Engineering Commons^™

The Applicability Of Microcomputers To Local Water Management, Roderick Lee Allen

Dissertations and Theses

Historically, hydrologic models have been available only on mainframe computers and have therefore not been used by local water managers to support daily decisions. The development of the microcomputer presents an opportunity for that to change.

Mathematical models of soil moisture and river routing are selected, developed and tested for use on a microcomputer as an aid to local water management. The models are then integrated with an appropriate data base in a computer program written for a microcomputer. The result is a Decision Support System for local water managers.

In order to evaluate the feasibility of using the Decision …

Forecasting For Local Water Management, Douglas Alan Putnam

Dissertations and Theses

Forecast models are investigated and developed for use in local water management to aid in determining short term water requirements and availability. The forecast models include precipitation occurrence and depth using a Markov chain model, temperature and solar radiation with a multivariate autoregressive model, and streamflow with autoregressive-moving average models. The precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation forecasts are used with a soil moisture model to determine water demands. A state space approach to the Muskingum-Cunge streamflow routing technique is developed. The forecast water demands and streamflow forecasts are used as inputs to this routing model. Forecast model errors and propagation …

Development Of Apparatus For Constant-Hydraulic-Gradient And Constant-Rate-Of-Strain Consolidation Tests, Jack F. Geerlings

Masters Theses

"A back pressure type consolidometer manufactured by Anteus Laboratory Equipment Company is modified to perform either constant hydraulic gradient or constant rate of strain consolidation tests. The modification of the consolidometer and its instrumentation are described. Computer software is developed for the purpose of apparatus control and for test data acquisition and analysis.

Constant hydraulic gradient and constant rate of strain consolidation tests are performed on samples consolidated from a slurry in the laboratory. Results of these tests are compared with incremental consolidation tests performed with an oedometer.

The modified apparatus was found to be suitable for use in both …

A Theoretical Study Of Antecedent Soil Moisture As It Relates To The Rainfall-Runoff Relationship, Karen Sue Angert

Masters Theses

"This paper addresses the feasibility of using antecedent soil moisture as a tool for predicting the extractions from rainfall due to the infiltration process by solving the one-dimensional equation for saturated- unsaturated flow through porous media. Soil moisture characteristics in the form of empirical equations were used to incorporate the hysteretic behavior of the soil-water relationships into the model. Two sets of parameters were developed to be representative of a silty sand and a silty fine sand.

Extractions as infiltration from a given storm hyetograph and the total volume of direct runoff were computed for different initial moisture states. When …

The Effect Of The Degree Of Saturation On The Permeability Of A Compacted Clay To Organic Permeants, Mark Alan Harms

Masters Theses

"Relationships for permeability of kaolinite versus degree of saturation and permeability versus flow are developed for 0.005 N calcium sulphate, xylene and aniline permeants using the triaxial flexible wall permeameter. The clay was statically compacted at degrees of saturation of 50%, 75% and 100%. A gradient of 277 was used for the permeability tests.

The initial degree of saturation was inversely related to the permeability of the clay. Saturated clay samples were found to be virtually impervious to aniline and xylene. As the degree of saturation decreased, the permeability increased with the initial volume of flow equivalent to the volume …