Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Treatment Of Electric Utility Wastewaters By Sol-Gel Solidification And Stabilization, Alex Kearns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To meet the demands of new regulations on coal-fired power plants, many treatment scenarios require a zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) approach. Two revisions to regulations in 2015, the Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) and Coal Combustion Residuals (CCRs) rule, drastically changed the treatment approach for managing effluents at coal-fired plants. In some scenarios, coal-fired plants retired early deeming the capital cost for maintaining compliance too expensive. Traditionally, stabilization/solidification (S/S) ZLD technologies have fallen in two categories: cementitious and vitrification. However, neither approach offers the ideal solution for coal-fired power plants needing ZLD by S/S methods. In what follows, a novel sol-gel encapsulation …

Investigation Of Flexural Behavior Of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete And Steel Fiber Orientation Control During Construction, Maria Kolisnichenko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world, and its consumption has been increasing. The main benefits of concrete include its durability, availability of the components, and great strength in compression. Despite all these advantages, however, concrete is a brittle material with a relatively low tensile strength and deformation capacity. It is, therefore, vulnerable to cracking under tension, which can lead to sudden catastrophic failures of concrete structures. In order to control and reduce cracking, reinforcement of concrete is necessary.

The most commonly used reinforcement technique in structural application is the use of deformed steel bars. However, …

An Evaluation Of Wastewater Pumping Station Facilities Using Statistical Techniques In Analyzing Each For Rehabilitation Design And To Improve The Adverse Environmental Affects, Zenaida S. Guerrero

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research project is to develop two evaluation models, one using excel to provide a design criterion for wastewater pumping stations in collecting design parameters and information effecting efficiency and performance of the pumps. Secondly, to develop a linear regression model for these parameters giving a correlation between dependent and independent variables to verify adverse environmental aspects. This study is based in the City of Weslaco, pertaining to the north waste watershed. The parameters collected are age, efficiency, service area, total dynamic head, existing conditions, monthly sanitary sewer over flow work orders, precipitation data, population by service …

Dehumidification Water Quality Analysis Of The South Texas Gulf Of Mexico, Erik Esteban Castillo

Theses and Dissertations

This project is to introduce a new methodology for environmental research that analyzes humidity from a water treatment perspective. This is done by using a household dehumidifier, which extracts the excess humidity in a given space, to harvest the samples. The dehumidifier was used outside to act as an Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG), which is the process of extracting water from the atmosphere. When AWG is placed near shoreline, then it's classified as a Desalinated Atmospheric Water Generator (DAWG) since it extracts distilled seawater water-vapors. The methodology for DAWG analyzed turbidity in the humidity on SPI, indicating to meet {<.15} TCEQ turbidity water quality standard. The turbidity also showed to have an adverse relation to weather conditions. There is an open market in research on this topic, where the methodology for DAWG can offer answers. This project identifies DAWG as being a sustainable source of potable water for a municipality.

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Field Evidence Of A Natural Capillary Barrier In A Gravel Alluvial Aquifer, Todd Halihan, Ronald B. Miller, David Correll, Derek M. Heeren, Garey A. Fox

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Ozark streams commonly feature “composite” floodplains, in which the vadose zone consists of silt or silt loam soils (?1 m thick) overlying gravel subsoil. Previous work has shown that preferential flow paths can exist within the gravel subsoil, which can conduct water and P at rates exceeding the sorption capacity of the gravel. At a site on Barren Fork Creek, a 1- by 1-m infiltration plot was constructed and an infiltration experiment was performed using sequentially introduced solutes including P (the constituent of regulatory interest), Rhodamine-WT (Rh-WT, a visual tracer), and Cl− (an electrical tracer). The solute transport was measured …

Macrobenthos Responses To Dam Removal And Habitat Restoration In The West River, Connecticut, Robert W. Sheridan

Master's Theses

Dam removal is being increasingly used nationwide to restore impaired rivers and streams. While dam removals are becoming more prevalent, little is known about whether these efforts create conditions for the enhancement and or establishment of desired biota.

Ongoing monitoring of these projects is an important step in the restoration process to ensure project goals are being met and the restoration has been successful.

This thesis focuses on the Pond Lily Dam removal and restoration which took place in October 2015 along the West River in New Haven Connecticut that removed an aging mill dam with the objective of restoring …

Silver-Based Microbial Check Valve For Spacecraft Potable Water Systems, Rogelio E. Garcia

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As human space exploration increases, the development of a more efficient potable water treatment system suited for spacecraft becomes crucial. This Waste-management Education Research Consortium (WERC) challenge was designed to explore the viability of microbial control through the utilization of silver ions as a biocide for possible integration into the Tranquility Node 3 water purification system aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Current systems using iodine risk causing hyperthyroidism from overexposure; however, silver can be safely ingested without this side effect. After researching silver delivery methods including electrochemical ion production, controlled release, or a combination of the two, our team …

Removal And Reuse Of Phosphorus As A Fertilizer From Cafo Runoff, Hannah Young

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Eutrophication is the process in which nutrient saturated waters promote algal blooms on the surface of the water. This limits the amount of dissolved oxygen content in the water, effectively limiting the range of species that can survive in a body of water. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) can contribute to this issue. The animals in a CAFO produce large amounts of nutrient-rich waste streams that can enter natural waterways if not properly managed and increase the problem of eutrophication. The ability to treat these waste streams and recover the excess nutrients would allow for not only the reduction of …

Removal And Reuse Of Phosphorus As A Fertilizer From Cafo Runoff, Kristin Moore

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Eutrophication is the process in which nutrient saturated waters promote algal blooms on the surface of the water. This limits the amount of dissolved oxygen content in the water, effectively limiting the range of species that can survive in a body of water. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) can contribute to this issue. The animals in a CAFO produce large amounts of nutrient-rich waste streams that can enter natural waterways if not properly managed and increase the problem of eutrophication. The ability to treat these waste streams and recover the excess nutrients would allow for not only the reduction of …

Recovery Of Water And Salts From Hyper-Saline Mine Water Using Freeze Crystallization, Miriam Gonzalez

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the mining industry, usage of large volumes of water enables mines to conduct multiple processes within one location. Hypersaline brine waters exit the processes of the mine to be utilized for other roles; some of these roles include leaching, recirculation, and extraction operations. These waters are highly concentrated with salt components and are released to different sections of the mine. The salts of highest concentration in the brine are aluminum sulfate and magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, along with low concentrations of many other elements. There are multiple ways to recover purified water from the brine solution: freeze crystallization, evaporative processes, …

Structural Design Guidelines For Pervious Concrete Pavements, April Smith

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pervious pavements have gained popularity in recent years as the transportation industry focuses on sustainability and environmental impact. This research investigated the structural design of pervious concrete pavements. There is no standard design method; therefore, the goal was to lessen ambiguity surrounding the use of pervious concrete for pavement structures. By characterization of the rigid pavement design equation from the 1993 AASHTO Structural Design Guide for Design of Pavement Structures through laboratory exploration and review of existing literature, a guide was created to assist engineers in the design of pervious concrete pavements.

Asphalt Concrete As A Flooring Material, Aleinys Villarreal

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The need for having a good quality flooring has become something very important in order to enhance people’s spaces and living lifestyle. Some of the most common tile materials are cork, vinyl, concrete, and ceramic. While these four materials mentioned before are still capable materials, asphalt concrete has a distinct pattern that may be an attractive alternative to the standard tile types. To try and find solutions to these problems and give people another material option, asphalt concrete was evaluated as a flooring material.

The reason why asphalt concrete could have this new application is based on the outstanding properties …

The Influence Of Citric Acid On Setting Time And Temperature Behavior Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate-Belite Cement, Edgar Soriano

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Today the need to opt for alternative cementitious materials is growing due to environmental reasons and construction time frames that portland cement cannot always satisfy. Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) cements are a strong candidate to supplement or replace portland cement in the construction field for certain applications. In the United States, CSA cement has been limited mostly to pavement repairs because of its rapid initial setting time. The chemical compound responsible for this phenomenon is the alumina. This compound and sulfate are present in larger proportions compared to portland cement. The purpose of this research is to study how the use …

Tension Splitting Strength Of Bcsa Concrete Cylinders, Andrew Steven Deschenes

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The focus of this research was to compare the tension splitting strength (TSS) of belitic calcium sufloaluminate (BCSA) cement concrete to tensile strength predicted by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and to similarly proportioned portland cement (PC) concrete. BCSA is a rapid-setting cement with higher early strength, higher ettringite content, and lower calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) content than PC. PC and BCSA cement concrete cylinders were broken at different ages in both uniaxial compression and TSS. It was found that BCSA had a similar TSS to both the ACI prediction and PC TSS, but the results require further testing for …

Turbulent Effects On Building Pressure Using A Two-Dimensional Finite Element Program, Jonese Woods

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Much of the knowledge about building aerodynamics today was obtained from physical testing like wind tunnel testing. Physical testing is time-consuming and very expensive. As a result, computational methods like the finite element method are being explored for use in building aerodynamics. Despite several years of research, there is still not a clear understanding of the peak pressure on buildings due to turbulence. Many of the research thus far has focused on comparing different computational methods. However, much work is needed in understanding the capability of the individual methods. In this work, a two-dimensional finite element program is used to …

Exploring The Compactability And Workability Of Rap, Elizabeth Poblete

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite its economic and environmental benefits, the widespread use of Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR) is currently inhibited, to some degree, by a lack of laboratory testing and evaluation, specifically in the areas of compactability and workability of the reclaimed mixture stabilized with asphalt emulsion. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of admixtures in CIR using modified Superpave Gyratory Compactor (SGC) compaction metrics. The primary stabilization technique considered in this research was asphalt emulsion, an application in which asphalt binder is suspended in water, allowing it to be stored and applied at ambient temperature, rather than the …

Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility: Food Waste Handling Improvements, Avery Holyoak, Todd Keniry, Benjamin Sandberg, Jade Snyder

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility (CVWRF), in Salt Lake City, Utah, utilizes a mesophilic anaerobic digestion system. CVWRF receives on average 52 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater and accepts 10,000 to 20,000 gal of liquid food waste daily. CVWRF produces energy from methane gas captured during anaerobic digestion of biosolids and food waste. The focus of this analysis is: 1) to optimize the performance of the anaerobic digestion system, 2) to evaluate the potential to increase the volume of food waste CVWRF accepts.

Flood Conveyance And Restoration Upper Reach Of The Logan River, Dani Delahoz, Briana Kistler, Dallen Webster, D. Willey

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Generations of residents in Logan, Utah have sought riverside property along the Logan River, leading to crowded development within the river’s natural floodplains. This is especially true in the Upper Reach, a 1.3-mile section between First Dam and Crockett Diversion (Figure 1).

Housing and yard development at the edge of the river has confined the water to a narrow, steeply-banked channel, increasing velocity, sediment scour, and degradation of river and riparian habitat. During extreme flow events, like the 100-year 24-hour flood, the river overtops its banks and flows into adjacent properties. Dam-induced sediment deficiencies and high velocities have led to …

Thermal Bowing Testing Of Precast Concrete Sandwich Wall Panels, Fray Pozo-Lora, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Thermal bowing is out-of-plane wall deflection, which is a common issue on sandwich panel walls caused by a temperature differential between a building interior temperature and the environmental conditions.

This report aims to better understand thermal load response of concrete sandwich wall panels. Full-scale testing was performed to verify the assumptions regarding thermal gradient, temperature variation at the cross-section level and thermal conductivity of the connectors.

It was found out that carbon fiber reinforced polymer nor glass fiber reinforced polymer connectors transfer a significate amount of heat from one wythe to the other, hence, the temperature in one wythe remained …

Development Of Safety Performance Function For Arterial Intersections In Metro Manila, Philippines Using Random Decision Forest And Negative Binomial Regression Analysis, Karen Chritine Torres Lasola

Undergraduate Theses

This study presents the development of a safety performance function for arterial intersection in Metro Manila, Philippines, using Random Decision Forest which can be used to determine accident rates at an intersection based on its characteristics. A heat map was generated which shows that the intersection along Don Marcos Avenue in Quezon City has the most number of recorded accidents from 2013-2o15. From the Random Decision Forest, the significant variables affecting accident counts are number of lanes in major and minor roads, presence of separate pass, presence of pedestrian lanes, and type of land use. However, upon performing the negative …

Biofiltration Of Volatile Organic Compounds Emitted At Ethanol Plants, Christopher Arthur Duerschner

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ethanol manufacturing is an important and growing sector in the biofuels marketplace. At ethanol plants, the control of volatile organic compound containing emissions from fermentation tanks and distillers dried grains with solubles driers is accomplished through the use of air scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers. The operation of these control units imposes substantial operating costs for the ethanol plant. Biotrickling filters have the ability to replace scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits. Two biotrickling filters were operated in parallel under acetaldehyde loadings ranging from 4 to 136 gm^-3hr^-1. To examine …

Theoretical Model For Shields Diagram And Its Application, Jichao Jiang

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

The transition from the condition of “no motion” to initial sediment moment, defined as sediment initiation, has been related to practical engineering (channel degradation, stable channel design), oceanographic (dredging, pipelines, cables), sedimentologic (sediment mobility, transport rates), geologic (the hydraulic interpretation of paleoenvironments), geochemical (pollutant transport), and gained considerable interest since nineteenth century.

Shields diagram for sediment initiation in terms of critical shear stress is a classic problem in sediment transport, but it is still an empirical law without a simple and practical theory despite extensive research since the 1930s. Hence, this research presents a simple theoretical model for critical shear …

Comparison Of Zero Valent Iron (Zvi) And Zvi+Sludge For The Removal Of High Levels Of Hexavalent Chromium And Chlorate From Waters, Kenneth R. Greenhalgh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Remediation of contaminated groundwater is becoming increasingly more

important as much of the U.S. population relies on groundwater for their drinking water.

Contaminates such as Chromium, common pollutant at industrial waste sites, and

Hexavalent chromium which is toxic to humans, animals, and plants are major

concerns. Chlorate, another contaminate of concern, has been widely detected in

ground and surface water in the United States and even locally in Henderson Nevada at

the Nevada Environmental Response Trust (NERT) sites. To assist in mitigating this

issue, this research focuses on the removal of high levels of hexavalent chromium (ppm

range) (Cr(VI)) and …

Utilization Of Remote Sensing Data For Estimation Of The Groundwater Storage Variation, Gaurang Mistry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Groundwater is the most extracted raw material, with an average withdrawal rate of 982 km3 per year, where 70 percent of the total groundwater withdrawn is used for agriculture globally (Margat & van der Gun, 2013). With climate change and increased water demands in recent years, monitoring the changes in the groundwater storage is of the utmost importance. This thesis presents an analysis that determines the rates, trends, and directions where groundwater storage is going in Pakistan. It also correlates fluctuations in groundwater storage with variations in precipitation and agricultural productivity in the country. The overall objectives of this thesis …

Chromium(Vi) And Oxyanion Remediation Of Vadose Zone Soils With Zero Valent Iron (Zvi) And Biological Reduction, Nicolas Kim Wong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In areas with high industrial development, soil and groundwater are often heavily contaminated with hexavalent chromium [ Cr(VI) ], which commonly occurs as the oxyanions chromate ( CrO42- ) and dichromate ( Cr2O72- ). By itself, Cr(VI) is a common contaminant in various industrial wastes, but other oxyanions such as nitrate [ NO3- ], chlorate [ ClO3- ], and perchlorate [ ClO4- ] can appear with Cr(VI) as co-contaminants based on the type of industrial waste. Cr(VI) and ClO3- occur as co-contaminants in areas where sodium chlorate is manufactured as a bleaching agent for the pulp and paper industry (ERCO …

Wildfire Smoke: Trends, Challenges, Unknowns, And Human Response, Mariah Dawn Fowler

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Wildfire smoke is a growing threat to human livelihood in the Western United States. The economic and the health burden of smoke is accelerating in response to a growing fire season and escalating fire activity. This study first evaluates the trends in air quality over Boise, Idaho and the entire Northwest (and Montana) to assess the impacts of wildfire smoke in the region. The Mann-Kendall trend analysis shows that there is a statistically significant trend in the average and maximum air quality index (AQI) during the fire season (July-August-September) in the Boise area. The AQI shows a decreasing trend, although …

Pressure Loss Coefficients For Large Mitered Elbows With Diameters Ranging From 36-Inches To 144-Inches, Hayden J. Coombs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When designing a pipeline system, it is important to understand the pressure losses that will occur within the system. One common source of pressure loss is from elbow pipe fittings. There is extensive research available for pressure loss coefficients of elbow pipe fittings, but the research is derived from elbows with relatively smaller pipe diameters. The purpose of this research is to investigate pressure losses associated with larger diameter mitered elbows (36-inches to 144-inches). The dimensions for all mitered elbows considered in this research follow ANSI/AWWA C208-17 recommendations (AWWA 2017).

Due to the large size of the mitered elbows of …

Measuring Nitrogen Transformation In Wastewater Impacted Streams Using In-Situ Benthic Chambers, Makenzi Beltran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Acrylic chambers and metal frames were installed at the sediment-water interface of streams impacted by the effluent from wastewater reclamation facilities in order to determine nitrogen rates for nitrification, denitrification, assimilation, ANAMMOX, and DNRA. Each chamber was dosed with an isotopic form of nitrate (¹⁵NO₃^-), and both isotopic (¹⁵N) and non-isotopic (¹⁴N) samples were collected. The project locations included East Canyon Creek near the East Canyon Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Park City, Utah and Box Elder Creek near the Brigham City Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brigham City, Utah. Separate chamber measurements …

Estimating Suspended Solids And Phosphorus Loading In Urban Stormwater Systems Using High-Frequency, Continuous Data, Anthony A. Melcher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The introduction of pavement, buildings, and other impervious surfaces to urban landscapes greatly influences the quantity and quality of urban stormwater runoff. In this study, we designed and implemented modern stormwater monitoring technologies to establish a “smart” stormwater sensor network within the Northwest Field Canal (NWFC), an urban water conveyance located in Logan, Utah, USA. This network was designed to collect flow and water quality data at high frequencies and simultaneously at multiple locations. The observatory’s innovative method of inter-site communication and changing sampling frequencies during storm events was able to capture short duration events at the upstream and downstream …