Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Nineteenth-Century Tides In The Gulf Of Maine And Implications For Secular Trends, Richard D. Ray, Stefan A. Talke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the early twentieth century, the amplitudes of tidal constituents in the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy display clear secular trends that are among the largest anywhere observed for a regional body of water. The M2 amplitude at Eastport, Maine, increased at a rate of 14.1 ± 1.2 cm per century until it temporarily dropped during 1980–1990, apparently in response to changes in the wider North Atlantic. Annual tidal analyses indicate M2 reached an all‐time high amplitude last year (2018). Here we report new estimates of tides derived from nineteenth century water‐level measurements found in the U.S. National …

Device For Imaging Cross-Section Of Post-Tensioned Structural Tendons In The Field, David Dukeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing use of grouted post-tensioned tendons in structures, there is a critical need for equipment to determine deficient grouting. Inadequate grouting can cause dangerous corrosion of the high-strength post-tensioning steel in the tendons. Evaluation should be non-destructive, and early detection is needed to take timely remedial actions to repair or replace any tendons that are affected before catastrophic failure occurs. In particular, there is need for an imaging method that shows the cross-section of the tendon being tested and flag any deficiencies present relative to the location of the strands in the cross section. The method should be rapid, …

Hydrologic Modeling As A Service (Hmaas): A New Approach To Address Hydroinformatic Challenges In Developing Countries, Michael A. Souffront Alcantara, E. James Nelson, Kiran Shakya, Christopher Edwards, Wade Roberts, Corey Krewson, Daniel P. Ames, Norman L. Jones, Angelica Gutierrez

Faculty Publications

Hydrologic modeling can be used to aid in decision-making at the local scale. Developed countries usually have their own hydrologic models; however, developing countries often have limited hydrologic modeling capabilities due to factors such as the maintenance, computational costs, and technical capacity needed to run models. A global streamflow prediction system (GSPS) would help decrease vulnerabilities in developing countries and fill gaps in areas where no local models exist by providing extensive results that can be filtered for specific locations. However, large-scale forecasting systems come with their own challenges. These New hydroinformatic challenges can prevent these models from reaching their …

An Open-Source Tool To Facilitate The Processing Of Grace Observations And Gldas Outputs: An Evaluation In Bangladesh, Adam J. Purdy, Cédric H. David, Md. Safat Sikder, John T. Reager, Hrishikesh A. Chandanpukar, Norman L. Jones, Mir A. Matin

Faculty Publications

Bangladesh lies at the intersection of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers with a combined average discharge of 38,000 m3s−1 ranking fourth globally. Despite the volume of water flowing through and seasonally inundating parts of the landscape, groundwater reliance is necessary to support an intensive agricultural industry. Here we use newly-developed open-source software to combine observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites with hydrologic estimates of land water storage from the Global Land Assimilation Data System (GLDAS) to isolate basin-scale groundwater anomalies in Northwest Bangladesh from 2002 to 2016. We place our estimates in the context of …

Investigation Of Subsurface Stratigraphy And Groundwater Dynamics In The Mississippi River Delta, An Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) is socioeconomically important to the state of Louisiana and the United States. Various types of land-water system data have been collected in the MRD. However, very few efforts have been made to utilize these datasets in modeling regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics in the MRD, especially for the upper 50 m of the depth. In this interval of depth, the Mississippi River and surrounding interdistributary bays intensively interact with the groundwater system. The lack of knowledge in regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics hinder an understanding of how hydrogeological setting affects processes such as surface-groundwater interaction, …

The Effects Of Erosion Structures On Triplett Creek From The Fall Of 2016, 2017, And 2018, Haylee Winters

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Triplett Creek is a tributary of the Licking River. It runs through Morehead, KY, where we are conducting our research.

The creek was modified in the 1970s but construction was halted before the project was complete. Unfortunately, the result was an increase in overflow and subsequent riverbank erosion. The city installed sediment trap rocks in hopes of slowing down the water and decreasing erosion. We are using drones and photogrammetric software to map the area and compare images of the river to determine erosion rates. The new images will be compared to ones taken in previous years to visualize the …

Features Of Designs Of Nanosenses For The Oil Industry, A.E. Vorobev, Zhang Lianzi

Gorniy vestnik Uzbekistana

Development of design features of nanosensors for oil branch is shown. It is established that in modern nanosensors usually influence formation of a working signal as environment qualitative quantitative indices (values of temperature, pressure, speed of migration of fluids, contents of chemical elements, sizes рН, etc.) and the nature (predetermining properties), structure and extent (the geometrical sizes) of nanoparticles of sensitive elements which the studied environment influences, forming as a result this working signal. The basic design of nanosensors and the mechanism of their work is described. Distribution of nanosensors on classes depending on the principles and mechanisms of action …

Odu Researchers' Flood Adaptation Study Honored At International Conference, News @ Odu

News Items

No abstract provided.

Multi-Year Water Quality Data Reveal Highly Variable Timing And Magnitude Of Metabolism And Physicochemical Drivers In An Aridland River Network, Betsy Marie Summers

Civil Engineering ETDs

Streams and rivers process and transport carbon to downstream systems and are important components of global and regional carbon budgets. Ecosystem functions, including gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER), can be used to improve understanding of carbon cycling and ecosystem health in lotic systems. Whole-stream metabolism (GPP and ER) has been studied extensively in headwater streams. However, we know less about the variability in GPP and ER in aridland rivers and tributary streams despite being globally abundant and vulnerable systems to changing climate. This dissertation explores temporal and spatial variation of GPP and ER in a montane stream …

Organizational Criteria To Assess Adaptive Capacity In Complex Systems, Abdulrahman Alfaqiri

October 11, 2019: Measuring and Evaluating Resilience

No abstract provided.

Enabling Stakeholder Decision-Making With Earth Observation And Modeling Data Using Tethys Platform, E. James Nelson, Sarva T. Pulla, Mir A. Matin, Kiran Shakya, Norm Jones, Daniel P. Ames, W. Lee Ellenburg, Kel N. Markert, Cédric H. David, Benjamin F. Zaitchik, Patrick Gatlin, Riley Hales

Faculty Publications

Tethys Platform is an open source framework for developing web-based applications for Earth Observation data. Our experience shows that Tethys significantly lowers the barrier for cloud-based app development, simplifies the process of accessing scalable distributed cloud computing resources and leverages additional software for data and computationally intensive modeling. The Tethys software development kit allows users to create web apps for visualizing, analyzing, and modeling Earth Observation data. Tethys platform provides a collaborative environment for scientists to develop and deploy several Earth Observation web applications across multiple Tethys portals. We work in partnership with leading regional organizations world-wide to help developing …

Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of Highway Congestion And Accidents: A Case Study Of Interstate 285 In Georgia, Melodi Zhan-Moodie

Master of Science in Civil Engineering Theses

Road traffic crashes threaten thousands of drivers every day and significant efforts have been put forth to reduce the number of traffic crashes and their impact. Traffic congestion could be both a result of and a contributing factor to traffic crashes. The aim of this study is to investigate spatio-temporal traffic congestion and crash patterns to gain a better understanding of the causation of congestion and accidents, and their interaction. The Interstate 285 (I-285) in Georgia was used as a case study. With the aid of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial clustering and densities of accidents were performed by following …

Effect Of Light Activated Self-Healing Polymers On The Performance Of Asphalt Pavement Containing Recycled Asphalt Materials (Rap/Ras), Sharareh Shirzad

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A new generation of Ultraviolet (UV) light-induced self-healing polymers was introduced for the asphalt pavement application with the aim to enhance pavements durability while increasing its service life. The developed self-healing polymer was mixed with asphalt binder using two different methods, passive and reactive. For the passive method, the cured self-healing polymer was ground to smaller particle size and then it was mixed with asphalt binder using a high shear stirrer and at a high temperature. For the reactive method, self-healing polyurethane pre-polymer was added to the asphalt binder at a lower temperature and lower shear rate compare to the …

Bim-Based Risk Identification And Assessment In Building Projects At Their Design Phase, Angeliki P. Tsoupra, Fotios P. Tsoukalis, Athanasios P. Chassiakos

UBT International Conference

The complexity and dynamics of construction sites, interwoven with the uncertain behaviour of human factors, may result in severe injuries in the workplace, illness, and may even lead to fatality. Despite the drafting of a strict legislative framework, the statistics in construction industry remain dissatisfactory and worrisome. Therefore, the demand for a thorough risk management process, based on automated safety modelling and preventive strategy, stands out in order to identify and eliminate potential hazards early in the design phase of a construction project, resolving thus safety issues in the field by extending traditional safety management practices. The underlying purpose of …

Heat Wave Intensity Duration Frequency Curve: A Multivariate Approach For Hazard And Attribution Analysis, Omid Mazdiyasni, Mojtaba Sadegh, Felicia Chiang, Amir Aghakouchak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Atmospheric warming is projected to intensify heat wave events, as quantified by multiple descriptors, including intensity, duration, and frequency. While most studies investigate one feature at a time, heat wave characteristics are often interdependent and ignoring the relationships between them can lead to substantial biases in frequency (hazard) analyses. We propose a multivariate approach to construct heat wave intensity, duration, frequency (HIDF) curves, which enables the concurrent analysis of all heat wave properties. Here we show how HIDF curves can be used in various locations to quantitatively describe the likelihood of heat waves with different intensities and durations. We then …

Incorporating Travel Time Reliability In Predicting The Likelihood Of Severe Crashes On Arterial Highways Using Non-Parametric Random-Effect Regression, Emmanuel Kidando, Ren Moses, Eren Erman Ozguven, Thobias Sando

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Authors Travel time reliability (TTR) modeling has gain attention among researchers' due to its ability to represent road user satisfaction as well as providing a predictability of a trip travel time. Despite this significant effort, its impact on the severity of a crash is not well explored. This study analyzes the effect of TTR and other variables on the probability of the crash severity occurring on arterial roads. To address the unobserved heterogeneity problem, two random-effect regressions were applied; the Dirichlet random-effect (DRE) and the traditional random-effect (TRE) logistic regression. The difference between the two models is …

Vu Villa Structural Design And Rehabilitation, Kolby Sukut

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Vu Villa is a bar and pizzeria which has operated out of the first floor of the Campana building in Butte, Montana since 1967. Construction of the Campana building started in 1894 and was completed before the end of the 19^th century. The Campana building is a two-story building which primarily consists of exterior brick masonry walls and wood framing on the interior. Within the last several decades significant sag has been identified in the second-floor of the building as well as an adjacent staircase. In addition, renovation activities have been discussed for the upstairs which would involve …

Strategic Implications For The United States Of The Belt And Road Initiative In Africa, Alec Monnie

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The belt and road initiative is one of the most significant developments of the twenty-first century, which the United States will need to learn to adapt to. Much of the academic literature regarding the belt and road initiative mentions that Africa is a significant participant in this policy development, but fail to elaborate as to why that is, or what the implications for this are for the United States. This article expands upon the strategic significance of the African continent, and explains the implications thereof for the United States and China. This article argues that the belt and road initiative …

Generalized Relay Network Design And Collaborative Dispatching In Truckload Transportation, Amin Ziaeifar

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

The truckload industry faces a serious problem of high driver shortage and turnover rate which is typically around 100\%. Among the major causes of this problem are extended on-the-road times where drivers handle several truckload pickup and deliveries successively; non-regular schedules and get-home rates; and low utilization of drivers dedicated time. These are by-and-large consequences of the driver-to-load dispatching method, which is based on point-to-point dispatching or direct shipment from origin-to-destination, commonly employed in the industry. In this dissertation, we consider an alternative dispatching method that necessitates careful design of an underlying network. In this scheme, a truckload on its …

A Study On The Simultaneous Nitrification And Denitrification Process Of A Membrane Aerated Bioreactor Augmented By Biowish Aqua, Gavrielle Orman

Master's Theses

Nitrogen pollution is a growing problem that is detrimental to the environment and the economy. Traditional treatment of nitrogen is a multi-stage process, expensive, operationally intensive, and requires large land areas. This research studied the effects of BiOWiSH® Aqua (Aqua), a biological enhancement product, on the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process in a membrane aerated bioreactor (MABR) to determine if it is a feasible application for wastewater treatment. The MABR used during experimentation was a small-scale batch reactor with a continuous flow of air through a silicone membrane.

The effect of carbon source and concentration on nitrogen removal rates and …

Soil-Recycled Aggregate-Geopolymer Road Base/Subbase Mixtures: Steps Towards Sustainability, Mohammad Khattak, Daniel Odion

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18GTLSU10. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"This study deals with the development of Soil-Geopolymer mixtures using flyash, alkali activator and recycled aggregates (RAG) including recycled concrete (RCA) and reclaimed asphalt (RAP) as an alternative to soil-cement for pavement base and subbase layers. Several mix constituents were varied such as flyash type and content, RCA and RAP content and ratio of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. Experiment design was established and mechanical and durability characteristics of Soil-RAG-Geopolymer mixtures were evaluated and then compared to the conventional soil-cement mixtures. The …

The Impact Of Hurricane Harvey On Pavement Structures In The South East Texas And South West Louisiana, Stefan Romanoschi

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18PUTA02. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"This study developed a methodology to estimate the damage caused by flooding, such that caused by Hurricane Harvey, on a road or street network. The flooded street or pavement sections are identified using GIS flood maps with street GIS maps used for pavement management systems (PMS) by cities or state authorities. Then the damage caused by flooding directly through the increase moisture in foundation layers or indirectly due to the increase heavy traffic during the relief effort is estimated. An example Excel …

Reduction Of Structural Damage From The Thermal Expansion Of Concrete Using Multifunctional Materials, Darren Hartl, Mirmilad Mirsayar

Data

Corresponding data set for Tran-SET Project No. 18STTAM01. Abstract of the final report is stated below for reference:

"This study leveraged past successes in the analysis and design of shape memory alloy (SMA) components to address the issue of thermal expansion in concrete structures. Since the SMA used in the current work is relatively cheaper than other common SMAs (less than $50/lb compared to NiTi which is $200/lb due to difficulties in processing), it is anticipated that the findings of the study could be implemented in real infrastructures made of concrete, asphalt concrete, and other complex large infrastructure. Low-cost Fe-SMAs …

Attracting Diverse Talent To The Engineering Professions Of 2030 : Eu Research Project, Una Beagon

Other resources

This conference examines education in Irish engineering in an international context, including skills to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to succeed in a digital world. International and national speakers will address global challenges, future engineering skills, academic standards, and graduate mobility. Attendees will also have the opportunity to share ideas on educating students in this field and to shape Engineers Ireland’s accreditation process.

Part of an EU Research project.

Access Management Best Practices, Adam Kirk, Chris Van Dyke

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Research has persistently demonstrated that adopting a systematic access management framework improves highway operations and bolsters safety. Many state transportation agencies have adopted formal access management programs to systematize the application of access management techniques, however, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) been unable to institute such a program due to institutional, regulatory, and political constraints. Recognizing the benefits of judicious access management, the Cabinet asked researchers at the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) to identify access management best practices that are effective, can be easily implemented, and are compatible with existing statutes and regulations. After reviewing national-level and state-level guidance on …

Application Of A Biodegradable And Recyclable Chelating Agent For Ash Removal From Algae, Temitope George Daramola

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Ash is inherent in algae biomass and it causes operational difficulties, equipment failure, and disposal issues during biomass conversion to biofuels and bioproducts. The objectives of this study are to (i) investigate the use of the biodegradable chelating agent for reducing ash content of algae and (ii) evaluate the potential of regeneration and recycle of the chelating agent for multiple uses. Conventionally, ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been studied extensively to remove ash from biomass. However, EDTA is non-biodegradable and causes environmental issues at the disposal.

Nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) is a biodegradable chelating agent and was used in this study for …

Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation Reactions Of Lipids, Alexander Asiedu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of lipids was investigated using 2-propanol as hydrogen donor for producing liquid hydrocarbons, e.g. jet fuels. The main sources of lipids selected in this study were waste cooking oil (WCO) and oil-laden algae-derived biofuel intermediate (BI). Two different catalysts were employed in this study, namely activated carbon and trimetallic-doped zeolite.

The CTH reaction was between WCO and 2-propanol in a continuous flow reactor over a packed-bed activated carbon at near atmospheric pressure. Results revealed a high level of alkenes and aromatics compounds, which are not stable and are not environmentally unfriendly. To reduce these compounds in …

Adaptive Control Of Base Isolation Systems Using The Transmissibility-Based Semi-Active Controller, Ramin Rabiee

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Base isolation system is one of the most effective seismic protection systems which is widely used to protect buildings of high importance against seismic hazards. However, the performance of these systems might be impaired under long-period earthquake ground motions due to the resonance effect. The main focus of this dissertation is the development of an adaptive semi-active control algorithm to improve the performance of conventional base isolation systems. The proposed control law works based on the transmissibility theory, called the transmissibility-based semi-active (TSA) controller, which can adaptively change the damping of the base-isolation system based on the response of the …

Parallel Jacobi Transformation Algorithm For Generalized Eigen-Solution With Improved Damage Detection Of Truss/Bridge-Type Structures, Maryam Ehsaei

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Serial Jacobi transformation algorithm for the solution of “standard eigen-problems” is re-visited to facilitate the explanation of the proposed parallel transformation algorithm, for which computational efficiency can be realized in this study through “pattern recognition” for the development and explanation of “explicit formulas” to avoid costly matrix time matrix operations. The proposed parallel Jacobi transformation for the solution of “generalized eigen-problems” has also been incorporated into the “improved damage detection” algorithm.

Computational efficiency and robust behaviors for the entire proposed procedures (eigen-solution, damage detection and damage quantification) can be validated through several academic and real-life numerical examples. Numerical results obtained …

Spatiotemporal Downscaling Rainfall Predictions Of North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program For Entire Virginia, Zhaoyi Cai

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis developed a statistical downscaling approach, which consists of a series of linear regression equations, to spatiotemporally downscale the rainfall predictions from North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) in accordance with the 15-min observed rainfall data at the rain gauges across the state of Virginia. NARCCAP has generated twelve different region-global climate models (RCM-GCMs) with a temporal resolution of 3 hr and a spatial resolution of 50 km over the entire America. Although it has been downscaled already, such resolutions are still too coarse to represent the rain gauges. This means that the RCM-GCMs’ predictions need to …