Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Development Of A Framework To Support The Effective Adoption Of Bim In The Public Sector: Lessons For Ireland, Shiyao Kuang, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley, Roger West

Conference papers

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been formally adopted by many countries with the promise of creating greater economic, social and sustainability benefits. Several authors and institutions have presented alternative BIM policies and tactics which have been adopted by developed countries. However, there is evidence to indicate that BIM adoption theories are not well established and, in particular, the linkage between BIM public sector adoption strategy outcomes and their contribution to achieving Government policy objectives are underdeveloped. This paper will present the outcome of the first phase of a systematic literature review of published studies (including journal papers and noteworthy international …

Living Shorelines As Alternative Methods Of Shoreline Protection, Hunter Shows

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana’s marshes and coastal estuaries are losing habitat at an alarming rate. High rates of sea level rise coupled with coastal subsidence are turning once thriving marsh land into open water. The sediment starved Mississippi River Delta is drowning, making families homes, property, and livelihoods increasingly vulnerable every year. Significant funding is being allocated for projects to offset the increasing erosion including but not limited to diversions, marsh creation, ridge restoration, and shoreline protection projects.

Living shorelines, for the sake of this study, can be defined as a form of shoreline protection which helps shoreline stabilization and erosion reduction while …

Case Study: Using Geofoam On A School Project In Encinitas, Ca, Matthew D. Gaebe

Construction Management

This paper is a case study that identifies why Geofoam was used as in-fill material for a construction project located at a high school in Encinitas, CA. The Geofoam was installed under a stairway that connects to a structural retaining wall. The concrete formwork was connected directly to the foam and the stairs were poured in place onsite. The foam acted as the on-grade material, so the concrete stairs did not have to be self-supporting. The purpose of this study is to understand the benefits of using Geofoam, as the in-fill material, as opposed to other traditional materials. An analysis …

Investigating The Rapid Curing Possibility Of Geopolymer Concrete, Ashlesh Banjara

Master's Theses

Recent studies of heat-cured fly ash based green geopolymer concrete have shown its suitability for fabrication of structural members. Fabrication of these structural members requires continuous moderate heating (145°F) for 24 hrs, and an oven essential, for a large member can quickly turn into an energy guzzler, potentially eliminating the green credentials of the product. The proposed research involves the development of a frontal polymerization (FP) method that achieves rapid curing of geopolymer at ambient condition after short-term heat application. Initial work shows thermal FP in geopolymer is a possibility and might be a solution to the problem. The process …

Effects On Strength And Corrosive Characteristics Of Hardened Cement Paste Using Rice Husk And Sugarcane Bagasse, Travis D. Garrett

Master's Theses

Cement is one of the most used building materials in the world. The production of ordinary Portland cement contributes to the release of harmful greenhouse gasses. In an effort to reduce these emissions, different materials are being evaluated for their use as partial replacements for ordinary Portland cement. Rice husk and sugarcane bagasse are agricultural waste products and large amounts of these are currently landfilled, making them inexpensive and available. When combusted at high temperatures they form rice husk ash and sugarcane bagasse ash that have pozzolanic characteristics. The high silicon dioxide in these products makes them good options to …

Total Fume Emissions And Emission Factors Applicable To Gas Metal Arc Welding, Nayara De Souza

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Welding is a common industrial practice that has the potential to emit air pollutants. Emission factors are useful indicators to help in the understanding of the extent of pollution from a process and managing them to reduce or minimize health impacts. The objective of this thesis is to determine emission factors applicable to the gas metal arc welding (GMAW), under varying current and voltage conditions. The most used base metals and an electrode for the shipbuilding industry were considered. A weld fume chamber was used to achieve the project goals along with standard sampling and analytical procedures. Three test runs …

A Comparative Study Of Insertion Loss Of Traffic Noise Barriers In Georgia, Pablo Giraldo, Jidong Yang

Master of Science in Civil Engineering Theses

In this paper, three types of traffic noise barriers, interlocking steel panels, precast concrete panels, and Paragon panel 23-T, were evaluated in terms of insertion loss. Field test was conducted for the noise barriers recently installed as part of the Northwest Express Project in Georgia. The noise insertion loss was measured as noise difference in A-weighted decibels (dBA) immediately before and after the barriers. The insertion loss was then evaluated by correlating with noise barrier types and other influential variables, including the separation distance of barriers from traffic, the level of traffic, wind speed, and pavement types. The results showed …

How Moisture Content Levels And Packing Density In Soil Affect Crude Oil Spreads, Shaylin N. Williams

Venture: The University of Mississippi Undergraduate Research Journal

Crude oil spills are one of the most destructive disasters that can occur, and they are extremely difficult to recover from. Many studies focus on what can be done to clean these crude oil spills, but more research should be focused on means of prevention. Currently, very little is known about how the moisture content levels and the packing efficiency of soil can affect an oil spill. These two factors alone can offer a variety of information to environmental agencies, manufacturers, and refineries. Through utilization of a chemical engineering lab, a recording mechanism, and ImagePro software, data was collected and …

Estimation Of Stage-Area-Storage Relationships In Reservoirs And Stage-Discharge Relationships In Rivers Using Remotely Sensed Data, Sailuj Shakya

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis estimates the relationships between the water surface levels and quantities of water in reservoirs and rivers using remotely sensed data without any field measurements. However, the accuracies of the estimates were validated using the field measurements from ground stations. The relationships between the water surface levels and quantities are fundamental for monitoring water quantities for the operation of hydraulic structures, as well as analyzing variability and changes in hydrology. Accessibility and transparency are big issues in establishing a monitoring system that can provide field validation of efforts to model global climate systems. Remote sensing has a capability of …

Biofiltration Of Volatile Organic Compounds Emitted At Ethanol Plants, Christopher Arthur Duerschner

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

Ethanol manufacturing is an important and growing sector in the biofuels marketplace. At ethanol plants, the control of volatile organic compound containing emissions from fermentation tanks and distillers dried grains with solubles driers is accomplished through the use of air scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers. The operation of these control units imposes substantial operating costs for the ethanol plant. Biotrickling filters have the ability to replace scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits. Two biotrickling filters were operated in parallel under acetaldehyde loadings ranging from 4 to 136 gm^-3hr^-1. To examine …

Urban Underground Infrastructure Monitoring Iot: The Path Loss Analysis, Abdul Salam, Syed Shah

Faculty Publications

The extra quantities of wastewater entering the pipes can cause backups that result in sanitary sewer overflows. Urban underground infrastructure monitoring is important for controlling the flow of extraneous water into the pipelines. By combining the wireless underground communications and sensor solutions, the urban underground IoT applications such as real time wastewater and storm water overflow monitoring can be developed. In this paper, the path loss analysis of wireless underground communications in urban underground IoT for wastewater monitoring has been presented. It has been shown that the communication range of up to 4 kilometers can be achieved from an underground …

Unl-Cc Outdoor Education Center Master Plan, Marie Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The following report contains the work done by the group Griswold Engineering in completion of the Senior Design requirements for Civil Engineering and the Honors Requirements of the Project Manager. As the project manager, my job was to organize the project as a whole and to work alongside the Structural Engineer on the project. One of the main problems to overcome was the division of labor amongst the group. The project was originally conceived as a group project with one project manager and five other students to serve as the project engineers in each subdiscipline. Since this group only had …

An Underground Radio Wave Propagation Prediction Model For Digital Agriculture, Abdul Salam

Faculty Publications

Underground sensing and propagation of Signals in the Soil (SitS) medium is an electromagnetic issue. The path loss prediction with higher accuracy is an open research subject in digital agriculture monitoring applications for sensing and communications. The statistical data are predominantly derived from site-specific empirical measurements, which is considered an impediment to universal application. Nevertheless, in the existing literature, statistical approaches have been applied to the SitS channel modeling, where impulse response analysis and the Friis open space transmission formula are employed as the channel modeling tool in different soil types under varying soil moisture conditions at diverse communication distances …

Civil Engineering Design Of Cornhusker Council's Outdoor Education Center, Kelly Weiler

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A team of geotechnical, structural, hydraulic, environmental, and transportation experts collaborated to provide engineering solutions to the Cornhusker Council in an effort to solve the current problems facing their Outdoor Education Center. This results of this project provided the structural design of three bridges on the property, transportation plans for two parking lots and roadway design, geotechnical recommendations for soil testing and erosion prevention, and an environmental and hydraulic analysis of the property. A major challenge in the design of this project is the consideration of the dangers and regulations that accompany the floodway and floodplain regions on site. Various …

Simulation Of Antimicrobial Resistance Gene Fate In Narrow Grass Hedges, Marzieh Khedmati

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

Vegetative Filter Strips (VFS) are used for controlling the volume of runoff and decreasing the contaminants in runoff before entering the water bodies. Many studies investigated the role of VFS in sediment and nutrient removal, but little is known about their efficiency in the removal of emerging contaminants such as antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). VFSMOD was used to simulate the efficiency of VFS in this regard. The objectives of this study were to calibrate the VFSMOD with some experimental data and asses the efficiency of the model in simulating the filter behavior in removing ARGs. The tests were conducted in …

Measuring And Modeling Bare Desert Wind Erosion From Steppe Grassland Of Northern China As Affected By Soil Moisture And Climate, Nicholas Morgan Potter

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Soil erosion by wind has been found to be negatively related to soil water content, as evidenced by that for a given area, such a soil erosion can be much less in a wet than a dry year. However, few studies have examined the functional relationship between wind erosion and soil moisture, primarily due to lack of field measured data. The objectives of this study were to: 1) measure wind erosion in field using a portable wind tunnel devised and made by the author; 2) use the measured data to calibrate/validate a wind erosion model previously developed by the author; …

Assessment And Correction Of Lidar-Derived Dems In The Coastal Marshes Of Louisiana, William M. Lauve

LSU Master's Theses

The onset of airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) has resulted in expansive, precise digital elevation models (DEMs). DEMs are essential for modeling complex systems, such as the coastal land margin of Louisiana. They are used for many applications (e.g. tide, storm surge, and ecological modeling) and by diverse groups (e.g. state and federal agencies, NGOs, and academia). However, in a marsh environment, it is difficult for airborne lidar to produce accurate bare-earth measurements and even accurate elevations are rarely verified by ground truth data. The accuracy of lidar in marshes is limited by the sensor’s resolution …

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

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

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

Evaluation Of Wind And Solar Energy Investments In Texas, Byungik Chang, Ken Starcher

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The primary objective of the project is to evaluate the benefits of wind and solar energy and determine economical investment sites for wind and solar energy in Texas with economic parameters including payback periods. A 50 kW wind turbine system and a 42 kW PV system were used to collect field data. Data analysis enabled yearly energy production and payback period of the two systems.

The average payback period of a solar PV system was found to be within a range of 2-20 years because the large range of the payback period for PV systems were heavily influenced by incentives. …

Final Design Review: Mascoma River Greenway Extension, Sebastian Strong, Sarah Atac, Eleanor Dowd, David Ruiz, Isalys Quiñones

ENGS 89/90 Reports

This report outlines current conditions surrounding the extension of the Mascoma River Greenway (MRG) to downtown West Lebanon, NH and recommends a route to completion. Included in the report are maps detailing potential route alignments and recommendations based on outside research and interviews with numerous stakeholders, Lebanon City officials, and community members. The report is intended to provide context and updated insight into the present and future of the MRG, following in the spirit of the 2010 MRG Action Plan, a document that created a vision for redevelopment of the Northern rail corridor and motivated stakeholders to move the project …

Assessing Data Availability And Research Reproducibility In Hydrology And Water Resources, James H. Stagge, David E. Rosenberg, Adel M. Abdallah, Hadia Akbar, Nour A. Atallah, Ryan James

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

There is broad interest to improve the reproducibility of published research. We developed a survey tool to assess the availability of digital research artifacts published alongside peer-reviewed journal articles (e.g. data, models, code, directions for use) and reproducibility of article results. We used the tool to assess 360 of the 1,989 articles published by six hydrology and water resources journals in 2017. Like studies from other fields, we reproduced results for only a small fraction of articles (1.6% of tested articles) using their available artifacts. We estimated, with 95% confidence, that results might be reproduced for only 0.6% to 6.8% …

Low-Density Static Granular Media Filter Bed Turbidity Removal Model, Matthew Louque

LSU Master's Theses

The scattering of light within a fluid, referred to as its turbidity, was investigated against the presence of suspended solids. A linear regression analysis was conduced against turbidity and the total count, combined surface area, and combined volume of the suspended particles for various surface water sources (lakes, rivers, indoor aquaculture systems). It was found that the total combined surface area of suspended particles had the best linear correlation to turbidity, with an adjusted R² of 81.79%. This correlation was integrated with a current theoretical model for predicting solids removal across a granular bed to yield an Integrated Turbidity …

Lecture 1: Stochastic Hydrology, Julianne Quinn

All ECSTATIC Materials

This is the first lecture of CE 5500: Stochastic Hydrology, taught by Julianne Quinn at the University of Virginia.

Controlled Release Chemical Oxidation: Sodium Persulfate Encapsulated In Pvac Polymer, Mosarrat Samiha Kabir

Theses

In this study, sodium persulfate was encapsulated in polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) polymer to investigate the potential of activated persulfate to remediate total coliform and E. coli bacteria from contaminated water through a control release system. Controlled release structures were produced with the polymer and persulfate melted to form pellets at two different baking times. CRP structures containing 60 weight % sodium persulfates blended with 40 weight % polyvinyl acetate (PS- PVAc) were baked for 4 minutes and 10 minutes at 120ºC. The kinetics release of sodium persulfate was studied in a water system and in sand columns. Experimental results showed …

Ce 5500: Stochastic Hydrology, University Of Virginia, Julianne Quinn

All ECSTATIC Materials

This document is the syllabus for CE 5500: Stochastic Hydrology by instructor Julianne D. Quinn at the University of Virginia. The course is an elective class, open to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students.

Investigation Of Atmospheric Effects On Vapor Intrusion Processes Using Modelling Approaches, Elham Shirazi

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Most people in the United States (US) spend considerable amount of time indoors—about 90% of their time as compared to outdoors, which makes the US population vulnerable to adverse health effects of indoor air contaminants. Volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations are well-known to be higher in indoor air than outdoor air. One source of VOC concentrations in indoor air that has gained considerable attention in public health and environmental regulatory communities is vapor intrusion. Vapor intrusion is the process by which subsurface vapors enter indoor spaces from contaminated soil and groundwater. It has been documented to cause indoor air contamination …

Escherichia Coli Removal From Stormwater Using Steel Chips Filter, Peng Dai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Media filtration has received increasing attention as an effective technology that can facilitate the removal of particles and dissolved pollutions in the stormwater. However, most traditional media filtration systems are generally ineffective in removing bacteria, causing pollution of groundwater and receiving surface water. In this study, recycled steel chips were evaluated as low-cost filter materials for bacterial removal from stormwater. Laboratory column experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of steel chips particle size, flow rate, initial E.coli concentration, pH, natural organic matter (NOM), steady and intermittent flow on E.coli removal. The results showed that E.coli removal decreased from 99.4% …

Assessment Of Point Of Use (Pou) Systems For Reducing Health Risks Associated With Drinking Water Along The U.S.-Mexico Colonias In The Paso Del Norte Region, Varinia Viridiana Felix Parra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the Paso del Norte Region along the U.S. Mexico Border, there are more than 5,000 families living in impoverished communities known as colonias that lack access to basic infrastructure services such as a public water system. These depend on hauling trucks that deliver water into their storage tanks. Water storage practices by colonia residents on both sides of the border pose an enormous risk for waterborne disease outbreaks and heavy metal contamination because the water quality can decrease rapidly due to volatilization of the residual chlorine, intrusion of rainfall and air-laden dust. Since connection to centralized water treatment and …

Perceptions Of Vulnerability To Flooding, Hurricanes, And Climate Change On Grand Isle, Louisiana’S Only Inhabited Barrier Island, Lauren Miller

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study used in-depth interviews of permanent residents on Grand Isle, Louisiana, a remote barrier island, to better understand their perceptions of structural flood measures, non-structural responses to flooding and hurricanes, and perceptions of vulnerability to flooding, hurricanes, and climate change on a remote barrier island-Grand Isle, Louisiana. Residents' perceptions regarding the various structural measures implemented by the federal, state, and local government appeared mixed. Non-structural responses to flooding risks implemented at the household, community, state, and federal level continue to strengthen resiliency on Grand Isle. According to interviewees, aspects of environmental, rural, and economic vulnerability on Grand Isle impact …

Use Of Functionalized Bimetallic Membranes For Treatment Of Contaminated Groundwater At A Hazardous Waste Site In Kentucky, Lucy C. Pacholik

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Providing access to clean drinking water will continue to be a challenge for civil engineers for generations to come. Since many communities around the world rely on groundwater as a source of drinking water, remediation technologies must be implemented at sites where groundwater contamination exists due to years of mismanagement of hazardous waste. Using nanosized zero-valent metals such as iron and zinc embedded within and on the surface of functionalized (PAA) membrane filters has shown to be an effective dechlorination technique for contaminated groundwater. Introducing a noble metal such as Pd or Ni increases reaction rates by acting a catalyst …