Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Experimental And Simplified Analytical Investigation Of Full Scale Sandwich Panel Walls, Salam Adil. Al-Rubaye

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Concrete sandwich wall panels have been used for decades in the precast concrete construction industry because of their thermal efficiency. To achieve full or partial-composite action in concrete sandwich panel walls, the engineer must obtain a percent composite action from a connector manufacturer, making some engineers uncomfortable. Engineers are dependent upon the recommendations given by the connector manufacturers to establish their designs. This project tested six full scale sandwich panel walls to evaluate the percent composite action of various connectors and compare the results to those provided by the composite connector manufacturers.

This project aimed to validate current procedures using …

Stream Temperature Monitoring And Modeling To Inform Restoration: A Study Of Thermal Variability In The Western Us, Jessica R. Wood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water temperature is an important variable for aquatic ecosystems. Salmonid population numbers and distribution are heavily influenced by stream temperature, and there is growing concern about the health of salmonid populations with anticipated climate change. Managers are looking to efficiently evaluate options to maintain stream temperatures needed by salmonids. This study evaluated and compared stream temperature restoration alternatives in two streams with warm temperatures using stream temperature monitoring and modeling.

The first study identified pockets of cold water that are important to native fish species in Nevada’s Walker River. Comparison of monitoring results with existing basin-scale model outputs identified two …

Investigation Of Concrete Electrical Resistivity As A Performance Based Test, Amir Malakooti

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research project was to identify the extent that concrete resistivity measurements (bulk and/or surface) can be used as a performance based lab test to improve the quality of concrete in Utah bridge decks. By allowing UDOT to specify a required resistivity, concrete bridge deck quality will increase and future maintenance costs will decrease.

This research consisted of two phases: the field phase and the lab phase. In the field phase, concrete samples were gathered from local concrete producers in Utah. These concrete samples were made with common concrete mixes used in bridge decks across the state …

Behavior Of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles In Soil Pore Waters As Influenced By Soil Characteristics, Bacteria, And Wheat Roots, Joshua Hortin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of this project was to study the behavior of copper oxide nanoparticles in soil environments. Copper oxide nanoparticles have antimicrobial properties and may also be used in agricultural settings to provide a source of copper for plant health, but accidental or misapplication of these nanoparticles to soil may be damaging to the plant and its associated bacteria.

Dissolved soil organic matter that is present in soil pore waters dissolved nanoparticles, but did not dissolve the expected amounts from a geochemical model because the geochemical model did not take into account surface chemistry or coating of the nanoparticles by …

Advancing The Cyberinfrastructure For Integrated Water Resources Modeling, Caleb A. Buahin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Like other scientists, hydrologists encode mathematical formulations that simulate various hydrologic processes as computer programs so that problems with water resource management that would otherwise be manually intractable can be solved efficiently. These computer models are typically developed to answer specific questions within a specific study domain. For example, one computer model may be developed to solve for magnitudes of water flow and water levels in an aquifer while another may be developed to solve for magnitudes of water flow through a water distribution network of pipes and reservoirs. Interactions between different processes are often ignored or are approximated using …

Measurement Of Agriculture-Related Air Pollutant Emissions Using Point And Remote Sensors, Kori D. Moore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Measuring air pollution emissions from agricultural activities is usually difficult because of their large area and variability. Traditional air quality sensors, called point samplers, measure conditions in one location, which may not adequately measure a plume. Remote sensors, instruments that measure pollution along a line rather than at a single point, are better able to measure conditions around large areas. This dissertation reports on four agricultural air emissions studies that used both point and remote sensors for comparison. The methods used to calculate the emissions are based on previous work and are further developed in these studies. In particular, an …

Estimating Evapotranspiration Using The Complementary Relationship And The Budyko Framework, Homin Kim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Land surface actual evapotranspiration (ET) is an important process in terrestrial water balance and reliable estimates of ET are necessary to improve water resources management. In this regard, there is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of an accurate ET model. Among them, the complementary relationship between ET and potential ET (ETP) has been the subject of many studies because it uses only meteorological data as inputs. However, there is an increasing concern that some complementary relationship models perform poorly under dry conditions. To overcome this limitation, this dissertation was designed to extend the latest complementary relationship …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The aims of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Observed Drought Indices Show Increasing Divergence Across Europe, James H. Stagge, Daniel G. Kingston, Lena M. Tallaksen, David M. Hannah

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent severe European droughts raise the vital question: are we already experiencing measurable changes in drought likelihood that agree with climate change projections? The plethora of drought definitions compounds this question, requiring instead that we ask: how have various types of drought changed, how do these changes compare with climate projections, and what are the causes of observed differences? To our knowledge, this study is the first to reveal a regional divergence in drought likelihood as measured by the two most prominent meteorological drought indices: the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) across Europe over the …

Green Vs. Gray Infrastructure Cost, Rosa A. Fernández Valasquez, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Grey To Green Infrastructure Transition - An Historical Shift In The Modern Infrastructure Paradigm, Ryan Dupont

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cyberinfrastructure For Advancing Hydrologic Knowledge Through Collaborative Integration Of Data Science, Modeling And Analysis, David Tarboton

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Spatial Scale Gap Filling Using An Unmanned Aerial System: A Statistical Downscaling Method For Applications In Precision Agriculture, Leila Hassan-Esfahani, Ardeshir M. Ebtehaj, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Applications of satellite-borne observations in precision agriculture (PA) are often limited due to the coarse spatial resolution of satellite imagery. This paper uses high-resolution airborne observations to increase the spatial resolution of satellite data for related applications in PA. A new variational downscaling scheme is presented that uses coincident aerial imagery products from “AggieAir”, an unmanned aerial system, to increase the spatial resolution of Landsat satellite data. This approach is primarily tested for downscaling individual band Landsat images that can be used to derive normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and surface soil moisture (SSM). Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate promising …

Water Resources Adaptation To Climate And Demand Change In The Potomac River, James H. Stagge, Glenn E. Moglen

Publications

The effects of climate change are increasingly considered in conjunction with changes in water demand and reservoir sedimentation in forecasts of water supply vulnerability. Here, the relative effects of these factors are evaluated for the Washington, DC metropolitan area water supply for the near (2010 to 2039), intermediate (2040-2069), and distant future (2070 to 2099) by repeated water resources model simulations. This system poses water management challenges due to long water delivery travel times that increase uncertainty, multiple water jurisdictions that constrain potential decisions, and future scenarios that simultaneously increase demand and decrease water supply during the critical summer period. …

Designing And Implementing A Network For Sensing Water Quality And Hydrology Across Mountain To Urban Transitions, Amber Spackman Jones, Zachary T. Aanderud, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, David P. Eiriksson, Dylan Dastrup, Christopher Cox, Scott B. Jones, David R. Bowling, Jonathan Carlisle, Gregory T. Carling, Michelle A. Baker

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Water resources are increasingly impacted by growing human populations, land use, and climate changes, and complex interactions among biophysical processes. In an effort to better understand these factors in semiarid northern Utah, United States, we created a real-time observatory consisting of sensors deployed at aquatic and terrestrial stations to monitor water quality, water inputs, and outputs along mountain to urban gradients. The Gradients Along Mountain to Urban Transitions (GAMUT) monitoring network spans three watersheds with similar climates and streams fed by mountain winter-derived precipitation, but that differ in urbanization level, land use, and biophysical characteristics. The aquatic monitoring stations in …

Development And Application Of Hydraulic And Hydrogeologic Models To Better Inform Management Decisions, Trinity L. Stout

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water is one of the most important and limited resources in regions with little rainfall. As populations continue to grow, so does the need for water. Individuals in water management positions need to be well informed in order to avoid potential negative effects concerning the overall quality and amount of water available for both people and the environment. In order to provide better information for these individuals, computer models and mathematical relationships are commonly developed to estimate the outcome of different situations regarding surface water and groundwater. Along these lines, this study focused on two modeling studies that provide information …

Fatigue Crack Detection Using Unmanned Aerial Systems In Under-Bridge Inspection, Sattar Dorafshan, Marc Maguire, Nathan V. Hoffer, Calvin Coopmans

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for bridge inspection, with emphasis on under-bridge inspection and fatigue crack detection, were studied in this report. The potential benefits and challenges of using UAS for bridge inspection were identified through an extensive literature survey. The feasibility of using UAS for fatigue crack detection was studied by determining the minimum lighting, camera distance and environmental requirements for three UAS. The DJI Mavic UAS performed better than the others in both indoor and outdoor GPS-denied inspections. An in-service bridge in Ashton, Idaho was inspected using this UAS to find fatigue cracks. No fatigue crack, …

Mapping Annual Riparian Water Use Based On The Single-Satellite-Scene Approach, Kul Khand, Saleh Taghvaeian, Leila Hassan-Esfahani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The accurate estimation of water use by groundwater-dependent riparian vegetation is of great importance to sustainable water resource management in arid/semi-arid regions. Remote sensing methods can be effective in this regard, as they capture the inherent spatial variability in riparian ecosystems. The single-satellite-scene (SSS) method uses a derivation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from a single space-borne image during the peak growing season and minimal ground-based meteorological data to estimate the annual riparian water use on a distributed basis. This method was applied to a riparian ecosystem dominated by tamarisk along a section of the lower Colorado River …

Resolving Spatial And Temporal Variability In Dissolved Organic Matter Characteristics Within Combined Agricultural And Stormwater Conveyances, Bryce A. Mihalevich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In many urban areas, stormwater runoff can threaten the ecological health of streams and downstream water bodies. Due to the increased impervious nature of urban landscapes, runoff is more “flashy” and as a result, high concentrations of pollutants can be transported in shorter periods of time than in more natural environments. One pollutant of concern is dissolved organic matter (DOM). DOM is important within aquatic ecosystems, but excess amounts can cause depletion in dissolved oxygen concentrations and can negatively affect aquatic organisms. This study investigated changes in DOM quantity and sources within the Northwest Field Canal (NWFC), an urban water …

Walking Behavior Of Individuals With And Without Disabilities At Right-Angle Turning Facility, Nirdosh Gaire, Mohammad Sadra Sharifi, Keith M. Christensen, Anthony Chen, Ziqi Song

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

To accommodate the needs of pedestrians, urban designers need to carefully consider pedestrian walking behavior in different walking environments. Detailed studies of the walking behavior of pedestrians have been conducted and used for pedestrian simulation models. A right-angle turning facility (RATF) is found in many built environments. Hence the study of pedestrians' walking behavior in RATFs is important to build pedestrian simulation models. Previous studies have failed to address the walking behavior of individuals with visual and mobility disabilities even though they comprise a significant portion of the population in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to …

The Short And Long-Term Effects Of Temperature And Strain On A Concrete Bulb-Tree Girder Bridge, Ethan Pickett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah Transportation Center (UTC) as well as the Mountain Plains Consortium, sponsored a study to investigate the long-term performance of a deck bulb tee girder bridge. The bridge in question is located in Nibley, Utah and was erected in early 2016. Temperature and prestress losses were analyzed from embedded instrumentation placed within two of the bridge girders before casting. These two girders contained a total of 50 thermocouples and 16 vibrating wire strain gauges. These instruments were placed at the mid-span and end of an exterior girder and the mid-span, quarter-span, and end of a center girder in order …

Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products In An Effluent-Dominated Stream: Seasonal Variability And Downstream Fate, Bradley R. Buswell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) consist of a large group of compounds including medicines, lotions, soaps, shampoos, and even flame retardants and insect repellants. After use, PPCPs often enter waste streams that are directed to municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Due to inefficient removals in conventional wastewater treatment processes, WWTP discharges into streams and rivers are a major source of PPCPs to the environment.

The East Canyon Water Reclamation Facility (ECWRF) is a WWTP in Park City, Utah. After treatment, the ECWRF effluent is discharged into a small constructed wetland area before it enters East Canyon Creek. Due to …

Design Of Logan City's Stormwater Conveyance System, Kade Jacob Beck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers' (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge , helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Aerial Photo of the Area of Interest Current Conditions

Logan City is located in northern Utah's Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will …

Reference Evapotranspiration From Coarse-Scale And Dynamically Downscaled Data In Complex Terrain: Sensitivity To Interpolation And Resolution, Courtenay Strong, Krishna B. Khatri, Adam K. Kochanski, Clayton S. Lewis, L. Niel Allen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The main objective of this study was to investigate whether dynamically downscaled high resolution (4-km) climate data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model provide physically meaningful additional information for reference evapotranspiration (E) calculation compared to the recently published GridET framework that uses interpolation from coarser-scale simulations run at 32-km resolution. The analysis focuses on complex terrain of Utah in the western United States for years 1985–2010, and comparisons were made statewide with supplemental analyses specifically for regions with irrigated agriculture. E was calculated using the standardized equation and procedures proposed by the American Society of Civil Engineers from …

Design Of Logan City's Storm Water Conveyance System, Megan Gordon

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This report summarizes 10th West Engineers’ (10WE) storm water conveyance design for Logan City. The implementation of the design mitigates flood risk due to storm water discharge, helps improve local water quality, and uses infrastructure that would otherwise be abandoned. The system collects storm water discharged along 1000 West and transports the water to the holding pond located at approximately 2400 West 2200 North, Logan, Utah (see Figure 1).

Logan City is located in northern Utah’s Cache County. As development and redevelopment occur, storm water runoff quantities will decrease due to new regulations. However, Logan City’s storm water system does …

A Study On Human Evacuation Behavior Involving Individuals With Disabilities In A Building, Nirdosh Gaire

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The individuals with disabilities are disproportionately vulnerable to hazards. However, there is very little research inquiry focused on evacuation environments and the behavior of individuals with disabilities. The most widely applied computational method used to study how effective the built environment facilities emergency evacuations in individuals-based modeling. Current pedestrian evacuation models rarely include individuals with disabilities in their simulated populations due to there being very few empirical studies of the evacuation behavior of individuals with disabilities. As a result, the models do not replicate accurate patterns of pedestrian or evacuation behavior of a heterogeneous population, which results in the evacuation …

Short And Long-Term Structural Health Monitoring Of Highway Bridges, Navid Zolghadri

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a promising tool for condition assessment of bridge structures. SHM of bridges can be performed for different purposes in long or short-term. A few aspects of short- and long-term monitoring of highway bridges are addressed in this research.

Without quantifying environmental effects, applying vibration-based damage detection techniques may result in false damage identification. As part of a long-term monitoring project, the effect of temperature on vibrational characteristics of two continuously monitored bridges are studied. Natural frequencies of the structures are identified from ambient vibration data using the Natural Excitation Technique (NExT) along with the Eigen …

Spatial And Temporal Study Of Heat Transport Of Hydrothermal Features In Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Ruba A. M. Mohamed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Monitoring thermal activity in Yellowstone National Park is required by the United States Congress to maintain the safety of the visitors and park service personnel and to protect the integrity of the park. This dissertation is part of a study initiated in the early 2000s to monitor the thermal activity in the park with focus on Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest geyser basin in the park. The study is considered the first multiple-year study in the basin which took place between August 2008 and October 2013. In this study, at least one thermal infrared image was acquired every year using …

Developing A General Methodology For Evaluating Composite Action In Insulated Wall Panels, Jaiden Thomas Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Precast Concrete Sandwich Panel Walls (PCSPW’s) have been in use for over 60 years. They provide a very efficient building envelope for many buildings. Characteristic PCSPW’s comprise an outer and inner layer (or wythe) of concrete separated by an insulating material. To use all of the material as efficiently as possible, the layers are attached by connectors which penetrate through the insulating layer and are embedded in either concrete wythe. These connectors make it possible for both layers of the wall to work together when resisting loads. The connectors are made out of plastic, or FRP, to prevent heat transfer …

Statistical Models Of I-15 Bridge C-846: Changes In Natural Frequencies Due To Temperature, Gilbert Nichols

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Structural Health monitoring is to determine the condition of a bridge based on instrument measurements. The C-846 Bridge in Salt Lake City has such instrumentation. The bridge is located in Salt Lake City at about 2100 South and Interstate 15. This bridge has two kinds of instruments on it: accelerometers and thermocouples. The accelerometers measure the vibrations of the bridge. The accelerometers have been recording data on the bridge since 2001. The thermocouples, which measure temperature, were added as part of this thesis in April 2016.

In light of recent research, damage may be detected from measuring the change in …