Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Spatial Design Of Groundwater Level Monitoring Networks Using Machine Learning Methods, Sadaf Teimoori

Wayne State University Dissertations

Groundwater plays a crucial role in sustaining ecosystems, providing drinking water, and supporting various industrial activities. As water scarcity becomes an increasingly pressing global issue, accurate groundwater level monitoring is essential for effective resource management and environmental protection. The study introduces a comprehensive methodology that integrates groundwater flow modeling, stochastic simulations, and ML algorithms to design efficient Groundwater Level Monitoring Networks (GLMNs) in regions with limited groundwater observation data. Two primary ML algorithms, K-means clustering and Relevance Vector Machine (RVM), are used to select and position observation wells strategically. The research addresses the challenge of minimizing data uncertainties and determining …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2023, Nebraska Water Center, Daugherty Water For Food Global Institute

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

The report's highlights updates including the water sciences laboratory, AltEn contamination monitoring and the Know your well project.

Construction And Cost Analysis Of Bladebridges Made From Decommissioned Frp Wind Turbine Blades, Kieran Ruane, Mario Soutsos, Au Huynh, Zoe Zhang, Angela Nagle, Kenny Mcdonald, T Russell Gentry, Paul Leahy, Lawrence C. Banks

Publications

This paper describes repurposing projects using decommissioned wind turbine blades in bridges conducted under a multinational research project entitled “Re-Wind”. Repurposing is defined by the Re-Wind Network as the re-engineering, redesigning, and remanufacturing of a wind blade that has reached the end of its life on a turbine and taken out of service and then reused as a load-bearing structural element in a new structure (e.g., bridge, transmission pole, sound barrier, seawall, shelter). The issue of end-of-life of wind turbine blades is becoming a significant sustainability concern for wind turbine manufacturers, many of whom have committed to the 2030 or …

Comparing Hydrogen Peroxide And Sodium Perborate Ultraviolet Advanced Oxidation Processes For 1,4-Dioxane Removal From Wastewater Effluent, Tulsi Shukla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Ultraviolet advanced oxidation processes were compared using sodium perborate (UV/NaBO3 AOP) or hydrogen peroxide (UV/H2O2 AOP) for 1,4-dioxane removal from tertiary wastewater effluent. Both UV/H2O2 and UV/NaBO3 AOPs were also tested with the addition of acetic acid. Results revealed that sodium perborate performed similarly to hydrogen peroxide – the UV/NaBO3 AOP with 6 milligrams per liter (mg/L) as H2O2 resulted in 43.9 percent 1,4-dioxane removal, while an equivalent UV/H2O2 AOP showed 42.8 percent removal. Although the oxidants performed similarly, NaBO3 is an average of 3.3 times more expensive than H2O2. However, the solid form of NaBO3 can provide a major …

Exploring A Lab-Scale Cascade Upflow Bioreactor System For Nitrogen Removal Via Biosorption Activated Media, Alejandra Robles Lecompte

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Many Best Management Practices (BMPs) have been developed to reduce excessive nutrients in stormwater runoff and mitigate harmful algal blooms in downstream receiving water bodies. This study demonstrates a new BMP by comparing two green sorption media (i.e., specialty adsorbents) for nutrient removal in cascade upflow biofiltration systems operated in parallel. The proposed filtration technology can control hydraulic gradients, prevent clogging and settlements, and increase hydraulic loading while removing more nutrients in an integrated physicochemical and microbiological treatment process. The two green sorption media being tested in this study include zero-valent-iron and perlite-based green sorption media (ZIPGEM) and biochar, iron, …

Developing A Physics-Informed Deep Learning Paradigm For Traffic State Estimation, Jiheng Huang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The traffic delay due to congestion cost the U.S. economy $ 81 billion in 2022, and on average, each worker lost 97 hours each year during commute due to longer wait time. Traffic management and control strategies that serve as a potent solution to the congestion problem require accurate information on prevailing traffic conditions. However, due to the cost of sensor installation and maintenance, associated sensor noise, and outages, the key traffic metrics are often observed partially, making the task of estimating traffic states (TSE) critical. The challenge of TSE lies in the sparsity of observed traffic data and the …

Inelastic Pushover Response Characterization And Prediction Of A Dual Performance High-Capacity Hybrid Frame-Wall, Salih Can Rakici

Wayne State University Dissertations

The inelastic behavior of a dual performance high-capacity hybrid frame-wall system intended for cold formed steel construction is presented. The investigated frame-wall system features cold formed steel studs to support gravitational loads and a combination of cold formed steel straps and nonprestressed strands to provide braced frame action for lateral loads. In addition, hollow structural steel chords are used to resist overturning moments. The chords can be either hollow structural steel sections or steel tubes filled with ultra-high performance concrete. System behavior when subject to lateral loads or lateral displacements is characterized in terms of failure mode, ultimate strength, initial …

Assessing Potential Effects Of Climate Change On Highway-Runoff Flows And Loads In Southern New England By Using Planning-Level Space-For-Time Analyses, Lillian C. Jeznach, Gregory E. Granato, Daniel Sharar-Salgado, Susan Cheung Jones, Daniel Imig

Engineering, Computing & Construction Management Faculty Publications

Transportation agencies need information about the potential effects of climate change on the volume, quality, and treatment of stormwater to mitigate potential effects of runoff on receiving waters. To address these concerns, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal Highway Administration used the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project tool and the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model to perform space-for-time stormwater quality analyses. This study indicated that spatial variations in precipitation statistics within and adjacent to southern New England are greater than projected climate-related changes for the centroid of this region. A dilution-factor analysis indicated that highway runoff would become a …

Spatial Ensemble Distillation Learning Based Real-Time Crash Prediction And Management Framework, Md Rakibul Islam

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Real-time crash prediction is a complex task, since there is no existing framework to predict crash likelihood, types, and severity together along with a real-time traffic management strategy. Developing such a framework presents various challenges, including not independent and identically distributed data, imbalanced data, large model size, high computational cost, missing data, sensitivity vs. false alarm rate (FAR) trade-offs, estimation of traffic restoration time after crash occurrence, and real-world deployment strategy. A novel spatial ensemble distillation learning modeling technique is proposed to address these challenges. First, large-scale real-time data were used to develop a crash likelihood prediction model. Second, the …

Safety Considerations For Setting Variable Speed Limits On Freeways, Md Tarek Hasan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This thesis focuses on evaluating the appropriate speed at which vehicles should travel under different traffic conditions on freeways and its impact on crash frequency. The common belief is that the lower speed results in fewer crashes as reduced speed provides drivers with more time to react effectively and avoid collisions. However, this perspective overlooks the interplay among traffic speed, average spacing between consecutive vehicles, and the distance available for stopping a vehicle. Hence, we propose a safety parameter termed ‘Safety Correlate' (SCORE), which is defined as the proportion of average spacing relative to the stopping distance. To determine the …

Social Media-Based Crisis Communication: Analysis Of Twitter Data From Local Agencies During Hurricane Irma, Naiyara Noor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As social media platforms have become vital means of communications, it has become imperative for emergency managers and policy makers to understand how people are interacting with different agencies on these platforms for enhancing community response coordination during disasters. Although many public agencies have already adopted social media platforms for crisis communication purposes, empirical evidence on whether and how these agencies are effectively engaged on these platforms is lacking. This research aims to examine crisis communication activities of a variety of agencies on Twitter in response to Hurricane Irma in 2017. In this study, we analyzed 13,353 hurricane-related tweets posted …

Comparing Phosphorus Removal Efficiencies And Mechanisms Via Two Cost-Effective Specialty Adsorbents In A Cascade Upflow Filtration System, Sydney Kilgus-Vesely

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Finding solutions to treat water that contains phosphorus is an important effort due to the harmful impacts it presents to both human health and the environment. Phosphorus is considered a limiting factor in water oftentimes and therefore controls the growth of algal bloom in a water body. The increase of algal populations due to wastewater effluent, stormwater runoff, and agricultural discharge in Florida waters has a direct link to the event of harmful algal blooms such as red tide in coastal regions, eutrophication of waterbodies, and fish kills. Finding low cost, energy efficient, and low maintenance green sorption media (GSM) …

Modeling Individual Activity And Mobility Behavior And Assessing Ridesharing Impacts Using Emerging Data Sources, Jiechao Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Predicting individual mobility behavior is one of the major steps of transportation planning models. Accurate prediction of individual mobility behavior will be beneficial for transportation planning. Although previous studies have used different data sources to model individual mobility behaviors, they have several limitations such as the lack of complete mobility sequences and travel mode information, limiting our ability to accurately predict individual movements. In recent years, the emergence of GPS-based floating car data (FCD) and on-demand ride-hailing service platforms can provide innovative data sources to understand and model individual mobility behavior. Compared to the previously used data sources such as …

Stochastic Optimization To Reduce Aircraft Taxi-In Time At Igia, New Delhi, Rajib Das, Saileswar Ghosh, Rajendra Desai, Pijus Kanti Bhuin, Stuti Agarwal

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Since there is an uncertainty in the arrival times of flights, pre-scheduled allocation of runways and stands and the subsequent first-come-first-served treatment results in a sub-optimal allocation of runways and stands, this is the prime reason for the unusual delays in taxi-in times at IGIA, New Delhi.

We simulated the arrival pattern of aircraft and utilized stochastic optimization to arrive at the best runway-stands allocation for a day. Optimization is done using a GRG Non-Linear algorithm in the Frontline Systems Analytic Solver platform. We applied this model to eight representative scenarios of two different days. Our results show that without …

Quality Control Methods Through Pre-Determination Of Fields For Usrap Projects, Zachary Heath

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The United States Road Assessment Program (usRAP) was designed to rate highways for their ability to protect road users and to make recommendations to engineers and policy makers for investments to enhance road safety. The program is heavily dependent on local road data or characteristics. Pre-populating usRAP requires coders to evaluate sixty-six attributes at 100-meter intervals along a subject highway. In this thesis, methods for obtaining and assuring the quality of some of the usRAP data elements are proposed. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Highway Information System (HIS) data are used as “ground truth” for roadway grade and curvature. Methods of using …

Historical And Forecasted Kentucky Specific Slope Stability Analyses Using Remotely Retrieved Hydrologic And Geomorphologic Data, Daniel M. Francis

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazard analyses of rainfall-induced landslides have typically been observed to experience a lack of inclusion of measurements of soil moisture within a given soil layer at a site of interest. Soil moisture is a hydromechanical variable capable of both strength gains and reductions within soil systems. However, in situ monitoring of soil moisture at every site of interest is an unfeasible goal. Therefore, spatiotemporal estimates of soil moisture that are representative of in-situ conditions are required for use in subsequent landslide hazard analyses.

This study brings together various techniques for the acquisition, modeling, and forecasting of spatiotemporal retrievals of soil …

Clustering States To Improve The Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Victoria Cambron

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Each update to a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) can require a large amount of time, resources, and funding. From the requirements in U.S.C.148(a)(13)(E-F), in the SHSP update process states must consider the results of other transportation planning processes and develop a list of strategies to reduce or eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes (United States, 2023). To fulfill these requirements more efficiently and to gain the largest amount of benefit from said research, this thesis asks the question: how do we select other state transportation plans to study for ideas on improving our own SHSP? In this thesis, a …

Value Propositions, Adoption Factors, And Implementation Considerations: Building A Path Towards Construction Innovation, Makram Bou Bou Hatoum

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The construction industry has been influenced by a wave of technological advancements and trends that were introduced by the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0. Mapped as Construction 4.0, these technologies are disrupting the way projects are designed, planned, constructed, delivered, and operated. While existing research has predominantly focused on technology adoption and use cases across the project lifecycle, limited attention has been given to the organizational perspective and explored Construction 4.0 as a transformative vision. As such, there is a significant need for decision science research to support decision-makers in understanding the value of Construction 4.0, gaining leadership buy-in, …

Implementation Of Digital Twins For Small Water Systems, Aidan Gill

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The main objective of this thesis is to develop a working digital twin for a small water system in central Kentucky which will serve as a general format for other similar systems in the region wishing to implement digital twins for operator support. While the benefit of having a calibrated hydraulic and water quality model is widely understood, small distribution systems tend to not have the same financial and economic means to properly support these tools. Creation of a digital twin using this methodology provides a means for operators to predict pressure, flows, chlorine residuals, and total trihalomethane (TTHM) concentrations …

Soil Moisture And Geomorphologic Data For Use In Dynamic And Forecastable Landslide Hazard Analyses In Eastern Kentucky, Daniel M. Francis, L. Sebastian Bryson

Civil Engineering Research Data

These data are the geomorphologic and land information system-based soil moisture estimates from assimilation of NASA SMAP satellite-based observations and NOAH 3.6 Land Surface Model estimates over known landslides in Eastern Kentucky. Additionally Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network and logistic regression machine learning codes, as well as an Application programming interface code are included. Finally, in-situ data from Eastern Kentucky is included.

Assessment Of Microplastics In The Surface Water Of Sitio Pulo, Navotas, Metro Manila, Mark Lester C. Galicia, Carl Luis P. Flestado, Jeff Ryan S. Magalong, Ronald Benz L. Rivera, Kim M. Villacorte, William Peter G. Sarmiento, Chester C. Deocaris

Applied Environmental Research

Microplastics are synthetic polymer particles with a length of 5 mm or less with no well-defined lower boundary. These debris particles are known to affect marine and aquatic organisms which poses a threat to biodiversity and marine resources. In this study, the isolated microplastic from the coastal and lagoon surface waters of Sitio Pulo is described. Sitio Pulo is a barrier island mangrove sanctuary located at Brgy. Tanza I, Navotas City surrounded by Manila Bay. The samples collected last July 4 and 25, 2019, were isolated, profiled, and analyzed. A total of four hundred forty-nine (449) microplastic fragments were isolated …

An Urban Tree (Tabebuia Argentea) Exhibits Higher Sensitivity To Environmental Conditions Than An Urban Palm (Ptychosperma Macarthurii) Growing In The Same Roof Garden: An Implication For Sustainable Urban Water Use, Ratchanon Ampornpitak, Prangwilai Khobpee, Weerapong Unawong, Nisa Leksungnoen, Pantana Tor-Ngern

Applied Environmental Research

Roof gardening is popular for increasing green space in cities due to the restricted urban areas. However, when watering plants on a roof garden, one should consider loading capacity of the roof, which may limit water supply to the plants therein. To improve the efficiency in irrigating trees in a roof garden, we evaluated plant water status, represented by midday leaf water potential (ΨL), and leaf gas exchange parameters including stomatal conductance (gs) and net photosynthesis (An) of a tree (Tabebuia argentea, Ta) and a palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii, Pm) species, which dominate the garden. …

Impact Of Covid-19 Nationwide Lockdowns And Unlock Phases In India On River Water Quality Of Upper Part Of The Ganga River, Dhara Kakwani, Abha Kumari, Kumar Suranjit Prasad, Bablu Prasad

Applied Environmental Research

The river water quality index (RWQI) of the upper Ganga canal has been computed to assess the effect of lockdown and unlock phases lead down by COVID-19 in India. Geospatial distribution of RWQI from January 2019 to December 2021 in the study area revealed significant impacts of lockdown on water quality. However, unlock phases (post lockdown) have deteriorated water quality since August 2020 and reached to actual conditions of the river by August 2021. To evaluate the lockdown as a management strategy to clean the river, other factors were reviewed including rainfall data, migration, and other activities. The results revealed …

Assessing The Predictive Capability Of The Nno Ballistic Limit Equation For Low-Density Projectile Impact, William P. Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The design of nearly all Earth-orbiting spacecraft includes some sort of added shielding that protects the spacecraft against impacts by meteoroids and orbital debris. The effectiveness of the shielding is typically assessed using ballistic limit equations (BLEs) that are developed using data from high-speed impact tests on key spacecraft components and elements. These equations predict whether or not a particular system or structural element will sustain a critical failure following a specific impact event. As such, they are essential components of spacecraft system design as well as any quantitative spacecraft risk assessments that may need to be performed as part …

Spatiotemporal Retrievals Of Soil Moisture And Geomorphologic Data For Landslide Sites In Eastern Kentucky, Lindsey Sebastian Bryson, Daniel M. Francis

Civil Engineering Research Data

These data are the soil texture, land information system-based soil moisture estimates from assimilation of NASA SMAP satellite-based observations and NOAH 3.6 Land Surface Model estimates, artificial neural network machine learning code, and in-situ soil moisture measurements.

The Combination Of Activated Sludge And A Constructed Wetland For Treating Soybean Wastewater, Tri Nguyen Minh, Nhan Nguyen Thi, Hoan Le Thi-Hai, Thanh Pham Van

Applied Environmental Research

Soybean is a nutritious and popular material in the Vietnamese food industry. Soybean processing wastewater contains a significant amount of organic compounds, which have a negative impact on aquatic life due to light penetration and oxygen consumption limitations. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine whether the combination of activated sludge and a constructed wetland using VA06 grass could be effective in treating soybean wastewater. Various amounts of activated sludge were investigated. To be specific, a 20% additional sludge percentage resulted in the shortest treatment time for chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and phosphorus (TP). Additionally, the …

Riverine Microplastics Pollution In Vietnam: A Review Of Current Scientific Knowledge And Legal Policies, Sang Truong Tran Nguyen, Emilie Strady, Thuy Chung Kieu Le, Thi Minh Tam Le, Phuoc Dan Nguyen, Ngoc Bao Pham, Yukako Inamura

Applied Environmental Research

Plastic litter and microplastic pollution in the aquatic environment have become a major concern since scientists, politicians, and citizens began to learn about the impacts in recent years. This in-depth desk review of scientific papers and Vietnamese policies aims to state the current knowledge, legal framework, and action plan relative to microplastic assessment, release, and control in Vietnamese aquatic environments, especially rivers. Regarding scientific literature, this paper focuses on (i) the occurrence of microplastics in riverine surface water and sediments, (ii) the fate and transfer of microplastics in Vietnam’s canals-riverine- estuarine systems, (iii) their accumulation in biota, and (iv) effects …

Developing Cost-Effective Specialty Adsorbents To Meet The Emerging Challenges Of Pollutant Removal In Surface Water Systems, Diana Ordonez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The production of clean water is emphasized under the United Nations goals for sustainable development (SDGs), enlightening the acute need of developing new sustainable technologies in all disciplines. SDGs have urged all engineers in the 21st century to mitigate pollution of drinking water sources and prevent all receiving waterbodies from the impact of agriculture discharge, wastewater effluent, and stormwater runoff. Current water matrix constituents of concern include traditional pollutants (i.e., total nitrogen and total phosphate), natural organic matters (i.e., total organic carbon (TOC), tannic acid), heavy metals (i.e., copper, calcium), and harmful algae toxins (i.e., microcystin), as well as contaminants …

Nondestructive Evaluation Of Structural Defects In Concrete Slabs, Ehsanul Kabir

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Nondestructive testing (NDT) is a reliable method for determining the structural integrity of new and old construction and understanding the condition of structural defects. It is widely acknowledged that the interpretation of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) has a significant impact on the reliability and consistency of this technology. However, NDT data acquisition remains subjective and heavily dependent on the operator’s knowledge and expertise. As a result, there are still issues to be resolved regarding the imaging and diagnostic procedures for NDT-based concrete inspection. NDT methods such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), and impact-echo (IE), have been extensively used to inspect concrete …

Eugenol, Menthol And Other Flavour Chemicals In Kreteks And ‘White’ Cigarettes Purchased In Indonesia, Joanna Cohen, Beladenta Amalia, Wentai Luo, Kevin J. Mcwhirter, James F. Pankow

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background Flavoured tobacco products are not restricted in Indonesia, a country with about 68 million adults who smoke. Most use clove-mixed tobacco cigarettes (‘kreteks’); non-clove (‘white’) cigarettes are also available. Although the use of flavour chemicals has been identified by WHO as promoting tobacco use, little has been reported for Indonesia about the levels of flavourants in either kreteks or ‘white cigarettes’.

Methods 22 kretek brand variants and nine ‘white’ cigarette brand variants were purchased in Indonesia during 2021/2022; one of the kretek packs contained three colour-coded variants, giving a total sample number of 24 for the kreteks. Chemical analyses …