Engineering Commons^™

Exploring The Use Of Piox System For Treatment Of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds, Alexander Pearson

Civil Engineering Theses

In this thesis, the Photon Initiated Oxidation (PIOx) system was investigated for its possible use in the treatment of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs). It was theorized that the unique design of the system, namely the multiple wavelengths of UV light and the micronfoam would improve removal rates of the test contaminant when compared to other systems. 17β-estradiol was chosen as the test contaminant due to the compounds known sensitivity to ozone exposure. Two methods of testing were used, the first to test an idealized homogenous concentration (method one) and the second to mimic the sudden influx of contaminant that would …

Inequity Of Access Across America: A Spatial, Temporal, And Modal Disparity Analysis, Sanju Maharjan

Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine the spatial, temporal, and modal disparity of access across America. This is achieved by posing three research objectives. The first objective determines the spatial and temporal disparity of transit and automobile access gap, its impact on transit use, and its socioeconomic and built environment correlates. The second objective examines the spatial and temporal disparity of slightly and extremely risky bike infrastructure and measures the social inequity of access to bike infrastructure. The third objective indicates spatial transit access mismatch between high- and low-wage employment across metropolitans. Three findings are discerned. First, …

Evaluation For Using Expended Bioelectrochemical Systems As Soil Amendments For Improved Corn Plant Growth And A Drought Resistant Soil., Jackson Lee Sauers

Theses and Dissertations

A long-held practice is to mix agricultural soil with a soil amendment to improve growing conditions in crops. A common soil amendment is biosolids produced from both municipal and dairy wastewater due to the macro- and micronutrients within it. Both the agricultural and wastewater industries are participating in the Circular Economy concept (CEC). Two experiments explored using expended bioelectrochemical systems (BES) that treated either synthetic dairy wastewater (DWW) or synthetic municipal wastewater (SWW) as soil amendments to improve corn plant growth when treated with three different nutrient treatments: 100%- 50%- and 0% Hoagland Nutrient Solutions. Biochar and used terracotta clay …

Resiliency Of Levee-Protected Power Networks To Flooding In A Changing Climate Integrating Environmental Justice, Seyed Saeed Miraee-Ashtiani

Theses and Dissertations

Electric power system (EPS) is an integral part of infrastructure systems. Ensuring its resiliency to extreme weather events and natural hazards is crucial to protect the safety, economy and public health. Recorded and projected data show an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural hazards attributed to a changing climate. It is critical to ensure the integrity of the aging infrastructure systems and to promote environmental justice by shrinking the energy-equity gap to lower power outages in disadvantaged communities.

An important aspect is the resiliency interdependency of EPS to other critical infrastructure systems, an aspect …

Hydraulic Redistribution Under Saline Conditions, Josh Gottlieb

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Water scarcity and soil salinity are dual stressors for plants in arid, salt-affected ecosystems. Hydraulic redistribution, a hydraulic adaptation which moves water through plant roots into dry or saline soil regions along potential gradients, aids plant survival in stressful environments. Recent theory regarding hydraulic redistribution proposes limitations on the process within saline soils. This study applies a minimalist resistor-capacitor model of the soil-plant-atmosphere system to the experimental conditions of a 2010 study investigating hydraulic redistribution in a salt affected area. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify key dynamics affecting the moisture …

Estimation Of Cotton Canopy Parameters Based On Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Oblique Photography, Jinyong Wu, Sheng Wen, Yubin Lan, Xuanchun Yin, Jiantao Zhang, Yufeng Ge

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: The technology of cotton defoliation is essential for mechanical cotton harvesting. Agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spraying has the advantages of low cost, high efficiency and no mechanical damage to cotton and has been favored and widely used by cotton planters in China. However, there are also some problems of low cotton defoliation rates and high impurity rates caused by unclear spraying amounts of cotton defoliants. The chemical rate recommendation and application should be based upon crop canopy volume rather than on land area. Plant height and leaf area index (LAI) is directly connected to plant canopy structure. …

2022 Fall Engr333 Project Section A Final Report, Dat Cao, Sam Hoover, Sawyer Masselink, Ian Vanderkooi, Matthew Carlson, Jacob Heeres, Anthony Nykamp, Jacob Wyngarden, Nate Anderson, Anna Giboney, Gia Mien Le, Jonathan Washburn, Jess Camp, Aubree Peters, Alin Stoica, Drew Stoneburner, Claire Sheppard, Alayna Spiering, Reid Veneman, James Viel

ENGR 333

Calvin University has committed to being carbon neutral by 2057. This entails removing all the natural gas consumption for heating, converting to electrical heating options, and then making carbon free electricity. This project looked into four different options: air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, renewable natural gas, and the efficiency of current equipment. Each option was examined throughout the course of the semester to determine feasibility of each solution, and which ones would be best to implement. As a class, section A decided ground source heat pumps along with thermostatic valves and the implementation of double pane windows …

Comparative Study Of Differentiating Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Into Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells In Hydrogel-Based Culture Methods, Qing Liu, Zhen Liu, Hongyu Gu, Yuxia Ge, Xuesheng Wu, Fuxing Zuo, Qian Du, Yuguo Lei, Zhanqi Wang, Haishuang Lin

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), which provides structural integrity and regulates the diameter of vasculature, are of great potential for modeling vascular-associated diseases and tissue engineering. Here, we presented a detailed comparison of differentiating human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into VSMCs (hPSCs-VSMCs) in four different culture methods, including 2-dimensional (2D) culture, 3-dimensional (3D) PNIPAAm-PEG hydrogel culture, 3-dimensional (3D) alginate hydrogel culture, and transferring 3- dimensional alginate hydrogel culture to 2-dimensional (2D) culture. Both hydrogel-based culture methods could mimic in vivo microenvironment to protect cells from shear force, and avoid cells agglomeration, resulting in the extremely high culture efficiency (e.g., high …

Behavior Of Completely Automated Evapotranspiration Estimation (Eemetric), Atiqullah Atif

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the second-largest component in the water balance equation, globally consuming 70% of the earth’s annual precipitation. Accurate and consistent estimation of ET is essential for ensuring water resources sustainability, proper management, planning, and regulations of water resources. Though a 100% accurate estimation of ET may not be feasible with the current technology, there are proven techniques that give us estimates of ET we can heavily rely on. Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) is a widely used surface energy balance model that produces relatively accurate ET maps utilizing remote sensing data and requires skilled …

Experimental And Numerical Study: Sheet Pile Abutment Systems For Water-Crossing Bridges, Hung Phi Van

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sheet piles are geotechnical-structural elements with interlocking edges together that are driven into the ground to deliver soil retention and excavation support. Steel sheet pile walls are widely used for retaining walls, riverbank protection, seawalls, cofferdams, etc. In Nebraska, sheet pile walls prevent scouring and protect backfill for bridge abutment systems. While sheet piling is not designed and applied to resist vertical load, several recent studies attempted to investigate whether sheet piles could be employed for axial load bearing. Many projects from Europe and some in the U.S. have utilized the axial load-bearing capacity of sheet piles in bridge abutment …

Interlayered Thin Film Composite (Itfc) Membranes: The Synthesis And Assembly Of Active Layer From Conjugated Microporous Polymer, Febby Andini

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The pursuit of advanced materials with well-defined structures at sub-1 nm size, multi-functionalities, and superior chemical stability is essential for enhanced separation performance but technically challenging. Limitations of conventional TFC membranes for use in Organic Solvent Nanofiltration (OSN) can be addressed by manipulating the pore size and chemical properties of the film with novel materials. Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are promising in a few years because of their highly ordered structure and excellent stability. Porphyrin, one of the basic building blocks, can form a conjugated polymer. Herein, poly(5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-aminophenyl)porphyrin) or PTAPP, is considerably selected as an active layer from CMPs using …

Stochastic Approach To Hydrological Dam Safety In The Framework Of The New Dam Safety Standards In Spain, Iván Gabriel-Martin, Francisco J. Caballero, Álvaro Sordo-Ward, Luis Garrote

Protections Conference

The approval of the Technical Safety Standards for dams and reservoirs in Spain in 2021 increased the hydrological safety requirements, being necessary to check if measures have to be implemented in dams designed according to the prior standards. Some of these dams have scarce instrumentation and lack of hydrometeorological data. This work proposes a simple but sounded fully-stochastic methodology for assessing the hydrological safety of dams within this situation, potentially applicable outside academia. The methodology has been applied to a case study based on a real dam, and compared the results obtained to those of the standard deterministic procedure. We …

Wirewall A Follow Up: Labratory And Field Measurements Of Wave Overtopping, Tim Pullen, Jenny Brown, Margaret Yelland, Robin Pascal, Richard Pinnell, Chris Cardwell, David Jones

Protections Conference

At the Protections 2018 conference, the WireWall wave overtopping research project was introduced. WireWall uses recent advances in high frequency capacitance wire technology that can measure overtopping data. Wave overtopping has now been measured in the laboratory and in the field using the WireWall system. Here we provide an update on the validation of the system in flume tests and results from the first field measurement campaign.

Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in one of the 2D wave flumes at HR Wallingford. These tests simulated known wave conditions from a buoy near …

Methodology For Calculating The Response Of Porous Media For Evaluating Grass Response To Overtopping Loads, Myron Von Damme, Dennis Den Ouden-Van Der Horst

Protections Conference

Grass covers offer a level of erosion protection against hydrodynamic loads induced by overtopping waves. The development of an accurate failure criterion for grass covers has been hampered by the lack of understanding of how grass fails. Methods have been developed to predict the hydrodynamic loads that act on the levee surface and consequently are transmitted to the porous grass cover and subsoil. However, it is unknown how these hydrodynamic surface loads on the soil are distributed amongst the pore water pressures and effective stresses, thereby offering a significant challenge for engineers to simulate the transmission of stresses into the …

Hydraulic Computations For Stepped Concrete Overlays Of Embankment Dams, Tony L. Wahl, Sherry L. Hunt, Kem C. Kadavy, Henry T. Falvey

Protections Conference

One method for rehabilitating and modernizing embankment dams is the addition of a concrete overlay that protects the embankment and allows floods to pass safely over the dam. Roller compacted concrete is commonly used, which makes it practical to use a stepped construction that also enhances energy dissipation. Analysis of flow conditions over such structures requires computation of aerated flow and its effects on flow depth, training wall design, and energy dissipation. This paper describes Spillway Pro, an energy-based water surface profile calculation tool for smooth spillway chutes (Wahl et al. 2019), recently improved to also analyze stepped chutes. The …

Quasi-Prototype Size Testing Of Wedge-Shaped Block For Armoring Embankment Dams And Levees, Francisco Javier Caballero, Miguel Ángel Toledo, Rafael Moran, Javier Peraita

Protections Conference

A series of tests of wedge-shaped blocks intended for armoring embankment dams and levees was carried out in a new experimental facility (‘Hydraulic Experimentation Facility—Luis Ruano’) under quasi-prototype conditions. This unique facility is located in the canal leading to the Laverné reservoir (Zaragoza, Spain) with a maximum vertical drop of 7 m and discharge up to 9 m³s ⁻¹. The aim was to conduct experimental research on technologies to protect embankment dams and dikes against overflowing erosion under quasi-prototype conditions. The results of the tests demonstrate the ability of the WSBs to withstand high unit …

Riprap Protection Exposed To Overtopping Phenomena: A Review Of Laboratory Experimental Models, Théo Dezert, Geir Helge Kiplesund, Fjóla Guðrún Sigtryggsdóttir

Protections Conference

There are increasing demands from dam safety regulations and guidelines to upgrade the rockfill dams, especially in Norway where over 180 large rockfill dams are present. To protect the hydraulic structure against overtopping events or leakages, it is important to use defence mechanisms such as a protective layer of riprap on the downstream slope. In this article, we display 9 experimental setups of riprap, conducted at the hydraulic laboratory of NTNU (Trondheim) and subjected to overtopping phenomena with increasing water discharge, until the complete failure of the model. These tests were performed on models with dumped and placed riprap, with …

Overflow Tests On Grass-Covered Embankments At The Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder: An Overview, André R. Koelewijn, Stephan J.H. Rikkert, Patrik Peeters, Davy Depreiter, Myron Van Damme, Wouter Zomer

Protections Conference

In regions with a temperate climate, a well-maintained grass sod on a clay layer is considered a reliable protection for dams and dikes. In the Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder, on the left bank of the Scheldt river straddling the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, a series of 27 overflow tests with a purpose-built overflow generator has been executed to determine the strength of the protective layer against erosion at various conditions. The goal of this paper is to inform on the executed test program and the initial results. From the results, it was concluded that in general, a high-quality grass …

Field Testing Of The Overflow Erosion Of Rhone River Levees, Christophe Picault, Fabrice Campette, Stéphane Bonelli, Sylvie Nicaise, Naim Chaouch, Faustine Byron, Yves Gremeaux, Alexis Doghmane, Mathys Garoui, Jordan Herbeck, Frédéric Golay

Protections Conference

It is important to quantify the soil resistance against erosion caused by the overflow of dikes and levees. Small-scale tests are not recommended, as they do not provide a correct representation of the actual soil in place and do not take into account the geometry of the structure. For this reason, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) developed an on-site overflow device in 2015. The procedure followed is based on ASTM-D6460 standard. Two tests were performed in May 2022 on a Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) dike near Avignon (France). The dike is 6.2 m high; …

Recent Case Histories Of Cascade Failures And Overflowing Events Of Embankment Dams, Alexius Vogel, Jean-Robert Courivaud, Katarzyna Jarecka

Protections Conference

Excessive rainfall and extensive flooding within the context of a changing environment show the fact that resistance to overflowing erosion of embankment dams needs to be better assessed because of the increasing number of dam failures caused by overflowing, implying the necessity of a reaction to this kind of challenges. Better understandings of the embankment failure processes and the dominant parameters affecting these kinds of failures are necessary for predicting and modeling the breach processes. Acquiring this better understanding of the physical processes and a numerical prediction capability requires progressing in parallel in laboratory and field test investigations of embankment …

Earlier Snowmelt May Lead To Late Season Declines In Plant Productivity And Carbon Sequestration In Arctic Tundra Ecosystems, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Koen Hufkens, Barbara Bailey, Beniamino Gioli, George Burba, Jordan P. Goodrich, Anna K. Liljedahl, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jennifer D. Watts, Mary Farina, John S. Kimball, Martin Heimann, Mathias Göckede, Martijn Pallandt, Torben R. Christensen, Mikhail Mastepanov, Efrén López-Blanco, Marcin Jackowicz-Korczynski, Albertus J. Dolman, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Roisin Commane, Steven C. Wofsy, Charles E. Miller, David A. Lipson, Josh Hashemi, Kyle A. Arndt, Lars Kutzbach, David Holl, Julia Boike, Christian Wille, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Xia Song

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June …

2022 Fall Engr333 Poster, Section B, Nicholas Paternoster, Nick Grossman, Jared Ruba, Zac Runhaar, Caleb Styf, Anne Ghata, Micah Lee, Thomas Noble, Liam Austin, Kai Barboza, Mark Bekhet, Jordan Tuter, Jacob Tanis, Sara Vansolkema, Aidan Bakker, Ben Casey, Sarah Maccarthy, Elise Miera, Christine Vanoyen

ENGR 333

• “What would it take to eliminate Calvin's natural gas-related net CO2 emissions?”
• Former Calvin President Michael Le Roy signed the President’s Climate Commitment on Dec 6, 2017
• Pledged carbon neutrality by 2057
• Results so far have been mixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but gains have come from: Improved lighting efficiency, Reduced enrollment, Renewable electricity is already being tackled through partnerships with companies like Sun FundED.

Effects Of Feeding Mode On The Performance, Life Span And Greenhouse Gas Emissions Of A Vertical Flow Macrophyte Assisted Vermifilter, Rajneesh Singh, Chittaranjan Ray, Daniel N. Miller, Lisa M. Durso, Yulie Meneses, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Matteo D’Alessio

Faculty and Student Publications

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of intermittent feeding on performance, clogging, and gaseous emission on macrophyte assisted vermifiltration (MAVF) based treatment system. Synthetic slaughterhouse wastewater was applied to two different integrated vertical flow based MAVFs. Triplicates were used throughout the study. Eisenia fetida earthworms were added to MAVFs, and Carex muskingmenis plants were planted. Wastewater was applied to the reactors on 1) intermittent (8 h/day) (IMAVF) and 2) continuous (24 h/day) (CMAVF) basis. The average chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous removals achieved by the IMAVF were 80.2 ± 1.6%, 53.9 ± 1.3% and 66.5 …

2022 Fall Engr333 Poster, Section A, Dat Cao, Izuchi Ebeku, Samuel Hoover, Sawyer Masselink, Ian Vanderkooi, Matthew Carlson, Jacob Heeres, Anthony Nykamp, Jacob Vanwyngarden, Nate Anderson, Anna Giboney, Gia Mien Le, Jonathan Washburn, Jess Camp, Ryan Macintyre, Aubree Peters, Alin Stoica, Drew Stoneburner, Claire Sheppard, Alayna Spiering, Reid Veneman, James Viel

ENGR 333

In 2017 President Michael K. Le Roy signed Second Nature’s President Climate Commitment. This commitment outlines that Calvin’s governing body will ensure Calvin University is a carbon neutral educational institution by 2057. In June of 2022, Calvin University’s presidential seat was passed from Dr. Michael K. Le Roy to Dr. Wiebe Boer. In his short time as the president of Calvin University, Dr. Boer has put many projects into motion to help Calvin achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2057. This past fall Dr. Boer tasked the ENGR 333 class with answering the following question: What would it …

Utilizing Simulated Vehicle Trajectory Data From Connected Vehicles To Characterize Performance Measures On An Arterial After An Impactful Incident, Norris Kamugisha Novat Baraba

ETD Archive

Traffic incidents are unforeseen events known to affect traffic flow because they reduce the capacity of an arterial corridor segment and normally generate a temporary bottleneck. Identification of retiming requirements to enhance traffic signal operations when an incident occurs depends on operations-oriented traffic signal performance measurements. When effective and real-time traffic signal performance metrics are employed at traffic control centers, delays, fuel use, and air pollution may all be decreased. The majority of currently available traffic signal performance evaluations are based on high-resolution traffic signal controller event data, which gives data on an intersection-by-intersection basis but requires a substantial upfront …

Evaluating Arkansas Weathering Steel Bridge Performance, Yessenia Gonzalez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weathering steel enhances corrosion-resistant steel features over conventional steel when a patina properly forms on the weathering steel surface. Weathering steel is a low carbon steel of less than 0.3% carbon by weight and has a chemical composition including other alloying elements such as nickel, copper, and chromium that develops a patina. The patina is a dense protective oxide film layer that develops on the steel member surface. The patina defends the steel from corrosion by preventing moisture, oxygen, and contaminant penetration. However, long periods of moisture and deicing chemicals applied during wet wintry conditions hinder proper patina formation. Without …

Improving Building Cfd Peak Pressure Computation Using Les With A Focus On Inflow Turbulence Methods And Grid Spacing Size., Zahra Mansouri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Structural failures by extreme winds often leads to economic losses and even deaths. Proper design of buildings requires accurate estimation of wind loads to prevent structural damage. Using routine guidelines generally leads to the underestimation of buildings’ peak pressures, in which most failures occur. To estimate wind loads more accurately three different methods (i.e., field measurement, wind tunnel (WT), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD)) are in use. A well-validated CFD provides more flow field details at lower costs compared to field measurements and WT. As strong winds are extremely turbulent, the effects of turbulence in wind should be incorporated into …

2022 Fall Engr333 Project Section B Final Report, Nicholas Paternoster, Nick Grossman, Jared Ruba, Zac Runhaar, Caleb Styf, Anne Ghata, Micah Lee, Thomas Noble, Liam Austin, Kai Barboza, Mark Bekhet, Jordan Tuter, Jacob Tanis, Sara Vansolkema, Aidan Bakker, Ben Casey, Sarah Mccarthy, Elise Miera, Christine Vanoyen

ENGR 333

Sustainability is a multi-faceted grand challenge. One of today’s largest challenges is related to sustainability: CO2 emissions from energy consumption. Calvin University purchases natural gas for the energy services it provides; however, it is a major contributor to the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. The ENGR 333 section B class was tasked with the question: What would it take to eliminate Calvin’s natural gas-related net CO2 emissions? After many hours of research and calculations, the ENGR 333 section B class answered this question with recommendations such as implementing ground source heat pumps, console heat pumps, air source heat …

Performance Evaluation Of The Modified Moisture Barrier In Stabilizing Shallow Slope Failures, Muhasina Manjur Dola

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Each year significant number of highway slope failures are reported in the United States, especially in states like Texas where expansive clayey soil is prevalent. Slopes constructed over expansive clay often experience recurring shallow failures following their construction which poses maintenance problems to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). These shallow slope failures can be primarily attributed to the considerable volume change that expansive clay soil undergoes from seasonal climatic variation. Furthermore, under unsaturated conditions during dry periods, high matric suction (i.e., negative porewater pressure) exists in soil slopes. The existence of matric suction contributes to the shear strength of …

Development Of A Decesion Tree To Rehabilitate Or Replace The St. Francis Bridge Over Ih-30, Md Farhan Abir

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

ABSTRACT: The ASCE infrastructure report card indicated that about 42% of the nation’s bridges are over 50 years old, and 7.5% of the bridges are structurally deficient. The 61-year-old St. Francis bridge over IH-30 is one of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) bridges that exhibit significant deterioration in the superstructure, including potholes and delamination in the deck. The bridge was load posted to 28,000 lb. limit and has substandard vertical and horizontal clearances to the bottom chord of the beams and supporting piers, respectively, which creates a high risk for vehicle impact. In 2017, an over-height truck struck the …