Engineering Commons^™

On The Observability Of Bottom Topography From Measurements Of Tidal Sea Surface Height, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

of whether features of the ocean bottom topography can be identified from measurements of water level is investigated using a simplified one-dimensional barotropic model. Because of the nonlinear dependence of the sea surface height on the water depth, a linearized analysis is performed concerning the identification of a Gaussian bump within two specific depth profiles, (1) a constant depth domain, and, (2) a constant depth domain adjoining a near-resonant continental shelf. Observability is quantified by examining the estimation error in a series of identical-twin experiments varying data density, tide wavelength, assumed (versus actual) topographic correlation scale, and friction. For measurements …

The Effects Of Phosphonic Acids In Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Keith Edward James

Dissertations and Theses

Novel methods for the construction of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were developed. A thin dense underlayer of TiO₂ was applied on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass using as a precursor Tyzor AA-105. Subsequently a mesoporous film of P-25 TiO₂ was applied by spreading a suspension uniformly over the surface of the underlayer and allowing the plate to slowly dry while resting on a level surface. After sintering at 500° C slides were treated with TCPP as a sensitizing dye and assembled into DSSCs. A novel method was used to seal the cells; strips of Parafilm® were used as …

Event Detection Using Correlation Within Arrays Of Streaming Pmu Data, Jordan Landford

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis provides a synchrophasor data analysis methodology that leverages both statistical correlation techniques and a statistical distribution in order to identify data inconsistencies, as well as power system contingencies. This research utilizes archived Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data obtained from the Bonneville Power Administration in order to show that this methodology is not only feasible, but extremely useful for power systems monitoring, decision support, and planning purposes.

By analyzing positive sequence voltage angles between a pair of PMUs at two different substation locations, an historic record of correlation is established. From this record, a Rayleigh distribution of correlation coefficients …

Developing A Hierarchical Decision Model To Evaluate Nuclear Power Plant Alternative Siting Technologies, Marwan Mossa Lingga

Dissertations and Theses

A strong trend of returning to nuclear power is evident in different places in the world. Forty-five countries are planning to add nuclear power to their grids and more than 66 nuclear power plants are under construction.

Nuclear power plants that generate electricity and steam need to improve safety to become more acceptable to governments and the public. One novel practical solution to increase nuclear power plants' safety factor is to build them away from urban areas, such as offshore or underground. To date, Land-Based siting is the dominant option for siting all commercial operational nuclear power plants. However, the …

Connected Vehicles And Rural Road Weather Management, Rhonda Young

PSU Transportation Seminars

Changing weather patterns and increases in extreme weather events has led to the deployment of more weather responsive traffic management strategies. As the transportation system moves towards a connected vehicle environment, questions arise as to how connected vehicle technology can support weather responsive systems. The presentation will discuss the use of connected vehicles in a rural environment as providers of mobile weather data. Two projects will be highlighted - a recently completed research project using passenger vehicle CAN-BUS data as weather surrogates, and the ongoing USDOT CV Pilot Deployment Project in Wyoming.

Physics-Based Imaging Methods For Terahertz Nondestructive Evaluation Applications, Gabriel Paul Kniffin

Dissertations and Theses

Lying between the microwave and far infrared (IR) regions, the "terahertz gap" is a relatively unexplored frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum that exhibits a unique combination of properties from its neighbors. Like in IR, many materials have characteristic absorption spectra in the terahertz (THz) band, facilitating the spectroscopic "fingerprinting" of compounds such as drugs and explosives. In addition, non-polar dielectric materials such as clothing, paper, and plastic are transparent to THz, just as they are to microwaves and millimeter waves. These factors, combined with sub-millimeter wavelengths and non-ionizing energy levels, makes sensing in the THz band uniquely suited for …

Tidal River Dynamics: Implications For Deltas, Ton Hoitink, David A. Jay

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Tidal rivers are a vital and little studied nexus between physical oceanography and hydrology. It is only in the last few decades that substantial research efforts have been focused on the interactions of river discharge with tidal waves and storm surges into regions beyond the limit of salinity intrusion, a realm that can extend inland hundreds of kilometers. One key phenomenon resulting from this interaction is the emergence of large fortnightly tides, which are forced long waves with amplitudes that may increase beyond the point where astronomical tides have become extinct. These can be larger than the linear tide itself …

Measuring What We Value: Using Performance Measures To Achieve Goals, Chris Rall

PSU Transportation Seminars

Performance measures are commonly used in transportation planning, but how effectively are public agencies using them, and to what ends?

Metro, ODOT and many cities use performance measures to evaluate investment choices and monitor progress. Drawing from Transportation for America’s report Measuring What We Value, and some of the most cutting edge examples of performance-based planning around the nation, Chris' presentation will step back to consider what makes a performance-based planning approach effective at achieving an agency’s goals.

Comparing Mode Shares For Non-Residential Destinations In Urban And Suburban Environments, Tasnia Subrin

Student Research Symposium

To ensure facility for multimodal transportation is one of the most important concerns in today’s transportation sector, with initiatives being taken to make multimodal transportation popular. The built environment variables have a strong relationship with transportation mode choice, but whether that relationship holds true in urban and suburban neighborhoods in the same manner has not been considered. Using data for three non-residential land uses, this research explores whether the built environment variables in suburban areas influences mode share like it does in urban areas. We used survey data conducted at the establishments regarding respondents’ travel characteristics from a previous study, …

Factors Affecting Big Data Technology Adoption, Nayem Rahman

Student Research Symposium

With the advancement of computer science, hardware and software engineering, and computing power, and later with the advent of the internet, social networking tools and other sources such as sensors data growth has increased significantly. These data are called big data which are mostly unstructured, generated in large volumes, data need to be captured in near real-time. To handle big data a completely new set of tools and technologies are being emerged. I have studied big data literature to identify the factors that might influence big data adoption. I was able to list quite a few factors or attributes that …

Cyclic Loading Behavior Of Cfrp-Wrapped Non-Ductile Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joints, Ali S. H. Zerkane

Dissertations and Theses

Use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) material has been a good solution for many problems in many fields. FRP is available in different types (carbon and glass) and shapes (sheets, rods, and laminates). Civil engineers have used this material to overcome the weakness of concrete members that may have been caused by substandard design or due to changes in the load distribution or to correct the weakness of concrete structures over time specially those subjected to hostile weather conditions. The attachment of FRP material to concrete surfaces to promote the function of the concrete members within the frame system is …

Using Portable Transducers To Measure Tremor Severity, Rodger J. Elble, James Mcnames

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Portable motion transducers, suitable for measuring tremor, are now available at a reasonable cost. The use of these transducers requires knowledge of their limitations and data analysis. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical overview and example software for using portable motion transducers in the quantification of tremor.

Methods: Medline was searched via PubMed.gov in December 2015 using the Boolean expression “tremor AND (accelerometer OR accelerometry OR gyroscope OR inertial measurement unit OR digitizing tablet OR transducer).” Abstracts of 419 papers dating back to 1964 were reviewed for relevant portable transducers and methods of tremor analysis, …

Stabilization Of Vegetable Oil-Based Quenchants To Thermal-Oxidative Degradation: Experimental Strategy And Effect Of Oxidation On Quenching Performance, Éder Cícero Adão Simêncio, Rosa Lúcia Simêncio Otero, Lauralice De Campos Franceschini Canale, George E. Totten

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although petroleum oils continue to be the dominant type of basestock for the formulation of vaporizable quenchants, there is increasing pressure to identify an alternative basestock to address the limitations to their continued use because they are not a renewable basestock and they possess generally poor toxicity and biodegradability properties. Currently the most often cited alternative basestocks are those based on seed oils since they are renewable and usually non-toxic but especially because they are typically readily biodegradable. However, they suffer a critically important deficiency in that they are also typically much less stable to thermal-oxidative degradation than petroleum oils. …

Century-Long Variability And Trends In Daily Precipitation Characteristics At Three Finnish Stations, Masoud Irannezhad, Hannu Marttila, Chen De-Liang, Bjørn Kløve

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Long-term variations and trends in a wide range of statistics for daily precipitation characteristics in terms of intensity, frequency and duration in Finland were analysed using precipitation records during 1908－2008 from 3 meteorological stations in the south (Kaisaniemi), center (Kajaani) and north (Sodankylä). Although precipitation days in northern part were more frequent than in central and southern parts, daily precipitation intensity in the south was generally higher than those in the centre and north of the country. Annual sum of very light precipitation (0 mm < daily precipitation ≤ long-term 50th percentile of daily precipitation more than 0 mm) significantly (p

A Backend Framework For The Efficient Management Of Power System Measurements, Benjamin Mccamish, Rich Meier, Jordan Landford, Robert B. Bass, David Chiu, Eduardo Cotilla-Sanchez

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased adoption and deployment of phasor measurement units (PMU) has provided valuable fine-grained data over the grid. Analysis over these data can provide insight into the health of the grid, thereby improving control over operations. Realizing this data-driven control, however, requires validating, processing and storing massive amounts of PMU data. This paper describes a PMU data management system that supports input from multiple PMU data streams, features an event-detection algorithm, and provides an efficient method for retrieving archival data. The event-detection algorithm rapidly correlates multiple PMU data streams, providing details on events occurring within the power system. The event-detection algorithm …

Advanced Gis: Smart Transportation, Christopher Bone, Ken Kato, Jacob Bartruff, Marc Schlossberg

TREC Final Reports

As sensors have become cheaper and more common, they have found an increasingly important role in transportation. However, curriculum to prepare students who will be working with these technologies as developers and planners has not developed at the same rate. The goal of this project was to develop a college course focused around sensors and smart transportation to be offered to undergrad and graduate students at the University of Oregon. The class focused on the practical application and the theoretical consequences of these developments. The class was offered in the spring term of 2015 to a group of undergraduate and …

Multimodal Transportation Planning Curriculum For Urban Planning Programs, Kristine M. Williams, Tia Claridge, Alexandria Carroll

TREC Final Reports

Integrated multimodal transportation and land use planning is critical to advancing mode choice, public health and safety, and livability objectives. Communities across the U.S. are seeking to redefine their planning process accordingly. In response, university graduate urban planning and engineering programs are beginning to address multimodal planning and sustainable transportation, but most do not yet offer a robust curriculum on these topics. To help address this need, the University of South Florida (USF), Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) developed a curriculum for a course on multimodal transportation planning and its role in advancing livability and related objectives. The course …

Memory And Information Processing In Recurrent Neural Networks, Alireza Goudarzi, Sarah Marzen, Peter Banda, Guy Feldman, Matthew R. Lakin, Christof Teuscher, Darko Stefanovic

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recurrent neural networks (RNN) are simple dynamical systems whose computational power has been attributed to their short-term memory. Short-term memory of RNNs has been previously studied analytically only for the case of orthogonal networks, and only under annealed approximation, and uncorrelated input. Here for the first time, we present an exact solution to the memory capacity and the task-solving performance as a function of the structure of a given network instance, enabling direct determination of the function-structure relation in RNNs. We calculate the memory capacity for arbitrary networks with exponentially correlated input and further related it to the performance of …

De La Salle Sensor, Shayla Adams, Geraldine Hernandez, Gloria Joseph, Elias Taylor, Elli Cooney

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

There is a huge amount of water being wasted and with climate change causing widespread water shortages, it is important that the people of Portland become more water conscious. With the our product, it will help you become aware of your water bill and the amount of water you use with a built in calculator.

Larc: Local Agricultural Resource Conservation, Dash Justice, Josh Davis, Sid Crumble, Ashlie Kinney

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

In America today, over 75% of the nation’s water is used in the irrigation of agriculture. The main users -- and abusers -- of water in the United States are farmers. In addition, many areas in the U.S. are facing drought conditions, especially in western states. Also, while the drought conditions in California are receding, water shortage as an issue demands a long term solution.

Small Scale Water Filtration Project, Elaine Yang, Lang Ming, Alex Tees, Lauren Galle, Tristan Coffey, Andria Tattersfield, Colin Brock

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Access to clean drinking water is a large problem that our world is facing today. Consuming contaminated water can lead to the spread of water-borne illnesses. Populations without the security of water struggle to develop, as seen predominately in Africa. As Oregonians prepare for life after a major earthquake which could devastate the infrastructure that delivers clean water to our homes, a water filtration system should be part of a family’s emergency preparedness plan.

There are a large variety of processes for achieving fresh water. Combining all of the necessary components to lead to clean water is a complex process, …

Puddl: Gamifying Water Conservation, Quince Assenberg, Jack Chen, Denny Glenn, Jessica Lam

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

As the global population surges, the demand for fresh water will only increase. With no technological breakthrough on the horizon, it is more important than ever to conserve water and not waste this precious resource. Water conservation is a serious issue, and will only become more severe as global warming worsens. As the global temperature increases, and rainfall becomes more sporadic, it will be important for communities to find new ways to save water. This push has already been made in certain areas in the united states, California, where they were forced to reduce their water consumption by 25%.

Through …

A Genetic Approach To Designing A Novel Biological Sensor To Monitor Water Contamination, Cynthia Bui, Anissa Rosbaugh, Israel Gonzalez, Julie Lu, Colin Kuhns, Joel Crandall, Alyssa Faulk, Miriam Nguyen

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Many cities across the country have experienced extreme water problems. The City of Portland has issued several water boiling advisories due to E. coli contamination. Additionally, there has been incidents of serious contaminants like lead leaching in water systems (Flint, Michigan). The Portland Water Bureau does not use a water treatment plant due to the quality of our water sources; a chlorination plant is used to chlorinate the water from the Bull Run Watershed (our main water source). Not having a water treatment plant makes Oregon more prone to a prolonged absence of potable water should the supply be contaminated. …

Isolated Water Circulation And Filtration System, Adrik Gurganus, Mellonie Mwawai, Wysteria Cedillo-Nielsen, Morgan Rekart, Zander Hoffman

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

One big issue we are addressing is the large amount greywater produced by average households around the country. Still, the main problem is that, in areas affected by drought such as California, people have little available clean water, and this system will greatly benefit these people directly. The Isolated water system uses a filtration combined of organic materials, soaps, dirt, foods and sink to filter out the grey used water. Since the water system is not connected with the local water system if there were a natural disaster the owner would have free access to a water source while the …

Residential Greywater Recycling System, Sophia Bui, Clare Clark, Anthony Hoang, Kim Le, Skyler Mishler, Janette Soler, Teresa Tran

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

In a typical household, a majority of the fresh water is utilized by the shower, bathroom sinks and laundry. Water exiting from these fixtures is considered greywater. This is wasteful because the greywater is being combined with blackwater making it unusable. If greywater could be separated and captured, it can be reused for other purposes. We came to the conclusion that greywater is able to be recycled and reused for flushing excreta.

Aqua Band, Jessica Peterson, Sam Behrens, Michael Desimone, Aiden Nelson, Alexandra Leamy

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

People drown all of the time. Whether it's a young child playing in the river or a college student partying on a boat, there is always the danger of drowning. It is not always easy to tell if somebody is drowning. If you are a parent, you won’t always be watching your kids. When you look away and they start drowning, there is no safe way to be alerted of your child’s situation.

Coel: A Cloud-Based Reaction Network Simulator, Peter Banda, Christof Teuscher

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Chemical Reaction Networks (CRNs) are a formalism to describe the macroscopic behavior of chemical systems. We introduce COEL, a web- and cloud-based CRN simulation framework, which does not require a local installation, runs simulations on a large computational grid, provides reliable database storage, and offers a visually pleasing and intuitive user interface. We present an overview of the underlying software, the technologies, and the main architectural approaches employed. Some of COEL’s key features include ODE-based simulations of CRNs and multicompartment reaction networks with rich interaction options, a built-in plotting engine, automatic DNA-strand displacement transformation and visualization, SBML/Octave/Matlab export, and a …

Potential Of Using High Resolution Bus Gps Data To Assess Traffic Speeds, Nicholas B. Stoll

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

This research investigates the potential of using archived high resolution bus data to describe traffic speeds on roadways; effectively using buses as probe vehicles. This is not only a simple and inexpensive way for transit agencies to better understand their road networks, but also utilizing buses as probe vehicles provides the potential to understand traffic conditions, to understand potential consequences of changes in road infrastructure, and many aspects of traffic utilizing already archived data. Using speed information derived from high resolution bus GPS data and stationary sensor data, this research examines the accuracy of bus GPS data and also discusses …

Preliminary Design Guidelines For Poraver-Based Lightweight Concrete, Marlow Stanton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research project investigated lightweight Portland cement concrete batching procedures and developed guidelines for designing Poraver-based mixes. Lightweight concrete has a variety of applications, from structural fills to structural members. The study was completed in two stages: Stage 1 was a pilot study serving to confirm whether the ACI211.2-98 Volumetric Method was appropriate for Poraver-based lightweight concrete. Additionally, Stage 1 examined the range of outcomes possible with a large combination of test mixes and explored handling techniques for presoaked aggregate. Stage 2 focused on confirming the linear relationship of cement content and compressive strength through a large quantity of test …

Performance Implications Of Bicycle Specific Treatments At Signalized Intersections, Andrew Kading

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

A rise in cycling nationwide has brought an increased awareness of bicycle specific safety concerns, particularly right-hook crashes at signalized intersections. There are several common and emerging signal timing strategies that are can be used to improve the safety and efficiency of traffic signals for people on bicycles, including the Leading Bicycle Intervals (LBI), Split LBI, and Exclusive Bicycle Phasing (EBP). The leading and split bicycle intervals provide a head start for bicycles in advance of concurrent and conflicting motor vehicle movements, typically about 3-5 seconds. The EBP provides an interval only when bicycles are moving. To examine the performance …