Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Uav-Enabled Measurement For Spatial Magnetic Field Of Smart Rocks In Bridge Scour Monitoring, Genda Chen

INSPIRE-UTC Annual Meetings

Foundation scour is the main cause of bridge collapses in the U.S. In 2011, the principal investigator (PI) proposed smart rocks with embedded magnets for bridge scour monitoring. Once deployed around a bridge pier, smart rocks as field agents offer mission-critical information about the maximum depth of a scour hole developed around the bridge foundation – the key parameter that is used to assess foundation stability in engineering design and retrofit. Smart rocks have recently been deployed and tested at three bridge sites in California and Missouri. With multiple measurements, they can be located with an accuracy of 0.5 m. …

Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment Using Submerged Fibers In An Attached Growth Sequential Batch Reactor, Hamidi Abdul Aziz, Nur Nasuha Ahmad Puat, Motasem Y.D. Alazaiza, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, a sequential batch reactor (SBR) with different types of fibers was employed for the treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater. Three types of fibers, namely, juite fiber (JF), bio-fringe fiber (BF), and siliconised conjugated polyester fiber (SCPF), were used. Four SBR experiments were conducted, using the fibers in different reactors, while the fourth reactor used a combination of these fibers. The treatment efficiency of the different reactors with and without fibers on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), phosphorus (P), nitrite (NO₂), nitrate (NO₃), total suspended solids (TSS), and oil-grease were evaluated. The removal …

Comparison Of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks And Edge Detectors For Image-Based Crack Detection In Concrete, Sattar Dorafshan, Robert J. Thomas, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper compares the performance of common edge detectors and deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) for image-based crack detection in concrete structures. A dataset of 19 high definition images (3420 sub-images, 319 with cracks and 3101 without) of concrete is analyzed using six common edge detection schemes (Roberts, Prewitt, Sobel, Laplacian of Gaussian, Butterworth, and Gaussian) and using the AlexNet DCNN architecture in fully trained, transfer learning, and classifier modes. The relative performance of each crack detection method is compared here for the first time on a single dataset. Edge detection methods accurately detected 53–79% of cracked pixels, but they …

Groundwater Flow And Exchange Across The Land Surface Explain Carbon Export Patterns In Continuous Permafrost Watersheds, Bethany T. Neilson, M. Bayani Cardenas, Michael T. O'Connor, Mitchell T. Rasmussen, Tyler V. King, George W. Kling

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater flow regimes in the seasonally thawed soils in areas of continuous permafrost are relatively unknown despite their potential role in delivering water, carbon, and nutrients to streams. Using numerical groundwater flow models informed by observations from a headwater catchment in arctic Alaska, United States, we identify several mechanisms that result in substantial surface‐subsurface water exchanges across the land surface during downslope transport and create a primary control on dissolved organic carbon loading to streams and rivers. The models indicate that surface water flowing downslope has a substantial groundwater component due to rapid surface‐subsurface exchanges across a range of hydrologic …

Thermal Vibration Contribution To Continuum Stress In The Elastic Regime, Ranganathan Parthasarathy

Civil and Architectural Engineering Faculty Research

Homogeneous deformation of an ordered crystalline solid at finite temperature can cause non-affine transformation of atomic trajectories. In such a case, continuum measures based on affine transformation of trajectories are insufficient to ensure energetic equivalence between the atomic and continuum scales. We use molecular dynamics simulation of fcc aluminum in NVT ensembles to demonstrate that the second moments of atomic positions about equilibrium show increasing deviation from affine behavior with strain and temperature. While the Cauchy-Born rule enforces affine deformation of the crystal in the static sense, second moments have been used to quantify non-affinity in thermal vibrations due to …

Webinar: Meeting & Exceeding Mobility User Expectations With Real-Time Transit Information, Sean J. Barbeau, Derek Fretheim

TREC Webinar Series

Every day transit riders ask the same question: when’s the next one coming? To answer this question, transit agencies are transitioning to providing real-time transit information through smartphones or displayed at transit stops.

The proliferation of transit planning and real time arrival tools that have hit the market over the past decade is staggering. Yet with transit ridership on the decline, agencies can’t afford to ignore the importance of providing accurate, real time information to their customers. Real-time transit information improves the reliability and efficiency of passenger travel, but barriers have prevented some transit agencies from adopting the GTFSrealtime v1.0 …

Stream Centric Methods For Determining Groundwater Contributions In Karst Mountain Watersheds, Bethany T. Neilson, Hyrum Tennant, Trinity L. Stout, Matthew P. Miller, Rachel S. Gabor, Yusuf Jameel, Mallory Millington, Andrew Gelderloos, Gabriel J. Bowen, Paul D. Brooks

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Climate change influences on mountain hydrology are uncertain but likely to be mediated by variability in subsurface hydrologic residence times and flow paths. The heterogeneity of karst aquifers adds complexity in assessing the resiliency of these water sources to perturbation, suggesting a clear need to quantify contributions from and losses to these aquifers. Here we develop a stream centric method that combines mass and flow balances to quantify net and gross gains and losses at different spatial scales. We then extend these methods to differentiate between karst conduit and matrix contributions from the aquifer. In the Logan River watershed in …

Causal Loop Development Activity, Ali Mirchi

All ECSTATIC Materials

Students will work in groups to develop a causal loop diagram (CLD) to illustrate the structure and expected behavior of the fictional water short state of Nevizonato facilitate qualitative discussion of expected outcomes of a proposed water management strategy. This activity requires familiarity with systems thinking and system dynamics modeling. CLDs are introduced as a fundamental systems thinking tool for conceptual modeling.

Measuring Landscape Performance: Case Study Investigation, Hannah Michelle Lopresto, Brandon Zambrano, Catherine De Almeida

UCARE: Research Products

Participating in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2018 Case Study Investigation has been an incredibly informative experience for our research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We are eager to shine a spotlight on the landscape performance of two Great Plains projects: P Street Corridor, a revitalized downtown streetscape in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park, a waterfront redevelopment in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Working on the post-occupancy study of both projects has been extremely beneficial in understanding how reclaiming underutilized sites can create high-performing landscapes. Both are public projects in urban settings with primary goals of transforming formerly unpleasant, …

Twelve Questions For The Participatory Modeling Community, Rebecca Jordan, Steven Gray, Moira Zellner, Pierre D. Glynn, Alexey Voinov, Beatrice Hedelin, Eleanor J. Sterling, Kirsten Leong, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Klaus Hubacek, Pierre Bommel, Todd K. Bendor, Antoine J. Jetter, Bethany Laursen, Alison Singer, Philippe J. Giabbanelli, Nagesh Kolagani, Laura Basco Carrera, Karen Jenni, Christina Prell, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center Participatory Modeling Pursuit Working Group

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Participatory modeling engages the implicit and explicit knowledge of stakeholders to create formalized and shared representations of reality and has evolved into a field of study as well as a practice. Participatory modeling researchers and practitioners who focus specifically on environmental resources met at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in Annapolis, Maryland, over the course of 2 years to discuss the state of the field and future directions for participatory modeling. What follows is a description of 12 overarching groups of questions that could guide future inquiry.

3d Hydrodynamic, Temperature, And Water Quality Numerical Model For Surface Waterbodies: Development, Verification, And Field Case Studies, Hussein Ali Mahdi Al-Zubaidi

Dissertations and Theses

Numerical modeling has become a major tool for managing water quality in surface waterbodies such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries. Since the two-dimensional longitudinal/vertical model CE-QUAL-W2 is a well-known model and it has been applied to thousands of waterbodies around the world successfully, its numerical scheme was adapted to develop a new three-dimensional numerical model for simulating hydrodynamics, temperature, and water quality in surface waterbodies. Finite difference approximations were used to solve the fluid dynamic governing equations of continuity, free water surface, momentums, and mass transport. No coordinate transformations were performed and the z-coordinate system has been used. Higher-order …

Development Of A Subsurface Landfill Fire Risk-Index, Samain Sabrin

Theses and Dissertations

Landfill subsurface fires create environmental hazards by emitting potentially dangerous particulates into the atmosphere and damaging liners, potentially contaminating surrounding soil and groundwater aquifers with leachate. Currently, the only means of detecting underground fires are physical tests. This paper is used to describe an index that can be employed to track fire risk across a landfill. The landfill parameters analyzed for fire risk susceptibility in Chapter 1 include residual nitrogen concentration, oxygen exceedance, methane concentration, carbon monoxide level, methane and carbon dioxide ratio and monitoring well temperature. Incorporating these factors, a landfill fire index ranging from 1 to 10 was …

Internet Traffic Forecasting Model Using Self Organizing Map And Support Vector Regression Method, Enrico Laoh, Fakhrul Agustriwan, Chyntia Megawati, Isti Surjandari

Makara Journal of Technology

Internet traffic forecasting is one of important aspect in order to fulfill the customer demand. So, the service quality of internet service provider (ISP) can be maintained at the good level. In this study self-organizing map (SOM) and support vector regression (SVR) algorithm are used as forecasting method. SOM is first used to decompose the whole historical data of traffic internet into clusters, while SVR is used to build a forecasting model in each cluster. This method is used to forecast ISPs traffic internet in Jakarta and surrounding areas. The result of this study shows that SOM-SVR method gives more …

Effects Of The Preheating Temperature On The Crystal Structure And Texture Of Martensitic Stainless Steel, Tri Hardi Priyanto, Rifai Muslih, Herry Mugirahardjo, Bharoto Bharoto, Andon Insani, Muzzakiy Muzzakiy

Makara Journal of Technology

Theoretically, the preheating temperature refers to the start martensite temperature (Ms), and the martensite transformation can be considered as the conservation of the invariant habit-plane in the lattice structure. The habit-plane is the interface plane between austenite and martensite as measured on a macroscopic scale. From the calculation, Ms = 252 °C. The martensite formation can be affected by temperature or stress treatment. In this experiment, temperature treatment was conducted. The sample was treated at 250 °C ± 10 °C. Before and after the pre-heat treatment, the sample was characterized using the neutron diffraction method. BATAN’s Texture Diffractometer (DN2) with …

Investigation Of Ship Hull Girder Strength With Grounding Damage, Muhammad Zubair Muis Alie, Ristiyanto Adiputra

Makara Journal of Technology

The objective of the present study is to investigate ship hull girder strength as a result of grounding damage upon longitudinal bending. A bulk carrier and tanker are analyzed and Smith’s Method is adopted and implemented in the analysis program. An efficient solution procedure is performed by assuming the cross-section remains plane and the vertical bending moment is applied to the cross section. As a fundamental case, the damage is simply created by removing the elements from the cross section. Welding residual stress, initial imperfections, and crack extensions are not considered. The grounding damage is made by two conditions, namely …

High Performance Mortar With 100% Recycled Aggregate Using Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles, Molly Schrager, Vito Francioso, Arjun Kadakia, Mirian Velay-Lizancos

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Concrete and mortar are materials commonly used in construction. Their main compounds are cement, aggregates (sand and gravel) and water. In an effort to increase the sustainability of these materials, the idea of using recycled aggregates from ground old concrete and using it to make mortar and concrete has gained more interest. It has two advantages: it reduces the need to mine for raw materials and lessens the amount of old and defective concrete that is typically put in landfills. But, the use of recycled concrete aggregate lowers the strength of mortars and concretes because the residual compounds in the …

Determining The Optimal Traffic Opening Time Using Piezoelectric Sensors, Adlan Amran, Yen-Fang Su, Na Lu

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) requires a reliable method of determining the early age quality of concrete to improve traffic opening time. We propose to develop an in-situ method that enables an accurate, efficient, and non-destructive health monitoring of concrete using the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique coupled with a piezoelectric sensor named Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT). The test was conducted by mounting a PZT sensor on mortar samples. The PZT sensor was then excited by a voltage to track the strengthening of samples. The data obtained from the EMI technique was refined using the Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) …

Spatial And Temporal Storm Generation From A Stochastic View, Jiaxiang Ding, Josept D. Revuelta-Acosta, Engel Bernard

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Precipitation is one of the most important parameters in the study of hydrology and most of the research has been done on daily storm generation. Current weather generation models are used to replicate daily or monthly time resolution, which is not able to show the variability within one day or one month. This project deals with sub-daily storm generation with finer resolution and more accurate estimation, which also requires an independent storm separation method. And the Monte Carlo correlated multivariate simulation is applied to compute the variables. The description is essential for soil erosion and water quality research. Another reason …

Real-Time Non-Contact Road Defect Detection Using Inexpensive Sensors, Zhao Xing Lim, Mohammad Jahanshahi, Tarutal Ghosh Mondal, Da Cheng, Shutao Wang, Mohammad K. Sweidan, Aanis Ahmad, Omar Hesham Abouhussein, Xi Chen

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Road defects such as potholes, humps, and road cracks have become one of the main concerns for road and traffic safety worldwide. Pavement defect detection is crucial to ensure road safety. However, current solutions to this problem are either too time-consuming or too expensive to be employed large-scale. We propose a novel approach which has the ability to autonomously detect potholes in real-time using cost-effective sensors. Inexpensive sensors are mounted on a vehicle and a deep learning algorithm is used to identify road defects. The detection system is paired with a GPS and positional sensors to map the location of …

Purdue Air Sense: A Methodology For Improving The Accuracy Of Ambient Aerosol Mass Concentration And Size Distribution Measurement With Low-Cost Optical Sensing Techniques, Rishabh Ramsisaria, Satya Sundar Patra, Brandon Emil Boor

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There is a global lack of a means for monitoring air pollutant levels at a local level due to expensive and bulky instrument requirements. It is important to monitor toxic gas levels, as well as particulate matter levels, in the atmosphere to study their effects on human health and to further develop city- and community-level air pollution solutions. In this study, with the means of a Raspberry Pi, low-cost Alphasense Optical Particle Counter and gas sensors, and methodical calibration techniques, we built a portable 3-D printed module powered by clean electricity generated by an on-board Voltaic solar cell that measures …

Indoor Premise Plumbing: The Relationship Between Water Stagnation, Chlorine Decay, And Total Organic Carbon Levels, Emerson M. Ringger, Andrew J. Whelton, Tolulope Odimayomi, Maryam Salehi

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Drinking water safety is critical to the health of populations worldwide, and modern plumbing infrastructure can influence drinking water chemical characteristics. Inside residential and commercial buildings however, water use and contact with different plumbing components can vary. For example, water can endure lengthy stagnation periods and residual disinfectant agents like chlorine can decay, leaving the water vulnerable to microbial growth. Plastic cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipes have become popular and have shown to influence water quality. While several studies have been carried out on chemical leaching from PEX piping, none were found that examined the role of pipe diameter in relation …

Robust Allocation Of Funds For Nonstructural Flood Risk Mitigation In Coastal Louisiana, Simón Gómez Sierra, David R. Johnson, Matthew P. Shisler, Zachariah T. Richardson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Coastal Louisiana is a critical economic, ecological and cultural asset, acting as a major hub for waterborne commerce, fisheries, and the petrochemical industry, and also as one of the world’s unique wetlands. Unfortunately, this rich environment is in great danger from the threat of hurricanes and storm surge flooding. Direct economic losses are estimated to average $2.7 billion per year under current conditions, and this could increase to $12 billion a year, or more, within 50 years if nothing is done. To prevent this catastrophe, Louisiana has developed a Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, which plans to spend …

Load Distribution Of Adjacent Prestressed Concrete Box Beam Bridges, Luis F. Urrego, Ryan T. Whelchel, Robert J. Frosch, Christopher S. Williams

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

One of the most common bridge types is the adjacent prestressed concrete box beam bridge because the system is economical and simple to build; over 43,000 are currently in service within the US. However, they are highly susceptible to strand corrosion and concrete deterioration which can result in early loss of load capacity. Therefore, an experimental program sponsored by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) was initiated to determine the behavior of deteriorated beams and develop recommendations for load rating and design of this bridge type. Displacement sensors were installed on a bridge in service to measure its deformation under …

Short-Term Organic Carbon Release And Chlorine Disinfectant Decay For Cross-Linked Polyethylene (Pex) Plumbing Pipes, Miriam Tariq, Christian J. Ley, Maryam Salehi, Andrew J. Whelton

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The use of cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) plumbing pipes has grown in popularity for residential applications. However, PEX pipes can leach organic materials into water that can enable biofilm growth, cause off-tastes and -odors, and may react with disinfectants to form disinfection by-products (DBP). Varied manufacturing processes that are applied to create PEX pipes add to the complexity of understanding organic materials released. In this study, organic carbon release from three PEX pipe brands was monitored for up to five days using a series of stagnation periods. Seven stagnation periods of 1, 2, 4, 8, 24, 72, and 120 hours were …

Extra-Terrestrial Habitat Systems: Safety, Reliability, And Resilience, Jory C. Lyons Jr., Amin Maghareh, Audai Theinat, Shirley Dyke, Antonio Bobet

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Developing a resilient extra-terrestrial habitat with regards to long-term reliability and safety from hazards including radiation, meteorites, and quakes is necessary to ensure human survival during interplanetary exploration. The objective of this study is to examine conventional aerospace safety and reliability analysis techniques to investigate whether they are sufficient to achieve resilience in extra-terrestrial habitats. These results will be obtained to complete a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of compiled techniques to design a sustainable habitat system. Failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) and probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) with their past applications will be assessed to provide …

Lead In Residential Water Heaters: An Analysis Of Lead Dissolution Kinetics In Non-Ideal Aquatic Environments, Kelsey Vought, Inez Hua, Amisha D. Shah, Nadezhda N. Zyaykina, Mackenzie Davies

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lead dioxide, a lead corrosion product, is an important contributor to residential drinking water contamination. A neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor, lead poses serious human health concerns. Despite previous research on water distribution pipes, lead in water heating and softening systems is unexplored. Standard tank water heaters and water softeners have significantly different aquatic environments compared to distribution pipes, due to increased temperature and ion concentration levels. This research verifies the iodometric method for lead dioxide detection and quantifies total lead and dissolved lead(IV) ions over time in simulated water heater and softener environments. Initial experiments confirmed the iodometric method for …

Satellite-Based Monitoring Of Spatiotemporal Changes In Batudulang Forest In Sumbawa, Indonesia, Mohammad Muslim, Arief Budhi Witarto, Wahyu Indrajaya

Makara Journal of Technology

Space-based earth observation technology applicable to forest inventory and monitoring is well known in the scientific community. High-resolution satellite images form an important data source for forest mapping and change detection at regional and national scales. The value of forest change information derived from remote sensing data is significantly enhanced if this information is integrated into a spatially explicit geographic information system. Satellite-based rapid assessment was conducted to measure spatiotemporal changes in Batudulang forest over the years. The general approach to quantify change in the spatial aspect of the forest involved change detection using moderate-resolution imaging spectro-radiometer satellite-based normalized difference …

Strength Structure Analysis Of Main Gate Graving Dock Using Pontoons For Condition Repairs, Budianto Budianto

Makara Journal of Technology

Main gate graving dock with pontoon type can certainly suffered some level of damage after a long period of operation. Many employments within the graving dock can delay the process repair of main gate. The main gate may not be opened, because employees are still working to ship fabrication process under sea waterline. For accommodate these interrelated conditions, the best solution with repair one side of the main gate with type pontoon and employees can still work ship fabrication process in graving dock conducted simultaneously. The repair process conditions must be required main gate structure that consists of only one …

Microstructures And Hardness Of Tig Welded Experimental 57fe15cr25ni Steel, Parikin Parikin, Mohammad Dani, Abu Khalid Rivai, Agus Hadi Ismoyo, Riza Iskandar, Arbi Dimyati

Makara Journal of Technology

The microstructures and hardness of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welded experimental 57Fe15Cr25Ni steel were investigated through optical–scanning electron microscopy analyses and with a hardness tester, respectively. The welding process restructured the constituent atoms into regular and irregular crystal lattices. Rapid cooling of the weld metal allowed the formation of a dendritic (columnar) structure, with porous grains. By contrast, slow cooling influenced HAZ and led to the formation of grain structures. The crystal lattice became more organized and larger than other zones. Meanwhile, the base metal formed circular nets that covered large area inside thick and thin grain boundaries. The diffraction …

Mapping Of Bruise Of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch During Loading And Transportation From Field To Mill, Andreas Wahyu Krisdiarto

Makara Journal of Technology

Fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) are used as raw materials for palm oil, and their transport from a field is a critical step to maintain their quality. Fruit integrity should be maintained so the mill can efficiently obtain palm oil with less than 5% free fatty acid content. Physical treatments for FFBs during loading to truck bins and transport may cause physical injuries. This research aimed to map fruit bruises. The map can be used as a basis in managing transport of FFBs. Physical injuries were assessed by bruise index (BI), which was calculated by measuring the bruise area and weight …