Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Groundwater Resources In Siwa Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt, Noha H. Moghazy, Jagath J. Kaluarachchi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the major challenges facing Egypt is limited water resources associated with rapid increase in population. In 1960s, Egyptian government started to use groundwater from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) in the Western Desert to expand agricultural sector. Siwa Oasis is the focus of this study to assess the efficiency of groundwater use and corresponding impacts from 1980 to 2012. Results show that from 1980 to 1998, withdrawal from poorly designed wells increased rapidly causing an increase in excess water about 336%. The increase of excess water with the usage of poor drainage produced lakes. Remote Sensing showed …

Incorporation Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Point Cloud Products Into Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration Models, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Mac Mckee, William P. Kustas, Héctor Nieto, Maria Mar Alsina, Alex White, John H. Prueger, Lynn Mckee, Joseph Alfieri, Lawrence E. Hipps, Calvin Coopmans, Nick Dokoozlian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In recent years, the deployment of satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has led to production of enormous amounts of data and to novel data processing and analysis techniques for monitoring crop conditions. One overlooked data source amid these efforts, however, is incorporation of 3D information derived from multi-spectral imagery and photogrammetry algorithms into crop monitoring algorithms. Few studies and algorithms have taken advantage of 3D UAV information in monitoring and assessment of plant conditions. In this study, different aspects of UAV point cloud information for enhancing remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) models, particularly the Two-Source Energy Balance Model (TSEB), over …

Wintertime Spatial Distribution Of Ammonia And Its Emission Sources In The Great Salt Lake Region, Alexander Moravek, Jennifer G. Murphy, Amy Hrdina, John C. Lin, Christopher Pennell, Alessandro Franchin, Ann M. Middlebrook, Dorothy L. Fibiger, Caroline C. Womack, Erin E. Mcduffie, Randy S. Martin, Kori D. Moore, Munkhbayar Baasandorj, Steven S. Brown

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Ammonium-containing aerosols are a major component of wintertime air pollution in many densely populated regions around the world. Especially in mountain basins, the formation of persistent cold-air pools (PCAPs) can enhance particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM_2.5) to levels above air quality standards. Under these conditions, PM_2.5 in the Great Salt Lake region of northern Utah has been shown to be primarily composed of ammonium nitrate; however, its formation processes and sources of its precursors are not fully understood. Hence, it is key to understanding the emission sources of its gas phase precursor, ammonia …

Reducing Thermal Bridging And Understanding Second-Order Effects In Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels, Taylor J. Sorensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural engineers have traditionally detailed structures with structural and fabrication efficiency in mind, but often based on a limited understanding of thermal efficiency. Some connection designs can create significant thermal bridging, leading to unnecessary heat transfer and even premature degradation through condensation. Thermal bridging occurs when heat transfer is given a path through a more conductive material like concrete or steel rather than insulation. Concrete sandwich wall panels (SWP) tend to be highly efficient at preventing heat transfer in the middle of panels, with greatest heat transfer occurring at connections. This project identified thermally efficient details for future SWP construction …

Advancing Cyberinfrastructure For Collaborative Data Sharing And Modeling In Hydrology, Tian Gan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hydrologic research is increasingly data and computationally intensive, and often involves hydrologic model simulation and collaboration among researchers. With the development of cyberinfrastructure, researchers are able to improve the efficiency, impact, and effectiveness of their research by utilizing online data sharing and hydrologic modeling functionality. However, further efforts are still in need to improve the capability of cyberinfrastructure to serve the hydrologic science community. This dissertation first presents the evaluation of a physically based snowmelt model as an alternative to a temperature index model to improve operational water supply forecasts in the Colorado River Basin. Then it presents the design …

Hydro-Climatic Changes And Corresponding Impacts On Agricultural Water Demand In The Ganges Delta Of Bangladesh, Sonia Binte Murshed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Ganges Delta in Bangladesh, a transboundary rural river basin, is an example of water-related calamities due to natural and human-induced stresses. It is an agriculture-dominated area with the presence of Sundarbans mangrove forest. Recently this area is facing unfavorable conditions due to limitations in quantity, quality, and timing of available freshwater. As a result, floods, droughts, water scarcity, stream depletion, salinity intrusion, excessive sedimentation are becoming common phenomena. These calamities are making this area unsuitable for agriculture and vulnerable to the Sundarbans’ ecosystem. This study aims to provide technical insight into issues related to water scarcity and projected agricultural …

A New Approach For Evaluating The Ductility, Volumetric Stiffness, And Permeability Of Cutoff Wall Backfill Materials, Jennifer Ostrowsky

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The use of plastic concrete for cutoff walls in dams for remediation of seepage issues has become more widely used in the past 25 years, however, the in-situ material properties are still not well understood. The research presents a new testing procedure that combines two existing testing methods, triaxial shear and permeability testing. By developing this laboratory testing method, material properties of the cutoff wall backfill material can be more accurately examined and explained using changes in the permeability of the material to discern the ductility and stiffness.

Reservoir Applications Of Arced Labyrinth Weirs, Seth D. Thompson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent years, magnitudes of flood estimates used in hydraulic design have increased for many reservoirs. Consequently, many existing spillways are now deficient as they do not meet current discharge capacity requirements. To rehabilitate existing, fixed-width spillways, labyrinth weirs are often viable solutions. For reservoir applications, arcing labyrinth weirs into the reservoir increases hydraulic efficiency. This results from better cycle orientation to the approaching flow field.

This study supplements available arced labyrinth weir hydraulic data by observing flow characteristics of three laboratory-scale physical models and two numerical (CFD) models. Physical model results provide head (energy)-discharge data and empirical coefficients for …

A Practitioner’S Guide To Small Unmanned Aerial Systems For Bridge Inspection, Sattar Dorafshan, Robert J. Thomas, Calvin Coopmans, Marc Maguire

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Small unmanned aerial system(s) (sUAS) are rapidly emerging as a practical means of performing bridge inspections. Under the right condition, sUAS assisted inspections can be safer, faster, and less costly than manned inspections. Many Departments of Transportation in the United States are in the early stages of adopting this emerging technology. However, definitive guidelines for the selection of equipment for various types of bridge inspections or for the possible challenges during sUAS assisted inspections are absent. Given the large investments of time and capital associated with deploying a sUAS assisted bridge inspection program, a synthesis of authors experiences will be …

Restoration Of Defaced Serial Numbers Using Lock-In Infrared Thermography (Part I), Ikwulono Unobe, Lisa Lau, John Kalivas, Rene Rodriguez, Andrew D. Sorensen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Infrared thermal imaging is an evolving approach useful in non-destructive evaluation of materials for industrial and research purposes. This study investigates the use of this method in combination with multivariate data analysis as an alternative to chemical etching; a destructive method currently used to recover defaced serial numbers stamped in metal. This process involves several unique aspects, each of which works to overcome some pertinent challenges associated with the recovery of defaced serial numbers. Infrared thermal imaging of metal surfaces provides thermal images sensitive to local differences in thermal conductivity of regions of plastic strain existing below a stamped number. …

Restoration Of Defaced Serial Numbers Using Lock-In Infrared Thermography (Part Ii), Ikwulono Unobe, Lisa Lau, John Kalivas, Rene Rodriguez, Andrew D. Sorensen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper details continuing work on the development of a substantive non-destructive method to recover defaced serial numbers stamped or laser engraved into metallic objects based on lock-in infrared thermography. This method relies on the existence of a local zone of plastic strain created from stamping pressures in mechanically stamped pieces and a heat-affected zone in laser engraved samples, both extending to depths below the visible characters. The grain structure within these zones is dislocated due to the external forces applied. These deformed areas are exposed to the surface when the serial numbers are defaced. Infrared thermography utilises the change …

Wetland Arid Vegetation – Studies Of Vegetated Stormwater Management System Performance In Northern Utah – Field & Lab Experiences, Ryan Dupont, Margie Rycewicz-Borecki, Trixie Rife

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Motivation for the Work We’ve Done – The Why

Summary of the Work We’ve Done - The What & The How

Findings - The How Well

Conclusions & Recommendations – The So What

An Open-Source Data Manager For Network Models, Stephen Knox, James Tomlinson, Julien J. Harou, Philipp Meier, David E. Rosenberg, Jay R. Lund, David E. Rheinheimer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Developing simulation and optimisation models for resource networks like water or energy systems increasingly involves integrating multiple data sources and software. Connecting multiple models and managing data accessed by different groups of analysts is a software challenge. Many resource systems are represented in computer models as networks of nodes and links, driven by a range of objectives and rules. We present a data storage platform, written in Python, which exploits the commonality of network representations to store data for multiple model types within a single deployment. This open-source platform provides a common source of data to multiple models using consistent …

Analysis Of The Effects Of Dam Release Properties And Ambient Groundwater Flow On Surface Water‐Groundwater Exchange Over A 100‐Km‐Long Reach, Stephen B. Ferencz, M. Bayani Cardenas, Bethany T. Neilson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydroelectric dams often create highly dynamic downstream flows that promote surface water‐groundwater (SW‐GW) interactions including bank storage, the temporary storage of river water in the riverbank. Previous research on SW‐GW exchanges in dammed rivers has primarily been at single study sites, which has limited the understanding of how these exchanges evolve as dam releases travel downstream. This study evaluates how dam releases affect SW‐GW exchange continuously over a 100‐km distance. This is accomplished by longitudinally routing water releases through a synthetic river and modeling bed and bank fluid and solute exchange across transverse transects spaced along the reach. Peak and …

Earth Cube Data Capabilities: Collaborative Research: Deep Integration Of Reproducibility In Community Portals, David G. Tarboton

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

"Collaborative Research: Elements: Advancing Data Science And Analytics For Water (Dsaw)", Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Agent-Based Model To Manage Household Water Use Through Social-Environmental Strategies Of Encouragement And Peer Pressure, Ryan James

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Inelastic price responses, demand hardening, and poor public awareness reduce the effectiveness of demand side strategies on water savings. This project quantified phycological household’s factors of attitudes, peer support, opportunities on water conservation with two social-environmental management strategies of encouragement and peer pressure. An agent-based model was populated with data for Logan, Utah using surveys, municipal billing, aerial imagery, weather monitoring stations, and flow, frequency, and durations of appliance use data. Results indicated those households with higher attitudes, peer support and opportunities saved the most water while peer pressure saved more than encouragement when using small and diverse social networks …

Parametric Study Of Mixture Component Contributions To Compressive Strength And Impact Energy Absorption Capacity Of A High Strength Cementitious Mix With No Coarse Aggregate, Md. Abdullah Al Sarfin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research project has been undertaken to produce and characterize the behavior of High Strength Cementitious Mix (HSCM), which has considerably higher compressive strength compared to conventional concrete. Components of HSCM are cement, silica fume, sand, water, and high range water reducer. The material is tested for compressive strength and impact energy absorption capacity while the amount of above mentioned components are varied parametrically. The effect of these parameters are extensively studied and trends are reported. Finally, this research projects attempts to find correlations among compressive strength, compressive toughness, and impact toughness. Limitations of the experimental program are discussed and …

Hydrolearn: Facilitating The Development, Adaptation And Sharing Of Active-Learning Resources In Hydrology Education, Emad Habib, Melissa Gallagher, Jenny Byrd, Olivia Lahaye, Cary Rivet, Micah Lacombe, David Tarboton, Scott Black, Dan Ames

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Presentations

Lightning presentation and workshop presented at CUAHSI HydroInformatics Conference, 2019. https://www.cuahsi.org/community/cuahsi-science-meetings/. This workshop is offered for hydrology faculty interested in implementing or adapting active-learning, data-driven resources to their educational settings. The workshop aspires to create faculty networking and development opportunities with the overall goal of promoting and reducing barriers against adoption of active-learning resources in hydrology. The workshop will use the recently developed NSF-sponsored HydroLearn platform, along with resources from CUAHSI, HydroShare and other community platforms, to enable participating faculty to develop and share educational resources. The workshop will showcase existing seed modules and will cover best practices in …

Quantifying Thermal Refugia Connectivity By Combining Temperature Modeling, Distributed Temperature Sensing, And Thermal Infrared Imaging, Jessica R. Dzara, Bethany T. Neilson, Sarah E. Null

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Watershed-scale stream temperature models are often one-dimensional because they require fewer data and are more computationally efficient than two- or three-dimensional models. However, one-dimensional models assume completely mixed reaches and ignore small-scale spatial temperature variability, which may create temperature barriers or refugia for cold-water aquatic species. Fine spatial- and temporal-resolution stream temperature monitoring provides information to identify river features with increased thermal variability. We used distributed temperature sensing (DTS) to observe small-scale stream temperature variability, measured as a temperature range through space and time, within two 400 m reaches in summer 2015 in Nevada's East Walker and main stem Walker …

Active Layer Groundwater Flow: The Interrelated Effects Of Stratigraphy, Thaw, And Topography, Michael T. O'Connor, M. Bayani Cardenas, Bethany T. Neilson, Kindra D. Nicholaides, George W. Kling

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The external drivers and internal controls of groundwater flow in the thawed “active layer” above permafrost are poorly constrained because they are dynamic and spatially variable. Understanding these controls is critical because groundwater can supply solutes such as dissolved organic matter to surface water bodies. We calculated steady‐state three‐dimensional suprapermafrost groundwater flow through the active layer using measurements of aquifer geometry, saturated thickness, and hydraulic properties collected from two major landscape types over time within a first‐order Arctic watershed. The depth position and thickness of the saturated zone is the dominant control of groundwater flow variability between sites and during …

Twenty-Three Unsolved Problems In Hydrology (Uph) – A Community Perspective, Günter Blöschl, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Antonio Chambel, Christophe Cudennec, Georgia Destouni, Aldo Fiori, James W. Kirchner, Jeffrey J. Mcdonnell, Hubert H.G. Savenije, Murugesu Sivapalan, Christine Stumpp, Elena Toth, Elena Volpi, Gemma Carr, David G. Tarboton, Et. Al

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused …

Streamflow Regime Change In The Delaware River Basin, Travis Shoemaker, Madhav Bista, David Brandes

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

The combined impacts of hydroclimatic change and land development are widely expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of flooding in the northeast United States, with potential implications to floodplain infrastructure and mapping, hydraulic structures, land management, and flood losses. Additionally, shifting flow regimes pose a challenge for engineers and regulators of stormwater management, dams, and levees because design storms are commonly based on historical data, with the stationarity assumption that the future flow regime will mimic the past. Here, we examine selected long-term (40 to 114 years of data) streamflow records from watersheds of varying size in the upper …

Physical Model Testing Of Supercritical Flow Diversion For Combined Sewer Overflow Control, Tony Loeser

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

In this study, a 1:8 scale physical hydraulic model was used to demonstrate that a novel widening ramp concept was applicable for diverting supercritical inflows for a proposed regulator chamber and also to establish design dimensions for the proposed structure to meet project goals. The following conclusions were determined from the testing. The widening ramp concept proposed for this project was able to adequately pass the full range of design inflows of 0-425 MGD without experiencing undesirable flow conditions that would produce excessive water depths while meeting the diversion goals of the project. The proposed diversion conduit could adequately pass …

Large-Eddy Simulations Of T-Shaped Open-Channel Confluences With Different Downstream Channel Widths, Pedro Xavier Ramos, Laurent Schindfessel, João Pedro Pêgo, Tom De Mulder

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

Confluences of open-channel flows are common in nature as well as in urban drainage networks and in hydraulic structures. The complex hydrodynamics is often studied in schematized, right-angled confluences. In this paper, the influence of the downstream channel width onto time-averaged and turbulent flow features will be investigated numerically, based on Large-Eddy Simulations. For one flow situation, i.e. flow ratio and downstream Froude number, two geometries will be compared: a discordant width case, which was studied experimentally by Yuan et al. (2016) in a flume with a wider downstream channel than the upstream mean and tributary channels, and the corresponding …

Composite Experimental And Numerical Modeling Of Arced Labyrinth Weirs, Seth Thompson, Blake Tullis

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

Arced labyrinth weirs are a viable option for existing spillway retrofit due to their increased flow capacity. This study supplies additional arced labyrinth weir hydraulic design empirical data and uses this data to validate a numerical model (utilized Flow-3D) of the same experimental setup. The dimensionless discharge coefficient relationship is presented for the physical model, potential errors due to physical model crest referencing are discussed, and the relative and absolute errors along with a grid convergence study are given for the numerical model.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling Of A Scroll Vortex Intake, S. N. Chan

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

Scroll vortex intakes are vortex drop structures commonly used in water supply, drainage and sewerage systems, characterized by a vortex chamber with its wall curling inwards to the dropshaft and a horizontal bottom. The stormwater flows into the intake via an eccentrical approach channel, which imparts vortex motion to the flow, forming a swirling vortex flow with a stable air core through the center of dropshaft. Over past decades, much effort has been devoted to investigating the scroll intake vortex flow, yet the understanding and predictions of the vortex flow is still far from complete due to a lack of …

Spillway Debris Physical Model Study Morning Glory Spillway, Melissa Shinbein

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

In this 1:18 Froude scale physical hydraulic model study, woody debris was introduced into a reservoir upstream of a morning-glory spillway at different flow rates causing jams. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the frequency of woody debris clogs in the crest, mouth, transition, or a combination of the three in the morning-glory spillway over varying flow rates. Because of the random nature of debris loading into reservoirs (flux, density, species, length, diameter, branch complexity, etc.), a variety of woody species were used to represent prototype lengths of 10 feet to 35 feet and diameters of 0.5 feet …

Numerical Study Of Froude Number And Submergence Ratio And Their Affect On Hydraulic Jump Flow Patterns For A Backward Facing Step, Kurt Smithgall

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

The surface recirculation region (SRR), or roller of a conventional hydraulic jump, can pose a safety hazard to recreational river users. In contrast, for an undular hydraulic jump (UHJ), the recirculation region lies submerged on the channel bed and does not pose the same risk. For a river engineer designing whitewater parks, it is crucial to know the conditions of undular hydraulic jump formation at instream structures; it can mean the difference between life and death for recreational river users. However, most existing literature has established conditions of UHJ formation only for the case of a plain bed rectangular channel, …

Modeling Of A Novel Submerged Oscillating Water Column (Sowc) Energy Harvester, Mohammadamin Torabi, Bruce Savage

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

Wave energy converters (WEC) are hydraulic structures that are used to harvest energy from oceans. This research explores a new concept of a WEC termed a Submerged Oscillating Water Column (SOWC). Numerical simulations using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code Flow-3D and physical model tests were carried out at Idaho State University to assess the validity and efficiency of the proposed device. The SOWC device consists of two submerged chambers that are connected to allow airflow between the two as waves pass; ideally spaced at half a wavelength. The results of the CFD modeling for seventeen different geometries with linear …