Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of Solids Retention Time And Feeding Frequency On Performance And Pathogen Fate In Semi-Continuous Mesophilic Anaerobic Digesters, Nathan Daniel Manser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion is a biochemical process in which organic carbon is biodegraded in an oxygen free environment through a microbial consortium. Engineered biological systems used for resource recovery often utilize anaerobic digestion to treat anthropogenic organic wastes by reclaiming the carbon as energy (methane gas) and a soil amendment (biosolids). Small-scale, or household, semi-continuous anaerobic digesters have been used in developed and developing countries for many decades to produce biogas from human and livestock waste, which is used for heating, lighting, and cooking. This application has been shown to improve the quality of life of the user. Although there is …

Direct Membrane Filtration Of Domestic Wastewater: Implications For Coupling With Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (Df-Anmbr) For Wastewater Resource Recovery, George H. Dick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the growing use of membranes in the water industry, different methods for using membranes to treat water is still occurring. Enhancing membrane performance is generally performed with extensive pretreatment methods before the feedwater is filtered by the membrane. With the utilization of direct membrane filtration (DF), no pretreatment is performed and the membrane is exposed to raw wastewater. While this may suggest that membrane performance and permeate quality would suffer in the process, DF testing with a 0.03 µm ultrafiltration PVDF membrane showed that relatively high membrane flux was sustained while producing a high quality effluent. Due to the …

Ecological Sanitation In Uganda: Promotion Through Demonstration Facilities And Potential For Ascaris Reduction By Free Ammonia Inactivation Using Stored Urine, John Thomas Trimmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Uganda works to transform itself into an industrialized, middle-income country in the coming decades, the country is faced with a number of problematic trends that could hinder this transition. High population growth and urbanization are quickly forcing small towns to deal with issues of limited space and the aesthetic conditions within sanitation systems, while declining soil fertility in surrounding rural areas calls into question the future nutritional security of the growing population. Ecological Sanitation (Eco-San) systems, which are designed to recover nutrients from human excreta, may help to address these trends.

Improved sanitation coverage in Uganda is currently estimated …

A Framework For Determining Building Water Cycle Resilience Using A Dynamic Water Resilience Assessment Model (Wram), Caryssa Joustra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this project was to quantitatively measure the resilience of the building water cycle. In order to accomplish this goal, a framework was developed that outlines how building water resilience can be evaluated. The framework presented assumed that resilience describes the fulfillment of system functions; in this case, the system functions considered are those actualized by the building water system. A building water resilience assessment model (WRAM) was developed with the ability to simulate different building water cycles and resilience scenarios. Resilience is dependent on the type and magnitude of a disturbance. Therefore, unique disruption scenarios were developed …

Comparison Of Lock-In And Pulse-Phase Thermography For Defect Characterization In Frp Composites Applied To Concrete, Jeff Brown, Sai Harsha Chittineni

Publications

Thermal imaging is a well-established technique for the non-destructive evaluation of FRP composites applied to reinforced concrete. Defect characterization using IR thermography, however, remains a topic of on-going research, and there are currently no universally accepted standards for data collection or interpretation. This research involved large scale thermography inspection of two FRP strengthened bridge girders that were removed from service after approximately 10 years of service in a potentially corrosive marine environment. Trial inspections were performed on test areas where defects could be identified using sounding methods. Two procedures showed the most promise for identifying and characterizing defects: sinusoidal (lock-in …

The Effect Of Water Temperature On In-Stream Sediment Concentration And Transport Rate, Jennie Tyrrell

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Global climate change may result in rising temperatures. As a result, ecological health and the human use of rivers may be impacted. The hydrologic cycle, watershed hydrology, and in-stream hydraulics are dynamic systems, influenced by human activities, natural events, and climate. Although known drivers like precipitation and stream velocity govern sediment processes, the effect of water temperature on sediment transport remains unclear. In-stream sediment movement could lead to blocked harbors, flooding, and degradation of vulnerable fish habitat. To better understand how fluctuations in water temperature affect sediment dynamics, six transport models were analyzed on the Niobrara River, with water temperatures …

Calibration, Verification, And Diagnosis Of A Season-Ahead Drought Prediction Model: Limits To Predictability In Central Texas, Jonathan Witham

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface hydrology model was calibrated and verified for prediction of naturalized flows into the Highland Lakes system in central Texas. Using seasonal climate forecasts downscaled to daily precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures, and wind speeds, the VIC model was run to generate ensemble inflow hindcasts for two seasons – March through June and July through October – corresponding to the period of 1960 through 2010. A diagnosis of the seasonal hindcast results determined that inflows are not as heavily influenced by the physical soil moisture state as expected, and that variability in statistical precipitation …

Effects Of Light Quality And Light Quantity On The Growth Kinetics Of A Louisiana Native Microalgal/Cyanobacterial Co-Culture, Jonathan Zell Barnett

LSU Master's Theses

One of the most important factors controlling the growth of microalgae is light. Light quality and light quantity have a dramatic effect on the production of biomass, lipids and pigments of microalgae. In this research, a native Louisiana co-culture containing Chlorella vulgaris (microalgae) and Leptolyngbya sp (cyanobacteria) was studied to determine the effects of various wavelength distributions and irradiance levels on growth kinetics. Growth rates, biomass levels, lipid contents and chlorophyll-a production was examined in batch cultures to determine which color light was optimum for cultivation. At 80 µmol/m^2-sec the species shifted from microalgae dominant to cyanobacteria dominant. The impact …

Characterization Of Biopolymer Using Swcc And Microfluidic Models: Implication On Eor, Jungyeon Jang

LSU Master's Theses

The objective of this study is to investigate the characteristics of biopolymers and to examine their application for soil stabilization and oil production. Biopolymers, the composite of multi-living organisms, are one of the most promising materials in the field of geotechnical engineering. The application of biopolymer is more efficient than water for soil stabilization and oil production due to its higher viscosity as a fill material of pores in the soil. This thesis begins with a definition of Agar and Polyacrylamide (PAM) as the measurement of viscosity, contact angle, and surface tension. The application of microfluidic models are applied to …

Development Of Satellite-Assisted Forecasting System For Oyster Norovirus Outbreaks, Jiao Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Norovirus outbreaks can cause the closure of oyster harvesting waters and acute gastroenteritis in humans associated with consumption of contaminated raw oysters. The overall goal of this study was to develop a satellite-assisted forecasting system for oyster norovirus outbreaks. The forecasting system is comprised of three components: (1) satellite algorithms for retrieval of environmental variables, including salinity, temperature, and gage height, (2) an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based model, called NORF model, for predicting relative risk levels of oyster norovirus outbreaks, and (3) a mapping method for visualizing spatial distributions of norovirus outbreak risks in oyster harvest areas along Louisiana …

Micro-Encapsulation Of Asphalt Rejuvenators Using Melamine-Formaldehyde, Max Abelardo Aguirre Deras

LSU Master's Theses

Self-healing microencapsulation in asphalt concrete is an emerging technology that would allow this particular material to resist cracking damage caused by vehicular and environmental loading. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of an asphalt rejuvenator on asphalt binder in reversing the aging process and to develop a synthesis procedure for the production of microencapsulation of asphalt rejuvenators. Production parameters such as agitation rate, heating temperature and EMA concentration were varied to determine the effect on microcapsules properties such as size, shell thickness and morphology. Based on the results of the experimental program, it was concluded that …

Motion Analysis Of Biotin Carboxylase-Driven Robotic Nano-Swimmers, Sima Hannani

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to experimentally validate the hypothesis that the enzyme biotin carboxylase (BC) can behave as a bimolecular motor and propel nano-scale particles in fluidic environments. This hypothesis was proposed in the M.S. thesis “Toward the Development of Biotin Carboxylase Driven Robotic Nano-swimmer” by Rachel Yates (Yates, 2012). In (Yates, 2012), the nano-particle (called a nano-swimmer) is a Janus particle with BC molecules attached to one hemisphere. The idea is that in the presence of its substrates (i.e., fuel) BC will cause individual nano-particles to undergo non-Brownian motion by virtue of its conformational change. In order …

Girder Load Distribution For Seismic Design Of Integral Bridges, Justin Vander Werff, Sri Sritharan

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Current seismic design practice related to integral bridge girder-to-cap beam connections allows little or no lateral seismic load to be distributed beyond the girders immediately adjacent to the column. However, distribution results from several large-scale tests have shown that the distribution of column seismic moment typically engages all the girders. An approach utilizing simple stiffness models to predict distribution in integral bridge structures is presented in detail; distribution predictions based on grillage analyses also are compared. The experimental results and the analytical results from the stiffness and grillage models show that current design methods related to vertical load distribution are …

Connected Vehicle Technology: User And System Performance Characteristics, Osama Abdulmonaem Thabet Osman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The emerging connected vehicle (CV) technology plays a promising role in providing more operable and safer transportation environments. Yet, many questions remain unanswered as to how various user and system characteristics of CV-enabled networks can shape the successful implementation of the technology to maximize the return on investment. This research attempts to capture the effect of multiple factors such as traffic density, market penetration, and transmission range on the communication stability and overall network performance by developing a new CONnectivity ROBustness (CONROB) model. The model was tested with data collected from microscopic simulation of a 195 sq-mile traffic network and …

Electrical Resistivity Of Sandy Soil With Water, Leachates And Seawater, Lopa Mudra Pandey

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Liners are used in the engineered containment systems such as landfills for controlling the migration of contaminants. Although there are several techniques for detecting the leakages through the liners, use of the electrical resistivity method can assist in timely detection of contaminant migration in cost-effective manner. This method is based on the well-established fact that the electrical resistivity of soils and other geomaterials is much higher than the electrical resistivity of water, leachates or any liquid effluents which may permeate the landfill foundation material. Additionally, the geotechnical properties of a soil exhibit a close relationship with its electrical resistivity values …

Engineering Characteristics Of Compacted Sand-Bentonite Mixtures, Ali Faisal Ghazi

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Sand-clay mixtures are commonly used as a liner/barrier material in various engineering applications, such as construction of hydraulic and waste containments. Permeability, compressibility and strength are important properties of sand-clay mixtures and are often required for the design of the liner/barrier of the containments.

In states like Western Australia, which is covered mostly by sandy soils, engineers face difficulties with economically sourcing clays for liner/barrier applications. Any reliable research finding that recommends an optimum clay content to be used with sandy soil can be of significant importance. Such findings for the local Perth sandy soil are rarely available in the …

Characterisation And Applications Of Iron Ore Tailings In Building And Construction Projects, Francis Atta Kuranchie

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The mine tailings are generated as the wastes worldwide as a result of exploration, excavation, blasting, beneficiation and extraction of mineral ores. In Western Australia, due to the extensive mining activities and increasing low grade ores, there is generation of mine tailings in large quantities, which could lead to environmental and disposal problems. The common practice of handling the tailings are to store them in tailing dams or as stockpiles near mine sites. Limited quantities are sometimes used as backfills and other applications. The utilisation of tailings in building and construction projects, which may consume a large volume of wastes, …

Applications Of Geopolymer In Civil Engineering: Feasibility Study Of Loess Stabilization And Waste Concrete Recycling, Zhen Liu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The fast growing population and economic development have resulted in an increasing demand for residential and commercial buildings and infrastructures. However, there are problems identified to fulfill this demand, including that (1) problematic soils need to be treated/improved before the construction of building and infrastructures; (2) the Portland cement industry, which is used for concrete production and as the conventional soil stabilizer, is not environment friendly; (3) qualified natural aggregates for concrete production are being depleted; and (4) great amount of construction & demolition waste (C&D waste) is being produced every year. This means that green materials and recycling the …

Uncertainty Analyses Of Climate Change Impact On Hydrologic Projections, Ehsan Beigi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study conducts uncertainty analysis on future region-scale hydrologic projections under the uncertain climate change projections of the IPCC Fifth and Forth Assessment Reports. The hierarchical Bayesian model averaging (HBMA) method is adopted to segregate and prioritize sources of climate projection uncertainty, obtain ensemble mean of hydrologic projection, and quantify the hydrologic projection uncertainty arising from individual uncertainty sources. This study deals with the choices of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration trajectories, global climate models (GCMs), and GCM initial conditions as three major uncertainty sources in downscaled precipitation and temperature projections. The method is applied to investigate future hydrologic projections in …

Comprehensive Benefits Of Green Roofs, Madison R. Gibler

Masters Theses

"Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments, providing traditional roof services and alternative stormwater management technologies. Other benefits and impacts are not yet fully understood or valued. Research conducted assesses specific stormwater benefits of green roofs, providing information on nutrient leaching from media; and analyzes potential energy benefits through side-by-side comparisons of full-scale white, traditional black rubber, and green roofs in the mid-continent Missouri climate. Roofing media selection impacted leaching of nutrients, suspended solids, and organic carbon from the tested green roof media. Thermal properties were investigated at the building level, …

Characterizing The Influence Of Carbon On The Flowrate And Disinfection Efficacy Of Household Ceramic Water Filters, Jessie Yvonne Hahn

Masters Theses

"Drinking water contamination is a major cause of disease in developing countries. Point of Use (POU) water treatment technologies generally have low initial cost and allow rapid availability of improved water. Ceramic pot filters (CPFs) are a POU water source treatment technology which filter water by gravity through a porous ceramic media. Some filters in use contain carbon remnants left from the fugitive pore former as a dark carbon core. Using disk-shaped experimental ceramic filters produced in the lab to have varying levels of carbon, the percent carbon present was measured and a visual analysis method was developed to determine …

Probabilistic Performance-Based Hurricane Engineering (Pbhe) Framework, Vipin Unnithan Unnikrishnan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In modern times, hurricanes have caused enormous losses to the communities worldwide both in terms of property damage and loss of life. In light of these losses, a comprehensive methodology is required to improve the quantification of risk and the design of structures subject to hurricane hazard. This research develops a probabilistic Performance-Based Hurricane Engineering (PBHE) framework for hurricane risk assessment. The proposed PBHE is based on the total probability theorem, similar to the Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) framework developed by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, and to the Performance-Based Wind Engineering (PBWE) framework. The methodology presented in …

Experimental Designs For Model Discrimination And Uncertainty Reduction In Groundwater Modeling, Hai Van Pham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Groundwater systems are complex and subject to multiple interpretations due to a lack of sufficient information. Different propositions (or alternatives) are often proposed to represent uncertain model components resulted in many conceptual models using the same data. Yet considering too many models may lead to high prediction uncertainty and may lose the purpose of model development. To decrease the prediction uncertainty due to conceptual model uncertainty, two experimental designs are proposed. The first experimental design intends to identify model propositions in each uncertain model component. A discrimination criterion is developed based on posterior model probability. Bayesian model averaging (BMA) is …

Applications Of Large Eddy Simulation To Study Flow And Sediment Transport In Open Channel Flows, Getnet Baynesagne Agegnehu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The motivation of this study is to extend applications of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) for typical open channel flows to elucidate the time dependent three dimensional flow and sediment transport features which are usually difficult to measure in experiments. Detailed investigations are performed on the unsteady features and, in particular, turbulent structures of the flow to demonstrate the great potential of eddy resolving methods. The instantaneous flow and sediment transport fields are investigated together with the existence of coherent structures. These structures together with ejection events (u' < 0, w' > 0), are responsible for the vertical and lateral transport of suspended sediment from …

Development And Optimization Of Non-Hydrostatic Models For Water Waves And Fluid-Vegetation Interaction, Ling Zhu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary objective of this study is twofold: 1) to develop an efficient and accurate non-hydrostatic wave model for fully dispersive highly nonlinear waves, and 2) to investigate the interaction between waves and submerged flexible vegetation using a fully coupled wave-vegetation model. This research consists of three parts. Firstly, an analytical dispersion relationship is derived for waves simulated by models utilizing Keller-box scheme and central differencing for vertical discretization. The phase speed can be expressed as a rational polynomial function of the dimensionless water depth, $kh$, and the layer distribution in water column becomes an optimizable parameter in this function. …

Sustainable Materials For Pavement Infrastructure: Design And Performance Of Asphalt Mixtures Containing Recycled Asphalt Shingles, Samuel B. Cooper, Jr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As the price of liquid asphalt continuously climb, methods are being sought to decrease material costs which will have less impact on ecological systems without compromising material or pavement performance. The use of recycled materials is one method that can replace a percentage of their virgin counterparts, thus reducing the negative impacts on the environment. Asphalt mixture performance is affected by the level of blending that occurs between aged and virgin asphalt binders. The interaction and compatibility of recycling agents (RAs) with recycled asphalt shingles (RAS) and reclaimed asphalt pavements (RAP) have not been thoroughly evaluated since the 1970s. To …

Polychlorinated Biphenyl Source Identification In Fish Tissue Using A Multivariate Statistical Evaluation Of Congeners And Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, William Edward Corl Iii

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were commercially produced mixtures primarily utilized as dielectric fluids in the electrical industry. However, due to their stability, they were widely used in many other applications. Although production of PCBs ceased in the 1970's, they continue to be a contaminant in the environment due to their widespread use, their recalcitrant behavior, and their proposed toxicological effects.

In 2008, a routine environmental investigation of an abandoned, concrete-lined pool at a Department of Defense (DoD) training facility in Williamsburg, Virginia led to the discovery of a PCB release from the facility into an adjacent reservoir. A forensic study was …

Development Of Computer Simulation Model For Urban Region Using Xp-Swmm In Savannah, Georgia, Matthew Dale Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis was to determine if it is possible to create, calibrate, and validate a computer simulation model given a limited amount of measured data. In June 1999, significant flooding was experienced throughout the Casey Canal North drainage basin in Savannah, Georgia. Time-depth rainfall data from a single gage was recorded for this event, along with peak water surface elevations throughout the basin. The computer model chosen for this application was XP-SWMM, which was approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to simulate both one dimensional and two dimensional hydraulic models. XP-SWMM was chosen due to its …

Damage Detection Through Acoustic Emission Of Fracture Processes In Concrete Masonry Units, John Alexander Cain

Masters Theses

"Masonry structures are vulnerable to earthquakes; their brittleness and discontinuous formation make them susceptible to collapse. In the event of an emergency, this could be detrimental and perhaps fatal. The area of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is focused on understanding the behavior of structures for the sake of safety and predicting their longevity. One applicable technique to monitor this behavior is Acoustic Emission (AE). Acoustic Emissions are transient elastic waves released as microcracks nucleate from stress intensities, coalesce into cracks and then accumulate as damage. AE monitoring is a favorable method because it is capable of detecting cracking from within …

Dynamic Behavior Of Operational Wind Turbines Considering Aerodynamic And Seismic Load Interaction, Mohammad-Amin Asareh

Doctoral Dissertations

"With the advancements in the wind energy production industry, the demand for a cost effective and safe design of wind turbine structures is growing rapidly. The wide deployment of wind turbines in locations with high seismic hazard has lead engineers to take into account a more comprehensive seismic design of such structures. In response to the need for a computational tool that can perform coupled simulations of wind and seismic loads, a seismic module has been developed for the publicly available National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) code, FAST, at the first step of this research. This achievement allows engineers working …