Engineering Commons^™

1993 - Lessons Learned From The California Drought (1987-1992) - National Study Of Water Management During Drought

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

The 1987-92 drought in California put the long-term strategy of drought protection as well as short-term drought response measures to a severe test. The report provides background information and data on California's economy and water resources, the existing water management system. , a chronology of major drought events and significant drought response actions during the droughts.

The report summarizes the contents of the interviews pertaining to four general aspects of the drought: (1) critical drought impacts, (2) communication and cooperation, (3) the role and responsibilities of the media, and (4) response to the drought of the general public and water …

2000 - Preparing For California's Next Drought -- Changes Since 1987-92

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

The purpose of this report is to review items that the California Department of Water Resources should consider in near-term drought planning, putting California’s conditions today into perspective with experiences gained in the 1987-92 drought. The report begins with an overview of California hydrology and water supply, then describes conditions encountered in the 1987-92 drought. Changed conditions since that drought are summarized, and their implications discussed. The report concludes with a list of actions that the Department could take to respond to future drought conditions.

Design And Evaluation Of Iot-Enabled Instrumentation For A Soil-Bentonite Slurry Trench Cutoff Wall, Jeffrey C. Evans, Alan Marchiori, Yadong Li

Faculty Journal Articles

In this work, we describe our approach and experiences bringing an instrumented soil-bentonite slurry trench cutoff wall into a modern IoT data collection and visualization pipeline. Soil-bentonite slurry trench cutoff walls have long been used to control ground water flow and contaminant transport. A Raspberry Pi computer on site periodically downloads the sensor data over a serial interface from an industrial datalogger and transmits the data wirelessly to a gateway computer located 1.3 km away using a reliable transmission protocol. The resulting time-series data is stored in a MongoDB database and data is visualized in real-time by a custom web …

College Of Engineering Advisor Receives Regional Award | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

College of Engineering academic advisor Leslie Buxton received the Region 10 Excellence in Advising Award. Buxton was selected among nominees from five western states.

Landslides Near Enguri Dam (Caucasus, Georgia) And Possible Seismotectonic Effects, Alessandro Tibaldi, Paolo Oppizzi, John S. Gierke, Thomas Oommen, Nino Tsereteli, Zurab Gogoladze

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Publications

The Enguri dam and water reservoir, nested in the southwestern Caucasus (Republic of Georgia), are surrounded by steep mountain slopes. At a distance of 2.5 km from the dam, a mountain ridge along the reservoir is affected by active deformations with a double vergence. The western slope, directly facing the reservoir, has deformations that affect a subaerial area of 1.2 km². The head scarp affects the Jvari–Khaishi–Mestia main road with offsets of man-made features that indicate slip rates of 2–9 cm yr⁻¹. Static, pseudostatic and Newmark analyses, based on field and seismological data, suggest different unstable …

1994 - Monterey County Water Resources Agency Ordinance 03790

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

This ordinance provides for the management of all groundwater wells within the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project area, known as Zone 2B, following the completion and start-up of the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project. It prohibited and otherwise restricted pumping from groundwater wells in Zone 2B, and it provided for the classification of the various wells, for the maintenance and limited operation of standby wells, and for the destruction of abandoned wells, contaminated wells, wells that allow cross-contamination of aquifers in intruded areas, and other wells. The ordinance established a procedure for the destruction of wells, a variance procedure, an appeals procedure, …

Achieving Superelasticity In Additively Manufactured Niti In Compression Without Post-Process Heat Treatment, Narges Shayesteh Moghaddam, Soheil Saedi, Amirhesam Amerinatanzi, Alejandro Hinojos, Ali Ramazani, Julia Kundin, Michael J. Mills, Haluk E. Karaca, Mohammad Elahinia

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Shape memory alloys (SMAs), such as Nitinol (i.e., NiTi), are of great importance in biomedical and engineering applications due to their unique superelasticity and shape memory properties. In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM) processes have been used to produce complex NiTi components, which provide the ability to tailor microstructure and thus the critical properties of the alloys, such as the superelastic behavior and transformation temperatures (TTs), by selection of processing parameters. In biomedical applications, superelasticity in implants play a critical role since it gives the implants bone-like behavior. In this study, a methodology of improving superelasticity in Ni-rich NiTi components …

The Santthe Santa Clara, 2019-01-10, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

2003 - Geohydrologic Framework Of Recharge And Seawater Intrusion In The Pajaro Valley, Santa Cruz And Monterey Counties, California

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA) must deal with issues of both water supply and water quality. Managing water resources for agricultural and municipal users requires maintaining a reliable water supply to meet growing demands while preventing ground-water overdraft and the related degradation of water quality. Important regional water-quality concerns include increased nitrate concentrations and seawater intrusion. To protect the quantity and quality of the ground-water supplies, the PVWMA has implemented a plan to prevent further seawater intrusion. In order to evaluate how these activities can be conducted most effectively, it is necessary to improve the understanding of the …

Near-Field Mean Flow Dynamics Of A Cylindrical Canopy Patch Suspended In Deep Water, Jian Zhou, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The time-averaged flow dynamics of a suspended cylindrical canopy patch with a bulk diameter of D is investigated using large-eddy simulations (LES). The patch consists of Nc constituent solid circular cylinders of height h and diameter d, mimicking patchy vegetation suspended in deep water (H/h ≫ 1, where H is the total flow depth). After validation against published data, LES of a uniform incident flow impinging on the canopy patch was conducted to study the effects of canopy density (0.16 ≤ φ = Nc(d/D)² ≤ 1, by varying Nc) and bulk aspect ratio (0.25 ≤ AR = h/D ≤ …

Effect Of Crystallization Modes In Tips-Pentacene/Insulating Polymer Blends On The Gas Sensing Properties Of Organic Field-Effect Transistors, Jung Hun Lee, Yena Seo, Yeong Don Park, John E. Anthony, Do Hun Kwak, Jung Ah Lim, Sunglim Ko, Ho Won Jang, Kilwon Cho, Wi Hyoung Lee

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

Blending organic semiconductors with insulating polymers has been known to be an effective way to overcome the disadvantages of single-component organic semiconductors for high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). We show that when a solution processable organic semiconductor (6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene, TIPS-pentacene) is blended with an insulating polymer (PS), morphological and structural characteristics of the blend films could be significantly influenced by the processing conditions like the spin coating time. Although vertical phase-separated structures (TIPS-pentacene-top/PS-bottom) were formed on the substrate regardless of the spin coating time, the spin time governed the growth mode of the TIPS-pentacene molecules that phase-separated and crystallized on the …

Ensuring Scientific Publishing Credibility In Translational Biomedical Optics., Brian W. Pogue

Dartmouth Scholarship

Optics has consistently been the largest singular technology sector used in medicine, and major advances in biomedical optics are documented daily in peer-reviewed publications. However, the academic stature of this field can be damaged by weaknesses in scientific publishing, where a “credibility crisis” has emerged as a popularized and increasingly studied dialogue. While there are still relatively few overt cases of fraud or erroneous research, more insidious aspects are seen in papers with results that have either low statistical power, selective reporting of observations, or data or computer codes that cannot be independently verified. Interestingly, the same solutions that improve …

3d Microwave Tomography Using The Soft Prior Regularization Technique: Evaluation In Anatomically-Realistic Mri-Derived Numerical Breast Phantoms, Amir H. Golnabi, Paul M. Meaney, Shireen D. Geimer, Keith D. Paulsen

Department of Mathematics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: Fusion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) breast images with microwave tomography is accomplished through a soft prior technique, which incorporates spatial information (from MRI), i.e. accurate boundary location of different regions of interest, into the regularization process of the microwave image reconstruction algorithm. Methods: Numerical experiments were completed on a set of 3D breast geometries derived from MR breast data with different parenchymal densities, as well as a simulated tumor to evaluate performance over a range of breast shapes, sizes and property distributions. Results: When the soft prior regularization technique was applied, both permittivity and conductivity relative root mean …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Centrifugally Spun Poly(Acrylic Acid) Nanofibers, David De La Garza, Francisco De Santiago, Luis Materon, Mircea Chipara, Mataz Alcoutlabi

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The production of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) nanofibers by the centrifugal spinning of PAA solutions in water is reported. The effect of the spinneret rotational speed and concentration of PAA solutions on the diameter of nanofibers and on their quality (assessed by the absence of beads) is discussed. The main physical properties of PAA such as glass-transition temperature (Tg) are studied in detail and compared to the feature of the as-received homopolymer. It is shown that the glass-transition temperature of the bulk PAA and PAA nanofibers (as measured by differential scanning calorimetry) depends on the heating rate according …

A Sine-Summation Algorithm For The Prediction Of Ship Deck Motion, Christian R. Bolander, Douglas F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

Landing a fixed-wing aircraft on a moving aircraft carrier is a risky and inefficient process. Having an accurate prediction of ship deck motion decreases the risk posed to both the pilot and the aircraft and increases the efficiency of landing maneuvers. The present work proposes the use of a sine-summation algorithm to predict future ship motion. The algorithm decomposes recorded ship acceleration data into its characteristic harmonic parameters using a fast Fourier transform. The harmonic parameters are then used in a summation of sine waves to create a fit for the acceleration data, which is projected into future time intervals …

Assessment Of Post-Wildfire Debris Flow Occurrence Using Classifier Tree, Priscilla Addison, Thomas Oommen, Qiuying Sha

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Besides the dangers of an actively burning wildfire, a plethora of other hazardous consequences can occur afterwards. Debris flows are among the most hazardous of these, being known to cause fatalities and extensive damage to infrastructure. Although debris flows are not exclusive to fire affected areas, a wildfire can increase a location’s susceptibility by stripping its protective covers like vegetation and introducing destabilizing factors such as ash filling soil pores to increase runoff potential. Due to the associated dangers, researchers are developing statistical models to isolate susceptible locations. Existing models predominantly employ the logistic regression algorithm; however, previous studies have …

Hybrid Optical Integrator Based On Silicon-On-Insulator Platform, Taewon Huh

Graduate Theses - Physics and Optical Engineering

A hybrid optical integrator is a recirculating loop that performs oversampling typically for analog input, using the cross-gain modulation (XGM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The modulated input signal changes the gain of the loop through XGM and thus modifies the loop accumulation. This thesis presents hybrid optical integrator for an all-optical analog-to-digital converter based on a silicon photonics platform. The device consists of silicon waveguides of dimension 220 × 500 nm (thick × width) and approximately 5 m optical loop length including fiber length, input and output grating couplers for 1550 nm signal, directional couplers, and external components …

Usu Professor Receives Alumni Award From Virginia Tech | College Of Engineering, Utah State University

College of Engineering News

Utah State University’s Marc Maguire received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Maguire is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering.

2014 - Public Update For Drought Response, Groundwater Basins, With Potential Water Shortages And Gaps In Monitoring

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

A groundwater report as required by Governor's January 17, 2014 Emergency Drought Proclamation (Order Action Number 11) requiring that DWR describe basins with potential water shortages and gaps in groundwater monitoring. Preparing the report entailed compiling and evaluating all available data, including information presented in California Water Plan Update 2013.

Data was compiled and analyzed from the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CAS GEM) Program, the Water Data Library (WDL) groundwater level database, the draft Bulletin 160 California Water Plan Update 2013, and from well completion reports (driller'S logs) submitted to DWR. The focus of this update was to analyze …

2013 - Discussion Draft - Groundwater Workplan Concept Paper

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

California work plan that aligns groundwater protection efforts, the ongoing actions of other entities with groundwater management responsibilities, and potential actions that the Water Boards. Effective groundwater management is necessary to ensure groundwater quality and quantity is maintained at sustainable levels that support beneficial uses of water over the long-term.

Injectable, Magnetically Orienting Electrospun Fiber Conduits For Neuron Guidance, Christopher D.L. Johnson, Debmalya Ganguly, Jonathan M. Zuidema, Thomas J. Cardinal, Alexis M. Ziemba, Kathryn R. Kearns, Simon M. Mccarthy, Deanna M. Thompson, Ganpati Ramanath, Diana A. Borca-Tasciuc, Silvio Dutz, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Magnetic electro spun fibers are of interest for minimally invasive biomaterial applications that also strive to provide cell guidance. Magnetic electro spun fibers can be injected and then magnetically positioned in situ, and the aligned fiber scaffolds provide consistent topographical guidance to cells. In this study, magnetically responsive aligned poly-l-lactic acid electro spun fiber scaffolds were developed and tested for neural applications. Incorporating oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles significantly increased neurite outgrowth, reduced the fiber alignment, and increased the surface nano topography of the electro spun fibers. After verifying neuron viability on two-dimensional scaffolds, the system was tested as an …

Structural Transformations During Periodic Deformation Of Low-Porosity Amorphous Materials, Nikolai V. Priezjev, Maxim A. Makeev

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Atomistic simulations are employed to study structural evolution of pore ensembles in binary glasses under periodic shear deformation with varied amplitude. The consideration is given to porous systems in the limit of low porosity. The initial ensembles of pores are comprised of multiple pores with small sizes, which are approximately normally distributed. As periodic loading proceeds, the ensembles evolve into configurations with a few large-scale pores and significantly reduced number of small pores. These structural changes are reflected in the skewed shapes of the pore-size distribution functions and the appearance of a distinct peak at large length scales after hundreds …

Failure Mode Identification Of Masonry Infilled Rc Frames, Rabab Allouzi, Ayhan Irfanoglu

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

This paper presents a new method to identify the ultimate failure mode of reinforced concrete (RC) frames due to the presence of masonry infill walls. The proposed method is based on simple geometry, reinforcement ratios and material properties of the elements involved in the frame-wall assembly. A simple engineering tool, expressed in terms of infill wall-to-RC frame stiffness and strength ratios, is developed to estimate whether the ultimate failure mode that would evolve during strong earthquake ground shaking in the infilled RC frame is brittle or ductile. The brittle failure mode, that is, shear failure in columns, should be avoided …

2014 - State Of The Salinas River Groundwater Basin Report, Executive Summary

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

An examination of the state of the Salinas River Groundwater Basin (Basin) was conducted in the last half of 2014 as part of the larger Basin Investigation. This Executive Summary of the State of the Basin Report addresses the ramifications of prolonged drought by considering likely changes in groundwater head elevations, groundwater storage, and seawater intrusion in the event that the current drought continues. In addition, some steps are presented that could be taken to help alleviate the consequences of further depleting groundwater storage.

Optimizing 3d Printed Prosthetic Hand And Simulator, Stephen Estelle

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the position and use of an upper extremity prosthetic simulator on non-amputees. To see how a 3D printed prosthetic simulator can be optimized to serve the user correctly and accurately. In addition, this study examines the improvement of the Hosmer 5X Prosthetic Hook with the addition of newly designed trusses on to the prosthetic, as well as utilizing a new manufacturing method known as 3D printing. These topics are important because there is no standardized prosthetic simulator for schools and research facilities to use. Off the shelf prosthetic simulator cost upwards of …

Application Of Virtual Reality In Rehabilitation Of Special Populations, Tingting Liu, Liu Zhen, Ping'an Qian, Rongrong Xuan, Wang Jin, Yanjie Chai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: With the continuous development of urbanization and the trend of population aging, the number of people who need physical and mental rehabilitation continues to increase. Using information technology to assist the rehabilitation process has the important practical significance. The existing studies about the application of virtual reality (VR) technology in the rehabilitation, psychological problems and children with autism for stroke are reviewed. A framework for the intelligent rehabilitation system is proposed. Virtual agent, the technology of somatosensory and voice recognition are advised to be used. Based on the proposed framework, a prototype rehabilitation game for autism and an upper …

A Review Of Rare Event Simulation, Liping Wang, Wenhui Fan

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Rare-event has a great significance for its lower probability of occurrence and greater harmfulness, the traditional Monte Carlo method is difficult to analyze it effectively. Rare-event simulation technique which is developed quickly and applied in many areas can sample the rare-event effectively with variance reduction methods and can estimate the occurrence probability of rare-event. The research status of rare-event simulation technique is summarized firstly; the principles, problems and progress of the main methods are analyzed and concluded secondly; after that the application fields of the technique are elaborated and summarized; the future development tendency of rare event simulation technique …

Integrated Modeling For Time Delay Stability Analysis In Gcps, Jianbo Jiang, Li Peng, Aimin Miao, Cao Min, Songhai Zhang, Tan Lei, Kerun Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: According to the separation problems of physical and cyber modeling in time delay stability analysis for grid cyber-physical system (GCPS), an integrated modeling method is presented and proved by single machine infinite bus system (SMIBS). The time delay and stability of GCPS are analyzed and discussed, and the physical and cyber models of SMIBS are established respectively. The dynamic linking library by EA and VS based on information model (CIM) are generated, and the united simulation platform is achieved by MATLAB. The results of the simulation show that the unified structure of information flow …

Parameter Estimation Of Lfmcw Signals Based On Improved Sm Method, Jiang Li, Junni Zhou, Runling Yang, Liu Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The parameter estimation of linear frequency modulation continuous wave (LFMCW) signal is a research hotspot in electronic reconnaissance systems. In this paper, the time frequency distribution feature of LFMCW signals is studied first. Based on the improved S-method (SM), an algorithm for parameter estimation of LFMCW signals is proposed. It uses short-time Fourier transform (STFT) to calculate the SM with adaptive window width, which can suppress the crossterm interferences and improve the time-frequency resolution. Theoretical analysis and simulation experiment results demonstrate the validity of the proposed algorithm under low SNR.

Research On Method Of Battlefield Situation Representation Based On Multiplex Information Cell, Xiying Huang, Dinghai Zhao, Shao Wei

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: We adopt the grid-space method to represent the battlefield as discrete cell model. And we construct the multiplex information cell (MIC) using the situation-meta’s information such as position, states collection, indexed by position. The positions of MICs correspond to the battlefield’s positions. Both of them can be represented as stack or data array. This method gives a way to build the whole mapping relationship between data structure which the computer can understand and the battle factors such as position and state of situation-meta. When the position or state of the situation-meta changes, the computer can redraw the view according …