Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Feasibility Study: The Evaluation Of Polymer Coatings To Prevent Weathering Of Weak Rocks, Lauren Distler

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The weathering and erosion of weak rocks along roadways can cause dangerous and potentially fatal rockfalls.   Various slope stabilization methods exist, but each presents a set of challenges and trade-offs.   The focus of the project is to understand the feasibility of utilizing of a polymerbased slope stabilization technique. Rock samples were collected along US Route 33 in Virginia and West Virginia, and preliminary tests were conducted to evaluate the absorption of water (% mass) and durability. The study evaluates three polymer options in regard to the following criteria: adhesion to rock, layer thickness, semi-permeability, insolubility, and non-toxicity. The polymer selection …

Applications Of Microbial Desalination And Photocatalytic Disinfection For The Removal Of Contaminants In Drinking Water, Kristen Shirlee-Ann Brastad

Theses and Dissertations

Trends in drinking water treatment in recent years have been moving toward the use of membrane separation in order to reduce contaminants in water. There are many forms of membrane separation technology such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and extruded ion exchange membranes. These membranes have many different applications and may be used to remove many materials from water such as salts, viruses and bacteria, selectively remove cations or anions, or remove organics.

Microbial desalination cells (MDCs) are an emerging concept which use bioelectric potential produced from organics via microbial metabolism to accomplish desalination. MDCs consist of three compartments, …

The Use Of Cod, Toc, Fluorescence, And Absorbance Spectroscopy To Estimate Biochemical Oxygen Demand In Wastewater, Evelyn Aramaine Christian

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

All wastewater treatment facilities must obtain a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, which regulates the quality of water that is discharged. Common to all NPDES permits is a limit on organic matter, as determined by the five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) test. More rapid methods, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), fluorescence, and absorbance spectroscopy are also capable of quantifying organic matter. Previous studies indicate it is possible to develop correlations between these parameters. This study explored the correlations using influent, primary clarifier effluent, and finished effluent samples from an operational wastewater treatment plant …

Container Houses, Tran Joseph, Anissa Rosbaugh, Sydne Scott, Hanan Yassin

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

We have noticed that there is an increasing number of homeless in our community. People who are homeless have a more difficult time getting jobs, making it harder to for them to get back on their feet.

Homeless is defined as a person without a stable place to live, in risk of being homeless. Homeless under Federal status, is defined as fleeing/attempting to escape domestic violence. Examples of homelessness include couch surfing, sleeping in shelters, and living in a car.

Our proposal was to build homeless shelters out of shipping containers.

Vélo-Ck, Anna Blakley, Jonathan Cordisco, Jonathan Huang, Justin Huang, Emma Perlman, Ruhika Prasad, Siddarth Suri, Will Swindell

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Portland is known as Bike City U.S.A for its promotion of a eco friendly method of transportation and support of biking infrastructure. Although our city has this progressive reputation, there is a negative aspect of a bike-loving city that has not received attention. The Oregon Household Activity survey in 2011 states that “about 29 percent of adults in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties own a bike”. As more people has decided to commute with bikes, theft has increased dramatically. According to the Portland Police Bureau, “Portland thieves last year took more than 2,100 bikes worth well over $1 million combined”. …

Osmosis Alive – Algae Water Filtration System, Adrik Gurganus, Htet Htet Soe, Jonathan Baird, Liam Beckett, Nick Vautravers, Parker Swensen, Tucker Johnson

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Goals: Our goals of this project was to:

• Obtain an energy efficient, self-sufficient system to help reduce waste and money, and reuse and recycle water. To have a successful, natural, and more self-sufficient filtration system, using algae.
• To use algae and other plants as an efficient way to filter water.
• To create a water filtration system that is organic and would have 0 waste.
• To use the water in the best and most efficient way possible, and to reduce energy and coal/oil consumption (water turbine)
• To make our community cleaner and greener, and reduce carbon footprint, pollution, and environmental impact. …

Smarter Cycling, Cory Koehler, Richard Smith, Sarah St. Clair, Alex Taylor, Aubrey Masten, Konon Phillips

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

With the current trend of urbanization, the populations of major cities such as Portland are steadily increasing. This is causing a variety of problems, both within the city and in rural areas. In regards to the city, the major challenges facing city planners are the need for the expansion of residential neighborhoods and a rise in traffic throughout the city. One way to tackle the issue of an abundance of traffic, is to make alternate means of transportation more appealing to residents. We chose to focus on bicycling because of the bike‐friendly culture already in place in Portland. An increase …

Cleaner Drain, Jonah Paivarinta, Daniel Ortiz‐Rojo, Masson Klepp, Rebekah Likestoskat, Macy Chadney, Jeremy Ferrando

PSU High School Innovation Challenge

Water in streets causes several issues, both to our infrastructure and our emotions. The water can harm property by rotting wooden structures. If the water is high enough, it can even stall cars and flood into buildings.

Being forced to walk through or around a puddle can hurt someone's emotional state, which reduces productivity and this affect people around them.

It costs about 30 dollars to clean a drain, and there are about 15 thousand drains, which totals to to around$450,000 and if you add in other costs such as employees and street sweeping for a cleaning company it costs …

Senior Design: Proposed Stem Academic Building, Middlesex Community College, Senior Design Class

Civil Engineering Student Work

2015 Civil Engineering Senior Design Project.

A proposal for a new STEM building to be constructed on the Middlesex Community College.

Completed by:

• Abdullah Al Bakri
• Ryan Benoit
• Brittany Brown
• Michael Buraczynski
• Samuel Colangelo
• Joseph Connolly
• Kyle Elmy
• Michael Fischer
• Victor Goitia Jurado
• Michael Hanley
• Andrew Malian
• Michael Mathews
• Dionys Quezada
• Katie Rougeot
• Jacob Santos
• Isadora Sartor
• Vega Yerko

Engineering Graphene Oxide Membranes For Contaminant Removal And Bacterial Inactivation, Stefan M. Schaepe

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

The need for improved water filtration technologies continues to grow on a global scale. Membrane filtration devices are increasing in use because they can remove a variety of contaminants efficiently. The major issue with membrane filters is biofouling. Coating membranes with nanoparticles such as graphene oxide (GO) can increase contaminant removal and decrease microbial growth.

This research characterizes the properties of the GO itself, two procedures for producing GO coated membranes, the properties of the created membranes and the contaminant removal and bactericidal efficiencies of the membranes. Pure water flux values for GO coated membranes prepared using a direct deposition …

Assessing The Water Quality Response To An Alternative Sewage Disposal Strategy At Bathing Sites On The East Coast Of Ireland, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Louise Deering, Katalin Demeter, Bartholomew Masterson, Wim Meijer, Gregory O'Hare

Articles

A three-dimensional model is used to assess the bathing water quality of Bray and Killiney bathing sites in Ireland following changes to the sewage management system. The model, firstly calibrated to hydrodynamic and water quality data from the period prior to the upgrade of the Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), was then used to simulate Escherichia coli (E. coli) distributions for discharge scenarios of the periods prior to and following the upgrade of the WwTW under dry and wet weather conditions. E. coli distributions under dry weather conditions demonstrate that the upgrade in the WwTW has remarkably improved the bathing water …

Modeling Regional Secondary Organic Aerosol Using The Master Chemical Mechanism, Jingyi Li, Meredith Cleveland, Luke D. Ziemba, Robert J. Griffin, Kelley Barsanti, James F. Pankow, Qi Ying

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A modified near-explicit Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM, version 3.2) with 5727 species and 16,930 reactions and an equilibrium partitioning module was incorporated into the Community Air Quality Model (CMAQ) to predict the regional concentrations of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the eastern United States (US). In addition to the semi-volatile SOA from equilibrium partitioning, reactive surface uptake processes were used to simulate SOA formation due to isoprene epoxydiol, glyoxal and methylglyoxal. The CMAQ-MCM-SOA model was applied to simulate SOA formation during a two-week episode from August 28 to September 7, 2006. The southeastern US has …

Socioeconomic Assessment Of The Epic Sustainable Road Infrastructure Program In Nepal, Maria Fernandez, Trista Ristvedt

School of Public Policy Capstones

Roads are being constructed in rural Nepal at a rapid pace. Due to a number of factors many of these roads are poorly built, often without any oversight or planning provided by an engineer; this causes a multitude of problems including roads that are not safe to travel in the rainy season, and damages to property and agricultural lands due to risk of landslide and increased erosion. IUCN's EPIC project in Nepal is intended to showcase an attainable option for local communities to construct and repair roads in such a way to improve their reliability and safety, while also decreasing …

Stabilization Of Iron Mine Tailings Through Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation, Noah D. Buikema

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Mine tailings are deposited into large-scale impoundments. Seasonal temperature fluctuations destabilize particles on the impoundment surface. Wind-induced shear stresses on the destabilized particles can in turn result in suspension of micron-sized particles into the atmosphere, creating dust storms that pose hazards to humans and the environment. Thus, efficient and sustainable methods of dust abatement are needed. One novel method for controlling dust emissions is biomodification. For example, Sporosarcina pasteurii can promote biocalcification in soil via ureolysis. However, application of this method to fined grained materials, such as mine tailings, is challenging. The goal of this work was to perform a …

Identificación De Impactos En El Sector Agrícola Y En La Energía Disponible De Central Hidroeléctrica Aes Chivor, Asociados A La Variación En El Mesoclima Producto De La Formación Antrópica De La Lámina De Agua Del Embalse La Esmeralda, Ricardo Alvarez Orozco, María Isabel Avellaneda Franco

Ingeniería Civil

En la actualidad Colombia se proyecta como uno de los países con mayor capacidad de generación hidroeléctrica que existen, y cada día se emprenden nuevos proyectos de infraestructura destinados a aprovechar el gran potencial hídrico del país y suplir la creciente demanda energética, por esta razón esclarecer la interacción de los embalses con el mesoclima y sus impactos sobre otros medios tanto bióticos como abióticos es muy importante para un eficiente manejo de los sistemas hídricos. En esta investigación se buscó determinar los cambios en el mesoclima que se originaron a raíz de la formación antrópica de la lámina de …

Recovery Of Nutrient Nitrogen From Municipal Wastewater Residuals By Gas Membrane Separation, Evelyn Rios

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There are relatively high amounts of ammonia returned to the headworks of a municipal wastewater plant that are extracted from the dewatering process. This ammonia load contributes to a significant oxygen demand in the secondary treatment, requiring greater air blower energy costs. This goal of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of the recovery of an ammonium sulfate product from belt press filtrate. The objectives of this research were to: (1) analyze wastewater treatment average monthly data flows and constituents with respect to ammonia nitrification, (2) the evaluate the technical performance of a two sage gas-separation membrane for recovering …

Does The Bicycle Detector Symbol Change Cyclist Queuing Position At Signalized Intersections?, Stefan W. Bussey, Christopher M. Monsere, Peter Koonce

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Manual of Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) includes a bicycle detector pavement marking (Section 9C-05) and accompanying explanatory sign (R10-22) which may encourage cyclists to position themselves over detection at traffic signals. This paper presents the results of an observational and survey- based study evaluating the bicycle detector marking. Three minor actuated approaches at signalized intersections with significant bicycle volumes and without bicycle detector markings were selected for treatment. Three configurations were compared: 1) bicycle detector marking only 2) bicycle detector marking with the R10-22 explanatory sign, and 3) an alternative bicycle detector installed over a contrasting green rectangle. Analysis …

Utilizing Ultrasonic Technology To Manage Algal Blooms In Lake Rockwell, Mackenzie Kaser, Andrew Perdue

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of ultrasonic technology to manage algal blooms in Lake Rockwell. Lake Rockwell is the drinking water source for the city of Akron, OH and the surrounding areas. One of the main issues facing the City of Akron Water Treatment Plant is cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria releases toxins, which makes conventional water treatment processes more difficult. Our proposed solution to manage algal blooms in Lake Rockwell is ultrasonic technology. This system emits vibrations that destroy the algal cells and prevent new blooms from forming. Our plan involves three master buoys …

Numerical Modeling And Analysis Of Tidal Variance And Marsh Productivity In The Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida, Amanda S. Tritinger

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Long term sustainability in salt marsh and mangroves is dependent on dominant species, such as Spartina alterniflora, to capture organic and inorganic sediment. The research analyzes that sustainability. This work demonstrates the prediction of hydrodynamics and biomass density of salt marsh to provide useful information for the planning and mitigation of sea-level rise impacts on marsh sustainability in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTMNERR), Florida. An advanced circulation code was applied to simulate hydrodynamics (i.e., shallow water equations) in the GTMNERR. The model used a set of parameters and conditions based on the GTMNERR domain to predict …

An Investigation Into Bacterial Contamination In An Urban Nebraska Stream Using Microbial Source Tracking, Allison R. Speicher

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

High levels of fecal bacteria in surface waters are a public health concern due to the enteric illnesses caused by primary contact with these waters. Shortcomings in the current fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) monitoring approach and the ubiquity of pathogen-impaired water bodies has led to the development of microbial source tracking (MST), a molecular tool that can identify potential fecal contamination sources. In this study we use a bacterial community based approach examining the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene to elucidate sources of fecal bacteria in Antelope Creek, an urban creek in Lincoln Nebraska.

We hypothesized that sediment …

Sustainable Design Of Buildings Using Semantic Bim And Semantic Web Services, Mehrdad Niknam, Saeed Karshenas

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

In response to the growing concerns about climate change and the environment, sustainable design of buildings is increasingly demanded by building owners and users. However, fast evaluation of various design options and identification of the optimized design requires application of design analysis tools such as energy modeling, daylight simulations, and natural ventilation analysis software. Energy analysis requires access to distributed sources of information such as building element material properties provided by designers, mechanical equipment information provided by equipment manufacturers, weather data provided by weather reporting agencies, and energy cost data from energy providers. Gathering energy related information from different sources …

A Level-Of-Service Model For Protected Bike Lanes, Nick Foster, Christopher Monsere, Jennifer Dill, Kelly Clifton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Several methods exist for quantifying the quality of service provided by a roadway from a bicyclist’s perspective; however, many of these models do not consider physically protected bike lanes and, of those that do, none is based on empirical data from the US. This is problematic as engineers, planners, and elected officials are increasingly looking to objective performance measures to help guide transportation project design and funding prioritization decisions. This paper addresses this gap by presenting a cumulative logistic model to predict user comfort on protected bike lanes developed from data collected during in-person video surveys. The surveys were conducted …

Dynamic Ventilation And Power Output Of Urban Bicyclists, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bicyclist intake of air pollutants is linked to physical exertion levels, ventilation rates, and exposure concentrations. Whereas exposure concentrations have been widely studied in transportation environments, there is relatively scant research linking on-road ventilation with travel conditions and exertion levels. This paper investigates relationships among power output, heart rate, and ventilation rate for urban bicyclists. Heart rate and ventilation rate were measured on-road and combined with power output estimates from a bicycle power model. Dynamic ventilation rates increased by 0.4-0.8% per watt of power output, with a mean lag of 0.8 minutes. The use of physiology (ventilation) monitoring straps and …

Empirical Analysis Of Bus Bunching Characteristics Based On Bus Avl/Apc Data, Wei Feng, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bus bunching takes place when headways between buses are irregular. Bus bunching is associated with longer waiting times for riders, overcrowding in some buses, and an overall decrease on the level of service and capacity. Understanding the temporal and spatial characteristics and the causes and effects of bus bunching incidents from archived bus data can greatly aid transit agencies to develop efficient mitigation strategies. This paper presents methods to identify and visualize specific time periods and segments where bus bunching incidents occur based on automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data. The paper also proposes methods that …

Exploring Thresholds For Timing Strategies On A Pedestrian Active Corridor, Sirisha Murthy Kothuri, Peter Koonce, Christopher M. Monsere, Titus Reynolds

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Traditional signal timing policies have typically prioritized vehicles over pedestrians at intersections, leading to undesirable consequences such as large delays and risky crossing behaviors. The objective of this paper is to explore signal timing control strategies to reduce pedestrian delay at signalized intersections. The impacts of change in signal controller mode of operation (coordinated vs. free) at intersections were studied using the micro-simulation software VISSIM. A base model was developed and calibrated for an existing pedestrian active corridor. A hypothetical network of three intersections was used to explore the effects of mode of operation and measures of delay for pedestrians …

Adjusting Ite’S Trip Generation Handbook For Urban Context, Kelly J. Clifton, Kristina Marie Currans, Christopher D. Muhs

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the ways in which urban context affects vehicle trip generation rates across three land uses. An intercept travel survey was administered at 78 establishments (high-turnover restaurants, convenience markets, and drinking places) in the Portland, Oregon, region during 2011. This approach was developed to adjust the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Handbook vehicle trip rates based on built environment characteristics where the establishments were located. A number of policy-relevant built environment measures were used to estimate a set of nine models predicting an adjustment to ITE trip rates. Each model was estimated as a single measure: …

Roadway Determinants Of Bicyclist Multi-Pollutant Exposure Concentrations, Alexander Y. Bigazzi, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to poorly quantified traffic-exposure relationships, transportation professionals are unable to easily estimate exposure differences among bicycle routes for network planning, design, and analysis. This paper estimates the effects of roadway characteristics on bicyclist multi-pollutant exposure concentrations, controlling for meteorology and background conditions. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are modeled using high-resolution on-road data. This paper also compares exposure differences on immediately parallel high-traffic/low-traffic facilities and is the first study to quantify VOC exposure differences by facility. Results indicate that average daily traffic (ADT) provides a parsimonious way to characterize the …

Color Removal From Pulp Mill Effluent Using Coal Ash Produced From Georgia Power Coal Combustion Plants, Christopher B. Willett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two environmental concerns currently face Georgia: coal fly ash (CFA) waste from coal power plants, and the effluent generated by pulp mills. Pulp mill effluent discolors surface waters into which it is discharged, and has been proven to negatively impact the dissolved oxygen and carbon necessary for aquatic life. The proposed solution is a cost-effective adsorption treatment using an inexpensive but abundantly available waste material: CFA. CFA possesses beneficial properties that allow it to effectively remove contaminants, and is available at significantly reduced cost. The primary research objective was to define treatment parameters that would result in the maximum removal …