Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Relationship Between Mass And Modal Frequency Of A Concrete Girder Bridge, Michael W. Dean

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In April of 2008, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) launched the Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program. The program was established to collect scientific quality data from a number of bridges across the nation over a period of 20 years. The data will be used to provide a better picture of bridge health and structural performance. Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) structure number 1F 205, located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) west of Perry, Utah, was selected as one of the LTBP pilot bridges (this bridge will also be referred to as the Cannery Street Overpass).

UDOT performs regular maintenance on …

Live Load Test And Finite Element Model Analysis Of A Box Girder Bridge For The Long Term Bridge Performance Program, Dereck J. Hodson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program is a 20-year program initiated by the Federal Highway Administration to better understand the behavior of highway bridges as they deteriorate due to environmental variables and vehicle loads. Part of this program includes the periodic testing of selected bridges.

The Lambert Road Bridge was subjected to nondestructive testing in the fall of 2009. Part of this testing included a live load test. This test involved driving two heavy trucks across the instrumented bridge on selected load paths. The bridge was instrumented with strain, displacement, and tilt sensors. This collected data was used to …

Assessing The Potential For Seepage Barrier Defects To Propagate Into Seepage Erosion Mechanisms, Ryan G. Van Leuven

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Seepage barriers have been used extensively to mitigate seepage problems in dams and levees. Although the design of many of these dams and levees has been based on intact barriers, seepage barriers have been shown to be susceptible to deformation and cracking when high differential hydraulic pressures act across the barrier. Under certain conditions, these cracks can lead to serious seepage problems, which could potentially lead to the development of a low-resistance seepage pathway. Three scenarios have been identified where there is the potential for erosion to occur adjacent to a crack in a barrier: 1) erosion at the interface …

Sustainable Management Of Duckweed Biomass Grown For Nutrient Control In Municipal Wastewaters, Maureen Kesaano

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The use of duckweed as a nutrient removal option for municipal wastewaters can only be realized through regular plant harvesting. As a result, the nutrient-rich biomass generated needs to be effectively managed and disposed of. This study looked at three alternative options for biomass management that would make duckweed-based nutrient removal systems sustainable and attractive to small communities like Wellsville City, Utah. The options included: the use of harvested duckweed biomass as an animal feed, anaerobic digestion of duckweed for methane production, and fermentation of biomass for ethanol production.

Duckweed feed quality was determined using feed analysis reports and results …

Evaluation And Improvements On Row-Column Order Bias And Grid Orientation Bias Of The Progressive Morphological Filter Of Lidar Data, Kody Potter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis reviews algorithms that have been developed for classifying lidar data and identifies a progressive morphological filter for evaluation and improvement. Two potential weaknesses evaluated include the row-column order bias and grid orientation bias.

Four different row-column orderings were developed to test for bias associated with the order choice. Moreover, a method rotating the filter grid to a series of angles was developed for testing bias associated with grid orientation. Measures of success of the improvements include Type I and II errors, where results are compared with a hand-produced "truth" dataset. Two datasets, one urban, the other rural, were …

Live-Load Testing And Finite-Element Analysis Of A Steel Cantilevered Deck Arched Pratt Truss Bridge For The Long-Term Bridge Performance Program, Matthew P. Laurendeau

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Long Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program is an organization within the Federal Highway Administration that inspects, tests, analyzes, and observes, for an extended period of time, a variety of bridge types throughout the United States. Part of the program includes periodic testing of select bridges of a span of 20 years. The Kettle River Bridge located outside of Sandstone, Minnesota was selected for study due to its unique design.

The Kettle River Bridge is a historical steel cantilevered deck arched Pratt truss bridge. The bridge was instrumented with 151 strain gauges on various floor and truss members along with …

Variability Of Water Storage And Instream Temperature In Beaded Arctic Streams, Madeline F. Merck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study is to investigate variation in water export and instream temperatures throughout the open water season in a beaded Arctic stream, consisting of small pools connected by shallow chutes. The goals are to better understand heat and mass movement through these systems, how this may impact chemical and biological processes, and the resulting shifts with changes in climate. This is accomplished by first examining the extent and variability of water storage and export through qualitative analysis of observational data. Further, heat fate and transport is examined through development of an instream temperature model. The model formulation, …

Estimation Of Field Alfalfa Evapotranspiration In A Windy, Arid Environment, J. Burdette Barker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Evapotranspiration (ET) of center pivot irrigated alfalfa was studied in the windy, arid, Curlew Valley, Northern Box Elder County, Utah, during the summers of 2009 and 2010. ET was estimated using eddy covariance (EC) and surface renewal (SR) techniques. ET estimates from the EC and SR analyses were compared with estimates using ASCE Standardized Reference ET Equation, with both dual and mean crop coefficients.

EC energy balance closure was 0.80, on average, in 2009 and 0.76 in 2010. The SR weighting parameter (α) was calculated through linear regression of EC and SR sensible heat flux estimates. Alpha was found to …

Performance Of Transverse Post-Tensioned Joints Subjected To Negative Bending And Shear Stresses On Full Scale, Full Depth, Precast Concrete Bridge Deck System, Kayde Steven Roberts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Accelerated bridge construction has quickly become the preferred method for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) as well as many other DOT’s across the United States. This type of construction requires the use of full depth precast panels for the construction of the bridge deck. The segmented deck panels produce transverse joints between panels and have come to be known as the weakest portion of the deck. Cracking often occurs at these joints and is reflected through the deck overlay where water accesses and begins corrosion of the reinforcement and superstructure below. For this reason post-tensioning of the deck panels …

South Davis Sewer District Pump Station Hydraulic Capacity Evaluation, James W. Dixon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In 2010, South Davis Sewer District (SDSD) determined that possible hydraulic problems existed in their various pump stations operating within their treatment plants. A hydraulic analysis was conducted for the pump stations to diagnose the problems and provide possible alternative solutions. This analysis was conducted by using hydraulic minor loss equations to determine the amount of flow that the pumps were capable of producing and then comparing those results to the required demands in the plants. In cases where the flows were lower than needed, alternatives were designed to provide the required flows.

In the south plant the pumps were …

Remote Control And Automation Of The Crockett Canal Head Gates, Tyler Dean Richards

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In order to improve the control of the Crockett canal an automated control system for the head gates was proposed and an analysis of design alternatives was conducted. Design alternatives were analyzed based on the criteria of reliability, operational improvement, cost and safety. After the analysis was completed recommendations as to which type of automation system to install were made. A comprehensive design of the recommended design is included. The automation of the head gates has been separated into two phases. Items to be included in phase one are: retrofit each of the existing head gates with a multi-turn gate …

A Comparative Study Of Three Image Matching Algorithms: Sift, Surf, And Fast, Maridalia Guerrero Peña

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A new method for assessing the performance of popular image matching algorithms is presented. Specifically, the method assesses the type of images under which each of the algorithms reviewed herein perform to its maximum or highest efficiency. The efficiency is measured in terms of the number of matches founds by the algorithm and the number of type I and type II errors encountered when the algorithm is tested against a specific pair of images. Current comparative studies asses the performance of the algorithms based on the results obtained in different criteria such as speed, sensitivity, occlusion, and others. These studies …

Measuring The Removal Of Trichloroethylene From Phytoremediation Sites At Travis And Fairchild Air Force Bases, Heather A. Klein

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Past use of trichloroethylene (TCE) as a degreasing solvent for aircraft maintenance has resulted in widespread groundwater contamination at Air Force Bases around the world. Travis AFB in California and Fairchild AFB in Washington are evaluating phytoremediation as a treatment option, since trees have been reported to take up dissolved TCE from shallow groundwater and volatilize it to the atmosphere while enhancing the volatilization of TCE from surrounding soil. Previous studies generally focused on the identification of removal mechanisms. The emphasis of this research was to quantify total TCE removal from phytoremediation demonstration plots at Travis and Fairchild AFBs.

Tree …

Piano Key Weir Head Discharge Relationships, Ricky M. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A piano key (PK) weir is a type of nonlinear (labyrinth-type) weir developed specifically for free-surface flow control structures with relatively small spillway footprints. Currently, no generally accepted standard PK weir design procedure is available. This is due, in part, to the large number of geometric parameters and a limited understanding of their effects on discharge efficiency (discharge efficiency is quantified by the discharge coefficient of the standard weir equation). However, Hydrocoop, a non-profit French dam spillways association, has recommended a PK weir design and a head-discharge relationship specific to that geometry.

To develop a better understanding of the effects …

Dynamic Testing For A Steel Truss Bridge For The Long Term Bridge Performance Program, Cody Joshua Santos

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Under the direction of the Federal Highway Administration the Long Term Bridge Performance Program (LTBP) selected Minnesota Bridge number 5718 as a pilot bridge for evaluation. This program focuses on the monitoring of bridges for a 20-year period to understand the structural behavior over time due to the various loads and weathering. In monitoring this bridge a better understanding can be acquired for the maintenance issues related to the nation's deteriorating bridge infrastructure.

Bridge Number 5718, which is located just outside of Sandstone Minnesota, is a steel truss bridge that spans the Kettle River. Constant monitoring of the bridge along …

Improving Concrete Containment Structures Associated With Fixed Cone Valves, B. Skyler Buck, Michael C. Johnson, Zachary B. Sharp

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Fixed-Cone valves are often used to dissipate energy and regulate flow at the low level outlet works of dams.Fixed-Cone valves, also known as Howell-Bunger valves, create an expanding conical jet allowing the energy of the water to dissipate over a large area. However, in many applications constructing the large stilling basin necessary for these valves is either not possible or not feasible. In order to reduce the relative size of the stilling basin, hoods or concrete containment structures have been used in conjunction with Fixed-Cone valves. This paper discusses the use of baffles in concrete containment structures in order to …

Discharge Coefficient Performance Of Venturi, Standard Concentric Orifice Plate, V-Cone, And Wedge Flow Meters At Small Reynolds Numbers, Colter L. Hollingshead

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between the Reynolds number (Re) and discharge coefficients (C) was investigated through differential pressure flow meters. The focus of the study was directed toward very small Reynolds numbers commonly associated with pipeline transportation of viscous fluids. There is currently a relatively small amount of research that has been performed in this area for the Venturi, standard orifice plate, V-cone, and wedge flow meters. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT^© was used to perform the research, while GAMBIT^© was used as the preprocessing tool for the flow meter models created. Heavy oil and water were used …

Hydrologic Controls On Equilibrium Soil Depths, L. Nicótina, David G. Tarboton, Teklu K. Tesfa, A. Rinaldo

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper deals with modeling the mutual feedbacks between runoff production and geomorphological processes and attributes that lead to patterns of equilibrium soil depth. Our primary goal is an attempt to describe spatial patterns of soil depth resulting from long-term interactions between hydrologic forcings and soil production, erosion, and sediment transport processes under the framework of landscape dynamic equilibrium. Another goal is to set the premises for exploiting the role of soil depths in shaping the hydrologic response of a catchment. The relevance of the study stems from the massive improvement in hydrologic predictions for ungauged basins that would be …

Terrain Analysis Using Digital Elevation Models, David G. Tarboton, Daniel W. Watson, Rob Wallace, Kimberly A. T. Schreuders, Jeremy Neff

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Cuahsi Community Hydrologic Information System, David G. Tarboton, David R. Maidment, Ilya Zaslavsky, Jon Goodall, Daniel Ames, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Kimberly A. T. Schreuders

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

On The Interaction Between Bathymetry And Climate In The System Dynamics And Preferred Levels Of The Great Salt Lake, Ibrahim Nourein Mohammed, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake whose level is determined by the balance between inflows and outflows. We examine the causes for multimodality in the distributions of lake level and hence volume and area that have previously been examined from a system dynamics perspective. We focus on the role of bathymetry in the dynamics of this system and show that some of the modes that are observed and that represent preferred system states are attributable to features of the bathymetry described using the topographic area‐volume relationship. Being a terminal lake, the only “outflow” is evaporation, which depends directly …

Estimation Of Dariy Particulate Matter Emission Rates By Lidar And Inverse Modeling, C. C. Marchant, Kori D. Moore, Michael D. Wojcik, Randy S. Martin, R L. Pfeiffer, K H. Prueger, J L. Hatfield

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Particulate matter (PM) emissions from agricultural operations are an important issue for air quality and human health and a topic of interest to government regulators. PM emission rates from a dairy in the San Joaquin Valley of California were investigated during June 2008. The facility had 1,885 total animals, including 950 milking cows housed in free-stall pens with an open-lot exercise area, and 935 dry cows, steers, bulls, and heifers housed in open lots. Point sensors, including filter-based aerodynamic mass samplers and optical particle counters (OPC), were deployed at select points around the facility to measure optical and aerodynamic particulate …

Experimental Method Calibration (Mecr): A New Relative Method For Heat Flux Sensor Calibration, Craig D. Adams, A Jean, M Medina, F Miranville

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Heat flux sensor calibration is often expensive, but it is also a fundamental step to obtain valid results. According to the needs, several calibration procedures could be considered. If experimental interpretations focus on heat flux values comparison rather than true values, a relative calibration with high accuracy can be performed. This paper focuses on a new relative calibration-type method of heat flux sensors (HFSs). In general, the HFSs were originally (even recently) factory and in-house-calibrated, but this method was used to calibrate them to an exact common reading to help in performing accurate experiments and eliminating errors that could result …

Parameter Dependent Convergence Bounds And Complexity Measure For A Class Of Conceptual Hydrological Models, S. Pande, L. Bastidas, S. Bhulai, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

We provide analytical bounds on convergence rates for a class of hydrologic models and consequently derive a complexity measure based on the Vapnik–Chervonenkis (VC) generalization theory. The class of hydrologic models is a spatially explicit interconnected set of linear reservoirs with the aim of representing globally nonlinear hydrologic behavior by locally linear models. Here, by convergence rate, we mean convergence of the empirical risk to the expected risk. The derived measure of complexity measures a model’s propensity to overfit data. We explore how data finiteness can affect model selection for this class of hydrologic model and provide theoretical results on …

Two-Zone Transient Storage Modeling Using Temperature And Solute Data With Multiobjective Calibration: 1. Temperature, Bethany T. Neilson, S. C. Chapra, David King Stevens, Christina J. Bandaragoda

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents the formulation and calibration of the temperature portion of a two-zone temperature and solute (TZTS) model which separates transient storage into surface (STS) and subsurface transient storage (HTS) zones. The inclusion of temperature required the TZTS model formulation to differ somewhat from past transient storage models in order to accommodate terms associated with heat transfer. These include surface heat fluxes in the main channel (MC) and STS, heat and mass exchange between the STS and MC, heat and mass exchange between the HTS and MC, and heat exchange due to bed and deeper ground conduction. To estimate …

Two-Zone Transient Storage Modeling Using Temperature And Solute Data With Multi-Objective Calibration: 2. Temperature And Solute, Bethany T. Neilson, David King Stevens, S. C. Chapra, Christina J. Bandaragoda

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents the multiobjective calibration results for temperature and solutefrom a two‐zone temperature and solute (TZTS) model which separates transient storageinto surface (STS) and subsurface (HTS) transient storage components. This modelcontains terms associated with surface heat fluxes in the main channel (MC) and STS, heatand mass exchange between the STS and MC, heat and mass exchange between the HTSand MC, and heat exchange due to bed and deeper ground conduction. To estimate theadditional parameters associated with a multiple‐zone model, a data collection effort wasconducted to provide temperature time series and solute tracer curves representingthe movement of heat and/or solute …

Estimating And Verifying Household Potential To Conserve Water, Francisco J. Suero

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis identifies impacts of behaviors and technology on residential indoor water use and conservation efforts. We use pre-existing detailed end-use data collected before and after toilets, faucets, showerheads, and clothes washers were retrofitted in 96 owner-occupied, single-family households in Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; and Tampa, Florida between 2000 and 2003.

Water volume, duration of use, and time of use were recorded and disaggregated by appliance for two weeks before and four weeks after appliances were retrofitted. For each appliance, we compare observed differences in water use before and after retrofits to water savings predicted by analytical engineering, semi-analytical engineering, …

Transportation Network Resiliency: A Fuzzy Systems Approach, Nayel Urena Serulle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Every day the dependence on transportation grows as local, regional, national, and international independence increases. Resilient transportation systems are needed to secure the highest possible level of service during disruptive events, including natural and man-made disasters. Because of limited resources, decision makers need guidance on how, when, and where to invest to improve resiliency of their networks. The research objective is to develop a method to assess and quantify resiliency, at pre-event conditions, using a fuzzy inference approach. This research expands previous work, refining key variable definitions, adjusting model interactions, and increasing transparency between metrics. This thesis presents the method …

Destructive Testing And Finite-Element Modeling Of Full-Scale Bridge Sections Containing Precast Deck Panels, Travis R. Brackus

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Full-depth, precast panel deck systems are becoming more common in bridge installation and repair. The objective of these systems is to achieve the performance of cast-in-place systems while simultaneously saving time and money. The structural behavior of these systems has been the subject of scrutiny in recent research. The Utah Department of Transportation demolished a steel I-girder bridge containing a precast panel deck system and provided two full-scale specimens for this project. Destructive testing was performed at Utah State University on the specimens to investigate three failure modes: flexural, beam shear, and punching shear. Finite-element models were created using ANSYS …

Retrieval Of Aerosol Mass Concentration From Elastic Lidar Data, Christian C. Marchant

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural aerosol sources can contribute significantly to air pollution in many regions of the country. Characterization of the aerosol emissions of agricultural operations is required to establish a scientific basis for crafting regulations concerning agricultural aerosols. A new lidar instrument for measuring aerosol emissions is described, as well as two new algorithms for converting lidar measurements into aerosol concentration data. The average daily aerosol emission rate is estimated from a dairy using lidar.

The Aglite Lidar is a portable scanning lidar for mapping the concentration of particulate matter from agricultural and other sources. The instrument is described and performance and …