Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Impact Of Substrate To Inoculum Ratio On Methane Production In High Solids Anaerobic Digestion (Hs-Ad) Of Food Waste, Yard Waste, And Biosolids, Phillip James Dixon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High solids anaerobic digestion (HS-AD) is an alternative for managing the organic fraction of municipal solids waste (MSW), which produces mainly methane (CH4) and fertilizer as byproducts. HS-AD offers a potentially more economically and environmentally sustainable option compared with landfilling or incineration waste-to-energy facilities. However, HS-AD is a complex process requiring specific microbial communities working together symbiotically. Previous studies have found that the substrate to inoculum (S/I) ratio affects CH4 production and yield in HS-AD reactors by affecting substrate mass and energy transfer as well as microbial activity. In this thesis, biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays were used to investigate …

Field Testing Of Affordable Well Head Protection For Locally Manufactured, Self-Supply Pitcher Pumps On Manually Driven Tubewells In Madagascar, Michal Usowicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lack of water access is an issue of global importance. The WHO and UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Program estimated that in 2015 71% of the world’s population used a safely managed drinking water source and 89% of the world’s population used an improved water source within a 30-minute round trip of home. Madagascar’s national statistics lags far behind these global statistics with 54% of the population using improved water sources, 31% using unimproved water sources, and 16% with no service at all.

This research studied water access in Madagascar with self-supply Pitcher Pumps attached on hand-driven tubewells. The term self-supply in …

Modeling Corrosion Damage And Repair To A 3, Joseph R. Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this study was to investigate and implement a repair design for corrosion damaged bridge bents in order to resist lateral loading, such as wind loads or ship impact. Using the results from a one-third scale bridge bent constructed and tested for a previous study, non-linear modeling was used to simulate the same corrosion damage and load response. The principle variable considered was damage, represented as a percent of effective area loss of prestressing steel within a designated damage zone along the length of piles. Other influencing variables included: prestress transfer length, localized loss in prestress due …

Comparison Of Functional Porous Organic Polymers (Pops) And Natural Material Zeolite For Nitrogen Removal And Recovery From Synthetic Urine, Yan Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urine comprises around 1% of domestic sewage volume but holds 80% of total nitrogen. Source separation is a sustainable way to wastewater management than traditional way due to low energy cost and preventing certain pollutants into wastewater treatment plants. Currently, removing and recovering nitrogen from source-separated urine has attracted more and more interests. Of them, ion exchange was used for removal and recovery of nitrogen in the form of ammonia from synthetic urine for potential application as a fertilizer in agriculture. No previous research studies were conducted to investigate the removal and recovery of nitrogen from hydrolyzed urine by ion …

Design And Implementation Of A Ferrocement Improved Cookstove In Rural Panama, Josh Donegan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Household air pollution contributes to the premature death of more than 4 million people annually. Improved cookstoves are one technological intervention that can potentially reduce exposure to household air pollution. However, improved cookstove implementation programs need to consider measures to increase sustainability and promote long-term adoption. The objectives of this research were 1) to develop and implement a new ferrocement cookstove for Peña Blanca, a rural indigenous community in the Ngäbe-Bugle region of Panama, 2) to evaluate its potential sustainability in comparison to the most common cooking technologies observed in the community, 3) to prepare a construction manual for the …

Assessing The Impacts Of Climate Change On Streamflow And Reservoir Operation In Central Florida, Toni Panaou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a global concern as it may affect many aspects of life, including water supply. A tool used to model climate change’s impacts is called a General Circulation Model (GCM). GCMs project future scenarios including temperature and precipitation, but these are designed at a coarse resolution and require downscaling for employment for regional hydrologic modeling. There is a vast amount of research on downscaling and bias-correcting GCMs data, but it is unknown whether these techniques alter precipitation signals embedded in these models or reproduce climate states that are viable for water resource planning and management. Using the Tampa, …

Construction Effects On The Side Shear Of Drilled Shafts, Lucas Caliari De Lima

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Design methods for side shear of drilled shafts, including the resistance factors that should be applied, do not account for any specific construction procedure. Instead, design often relies on analysis of case studies which include all construction methods used in each geomaterial type (e.g. clays, sands and rocks), or on parametric analysis. Nonetheless, literature suggests that different construction procedures result in varying side shear.

This research investigated 2 types of construction: (1) slurry stabilization in sandy soils using bentonite and polymer products that are commonly used on the field, with exposure times from near 0h to 96h, and (2) temporary …

Understanding The Linkages Between Urban Transportation Design And Population Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Application Of An Integrated Transportation And Air Pollution Modeling Framework To Tampa, Fl, Sashikanth Gurram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has ushered in a variety of public health challenges, including exposure to traffic pollution and greater dependence on automobiles. Moreover, vulnerable population groups often bear the brunt of negative outcomes and are subject to disproportionate exposure and health effects. This makes it imperative for urban transportation engineers, land use planners, and public health professionals to work synergistically to understand both the relationship between urban design and population exposure to traffic pollution, and its social distribution. Researchers have started to pay close attention to this connection, mainly by conducting observational studies on the relationship between transportation, urban …

Dns And Les Of Scalar Transfer Across An Air-Water Interface During Inception And Growth Of Langmuir Circulation, Amine Hafsi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of an initially quiescent coupled air-water interface driven by an air flow with free stream speed of 5 m/s have been conducted. The DNS solves a scalar advection-diffusion equation for dissolved gas (or scalar) concentration in order to determine the impact of the water-side turbulence on scalar (mass) transfer from the air side to the water side and subsequent vertical transport in the water column. Two simulations are compared: one with a freely deforming interface and a second one with a flat interface. In the first simulation, the deforming interface evolves in the form of gravity-capillary …

The Control Of Water Contaminants Assisted By Natural Materials, Wen Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural materials can be used to remove water contaminants by applying proper physical, chemical, and biological water treatment processes. This study involves using natural materials, as they are considered to be more environmentally benign and cost-effective than synthetic materials. This dissertation concentrates on monitoring five major water quality parameters—ammonia, fluoride, turbidity, pH, and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) —in two major applications where clean water is needed. The focus is on meeting the water quality requirements for each contaminant. The overall objective of this study is to control the levels of ammonia in aquaculture wastewater, and adjust fluoride, turbidity, pH, and …

Water, Sanitation, And Citizenship: Perceptions Of Water Scarcity, Reuse, And Sustainability In Valparaiso De Goias, Brazil, Paola Andrea Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to reliable water and sanitation are two important goals to improve livelihoods around the world. Providing access to improved and safe water resources that are equitable and appropriate to local needs is important to improve sustainability long-term. In addition, framing access to water and sanitation as basic human rights is often used as a rationale in developing new water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in developing countries around the world. But not all countries consider access to safe water and sanitation as a human right. In the thesis, the politics of improving and investment in water access and sanitation provision …

Analysis Of Distresses In Asphalt Pavement Transitions On Bridge Approaches And Departures, Manvitha Rajalingola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Some highway agencies in the United States are experiencing frequent distresses in asphalt pavements on bridge approaches/departures. Commonly observed distresses include alligator cracking and rutting, which reduce roadway smoothness and safety. To lessen the distresses in pavements it is needed to investigate the extent and root causes of the problem. Based on Florida highway conditions, this research study mainly focused on1. Literature review and identification of the extent of the problem; 2. Collection of relevant pavement condition data and descriptive analysis; 3. Development of statistical models to determine factors influencing the distresses in asphalt pavements on bridge approaches/departures. To the …

Enhancement Of Two Passive Decentralized Biological Nitrogen Removal Systems, Justine L. Stocks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates two different Biological Nitrogen Removal (BNR) systems for enhanced nitrogen removal in decentralized wastewater treatment. The first study evaluated the performance of Hybrid Adsorption and Biological Treatment Systems (HABiTS) at the pilot scale with and without stage 1 effluent recirculation. HABiTS is a system developed at the bench scale in our laboratory and was designed for enhanced BNR under transient loading conditions. It consists of two stages; an ion exchange (IX) onto clinoptilolite media coupled with biological nitrification in the aerobic nitrification stage 1 and a Tire-Sulfur Adsorption Denitrification (T-SHAD) system in the anoxic denitrification stage 2. …

How Transportation Network Companies Could Replace Public Transportation In The United States, Matthew L. Kessler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The quantity of cell phone applications or mobile apps have seen an upsurge at an exponential rate in under a decade. Many have been created for a variety of industries, including transportation. The advent and subsequent commercialized implementation of near-instant transport by a middleman-type of app is now known as a Transportation Network Company or TNC. Examples of the more renowned TNCs are Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.

In recent years, TNCs have cultivated a tremendous following, to the degree of taxicab desertion. Moreover, the massive success of TNCs led to expansion of its capacities into public transportation.

The TNC’s expeditious …

The Effect Of Chemical Composition Of Blast-Furnace Slag On Compressive Strength And Durability Properties Of Mortar Specimens, William J. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to make structures more sustainable and durable, supplementary cementitious materials are often used to replace cement. Ground granulated blast furnace slag, for instance, is an industrial by-product of iron refinement and is frequently used in concrete mixture design to not only reduce cost, but also increase later-age strength as well as durability. However, published literature indicates that slags with a high alumina content may have a detrimental effect when concrete is exposed to a sulfate environment. ASTM standard C989 does not suggest any information or guidelines regarding using slags with an alumina content between 11-18%. Therefore, the …

Sustainability Of Community-Managed Rural Water Supply Systems In Amazonas, Peru: Assessing Monitoring Tools And External Support Provision, Jacob E. Mangum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globally, there is still a large number of people without access to safe drinking water; a known health risk. In rural areas of countries like Peru, when potable water systems are built the responsibility for maintaining these systems is given to volunteer water committees. Despite its prevalence as a management model, there is a consensus that community management alone cannot ensure sustainable water service. Therefore, the overall goal of this research is to assess the sustainability of community-managed water systems in rural areas of the department of Amazonas, Peru. Specifically, this research examines two mechanisms that have been shown to …

The Fate Of Fecal Indicator Bacteria In Passive Nitrogen Reduction Systems, Michelle B. Henderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The sustainability of water resources is an international and national concern. With increased human activity, water distribution on a global, regional, and local scale has been negatively impacted. Managing water resources also includes managing wastewater. A promising solution to the issues of water scarcity and distribution in the environment is the reuse of wastewater. Wastewater is produced from various sources (domestic, industrial, and commercial); however, if this water is able to be reused closer to the source of generation it could positively impact water distribution. In the United States, approximately 25% of domestic wastewater is treated in onsite wastewater treatment …

Advanced Treatment Technologies For Mitigation Of Nitrogen And Off-Flavor Compounds In Onsite Wastewater Treatment And Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, Laura C. Rodriguez-Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-point sources (NPS) of pollution are non-discernable, diffuse sources of pollution that are often difficult to localize and in turn mitigate. NPS can include stormwater runoff, agricultural/aquaculture wastes and wastes from small decentralized wastewater treatment systems, such as conventional septic systems. The mitigation of these NPS is imperative to reduce their potential detrimental effects on the water environment. This dissertation addresses novel treatment technologies for the mitigation of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS). The removal of trace organics limiting RAS production and water reuse were also investigated.

The first question this …

Autonomous Vehicles: An Empirical Assessment Of Consumers’ Perceptions, Intended Adoption, And Impacts On Household Vehicle Ownership, Nikhil Menon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging automotive and transportation technologies have provided revolutionary possibilities in the way we might travel in the future. Major car manufacturers and technology giants have demonstrated significant progress in advancing and testing autonomous vehicles in real-life traffic conditions. Governmental agencies are grappling with how to plan transportation systems for a world with autonomous vehicles. Past research has shown that not all technologies are immediately welcomed by the public. Autonomous Vehicles would have to likely go through a similar phase, and would need to overcome not just technological challenges but also social barriers for successful penetration into the marketplace. Most previous …

Carbon And Nutrient Balances In Microalgal Bioenergy System, Eunyoung Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated life cycle environmental impacts and benefits of an integrated microalgae system with wastewater treatment system using an integrated process modeling approach combined with experimentation. The overall goal of this research is to understand energy, carbon and nutrient balances in the integrated system and to evaluate the environmental impacts and benefits of the integrated system from a carbon, nutrient, and energy perspective. In this study, four major research tasks were designed to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the environmental and economic sustainability of the integrated system, which included development of an integrated co-limitation kinetic model for microalgae …

Quantifying And Modeling Surface Inflow And Groundwater Infiltration Into Sanitary Sewers In Southern Pinellas County, Fl, Megan E. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following large rain events, excess flow in sanitary sewers from inflow and infiltration (I/I) cause sanitary sewer overflows (SSO), resulting in significant problems for Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area. Stormwater enters the sanitary sewers as inflow from improper or illegal surface connections, and groundwater enters the system as infiltration through cracks in subsurface infrastructure. This pilot study was designed to develop methods to separate and quantify the components of I/I and to build a predictive model using flowmeter and rainfall data.

To identify surface inflow, daily wastewater production and groundwater infiltration patterns were filtered from the flow data, …

Evaluating The Effect Of Temporary Casing On Drilled Shaft Rock Socket Capacity, Daniel J. Hagerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on side shear resistance in limestone when temporary casing is used. Due to testing in actual limestone being an unrealistic goal, simulated limestone mixes were prepared and cast into 6 – 42 in. diameter beds. Limestone throughout Florida can be quite varied (e.g. 50-5000 psi) but where stronger limestone is not likely to be penetrated by casing installation. Therefore, target unconfined compressive strengths of the study specimens ranged between 60 psi to 850 psi.

A simulated limestone material was developed based on over 200 cylinders cast for unconfined compression testing …

The Sustainability Of Ion Exchange Water Treatment Technology, Adib Amini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated using a life cycle environmental and economic approach to evaluate IX technology for small potable water systems, allowing for the identification and development of process and design improvements that reduce environmental impacts and costs. The main goals were to evaluate conventional IX in terms of life cycle environmental and economic sustainability, develop a method for improving designs of IX systems from a environmental and economic sustainability standpoint, evaluate potential design improvements, and make the research findings accessible to water professionals through user-friendly tools and frameworks that take into account their feedback. This research provides an understanding, from …

Mechanism Of Cathodic Prevention Of Carbon Steel In Concrete, Krittin Rattakham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this work, I aim to clarify the mechanism that allows steel to attain higher chloride threshold as it is cathodically polarized. Specifically, I seek to provide empirical information on whether an intrinsic (predominantly interfacial effects of polarization) or an extrinsic (predominantly concentration changes due to polarization) mechanism may be dominant in the beneficial effect of polarization. I carried out this experiment with 12 identical concrete specimens, each with a cast-in steel plate, constantly exposed them to high-chloride environment. The specimens were divided into 4 triplicates and polarized at 4 different level from OCP, -200, -300 to -400 mV_{SCE …}

Electrochemical Methods To Characterize Drilled Shaft Deficiencies, Sarah Jo Mobley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years drilled shafts have become the preferred foundation method for marine bridges. Typically, the drilled shaft is selected over traditional driven piles due to soil strata encountered, construction economy, increased lateral stiffness requirements, and/or vibration control considerations. The most critical component in drilled shaft construction is borehole stabilization. Wall sloughing or groundwater inclusion can have devastating effects on the strength of the finished shaft however recent research has shown that the materials, more specifically the slurry, used to accomplish stabilization may be having a negative impact on the durability of the finished product. This thesis investigates the durability …

Opportunities To Mainstream Gender In Water And Wastewater Infrastructure Projects: A Case Study In Barbados, Wainella Isaacs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Resources Institute, Barbados is one of seven Caribbean countries ranked as being the most water stressed territories in the world. Prevailing drought conditions for the period 2010-2016 further compromised its water security while confirming predictions of a drier regional Caribbean climate. The simultaneous failing of at least 50-year-old water infrastructure at many points in the distribution network adds to these water stress conditions, and presents a financial burden to the local water utility in the form of lost revenues, and increased energy consumption for pumping.

Climate change and its impacts are not gender-neutral, and water infrastructure …

Improved 2d And 3d Resistivity Surveys Using Buried Electrodes And Optimized Arrays: The Multi-Electrode Resistivity Implant Technique (Merit), Henok Gidey Kiflu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel resistivity method called Multi-Electrode resistivity technique (MERIT) that is used for high resolution imaging of complex geologic features at depth and near the edges of survey lines. The MERIT electrodes are especially shaped and designed to be self-driven using a robust-direct push technique. Measurements are taken using optimized arrays that are generated using a modified version of the “Compare-R” optimization algorithm. This work focused on both two-dimensional (MERIT2D) and three-dimensional (MERIT3D) applications of the buried array and show the relevance of the additional information gained by the addition of deep electrodes especially in sites with …

Advancements In Thermal Integrity Profiling Data Analysis, Kevin Russell Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thermal Integrity Profiling (TIP) is a relatively new non-destructive test method for evaluating the post-construction quality of drilled shafts. Therein anomalies in a shaft are indicated by variations in its thermal profile when measured during the curing stages of the concrete. A considerable benefit with this method is in the ability to detect anomalies both inside and outside the reinforcement cage, as well as provide a measure of lateral cage alignment. Similarly remarkable, early developments showed that the shape of a temperature profile (with depth) matched closely with the shape of the shaft, thus allowing for a straightforward interpretation of …

Development Of An Anaerobic-Phototrophic Bioreactor System For Wastewater Treatment, Onur Yilmaz Ozcan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For decades, mainstream domestic wastewater treatment has relied on activated sludge processes to remove organic matter, and on biological nutrient removal systems like the A²/O process to remove nutrients. Recently, membrane filtration was also added to the realm of possible technologies for domestic wastewater treatment, with aerobic membrane bioreactors (MBRs) becoming increasingly popular, especially for decentralized, and small to medium scale applications. However, the aerobic activated sludge and MBR processes, which are often combined with biological nutrient removal processes, have high energy costs associated with supplying oxygen to the process, and end up converting the organic matter into …

Effective Post-Tensioned Splicing System For Prestressed Concrete Piles, Zhongxin Wu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Precast prestressed concrete piles are widely used in deep foundation construction. Due to unexpected site soil conditions and difficulties associated with transportation and handling long precast piles, splicing is sometimes necessary at the construction site.

Available splicing methods utilize steel type connections that are more suitable for reinforced concrete construction and result in limited tensile capacity at the splice. This dissertation describes studies associated with the development of a new post-tensioned splicing system using staggered, embedded anchorages. The new system has the potential to provide the same tensile capacity as a one piece prestressed pile.

To develop the post-tensioned splicing …