PM-calibrated optical particle counters (OPCs), and a PM-calibrated light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system were used to monitored upwind and downwind PM concentrations during May and June 2008. Emission rates were estimated through inverse modeling coupled with the filter and OPC measurements and through applying a mass balance to the PM concentrations derived from LIDAR data. Sampling irregularities and errors …

Assessment Of Surface Soil Moisture Using High-Resolution Multi-Spectral Imagery And Artificial Neural Networks, Leila Hassan-Esfahani, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Austin M. Jensen, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Many crop production management decisions can be informed using data from high-resolution aerial images that provide information about crop health as influenced by soil fertility and moisture. Surface soil moisture is a key component of soil water balance, which addresses water and energy exchanges at the surface/atmosphere interface; however, high-resolution remotely sensed data is rarely used to acquire soil moisture values. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed to quantify the effectiveness of using spectral images to estimate surface soil moisture. The model produces acceptable estimations of surface soil moisture (root mean square error (RMSE) = …

Wavelet-Multivariate Relevance Vector Machine Hybrid Model For Forecasting Daily Evapotranspiration, Roula Bachour, I. Maslova, Andres M. Ticlavilca, Wynn R. Walker, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the main components of the hydrological cycle. It is a complex process driven mainly by weather parameters, and as such, is characterized by high non-linearity and non-stationarity. This paper introduces a methodology combining wavelet multiresolution analysis with a machine learning algorithm, the multivariate relevance vector machine (MVRVM), in order to predict 16 days of future daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo). This methodology lays the ground for forecasting the spatial distribution of ET using Landsat satellite imagery, hence the choice of 16 days, which corresponds with the Landsat overpass cycle. An accurate prediction of daily ETo is …

Performing A Nutrient Diffusion Substrata Test, Dillon J. Devitt, Kyungnan (Karen) Min, Suzette R. Burckhard, Joanita M. Kant

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A White Paper presented to Oglala Lakota College for use in pre-engineering class exercises.

Available nutrients, primarily nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), control the growth of periphyton in lakes and streams. The nutrient diffusing substrata (NDS) is an economic and replicable way to determine whether an aquatic environment is limited by a particular nutrient (Capps et al., 2011). The NDS commonly uses clay pots, plastic cups, or periphytometers (Rugenski et al., 2008). The NDS in this paper uses plastic cups based on Methods in Stream Ecology (Hauer and Lamberti, 2007). The agar solution is mixed with 8 different types of …

Watershed Modeling Using Arc Hydro Tools. Geo Hms, And Hec-Hms, Tyler Baumbach, Suzette R. Burckhard, Joanita M. Kant

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A White Paper presented to Oglala Lakota College for use in pre-engineering class exercises. This paper is meant to be used as a supplemental aid to the tutorials and user’s manuals stated in the references. It is assumed that the user has basic knowledge of ArcGIS 10.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a real world example of how to develop and analyze a watershed. The watershed examined was the Upper White River Sub-basin Watershed which was recreated digitally with the aid of computer software and spatial data. Data links for needed files are provided throughout the …

Determining Travel Behaviour In Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Ahmed M. Mohammed, Hussain Dhafir Hussain, Ali Dawod Salman, Riza Rahmat, Nazri Burhan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Petaling Jaya is a Malaysian city in the Petaling district of Selangor, over the past few years it has witnessed a dramatic growth in terms of population size and geographical importance. This has led to constant congestions throughout the city. A significant reduction in the annual cost of road accidents, congestion, energy consumption and pollution in the city can be obtained by implementing a modal shift from private vehicles to public transport. Urban transportation problems are highlighted in this study as well the factors that influence the use of private and public transportation. A survey was carried out on users …

Remediation Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Soil Using Hemoglobin-Catalytic Mechanism, Guyoung Kang, Kapsung Park, Jaechang Cho, David King Stevens, Namhyun Chung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

It is suggested in this paper that recalcitrant organopollutants can be degraded efficiently by a hemoglobin-catalytic reaction in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (i.e., H2O2). The catalytic mechanism was studied with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) as a compound for oxidation. Various evidence suggests that the catalytic mechanism is very similar to those of horseradish peroxidase and lignin peroxidase. The catalytic intermediates are known to oxidize various chemicals, indicating that the intermediates of hemoglobin can nonspecifically degrade many different types of organopollutants. To prove the hypothesis, an attempt was made to remediate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated field soil. The results showed that …

Can Suspended Fine Sediment Transport In Shallow Lakes Be Predicted Using Mvrvm With Limited Observations?, H. A. Batt Ph.D., David King Stevens

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The study of sediment transport in water natural bodies is a challenging task. There have been several attempts to describe sediment mathematically using hydraulic characteristics of water bodies. Most researchers who developed empirical formulas to describe sediment transport performed laboratory experiments with assumptions that did not take into account variations of hydraulic parameters and the fine sediment sizes that are part of this phenomenon. Recently, new approaches for studying sediment transport have been developed involving the use of machine-learning algorithms that have proven accuracy and efficiency in predicting sediment transport. A novel machinelearning method, the Multivariate Relevance Vector Machine (MVRVM), …