Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

2012 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2012 ENGR333 project focused on a prospective West Wing addition to the Spoelhof College Center at Calvin University.

I asked the students “What will it take for Calvin College to install a geothermal HVAC system for the West Wing?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Calvin’s VP for finance Henry DeVries.

Effects Of Testing Time On Anaerobic Toxicity Assessment, Omolola Atinuke Akintomide

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for wastewater treatment for decades. Several Anaerobic Toxicity tests have been developed to screen wastewater for toxicity and assess the treatability of such toxicants. However, past research and reviews on Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) test and Anaerobic Toxicity Assay (ATA) were considered in this study.

The experimental tests included ammonium-nitrogen and sodium chloride toxicity tests with varied concentration and solid retention time. These tests were designed to demonstrate the impact of ammonia- nitrogen and sodium chloride on the biological degradation process. The anaerobic test set-up includes bench-scale test reactors and respirometers used for measuring …

Magnitude And Frequency Of Floods For Rural, Unregulated Streams Of Tennessee By L-Moments Method, Hongxiang Yan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a regional frequency analysis of Tennessee using the well-known Bulletin-17B method standardly used in the United States and the relatively new and developing L-Moments methods. Flood frequency characteristics were defined for 416 gaging stations located primarily in rural and lightly developed areas of Tennessee. All the gaging stations have 10 or more years of record through 2006. Using the L-Moments method, the generalized extreme value distribution was identified as the most robust distribution for each of four hydrologic areas. Multiple regression equations were also calculated for estimating the flood frequency of ungaged, unregulated, rural streams in each …

The Development Of A High Performance Concrete To Store Thermal Energy For Concentrating Solar Power Plants, Emerson Esmond John

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, due to rising energy costs as well as an increased awareness of the environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions produced through traditional forms of energy production, there is great interest in developing alternative sources of energy. One of the most viable alternative energy sources is solar energy. In particular, concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies have been identified as an option for meeting utility needs in the U.S. Southwest. These systems are required to produce electricity not only during periods of high solar radiation but also during times of reduced radiation due to cloud cover, and even extend …

Effects Of Moisture Augmentation Of Municipal Solid Waste Through Addition Of Food Waste Or Wastewater Treatment Biosolids On Bio-Gas Formation For Power Generation, Jared Michael Gore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An investigation into the effect of moisture augmentation by manipulation of food waste proportion or wastewater treatment plant biosolids proportion was undertaken to determine the effects on production of methane and other biogases from municipal solid waste (MSW). Laboratory microcosm experiments were performed to determine the effect of various proportions of influent waste streams on the production of biogas. Results indicated that moisture augmentation through the addition of food waste to MSW increases the overall bio-gas and hydrogen gas formed during fermentation. Moisture augmentation through addition of wastewater treatment bio-solids lead to inconclusive results. Addition of food waste to MSW …

Impact Of Secondary Treatment Types And Sludge Handling Processes On Estrogen Concentration In Wastewater Sludge, Erica J. Marti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as estrogen, are known to be present in the aquatic environment at concentrations that negatively affect fish and other wildlife. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are major contributors of EDCs into the environment. EDCs are released via effluent discharge and land application of biosolids. Estrogen removal in WWTPs has been studied in the aqueous phase; however, few researchers have determined estrogen concentration in sludge. This study focuses on estrogen concentration in wastewater sludge as a result of secondary treatment types and sludge handling processes. Grab samples were collected before and after multiple treatment steps at two WWTPs …

Using Life Cycle Assessment Methods To Guide Architectural Decision-Making For Sustainable Prefabricated Modular Buildings, Jeremy Faludi, Michael Lepech, George Loisos

Dartmouth Scholarship

Within this work, life cycle assessment modeling is used to determine top design priorities and quantitatively inform sustainable design decision-making for a prefabricated modular building. A case-study life-cycle assessment was performed for a 5,000 ft² prefabricated commercial building constructed in San Francisco, California, and scenario analysis was run examining the life cycle environmental impacts of various energy and material design substitutions, and a structural design change. Results show that even for a highly energy-efficient modular building, the top design priority is still minimizing operational energy impacts, since this strongly dominates the building life cycle's environmental impacts. However, as an …

Estimating Annual Precipitation For The Colorado River Basin Using Oceanic-Atmospheric Oscillations, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Estimating long-lead time precipitation under the stress of increased climatic variability is a challenging task in the field of hydrology. A modified Support Vector Machine (SVM) based framework is proposed to estimate annual precipitation using oceanic-atmospheric oscillations. Oceanic-atmospheric oscillations, consisting of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) for a period of 1900–2008, are used to generate annual precipitation estimates with a 1 year lead time. The SVM model is applied to 17 climate divisions encompassing the Colorado River Basin in the western United States. The overall results revealed that …

Concentration Effects And Ion Properties Controlling The Fractionation Of Halides During Aerosol Formation, Marcelo I. Guzman, Richa R. Athalye, Jose M. Rodriguez

Chemistry Faculty Publications

During the aerosolization process at the sea surface, halides are incorporated into aerosol droplets, where they may play an important role in tropospheric ozone chemistry. Although this process may significantly contribute to the formation of reactive gas phase molecular halogens, little is known about the environmental factors that control how halides selectively accumulate at the air-water interface. In this study, the production of sea spray aerosol is simulated using electrospray ionization (ESI) of 100 nM equimolar solutions of NaCl, NaBr, NaI, NaNO(2), NaNO(3), NaClO(4), and NaIO(4). The microdroplets generated are analyzed by mass spectrometry to study the comparative enrichment of …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2018, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Synergy Of Alum And Chlorine Dioxide For Curbing Disinfection Byproduct Formation Potential At Central Arkansas Water, Corey W. Granderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Central Arkansas Water (CAW), the water utility for Little Rock, AR, draws their source water from Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona. To curb disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation, CAW has begun retrofitting their two plants to use chlorine dioxide as an alternative primary disinfectant followed by free chlorine secondary disinfection in the distribution system. In this study, fluorescence parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis was combined with free chlorine simulated distribution system (SDS) tests and DBP formation potential (DBPFP) tests to study the benefit of chlorine dioxide primary disinfection (CDPD) with alum coagulation. Of the DBPs screened, trichloromethane (TCM) was formed in highest …

Mathematical Modeling Of Fluid Spills In Hydraulically Fractured Well Sites, Oluwafemi Michael Taiwo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improved drilling technology and favorable energy prices have contributed to the rapid pace at which the exploitation of unconventional natural gas is taking place across the United States. As a natural gas well is being drilled, reserve pits are constructed to hold the drilling fluids and other materials returned from the drilling process. These reserve pits can fail, and when they do, plant and animal life of the surrounding area may be adversely affected. This project develops a screening tool for a suitable location for a reserve pit. This work will be a critical piece of the Infrastructure Placement Analysis …

Sediment Removal From The San Gabriel Mountains, Mary C. Ferguson

Pitzer Senior Theses

The issue of sediment removal from the San Gabriel Mountains has been a complex issue that has created problems with beach replenishment, habitat destruction and the need to spend millions of dollars at regular intervals to avoid safety hazards. Most recently 11 acres of riparian habitat, including 179 oaks and 70 sycamores, were removed for sediment placement. Other sites including Hahamongna Watershed Park and La Tuna Canyon also face a similar fate. This thesis questions: How did we get to this point of destroying habitat to dump sediment which is viewed as waste product? What are the barriers for creating …

Legal Issues In Green Construction, Namrata Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The most recent "green construction movement", made a significant impact on the design and construction industry in the United States. Organizations such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have lobbied governmental entities to provide financial incentives to promote green construction. The green construction community also promotes the notion that a healthier working and living environment is achieved. Due to finical incentives coupled with projected long-term energy cost savings, many owners of new construction are considering green construction as an option. Accompanying the "green construction movement", new kinds of legal issues, particularly relating to green aspects such as certification, energy …

Modeling Passive Solar Distillation In Las Vegas, Nv, Noe I. Santos

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Project Background

• Many rural areas on the planet do not have easy access to clean water!

• Water distillation basins are capable of distilling water by using incident solar radiation to evaporate polluted water.

• Current thermodynamic models used to predict behavior require instantaneous data; requires the use of expensive equipment.

• Distillation basins are dependent on multiple meteorological variables: insolation, temperature, wind speed, cloud cover.

• Non‐linear behavior is difficult to predict for long term operations.

Impact Of Sludge Treatment Processes On Estrogen Concentration In Wastewater Sludge, Erica Marti

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as estrogen, are known to be present in the aquatic environment at concentrations that affect fish and other wildlife. For example, juvenile male fish exposed to estrogen will synthesize vitellogenin, which is a female-specific protein. Estrogen exposure is also linked to sex reversal, intersexuality, and inhibition of gonadal growth (Jobling et al., 1996).

Wastewater treatment plants are major contributors of EDCs into the environment. EDCs end up in wastewater as a result of natural excretion from the body or being washed off the skin. WWTPs are not designed to remove these substances. As a result, EDCs …

Validation Of Noaa-Interactive Multisensor Snow And Ice Mapping System (Ims) By Comparison With Ground-Based Measurements Over Continental United States, Christine Chen, Tarendra Lakhankar, Peter Romanov, Sean Helfrich, Al Powell, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

In this study, daily maps of snow cover distribution and sea ice extent produced by NOAA’s interactive multisensor snow and ice mapping system (IMS) were validated using in situ snow depth data from observing stations obtained from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) for calendar years 2006 to 2010. IMS provides daily maps of snow and sea ice extent within the Northern Hemisphere using data from combination of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites in visible, infrared and microwave spectrums. Statistical correspondence between the IMS and in situ point measurements has been evaluated assuming that ground measurements are discrete and continuously …

Optimization Of Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron For The Remediation Of Groundwater Contaminants, Andrew W. E. Mcpherson

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is an emerging tool for the remediation of groundwater contaminants. The nanoparticles are capable of reductively destroying or immobilizing a wide range of contaminants. Their small size results in a high surface area to mass ratio, making them much more reactive compared to their more-coarse predecessors. Small particle size also allows nZVI particles to be injected directly into contaminated areas via a well, limiting the above-ground footprint and allowing access to contaminated areas that are beyond the reach of some conventional methods. nZVI technology has the potential to facilitate remediation in difficult situations, improve remediation outcomes, …

Analysis Of Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design® Construction In The Air Force, James M. Rozzoni

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force uses the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system as a third party verification system to ensure sustainable and resource-conscious facilities. The Federal Government has implemented several mandates in recent years that require certain milestones be met for energy reduction, water conservation, renewable energy use, and so forth. This research aims to determine how the Air Force has implemented LEED through credit analysis, and to better understand why LEED is being used in this way. Using a database of 172 military construction projects, the research evaluates the frequency of credit usage individually and by category. …

Willingness-To-Pay For Maintenance And Improvements To Existing Sanitation Infrastructure: Assessing Community-Led Total Sanitation In Mopti, Mali, Justin Vern Meeks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, much focus has been put on the sustainability of water and sanitation development projects. Experts in this field have found that many of the projects of the past have failed to achieve sustainability because of a lack of demand for water and sanitation interventions at a grassroots level. For years projects looked to create this demand through various subsidy schemes, with the "software" of behavior change and education taking a backseat to the "hardware" of infrastructure provision. Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a fairly new way of looking at the issues of increasing basic sanitation coverage, promoting …

Losing The Lake: Development And Deployment Of An Educational Game, Joseph M. Vesco, Katie Gilgen, Anne Paine, Marissa Owens, Michael Nussbaum, Gale M. Sinatra, Sajjad Ahmad, Kent J. Crippen, Sergiu Dascalu, Frederick C. Harris

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

When asked what the top three issues of the Las Vegas region were, the reply was “water, water, water!" This was the result of a survey done a few years ago of Las Vegas Valley TV anchors. The reason for this response is that sustainability of the urban environments requires sufficient water resources as does population growth. With the advent of global climate change, this resource is in danger. Water flow and mountainous ice packs are impacted by this change in climate there by impacting the amount of water the the region. This is compounded over time as the population …

Global Monthly Water Scarcity: Blue Water Footprints Versus Blue Water Availability, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen, Ashok K. Chapagain, Ruth E. Mathews, Brian D. Richter

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern, placing considerable importance on the accuracy of indicators used to characterize and map water scarcity worldwide. We improve upon past efforts by using estimates of blue water footprints (consumptive use of ground- and surface water flows) rather than water withdrawals, accounting for the flows needed to sustain critical ecological functions and by considering monthly rather than annual values. We analyzed 405 river basins for the period 1996–2005. In 201 basins with 2.67 billion inhabitants there was severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. The ecological and economic consequences of increasing …

The Water Footprint Of Humanity, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This study quantifies and maps the water footprint (WF) of humanity at a high spatial resolution. It reports on consumptive use of rainwater (green WF) and ground and surface water (blue WF) and volumes of water polluted (gray WF). Water footprints are estimated per nation from both a production and consumption perspective. International virtual water flows are estimated based on trade in agricultural and industrial commodities. The global annual average WF in the period 1996–2005 was 9,087 Gm3 ∕y (74% green, 11% blue, 15% gray). Agricultural production contributes 92%. About one-fifth of the global WF relates to production for export. …

Slides: Unconventional Gas And Oil – Potential Air Emissions, John Imse

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: John Imse, Hydrogeologist, ENVIRON International Corporation presents an overview of the current methods for developing a shale play and the typical site operations

10 slides

Slides: Air Monitoring And Litigation Update, John Jacus

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: John Jacus, Partner, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, reviews recent litigation aimed at oil and gas development activities with respect to air emissions impacts, and also several recent and ongoing studies and ambient monitoring efforts focused upon air emissions from oil and gas activities

23 slides

Slides: Air Quality - Oil And Gas Development, Paul R. Tourangeau

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Paul Tourangeau, Assistant General Counsel, DCP Midstream, LP and former Director, Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, addresses regulatory requirements and policies related to air emissions from the oil and gas sector, including recent and current initiatives at the state and federal level

8 slides

Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Debra Kaden, Ph.D., Toxicologist, ENVIRON International Corporation, discusses air concentrations of chemicals of potential health concern surrounding oil and gas development activities, as well as temporal and spatial patterns of these chemicals in the ambient environment. Such information is necessary to evaluate possible health impacts of the drilling process on air in surrounding communities.

19 slides

Agenda: Air Quality Impacts From Oil And Gas Development, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Oil and gas development and hydraulic fracturing have received enormous attention over the past few years, and most of that attention has focused on the potential impacts of such development on water quality. However, the potential impacts on air quality from oil and gas development have received far less public and media attention and discussion. This two-hour program will assess the current scientific knowledge, regulatory requirements and policies regarding the impacts on air quality from oil and gas development and will address current initiatives at the state and national levels to further regulate and control those impacts.

Estimation Of Performance Indices For The Planning Of Sustainable Transportation Systems, Pankaj Maheshwari, Alexander Paz, Pushkin Kachroo

Graduate Publications & Presentations

What is sustainable transportation system?

Fulfill the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations

Utilize resources without compromising their health and productivity Leads to development that improves quality of life

Assimilate economic, ecological, social, and bio-physical components of resource ecosystems

Minimize the use of renewable and non-renewable resources, provide affordability and equity between generations

A Global Assessment Of The Water Footprint Of Farm Animal Products, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The increase in the consumption of animal products is likely to put further pressure on the world’s freshwater resources. This paper provides a comprehensive account of the water footprint of animal products, considering different production systems and feed composition per animal type and country. Nearly one-third of the total water footprint of agriculture in the world is related to the production of animal products. The water footprint of any animal product is larger than the water footprint of crop products with equivalent nutritional value. The average water footprint per calorie for beef is 20 times larger than for cereals and …