Engineering Commons^™

Colorado River Basin Water Accounts: 1-Page Summary, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

26 Colorado River managers and experts constructively improved basin water accounts as a framework to transition emergency reservoir operations into more sustainable, equitable, and adaptive water uses.

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 …

The Living Breakwaters Pdr Efforts Econcrete Resource Analysis, Guianina Ferrari, Shervon Stephens, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy impacted 443,000 people and caused nearly $19 billion (about $58 per person in the US) worth of damage within New York City. As part of the New York City infrastructure reparation plan, the Living Breakwaters project in Tottenville addressed coastal resilience, allocating $100M of public funds to a series of artificial breakwaters by the southwest coast of Staten Island. Each breakwater is constructed and designed to mitigate water flow in storm events. ECOncrete, a primary element of the breakwater, is a specialty cast cementitious product that is marine organism-friendly that encourages biocalcification and photosynthesis. …

How Dynamic Adsorption Controls Surfactant‑Enhanced Boiling, Mario R. Mata, Brandon Ortiz, Dhruv Luhar, Vesper Evereux, H. Jeremy Cho

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Population Health Metrics During The Early Stages Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Correlative Pilot Study, Marie A. Severson, David A. Cassada, Victor C. Huber, Daniel D. Snow, Lisa M. Mcfadden

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Background: COVID-19 has caused nearly 1 million deaths in the United States, not to mention job losses, business and school closures, stay-at-home orders, and mask mandates. Many people have suffered increased anxiety and depression since the pandemic began. Not only have mental health symptoms become more prevalent, but alcohol consumption has also increased during this time. Helplines offer important insight into both physical and mental wellness of a population by offering immediate, anonymous, cheap, and accessible resources for health and substance use disorders (SUD) that was unobstructed by many of the mandates of the pandemic. Further, the pandemic also …

Sea Level Rise Analysis: High-Importance Access Road Protection, Max Alvin, Taylor Goodwyn, Karly Johnson, Pedro Valverde

Student Projects

Cal Poly Humboldt Environmental Resources Engineering Senior Capstone.

This report provides an analysis of design alternatives and ultimately a preferred design to ensure the longevity of Highway 101 near Orick, CA which is under threat of sea level rise (SLR). Highway 101 is the main transportation corridor for communities stretching from Arcata to Crescent City, California. Caltrans provided an area of interest along Highway 101 just southwest of Orick, between mile markers 119.58 and 119.92. The project area of interest is illustrated below in Figure ES-1. This stretch of Highway 101 borders low lying pastures and Redwood Creek's historic estuary. …

Big Lagoon Sea Level Rise, Kyra Cohen, Malia Seeley, Dustin Helliwell, Albert Wolff

Student Projects

Cal Poly Humboldt Environmental Resources Engineering Senior Capstone.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is highly concerned sea level rise (SLR), due to climate change and the potential negative impacts on the California transportation system. SLR is especially important for routes constructed at low elevations and those immediately adjacent to the coast where SLR is one of the largest threats to the transportation system along the coast. Rising sea levels are expected to disrupt the daily lives of Californians, specifically the coastal economies, which increases the risk to public safety and contributes to the decline of ecosystems that are vital …

Creating Sustainable Biofuels Using Essential Oil Distillery Leaf Waste Near Vohimana Reserve, Ashley Cohen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Like most of Madagasacar’s population, people around Vohimana Reserve rely on traditional fuels like firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating. As a result, the region is facing deforestation, which poses a threat to biodiversity and the livelihoods of local populations. A local essential oil distillery was created by the NGO L’Homme et L’Environnement as a sustainable income generator to combat deforestation and protect biodiversity. The distillery produces leaf biomass that can be mixed with binding agent(s) and transformed into biofuel as a sustainable alternative to traditional fuels. 14 biofuels were created by combining distillery leaf biomass and various percent …

Enrofloxacin And Sulfamethoxazole Sorption On Carbonized Leonardite: Kinetics, Isotherms, Influential Effects, And Antibacterial Activity Toward S. Aureus Atcc 25923, Chanat Chokejaroenrat, Chainarong Sakulthaew, Khomson Satchasataporn, Daniel D. Snow, Tarik E. Ali, Mohammed A. Assiri, Apichon Watcharenwong, Saksit Imman, Nopparat Suriyachai, Torpong Kreetachat

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Excessive antibiotic use in veterinary applications has resulted in water contamination and potentially poses a serious threat to aquatic environments and human health. The objective of the current study was to quantify carbonized leonardite (cLND) adsorption capabilities to remove sulfamethoxazole (SMX)- and enrofloxacin (ENR)-contaminated water and to determine the microbial activity of ENR residuals on cLND following adsorption. The cLND samples prepared at 450^oC and 850^oC (cLND450 and cLND550, respectively) were evaluated for structural and physical characteristics and adsorption capabilities based on adsorption kinetics and isotherm studies. The low pyrolysis temperature of cLND resulted in a …

Warming Of The Willamette River, 1850–Present: The Effects Of Climate Change And Direct Human Interventions, Stefan Talke, David Jay, Heida Diefenderfer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using archival research methods, we found and combined data from multiple sources to produce a unique, 140 year record of daily water temperature (Tw) in the lower Willamette River, Oregon (1881–1890, 1941–present). Additional daily weather and river flow records from the 1850s onwards are used to develop and validate a statistical regression model of Tw for 1850–2020. The model simulates the time-lagged response of Tw to air temperature and river flow, and is calibrated for three distinct time periods: the late 19th, mid 20th, and early 21st centuries. Results show that Tw has trended upwards at ~1.1 °C …

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A.G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

Influence Of Defects On In-Plane Dynamic Properties Of Hexagonal Ligament Chiral Structures, Ning An, Xunwen Su, Dongmei Zhu, Mileta M. Tomovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Although the six-ligament chiral structure has many unique properties, due to its special structure, the stress concentration is prone to defects. In addition, additive manufacturing is also prone to defects. This paper studies the effect of defects, which is helpful for the better application of the six-ligament chiral structure. Several new six-ligament chiral structures with random and concentrated defects were designed to explore the effects of the defects on the in-plane dynamic properties. The structures were studied with the finite element ANSYS/LSDYNA numerical simulation and experimental methods. According to the defect-free six-ligament chiral structures exhibiting different deformation modes at different …

Supplementary Information For "Understanding Mid-To Large Underground Leaks From Buried Pipelines As Affected By Soil And Atmospheric Conditions – Field Scale Experimental Study", Navodi J.R.R. Jayarathne, Kathleen M. Smits, Stuart N. Riddick, Daniel J. Zimmerle, Younki Cho, Michelle Schwartz, Fancy Cheptonui, Kevan Cameron, Peter Ronney

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets

Reducing the amount of leaked natural gas (NG) from pipelines from production to use has become a high priority in efforts to cut anthropogenic emissions of methane and ensure public safety. However, tracking and evaluating NG pipeline leaks, especially at moderate to high flow rates, requires a better understanding of the leak from the source to the detector as well as more robust quantification methods. To better understand fugitive emissions from NG pipelines, we developed a field scale testbed that simulates mid and high-pressure gas leaks from belowground natural gas infrastructure. The system is equipped with subsurface, surface and atmospheric …

Replication Data For: Investigating Detection Probability Of Mobile Survey Solutions For Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks Under Different Atmospheric Conditions, Shanru Tian, Stuart Riddick, Younki Cho, Bell Clay, Daniel Zimmerle, Kathleen Smits

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets

The 2015 Paris agreement aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperature rise below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Reducing CH4 emissions from leaking pipelines presents a relatively achievable objective. While walking and driving surveys are commonly used to detect leaks, the detection probability (DP) is poorly characterized. This study aims to investigate how leak rates, survey distance and speed, and atmospheric conditions affect the DP in controlled belowground conditions with release rates of 0.5–8.5 g min−1. Results show that DP is highly influenced by survey speed, atmospheric stability, and wind speed. The average DP in Pasquill–Gifford stability …

Replication Data For: A Closer Look At Underground Natural Gas Pipeline Leaks Across The United States, Younki Cho, Kathleen M. Smits, Nathaniel L. Steadman, Bridget A. Ulrich, Clay S. Bell, Daniel J. Zimmerle

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets

Underground natural gas (NG) pipeline leakage can result in methane (CH₄) buildup and migration through the soil. What is not well understood in such scenarios is how the soil conditions affect the gas migration behavior, particularly in regard to the relative contributions of specific soil properties such as soil moisture content. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of soil properties on CH₄ concentration and migration from leaking underground NG pipelines. Site characteristics such as surface cover and spatial dimensions, soil samples, and gas concentration data were collected from over 70 gas leakage sites …

Tracing Geochemical Sources And Health Risk Assessment Of Uranium In Groundwater Of Arid Zone Of India, P. Pandit, Atul Saini, Sabarathinam Chidambaram, Vinod Kumar, Banjarani Panda, A. L. Ramanathan, Netrananda Sahu, A. K. Singh, Rohit Mehra

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Water quality degradation and metal contamination in groundwater are serious concerns in an arid region with scanty water resources. This study aimed at evaluating the source of uranium (U) and potential health risk assessment in groundwater of the arid region of western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. The probable source of vanadium (V) and fluorine (F) was also identified. U and trace metal concentration, along with physicochemical characteristics were determined for 265 groundwater samples collected from groundwater of duricrusts and palaeochannels of western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. The U concentration ranged between 0.6 and 260 μg L⁻¹ with a mean …

Hydrodynamic Limitations To Mangrove Seedling Retention In Subtropical Estuaries, Kelly M. Kibler, Christian Pilato, Linda Walters, Melinda Donnelly, Jyotismita Taye

Flow-biota Interaction and Natural Infrastructure Design

Mangrove forest sustainability hinges upon propagule recruitment and seedling retention. This study evaluates biophysical limitations to mangrove seedling persistence by measuring anchoring force of two mangrove species (Rhizophora mangle and Avicennia germinans). Anchoring force was measured in 362 seedlings via lateral pull-tests administered in mangrove forests of two subtropical estuaries and in laboratory-based experiments. Removal mechanism varied with seedling age: newly-established seedlings failed due to root pull-out while seedlings older than 3 months failed by root breakage. Anchoring force of R. mangle seedlings was consistently and significantly greater than A. germinans (GLM: p = 0.002), however force to …

Replication Data For "Estimating Methane Emissions From Underground Natural Gas Pipelines Using An Atmospheric Dispersion-Based Method", Shanru Tian, Kathleen M. Smits, Younki Cho, Stuart Riddick, Daniel Zimmerle, Aidan Duggan

Earth & Environmental Sciences Datasets

Methane (CH₄) leakage from natural gas (NG) pipelines poses an environmental, safety, and economic threat to the public. While previous leak detection and quantification studies focus on the aboveground infrastructure, the analysis of underground NG pipeline leak scenarios is scarce. Furthermore, no data from controlled release experiments have been published on the accuracy of methods used to (1) quantify emissions from an area source and (2) use these emissions to quantify the size of a subsurface leak. This proof-of-concept work uses CH₄ mole fraction, as measured by a single gas sensor, as an input to a simple …

The Living Breakwaters Pdr Efforts: Conceptual Scheduling, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused nearly $19 billion in damages in New York City including 69,000 residential units across the five boroughs. This disaster precipitated a post-disaster-rebuilding (PDR) project including roughly $4.2 billion in a Community Development Block Grant allocated towards PDR projects. A portion of the grant was used to construct a living breakwater in Tottenville, Staten Island, consisting of a resiliency approach to risk reduction through erosion prevention, wave energy attenuation, and enhancement of ecosystems and social resiliency to improve resistance to storms for the community of Tottenville. The ridges of each breakwater are designed with …

Climate Justice In Engineering Education, Tyler J. Morgan, Donna Riley, Caroline M. Camfield

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

The goal of this research is to design a learning module for Purdue first-year engineering (FYE) students to learn climate fundamentals, and the role of engineers in responding to climate justice challenges. There is a lack of climate material within these classes currently, leading to a lack of climate conscious engineers in the future. The project entailed reviewing and synthesizing a wide variety of previous research on climate change education in engineering, including key learning objectives and their assessment. Because one of the key foci of the first-year engineering sequence relates to data analysis and management, we focused our work …

Simulation, Optimization, And Economic Assessment Of Pelamis Wave Energy Converter, Hana Ghaneei, Mohammadreza Mahmoudi

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Publications

Wave energy and power is accessible on almost any body of water. One of the most widely known floating structures to generate renewable energy from the seas and the ocean is wave energy converter Pelamis. In this study, an attempt was made to simulate the dynamic behaviour of Pelamis P2 in the software AQWA under the influence of a nonlinear second-order Stokes wave. Pelamis P2 was simulated in different marine conditions including different water depths, wave heights, periods, and angles to assess its optimal operation. With the results in mind, it can be argued that with an increase in water …

“La Ultra Periferia De Un País Periférico”: La Política Estratégica Litífera En Jujuy: Los Objetivos, Los Instrumentos, Y Los Desafíos / The Ultra Periphery Of A Periphery Country: The Strategic Policy Towards Lithium In Jujuy: The Objectives, The Instruments, And The Challenges, Max Kaye

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La transición energética hizo cobrar nueva importancia a los yacimientos metalíferos y no metalíferos y generó un nuevo patrón de demanda, especialmente para el caso del litio. Los actores importantes en la cadena de valor de las baterías de ion-litio intensificaron su control sobre cada etapa de sus negocios, y las políticas de los países abundantes en litio son cruciales para determinar cómo afecta a sus territorios esta carrera por el litio. Jujuy, una provincia que podría considerarse periférica de la Argentina, declaró el litio como un recurso estratégico en 2011. La provincia creó ciertos instrumentos para ejercer mayor control …

Design, Development, And Characterization Of Highly Efficient Colored Photovoltaic Module For Sustainable Buildings Applications, Mohammad Khairul Basher, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Momtazur Rahman, Steven Hinckley, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is one of the contributors which has enormous potential to reach the goal of net-zero energy buildings (NZEB) that significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. However, the limitations of the visual and aesthetic appearance of current BIPV systems make this aspiration unlikely. This study investigates the limitations of the single-color-based PV modules that are dull in appearance and have low photo-conversion efficiency (PCE). In order to solve this issue, we designed, developed, and characterized micro-patterned-based multicolored photovoltaic (MPCPV) modules which are applicable to net-zero building and development. Our …

Application Of Machine Learning To Predict The Performance Of An Emipg Reactor Using Data From Numerical Simulations, Owen Sedej, Eric G. Mbonimpa, Trevor Sleight, Jeremy Slagley

Faculty Publications

Microwave-driven plasma gasification technology has the potential to produce clean energy from municipal and industrial solid wastes. It can generate temperatures above 2000 K (as high as 30,000 K) in a reactor, leading to complete combustion and reduction of toxic byproducts. Characterizing complex processes inside such a system is however challenging. In previous studies, simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) produced reproducible results, but the simulations are tedious and involve assumptions. In this study, we propose machine-learning models that can be used in tandem with CFD, to accelerate high-fidelity fluid simulation, improve turbulence modeling, and enhance reduced-order models. A two-dimensional …

Global And Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios For The United States, National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)

State & Federal Reports and Publications

This report and accompanying datasets from the U.S. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Hazard Scenarios and Tools Interagency Task Force provide 1) sea level rise scenarios to 2150 by decade that include estimates of vertical land motion and 2) a set of extreme water level probabilities for various heights along the U.S. coastline. These data are available at 1-degree grids along the U.S. coastline and downscaled specifically at NOAA tide-gauge locations. Estimates of flood exposure are assessed using contemporary U.S. coastal flood-severity thresholds for current conditions (e.g., sea levels and infrastructure footprint) and for the next 30 years (out …

Modeling Vapor Transfer In Soil Water And Heat Simulations: A Modularized, Partially-Coupled Approach, Zhuangji Wang, Dennis Timlin, David Fleisher, Wenguang Sun, Sahila Beegum, Sanai Li, Ya Chen, Vandimalla R. Reddy, Katherine Tully, Robert Horton

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Coupled water and heat transfer models are widely used to analyze soil water content and temperature dynamics, evaluate agricultural management systems, and support crop growth modelling. In relatively dry soils, vapor transfer, rather than liquid water flux, becomes the main pathway for water redistribution. However, in some modularized soil simulators, e.g., 2DSOIL (Timlin et al., 1996), vapor transfer is not included, which may induce errors in soil water and heat modelling. Directly embedding vapor transfer into existing water and heat transfer modules may violate the modularized architecture of those simulators. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to design a …

Machine Learning Approach To Simulate Soil Co2 Fluxes Under Cropping Systems, Toby A. Adjuik, Sarah C. Davis

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Graduate Research

With the growing number of datasets to describe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there is an opportunity to develop novel predictive models that require neither the expense nor time required to make direct field measurements. This study evaluates the potential for machine learning (ML) approaches to predict soil GHG emissions without the biogeochemical expertise that is required to use many current models for simulating soil GHGs. There are ample data from field measurements now publicly available to test new modeling approaches. The objective of this paper was to develop and evaluate machine learning (ML) models using field data (soil temperature, soil …

Weatherization And Energy Security: A Review Of Recent Events In Ercot, Golbon Zakeri, Maria Hmaria Hernandez, Matthew Lackner, James Manwell

Publications

Purpose of Review

This review addresses the question of energy security. With the transition of energy generation fleet to cleaner, more sustainable electricity production, energy security is a topic of increasing importance.

Recent Findings

Recent events in Texas brought the concept of energy security to the fore. In this review, we examine the makeup of electricity generation and the causes of the February 2021 blackout of Texas. We will investigate the cost/benefit of winterization in Texas and ask why this was not undertaken subsequent to a similar event in 2011.

Summary

We investigate the case of Texas blackout of February …

Data-Driven Decarbonization Of Residential Heating Systems: An Equity Perspective., John Wamburu, Emma Grazier, David Irwin, Christine Crago, Prashant Shenoy

Publications

Since heating buildings using natural gas, propane and oil makes up a significant proportion of the aggregate carbon emissions every year, there is a strong interest in decarbonizing residential heating systems using new technologies such as electric heat pumps. In this poster, we conduct a data-driven optimization study to analyze the potential of replacing gas heating with electric heat pumps to reduce carbon emissions in a city-wide distribution grid. We seek to not only reduce the carbon footprint of residential heating, but also show how to do so equitably. Our results show that lower income homes have an energy usage …

Sustainable Computing - Without The Hot Air, Noman Bashir, David Irwin, Prashant Shenoy, Abel Souza

Publications

The demand for computing is continuing to grow exponentially. This growth will translate to exponential growth in computing's energy consumption unless improvements in its energy-efficiency can outpace increases in its demand. Yet, after decades of research, further improving energy-efficiency is becoming increasingly challenging, as it is already highly optimized. As a result, at some point, increases in computing demand are likely to outpace increases in its energy-efficiency, potentially by a wide margin. Such exponential growth, if left unchecked, will position computing as a substantial contributor to global carbon emissions. While prominent technology companies have recognized the problem and sought to …