Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2006, 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 to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Long-Term Mechanical Behavior Of Yucca Mountain Tuff And Its Variability, Jaak J.K. Daemen, Lumin Ma, Guohua Zhao

Publications (YM)

The study of the long term mechanical behavior of Yucca Mountain tuffs is important for several reasons. Long term stability of excavations will affect accessibility (e.g. for inspection purposes), and retrievability. Long term instabilities may induce loading of drip shields and/or emplaced waste, thus affecting drip shield and/or waste package corrosion. Failure of excavations will affect airflow, may affect water flow, and may affect temperature distributions. The long term mechanical behavior of “hard” rocks remains an elusive topic, loaded with uncertainties. A variety of approaches have been used to improve the understanding of this complex subject, but it is doubtful …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, 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 to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Coupled Oceanic-Atmospheric Variability And U.S. Streamflow, Glenn A. Tootle, Thomas C. Piechota, Ashok Singh

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

A study of the influence of interdecadal, decadal, and interannual oceanic-atmospheric influences on streamflow in the United States is presented. Unimpaired streamflow was identified for 639 stations in the United States for the period 1951–2002. The phases (cold/negative or warm/positive) of Pacific Ocean (El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)) and Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)) oceanic-atmospheric influences were identified for the year prior to the streamflow year (i.e., long lead time). Statistical significance testing of streamflow, based on the interdecadal, decadal, and interannual oceanic-atmospheric phase (warm/positive or cold/negative), was performed by …

Inside Unlv, Erin O'Donnell, Diane Russell, Carol C. Harter

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Nonlinear Model For Reinforced Concrete Under Cyclic Loading, Aly Said, M. Elmorsi, M. Nehdi

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Most of the available shear models for reinforced concrete rely on empirical formulations. In this study, a rational shear stress function is used to define the shear stress–strain envelope for reinforced concrete. Cyclic rules are proposed to define the loading, unloading and reloading relationships for reinforced concrete under shear stress reversals. A normal stress function describing the cyclic relationship of concrete under axial stress is also introduced. The proposed functions are verified using experimental data of reinforced concrete panels tested under monotonic and cyclic loading. Subsequently, the normal and shear stress functions along with their cyclic rules are integrated in …

Efficient Water Use On Construction Sites, David E. James, Thomas C. Piechota

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

One of the objectives of this research project was to develop strategies to optimize dust control efficiency by developing and promoting best management practices for water application, or exploring the cost efficiency of dust control alternatives. Ideally, the results of this research will result in practical recommendations that minimize water use and contractor cost, while maximizing the improvement in control of dust from construction sites (i.e., improved air quality). The overall goal was to gather information and data from field activities that will assist the local agencies (e.g., SNWA and the Clark County Air Quality Management District) in developing water …

Sub-Surface Corrosion Research On Rock Bolt System, Perforated Ss Sheets And Steel Sets For The Yucca Mountain Repository — Quarterly Technical Report No. 3, Dhanesh Chandra, Jaak J.K. Daemen

Publications (YM)

This report encompasses the work done for third quarter in accordance to cooperative agreement of UCCSN for the Task 019 “Subsurface Corrosion Research on Rock Bolt System, Perforated SS Sheets and Steel Sets for the Yucca Mountain Repository”, the objective of which was proposed earlier, to conduct corrosion research and predict the durability of rockbolts and other underground metallic roof supports. We have recently started working on oxidation tests using Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA), stress corrosion cracking/hydrogen embrittlement studies on rock bolts, other support materials including bench mark materials. In this quarterly report we will discuss “Dry” oxidation of steels and …

Sub-Surface Corrosion Research On Rock Bolt System, Perforated Ss Sheets And Steel Sets For The Yucca Mountain Repository — Quarterly Technical Report No. 2, Dhanesh Chandra

Publications (YM)

This report encompasses the work done for second quarter in accordance to cooperative agreement of UCCSN for the Task 019 “Subsurface Corrosion Research on Rock Bolt System, Perforated SS Sheets and Steel Sets for the Yucca Mountain Repository”, the objective of which was proposed earlier, to conduct corrosion research and predict the durability of rock-bolts and other underground metallic roof supports. We have recently started working on oxidation tests using Thermogravimetric Analyzer, stress corrosion cracking/hydrogen embrittlement studies on rock bolts, other support materials including bench mark materials. In this quarterly report we will discuss “Dry” oxidation of steels and other …

Detecting Anomalous Inclusions In Soil Profiles: Encouraging The Use Of Geophysics To Solve Engineering Problems, Barbara Luke, Carlos Calderon-Macias

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Geotechnical site investigations often do not take full advantage of geophysical methods. As examples, when delineating cemented strata and when detecting shallow cavities, investigations can be enhanced greatly for low additional cost by incorporating seismic surface-based measurements.

Integration Of Service-Learning Into Civil And Environmental Engineering Curriculum, T. C. Piechota, Shashi S. Nambisan

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Service-learning is defined as integrating the community service experience of students with their academic study so that learning is enhanced. The level of student participation in community service is at an all time high as students feel the need to confront today's technical and societal problems. However, service-learning is more than community service or volunteerism. Service-learning as defined above, integrates the community service experience with the student’s academic study (note the hyphen in "service-learning" means that both are considered equal). This enhances learning which is a fundamental goal of colleges and universities. Boyer highlights the need for service-learning stating that …

Sub-Surface Corrosion Research On Rock Bolt System, Perforated Ss Sheets And Steel Sets For The Yucca Mountain Repository, Dhanesh Chandra, Jaak J.K. Daemen, Jaime Gonzalez, Raymond Keeler, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

The objective of the proposed investigation is to conduct corrosion research and predict the durability of rock-bolts and other underground metallic roof supports. In critical areas, it is possible to use highly corrosion resistant steels for rock bolts at Yucca Mountain (YM) repository, as the steel rock bolts, as well as other materials such as Bernold type shields for tunnels at YM site [1-4]. In addition, there is propensity for stress corrosion cracking as well as hydrogen induced cracking in rock bolts likely to occur in YM repository emplacement under drift conditions. As corrosion of these materials for underground support …

Involving Undergraduate And High School Students In Research: Opportunities, Challenges, And Rewards, Shashi S. Nambisan

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Historically student involvement in research at Universities and Colleges has primarily revolved around those in graduate programs. However, the NSF’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program and ABET’s evaluation criteria regarding undergraduate participation in research are examples of efforts and initiatives over the last decade to target and include undergraduate students in research efforts. Going one step further would be including high school students in such efforts. This paper summarizes efforts, experiences, and initiatives over the last six years at the UNLV Transportation Research Center to include undergraduate and high school students in research projects and lessons learned from the same …

Remote Monitoring Of Repository Integrity Using Passive Seismic Arrays, Barbara Luke, Evangelos Yfantis

Publications (YM)

Once radioactive waste is emplaced in the repository, the challenge of monitoring the continued integrity of the excavated openings (e.g., emplacement drifts) escalates tremendously. We envision a seismic monitoring array installed on the surface at Yucca Mountain, which operates automatically to monitor repository opening stability in the long term. The objective is to monitor and validate the structural integrity of the emplacement drifts through identifying and localizing rock falls that could compromise drift access, hinder waste retrievability, and potentially reduce the effective life of waste canisters. Collateral benefits of the system include the ability to address some outstanding uncertainties regarding …

Perspectives On Radioactive Waste Disposal: A Consideration Of Economic Efficiency And Intergenerational Equity, Helen R. Neill, Robert H. Neill

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

There are both internal and external pressures on the U.S. Department of Energy to reduce the estimated costs of isolating radioactive waste, $19 billion for transuranic waste at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and $57 billion for high level waste at Yucca Mountain. The question arises whether economic analyses would add to the decision-making process to reduce costs yet maintain the same level of radiological protection. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of using cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool used to measure economic efficiency as an input for these decisions. Using a comparative research approach, we find that CBA …

Scientific And Engineering Studies Of Systems, Structures, And Components Important To Safety For A Potential Repository At Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Ian Buckle, E. Manos Maragakis

Publications (YM)

TASK 26: Upgrade of Earthquake Simulation Facilities in the Large-Scale Structures Laboratory at University of Nevada Reno The objective of this Task was to purchase, install and commission the equipment necessary to upgrade two existing shake tables in the Structures Laboratory at UNR, from uniaxial to biaxial motion. It was recognized that a parallel effort, funded by NSF and HUD, to add a third biaxial table with identical properties to the upgraded existing tables, would be undertaken at the same time.

Creep And Creep-Recovery Models For Wood Under High Stress Levels, Zhiyong Cai, Kenneth J. Fridley, Michael O. Hunt, David V. Rosowsky

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Forty small clear southern pine specimens were loaded under third-point bending to examine creep and creep-recovery behavior for wood under high stress levels. Stress levels of between 69% and 91% of the predicted static strength were applied for 23 h with 1 h allowed for recovery, and the resulting deflection vs. time behavior was studied. The experimental creep and creep-recovery behavior was modeled using modified power law functions. The results indicate that these functions provide the best fit to both primary and secondary experimental data. The empirical models can be used to simulate the viscoelastic behavior of wood under high …

Alternative Ways To Teaching Hvac And Related Subjects Through Actual Project Involvement-Three Case Studies, Samir F. Moujaes

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Yucca Mountain Ventilation Studies Support And Associated Code Enhancements, George Danko

Publications (YM)

The Task 20 project was prematurely closed by DOE on the basis of becoming critical data to the Yucca Mountain project. Task 20 indeed delivered the first, published hydrothermal-ventilation model, MULTIFLUX V1.0 and V1.1 to BSC during 2001 to support the AMR Rev01 report. The numerical model is designed to predict temperature and humidity distributions in and around the emplacement drifts and on the waste packages stored in a ventilated, high-level nuclear waste repository.

Microbiological, Limnological, And Nutrient Evaluations Of The Las Vegas Wash/Bay System, Thomas Piechota, David James, Jacimaria Batista, Penny Amy

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Presented here is a summary of an interdisciplinary study covering the various aspects of changes in water quality due to rapid urbanization in the Las Vegas Valley.

Biological Reduction Of Perchlorate In Ion Exchange Regenerant Solutions Containing High Salinity And Ammonium Levels, Tina M. Gingras, Jacimaria R. Batista

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

The most promising technologies to remove perchlorate from water are ion exchange and biological reduction. Although successful, ion exchange only separates perchlorate from water; it does not eliminate it from the environment. The waste streams from these systems contain the caustic or saline regenerant solutions used in the process as well as high levels of perchlorate. Biological reduction could be used to treat the regenerant waste solutions from the ion exchange process. A treatment scheme, combining ion exchange and biodegradation, is proposed to completely remove perchlorate from the environment. Perchlorate-laden resins generate brines containing salt concentrations up to 6% or …

A Dynamic Simulation Model Of Beach Sand Replenishment: A Case Study Of Santa Barbara, California, David Turbow, Steve Norwick, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Sediment deprivation from dam installments contributes to beach erosion yet the underlying physical and economic factors linking them together have traditionally been isolated during regional planning. In order to gain a better understanding of the behavior of a managed beach system, a dynamic simulation model was developed incorporating physical and monetary factors influencing the amount of available beach sand. The Santa Barbara littoral cell was chosen as a case study to evaluate the feasibility of beach preservation goals under scenarios in which annual sand replenishment funding, sand prices, or sediment recovery from behind dams were limiting factors to available beach …

Ascent And Decompression Of Viscous Vesicular Magma In A Volcanic Conduit, Helene Massol, Claude Jaupart, Darrell Pepper

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

During eruption, lava domes and flows may become unstable and generate dangerous explosions. Fossil lava-filled eruption conduits and ancient lava flows are often characterized by complex internal variations of gas content. These observations indicate a need for accurate predictions of the distribution of gas content and bubble pressure in an eruption conduit. Bubbly magma behaves as a compressible viscous liquid involving three different pressures: those of the gas and magma phases, and that of the exterior. To solve for these three different pressures, one must account for expansion in all directions and hence for both horizontal and vertical velocity components. …

Alternative Principal Components Regression Procedures For Dendrohydrologic Reconstructions, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Thomas C. Piechota, John A. Dracup

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Streamflow reconstruction using tree ring information (dendrohydrology) has traditionally used principal components analysis (PCA) and stepwise regression to form a transfer function. However, PCA has several procedural choices that may result in very different reconstructions. This study assesses the different procedures in PCA-based regression and suggests alternative procedures for selection of variables and principal components. Cross-validation statistics are presented as an alternative for independently testing and identifying the optimal model. The objective is to use these statistics as a measure of the model's performance to find a conceptually acceptable model with a low prediction error and the fewest number of …

Comparison Of One-Dimensional And Two-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Modeling Approaches For Red River Basin, Sajjad Ahmad, Slobodan P. Simonovic

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A devastating flood in Red River valley in 1997 emphasized the need to study the flood control measures in the Red River basin using state of the art modeling tools. The Red River and its floodplains can be modeled using one-dimensional, quasi two-dimensional or fully two-dimensional hydrodynamic models. Each modeling approach has its own advantages and limitations. The main purpose of this report is a comparison between one-dimensional (or quasi two dimensional) and fully two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling approaches for modeling floods in the Red River basin.

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model, MIKE 21, coupled with Geographic Information System (GIS) …

Incident Management In Intelligent Transportation Systems, Kaan Ozbay, Pushkin Kachroo

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Since the conception of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in the 1980s, many transportation researchers have also worked on the development of incident management models and integrated systems for real-time operations. ITS created the required infrastructure for collecting, processing, and managing real-time traffic data that can be used to develop on-line incident management strategies. This book provides the reader with a broad picture of the overall incident management process in the context of ITS along with a quick review of the models and systems developed by numerous researchers worldwide. This book is a direct result of the long-term incident management research …

Sliding Mode For User Equilibrium Dynamic Traffic Routing Control, Pushkin Kachroo, Kaan Ozbay

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

Presents a solution to the user equilibrium dynamic traffic routing (DTR) problem for a point diversion case using feedback control methodology. The sliding mode control technique which is a robust control methodology applicable to nonlinear systems in canonical form is employed to solve the user equilibrium DTR problem. The canonical form for this problem is obtained by using a feedback linearization technique, and the uncertainties of the system are countered by using the sliding mode principle. Simulation results show promising results.

Artificial Recharge In The Las Vegas Valley: An Operational History, Michael Johnson, Erin Cole, Kay Brothers, Las Vegas Valley Water District

Publications (WR)

Artificially recharging the Las Vegas Valley (Valley) ground-water system with treated Colorado River water is one water resource management option employed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District (District) to help meet future long-term and short-term peak water demands. The District began operation of an artificial ground-water recharge program in 1988 in order to bank water for future use and to slow declining water levels. Artificial recharge occurs in the winter months, typically from October to May, when there is excess capacity in the Southern Nevada Water System (SNWS), currently a 400 Million Gallon per Day (MGD) treatment and transmission …

The Influence Of The Wastewater Drainage From The Las Vegas Valley On The Limnology Of Boulder Basin, Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, James F. Labounty, Michael J. Horn, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Lake Mead, Colorado River, Arizona-Nevada, is one of the most heavily used reservoirs in the western United States, providing abundant recreational opportunities as well as downstream domestic and agricultural water for over 22 million users. Based on average nutrient levels and productivity, Lake Mead is classified as mildly mesotrophic. The interflow of the Colorado River dominates the limnology of much of the 106 km-long reservoir, and may still be identified at Hoover Dam under certain conditions. The lower basin of Lake Mead ending at Hoover Dam is known as Boulder Basin and is near the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Las …

Flexible Low-Cost Automated Scaled Highway (Flash) Laboratory For Studies On Automated Highway Systems, Pushkin Kachroo, Kaan Ozbay, Robert G. Leonard, Cem Unsal

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

This paper addresses the development of a flexible low-cost automated scale highway (FLASH) laboratory which is intended to serve as a catalyst for accelerating the development of many intelligent vehicle highway system (IVHS) concepts. It also highlights the significance of the laboratory for the research, evaluation, and testing of automated highway system (AHS) configurations, architectures, designs and technologies. This laboratory, using small scale standardized vehicles will serve as a test bed for the economical development and evaluation of various hardware, software, and management systems before full scale testing and deployment. The laboratory will provide the capability to test day and …