Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of Volatile And Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds Potentially Associated With The Gas Shale Fracturing Process In The Fayetteville And Marcellus Shale, Karl Albert Oetjen

Theses - ALL

With the recent growth of the natural gas industry coupled with technological advancements, gas shale fracturing has become an effective and highly profitable method for natural gas production. Unlike conventional natural gas extraction which may require vertical fracturing, gas shale fracturing relies on a method known as horizontal fracturing to remove gas trapped within the impermeable facies. Compared to vertical fracturing, horizontal fracturing requires larger amounts of fluids to be injected downhole under high pressure. These fracturing fluids can contain high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons with known adverse health effects. Due to the large volumes used, the potential for groundwater …

The Use Of Oxidants For Ndma Precursor Deactivation In Wastewater Treatment, Jaclyn Lauer

All Theses

Water treatment plants in the United States (US) have been switching from chlorination to chloramination in the search for a disinfection process to reduce formation of regulated disinfection by-products (DBPs). Unfortunately, the trade-off is the formation of N-nitrosamines. N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) is the most commonly detected N-nitrosamine in US distribution systems. In the Integrated Risk Information Service (IRIS) database of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), NDMA has been identified to have an estimated 10-6 lifetime cancer risk level at a concentration of 0.7 ng/L in drinking water. N-nitrosamines are currently not regulated by the USEPA; however, are listed on …

Modot Pavement Preservation Research Program, David Newton Richardson, Neil Lennart Anderson, John Bowders, Andrew Z. Boeckmann, Ronaldo Luna, S. Michael Lusher, Brent Rosenblad, Lesley Sneed

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The following report documents a research project on pavement preservation performed by the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) and the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) on behalf of the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). the report consists of a Summary Report followed by six detailed technical reports. to achieve the goal of reducing maintenance costs and improving minor road ratings, MoDOT has embarked upon a plan of formalizing its maintenance/preservation planning. to assist in developing the plan, MoDOT contracted with the Missouri S&T and UMC to conduct a research project, entitled "MoDOT Pavement Preservation Research Program". the product …

Electric-Elastic Field Induced By A Straight Dislocation In One-Dimensional Quasicrystals, L. Z. Yang, Y. Gao, Ernian Pan, Natalie P. Waksmansk

Civil Engineering Faculty Research

By using the generalized Stroh formalism, the electric-elastic field induced by a straight dislocation parallel to a periodic axis of a one-dimensional quasicrystal is obtained. The derivation is concise and the solution is in an exact closed form. As an illustration, the electric-elastic fields around a straight dislocation in a one-dimensional hexagonal quasicrystal are studied. Besides the interesting numerical results presented, the generalized Stroh formalism can be applied to more complicated dislocation problems in quasicrystals

2014 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green, Tony Fields

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of the survey summarized in this report was to establish a statewide safety belt usage rate in Kentucky for 2014. This rate can be compared to those determined from previous surveys. The 2014 statewide survey continues to document the increase in usage associated with the change in the law to allow primary enforcement and related education and enforcement.

2013 Barge And Rail Symposium: Moving Freight Between Multimodal Systems, Doug Kreis, Candice Y. Wallace

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Symposiums and peer exchanges are critical venues in which researchers meet and exchange new ideas and share the results of projects with colleagues. These gatherings are particularly important for multidisciplinary research areas. Despite knowledge rapidly developing in these fields, too often conversations do not take place between individuals who occupy different research niches. This delays efforts to implement new solutions to critical, everyday problems. Currently, there is no annual meeting at which researchers doing work on freight transportation shipped on the inland waterways and railways gather to present their findings to a broad cross section of government, industry, and academic …

Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Land Cover Change, Sedimentation And Water Quality In The Lake Issaqueena Watershed, South Carolina, Cassie Pilgrim

All Theses

Soil erosion and increased sediment yields within a watershed lead to impaired water quality, decreased availability of wildlife habitat and reduced recreational opportunities. While some sedimentation occurs naturally within a water system, most erosion processes are the result of anthropogenic activities across a landscape, namely changes in land use and land cover (LULC). This study was conducted to determine temporal and spatial sedimentation trends in the Lake Issaquena watershed using sonar logging equipment, geographic information systems (GIS) and limited hydrologic data from the Soil Conservation Service (1941 and 1949). Sediment deposition was analyzed in relation to several key factors that …

Adsorption Of Halogenated Aliphatic Contaminants By Graphene Nanomaterials: Comparison With Carbon Nanotubes And Granular Activated Carbons, Yang Zhou

All Theses

Graphene nanomaterials are two-dimensional single layer sp2 hybridized carbon atoms densely packed in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice and can be visualized as basic building blocks for fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and graphite. In addition, they are hydrophobic nanomaterials and possess a large specific surface area (SSA), thus they have been evaluated as promising adsorbents to remove synthetic organic compounds (SOCs) from water. As with granular activated carbons (GACs) and CNTs, adsorption behavior of SOCs on graphene depends on the physicochemical properties of the adsorbents (e.g., specific surface area, pore size distribution and surface chemistry), SOCs (e.g., hydrophobicity, molecular size and …

Potential Effects Of Geologic Storage Of Co2 On Surface Water And Shallow Groundwater, Shuangshuang Xie

All Theses

ABSTRACT Storage of supercritical phase CO2 in deep saline aquifers is being considered to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and this process is expected to increase the pressure in these deep aquifers. One potential consequence of pressurization is an increase in the upward flux of saline water. Saline groundwater occurs naturally at shallow depths in many sedimentary basins, so an upward flux of solutes could degrade the quality of aquifers, and threaten aquatic ecosystems where groundwater discharge is important. The objective of this research is to evaluate the impacts associated with increasing the upward flux of saline water as …

Dendritic Polymers As Biocompatible Oil Spill Dispersants: Effectiveness And Mechanisims With Crude Oil, Ying Tu

All Theses

Dendritic polymers have recently been shown to entrap polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other hydrophobic materials. Laboratory results have shown that poly(amidoamine) dendrimers and hyperbranched poly(ethyleneimine) polymers form complexes with linear (hexadecane) and polyaromatic (phenanthrene) hydrocarbons, increasing the dispersion of these model crude oil components. It is thus hypothesized that crude oil can be dispersed using these polymers. Compared with commercial dispersants, dendritic polymers have the potential to be more biocompatible and less toxic. The objective of this research was to gain a fundamental understanding of the interactions of dendritic polymers with crude oil. We used Louisians Sweet Crude oil …

Optimal Design Of Validation Experiments For Calibration And Validation Of Complex Numerical Models, Matthew Egeberg

All Theses

As prediction of the performance and behavior of complex engineering systems shifts from a primarily empirical-based approach to the use of complex physics-based numerical models, the role of experimentation is evolving to calibrate, validate, and quantify uncertainty of the numerical models. Oftentimes, these experiments are expensive, placing importance on selecting experimental settings to efficiently calibrate the numerical model with a limited number of experiments. The aim of this thesis is to reduce the experimental resources required to reach predictive maturity in complex numerical models by (i) aiding experimenters in determining the optimal settings for experiments, and (ii) aiding the model …

Decentralized Water Systems For Sustainable And Reliable Supply, Suraj Goverdhanam

All Theses

The water industry is under enormous pressure to provide potable water in circumstances of increasing demands due to population growth, lifestyle change of people and depleting freshwater resources. Deteriorating infrastructure makes the task of meeting the human water consumption needs even more challenging. Distributed water supply systems are currently pursued as a sustainable alternative in arid regions of US to exploit the potential of water reclamation at community or district level to reduce the dependence on freshwater resources. An extension of such a distributed water supply alternative is a complete decentralized supply, which requires on-site water reclamation. The intention of …

Ecohydrological Function Of Lower Coastal Plain Bioretention Cells In South Carolina, Jessica Palazzolo

All Theses

Flooding and stormwater control is a critical issue in coastal South Carolina because of shallow water table elevation, topography and rapid urbanization in the region. A best management practice (BMP) using low impact design (LID) principles known as a bioretention cell (BRC) is gaining popularity for stormwater management. Five BRCs in four landscape positions (well-drained uplands, tidal-proximal, poorly-drained-uplands, and floodplain) were instrumented for microclimate, soil moisture, and water table elevation for hydraulic efficiency and for water quality measurements. Three BRCs did not have an overflow outlets, one BRC (floodplain) employed an underdrain system, and one BRC (tidal proximal) had an …

Anammox Polishing In Mainstream Wastewater Treatment To Meet Stringent Ammonia And Total Nitrogen Limits, Rebecca Mary Holgate

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As nitrogen discharge limits are becoming more stringent there is a need for new processes that are sustainable and cost effective. Since anaerobic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (anammox) were discovered in the mid 1990s, there has been considerable success implementing anammox in many wastewater treatment plants to treat internally generated nitrogen rich waste streams (e.g. centrate). Recently, there has also been discussion of implementing anammox in mainstream wastewater treatment to exploit the benefits of autotrophic nitrogen removal.

A two stage A/B pilot study was conducted that included a high-rate activated sludge (HRAS) process followed by a two-stage de-ammonification process incorporating nitrite-shunt …

A Comparative Study: Utilizing Data Mining Techniques To Classify Traffic Congestion Status, Abbas Mirakhorli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Performance measure is a process of evaluating and quantifying a system. Performance measure provides us with information about how good a system is working and how well the predefined goals are met. In order to analyze the performance of a transportation system, the traffic data such as speed, volume, occupancy and travel time of the system need to be collected. These data will generate valuable historical database that can be used to develop models to improve the quality of service of transportation system. The performance measures in transportation studies can be categorized to following main groups: Congestion, Mobility, Accessibility, Reliability, …

Evaluation Of Earthquake Hazard For Las Vegas Valley, Nevada Incorporating Probabilistic Hazard Assessment And Non--Linear Site Response, Suchan Lamichhane

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Abstract from Manuscript 1, "An alternative analysis of the probabilistic seismic hazard for Las Vegas Valley, Nevada": Probabilistic seismic hazard calculations relevant for rock-site conditions in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada (LVV) have been computed that account for seismic sources that are not included in the current (2008) USGS national seismic hazard model (NSHM) because of insufficient knowledge or documentation, using the commercial software package EZ-FRISK. The LVV is underlain by a system of mapped, active normal faults that comprise the Las Vegas Valley Fault System (LVVFS), with maximum potential earthquakes to M6.8. The 2008 NSHM explicitly includes only one …

Transport Properties Of Nano-Silica Contained Self-Consolidating Concrete, Borhan Moradi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this research study, transport properties of various self-consolidating concretes (SCCs) containing nano-particles (SiO2) were investigated. Nano-silica replaced a portion of the cementitious materials at different replacement levels ranging from 1.5 to 7.5% by weight. For the purpose of this investigation, flow, bulk, and transport properties of SCCs were studied. The investigated transport properties were absorption, water penetration, rapid chloride permeability, capillary absorption, rapid migration, and chloride diffusion. Transport properties of nano-silica SCCs were also compared to those of equivalent silica fume (micro silica) contained concretes, as well as those of control mixture (concrete without nano or micro silica).

Test …

Mathematical Equations And System Identification Models For A Portable Pneumatic Bladder System Designed To Reduce Human Exposure To Whole Body Shock And Vibration, Ezzat Aziz Ayyad

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A mathematical representation is sought to model the behavior of a portable pneumatic foam bladder designed to mitigate the effects of human exposure to shock and whole body random vibration. Fluid Dynamics principles are used to derive the analytic differential equations used for the physical equations Model. Additionally, combination of Wiener and Hammerstein block oriented representation techniques have been selected to create system identification (SID) block oriented models. A number of algorithms have been iterated to obtain numerical solutions for the system of equations which was found to be coupled and non-linear, with no analytic closed form solution. The purpose …

Estimating Potential Water Pump Reductions Based On Soil Water Content, Geospatial Data Layers, And Variable Rate Irrigation (Vri) Pivot Control Resolution, Keith A. Miller

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing concern for sustainable water use has the agriculture industry working toward higher efficiency use of irrigation water. The average irrigation water use efficiency throughout the United States is 45%, which is extremely poor. Advancements in crop management have continued to allow producers to know more about the conditions in their field from nutrient management and pest control, to understanding yield spatially.

Recent mechanical advancements have improved the capabilities of center pivot irrigation systems to water various depths throughout the field. This technology is known as variable rate irrigation (VRI). With VRI comes a whole new strategy for irrigation. Advancements …

Infiltration And Runoff Parameters For Tilled And No-Till Row Crops, Andrew J. Volkmer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Infiltration and runoff are hydrologic processes that effect the amount of water available to plants, for groundwater recharge, and for stream flow. No-till planting (NT) is a management practice used to reduce soil erosion, increase water infiltration, and reduce soil water evaporation, and can have great impact on infiltration and runoff. An investigation was conducted to determine the impact of NT on infiltration and runoff when compared to tilled conditions.

Runoff and precipitation data was gathered from sites at Fillmore County, NE, Phelps County, NE, the USDA-ARS North Appalachian Experimental Watersheds (NAEW) near Coshocton, OH, and the Lennoxville Research Station …

Semantic Model Alignment For Business Process Integration, Janina Fengel

Doctoral

Business process models describe an enterprise’s way of conducting business and in this form the basis for shaping the organization and engineering the appropriate supporting or even enabling IT. Thereby, a major task in working with models is their analysis and comparison for the purpose of aligning them. As models can differ semantically not only concerning the modeling languages used, but even more so in the way in which the natural language for labeling the model elements has been applied, the correct identification of the intended meaning of a legacy model is a non-trivial task that thus far has only …

Classification System Of The Physical Streambed Habitat., Abolfazl Shafaie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A streambed is the channel bottom of a stream, river, or creek; the physical confine of the normal water flow. It provides necessities for fish and microinvertebrate including shelter, food, and breeding spots. Therefore, it is an essential part of aquatic animal habitats and often seen as an index of stream health. There is no generally accepted method to quantify streambed physical components and depending upon state and organization a variety of methods are used. The procedure provided in the rapid bioassessment protocol (RBP) (Kaufmann et al., 1999; Sylte and Fischenich, 2002) is probably the most widely used method to …

Evaluating The Impact Of Bridge Deck Removal Method On The Performance Of Precast/Prestressed Concrete I-Girders, Shaddi Assad

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wide flange precast/prestressed concrete I-girders have been widely used by several State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) in the last two decades. These girders have many advantages over standard AASHTO I-girders. Their wide and thick bottom flange accommodates a large number of prestressing strands and their wide and thin top flange provides a shorter deck span, reduced girder weight, greater stability in construction, and adequate platform for workers. Despite these advantages, the wide and thin top flange might be disadvantageous when it comes to deck removal, as it is more susceptible to damage. Therefore there is a need to investigate the …

Modeling That Leads To The Prediction Of Photocatalytic Coatings Characterization, Biju Bajracharya

Dissertations

One of the abundant sources of energy on earth is a solar energy which is the clean and safest energy source. It is also known as universal energy, the most important source of renewable energy available today. On realizing that the light source has a crucial role in daily life, several scientists and researchers from centuries ago have studied to establish photo induced systems and utilized them. Long after the knowledge of thermal energy, photovoltaic energy, and photosynthesis in plants, two prominent scientists, Fujishima and Honda, have discovered the electrochemical photolysis of water with the Titanium dioxide electrode which was …

Learning From Earthquakes: 2014 Napa Valley Earthquake Reconnaissance Report, Erica Fischer

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Graduate Student Reports

Structural damage was observed during reconnaissance after the 2014 South Napa Earthquake, and included damage to wine storage and fermentation tanks, collapse of wine storage barrel racks, unreinforced masonry building partial or full collapse, and residential building damage. This type of damage is not unique to the South Napa Earthquake, and was observed after other earthquakes such as the 1977 San Juan Earthquake, and the 2010 Maule Earthquake. Previous research and earthquakes have demonstrated the seismic performance of cylindrical fluid-filled tanks is controlled by both the tank and the sloshing motion of the liquid inside. Unlike building structures, steel tanks …

Effects Of Natural Organic Matter On Contaminant Removal By Superfine Powdered Activated Carbon Coupled With Microfiltration Membranes, Mengfei Li

All Theses

Hybrid activated carbon/membrane systems are used in drinking water treatment for their significant capability of removing synthetic organic contaminants (SOCs) or taste-and-odor compounds along with particles. Preliminary data showed that decreasing the carbon particle size and creating superfine powdered activated carbon (S-PAC) removed phenanthrene and atrazine better than adsorbents with larger particle size in the presence of competitive adsorbents like natural organic matter (NOM). NOM is present in all natural water from degradation of terrestrial biomass which leaches from soil into a water source. Water treatment facilities target the removal of NOM because they are precursors to disinfection by-products formed …

Can Tidal Perturbations Associated With Sea Level Variations In The Western Pacific Ocean Be Used To Understand Future Effects Of Tidal Evolution?, Adam T. Devlin, David A. Jay, Stefan A. Talke, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines connections between mean sea level (MSL) variability and diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituent variations at 17 open-ocean and 9 continental shelf tide gauges in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, a region showing anomalous rise in MSL over the last 20 years and strong interannual variability. Detrended MSL fluctuations are correlated with detrended tidal amplitude and phase fluctuations, defined as tidal anomaly trends (TATs), to quantify the response of tidal properties to MSL variation. About 20 significant amplitude and phase TATs are found for each of the two strongest tidal constituents, K₁ (diurnal) and M₂ (semidiurnal). …

Modeling And Analyzing The Impact Of Advanced Technologies On Transit Performance Measures In Arterial Corridors, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Wei Feng

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Transportation and transit agencies have implemented advanced technologies like transit signal priority (TSP) and Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) to reduce travel times and improve reliability. However, due to the lack of detailed empirical data, the joint impact of these factors and improvement strategies on bus travel time has not been studied at the stop-to-stop segment level. With the aim of assessing the performance of an existing TSP/SCATS system, this study had access to a unique set of high-resolution bus and traffic signal data. Novel algorithms and performance measures to measure TSP performance are proposed. Results indicate that a …

Application Of Bamboo For Flexural And Shear Reinforcement In Concrete Beams, Nathan Schneider

All Theses

As the developing world is industrializing and people migrate to cities, the need for infrastructure is growing quickly and concrete has become one of the most widely used construction materials. One poor construction practice observed widely across the developing world is the minimal use of reinforcement for concrete structures due to the high cost of steel. As a low-cost, high-performance material with good mechanical properties, bamboo has been investigated as an alternative to steel for reinforcing concrete. The goal of this research is to add to the knowledge base of bamboo reinforced concrete (BRC) by investigating a unique stirrup design …

Hollow Massive Timber Panels: A High-Performance, Long-Span Alternative To Cross Laminated Timber, William Graham Montgomery

All Theses

Since the development of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), there has been a surge in interest in massive timber buildings. Furthermore, recent conceptual and feasibility designs of massive timber towers of 30 or more stories indicate that performance of mass timber structural elements can compete with other building materials in the commercial industry (MGB Architecture and Design et al.). However, in order for massive timber to penetrate the commercial market even further, a solution is needed for long-span massive timber floor systems. Unfortunately, CLT falls short in this area and is unable to span long distances. The hollow massive timber (HMT) …