Engineering Commons^™

Improving Complementary Methods To Predict Evapotranspiration For Data Deficit Conditions And Global Applications Under Climate Change, Fathi M. A. Anayah

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A reliable estimate of evapotranspiration (ET) in river basins is important for the purpose of water resources planning and management. ET represents a significant portion of rainfall in the water budget; therefore, the uncertainty in estimating ET can lead to the inaccurate prediction of water resources. While remote sensing techniques are available to estimate ET, such methods are expensive and necessary data may not be readily available. Classical methods of estimating ET require detailed land use/cover information that are not readily available in rural river basins. Complementary methods provide simple and reliable approaches to estimate ET using meteorological data only. …

World Energy Balance Outlook And Opec Production Capacity: Implications For Global Oil Security, Ali Mirchi, Saeed Hadian, Kaveh Madani, Omid M. Rouhani, Azadeh M. Rouhani

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The imbalance between energy resource availability, demand, and production capacity, coupled with inherent economic and environmental uncertainties make strategic energy resources planning, management, and decision-making a challenging process. In this paper, a descriptive approach has been taken to synthesize the world’s energy portfolio and the global energy balance outlook in order to provide insights into the role of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in maintaining “stability” and “balance” of the world’s energy market. This synthesis illustrates that in the absence of stringent policies, i.e., if historical trends of the global energy production and consumption hold into the future, it …

Sediment Removal From The San Gabriel Mountains, Mary C. Ferguson

Pitzer Senior Theses

The issue of sediment removal from the San Gabriel Mountains has been a complex issue that has created problems with beach replenishment, habitat destruction and the need to spend millions of dollars at regular intervals to avoid safety hazards. Most recently 11 acres of riparian habitat, including 179 oaks and 70 sycamores, were removed for sediment placement. Other sites including Hahamongna Watershed Park and La Tuna Canyon also face a similar fate. This thesis questions: How did we get to this point of destroying habitat to dump sediment which is viewed as waste product? What are the barriers for creating …

Full Depth Reclamation: Compaction And Moisture Content, Alexander Jackson

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many times a road will fail and will be in need of both a structural increase and a repair. Full Depth Reclamation (FDR) is a road rehabilitation technique able to offer both. This method also has a lower total cost and significantly lower material usage than traditional overlaying repair methods. FDR is a road repair method which mills up the current road down into the subgrade, and then stabilizes and compacts the milled material. This is also useful for correcting deeper problems in the road structure which are not addressed by traditional methods. In this study, three different suggestions of …

Multi-National River Basin Cooperation And Management Case Study: Senegal River Basin, Patricia Ayaa

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With increasing populations, urbanization and thus increasing demand for water, conflict on International River basins has been increasing over the years which has necessitated formation of International River frameworks to devise means of cooperation among the countries sharing the river basins. The main modes of cooperation in international river basins include allocating the waters of the river to the sharing countries such that each country manages its own water resources, or treating the river basin as one system and jointly managing and sharing the costs and benefits from the various services or use-sectors of the river.

This research was aimed …

A Model Of Housing Design And Neighborhood Planning In Abuja - Nigeria, Ekanem Amba

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

The need for shelter is one of the most important necessities for mankind after sustenance. Over the years, the term ‘shelter’ has undergone series of modification either in shape, space, location or the materials used in constructing them but one thing remains the same; the need for a roof over one’s head is as vital to survival as time in itself.

Rainwater Harvesting Storage Methods And Self Supply In Uganda, Jonathan Peter Blanchard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self supply is an emerging approach to water supply which focuses on fostering household investment in incremental improvements to their water sources. When successful, it can lower costs and increase sustainability by offering users a larger share

of ownership in their own supply, and harnessing the already existing strengths of a community rather than trying to impose an external perspective. In addition to well upgrading and source protection, one of the key self supply areas is rainwater harvesting.

Uganda has a diverse selection of rainwater storage options, but many of them are scattered and disparate.

The objective of this study …

Willingness-To-Pay For Maintenance And Improvements To Existing Sanitation Infrastructure: Assessing Community-Led Total Sanitation In Mopti, Mali, Justin Vern Meeks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, much focus has been put on the sustainability of water and sanitation development projects. Experts in this field have found that many of the projects of the past have failed to achieve sustainability because of a lack of demand for water and sanitation interventions at a grassroots level. For years projects looked to create this demand through various subsidy schemes, with the "software" of behavior change and education taking a backseat to the "hardware" of infrastructure provision. Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a fairly new way of looking at the issues of increasing basic sanitation coverage, promoting …

Technical And Economic Assessment Of Adobe As The Primary Building Material On The Water Yield Of A Single Basin Solar Still, Nathan Daniel Manser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is estimated that only one percent of global freshwater is available to humans, with nearly three billion people living in water scarce conditions. Populations living in impoverished settings are particularly vulnerable to water related illnesses, with approximately 2.2 million people dying each year from to waterborne illnesses. This research uses modeling and field studies to assess the quantity, quality, and economics of distillate produced for drinking water from a brackish water source using two single-sloped, single-basin distillation reactors. The reactors were constructed from adobe and concrete in an arid rural community in San Luis Potosí, Mexico and tested from …

Global Monthly Water Scarcity: Blue Water Footprints Versus Blue Water Availability, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain, Ruth E. Mathews, Brian D. Richter

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996–2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing …

The Water Footprint Of Humanity, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study quantifies and maps the water footprint (WF) of humanity at a high spatial resolution. It reports on consumptive use of rainwater (green WF) and ground and surface water (blue WF) and volumes of water polluted (gray WF). Water footprints are estimated per nation from both a production and consumption perspective. International virtual water flows are estimated based on trade in agricultural and industrial commodities. The global annual average WF in the period 1996–2005 was 9,087 Gm3 ∕y (74% green, 11% blue, 15% gray). Agricultural production contributes 92%. About one-fifth of the global WF relates to production for export. …

Impacts Of Changes In Land Use And Land Cover On Atmospheric Chemistry And Air Quality Over The 21st Century, S. Wu, L. J. Mickley, J. O. Kaplan, D. J. Jacob

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The effects of future land use and land cover change on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and air quality are largely unknown. To investigate the potential effects associated with future changes in vegetation driven by atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, climate, and anthropogenic land use over the 21st century, we performed a series of model experiments combining a general circulation model with a dynamic global vegetation model and an atmospheric chemical-transport model. Our results indicate that climate-and CO 2-induced changes in vegetation composition and density between 2100 and 2000 could lead to decreases in summer afternoon surface ozone of up …

Selective Fluoride Removal By Aluminum Precipitation & Membrane Filtration, Emily Kowalchuk

Civil Engineering ETDs

Fluoride is an anionic constituent of most natural surface and ground waters. At low concentrations it has the beneficial effect of improving dental health, but at high concentrations it causes skeletal and other problems. The drinking water standard for fluoride is 4.0 mg/L, but even at this level approximately 10% of exposed children will develop dental enamel fluorosis. Several small communities in New Mexico have source waters with fluoride concentrations higher than 4.0 mg/L. No commercial technologies selectively remove fluoride from drinking water in part because it is relatively non-reactive in aqueous solution and also because its chemistry is similar …

The Bridge Newsletter Spring 2012, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-Light-weight foam could cushion expensive bridge repairs
-New Chancellor
-The house of the future today
-High-tech approach to project management

Numerical Analysis Of Concrete-Filled Circular Steel Tubes, Yaohua Deng, Terri R. Norton, Christopher Y. Tuan

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Concrete-filled steel tubes have been widely used in building and bridge construction. In this paper, the flexural behaviour of concrete-filled steel tubes is investigated using finite-element analysis and theoretical sectional analysis. The numerical results from both analytical methods are validated against published experimental test results. It is shown that both methods are capable of predicting the elastic and the ultimate moment capacities of concrete-filled steel tubes. Due to its computational efficiency, theoretical sectional analysis is more suitable for the design of concrete-filled steel tubes than finite-element analysis.

Impact Of 2000-2050 Climate Change On Global Atmospheric Transport And Deposition Of Mercury, Wenchao Chen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Since it is very toxic and accumulates in organisms, particularly in fish, mercury is a very important pollutant and one of the most studies. And this concern over the toxicity and human health risks of mercury has prompted efforts to regulate anthropogenic emissions. As mercury pollution problem is getting increasingly serious, we are curious about how serious this problem will be in the future. What is more, how the climate change in the future will affect the mercury concentration in the atmosphere. So we investigate the impact of climate change on mercury concentration in the atmosphere. We focus on the …

The Effect Of Clusters Within Crowds Of Pedestrians On The Vertical Response Of A Flexible Footbridge, Joe Keogh, Colin C. Caprani, Paul Archbold, Paul Fanning

Conference papers

The issue of excessive vibrations of footbridges due to the passage of pedestrians has been well documented in the past decade. Despite this there still remains great uncertainty as to how to predict the acceleration response of a footbridge due to crowd loading. This paper investigates the vibration response of a flexible footbridge subjected to crowd loading. Using a statistical model which caters for the variability of pedestrians, the vibration response of the footbridge is obtained. In this work, the effect of social groups or clusters of pedestrians in a crowd is investigated. Herein a cluster is defined as two …

Using Microwave Brightness Temperature Diurnal Cycle To Improve Emissivity Retrievals Over Land, Hamidreza Norouzi, William Rossow, Marouane Temimi, Catherine Prigent, Marzieh Azarderakhsh, Sid Boukabara, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

To retrieve microwave land emissivity, infrared surface skin temperatures have been used as surface physical temperature since there is no global information on physical vegetation/soil temperature profiles. However, passive microwave emissions originate fromdeeper layerswith respect to the skin temperature. So, this inconsistency in sensitivity depths between skin temperatures and microwave temperaturesmay introduce a discrepancy in the determined emissivity. Previous studies showed that this inconsistency can lead to significant differences between day and night retrievals of land emissivity which can exceed 10%. This study proposes an approach to address this inconsistency and improve the retrieval of land emissivity using microwave observations …

Microstructural And Mineralogical Transformation Of Hydraulically Disposed Fly Ash—Implications To The Environment, Jabulani S. Mahlaba, Elsabe P. Kearsley, Richard A. Kruger

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Increasing amounts of coal are combusted annually to meet the ever-increasing energy demands. The inevitable by-products include fly ash and saline effluents, which require acceptable disposal. The aim of this article is to compare the effect of hydraulic disposal with dry ash dumping. The results indicate that the former carries more environmental benefits based on the physical, chemical, and mineralogical aspects that were investigated.

Mineralogical Transformations In Coal Feedstocks During Carbon Conversion, Based On Packed-Bed Combustor Tests: Part 2. Behavior Of Individual Particles, Ratale H. Matjie, Colin R. Ward, Zhongsheng Li

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Handpicked carbon-rich particles (coal or char), mineral-rich particles (heated stones), and bonded stone aggregates (clinkers) from the upper and lower parts of a pilot-scale packed-bed combustor bed, designed to simulate conversion or combustion processes, were subjected to mineralogical and inorganic geochemical studies, in order to evaluate the reactions that may occur during carbon conversion at a particle-by-particle scale. The mineral matter of the carbon-rich particles was found to have higher proportions of carbonate minerals and kaolinite than the mineral-rich (stone) particles in the coal feedstocks used in the study, and to form phases such as anorthite, gehlenite, pyrrhotite, troilite, and …

Mineralogical Transformations In Coal Feedstocks During Carbon Conversion, Based On Packed-Bed Combustor Tests: Part 1. Bulk Coal And Ash Studies, Ratale H. Matjie, Colin R. Ward, Zhongsheng Li

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Mineralogical and inorganic geochemical studies have been carried out on composite samples of six different coarse-crushed (,120 mm) feed coals tested in a pilot-scale packed-bed combustor designed to simulate conversion and some fixed-bed combustion processes, and also on composite samples of the ashes produced. The mineral matter of the coals consisted mainly of quartz, kaolinite, and Ca-bearing carbonate minerals (calcite, dolomite, aragonite), with minor proportions of illite, pyrite, and several other phases, along with some Ca in an organically associated form. The base to acid ratio of the coal ashes ranged from 0.1 to 0.3, due mainly to variations in …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Naturally Occuring Halogenated Bipyrroles In A Relevant Marine Species, Fundulus Heteroclitus, Kimberly Sheree Foster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Halogenated dimethyl-2-2'-bipyrroles (HDBPs) have recently been discovered in seabird eggs and have been shown to bioaccumulate in trophic organisms. HDBPs are suspected to be biogenic in nature, derived from evidence of marine natural products that are persistent in the environment and widespread in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. The HDBPs exhibit chlorinated and brominated substitution patterns that closely resemble anthropogenic pollutants like the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Environmental health concerns exists regarding these naturally occurring HDBPs because several of these analogs were shown to induce the cytochrome P4501A (CYP1A) gene through activation of …

Development Of Strategies To Minimize The Release Of Trace Elements From Coal Waste Sources, Mohammad Rezaee

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

To assess strategies aimed at minimizing the release of trace elements and the impact of disposal of coal waste materials on the environment, two long-term leaching experiments of up to five months duration were performed using waste materials from two plants cleaning high and low sulfur bituminous coal. The tests evaluated the mobility of major trace elements under different disposal scenarios: (i) a static leaching test designed to simulate the quiescent conditions encountered by coal waste material stored under water in a stable impoundment, and (ii) a dynamic test to simulate waste materials exposed to the atmosphere, either in variable …

Risk Management In Reservoir Operations In The Context Of Undefined Competitive Consumption, Yunus Salami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dams and reservoirs with multiple purposes require effective management to fully realize their purposes and maximize efficiency. For instance, a reservoir intended mainly for the purposes of flood control and hydropower generation may result in a system with primary objectives that conflict with each other. This is because higher hydraulic heads are required to achieve the hydropower generation objective while relatively lower reservoir levels are required to fulfill flood control objectives. Protracted imbalances between these two could increase the susceptibility of the system to risks of water shortage or flood, depending on inflow volumes and operational policy effectiveness. The magnitudes …

Construction And Demolition Debris Recovery And Recycling In Orange County, Fl, Michael Stephen Toth Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2008, the State of Florida established a recycling goal of 75% to be achieved by 2020. In response to the Florida goal Orange County (OC), Florida has made the development and implementation of an efficient strategy for landfill diversion of its solid waste a top priority. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) estimated that 23 % of municipal solid waste was generated by construction and demolition (C&D) activities in 2009, with only 30 percent of C&D debris being recycled. Therefore, OC decided to create a solid waste integrated resource plan (SWIRP) initially focused on the recovery and recycling …

Geospatial Assessment Of Sustainable Built Infrastructure Assets And Flood Disaster Protection, Alper Durmus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was initiated with a review and synthesis of infrastructure related to city and urban growth, built infrastructure to meet transportation needs and travel demand, and role of mass transit in reducing adverse impacts on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. Floods are the most frequently occurring natural disaster in the world, which so far claimed millions of lives and resulted in billion-dollar economic costs. Built infrastructure assets in urban and rural areas are not spared from floods' aftermath. A major motivation for this thesis was the 2011 megaflood disaster of Thailand which devastated the green campus of Asian …

Aggregation Of Sediment And Bacteria With Mucilage From The Opuntia Ficus-Indica Cactus, Audrey Lynn Buttice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flocculants are commonly used in industrial settings where solid-liquid separations are desired including industrial and municipal wastewater management and potable water production facilities. Conventional flocculants include inorganic metal salts and synthetic organic polymers. The cost, availability, and harmful effects of the non-biodegradable nature of these flocculants have led to the widespread study of natural flocculants. Current natural flocculants being studied include polysaccharides cultivated from microbial extracellular matrix products and plant based materials. In this study, the mucilage of Opuntia ficus-indica cactus was evaluated as a natural flocculant for sediments and bacteria. The O. ficus-indica cactus is also known as the …

Water's Dependence On Energy: Analysis Of Embodied Energy In Water And Wastewater Systems, Weiwei Mo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water and wastewater treatment is a critical service provided for protecting human health and the environment. Over the past decade, increasing attention has been placed on energy consumption in water and wastewater systems for the following reasons: (1) Water and energy are two interrelated resources. The nexus between water and energy can intensify the crises of fresh water and fossil fuel shortages; (2) The demand of water/wastewater treatment services is expected to continue to increase with increasing population, economic development and land use change in the foreseeable future; and (3) There is a great potential to mitigate energy use in …

Assessing The Reuse Potential Of Wastewater For Irrigation: The Removal Of Helminth Eggs From A Uasb Reactor And Stabilization Ponds In Bolivia, Matthew Eric Verbyla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extreme hunger, malnutrition, and the lack of access to sanitation are among the most pressing development challenges, but the world is not on track to meet the targets that have been established by the Millennium Development Goals. The integration of wastewater treatment and food production systems allows for the recovery of resources from wastewater, and can provide an important solution to meet the sanitation needs of growing urban populations and provide periurban farmers with a consistent supply of water and nutrients. Stabilization ponds have been long considered to be an appropriate technology for wastewater reuse systems in developing countries, but …

Free Troposphere Ozone And Carbon Monoxide Over The North Atlantic For 2001-2011, Aditya Kumar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ozone (O3) are considered to be one of the most important atmospheric pollutants in the troposphere with both having significant effects on human health. Both are included in the U.S. E.P.A list of criteria pollutants. CO is primarily emitted in the source region whereas O3 can be formed near the source, during transport of the pollution plumes containing O3 precursors or in a receptor region as the plumes subside. The long chemical lifetimes of both CO and O3 enable them to be transported over long distances. This transport is important on continental scales as well, commonly …