Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Long-Term Carbon And Copper Impact On Nutrient Removal Via Green Sorption Media In Dynamic Linear Ditch Environments, Diana Ordonez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient-laden stormwater runoff causes environmental and ecological impacts on receiving water bodies. Biosorption Activated Media (BAM) composed of the sand, tire crumb, and clay have been implemented in stormwater best management practices due to its ability to efficiently remove nutrients from stormwater runoff, such as in roadside linear ditches, via unique chemophysical and microbiological processes. In this study, a set of fixed-bed columns were set up to simulate some external forces in roadside linear ditches and examine how these external forces affect the performance of BAM. In our experiment, scenario 1 simulates the impact that animals such as tortoises, moles …

Adsorption Capacity Assessment Of Advance Green Environmental Media To Remove Nutrients From Stormwater-Runoff, Hanan Elhakiem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Best Management Practices (BMPs) in stormwater treatment are a suite of treatment alternatives to deal with pollutant removal problems from stormwater runoff. Biosorption-activated media (BAM) are green sorption media consists of recycled materials have shown excellent nutrient removal as an effective BMP by enhancing physicochemical and microbiological processes. In this study, Iron-Filling Green Environmental Media (denoted as IFGEM-3) and Advanced Green Environmental Media 1 and 2 (denoted as AGEM-1 and AGEM-2) were produced and tested for their adsorption capacities as well as removal and recovery potential for phosphate, nitrate, and ammonia against natural soil (baseline) collected from a stormwater retention …

Optimal Recipe Screening And Applications Of Iron-Filings Based Green Environmental Media (Ifgem) For Stormwater Treatment, Andrea Valencia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The applications of green sorption media for stormwater treatment and nutrient removal benefit surface and ground water bodies by reducing non-point source pollution from stormwater runoff. To enhance nitrogen and phosphorus removal, a sequential study was performed to develop an improved green sorption media in this study by including the iron filings into the previous biosorption activated media (BAM). The iron-filings-based green environmental media (IFGEM) are thus composed of sand, tire crumb, clay and ground iron filings in which clay and iron particles are supposed to have salient interactions that cannot be present in BAM. However, the optimal ratio between …

Modeling Of Wrong Way Driving Entries And Developing Innovative Approaches For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Advanced Wrong Way Driving Countermeasures, Md Imrul Kayes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a hazardous behavior on interstates, toll roads, and other high-speed limited access facilities. Since WWD crashes are rare, recent researchers have studied WWD events such as WWD 911 calls and WWD citations to understand the overall nature and trend of WWD. It is very difficult to build credible statistical models based solely on crashes due to the small sample size since these are only 3% of all crashes. Modeling of WWD non-crash events can result in more accurate models. A model was developed for Florida limited access facilities to identify roadway factors and traffic characteristics of …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Edge-Oxidized Graphene Oxide (Eogo) On The Properties Of Cement Composites, Yousef Alharbi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of edge-oxidized graphene oxide (EOGO), produced by a mechanochemical process that allow to deliver a product suitable for large-scale production at affordable cost, as an additive in cement composites was investigated. Comprehensive experimental tests were conducted to investigate the effect of EOGO on the properties of cement composites. The experimental tests were designed for three subtasks: (1) investigation of the performance of EOGO and its mixing method on the strength, pore structure and microstructure of EOGO-cement composites, (2) evaluation of the rheological and fluidity behavior of EOGO-cement paste and mortar, and (3) investigation of the mechanism of the …

Development Of Decision Support System For Active Traffic Management Systems Considering Travel Time Reliability, Whoibin Chung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As traffic problems on roadways have been increasing, active traffic management systems (ATM) using proactive traffic management concept have been deployed on freeways and arterials. The ATM aims to integrate and automate various traffic control strategies such as variable speed limits, queue warning, and ramp metering through a decision support system (DSS). Over the past decade, there have been many efforts to integrate freeways and arterials for the efficient operation of roadway networks. It has been required that these systems should prove their effectiveness in terms of travel time reliability. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new concept of …

A System Dynamics Approach On Sustainability Assessment Of The United States Urban Commuter Transportation, Tolga Ercan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transportation sector is one of the largest emission sources and is a cause for human health concern due to the high dependency on personal vehicle in the U.S. Transportation mode choice studies are currently limited to micro- and regional-level boundaries, lacking of presenting a complete picture of the issues, and the root causes associated with urban passenger transportation choices in the U.S. Hence, system dynamics modeling approach is utilized to capture complex causal relationships among the critical system parameters affecting alternative transportation mode choices in the U.S. as well as to identify possible policy areas to improve alternative transportation mode …

Comparative Nutrient Removal With Innovative Green Soprtion Media For Groundwater And Stormwater Co-Treatment, Dan Wen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As indicated by the National Academy of Engineering, the understanding of nitrogen cycle has been deemed as one of 14 grand challenges in engineering of the 21st century. Due to rapid population growth and urbanization, the stormwater runoff increased in quantity as well as its nutrient concentrations, which may trigger serious environmental issues such as eutrophication in aquatic systems and ecosystem degradation. This study focuses on stormwater and groundwater quality control via Biosorption Activated Media (BAM) which can be applied to enhance the nutrient removal potential as an emerging Best Management Practices (BMPs). BAM was tested in this study with …

Developing A Traffic Safety Diagnostics System For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Usingdeep Learning Algorithms, Ou Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an automated traffic safety diagnostics solution using deep learning techniques to process traffic videos by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Mask R-CNN is employed to better detect vehicles in UAV videos after video stabilization. The vehicle trajectories are generated when tracking the detected vehicle by Channel and Spatial Reliability Tracking (CSRT) algorithm. During the detection process, missing vehicles could be tracked by the process of identifying stopped vehicles and comparing Intersect of Union (IOU) between the tracking results and the detection results. In addition, rotated bounding rectangles based on the pixel-to- pixel manner masks that are generated by …

Investigation Of Computer Vision Concepts And Methods For Structural Health Monitoring And Identification Applications, Chuanzhi Dong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a comprehensive investigation of methods and technologies for developing a computer vision-based framework for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Structural Identification (St-Id) for civil infrastructure systems, with particular emphasis on various types of bridges. SHM is implemented on various structures over the last two decades, yet, there are some issues such as considerable cost, field implementation time and excessive labor needs for the instrumentation of sensors, cable wiring work and possible interruptions during implementation. These issues make it only viable when major investments for SHM are warranted for decision making. For other cases, there needs to be …

Field Testing And Simulation Of Vadose-Zone Recharge Wells In The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer As An Artificial Recharge Method, Kyungwon Kwak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concerns regarding depletion of groundwater in the Delta region of Mississippi have led to a need to augment natural recharge. Infiltration basins are often one of the simplest means of artificially recharging aquifers. However the Delta has a layer of clay and silt at the surface so it is a better idea to use vadose-zone recharge wells that are not limited by the surficial layer of fine soils. The purpose of this study is to use full-scale field testing to assess the feasibility of using vadose-zone wells for artificial recharge of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer by using …

Groundwater Transfer And Injection Pilot Project: Construction Of A Three Dimensional Groundwater Flow Model, Wesley Bluvstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer has experienced substantial groundwater declines in eastern Arkansas and northwest Mississippi due largely to irrigation for rice corn soybeans and other water intensive crops. To alleviate groundwater decline and ensure future sustainability of water resources the U.S. Department of Agriculture has in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Mississippi initiated studies to determine potential avenues of remediation. Options include improved irrigation efficiency installation of surface weirs inter-basin transfers and groundwater transfer and injection. This study develops a three-dimensional groundwater flow model of a withdrawal well adjacent to a river for …

Computational Modeling And Simulations Of Condition Deterioration To Enhance Asphalt Highway Pavement Design And Asset Management, Zul Fahmi Bin Mohamed Jaafar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A nation’s economy and prosperity depend on an efficient and safe transportation network for public mobility and freight transportation. A country’s road network is recognized as one of the largest public infrastructure assets. About 93 percent of 2.6 million miles of paved roads and highways in the United States (U.S.) are surfaced with asphalt. Longitudinal roughness, pavement cracking, potholes, and rutting are the major reasons for rehabilitation of asphalt roads. Billions of dollars are required annually for the maintenance and rehabilitation of road networks. If timely maintenance and rehabilitation are not performed, the pavement damages inflicted by heavy traffic repetitions …

Optimizing The Performance Of Complex Engineering Systems Aided By Artificial Neural Networks, Khalil Qatu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the first problem Polyetherimide graphene nanoplatelets papers (PEIGNP) were tested with different graphene loadings varying from 0-97 weight percent (WT%). The resulting stress-strain curves were utilized to develop two ANN models. Stress-controlled and strain-controlled models. Both models shoan excellent correlation to the experimental. Several Mechanical properties were calculated from the predicted stress-strain curves namely; toughness maximum strength maximum strain and maximum tangent modulus. Both models captured the same overall behavior of the PEIGNP composite. However the strain-controlled model was found to predict lower stress than the stress-controlled model. Finally a Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed to aid in …

Evaluating The Effects Of Water Influx On The Mississippi Sound: Current Vs. Historical Relationships, Jarett Lee Bell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the influence of the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway and other fresh water inputs on the Mississippi Sound. The Bonnet Carre Spillway was completed in 1931 and was constructed to protect New Orleans whenever the Mississippi River is at flood stage. The spillway drains into Lake Pontchartrain a brackish-water lagoon north of New Orleans which then drains into Lake Borgne and subsequently into the Mississippi Sound. The inflow of water from the spillway changes the water chemistry of all receiving water bodies and impacts the waters of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We collected in-situ temperature specific …

Decoding And Optimizing Magnesium Phosphate Binders For Additive Construction Applications, Hashem Khaled Almashaqbeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work aims to give more insight about the physical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical performance of the MPC paste composites. Our primary outcome from this research is to improve the MPC composites with different additives, including boric acid, GnP, and acetic acid for potential utilization in 3DcP applications. Furthermore, Martian and Lunar regolith simulants can be mixed with the MPC composites to create mortars as a possible extraterrestrial 3DP in-situ construction material mainly to support the NASA habitation exploration mission.

Damage Detection Using Destructive Testing Of A Reinforced Concrete Slab, Michael Edward Daves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visual inspection is one of the primary tools for evaluating the health of bridges as more reach or exceed their intended lifespan. Bridge deterioration must be monitored to ensure continued safety, so owners need maintenance reports to decide on corrective actions. Strategic repair can offer asset managers the benefit of saving money and time; thus, knowing where to locate and what type of repairs can be challenging when relying on visual techniques alone. A tool designed to aid bridge inspectors is the SHE^tm program, which quantitatively measures damage location and severity for any set of time data.

Investigating The Use Of Passive Acoustics As A Surrogate Method Of Monitoring Coarse Bedload Transport In Rivers And Streams Via Laboratory Experiments And Field Studies, Bradley Goodwiller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The movement of coarse gravel in rivers in streams is important for many applications including wildlife habitation, river morphology, infrastructure maintenance and marine navigation. Physical sampling remains the most accurate method of determining coarse bedload transport but it can be expensive, dangerous and flow intrusive. Surrogate methods of monitoring bedload transport is an active area of research worldwide. One such method is the use of passive acoustics to record the sound generated when gravel particles in motion impact each other or the particles on the bed. This dissertation presents research and development that has been conducted on three key areas …

Developing A Calibrated Seepage Meter To Measure Stream-Aquifer Interaction In The Mississippi Delta, Wesley J. Bolton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) is a premier region for irrigated agriculture in the United States producing approximately 9 billion dollars in annual revenues. The region receives around 138 cm of precipitation annually; however irrigation is necessary to maximize crop yields as most of the precipitation does not occur during the growing season. There are 8 million irrigated acres within the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The source of most of the irrigated water is the surficial aquifer in the Mississippi Embayment the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA) and due to the reliance on irrigation for maximum crop yields recent potentiometric …

Ultra-High Performance Concrete For Precast Seismic Bridge Column Connection, Titchenda Chan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) utilizes prefabricated bridge elements constructed off-site, delivered, and assembled on-site to expedite construction time and reduce traffic disruption. ABC has been increasingly used for super- and sub-structure elements in low seismic regions. However, its application in medium and high seismic regions remain limited, particularly for precast columns where connections typically coincide with plastic hinge (PH) regions. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), characterized by high compressive and tensile strength, and superior bond properties, is a potential material that can mitigate PH damage and enhance load transfer. This research proposes a new and simple damage tolerant precast column connection …

Variability Of E. Coli In Streambed Sediments And Its Implication For Water Quality, Sadia Salam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), including E. coli, are the number one cause of water quality impairments in the United States according to the USEPA. FIB are used as a predictor to identify the possible presence of pathogens in waterbodies. E. coli is a useful indicator of gastrointestinal (GI) related illnesses from contact with fresh water. While surface water is routinely monitored for water quality, streambed sediments are rarely considered as a source of FIB to the overlying water column. This study focuses on understanding the variation of E. coli concentrations in streambed sediments and the potential impact of sediment sources …

Electrochemical Microsensors For In Situ Monitoring Of Chemical Compounds In Engineered And Natural Aquatic Systems, Jared Church

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adaption of needle-type electrochemical microsensor (or microelectrode) techniques to environmental science and engineering systems has transformed how we understand mass transport in biotic and abiotic processes. Their small tip diameter (5-20μm) makes them a unique experimental tool for direct measurements of analytes with high spatial and temporal resolutions, providing a quantitative analysis of flux, diffusion, and reaction rate at a microscale that cannot be obtained using conventional analytical tools. However, their applications have been primarily limited to understanding mass transport dynamics and kinetics in biofilms. With the advancement of sensor fabrication and utilization techniques, their potential applications can surpass …

Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid infiltration basins (RIB) have been historically used in Florida for groundwater recharge, effluent disposal, or a combination of both. However, this technique has proven ineffective in providing nitrogen control unless the RIB is modified in some manner. In this study, a traditional RIB was compared to a modified RIB constructed with manufactured biosorption activated media (BAM) to evaluate nitrate removal from reclaimed water. The RIBs are used for reclaimed and excess storm water disposal. Few, if any, studies have been published where BAM-modified RIBs have been used for this purpose. In this work, a mixture of clay, tire crumb, …

Using Finite Element Output To Detect Damage In A Steel Frame Model, Ai D. Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many structural collapses, all over the world, are related to inspection errors. The U.S. I- 35 Bridge in Minneapolis and the Canterbury Television building in New Zealand are a few examples. U.S. infrastructure conditions are poor, scoring a D+ according to ASCE report 2017. When the structures are inspected, the cost is high and service is lost. Inspectors use their trained but subjective judgment, which can lead to errors. Improved inspection techniques are required to reduce the cost, time, and subjectivity.

SHETM (Structural Health EvaluationTM) is an in-house software that has the ability to employ data to improve damage detection …

A Framework For Assessing Sustainability Impacts Of Truck Routing Strategies, Haluk Laman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The impact of freight on our transportation system is further accentuated by the fact that trucks consume greater roadway capacity and therefore cause more significant problems including traffic congestion, delay, crashes, air pollution, fuel consumption, and pavement damage. Assessing the actual effects of truck traffic is a growing need to support the ability to safely and efficiently move goods and people in areas where roadway expansion is not the best option. On one hand, trucks need to efficiently serve commerce and industry, while at the same time their activities need not contribute to a decline in the quality or public …

Nanofiltration Of Perfluorinated Compounds As A Function Of Water Matrix Properties, Hadi Toure

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been manufactured and used in various industries including food packaging, paintings, and coating industries. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are the most commonly investigated PFCs that have bioaccumulative properties and a strong persistence in environment. Despite the growing interest in using membrane technology to remove PFOA and PFOS from water, little information is available on the impact of natural water matrices on the removal of PFOA and PFOS when using nanofiltration (NF). The presence of natural organic matter (NOM) and cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) in water matrices and their interactions with the PFCs …

Selecting The Most Effective Energy Modeling Tool Based On A Project Requirement, Sodiq Akande

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building energy usage can be derived and controlled by performing building energy modeling. BEM can be performed using numerous software tools such as DesignBuilder, OpenStudio, EnergyPlus etc. These modeling tools can be sorted into three different modeling categories: Black-box, Gray-box and White-box. It is important for a modeler to be able to quickly select the proper tool from the proper category to meet the need of the project. To validate the method of categorizing tools, the three models generated using tools from each category and the modeling outputs required were compared. Each model was designed to estimate the amount of …

A 3d Numerical Analysis Of The Railway To Compare The Performance Of The Granular And Asphalt Trackbeds., Thammapot Wattanapanalai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, trains have been developed either to carry heavy weight of cargo or for high-speed rail transport. Nonetheless, track structure, have not been improved adequate to support the extra loads or dynamic vibrations of high-speed trains. As a result, the performance of track will be affected from heavy freight or high-speed trains. In the long term it results in trackbed damage by increasing the subgrade and ballast displacement. Besides, it negatively affects the performance of the locomotives. Therefore, alternative subballast, should be introduced to reduce the stress and deformation of the track under dynamic or heavy …

Assessment And Optimization Of Environmental Systems Using Data Analysis And Simulation., Milad Ebrahimi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For most environmental systems, specifically wastewater treatment plants and aquifers, a significant number of performance data variables are attained on a time series basis. Due to the interconnectedness of the variables, it is often difficult to assess over-arching trends and quantify temporal operational performance. The objective of this research study was to provide an effective means for comprehensive temporal evaluation of environmental systems. The proposed methodology used several multivariate data analyses and statistical techniques to present an assessment framework for the water quality monitoring programs as well as optimization of treatment plants and aquifer systems. The developed procedure considered the …

Econometric Modeling Analysis Of Public Transit Ridership: Application For Orlando Region, Moshiur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Policy makers are considering several alternatives to counter the negative externalities of personal vehicle dependence. Towards this end, public transit investments are critical in growing urban regions such as Orlando, Florida. Transit system managers and planners mostly rely on statistical models to identify the factors that affect ridership as well as quantifying the magnitude of the impact on the society. These models provide vital feedback to agencies on the benefits of public transit investments which in turn act as lessons to improve the investment process. We contribute to public transit literature by addressing several methodological challenges for transit ridership modeling. …