Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Quest For Model Uncertainty Quantification: A Hybrid Ensemble And Variational Data Assimilation Framework, Peyman Abbaszadeh, Hamid Moradkhani, Dacian Daescu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents a novel approach to couple a deterministic four‐dimensional variational (4DVAR) assimilation method with the particle filter (PF) ensemble data assimilation system, to produce a robust approach for dual‐state‐parameter estimation. In our proposed method, the Hybrid Ensemble and Variational Data Assimilation framework for Environmental systems (HEAVEN), we characterize the model structural uncertainty in addition to model parameter and input uncertainties. The sequential PF is formulated within the 4DVAR system to design a computationally efficient feedback mechanism throughout the assimilation period. In this framework, the 4DVAR optimization produces the maximum a posteriori estimate of state variables at the beginning …

Evaluation Of Waste Express Bag As A Novel Bitumen Modifier, Yuming Lin, Chichun Hu, Sanjeev Adhikari, Chuanhai Wu, Miao Yu

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

With the rapid development of China’s e-commerce and logistics industry, a large number of waste express bags (WEBs) have been produced, which are difficult to recycle. The existing methods of waste express bag disposal often cause severe environmental pollution. It was discovered in this paper that the use of WEBs to modify bitumen could be an environmentally friendly way to recycle WEBs. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using WEBs to modify bitumen and promote the performance of WEB-modified bitumen. In order to verify this assumption, a series of basic or rheological experiments were conducted on different dosages …

A New Method For Microsimulation Model Calibration: A Case Study Of I-710, Hossein Nasr Esfahani, Ziqi Song

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

As a part of the feasibility analysis of electric truck roadways for some of the major corridors near Los Angles, California, this paper aims to introduce and investigate a new method for microsimulation model calibration. The model of I-710 southbound was developed in VISSIM software and calibrated through two sets of data: O-D demand from planning models and field data which was consist of traffic flow and speed. Due to the lack of proper count data for on-ramps/off-ramps, the O-D demand was estimated via path flow estimator. After determining the calibration parameters, in an attempt to avoid unnecessary VISSIM’s time-consuming …

Concentration Flow Cells For Efficient Salinity Energy Recovery With Carbonized Peat Moss And Molybdenum Disulfide Electrodes, Haihui Zhu

LSU Master's Theses

The globally extractable salinity gradient (SG) energy from the mixing of seawater and river water is estimated to be 3% of worldwide electricity consumption. Here we applied carbonized peat moss (CPM) electrodes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) electrodes to a concentration flow cell that is capable of harvesting SG energy based on the electrode (pseudo-)capacitance together with the Donnan potential. The CPM electrodes were made from the visually inexhaustible peat moss by a facile pyrolysis process. With two identical CPM electrodes and a cation-exchange membrane, the cell produced a peak power density of 5.33 W m^-2 and an …

Seismic Landslide Hazard Mapping For Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Ali Fallah Yeznabad, Sheri E. Molnar, Hesham M. El Naggar

Western Research Forum

The lower Mainland of southwest British Columbia (BC) hosts about 3.5 million people and significant infrastructures of national importance. Southwestern BC has the highest seismic risk in Canada with significant potential to cause earthquake-induced hazards including tsunamis, liquefaction and landslides. A Cascadia mega-thrust (M_W 9) earthquake is predicted to generate $75 billion Canadian dollars in losses. This damage can be resulted from ground shaking or its secondary phenomena like landslides; ground shaking during earthquakes may trigger landslides that can damage or destroy buildings, bury roads and highways and kill and injure people. In Canada, during the past century and …

Design And Fabrication Of Automatic Single Axis Solar Tracker For Solar Panel, Ghazanfar Mehdi, Naveed Ali, Shafquat Hussain, Asad A. Zaidi, Ahmer Hussain Shah, M. Mustafa Azeem

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Sun energy is a considered to be one of most promising sources to address the world energy crises. Photovoltaic cell is one of the prominent sources of energy. The most important factors that affect the efficiency of solar cells are cell temperature, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and energy conversion efficiency. The optimization of these factors improves solar cells efficiency for more reliable applications. This study associated by means of the designing and manufacturing process of single axis tracker device by using photo voltaic conversion panels. This solar tracker system assures the conversion optimization of electricity from the source of …

On The Drought Recovery And Resiliency: How Terrestrial And Riverine Ecosystems Recover From Agricultural And Hydrological Droughts, Behzad Ahmadi

Dissertations and Theses

Climate extremes, in particular droughts are significant driving forces towards riverine and terrestrial ecosystems disturbance. Drought impacts on stream ecosystems include losses that can either be direct (e.g. destruction of habitat for aquatic species) or indirect (e.g. deterioration of water quality, soil quality, and increased chance of wildfires). This study investigates hydrological and agricultural droughts and their recovery durations. For the riverine ecosystems, this study combines hydrologic drought and water quality changes during droughts and represents a multi-stage framework to detect and characterize hydrological droughts, while considering water quality parameters. Hydrological droughts are categorized into three stages of growth, persistence, …

Energy Consumption And Routing Model For First Responder Vehicles, Alex Rodriguez

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The ongoing research and prototyping of electric vehicles (EVs) offers numerous opportunities to investigate their performance in various service contexts. As EVs are integrated into society, the reliable prediction of fuel consumption and routing time becomes particularly important in emergency response services. This project develops a preliminary stochastic model that can route and predict the energy consumption and travel time for hypothetical emergency vehicles operating on an electric battery cell. Using a Monte-Carlo framework, we constructed a routing model designed to minimize travel time and resource consumption under various simulated conditions. In doing so, we establish the foundation for balancing …

Bridge Deck Delamination Segmentation Based On Aerial Thermography Through Regularized Grayscale Morphological Reconstruction And Gradient Statistics, Chongsheng Cheng, Zhexiong Shang, Zhigang Shen

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Faculty Publications

Environmental and surface texture-induced temperature variation across the bridge deck is a major source of errors in delamination detection through thermography. This type of external noise poises a significant challenge for conventional quantitative methods such as global thresholding and k-means clustering. An iterative top-down approach is proposed for delamination segmentation based on grayscale morphological reconstruction. A weight-decay function was used to regularize the reconstruction for regional maxima extraction. The mean and coefficient of variation of temperature gradient estimated from delamination boundaries were used for discrimination. The proposed approach was tested on a lab experiment and an in-service bridge deck. The …

Preliminary Findings Of A Phenomenographic Research Study Into Academic Conceptions Of The Term Professional Skills, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Other resources

This presentation outlines preliminary findings of a phenomenographic study of academic conceptions of the term professional skills.

Quantifying Resiliency Risk Metrics Through Facility Dispersion, Branden D. Delong

Theses and Dissertations

During the last century, airbases were attacked at least 26 times in an effort to destroy the enemy at its base. Attacks on military airbases impose prohibitive losses to critical infrastructure, which in turn impacts the maintenance of air power projection. The primary enemy threat facing critical infrastructure today is the use of ballistic and land-attack cruise missiles to disrupt an airbase’s ability to launch and recover aircraft. Over the last decade, ballistic and cruise missile technology has grown to allow the world’s most powerful countries to achieve a nascent threat to forward operating bases used in theater security campaigns …

The Effects Of Reactant Concentration And Air Flow Rate In The Consumption Of Dissolved O2 During The Photochemistry Of Aqueous Pyruvic Acid, Alexis J. Eugene, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The sunlight photochemistry of the organic chromophore pyruvic acid (PA) in water generates ketyl and acetyl radicals that contribute to the production and processing of atmospheric aerosols. The photochemical mechanism is highly sensitive to dissolved oxygen content, [O₂(aq)], among other environmental conditions. Thus, herein we investigate the photolysis (λ ≥ 305 nm) of 10–200 mM PA at pH 1.0 in water covering the relevant range 0 ≤ [O₂(aq)] ≤ 1.3 mM. The rapid consumption of dissolved oxygen by the intermediate photolytic radicals is monitored in real time with a dissolved oxygen electrode. …

Analysis Of Military Construction Cost Growth In Major Defense Acquisition Programs, Emily E. Angell

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploratory analysis combining military construction (MILCON) data from the Selected Acquisition Reports (SAR) of Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) with the associated Automated Civil Engineer System project actual costs. The analysis uses both descriptive and inferential statistics to identify cost growth of MILCON at the programmatic level as well as to bridge the gap between SAR estimates and actual project costs within those program-level estimates. Overall, programs experience more negative growth (cost savings) in MILCON estimates on SARs, typically less than 0.2% of the total program cost implying minimal impact to program decisions. Estimates got more …

The Evaluation Of High Molecular Weight Methacrylate As A Treatment Option For Shrinkage Cracks In Airfield Pavement, Austin R. Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

Air Force policy dictates that only epoxy can be used as a treatment option for shrinkage cracks in concrete airfield pavement. However, since epoxy is not ideal for shrinkage cracks, this research focuses on the evaluation of high molecular weight methacrylate (HMWM) as a treatment option. Laboratory experiments were performed on four sealants to determine whether they could penetrate a crack 24 inches deep, bond to the concrete, and resist water intrusion. Three HMWMs (TK-2415, Kwik Bond KBP 103, and Castek Transpo T-70) and one epoxy (TK-2110) were assessed. The four sealers were applied to 32 concrete specimens with crack …

Methodology For Including Base Infrastructure In Conceptual System Analysis, Patrick J. Kelly Iv

Theses and Dissertations

The 2018 National Defense Strategy defines a transition to agile basing, where the logistics footprint of new conceptual systems can be distributed across a set of airfields, instead of one main operating base. Currently, there is no capability to assess early concepts using airfield data. This research develops a methodology and a tool that assesses system concepts using world-wide civil and military airfield infrastructure, such as runway parameters, parking, munitions, fuel and warehouse storage, and distance to areas of interest. Specifically, the focus of the thesis is on concepts for the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Strike mission. Four concepts …

Investigating Air Pollution And Equity Impacts Of A Proposed Transportation Improvement Program For Tampa, Talha Kemal Kocak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transportation infrastructure is important for human mobility and population well-being. However, it can also have detrimental impacts on health and equity, including through increased air pollution and its unequal social distribution. There is a need for better understanding of these impacts and for better approaches that improve health and equity outcomes of transportation planning programs. In this study, we are investigating the air pollution and health equity impacts of an ongoing large-scale metropolitan transportation improvement program, Tampa Bay Next (TBNext). Specific objectives are: 1) to characterize and quantify the air pollution levels and population exposures resulting from the roadway expansion …

Application Of Computational Tools To Spaghetti-Based Truss Bridge Design, Jin Xu, Jiliang Li, Nuri Zeytinoglu, Jinyuan Zhai

ASEE IL-IN Section Conference

Application of Computational Tools to Spaghetti-Based Truss Design

Statics and Strength of Materials are two foundational courses for Mechanical/Civil Engineering. In order to assist students in better understanding and applying concepts to a meaningful design task, SolidWorks and theoretical calculation were used for a spaghetti-bridge design contest with the constraints of given maximum weight and allowable support-material weight. As the first step of this iterative designing process, both extrude feature and structural member were introduced to model planar bridge trusses. Then SolidWorks’ Statics module was used to run FEA analysis of the structural performance in efforts to optimize the …

Improvement Of Thermal Technical Characteristics Of Wall Ceramic Material Based On Low-Sorted Lyssovid Suglinks And Modified Liquid Glass, Anvar Ishanovich Adilkhodjayev, I.M. Mahamataliev, A.T. Ilyasov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

Application of low-grade loesslike loams (NLS) in the production of effective wall ceramics requires development of methods of increase of frost-resistance of ceramic porizovannoy matrix. It can be attained by adjusting of porosity of structure. In the Tashkent architectural-build institute possibility of making of an effective wall ceramic material is studied on the basis of NLS with the use of dobavki- ash-taking away of Angrenskoy TES and modified liquid glass as a modifier of porous structure. It is set that introduction of addition ash-taking away in an amount 25 % from mass of NLS and burning at the temperature of …

The Risk Of Ballast Graphic Towards Pozzles Moving Frequency, Sh.Sh. Abdukamilov, A.Yu. Mamadaliyev

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

A special place in identifying the features of the vibrational process of ballast material, it is necessary to take, first of all, the nature of the process of oscillations. Its identification helps to determine the causes of their occurrence, which is very important for assessing the influence of oscillations on the properties and state of the ballast layer. Knowledge of the nature of the oscillatory process makes it possible in the future to simulate it in laboratory conditions to determine the degree of decrease in strength properties of ballast material, clogged sands under the influence of vibrodynamic load, during the …

Theoretical Aspects Of Structural And Simulation Modeling Of The Macrostructure Of Composite Building Materials, Anvar Ishanovich Adilkhodjayev, I.M. Mahamataliev, S.S. Shaumarov

Journal of Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineers

At the present time, the description of the joint work of multi-component, high-quality concretes in the framework of the structural and simulation modeling of cement composites is a very topical task of building materials science. In the context of the solution of the above problems, theoretical aspects of structural and simulation modeling are presented on the example of the developed program "Concrete-technology", which allows to predict the strength properties of multicomponent high-quality concrete at the macro structural level.

A Robust Decision Support Leader-Follower Framework For Design Of Contamination Warning System In Water Distribution Network, Mohammad S. Khorshidi, Mohammad Reza Nikoo, Elham Ebrahimi, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, several models have been proposed to inoculate Water Distribution Systems (WDS) against impacts of accidental and/or intentional compromised water quality through optimal deployment of online monitoring sensors in the network, which is referred to as Contamination Warning Systems (CWS). Translating such modeling efforts to real-world practice is, however, a challenge as different involved parties may pursue conflicting goals and modeling-based recommendations may not justify all stakeholders’ criteria. It is, hence, pivotal to develop conflict resolution methodologies to support engagement of different stakeholders in securing a safe water distribution. The decision making structure for CWS design is often …

Modeled Affinity Constants For Phosphorus Adsorption And Desorption Due To Saltwater Intrusion, Yasemin Taşcı

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is important to understand the processes that regulate phosphorus (P) fluxes to coastal environments, because P is an important nutrient in coastal ecosystems. Phosphorus adsorbs to the surface of minerals in sediment and bedrock, and an influx of seawater can cause some of that P to desorb, raising the P concentration of ambient water. Although seawater-induced P desorption is thought to be an important source of P to coastal environments, the chemical reactions that underlie it have not been established. Previous work provides some relevant surface reactions and associated affinity constants between various aqueous P species and the surface …

Coastal Louisiana Landscape And Hurricane Storm Surge Evolution 1850 - 2110, Christopher George Siverd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The hurricane storm surge analysis presented in this dissertation examines surge response to changes in the Louisiana coastal landscape and Gulf of Mexico water level from 1850 to 2110. Land to water (L:W) isopleths, lines depicting areas of constant land to water ratio along the modern Louisiana coast, are utilized in the development of a simplified storm surge model that closely reproduces the surge output of a state-of-the-art detailed model. Eleven comparable storm surge models are constructed with each featuring a representation of the Louisiana coastal landscape circa 1850, 1890, 1930, 1970, 1990, 2010, 2030, 2050, 2070, 2090 and 2110. …

Aerodynamic Flutter And Buffeting Of Long-Span Bridges Under Wind Load, Shuqian Liu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the continuous increase of span lengths, the aerodynamic characteristics of long-span bridges under external wind excitation have become much more complex and wind-induced vibration has always been a problem of great concern. The present research targets on the aerodynamic performance of long-span bridges under wind load with an emphasis on bridge flutter and buffeting.

For the aerodynamic flutter analysis of long-span bridges, the present research investigated the effects of the wind turbulence on flutter stability. The characterizations of the self-excited forces are presented in both the frequency-domain and in the time-domain, and the flutter analysis is conducted under both …

Quantitative Evaluation Of A Lightweight Sediment For A Physical Model Of The Lower Mississippi River, Mauricio Hooper

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Lower Mississippi River Physical Model (LMRPM), housed at the LSU Center for River Studies on the Baton Rouge, LA Water Campus, is a distorted, movable bed model comprising the lower 195 miles of the Mississippi River from Donaldsonville through the Head of Passes into the Gulf of Mexico. Since the LMRPM was designed to replicate the hydraulics (i.e., flow and river stages) and bulk non-cohesive sediment transport, the model lightweight sediment must replicate both the incipient motion and two-dimensional dune characteristics (height and length). In addition, the model scale and distortion require that the sediment time scale be determined …

Unified Strength Model Of Asphalt Mixture Under Various Loading Modes, Chengdong Xia, Songtao Lv, Lingyun You, Dong Chen, Yipeng Li, Jianlong Zheng

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Publications

Although the rutting resistance, fatigue cracking, and the resistance to water and frost are important for the asphalt pavement, the strength of asphalt mixture is also an important factor for the asphalt mixture design. The strength of asphalt mixture is directly associated with the overall performance of asphalt mixture. As a top layer material of asphalt pavement, the strength of asphalt mixture plays an indispensable role in the top structural bearing layer. In the present design system, the strength of asphalt pavement is usually achieved via the laboratory tests. The stress states are usually different for the different laboratory approaches. …

Model Of A Sulfur-Based Cyclic Denitrification Filter For Marine Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, Zhang Cheng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are a type of near zero-discharge fish production system that is used to treat and recirculate aquaculture wastewater and increase the biomass stocking density in the fish tank. The RAS presented in this thesis was a marine system which was operated with two temporally independent cycles, Loop 1, a continuous loop, and Loop 2, an intermittent loop. Flow in the RAS was switched between the two loops by a solenoid valve. During the operation of Loop 1, components involved in the cycle were successively the fish tank for fish production, solids filters for solids removal and …

Estimation Of Number Of People Living In Developing Countries That Received Water From A Spring Source, Prapti Shinde

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the year 2000, 170 countries decided to stand together and solve some primary and common global problems like poor health, water, and sanitation. Obtaining access to safe drinking water is every individual’s right. The UN defines safe drinking water as “the water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person's health” (UNDESA, 2014). This thesis focuses on identifying the number of people who potentially receive spring water from a piped source in rural mountainous areas. There are three significant steps and …

Multinomial Logit Analysis Of Injury Severity In Crashes Involving Emotional Drivers, Kristen Hubbert

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.

Removal And Recovery Of Nutrients From Wastewater In Urban And Rural Contexts, Kevin Daniel Orner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to remove and recover nutrients from wastewater are motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges of Engineering. Of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), multiple SDGs relate to managing nutrients in wastewater. SDG 6, which is to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,” contains targets that aim to improve water quality by reducing pollution, halve the amount of untreated wastewater released to the environment, and increase recycling and safe reuse of wastewater (UN, 2017). SDG 2 seeks to improve food security and SDG 12 seeks …