Flood Disaster Resilient Bridge Structures For Sustainable Bridge Management Systems, Alper Durmus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extreme weather events are occurring at an increasing ferocity and frequency. Floods are the most comand damaging natural disaster. More than 4,400 occurrences of flood disasters have been reported globally between 1900 and 2016. As a result, around seven million people were killed and millions more were displaced. Climate impacts are expected to intensify weather related flooding events, and sea level rise expected worldwide will increase the risk of coastal disasters. Transportation infrastructure, vital to the economy and society of every country, is especially prone to the inland and coastal floods. Bridge structures are under the constant threat of these …

M2 Internal Tides And Their Observed Wavenumber Spectra From Satellite Altimetry, Richard D. Ray, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A near-global chart of surface elevations associated with the stationary M₂ internal tide is empirically constructed from multimission satellite altimeter data. An advantage of a strictly empirical mapping approach is that results are independent of assumptions about ocean wave dynamics and, in fact, can be used to test such assumptions. A disadvantage is that present-day altimeter coverage is only marginally adequate to support mapping such short-wavelength features. Moreover, predominantly north–south ground-track orientations and contamination from nontidal oceanographic variability can lead to deficiencies in mapped tides. Independent data from Cryosphere Satellite-2 (CryoSat-2) and other altimeters are used to …

Use Of Laboratory Geophysical And Geotechnical Investigation Methods To Characterize Gypsum Rich Soils, Raghava A. Bhamidipati

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Gypsum rich soils are found in many parts of the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Most gypsum occurs in the form of evaporites, which are minerals that precipitate out of water due to a high rate of evaporation and a high mineral concentration. Gypsum rich soils make good foundation material under dry conditions but pose major engineering hazards when exposed to water. Gypsum acts as a weak cementing material and has a moderate solubility of about 2.5 g/liter. The dissolution of gypsum causes the soils to undergo unpredictable collapse settlement leading to severe structural damages. The damages incur …

Remote Sensing Of Coastal Wetlands: Long Term Vegetation Stress Assessment And Data Enhancement Technique, Subrina Tahsin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Apalachicola Bay in the Florida panhandle is home to a rich variety of salt water and freshwater wetlands but unfortunately is also subject to a wide range of hydrologic extreme events. Extreme hydrologic events such as hurricanes and droughts continuously threaten the area. The impact of hurricane and drought on both fresh and salt water wetlands was investigated over the time period from 2000 to 2015 in Apalachicola Bay using spatio-temporal changes in the Landsat based NDVI. Results indicate that salt water wetlands were more resilient than fresh water wetlands. Results also suggest that in response to hurricanes, the coastal …

A Simple Kinetic Analysis Of Syngas During Steam Hydrogasification Of Biomass Using A Novel Inverted Batch Reactor With Instant High Pressure Feeding, Xin Fan, Zhongzhe Liu, Joseph M. Norbeck, Chan S. Park

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

A newly designed inverted batch reactor equipped with a pressure-driven feeding system was built for investigating the kinetics of syngas during the steam hydrogasification (SHR) of biomass. The system could instantly load the feedstock into the reactor at high temperature and pressure, which simulated the way to transport the feedstock into a hot and pressurized gasifier. Experiments were conducted from 600 °C to 700 °C. The inverted reactor showed very high heating rate by enhancing the carbon conversion and syngas production. The kinetic study showed that the rates of CH₄, CO and CO₂ formation during SHR were …

Total Value Of Phosphorus Recovery, Brooke K. Mayer, Lawrence A. Baker, Treavor H. Boyer, Pay Drechsel, Mac Gifford, Munir A. Hanjra, Prathap Parameswaran, Jared Stoltzfus, Paul Westerhoff, Bruce E. Rittmann

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Phosphorus (P) is a critical, geographically concentrated, nonrenewable resource necessary to support global food production. In excess (e.g., due to runoff or wastewater discharges), P is also a primary cause of eutrophication. To reconcile the simultaneous shortage and overabundance of P, lost P flows must be recovered and reused, alongside improvements in P-use efficiency. While this motivation is increasingly being recognized, little P recovery is practiced today, as recovered P generally cannot compete with the relatively low cost of mined P. Therefore, P is often captured to prevent its release into the environment without beneficial recovery and reuse. However, additional …

Evaluating Groundwater Recharge In The Saloum Region Of Senegal, Alexander Wohlgemuth

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in an area facing physical, or absolute, water scarcity (defined as access to less than 1,000 cubic meters of water). This number is projected to increase to 1.8 billion by the year 2025. Thirty-eight percent of the world’s population lives in arid, semi-arid or dry subhumid regions, which translates to a high dependence on the 30% of the world’s freshwater present in the ground. Further, the rate of water use is increasing rapidly – between two and two and a half times that of population growth, over the last century.

In regions …

Incorporation Of Globally Available Datasets Into The Roving Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Method For Estimating Field-Scale Soil Water Content, William A. Avery, Catherine Finkenbiner, Trenton E. Franz, Tiejun Wang, Anthony L. Nguy-Robertson, Andrew E. Suyker, Timothy J. Arkebauer, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The need for accurate, real-time, reliable, and multi-scale soil water content (SWC) monitoring is critical for a multitude of scientific disciplines trying to understand and predict the Earth’s terrestrial energy, water, and nutrient cycles. One promising technique to help meet this demand is fixed and roving cosmic-ray neutron probes (CRNPs). However, the relationship between observed low-energy neutrons and SWC is affected by local soil and vegetation calibration parameters. This effect may be accounted for by a calibration equation based on local soil type and the amount of vegetation. However, determining the calibration parameters for this equation is labor- and time-intensive, …

Specification Development For Cold In-Situ Recycling Of Asphalt, Amir Tabakovic, Ciaran Mcnally, Eanna Fallon

Research and Innovation - Articles

In-situ cold recycling provides a valuable means to reduce the environmental impact of road construction. The reduced energy requirements relative to traditional hot mix recycling can lead to significant reductions in cost and associated CO₂ emissions. Worldwide, in-situ cold recycling has been found to be particularly useful in the rehabilitation of rural roads where site locations are far from asphalt plants. However, practical issues remain due to the evolving nature of cold bituminous materials. Unlike hot-mix asphalts which gain strength quickly as they cool, cold-mix bituminous materials gain strength slowly over time. This is particularly an issue in countries …

The Effect Of Community Connectivity On Water And Sanitation Systems In Rural Panama, M.C. Moritz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The world has yet to realize universal access to water and sanitation. Various academic and professional fields provide frameworks for understanding water and sanitation access, but none directly consider the impact of community connectivity. Community connectivity refers to the infrastructures linking rural communities with urban centers. These infrastructures fall under the broad categories of transportation, energy, and telecommunication. This paper examines 23 rural Panamanian communities and compares connectivity measures with the functionality of the communities’ rural water and sanitation systems (RWSS). Community connectivity was evaluated with the Community Connectivity Analysis Tool (CCAT), while the water and sanitation systems were evaluated …

The Next Billion: Lessons In Off-Grid Electricity Development From The Global South, Peter Mcdonough

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Today about a third of the world’s population has no access to electricity, and another third has only limited access. Driven by the push for development on one hand and the reality of climate change on the other, a combination of for-profit companies, NGOs, missions, and aid organizations is looking for the silver bullet to sustainable electricity development. In order to understand the challenges facing off-grid electricity projects I used recent literature in the form of peer-reviewed journals, agency reports, news articles, and technical documents; stakeholder interviews; and on-site observations in selected case studies in Nepal, India, and Tanzania. In …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2015, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Ole Miss Engineer 2015-2016

Ole Miss Engineer

No abstract provided.

Landfill Volume Gain From The Diversion Of Construction And Demolition Waste, Aayush Raj Tiwary

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is one of the major components of the solid waste and is defined as a waste stream resulting from the construction, renovation and demolition of structures such as buildings, roads, and bridges. The amount of C&D waste has been in an upsurge with rapid growth in construction works and is expected to grow even more. As such, the effective waste management for C&D disposal has been a global issue owing to the increasing construction works worldwide. Although landfill disposal of C&D waste is not the preferred method of the C&D waste management, a significant portion …

Feasibility Of Underground Freight Transportation (Uft) In Texas, Seyedeh Hosna Mousavipour

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The U.S. economy is expected to double in size over the next 30 years. Truck and rail freight traffic is expected to increase by approximately 45 percent. Air freight is expected to triple in response to demand for the rapid movement of high-value merchandise, while multimodal shipments will likely double. Texas with a gross state product (GSP) of $1.4 trillion dollars is the second largest economy in the U.S. Its size and population, central location, Gulf coastline, and energy resources require a reliable freight transportation system to facilitate further growth. This thesis focuses on the feasibility of Underground Freight Transportation …

Pathogen Removal In Natural Wastewater Treatment And Resource Recovery Systems: Solutions For Small Cities In An Urbanizing World, Matthew Eric Verbyla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sanitation, renewable energy, and food security are among the most pressing global development needs of the century, especially for small cities with rapid population growth. Currently, 53% of the world’s population either lacks access to improved sanitation or discharges fecal waste to the environment without treatment. Furthermore, 80% of food consumed in developing regions is produced by 500 million small farms, and while many of them are still rain-fed, irrigated agriculture is increasing. The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, recently adopted by the United Nations, include targets to address the water-energy-food nexus. Wastewater reuse in agriculture can be an important solution …

The Application Of Industry Standards As An Alternative To In-House Proprietary Standards Within The Aec Iindustry, Robert Moore, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

The move from traditional 2D Computer Aided Design (CAD) practices towards Building Information Modelling (BIM) has witnessed some practices trying to adopt and update their own in-house CAD standards. These standards are wholly inadequate for working in a collaborative BIM environment and mean that they repetitively create and recreate local, non-reusable, non-interoperable solutions to the same problems, which leads to the employees potentially having to learn a new collaborative process every time they have to work with a new project team. Collaborative standards help teams produce information through a standardised process, so as to ensure the same form and quality …

Adopting Of Pas 1192-2 By Irish Aec Companies – A Formula For Winning International Work, Robert Moore, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

Forfás Ireland policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation have recently recommended that the Irish Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry should engage in more international work and in doing so have advised the industry to work within a Building Information Management (BIM) environment, so as to avoid the possibility of a competitive disadvantage in overseas markets. According to Forfás BIM can help develop the appropriate technical skills amongst Irish construction firms so that they can successfully compete in markets where BIM is widely adopted or a requirement. More importantly they have encouraged the industry to strive to …

Structural Analysis Of A Typical Highway Bridge Comparison Between Ktp, En And Aashto Load Models, Endrit Berisha

UBT International Conference

This study consists on a structural analysis comparison of a typical highway bridge between KTP, EN and AASHTO based on load capacity. The Eurocodes are currently in the process of national implementation towards becoming the Europe wide means for structural design of civil engineering works. A team from Mott Macdonald inspected 562 bridges and the main causes of the defects are figured out in the study as traffic load, nature force, and aging, lack of maintenance and design deficiencies. As design codes are advancing with time, the need of Albania to upgrade its code has become a must. This paper …

High-Solids Anaerobic Digestion Of The Organic Fraction Of Municipal Solid Waste State Of The Art, Outlook In Florida, And Enhancing Methane Yields From Lignocellulosic Wastes, Gregory Richard Hinds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biotechnology that employs natural microbial metabolism under oxygen-free conditions to stabilize organic waste. AD has been shown to be the most environmentally sustainable technology for treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), as it allows for the recovery of energy and nutrients from the waste. AD of OFMSW also saves landfill space and reduces leachate generation and fugitive methane emissions from landfills. High-solids AD (HS-AD) technologies (those designed to process feedstocks with >15% total solids content) have been shown to yield additional benefits when compared with liquid AD (L-AD) for treating OFMSW, including …

Mitigating The Risk Of Extreme Water Scarcity And Dependency: The Case Of Jordan, Joep F. Schyns, Arwa Hamaideh, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen, Marlou Schyns

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Jordan faces great internal water scarcity and pollution, conflict over trans-boundary waters, and strong dependency on external water resources through trade. This paper analyzes these issues and subsequently reviews options to reduce the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency. Based on estimates of water footprint, water availability, and virtual water trade, we find that groundwater consumption is nearly double the groundwater availability, water pollution aggravates blue water scarcity, and Jordan’s external virtual water import dependency is 86%. The review of response options yields 10 ingredients for a strategy for Jordan to mitigate the risks of extreme water scarcity and …

The Professional Constructor, Full Issue, Volume 39, Number 02

The Professional Constructor

No abstract provided.

Treatment Of Greywater Using Bio Filtration And Permeable Pavement Systems, Assem Mahn El-Ashkar

Theses

Municipal wastewater can be divided into two categories, greywater and black water. Greywater occupies about 75% of total wastewater and are relatively less polluted than the black water. Reuse of greywater is becoming popular in many arid and semiarid regions in order to reduce the municipal water demand. They can be reused for groundwater recharge, landscape irrigation and for toilet flushing. However, the main challenges are their collection, storage and selection of the appropriate treatment system. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is located in a hyper arid region, having an annual average rainfall of less than 100 mm. Reliable survey …

Heterogeneous Oxidation Of Catechol, Elizabeth A. Pillar, Ruixin Zhou, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Natural and anthropogenic emissions of aromatic hydrocarbons from biomass burning, agro-industrial settings, and fossil fuel combustion contribute precursors to secondary aerosol formation (SOA). How these compounds are processed under humid tropospheric conditions is the focus of current attention to understand their environmental fate. This work shows how catechol thin films, a model for oxygenated aromatic hydrocarbons present in biomass burning and combustion aerosols, undergo heterogeneous oxidation at the air–solid interface under variable relative humidity (RH = 0–90%). The maximum reactive uptake coefficient of O₃(g) by catechol γ_O3 = (7.49 ± 0.35) × 10^–6 occurs for …

Energy Production And Effluent Quality In Tubular Digesters Treating Livestock Waste In Rural Costa Rica, Maureen Njoki Kinyua

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Use of tubular anaerobic digesters to treat livestock waste in developing countries has energy, agricultural, health, social and environmental benefits. However, careful use of digester effluent as a soil amendment is required due to the potential presence of protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia. This research investigated the performance of four tubular digesters in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. High (>75%) volatile solids and BOD5 removal efficiencies were observed, which was attributed to the formation of a biologically active floccular sludge layer. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and bioprocess models were developed to evaluate the transport and transformation …

Environmental Sustainability Of Wastewater Treatment Plants Integrated With Resource Recovery: The Impact Of Context And Scale, Pablo K. Cornejo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an urgent need for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to adapt to a rise in water and energy demands, prolonged periods of drought, climate variability, and resource scarcity. As population increases, minimizing the carbon and energy footprints of wastewater treatment, while properly managing nutrients is crucial to improving the sustainability WWTPs. Integrated resource recovery can mitigate the environmental impact of wastewater treatment systems; however, the mitigation potential depends on various factors such as treatment technology, resource recovery strategy, and system size.

Amidst these challenges, this research seeks to investigate the environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) integrating resource …

Accident Patterns In Road Construction Work Zones, Tariq Shehab, Leah Phu

The Professional Constructor

Traffic safety in road construction zones has always been a major concern for engineering practitioners, departments of transportation, law enforcement professionals, researchers and many others. Due to the deteriorated condition of road and underground infrastructure facilities in the United States, the number of rehabilitation projects and their associated traffic accidents have increased over the past few years. To perform the needed road and underground utility rehabilitation activities in safer environments, researchers need to understand the causes behind these accidents. Although many researchers have been exploring the safety of many construction activities, research pertaining to road construction projects is lacking and …

A Framework For Small-Scale Construction Projects By Ngos In Developing Countries, James D. Goedert, Bradley Cory

The Professional Constructor

This paper outlines a theoretical framework for NGOs who are building small-scale construction projects in developing countries. The framework is a step-by-step procedure to guide NGOs from developing project parameters at the start of the project with the partner to a locally controlled sustainable project closeout. The authors used the integrative project delivery approach along with past construction research models and personal experience to guide the development of the framework. Steps within the framework are illustrated using five projects from three countries. This work assumes that the ultimate objective of the project is local operational sustainability with the NGO’s presence …

Unraveling The Formation Of Continental Crust : A Review And Outlook, Eason Hong, Wei-Ting Kao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The early Earth is generally believed to be a hot planet with a primitive basaltic oceanic crust. However, the question of how a batholiths-bearing continent was formed is still unresolved. Although many hypothetical interpretations seem appealing, the origin and volume dilemma of the batholiths is still under debate. According to recent literature, the Hadean Ocean is characterized by heat, acidity and reduction, significantly unlike its counterparts in Earth's history. We have found that this crucial marine setting, favoring the chemical weathering of basaltic rocks, is the key element for forming and stabilizing the primitive continents through convergent tectonics and the …

Transmission Electron Microscopy Characterization Of High-Temperatur Oxidation Of Fe-20cr-5al Alloy Prepared By Focused Ion Beam Technique, Mohammad Dani, Pudji Untoro, Teguh Yulius Surya Panca Putra, Parikin Parikin, Joachim Mayer, Arbi Dimyati

Makara Journal of Technology

The Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technique was applied for cross section preparation of the oxidized alloy for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) study. Prior to preparation, the specimens of Fe-20Cr-5Al alloy sheet were oxidized in air at 1200 oC for 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 2 hours, and 100 hours. The microstructure and elemental composition of the samples were characterized using TEM equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX). The Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) was used to determine of the light elements. The TEM investigation reveals remarkable microstructure evolution of the specimens during oxidation which generally exhibit a typical multi-layer …