Civil Engineering Commons^™

Research Project Work Plan For Impact Of Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake On The Seismic Evaluation Criteria Of Bridges, Peter Dusicka

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this project is to provide ODOT with the best rational estimate of ground acceleration values for designing new and retrofitting existing bridges. The objectives are to:

• evaluate the hazard by contrasting the acceleration values from individual CSZ events to PSHA values
• provide experimental evidence of damage difference under longer duration shaking expected from CSZ event

Turbulent Kinetic Energy And Coherent Structures In A Tidal River, Stefan A. Talke, Alexander R. Horner-Devine, C. Chris Chickadel, Andrew T. Jessup

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate the relationship between turbulence statistics and coherent structures (CS) in an unstratified reach of the Snohomish River estuary using in situ velocity measurements and surface infrared (IR) imaging. Sequential IR images are used to estimate surface flow characteristics via a particle-image-velocimetry (PIV) technique, and are conditionally sampled to delineate the surface statistics of bottom-generated CS, or boils. In the water column, we find that turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production exceeds dissipation near the bed but is less than dissipation in the midwater column and that TKE flux divergence closes a significant portion of the measured imbalance. The surface …

Immobilization Of Lead In Contaminated Firing Range Soil Using Biochar, Deok Hyun Moon, Jae-Woo Park, Yoon-Young Chang, Yong Sik Ok, Sang Soo Lee, Mahtab Ahmad, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Jeong Hun Park, Kitae Baek

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Soybean stover-derived biochar was used to immobilize lead (Pb) in military firing range soil at a mass application rate of 0 to 20 wt.% and a curing period of 7 days. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. The mechanism responsible for Pb immobilization in military firing range soil was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy analyses. The treatment results showed that TCLP Pb leachability decreased with increasing biochar content. A reduction of over 90 % in Pb leachability was achieved upon …

Development Of A Field Test For Total Suspended Solids Analysis, Jessica Branigan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Total suspended solids (TSS) are all particles in water that will not pass through a glass fiber filter with a pore size less than 2 μm, including sediments, algae, nutrients, and metals. TSS is an important water quality parameter because of its adverse effects on aquatic species and wildlife. The EPA has proposed a regulation for turbidity, a related water quality parameter, which has been stayed pending further testing. TSS is regulated through the EPA via the NPDES in many states. Since there are no accepted field tests for TSS, projects with TSS regulations must send samples to a laboratory …

Xpswmm Analysis Of The Ornl Stormwater Collection System Up To Outfall 211, Heidi Belle Henderson

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, was the site for a number of US Government projects during the 1940s and 1950s including the development of thermonuclear weapons. Chemical processes conducted at the site as part of these projects resulted in contamination of certain building areas at the ORNL. The purpose of this study is to develop a hydraulic-hydrologic computer model via XPSWMM to determine surface water flow rates and water stages within the drainage system during rainfall events and introduce a conservative contaminant into the system to trace peak concentrations of contaminants.

The model was calibrated by simulating actual rainfall …

Passive Stormwater Samplers For Sampling Highway Runoff From Bmps: Feasibility Studies, Mitchell R. Klein

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pollution from highway stormwater runoff has been an increasing area of concern within the environmental field. To respond to the need for reduced contamination within runoff many Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been implemented. One difficult aspect of BMPs is monitoring their effectiveness along with determining effluent concentrations. The current methods for stormwater sampling include sending technicians or installing an auto-sampler to collect either grab or composite samples. These methods become costly, cumbersome and infeasible due to the potentially large amount of BMPs across a region and the irregularity and difficulty of predicting storms. Passive samplers have proven themselves as …

Climate, Land Use And Hydrologic Sensitivities Of Stormwater Quantity And Quality In Complex Coastal Urban Watersheds, Shams Al-Amin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study analyzed hydro-climatic and land use sensitivities of stormwater runoff and quality in the complex coastal urban watershed of Miami River Basin, Florida by developing a Storm Water Management Model (EPA SWMM 5). Regression-based empirical models were also developed to explain stream water quality in relation to internal (land uses and hydrology) and external (upstream contribution, seawater) sources and drivers in six highly urbanized canal basins of Southeast Florida. Stormwater runoff and quality were most sensitive to rainfall, imperviousness, and conversion of open lands/parks to residential, commercial and industrial areas. In-stream dissolved oxygen and total phosphorus in the watersheds …

Integration Of A Sedimentation Module To A Hydrologic Model And Its Application To A Mercury Tmdl Analysis, Lilian Marrero

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is part of continued efforts to correlate the hydrology of East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC) and Bear Creek (BC) with the long term distribution of mercury within the overland, subsurface, and river sub-domains. The main objective of this study was to add a sedimentation module (ECO Lab) capable of simulating the reactive transport mercury exchange mechanisms within sediments and porewater throughout the watershed. The enhanced model was then applied to a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) mercury analysis for EFPC. That application used historical precipitation, groundwater levels, river discharges, and mercury concentrations data that were retrieved from government …

Bathing Water Quality Prediction Using An Integrated Catchment And 3-D Coastal Hydrodynamic Model, John O'Sullivan, Zeinab Bedri, Aisling Corkery, Louise Deering, Katalin Demeter, Wim Meijer, Barthelomew Masterson, Gregory O'Hare

Conference papers

Under the new European Union Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) which comes into force in 2014, more stringent bathing water quality standards, defined in terms of Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Intestinal Enterococci (I.E.), will apply in Irish bathing waters. Compliance with these standards is ensured through a structured water quality monitoring programme that is published by Authorities with responsibility for bathing water areas in advance of each bathing season. The directive recognises that elevated levels of faecal coliform bacteria in bathing areas can derive from the overland transport of waste from livestock in the rural fraction of river catchments. On days …

Environmental Consequences Of A Power Plant Shut-Down: A Three-Dimensional Water Quality Model Of Dublin Bay, Zeinab Bedri, Michael Bruen, Aodh Dowley, Barthelomew Masterson

Articles

A hydro-environmental model is used to investigate the effect of cessation of thermal discharges from a power plant on the bathing water quality of Dublin Bay. Before closing down, cooling water from the plant was mixed with sewage effluent prior to its discharge, creating a warmer, less-saline buoyant pollutant plume that adversely affects the water quality of Dublin Bay. The model, calibrated to data from the period prior to the power-plant shut-down (Scenario 1), assessed the water quality following its shut-down under two scenarios; (i) Scenario 2: continued abstraction of water to dilute sewage effluents before discharge, and (ii) Scenario …

Stormwater Pollution Treatment Bmp Discharge Structures, Miles F. Simmons

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Structural best management practices (BMPs) are used to capture and treat stormwater runoff. Most structural BMPs provide treatment by filtering runoff through a filter media or collecting it in a detention basin and slowly discharging it over an extended period of time to allow suspended solids and associated contaminants to settle out. The purpose of this study is to design an effective outlet structure that provides adequate filtration or slows discharge to 40 hours.

A model detention basin was constructed in the Civil Engineering Hydraulics Laboratory at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and two full scale outlet structures were tested …

Predicting Landslides In Real Time, Michael J. Olsen

TREC Project Briefs

The Oregon Department of Transportation, or ODOT, has an ongoing struggle to maintain public highways against earth movements such as erosion, earthquakes and landslides. An earthquake or landslide can close down a road for days, while highway workers fight to keep supply lines open and repair the damage. Particularly along Oregon’s coastal roads with high sea cliffs, these natural processes are a constant threat to transportation infrastructure. The damage caused by gradual erosion is typically not detectable until there is a landslide or other disaster, costing the state considerable time and money to repair. New technology has the potential to …

Adaptation Of Classical Tidal Harmonic Analysis To Nonstationary Tides, With Application To River Tides, Pascal Matte, David A. Jay, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of the most challenging areas in tidal analysis is the study of nonstationary signals with a tidal component, as they confront both current analysis methods and dynamical understanding. A new analysis tool has been developed, NS_TIDE, adapted to the study of nonstationary signals, in this case, river tides. It builds the nonstationary forcing directly into the tidal basis functions. It is implemented by modification of T_TIDE; however, certain concepts, particularly the meaning of a constituent and the Rayleigh criterion, are redefined to account for the smearing effects on the tidal spectral lines by nontidal energy. An error estimation procedure …

Analysis Of Coal Combustion By-Products Disposal Practices At The San Juan Mine: Hydrologic And Water Quality Issues, Bruce Thomson

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Coal Combustion By-Products (CCBs) are generated by the burning of coal for electric power generation and as waste streams from emissions control systems. They consist of bottom ash from the furnaces, fly ash from electrostatic precipitators, and flue gas desulfurization sludge from air pollution scrubbers. Depending on the characteristics of the coal, CCBs may contain high concentrations of metals or other constituents that present a threat to ground or surface water resources if not properly managed. This report describes results of an investigation of CCBs generated by a power plant in northwestern New Mexico. Coal Combustion By-Products from this plant …

Examining Consumer Behavior And Travel Choices, Kelly J. Clifton, Christopher Devlin Muhs, Sara Morrissey, Tomás Morrissey, Kristina Marie Currans, Chloe Ritter

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study represents a first attempt to answer a few of the questions that have arisen concerning multimodal transportation investments and the impacts of mode shifts on the business community. This research aims to merge the long history of scholarly work that examines the impacts of the built environment on non-work travel with the relatively new interest in consumer spending by mode of travel. This empirical study of travel choices and consumer spending across 89 businesses in the Portland metropolitan area shows there are important differences between the amounts customers spend on average at various businesses by their mode of …

Estimation Of Performance Indices For The Planning Of Sustainable Transportation Systems, Alexander Paz, Pankaj Maheshwari, Pushkin Kachroo, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

In the context of sustainable transportation systems, previous studies have either focused only on the transportation system or have not used a methodology that enables the treatment of incomplete, vague, and qualitative information associated with the available data. This study proposes a system of systems (SOS) and a fuzzy logic modeling approach. The SOS includes the Transportation, Activity, and Environment systems. The fuzzy logic modeling approach enables the treatment of the vagueness associated with some of the relevant data. Performance Indices (PIs) are computed for each system using a number of performance measures. The PIs illustrate the aggregated performance of …