Engineering Commons^™

Spot: A Cubesat Mission For High-Resolution Monitorig Of Anthropogenic Sulfur Emissions, Carla Roesch, Colleen Golja, James Custer, Catherine Ember, Jerome Woodwark, Andrew Matheson, Joshua Vande Hey, Sonymol Vk, Steven Heer, Zixuan Gao, Tim Trent

Small Satellite Conference

Resolving individual industrial sources of SO₂ to constrain aerosol forcing — one of the largest remaining uncertainties in Earth's energy budget.

Ihelp Foundation 2025 Uganda Medical Mission, Kade Spencer Robison

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Uganda faces significant barriers to health care access, particularly in rural communities, due to physician shortages and limited resources. As a result, care is concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural populations disproportionately affected by both communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

This Honors Capstone project focused on preparing for and supporting the iHelp Foundation’s 2025 Uganda Medical Mission. The iHelp Foundation works to reduce barriers to care in Uganda by partnering with local hospitals to provide short-term rural clinics and specialized surgical care for advanced otolaryngological conditions.

In this project, I contributed to mission preparation by training volunteers and coordinating physician licensing. …

Mesopause-Region Gravity Wave Activity Due To Tropical Convection As Observed By Awe, Jeffrey M. Forbes, Xiaoli Zhang, Jiarong Zhang, Stephen D. Eckermann, Yucheng Zhao, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Jun Ma, Ludger Scherliess, Michael J. Taylor

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Mesopause-region (∼ 87 km) gravity waves (GWs) generated by tropical convection are investigated within the four longitude sectors encompassing Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, and South America during the Dec 2023– Feb 2024 Southern Hemisphere monsoon season. Variances (Q_v) in the OH Q-line emission measured by the Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) capture GW activity, and precipitation rates (PR) from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission identify regions of convective activity. The zonal component of GWs comprising the Q_v between 10°S-10°N primarily propagate eastward. The Q_v distributions are latitudinally-shifted and more confined in …

Nachtigal Dam: A 4917 M Long Labyrinth Spillway, F. Laugier, Denis Magnan, B. Blancher, Arnaud Chapius, Thibaut Guillemot, Sebastien Erpicum

4th International Workshop on Labyrinth and Piano Key Weirs

The Nachtigal Dam, part of the Nachtigal Amont Hydropower Project in Cameroon, features a 4917-meter-long labyrinth spillway, designed to safely manage floodwaters. This spillway was optimized for hydraulic safety, cost efficiency, and environmental considerations. Physical scale modeling (at a relatively rare 1:12.5 scale) and detailed design adjustments ensured robust performance under various flow conditions. Despite construction challenges for such a large-scale nonlinear structure, the project achieved reliable spillway operations, demonstrating the suitability of labyrinth weirs for large-scale hydraulic infrastructure.

World Register Of Piano Key Weirs, Sebastien Erpicum, Tohid Jamali Rovesht, Brian M. Crookston, Pierre Archambeau

4th International Workshop on Labyrinth and Piano Key Weirs

Piano Key Weirs have been proposed in 2003. Since then, more than 40 projects have been commissioned over the world. This presentation details a world register of piano key weir prototypes, freely available online. It also analyses the main characteristics of these structures in operation to highlight trends in design.

An Innovative Association Of Fusegate And Pk-Weir, F. Lempérière, A. Chapuis, F. Del Rey, C. Bessière

4th International Workshop on Labyrinth and Piano Key Weirs

The combination on the same dam of Piano Key weir (PK-Weir) and fusible structures offers a highly effective passive solution for managing flood discharges. This concept first introduced by Hydrocoop in 2015 as « Innovative Associated Spillways » can leverage the strength of each system. More than 30 years after its first application, the returns of experience of the Hydroplus Fusegate® system applications on more than 80 dams in 25 different countries have confirmed their reliability in terms of sequentially overturning on the downstream side for the correct design flood. With their high discharge capacity at low head, PK-Weirs optimize …

Operationalizing Camera-Based Hydrologic Monitoring With Ai And Edge Computing: Towards Real-Time Water Level And Discharge Measurements, Razin Bin Issa

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Monitoring river water levels and flows is critical for managing water supplies, protecting against floods, supporting ecosystems, and informing infrastructure planning. However, traditional methods rely on sensors installed directly in rivers, which can be expensive, difficult to maintain, and vulnerable to damage—particularly in remote or hazardous locations. In many regions, limited budgets and access challenges result in large gaps in river monitoring networks.

This research explores an innovative alternative: using fixed cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor rivers from a distance. The approach allows for non-contact observation of water levels and flows by analyzing images captured by cameras installed …

Awe Data Status, P.-Dominique Pautet, Anh Phan, Ludger Scherliess, Yucheng Zhao, Jiarong Zhang, Dallin Tucker, Connor Waite, Pedro Sevilla, Russell Kirkham, Harri Latvakoski, Jacob Adams, Keith Paskett

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

SDL Presentation on the AWE data status.

A Laboratory Study Of Local Scour And Driftwood Effects At A Type A Piano Key Weir, Manisha Panthi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Piano key weirs are a unique weir designed to increase the amount of flow that passes over it via its zig-zag shape (similar to the rectangular shape of keys of a piano). With its relatively small footprint, they are becoming more popular to upgrade existing water management projects and are also being used in new construction works. However, there is little information available regarding how these weirs handle sediment and driftwood. Additional information will help researchers and designers to understand the challenges of upstream sediment buildup, driftwood accumulation, and the effects of floods on downstream scour with viable protection measures. …

Near-Earth Object (Neo) Surveyor Development: Challenges And Opportunities In Support Of Planetary Defense, G. Loftus, B. Carlsen, P. Scott, S. Backlund, L. Reinhart, T. Martin, T. Hoenes, R. Burgon, S. Ashby, J. Peterson, B. Lamborn, J. Bowman

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission is a key element in our future planetary defense portfolio, which will survey our solar system in the infrared to discover and characterize asteroids and comets.

The mission is designed to detect, track, and characterize small bodies throughout our solar system. By United States Congress mandate, NASA must discover more than 90% of all asteroids and comets that are larger than 140 meters in diameter and could potentially impact Earth. NEO Surveyor will provide critical decision support for stakeholders who must assess the risks of NEO impacts to Earth and identify potential mitigation strategies. …

Bird Strikes During Climb And Approach: A Need For Innovative Management Strategies, Richard A. Dolbeer, Michael J. Begier

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Wildlife Hazard Management Plans at civil airports in the United States cannot directly address threats posed by birds moving through aircraft climb and approach paths unrelated to nearby bird-attractant habitats such as landfills. As an iconic example, an Airbus 320 departing LaGuardia Airport (New York, USA) on January 15, 2009, struck a flock of migratory Canada geese (Branta canadensis) 8 km out at 884 m above ground level (AGL) that resulted in a water landing now known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” We documented 1,841 and 458 strikes from 2009 to 2023 involving large (≥1.8 kg) and …

Water Banking As A Strategy For The Management And Conservation Of A Critical Resource: A Case Study From Tunisia's Medjerda River Basin (Mrb), Aymen Sawassi, Roula Khadra, Brian Crookston

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The increasingly adverse impacts of climate change (e.g., rainfall patterns, droughts, and floods), coupled with the ever-increasing water demands, are often translated into a contingent liability for water users' communities. Additional complexities arise due to competing priorities, water rights, and transboundary water sources. Therefore, conventional water management practices should shift toward more comprehensive and responsive integrative approaches, even for systems with limited data. Furthermore, water managers must prioritize dynamic and interactive management techniques for existing systems. One such management technique is water banking, which is the focus of this study. Herein, a dynamic interactive water allocation model, which encompasses the …

Cislunar Navigation Techniques And Navigation Performance Optimization, Quinn P. Moon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nova-C is a lunar lander developed by the private company Intuitive Machines to deliver commercial payloads to the Moon. The IM-1 mission set for 2023 will launch and land the Nova-C near the Moon's south pole. In this research, various navigation techniques are explored to determine the lander's position and velocity during key segments. This process is studied for key mission events including trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs), lunar orbit insertion (LOI), and descent orbit insertion (DOI). Each mission segment, referred to as an Orbit Determination Segment (OD), is analyzed with three different navigation techniques: Monte Carlo Analysis, Linear Covariance Analysis, …

Antimicrobial Efficacy And Hplc Analysis Of Polyphenolic Compounds In A Whole-Plant Extract Of Eryngium Campestre, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Shimaa Bashir, Abdallah E. Mohamed, Omaima A. Sharaf, Rokaia Nabil, Yiming Su, Ahmed Abdelkhalek, Said I. Behiry

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Due to the constant increase in the number of plant diseases and the lack of available treatments, there has been a growing interest in plant extracts over the past few decades. Numerous studies suggest that plant extract molecules possess valuable antimicrobial activities, particularly against fungi and bacteria. This suggests that these biomaterials could potentially serve as attractive therapeutic options for the treatment of phytopathogen infections. In the present study, we investigated and analyzed the methanolic extract of Eryngium campestre L. whole plant extract using HPLC. The analysis revealed the presence of several polyphenolic constituents, with benzoic acid, catechol, quercetin, vanillic …

An Unmanned Aircraft System For Marking Live Power Lines To Prevent Bird Collisions, Mattheuns D. Pretorius, Lourens Leeuwner, Kaajial Durgapersad, Constant Hoogstad, Peter Beckedahl, Michael D. Michael, Kishaylin Chetty

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Collisions with overhead power lines represent a significant cause of mortality for a number of large bird species worldwide. Certain threatened species are severely impacted by power line collisions, particularly those for which there are no other known significant threats. In South Africa, bird collisions with overhead power line cables, including collisions with phase conductors and shield wires, contribute significantly to annual threatened bird species mortalities associated with Eskom power lines. The most practical mitigation measure is to attach bird anti-collision devices as markers on the cables. Current marking methods involve installations by hand, where linemen are hoisted up to …

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 …

Hydro-Geotechnical Rock Scour Assessment At Petit-Saut Dam, Seven E. Pells, Fanar Al-Qassab, Felicia Weir, Anaïs Faivre, Thierry Leturcq, Benoit Blancher

Protections Conference

This paper presents a recommended design procedure for assessment of rock scour which is illustrated for the case study of Petit-Saut Dam in French Guiana. The methodology, referred to as a “hydro-geotechnical scour assessment”, promotes a multi-discipline approach, applying expertise in both rock mechanics and hydraulics, and guides the diagnosis of scour and response to risk by application of currently available scour assessment techniques.

Sustaining Water Conservation: A Synthesis Of Research On Motivators, Message Construction, And Tactics, Mahmudur R. Aveek, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Research

Urban water managers face the challenge of sustaining conservation behavior. A review of 77 papers across water, energy, and environmental conservation was conducted to understand how programs encourage reduced water use. Motivators were external or internal. Theories of behavior change targeted different social-psychological factors. No single model addressed all aspects. Different message contents (water use, self-comparison, social comparison, leak information) and tactics (communication medium, frequency, program duration) reduced use by 0.5% to 25%. Reductions typically lasted less than a year. Quantifying the effects of specific motivators, message contents, and tactics was difficult due to varied contexts. Effective conservation messages included …

Sustain Water Conservation Behaviors Using Nonparametric Ranking And Social Marketing, Mahmudur Rahman Aveek

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Circulation of water use feedback and conservation messaging are strategies implemented to reduce water demand on a short-term (seasonal) basis. Often considered a less impactful strategy than other tactics such as price increments and usage restrictions, authorities mostly use feedback in informational campaigns with a focus to apprise users about their water use. Such conservation programs have had limited success that has been attributed to the fact that the information provided with the feedback campaigns was generic and did not motivate users enough to sustain their water-saving behaviors. However, the advent of disaggregation technologies that can provide appliance-wise water use …

Using Computational Fluid Dynamics To Predict Flow Through The West Crack Breach Of The Great Salt Lake Railroad Causeway, Michael Rasmussen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, is a terminal, saline lake and is divided into two primary sections (northern and southern) by an east-to-west railroad causeway. Shortly after completion of the earth-fill causeway in the late 1950s, the two sections became dramatically different with differences in water surface elevation and water density. These differences cause the formation of a unique flow behavior commonly referred to as a density-driven exchange flow or bi-directional flow; a behavior observed in other lake and ocean settings where two fluids of differing densities interact. Measuring these exchange flows is a priority for lake managers …

Ammonia Emission Assessment From Gasoline And Diesel Engines Under Utah Specific Conditions, Motasem Suleiman Abualqumboz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study aims to quantify ammonia (NH₃) emission rates from the on-road gasoline and diesel motor vehicles fleet of the Wasatch Front, Utah. For this purpose, a portable Pollution Emissions Monitoring System (PEMS) was used to estimate NH₃ emission rates from a representative fleet of 53 in-use light-duty (LD) gasoline and diesel vehicles over a total of 166 on-road Real Driving Emissions (RDE) tests. The post-catalyst concentrations of NH₃ precursors, nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and carbon monoxide (CO) were also measured. The outcomes of this study showed that a motor vehicle in the Wasatch Front …

Cfd Simulation Of Supercritical Flow In Narrow Channels Including Sediment Bypass Tunnels, Subhojit Kadia, Elena Pummer, Nils RüTher

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

Secondary currents, turbulence characteristics and bed shear stress distribution are the crucial parameters for specifying sediment transport. Hence, to understand the sediment transport in sediment bypass tunnels (SBTs), we performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of supercritical flow in a narrow straight channel. The results of the steady state simulation (Froude number ≈ 1.8) were compared with experimental results. The commonly used two-equations linear eddy-viscosity models are limited to isotropic turbulence closure and hence could not replicate the desired secondary currents. Therefore, the LRR Reynolds Stress Model was used, and predicted the flow features and the secondary currents (three kinds …

Discharge Capacity Of A Piano Key Weir With Curvilinear Keys, R. K. Mishra, Z. Ahmad

International Junior Researcher and Engineer Workshop on Hydraulic Structures

The Piano Key Weir (PKW) has emerged as a cost effective and viable solution for dam rehabilitation and new projects with high level of space constraints. The geometrical dimensions of PKW are main factors affecting their discharging capacity. Since, it is a relatively new type of weir that has only been developed in recent years, the description of the effect of its geometrical parameters is still immature. The geometric designs of these weirs presented in the literatures incorporate only linear floor slope of the keys. For better understanding of the influence of curvilinear shapes of outlet key slopes on discharge …

Laboratory Scale Anaerobic Reactors For Bioenergy From Wastes: Materials, Mathematical Models, And Stoichiometry, Yehor Pererva

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Anaerobic processes are being explored for the production of bioenergy in the form of biomethane and biohydrogen in a "waste-to-value" approach that considers wastes as a resource. Laboratory scale Biomethane potential (BMP) tests and Up-Flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors can be used to indicate the potential recovery of bioenergy from industry wastes. The goals of this research were to: (1) conduct a critical review of models for determining biomethane potential, (2) develop a theoretical relationship for stoichiometry for biomethane and biohydrogen from wastes, and (3) develop key design aspects for geometry and infrastructure, including gas-liquid-solid separation in laboratory UASB …

Quantitative Assessment Of Contested Water Uses And Management In The Conflict-Torn Yarmouk River Basin, Nicolas Avisse, Amaury Tilmant, David E. Rosenberg, Samer Talozi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Yarmouk River basin is shared between Syria, Jordan, and Israel. Since the 1960s, Yarmouk River flows have declined more than 85% despite the signature of bilateral agreements. Syria and Jordan blame each other for the decline and have both developed their own explanatory narratives: Jordan considers that Syria violated their 1987 agreement by building more dams than what was agreed on, while Syria blames climate change. In fact, because the two countries do not share information, neither on hydrological flows nor on water management, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the flow regime. …

Isolation And Selective Glycosylation Of Antisalmonellal Anthraquinones From The Stem Bark Of Morinda Lucida Benth. (Rubiaceae), Napoleon A. Mfonku, James A. Mbah, Norbert Kodjio, Donatien Gatsing, Jixun Zhan

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

In this work we report the isolation, identification and antibacterial activity of two anthraquinones, 2-hydroxy-1-methoxyanthraquinone (1) and 2,5-dihydroxy-1-methoxy-6-methoxymethylanthraquinone (2), from the stem bark of Morinda lucida. These two natural products were selectively converted into two new glycosylated derivatives, 2-hydroxy-1-methoxyanthraquinone-4′-O-methyl-2-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (3) and 2,5-dihydroxy-1-methoxy-6-methoxymethylanthraquinone-4′-O-methyl-2-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (4) by the filamentous fungus Beauveria bassiana ATCC 7159. Structure elucidation was accomplished based on the 1D and 2D NMR, IR and mass spectra. The glycosylated compounds 3 and 4 showed higher in vitro antibacterial activity against Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica sérovars Typhimurim (MIC of 8 μg/mL each) than the corresponding aglycons 1 and 2 (MIC of …

Ranchers Adapting To Climate Variability In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Utah, Hadia Akbar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Changes in climate influence agricultural production. This study looks at the impacts of climate variability in the Utah regions of the Upper Colorado River Basin by combining regression techniques with interview data to explore how climate variability affects agricultural production and how the farmers are adapting their practices to these changes. The results show that climate does not have any significant impact on cattle and hay production in the study area on a decadal scale. However, on an annual basis temperature seems to have more impact than precipitation. Among non-climatic variables, commodity prices and their regulations by the government are …

International Future Energy Challenge Power Supply For Nanosatellites, Parker Ames, Keith Bird, Ashley Buxton, Brad Dyer, Matt Hansen, Joshua Zaugg

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Objective: build a nanosatellite power supply that matches the requirements for the IFEC 2020 competition

Twenty-Three Unsolved Problems In Hydrology (Uph) – A Community Perspective, Günter Blöschl, Marc F.P. Bierkens, Antonio Chambel, Christophe Cudennec, Georgia Destouni, Aldo Fiori, James W. Kirchner, Jeffrey J. Mcdonnell, Hubert H.G. Savenije, Murugesu Sivapalan, Christine Stumpp, Elena Toth, Elena Volpi, Gemma Carr, David G. Tarboton, Et. Al

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused …

David G. Tarboton Named Utah Water Research Lab Director | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

One of the state’s largest research laboratories is getting a new director. David Tarboton, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Utah State University, will lead the Utah Water Research Laboratory beginning July 1.