Civil Engineering Commons^™

Western Fires Are Burning Higher In The Mountains At Unprecedented Rates: It’S A Clear Sign Of Climate Change, Mojtaba Sadegh, John Abatzoglou, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Western U.S. appears headed for another dangerous fire season, and a new study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms.

Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. West is in severe to exceptional drought right now, including large parts of the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Sierra Nevada. The situation is so severe that the Colorado River basin is on the verge of its first official water shortage declaration, and forecasts suggest another hot, dry summer is on the way.

Warm and dry conditions like these are a recipe …

Another Dangerous Fire Season Is Looming In The Western U.S., And The Drought-Stricken Region Is Headed For A Water Crisis, Mojtaba Sadegh, Amir Aghakouchak, John Abatzoglou

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Just about every indicator of drought is flashing red across the western U.S. after a dry winter and warm early spring. The snowpack is at less than half of normal in much of the region. Reservoirs are being drawn down, river levels are dropping and soils are drying out.

It’s only May, and states are already considering water use restrictions to make the supply last longer. California’s governor declared a drought emergency in 41 of 58 counties. In Utah, irrigation water providers are increasing fines for overuse. Some Idaho ranchers are talking about selling off livestock because rivers and reservoirs …

Environmental Geotechnics: Challenges And Opportunities In The Post-Covid-19 World, Arvin Farid

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic not only has created a health crisis across the world but is also expected to impact negatively the global economy and societies at a scale that is maybe larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis. Simultaneously, it has inevitably exerted many negative consequences on the geoenvironment on which human beings depend. The current paper articulates the role of environmental geotechnics in elucidating and mitigating the effects of the current pandemic. It is the belief of all authors that the Covid-19 pandemic presents not only significant challenges but also opportunities for …

Compound Extremes Drive The Western Oregon Wildfires Of September 2020, John T. Abatzoglou, David E. Rupp, Larry W. O'Neill, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Several very large high‐impact fires burned nearly 4,000 km² of mesic forests in western Oregon during September 7–9, 2020. While infrequent, very large high‐severity fires have occurred historically in western Oregon, the extreme nature of this event warrants analyses of climate and meteorological drivers. A strong blocking pattern led to an intrusion of dry air and strong downslope east winds in the Oregon Cascades following a warm‐dry 60‐day period that promoted widespread fuel flammability. Viewed independently, both the downslope east winds and fuel dryness were extreme, but not unprecedented. However, the concurrence of these drivers resulted in compound extremes …

Pooling Data Improves Multimodel Idf Estimates Over Median-Based Idf Estimates: Analysis Over The Susquehanna And Florida, Abhishekh Kumar Srivastava, Richard Grotjahn, Paul Aaron Ullrich, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditional multimodel methods for estimating future changes in precipitation intensity, duration, and frequency (IDF) curves rely on mean or median of models’ IDF estimates. Such multimodel estimates are impaired by large estimation uncertainty, shadowing their efficacy in planning efforts. Here, assuming that each climate model is one representation of the underlying data generating process, i.e., the Earth system, we propose a novel extension of current methods through pooling model data: (i) evaluate performance of climate models in simulating the spatial and temporal variability of the observed annual maximum precipitation (AMP), (ii) bias-correct and pool historical and future AMP data of …

Machine Learning Methods To Map Stabilizer Effectiveness Based On Common Soil Properties, Amit Gajurel, Bhaskar Chittoori, Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Most chemical stabilization guidelines for subgrade/base use unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of treated soils as the primary acceptance criteria for selecting optimum stabilizer in laboratory testing. Establishing optimal additive content to augment UCS involves a resource-intensive trial-and-error procedure. Also, samples collected from discrete locations for laboratory trials may not be representative of the overall site. This study aims to minimize the number of laboratory trials and help strategize sampling locations by developing spatial maps of UCS at different treatment levels for lime and cement. These spatial maps were developed using machine-learning techniques, and using a database compiled from various reported …

Studying The Relationship Between Indigenous Microbial Communities, Urease Activity, And Calcite Precipitation In Artificial Mixes Of Clay And Sand, Somaye Asghari, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori, Malcolm Burbank, Nick Hudyma

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is evolving as a new method of improving the mechanical properties of soil. This environmentally friendly technique is a bio-geo-chemical process where microbes play a key role in increasing soil strength through precipitating calcium carbonate. Past studies at Boise State University have indicated that MICP via bio-stimulation could be a viable alternative for expansive clayey soil treatments. However, these studies raised a new question about the relationship between soil composition, urease activity, and calcite precipitation. To answer this question, batch studies were conducted using autoclaved-sterilized sand mixed with different percentages of non-sterile natural clay and …

Northeast Florida: A New Hotspot For Hurricane Damage?, William R. Dally, Raphael Crowley, Nick Hudyma

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Until recent Hurricanes Matthew and Irma struck northeast Florida, Hurricane Dora had been the first and only hurricane-strength storm in recorded history to strike the region. The area had gradually become regarded as a safe spot as storms at that latitude generally curved away from Jacksonville and northeast Florida, and turned north to make landfall in the Carolinas. Unknown to most, Vilano Beach had been experiencing steady yet chronic beach erosion and was already in a highly vulnerable state in many places when the recent storms struck. The cause of the ongoing background erosion continues to be a source of …

A One‐Dimensional Model For Turbulent Mixing In The Benthic Biolayer Of Stream And Coastal Sediments, Stanley B. Grant, Jesus D. Gomez‐Velez, Marco Ghisalberti, Ian Guymer, Fulvio Boano, Kevin Roche, Judson Harvey

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we develop and validate a rigorous modeling framework, based on Duhamel's Theorem, for the unsteady one‐dimensional vertical transport of a solute across a flat sediment‐water interface (SWI) and through the benthic biolayer of a turbulent stream. The modeling framework is novel in capturing the two‐way coupling between evolving solute concentrations above and below the SWI and in allowing for a depth‐varying diffusivity. Three diffusivity profiles within the sediment (constant, exponentially decaying, and a hybrid model) are evaluated against an extensive set of previously published laboratory measurements of turbulent mass transfer across the SWI. The exponential diffusivity profile …

Wildfires Force Thousands To Evacuate Near Los Angeles: Here’S How The 2020 Western Fire Season Got So Extreme, Mojtaba Sadegh, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two wildfires erupted on the outskirts of cities near Los Angeles, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes Monday as powerful Santa Ana winds swept the flames through dry grasses and brush. With strong winds and extremely low humidity, large parts of California were under red flag warnings.

High fire risk days have been common this year as the 2020 wildfire season shatters records across the West.

More than 4 million acres have burned in California – 4% of the state’s land area and more than double the previous annual record. Five of the state’s six largest historical …

The Year The West Was Burning: How The 2020 Wildfire Season Got So Extreme, Mojtaba Sadegh, Ata Akbari Asanjan, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

More than 4 million acres of California went up in flames in 2020 – about 4% of the state’s land area and more than double its previous wildfire record. Five of the state’s six largest fires on record were burning this year.

In Colorado, the Pine Gulch fire broke the record for that state’s largest wildfire, only to be surpassed by two larger blazes, the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires.

Oregon saw one of the most destructive fire seasons in its recorded history, with more than 4,000 homes destroyed.

What caused the 2020 fire season to become so extreme?

Increasing Concurrence Of Wildfire Drivers Tripled Megafire Critical Danger Days In Southern California Between 1982 And 2018, Mohammad Sadegh Khorshidi, Philip E. Dennison, Mohammad Reza Nikoo, Amir Aghakouchak, Charles H. Luce, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wildfire danger is often ascribed to increased temperature, decreased humidity, drier fuels, or higher wind speed. However, the concurrence of drivers—defined as climate, meteorological and biophysical factors that enable fire growth—is rarely tested for commonly used fire danger indices or climate change studies. Treating causal factors as independent additive influences can lead to inaccurate inferences about shifting hazards if the factors interact as a series of switches that collectively modulate fire growth. As evidence, we show that in Southern California very large fires and 'megafires' are more strongly associated with multiple drivers exceeding moderate thresholds concurrently, rather than direct relationships …

Data And Analysis Toolbox For Modeling The Nexus Of Food, Energy, And Water, Mojtaba Sadegh, Arvin Farid

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Energy, water, and food resources are highly interdependent. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 84% of global consumptive freshwater use, the food supply chain demands up to 30% of global primary energy use, and roughly 80% of global electricity generation depends on water for cooling (an average of nearly 100 L of water withdrawn per kWh). Improving understanding of the complex interactions of this resource nexus is, therefore, a top priority for human well-being, sustainable development, and policymaking. Here, we present an interactive analysis toolbox, Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water (NeFEW), that synthesizes available global data to …

A Century Of Observations Reveals Increasing Likelihood Of Continental-Scale Compound Dry-Hot Extremes, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Jan Adamowski, Mohammad Reza Nikoo, Amir Aghakouchak, Philip Dennison, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using over a century of ground-based observations over the contiguous United States, we show that the frequency of compound dry and hot extremes has increased substantially in the past decades, with an alarming increase in very rare dry-hot extremes. Our results indicate that the area affected by concurrent extremes has also increased significantly. Further, we explore homogeneity (i.e., connectedness) of dry-hot extremes across space. We show that dry-hot extremes have homogeneously enlarged over the past 122 years, pointing to spatial propagation of extreme dryness and heat and increased probability of continental-scale compound extremes. Last, we show an interesting shift between …

Efficacy Of Enzymatically Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation In The Retention Of Heavy Metal Ions, Arif Ali Baig Moghal, Mohammed Abdul Lateef, Syed Abu Sayeed Mohammed, Kehinde Lemboye, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori, Abdullah Almajed

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluated the efficacy of enzyme induced calcite precipitation (EICP) in restricting the mobility of heavy metals in soils. EICP is an environmentally friendly method that has wide ranging applications in the sustainable development of civil infrastructure. The study examined the desorption of three heavy metals from treated and untreated soils using ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) and citric acid (C₆H₈O₇) extractants under harsh conditions. Two natural soils spiked with cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) were studied in this research. The soils were treated with three types of enzyme solutions (ESs) …

Accuracy Comparison Of Aerial Lidar, Mobile-Terrestrial Lidar, And Uav Photogrammetric Capture Data Elevations Over Different Terrain Types, Mandar Khanal, Mahamudul Hasan, Nikolaus Sterbentz, Ryen Johnson, Jesse Weatherly

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lidar and other remotely sensed data such as UAV photogrammetric data capture are being collected and utilized for roadway design on an increasing basis. These methods are desirable over conventional survey due to their efficiency and cost-effectiveness over large areas. A high degree of relative accuracy is achievable through the establishment of survey control. In this case study, elevations (z-values) derived from mobile-terrestrial lidar, aerial lidar, and UAV photogrammetric capture collected with survey control were statistically compared to conventionally surveyed elevations. A cost comparison of the methods is also included. Each set of z-values corresponds to a discrete horizontal point …

Work In Progress: Development Of A General Education First-Year Design Course, Courtney Hollar, Sondra M. Miller

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We discuss in this Work in Progress paper the development of a new first-year engineering course at Boise State University. ENGR 180 Communication in Design Thinking, was developed in order to emphasize the importance of communication throughout the design process. Communication with the client at the start of the design process occurs in order to understand the problem to be solved. The team and other stakeholders continuously communicate in order to work toward developing a prototype to solve the problem. The ability to effectively communicate is equally as important to the design of the final product. The development of ENGR …

Changes In The Exposure Of California’S Levee-Protected Critical Infrastructure To Flooding Hazard In A Warming Climate, Iman Mallakpour, Mojtaba Sadegh, Amir Aghakouchak

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Levee systems are an important part of California's water infrastructure, engineered to provide resilience against flooding and reduce flood losses. The growth in California is partly associated with costly infrastructure developments that led to population expansion in the levee protected areas. Therefore, potential changes in the flood hazard could have significant socioeconomic consequences over levee protected areas, especially in the face of a changing climate. In this study, we examine the possible impacts of a warming climate on flood hazard over levee protected land in California. We use gridded maximum daily runoff from global circulation models (GCMs) that represent a …

Evaluating The Applicability Of Biostimulated Calcium Carbonate Precipitation To Stabilize Clayey Soils, Md Touhidul Islam, Bhaskar C.S. Chittoori, Malcolm Burbank

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Clayey soils with medium to high plasticity are prevalent in several parts of the world, causing billions of dollars in damage annually to various civil infrastructures. Several ground-improvement techniques can be employed to counteract this issue. However, these methods are impractical in certain situations and unsustainable in others due to their economic and environmental impacts. Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) could provide a more sustainable alternative. Researchers have successfully used MICP to alter specific geotechnical properties of sands and silts. This research investigates the applicability of MICP via biostimulation to treat clayey soils with low to high plasticity. The goal is …

Probabilistic Hazard Assessment Of Contaminated Sediment In Rivers, Shahab Aldin Shojaeezadeh, Mohammad Reza Nikoo, Ali Mirchi, Iman Mallakpour, Amir Aghakouchak, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose a probabilistic framework rooted in multivariate and copula theory to assess heavy metal hazard associated with contaminated sediment in freshwater rivers that provide crucial ecosystem services such as municipal water source, eco-tourism, and agricultural irrigation. Exploiting the dependence structure between suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and different heavy metals, we estimate the hazard probability associated with each heavy metal at different SSC levels. We derive these relationships for warm (spring-summer) and cold (fall-winter) seasons, as well as stormflow condition, to unpack their nonlinear associations under different environmental conditions. To demonstrate its efficacy, we apply our proposed generic framework to …

A Universal Model Of Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity With Complementary Adsorptive And Diffusive Process Components, Arash Modaresi Rad, Bijan Ghahraman, Abolfazl Mosaedi, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurate estimation of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (HC) is one of the most challenging problems in soil science. Here, we propose a novel approach to model HC using percolation theory. Transient behavior of water transport phenomena at low moisture contents requires additional physical process representation, beside capillary conductivity, to ensure accurate prediction of unsaturated HC. We augment the capillary model from percolation theory with two additional components, namely, (1) film flow, which is the product of volumetric flow rate per perimeter by specific perimeter of solid particles, and (2) isothermal vapor HC, derived from the Fick's law of vapor diffusion and …

Bench-Scale Investigation Of Remote Detection Of Clay Pockets In Granular Soils, Nick W. Hudyma, Brian Kopp, Joshua Oglesby, Sukris Vong

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The detection of deleterious materials in compacted soil fills is an important part of earthwork construction. These materials are often identified a priori using laboratory techniques such as the visual assessment of sieve analyses. However, it is possible that deleterious materials, such as clay pockets, can be larger than particles characterized in laboratory tests. Bench scale imaging using simulated unmanned aerial vehicle flights were conducted to determine if clay pockets, 15.24 cm by 15.24 cm by 5 cm thick, could be detected in granular soils. The imaging techniques employed were digital imaging, thermal imaging, and electromagnetic imaging. All imaging techniques …

Application Of Bio-Stimulated Calcite Precipitation To Stabilize Expansive Soils: Field Trials, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori, Anish Pathak, Malcolm Burbank, Md Touhidul Islam

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents the results of a field implementation of microbial induced calcite precipitation to stabilize expansive soils in Marsing, Idaho. The field test was done by drilling 2.5” (6.35 cm) diameter holes at a spacing of 16” to 30” (40.6 cm to 76.2 cm) into the ground and, injecting bio-enrichment followed by bio-cementation solutions to stimulate the native bacteria and subsequently achieve calcite precipitation. The pH level of the soil, the calcite content, and free swelling potential were monitored over time by collecting periodic soil samples from the injection points. An increase in pH from 8.3 to 9.7 was …

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 …

Predicting Power-Transformer Bushings’ Seismic Vulnerability: Mounting Stiffness And Coupling, Jon Bender, Arvin Farid

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Large power transformers are both expensive and vulnerable to seismic failure. Excessive amplification of earthquake loading to power transformer bushings beyond the bushings’ rated strength can occur if the system’s structural dynamics produce unpredictable and unfavorable resonance behavior. Determining the degree of vulnerability to large seismic amplifications is not straight-forward, and general design recommendations do not always resolve problems that can potentially arise. This paper considers a number of Case studies in an attempt to postulate a set of critical factors, which might facilitate better prediction of bushing amplification. Further, several additional Case studies are summarized in order to add …

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 …

Climate‐Induced Changes In The Risk Of Hydrological Failure Of Major Dams In California, Iman Mallakpour, Amir Aghakouchak, Mojtaba Sadegh

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Existing major reservoirs in California, with average age above 50 years, were built in the previous century with limited data records and flood hazard assessment. Changes in climate and land use are anticipated to alter statistical properties of inflow to these infrastructure systems and potentially increase their hydrological failure probability. Because of large socioeconomic repercussions of infrastructure incidents, revisiting dam failure risks associated with possible shifts in the streamflow regime is fundamental for societal resilience. Here we compute historical and projected flood return periods as a proxy for potential changes in the risk of hydrological failure of dams in a …

Coupled Numerical Analysis Of Variations In The Capacity Of Driven Energy Piles In Clay, Arvin Farid, Daniel P. Zimmerman

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Energy piles are an emerging alternative for the reduction of energy consumption to heat and cool buildings. Most of the research to date has focused on thermodynamic properties or axial and radial stress and strain of piles. This paper focuses on the effects of temperature fluctuation on the capacity of driven energy piles in clayey soils. Consolidation of clay surrounding driven piles affects the pile capacity (i.e., set up in clay). The heating and cooling periods of energy piles can create the excess pore-water pressure (EPWP, u_e) or relax the existing one (e.g., due to pile driving or …

Evaluating Shallow Mixing Protocols As Application Methods For Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation Targeting Expansive Soil Treatment, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori, Tasria Rahman, Malcolm Burbank, Arif Ali Baig Moghal

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Expansive soils, also known as swell-shrink soils, undergo substantial volumetric changes due to moisture fluctuations from seasonal variations. These volumetric changes cause millions of dollars in damages annually. Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is a promising soil improvement technique, which uses urease producing bacteria to precipitate calcium carbonate. In this study, a stabilization alternative for expansive soils was studied using MICP. Specifically, indigenous bacteria were stimulated by mixing enrichment and cementation solutions with expansive natural soils to precipitate calcium carbonate and make soil stronger and less expansive. This study examined three expansive soils with varying plasticity and mineralogical characteristics. Two …

Laboratory Study On The Strength Behaviour Of Two Laterally Loaded Adobe Walls, Brad D. Weldon, Paola Bandini, Michael J. Mcginnis, Eduardo Dávila, Diego I. Garcia Vera

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adobe is a traditional construction technique found in historic and new construction throughout the world, often in earthquake-prone regions. Adobe structures are particularly susceptible to seismic forces due to their substantial mass and low tensile capacity. In addition, adobe is affected negatively by moisture that may penetrate from the ground or through the plaster. This paper describes the preliminary findings of an experimental program to investigate the effect of higher water content in the lower part of the wall on the wall strength behaviour under lateral loading. Lateral load tests were conducted on two quarter-scale adobe walls, one in air-dry …