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Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Precipitation And Effective Rainfall Using Gauge Observations, Satellite, And Gridded Climate Data For Agricultural Water Management In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, L. Niel Allen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurate spatial and temporal precipitation estimates are important for hydrological studies of irrigation depletion, net irrigation requirement, natural recharge, and hydrological water balances in defined areas. This analysis supports the verification of water savings (reduced depletion)from deficit irrigation of pastures in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The study area has diverse topography with scattered fields and few precipitation gauges that are not representative of the basin.Gridded precipitation products from TRMM-3B42, PRISM, Daymet, and gauge observations were evaluated on two case studies located in Colorado and Wyoming during the 2014–2016 irrigation seasons. First, the resolution at the farm level is discussed. …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The goals of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Potential Use Of Dimocarpus Longan Seeds As A Flocculant In Landfill Leachate Treatment, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Nor Aini Rahim, Siti Fatihah Ramli, Motasem Y.D. Alazaiza, Fatehah Mohd Omar, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Landfill leachate is a highly polluted and generated from water infiltration through solid waste produced domestically and industrially. In this study, a coagulation-flocculation process using a combination of Polyaluminium chloride (PACl) as a coagulant and Dimocarpus longan seed powder (LSP) as coagulant aid was used in treating landfill leachate. LSP has been tested as the main coagulant and as coagulant aid with PACl. As the main coagulant, the optimum dosage and pH for PACl were 5 g/L and 6, respectively, with removal efficiencies of 67.44%, 99.47%, and 98% for COD, SS, and color, respectively. For LSP as the main coagulant, …

Delay Causality Network In Air Transport Systems, Wen-Bo Du, Ming-Yuan Zhang, Yu Zhang, Xian-Bin Cao, Jun Zhang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

To better understand the mechanism of flight delay propagation at the system-level, we built a delay causality network (DCN) based on the Granger causality test. Through topological analysis of DCNs, we found that only about a quarter of airports were involved in delay propagation during the peak travel period and large airports affected by many upstream airports impact fewer downstream airports. Furthermore, temporal analysis of DCNs indicates that the culprits of delay propagation in the air transport system are not a fixed set of airports; instead, they vary daily depending on the operational environment.

Treatment Of Disperse Blue 14 Wastewater And Sugar Wastewater By Low Cost Adsorbents, Saisantosh Vamshi Harsha Madiraju, Yung-Tse Hung, Howard H. Paul

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Orange peel and Peanut hull are used in this research to treat the combined binary mixture of Disperse Blue 14and sugar wastewater. The combined wastewater is treated with adsorption followed by micro-filtration. The dosages, sizes and concentrations used in this research are based on trail and error method. Whatman-41 is used in the micro-filtration treatment process. This research is mainly based on color removal. The color removal is estimated and compared from the measured transmittance and absorbance values. The same treatment tests are performed on the activated carbon and taken as datum and compared with the low-cost adsorbents. NPOC values …

Map Based Discovery Of Hydrologic Data In The Hydroshare Collaboration Environment, Zhaokun Xue, Alva Couch, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Data discovery refers to the process of locating pre-existing data for use in new research. In the HydroShare collaboration environment for water science, there are more than twenty kinds of data that can be discovered, including data from specific sites on the globe, data corresponding to regions on the globe, and data with no geospatial meaning, such as laboratory experiment results. This paper discusses lessons learned in building a data discovery system for HydroShare. This was a surprisingly difficult problem; default behaviors of software components were unacceptable, use cases suggested conflicting approaches, and crafting a geographic view of a large …

Sociodemographics And Access To Organic And Local Food: A Case Study Of New Orleans, Louisiana, Chuo Li, Amir Ghiasi, Xiaopeng Li, Guangqing Chi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This study examined the association between physical accessibility to organic and local food, and sociodemographic factors in New Orleans, Louisiana. Spatial regression models were used to investigate how sociodemographic variables such as income, race/ethnicity, education, and age correlate with driving, bicycling, and walking distances to stores that sell organic or local food. The distances were calculated from GIS and real-time speed information from Google Maps. The results indicated that physical access to such stores is positively associated with population density, median housing value, education, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics, and is negatively associated with median housing age. We found no disparities …

Treatment Of Acid Orange 74 Wastewater And Sugar Wastewater By Low Cost Adsorbents, S. H. Madiraju, Yung-Tse Hung, Howard H. Paul

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This study shows the treatment of combined binary mixture of Acid Orange 74 and sugar wastewater with peanut hull and orange peel as low-cost adsorbents. The performance of a combined adsorption-microfiltration process for the color removal is measured and compared using transmittance and absorbance indices at mechanical shaker mix level. This selected treatment procedure is among one of the most economical treatment alternatives to all technologies present now. The parameters studied during this research are analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models on low cost adsorbents. Conclusive results after the treatment are indicated in this paper at their optimum dosages …

Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment Using Submerged Fibers In An Attached Growth Sequential Batch Reactor, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Nur Nasuha Ahmad Puat, Motasem Y.D. Alazaiza, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, a sequential batch reactor (SBR) with different types of fibers was employed for the treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater. Three types of fibers, namely, juite fiber (JF), bio-fringe fiber (BF), and siliconised conjugated polyester fiber (SCPF), were used. Four SBR experiments were conducted, using the fibers in different reactors, while the fourth reactor used a combination of these fibers. The treatment efficiency of the different reactors with and without fibers on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), phosphorus (P), nitrite (NO₂), nitrate (NO₃), total suspended solids (TSS), and oil-grease were evaluated. The removal …

Comparison Of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks And Edge Detectors For Image-Based Crack Detection In Concrete, Sattar Dorafshan, Robert J. Thomas, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper compares the performance of common edge detectors and deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) for image-based crack detection in concrete structures. A dataset of 19 high definition images (3420 sub-images, 319 with cracks and 3101 without) of concrete is analyzed using six common edge detection schemes (Roberts, Prewitt, Sobel, Laplacian of Gaussian, Butterworth, and Gaussian) and using the AlexNet DCNN architecture in fully trained, transfer learning, and classifier modes. The relative performance of each crack detection method is compared here for the first time on a single dataset. Edge detection methods accurately detected 53–79% of cracked pixels, but they …

Groundwater Flow And Exchange Across The Land Surface Explain Carbon Export Patterns In Continuous Permafrost Watersheds, Bethany T. Neilson, M. Bayani Cardenas, Michael T. O'Connor, Mitchell T. Rasmussen, Tyler V. King, George W. Kling

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater flow regimes in the seasonally thawed soils in areas of continuous permafrost are relatively unknown despite their potential role in delivering water, carbon, and nutrients to streams. Using numerical groundwater flow models informed by observations from a headwater catchment in arctic Alaska, United States, we identify several mechanisms that result in substantial surface‐subsurface water exchanges across the land surface during downslope transport and create a primary control on dissolved organic carbon loading to streams and rivers. The models indicate that surface water flowing downslope has a substantial groundwater component due to rapid surface‐subsurface exchanges across a range of hydrologic …

Stream Centric Methods For Determining Groundwater Contributions In Karst Mountain Watersheds, Bethany T. Neilson, Hyrum Tennant, Trinity L. Stout, Matthew P. Miller, Rachel S. Gabor, Yusuf Jameel, Mallory Millington, Andrew Gelderloos, Gabriel J. Bowen, Paul D. Brooks

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Climate change influences on mountain hydrology are uncertain but likely to be mediated by variability in subsurface hydrologic residence times and flow paths. The heterogeneity of karst aquifers adds complexity in assessing the resiliency of these water sources to perturbation, suggesting a clear need to quantify contributions from and losses to these aquifers. Here we develop a stream centric method that combines mass and flow balances to quantify net and gross gains and losses at different spatial scales. We then extend these methods to differentiate between karst conduit and matrix contributions from the aquifer. In the Logan River watershed in …

Beyond Metrics? The Role Of Hydrologic Baseline Archetypes In Environmental Water Management, Belize A. Lane, Samuel Sandoval-Solis, Eric D. Stein, Sarah M. Yarnell, Gregory B. Pasternack, Helen E. Dahlke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Balancing ecological and human water needs often requires characterizing key aspects of the natural flow regime and then predicting ecological response to flow alterations. Flow metrics are generally relied upon to characterize long-term average statistical properties of the natural flow regime (hydrologic baseline conditions). However, some key aspects of hydrologic baseline conditions may be better understood through more complete consideration of continuous patterns of daily, seasonal, and inter-annual variability than through summary metrics. Here we propose the additional use of high-resolution dimensionless archetypes of regional stream classes to improve understanding of baseline hydrologic conditions and inform regional environmental flows assessments. …

A Cybergis Integration And Computation Framework For High‐Resolution Continental‐Scale Flood Inundation Mapping, Yan Y. Liu, David R. Maidment, David G. Tarboton, Xing Zheng, Shaowen Wang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a Digital Elevation Model (DEM)-based hydrologic analysis methodology for continental flood inundation mapping (CFIM), implemented as a cyberGIS scientific workflow in which a 1/3rd arc-second (10m) Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) raster data for the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) was computed and employed for subsequent inundation mapping. A cyberGIS framework was developed to enable spatiotemporal integration and scalable computing of the entire inundation mapping process on a hybrid supercomputing architecture. The first 1/3rd arc-second CONUS HAND raster dataset was computed in 1.5 days on the CyberGIS ROGER supercomputer. The inundation mapping process developed in our exploratory study couples HAND …

Material Transport Under A Wave Train In Interaction With Constant Wind: A Eulerian Rans Approach Combined With A Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model, Nityanand Sinha, Roozbeh Golshan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The interaction of a developed train of gravity deep water waves with suddenly applied winds is investigated in this manuscript. The direction of the wind is the same as that of the wave train (i.e., following) and its imposed surface shear stress is constant and steady. The focus of this study is on a micro-scale water wave field where the time scale is on the order of ten wave periods and the length scale is on the order of ten wave lengths. Accurate 2D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) multi-phase simulations of Navier–Stokes equations are performed in a Eulerian framework to capture …

Bridge Inspection: Human Performance, Unmanned Aerial Systems And Automation, Sattar Dorafshan, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) have become of considerable private and commercial interest for a variety of jobs and entertainment in the past 10 years. This paper is a literature review of the state of practice for the United States bridge inspection programs and outlines how automated and unmanned bridge inspections can be made suitable for present and future needs. At its best, current technology limits UAS use to an assistive tool for the inspector to perform a bridge inspection faster, safer, and without traffic closure. The major challenges for UASs are satisfying restrictive Federal Aviation Administration regulations, control issues in …

Planning Of Fast-Charging Stations For A Battery Electric Bus System Under Energy Consumption Uncertainty, Richard T. Lyons, Ziqi Song, Yi He

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Battery-powered electric buses are gaining popularity as an energy-efficient and emission-free alternative for bus fleets. However, battery electric buses continue to struggle with concerns related to their limited driving range and time-consuming recharging processes. Fast-charging technology, which utilizes dwelling time at bus stops or terminals to recharge buses in operation employing high power, can raise battery electric buses to the same level of capability as their diesel counterparts in terms of driving range and operating time. To develop an economical and effective battery electric bus system using fastcharging technology, fast-charging stations must be strategically deployed. Moreover, due to the instability …

Making Strides: State Of The Practice Of Pedestrian Forecasting In Regional Travel Models, Patrick A. Singleton, Joseph C. Totten, Jaime P. Orrego-Oñate, Robert J. Schneider, Kelly J. Clifton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Much has changed in the 30 years since non-motorized modes were first included in regional travel demand models. As interest in understanding behavioral influences on walking and policies requiring estimates of walking activity increase, it is important to consider how pedestrian travel is modeled at a regional level. This paper evaluates the state of the practice of modeling walk trips among the largest 48 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and assesses changes made over the last 5 years. By reviewing model documentation and responses to a survey of MPO modelers, this paper summarizes current practices, describes six pedestrian modeling frameworks, and …

Discussing The “Positive Utilities” Of Autonomous Vehicles: Will Travellers Really Use Their Time Productively?, Patrick A. Singleton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are expected to reshape travel behaviour and demand in part by enabling productive uses of travel time—a primary component of the “positive utility of travel” concept—thus reducing subjective values of travel time savings (VOT). Many studies from industry and academia have assumed significant increases in travel time use and reductions in VOT for AVs. In this position paper, I argue that AVs’ VOT impacts may be more modest than anticipated and derive from a different source. Vehicle designs and operations may limit activity engagement during travel, with AV users feeling more like car passengers than train riders. …

Integrated Analysis Of Flow, Form, And Function For River Management And Design Testing, Belize A. Lane, Gregory B. Pasternack, Samuel Sandoval-Solis

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The extent and timing of many river ecosystem functions is controlled by the interplay of streamflow dynamics with the river corridor shape and structure. However, most river management studies evaluate the role of either flow or form without regard to their dynamic interactions. This study develops an integrated modelling approach to assess changes in ecosystem functions resulting from different river flow and form configurations. Moreover, it investigates the role of temporal variability in such flow–form–function trade‐offs. The use of synthetic, archetypal channel forms in lieu of high‐resolution topographic data reduces time and financial requirements, overcomes site‐specific topographic features, and allows …

Charpy Impact Test Methods For Cementitious Composites: Review And Commentary, Robert J. Thomas, Andrew D. Sorensen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Several researchers have recently employed the Charpy method to characterize the high strain rate mechanical strength of cementitious composites. This paper provides a critical review of existing applications of the Charpy method for impact testing of cementitious composites. Studies have employed various specimen sizes and geometries. Additionally, some studies have tested notched specimens while others have tested plain. Furthermore, varying methods of normalization result in results reported in a variety of incompatible units. The lack of consistency between studies limits the basis for comparison and the ability to validate results, which demonstrates a clear need for a standardized method for …

Combinations Of Plant Water-Stress And Neonicotinoids Can Lead To Secondary Outbreaks Of Banks Grass Mite (Oligonychus Pratensis Banks), Alice Ruckert, L. Niel Allen, Ricardo A. Ramirez

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Spider mites, a cosmopolitan pest of agricultural and landscape plants, thrive under hot and dry conditions, which could become more frequent and extreme due to climate change. Recent work has shown that neonicotinoids, a widely used class of systemic insecticides that have come under scrutiny for non-target effects, can elevate spider mite populations. Both water-stress and neonicotinoids independently alter plant resistance against herbivores. Yet, the interaction between these two factors on spider mites is unclear, particularly for Banks grass mite (Oligonychus pratensis; BGM). We conducted a field study to examine the effects of water-stress (optimal irrigation = 100% …

Advancing Distributed Data Management For The Hydroshare Hydrologic Information System, Hong Yi, Ray Idaszak, Michael Stealey, Chris Calloway, Alva L. Couch, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

HydroShare (https://www.hydroshare.org) is an online collaborative system to support the open sharing of hydrologic data, analytical tools, and computer models. Hydrologic data and models are often large, extending to multi-gigabyte or terabyte scale, and as a result, the scalability of centralized data management poses challenges for a system such as HydroShare. A distributed data management framework that enables distributed physical data storage and management in multiple locations thus becomes a necessity. We use the iRODS (Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System) data grid middleware as the distributed data storage and management back end in HydroShare. iRODS provides a unified virtual file system …

Review Of The Utah Snow Load Study, Marc Maguire, Brennan Bean, Yan Sun

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Proper consideration of snow loads in building design can be a delicate balancing act:

• Underestimates lead to structure failure
• Overestimates lead to increased construction costs

Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers And Scientists Association (Oceesa) Report, Special Issue, February 2018, Jim Ho, Jacqueline Huang, Jolynn Huang, Yung-Tse Hung, Nancy Riley, Alina Waring

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association (OCEESA) report is Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association (OCEESA) Journal, Volume 35, Number S1, February 2018. This special issue of OCEESA Journal (Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association Journal) is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ju-Chang Howard Huang 黄汝常教授. This issue includes OCEESA Profile, 2018 OCEESA Officers and Board of Directors. This issue also includes: (1) Forewords of Special Issue, Dedicated to Memory of Prof. Ju-Chang Howard Huang, by Yung-Tse Hung; (2) Obituary of Professor Ju-Chang Howard Huang; (3) Biography of Professor Ju-Chang …

Modeling Air Traffic Situation Complexity With A Dynamic Weighted Network Approach, Hongyong Wang, Ziqi Song, Ruiying Wen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In order to address the flight delays and risks associated with the forecasted increase in air traffic, there is a need to increase the capacity of air traffic management systems. This should be based on objective measurements of traffic situation complexity. In current air traffic complexity research, no simple means is available to integrate airspace and traffic flow characteristics. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the measurement of air traffic situation complexity. This approach considers the effects of both airspace and traffic flow and objectively quantifies air traffic situation complexity. Considering the aircraft, waypoints, and airways as …

Safety Assessment And Risk Estimation For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Operating In National Airspace System, Xuejun Zhang, Yang Liu, Yu Zhang, Xiangmin Guan, Daniel Delahaye, Li Tang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper proposes an effective approach for modelling and assessing the risks associated with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) integrated into national airspace system (NAS). Two critical hazards with UAV operations are considered and analyzed, which are ground impacts and midair collisions. Threats to fatalities that result from the two hazards are the focus in the proposed method. In order to realize ground impact assessment, a multifactor risk model is designed by calculating system reliability required to meet a target level of safety for different UAV categories. Both fixed-wing and rotary-wing UAVs are taken into account under a real scenario that …

Oil Droplet Transport Under Non-Breaking Waves: An Eulerian Rans Approach Combined With A Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model, Roozbeh Golshan, Michel C. Boufadel, Victor A. Rodriguez, Xiaolong Geng, Feng Gao, Thomas King, Brian Robinson, Andres E. Tejada-Martinez

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Oil droplet transport under a non-breaking deep water wave field is investigated herein using Computational Fluid dynamics (CFD). The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations were solved to simulate regular waves in the absence of wind stress, and the resulting water velocities agreed with Stokes theory for waves. The RANS velocity field was then used to predict the transport of buoyant particles representing oil droplets under the effect of non-locally generated turbulence. The RANS eddy viscosity exhibited an increase with depth until reaching a maximum at approximately a wave height below the mean water level. This was followed by a gradual decrease …

The Utah Snow Load Study, Brennan Bean, Marc Maguire, Yan Sun

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent reports of snow related building collapses across the western United States in early 2017 highlight the importance of snow load considerations in building design. Specifying such design snow loads requires a proper balance between safety and economy. As articulated by Nowak and Collins (2012): "Conceptually, we can design [a] structure to reduce the probability of failure, but increasing the safety...beyond a certain optimum level is not always economical." It is the search for this optimum level of safety that has motivated the development of design ground snow loads at state and local levels.