Geological Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of Hydrophobic Materials For Stabilizing Expansive Soils, Suman Shrestha

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The swelling and shrinkage of the expansive soil as a response to moisture change is one of the significant challenges posed to infrastructure projects. The significant economic damage that is caused by the expansive soil, as well as its abundance in nature, has prompted various scientists and engineers all around the world to actively search for new and improved methods for stabilizing it. Various traditional methods, such as lime and cement treatment, have been used extensively to stabilize expansive soils and mitigate their harmful effects on the infrastructure. Although these methods are quite often effective and various studies have been …

Characterization Of The Kansas River Alluvial Aquifer Using Towed Transient Electromagnetic Geophysical Method, Jonathon Daniel Voss

Masters Theses

"Forecasted urban development areas west of Kansas City, Kansas in the coming decades has caused an increase of research into water resources (Butler et al. 2022). A location of investigation has been the Kansas River Alluvial Aquifer (KRAA) for shallow ground water resources. To investigate the KRAA structure and grain texture, the towed transient electromagnetic system (tTEM) in conjunction with direct push electrical conductivity logs and lithology wells were used to investigate four locations between Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas. In total, 110 line-kilometers of tTEM data was collected. The tTEM data collected were high quality and through inversions of the …

Investigation Of The Relationships Between Hydraulic, Physical, And Biological Soil Parameters At A Vineyard In Saint James, Missouri, Lyndsey Bennett

Masters Theses

"Soil is a living, dynamic system that performs vital functions such as crop production, organic matter decomposition, and the flow and transport of water. Given the pressures of food and in some locales water security, climate change, and sustainability, farmers, scientists, and other related specialists and stakeholders must have access to understandable soil health indicators as well as the soil hydraulic function parameters to maximize crop growth while maintaining soil health. Although biological and physical soil parameters are different, we aim to evaluate their relationship at the field scale. Hydraulic conductivity in the vadose zone may be especially important, as …

Pseudo-Three-Dimensional Back-Analysis Of Rainfall-Induced Landslides In Utuado, Puerto Rico, Mirna Kassem, Weibing Gong, Dimitrios Zekkos, Marin Clark, Stephen Hughes

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Regional slope stability analyses can provide a system-level assessment of landslide susceptibility. This study aims to develop a regional back-analysis model for rainfall-induced landslides to compute ground shear strength that can be used for landslide prediction. Most commonly, mechanistic-based models for regional slope stability consist of simplified one-dimensional (1D) analyses compared to more realistic three-dimensional (3D) procedures. A pseudo-3D methodology is applied on 788 landslides over two 2.5 km2 areas in the plutonic rocks of the Utuado Batholith. First, an infinite slope stability triggering model is applied on a 1 m-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) to identify the triggering grid …

A Review Of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Cold Atmospheric Plasma For Surface Sterilization And Decontamination, Kolawole Adesina, Ta Chun Lin, Yue-Wern Huang, Marek Locmelis, Daoru Frank Han

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Numerous investigations have shown that non-equilibrium discharges at atmospheric pressure, also known as "cold atmospheric plasma" (CAP) are efficient to remove biological contaminants from surfaces of a variety of materials. Recently, CAP has quickly advanced as a technique for microbial cleaning, wound healing, and cancer therapy due to the chemical and biologically active radicals it produces, known collectively as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). This article reviews studies pertaining to one of the atmospheric plasma sources known as Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) which has been widely used to treat materials with microbes for sterilization, disinfection, and decontamination purposes. To …

Pit Design And Mine Planning Of Nong Wa Sub-Basin, Sin Pun Coal Deposit, Southern Thailand, Gbenga Timilehin Adewumi

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nong Wa is a sub-basin located within the Sin Pun coal deposit, which has no history of mining activities. This study focused on the planning and design of the sub-basin pit, potentially paving the way for future mining operations in the region. The objective of the research was to evaluate the economic viability of coal extraction and to develop an optimized pit to maximize resource recovery. To achieve this objective, a coal seam model of the deposit was created using advanced modeling software such as AutoCAD and MineSight. The seam model was used to design the ultimate pit, pushback, and …

Development Of Uas And Geophysical Techniques For Agriculture And Environmental Site Characterization, Yunyi Guan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Soil properties are critical for agricultural management. Geophysical techniques such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction have been used to measure soil properties for agricultural applications. However, their measurements are only acquired along select traverses within a field, and the data processing can be time-consuming, the instruments can also be expensive. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are a recent advancement used for precision agriculture. Compared with geophysical data, UAVs have higher resolution and wider coverage and can quickly collect data across the whole field. The operation is also relatively simpler with a more economical acquisition cost. This research investigates …

Exploring Seismic Anisotropy In The Crust And Mantle Of The Tibetan Plateau And Analyzing Seismic Velocity Variations In Yellowstone, Cong Shen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Seismology is a scientific discipline that utilizes seismic waves to investigate the deep structures within the Earth's interior, which are otherwise inaccessible to direct observation by humans. These seismic waves can be categorized into two types: body waves and surface waves, each with distinct propagation modes and behaviors, carrying valuable information about their travel paths. The first paper concentrates on the analysis and inversion of body waves produced by large seismic events. It employs shear wave splitting and receiver function methods to explore the geodynamic structure of the south-central Tibetan Plateau, near the plate boundary. The investigation covers the depth …

Development Of A Comprehensive Multi-Factored Methodology For Identification Of Landslides In The Buffalo National River Of Arkansas, Abdurraouf Okok

Doctoral Dissertations

"In northern Arkansas's Springfield and Boston Mountain Plateaus, distinctive geomorphological landslide features have shown historical continuity. USGS topographic maps (1:24,000, 7.5-minute series) serve as valuable resources for studying terrain characteristics and hydrological patterns.

This study uses a manual mapping approach with high-resolution LiDAR data and geological maps in a GIS environment. The method identifies historic landslide features by analyzing anomalous topographic contour patterns overlaid on LiDAR-derived hillshade maps, revealing various mass movements along the Buffalo National River. Data from the Office of State Geologist and fieldwork reconnaissance were utilized to map older landslide features with high confidence. Some previously unrecognized …

Paleoecological And Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based On Holocene Sediment Cores, Lake Izabal, Eastern Guatemala, Erdoo Mongol

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Maya Region in Central America is characterized by pronounced discrepancies in precipitation, resulting in high precipitation gradients that support large-scale differences in vegetation across the region. Several lake deposits and other paleoclimate archives in the region have been studied to reconstruct past climates and palaeoecological conditions. However, actual data from proxy records have not been qualitatively and quantitatively utilized to interpret the behavior of the vegetation in moister areas within the Maya Region, such as the Lake Izabal Basin (LIB). The palynomorphs from two sediment cores in the LIB provided a good opportunity to infer the patterns of past …

Topography Of The 410 And 660 Km Discontinuities Beneath The Tibetan Plateau And Adjacent Areas, Zexin Miao

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Tibetan Plateau represents the ongoing geotectonic aftermath of a continental collision initiated approximately 65 million years ago. Despite numerous seismological studies, controversies remain regarding the structure, evolution, and dynamics of the crust and mantle beneath Tibetan Plateau. In this study, we used teleseismic broadband data to investigate the topography of the mantle transition zone (MTZ) discontinuities. A total of ~655,000 receiver functions from 735 stations was utilized to image the 410 and 660 km discontinuities bordering the MTZ. Combining the observed and velocity corrected results, several areas in the central Tibet exhibit a typical d410 and an anomalously deep …

Enhance Effectiveness Of Monitoring Scheme Using Insar On Tailings Storage Facility No. 2, Chatree Gold Mine, Thailand, Shanghai Chea

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Tailings storage facility (TSF) is a critical component of the mining industry, serving to safely contain waste generated during mineral extraction. At Chatree Gold Mine, the largest and only active gold mine in Thailand, TSF No.2 handles approximately 5 million tons of tailings annually. Effective monitoring of the facility is crucial for hazard prevention and regulatory compliance. This study aims to enhance the monitoring scheme of TSF No.2 by employing Small Baseline Subset Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SBAS-InSAR) technique, processed via MintPy software, to analyze ground deformation. Despite traditional monitoring methods, such as in-situ geodetic surveying, offering valuable insights, they …

Recovery Of Tin From Kaolin Mine Tailing, Rangoon, Thailand, Archana Pandit

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study investigates the recovery of tin from kaolin waste using gravity, electrostatic, and magnetic separation techniques. A total of 123.500 kg of sand and 103.200 kg of silt were processed using a shaking table, spiral concentrator, high-tension separator, induced roll magnetic separator, and Frantz magnetic separator. Mineralogical and chemical characterization was conducted using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and microscopic analysis to determine tin distribution and occurrence. Experimental results showed that the silt fractions generally exhibited higher tin content than the sand fractions. In this study, Case A refers to the samples (Sand A and Silt A) processed …

Simulation On Acid Gas Removal From Natural Gas Processing With Membrane And Absorption Process, Ratikorn Sornumpol

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The comparison using simulations of CO₂ removal from natural gas via membrane separation and monoethanolamine (MEA) absorption has been studied. The membrane model is applied with the single- and two-stage configurations over feed pressures 3,000–9,000 kPa, temperatures 10–59 °C, CO₂ concentrations 20–70 mol %, membrane areas 2,500–5,500 m², and flows 331,800–580,600 m³/h. At 10 °C feed temperature, CO₂ permeability is enhanced while CH₄ selectivity improves slightly, increasing CO₂ capture efficiency up to 74 % with only minor methane losses, though at the cost of higher refrigeration duty. The 10 °C operation also leads to stronger driving force across the membrane, …

Estimation Of Mechanical Behavior Of Unsaturated Soils From A Soil-Water Characteristic Curve, Lucas Acheampong

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The small-strain shear modulus and shear strength are two crucial mechanical behaviors used in the design of geotechnical structures and in the analyses of earth materials subjected to static and dynamic loadings. Traditional testing methods for these parameters are expensive and time-consuming. This research aimed to address these challenges by developing a model based on the inverse relationship between mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils and the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). The proposed model integrates a scaling function to align the SWCC with the mechanical property curve. Empirical relationships were established for the scaling function, specifically aligning with the air-entry value …

Prediction Of Final Subsidence Under Dipping Seam Conditions, Ernesto Maldonado Esguerra

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

The prediction of ground movements due to underground coal mining and their impacts on the surface are essential considerations that numerous researchers worldwide have studied. Most of these studies have focused on developing different analytical and empirical models for predicting and calculating ground deformation indices for flat or gently dipping seams under variable topography. However, a few studies are available on predicting ground movements under dipping seam conditions. Although most inclined coal seams are in China, India, and a few other countries, dipping seam conditions have been encountered in some cases in the US, where the inclination (dip) may be …

Groundwater Movement In Boiling Spring, Onyx Spring, Yelton Spring, Wilkins Spring, Hudgens Spring And Natural Bridge Spring, Katherin Roxana Montes Chamorro

Masters Theses

"Onyx Spring, Boiling Spring, Yelton Spring, Wilkins Spring, Hudgens Spring, and Natural Spring are located on public land in Pulaski and Phelps County, Missouri. They were selected randomly to determine groundwater movement and compare water chemistry from the springs that are connected.

Using a dye tracing method, we were able to determine the direction of groundwater flow and a water multiparameter sonde was used to characterize the water chemistry at each point of the springs. As a result, from the six springs studied only three springs are connected which are Yelton, Onyx and Boiling Spring. Regarding to water chemistry this …

Lessons Learned From Laboratory Study And Field Application Of Re-Crosslinkable Preformed Particle Gels Rppg For Conformance Control In Mature Oilfields With Conduits/Fractures/Fracture-Like Channels, Baojun Bai, Thomas P. Schuman, David Smith, Tao Song

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Paper Surveys the Role of Re-Crosslink able Preformed Particle Gels (RPPG) in Addressing Conformance Challenges within Mature Oilfields. Despite Widespread Preformed Particle Gel (PPG) Application in 15,000+ Wells, their Limitations in Sealing Fractures and Conduits Prevalent in Mature Reservoirs Have Driven the Development of RPPG Formulations. Synthesized in Various Sizes from Micrometer to Millimeter Levels, These Environmentally Friendly RPPGs Are Tailored for Diverse Reservoir Conditions. Findings Showcase the Successful Laboratory-Scale Creation and Upscaling of RPPG Products, Offering Adaptability to Temperatures from 20 to 175°C, Customizable Sizes, Swelling Ratios (5 to 40 Times), and Re-Crosslinking Times Spanning Minutes to Days. …

Electromagnetic Near-Field Scanning With A Spatially Sparse Sampling Strategy Utilizing Kriging-Dmd, Yanming Zhang, Steven Gao, Lijun Jiang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes a hybrid method for time-resolved electromagnetic near-field scanning, merging model-based (Gaussian processes regression model, a.k.a. Kriging method) and data-driven (dynamic mode decomposition) techniques. Specifically, Latin hypercube sampling enables spatially sparse measurements, followed by dynamic mode decomposition to analyze resulting sparse spatial-temporal data, extracting frequency information and sparse dynamic modes. The Kriging method is then employed for full-state reconstruction. The proposed approach is evaluated using crossed dipole antennas. Results indicate that, even with a spatial subsampling factor of 130, achieving a fully reconstructed field distribution suitable for engineering applications with frequency information extraction is feasible. This hybrid framework …

Improving Insar Accuracy For Slow Deformation And Change Detection With Lidar And Gps, Yusupujiang Aimaiti, Vasit Sagan, Cagri Gul, Jeremy Maurer, Jackson D. Cothren, Carla Klehm, Elizabeth A. Koenig, Nathan Scott

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) uses two or more SAR images over the same region for mapping ground surface displacements through time. InSAR displacements are relative to a reference point due to the 2π phase ambiguity that from unwrapping, and as a result ground control points (GCPs) are often used to calibrate the displacement model and obtain absolute measurements. Errors in InSAR time-series are typically measured with respect to the reference point, but absolute errors are not currently well constrained. To develop absolute error models for InSAR, we generate Sentinel-1 InSAR time-series for Belleville, Illinois and compare time-series with Global …