Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Proposed Modifications To The Egyptian Concrete Code Based On A Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment Of Portland Cement Alternatives For Climate Change Mitigation, Yasmin Elhakim

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a major challenge facing planet earth today. This phenomenon is foreseen to continue to represent a major concern for decades to come. The construction industry is one of the most polluting sectors worldwide and is considered one of the top greenhouse gas emitters. Egypt, in particular, is one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change. The construction sector plays a major role in Egypt’s economy, contributing significantly to the national GDP, yet it also represents one of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. However, the Egyptian Concrete Code does not enforce the …

Enhancing Water Supply Resilience & Sustainability: Potential Solutions To Address Water Scarcity In Bogotá, Colombia, Sophia Alvarez Wong

Master's Projects and Capstones

Municipal water utilities are in urgent need of adapting to the intensifying impacts of climate change and population growth—key drivers of urban water scarcity worldwide. In rapidly expanding cities like Bogota, Colombia, these pressures have contributed to a severe water crisis driven by prolonged droughts, ecosystem degradation, increasing water demands, and overdependence on limited water sources. This study explores potential adaptation and management strategies that utilities can implement to sustainably strengthen supply system resilience and enhance water security, in the context of low- to middle-income regions. A series of comparative and case study analyses were conducted to assess the feasibility …

Sustainable Management Of Erosive Shores: An Interdisciplinary Approach Integrating Engineering And Social Sciences At A Tide-Dominant Beach Area, Jun Ik Sohn, Hyun Dong Kim, Kiran Adhithya Ramakrishnan

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This study investigates the causes and consequences of shoreline erosion at Kkotji Beach, a prominent tourist destination on the west coast of South Korea, where the degradation of the coastal environment has increasingly threatened the local tourism industry and economy, by employing a mixed-methods approach that combines field observations with MIKE 21 hydrodynamic simulations and by integrating perspectives from coastal engineering and the social sciences to develop practical, site-specific strategies for mitigating erosion, enhancing public awareness, and promoting sustainable coastal planning and development that support long-term environmental resilience and economic stability. The results show that dominant ebb currents drive southward …

Spatiotemporal Patterns Of Desertification Sensitivity And Influencing Factors Across The Western Inner Mongolia Plateau, China, Yang Chen, Long Ma, Xixi Wang, Tingxi Liu, Zixu Qiao

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Desertification remains a critical global ecological and environmental challenge that threatens sustainable development. Although our understanding of desertification dynamics and their underlying drivers has improved, continued research is needed due to the region-specific nature of these processes. This study focuses on the Western Inner Mongolia Plateau in China as a case study to examine the evolution of desertification and its driving factors using a multifaceted approach, including the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) model. Results show that the desertification sensitivity index (DSI) across the plateau ranged from 1.12 in prairie regions to 1.87 in desert areas, with a spatial …

Simulating The Compound Impacts Of Climate Change And Sea-Level Rise On Coastal Shallow Groundwater Using An Integrated Surface-Subsurface Hydrologic Model, Zhaoyi Cai

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As climate change intensifies and sea levels rise, coastal aquifers become increasingly vulnerable to interacting oceanic and terrestrial processes. This dissertation examines the combined impacts of climate change and sea-level rise (SLR) on coastal shallow groundwater using an integrated surface-subsurface hydrologic model, focusing on the low-lying Little Creek watershed (LCW) in Norfolk, Virginia. The SWAT-MODFLOW model, a coupled system, unifies land surface, streamflow, and groundwater processes, providing a comprehensive framework for watershed-aquifer analysis. Model parameters were derived from U.S. Geological Survey datasets, relevant literature, station records, and technical reports, followed by meticulous calibration. The validated model first simulated baseline groundwater …

Design Frameworks For Ventilative Cooling: Perceptions From Building Design Practitioners In Ireland And The United Kingdom, Maha Sohail, Adam O'Donovan, Paul D. O'Sullivan

Publications

The global increase in building cooling demands poses a challenge for designers striving for net zero energy consumption. The prevalent use of mechanical cooling underscores the necessity for designers to consider Ventilative Cooling as a viable alternative in the early stages of building design. This paper presents findings from an exploratory survey and semi-structured interviews of industry experts in Ireland and the United Kingdom about their design processes and experienced-based approaches to designing Ventilative Cooling. The findings suggest that the pre-design stage has the same influence for promoting ventilative cooling strategies as the schematic and detailed design stages for practitioners, …

Understanding Climate Change Adaptation And Gentrification Through The Framework Of Uneven Coastal Development In Keansburg, New Jersey, Zachary Paganini

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the rapid acceleration of coastal development in the United States despite projections of climate change-induced sea level rise. Like no other developed country, the U.S. has transformed its fragile coastline into sites for leisure, consumption, and retirement. These spaces now face the prospect of more frequent and severe storms, as well as land loss and inundation, due to climate change. This dilemma has sparked debates around coastal resilience, adaptation, retreat, and climate gentrification.

While many studies seek to measure perceptions of climate change risk and vulnerability, this dissertation reverses the question by positioning risk perceptions as an …

Modeling Of Amine-Based Co2 Capture Process, Zafar Safarovich Turakulov

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

A significant factor influencing climate change is the release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere as a consequence of human activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels. Climate change can be slowed down by taking action to mitigate industrial-scale CO₂ emissions. Currently, the most advanced technology for capturing CO₂ from industrial flue gases is the post-combustion CO₂ capture based on amine absorption. However, due to the high energy penalties of existing CO₂ capture technologies and insufficient carbon markets, it is necessary to develop methods that compete with these technologies or minimize their …

Impact Of Irrigation On Vulnerability Of Winter Wheat Under Extreme Climate Change Scenario: A Case Study Of North China Plain, Yulian Gao, Lin Wang, Yaojie Yue

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

An inadequate understanding of the impacts of adaptation countermeasures tends to exaggerate the adverse e􀀀ects of climate change on agricultural systems. Motivated by proposing reasonable climate change adaptation countermeasures, the present study applied the EPIC model to quantify the impacts of climate change and irrigation changes with future socioeconomic development on agricultural production. Winter wheat yield losses using dynamic irrigation parameters in the North China Plain (NCP) from 2010 to 2099 under a scenario coupling climate change and future socioeconomic development (RCP8.5-SSP3), and those under an extreme climate change scenario (RCP8.5), were simulated. Results show that EPIC model demonstrates superior …

Study Of Surface And Groundwater Quality And Quantity At Watershed Scale In Mississippi, Dipesh Nepal

Theses and Dissertations

Hydrology and water quality are affected by land use and climate changes. Mississippi’s diverse agro–ecosystem comprises of a range of land use land cover (LULC) including agriculture, forest, wetlands, urban, and grasslands. The objectives of this study were to investigate the impacts of various factors such as Best Management Practices (BMPs), wetlands, LULC, and climate changes on water quality and quantity. The hydrologic and water quality responses to dynamic LULC input in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were evaluated. Results showed that agricultural and forest expansion were major drivers of hydrologic and water quality changes in Big Sunflower River …

How Active Rainwater Harvesting May Help Reduce Nuisance Flooding: Flood Analysis And Social Barriers To Adoption, Isabel Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As urbanization continues to expand, fewer pervious surfaces are available to help reduce stormwater runoff from rainfall. The impacts of urbanization are becoming evident through sunny day flooding - flooding that occurs in areas not designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as flood zones. Nevertheless, water accumulates in low-lying areas and compromises street intersections and other parts of neighborhoods. Some methods can help alleviate the impacts of unexpected heavy rains, such as passive and active rainwater harvesting. As a pilot study, in a selected area in the northeast of El Paso, the level of adoption (e.g., what percentage …

Climate Change And The Law Of National Security Adaptation, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest employer in the world, owns and operates an enormous global real estate portfolio, and emits more Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) than many nations. Entrusted with the national security, the DoD is now threatened by a new enemy—climate change. Climate change imperils national security infrastructure while undermining the military’s capacity to respond to climate-driven disasters at home and abroad. However, legal scholarship has yet to address what I call “the law of national security adaptation” and related questions. For example, how do environmental and climate change laws apply to the U.S. military? What laws …

Smoke, Air, Fire, Energy (Safe) In Rural California: Critical Reflections On An Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration, Deepti Chatti, Carisse Geronimo, Cassidy Barrientos, Jana Ganion, Malcolm Moncheur, Peter Alstone Phd, Shawn Bourque, Tanya Garcia, Tesfayohanes Yacob

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article provides a synthesis of the interconnected problems of tenuous energy access, wildfires, and exposures to high air pollution in Indigenous communities in rural California through the lens of ongoing collaborative research being carried out by researchers at Cal Poly Humboldt, Schatz Energy Research Center, Karuk Department of Natural Resources, and the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe. The collaboration is funded by the Strategic Growth Council of the state of California, and we hope is the beginning of a longer term relationship between all partners. We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers drawing on energy engineering, air pollution science, and …

Resiliency Of Levee-Protected Power Networks To Flooding In A Changing Climate Integrating Environmental Justice, Seyed Saeed Miraee-Ashtiani

Theses and Dissertations

Electric power system (EPS) is an integral part of infrastructure systems. Ensuring its resiliency to extreme weather events and natural hazards is crucial to protect the safety, economy and public health. Recorded and projected data show an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural hazards attributed to a changing climate. It is critical to ensure the integrity of the aging infrastructure systems and to promote environmental justice by shrinking the energy-equity gap to lower power outages in disadvantaged communities.

An important aspect is the resiliency interdependency of EPS to other critical infrastructure systems, an aspect …

Using Remote Sensing Technologies In Relocating Lubrak Village And Visualizing Flood Damages, Ronan Wallace

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As weather patterns change across the world, there are communities impacted by climate change that are left unnoticed. In the Himalayan mountain range, communities have suffered, experiencing an increase in flash flooding and droughts. For Lubrak Village in Lower Mustang, the community faces the threats of flash flooding. Over the last ten years, the amount of flash flooding has increased, occurring more than once each monsoon season. After every flood, concrete-like sediment is left behind, hardening across the riverbed and increasing its elevation. As the riverbed elevation increases, this sediment encroaches on Lu-brak Village’s agricultural fields and ancient mud buildings, …

Carbon Estimation And Decision Making In Usaf Acquisition, Robert F. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Recent executive orders and international agreements require the United States to significantly reduce its carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. The DoD is a significant contributor to the carbon emissions of the USA and will be required to reduce the emissions. Therefore, in order to make appropriate programmatic decisions the DoD needs to develop an appropriate method for estimating carbon and making programmatic decisions; trading-off carbon emissions with the traditional cost-schedule-performance metrics. This thesis examines the possibility of developing a model that can be used to estimate the carbon footprint of producing a system before detailed engineering designed have been complete.

Hydrologic Profiles And Geospatial Trend Analysis Evaluating Recurrent Flooding At Coastal U.S. Air Force Installations, Dylan D. Bechen

Theses and Dissertations

Military installations are exposed to numerous threats, including a changing climate and the risk of recurrent flooding. The four components of recurrent flooding are sea-level rise, tidal fluctuations, storm surges, and precipitation. This research analyzed 40 years of historical precipitation and tidal data at 17 coastal U.S. Air Force installations using indicators of both peak and threshold exceedances to identify long-term temporal trends in the hydrologic components that make up recurrent flood risk, establishing an installation’s “hydrologic profile” which can be used to better inform decision makers when evaluating portfolio-wide adaptation strategies and prioritization of long-term infrastructure investments.

On A New Framework For Detecting, Classifying, And Forecasting Floods For Large-Scale Flood Risk Analysis, Equisha Glenn

Dissertations and Theses

Increasing trends in flooding events are projected to continue as climate changes have increased the chance of extreme weather events. Given the significant, damaging impacts of extreme floods, the ability to effectively model floods is crucial for risk management and mitigation of the impacts of these extreme flooding events. This dissertation presents a new framework for detecting and predicting large-scale flood risk in the United States using climate information. This methodology categorizes regional, simultaneous floods into an index that is used to forecast the risk of extreme flooding a season ahead. The index proposed herein, named the Spatial Flood Index …

Assessing The Potential And Pathways For Renewable Energy Transformations In Orleans, California, Malcolm Prescott Moncheur De Rieudotte

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In what is now known as the state of California in the United States, the Karuk Tribe is interested in deploying a renewable-powered microgrid in the rural community of Orleans to improve electricity system reliability and resilience to address a wide range of challenges, including extreme events such as wildfires. This study assesses the potential of local distributed renewable energy and battery storage to meet Orleans' energy needs today and in the increasingly electrified future using an energy model. It also identifies existing cultural and social priorities for energy technology along with structural barriers to renewable energy adoption and the …

Editorial: Coastal Flooding: Modeling, Monitoring, And Protection Systems, Valentina Prigiobbe, Clint Dawson, Yao Hu, Hatim O. Sharif, Navid Tahvildari

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Coastal flooding has received significant attention in recent years due to future sea-level rise (SLR) projections and intensification of precipitation, which will exacerbate frequent flooding, coastal erosion, and eventually create permanently inundated low-elevation land. Coastal governments will be forced to implement measures to manage risk on the population and infrastructure and build protection systems to mitigate or adapt to the negative impacts of flooding. Research in this area is required to establish holistic frameworks for timely and accurate flooding forecast and design of protection systems.

Quo Vadis Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo: A Future Outlook For Two Of The Caribbean Basin's Largest Lakes, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

Lakes Azuei (LA) and Enriquillo (LE) on Hispaniola Island started expanding in 2005 and continued to do so until 2016. After inundating large swaths of arable land, submerging a small community, and threatening to swallow a significant trade route between the Dominican Republic and Haiti; worries persisted at how far this seemingly unstoppable expansion would go. The paper outlines the approach to a look forward to answer this question vis-à-vis climate change scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It uses numerical representations of the two lakes, and it examines how the lakes might evolve, deploying three …

Impact Of Regional Climate Changes On Changes In River Water Content In Uzbekistan, A.T. Salokhiddinov, P.A. Khakimova, R.V. Toryanniova, O.A. Ashirova, A.G. Gofurov

Irrigation and Melioration

The paper presents the research results on the analysis of the climate change impacts on the potential of water resources in Central Asia. We analyzed the materials of an extensive database of monitoring data from numerous gauge stations on different river basins and satellite data information. A quantitative assessment of the transformation of river hydrographs, the growth of flow variability in the Republic of Uzbekistan's major rivers, in connection with climate change, was performed. The specific features of the impact of climate changes on changes in the water content of rivers in Uzbekistan in large and small river basins are …

Stability Of Low Crested And Submerged Breakwaters: A Reanalysis And Model Development, Christopher P. Burgess

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Low-crested and submerged structures (LCS) play an integral part in the stabilization of shorelines for recreational purposes, yet there are a plethora of empirical models and gaps in the understanding of their stability and damage progression. The objectives were: i) to evaluate the present formulae, ii) explore variable importance, iii) formulate a stability model, iv) extend the current datasets and v) explore a new model for LCS. The literature points to an increasing understanding of the initiation of damage of LCS and recent exploration of the shear stress-induced erosion (van Rijn, 2019). Assessment of two existing models (Kramer, 2006 and …

Assessment Of The Impact Of Climate Change On Hydrological Processes In The Chirchik River Basin, Kh.Sh. Gafforov, Sh.D. Sh.D.Tursunboev

Irrigation and Melioration

The importance of assessing past and future climate differences plays an important role in future planning in relation to climate change. This situation requires urgent and concerted action in several areas: technology, infrastructure, politics, economics, and the environment. The article evaluates the impact of changes in precipitation intensity on the water level in the global circulation model (GCM) RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios in the 2030s, 2050s, and 2070s. This study is a useful reference for improving water resource management and ensuring the sustainability of agricultural products in the future, as well as for improving operational water management and agricultural …

The Impact Of Precipitation On The Groundwater Of Coal Waste Dump, Tomasz Suponik, Dawid Franke, Robert Frączek, Katarzyna Nowińska, Piotr Pierzyna, Zenon Różański, Paweł Wrona

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of climate change, mainly higher and lower precipitation, on the intensity of the impact of a coal waste dump on groundwater. The analysis used meteorological data for the Katowice region in 2002-2020 as well as data on the height of the groundwater table in the vicinity of the coal waste dump, and data on physicochemical parameters and chemical composition of groundwater in 2004-2020. Based on the analyses, it was found that the periods of drought in the Silesian Voivodeship, located in the south of Poland, occurred mainly in spring, while …

Empirical Assessment Of Climate Change Impacts On Agriculture In Samarkand Region, Sh.B. Babakholov

Irrigation and Melioration

Agricultural production is highly sensitive to climate factors like other endogenous factors, and the expected climate change projections may have a negative impact on the efficiency and income of agricultural producers. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the impact of changes in climatic factors (average air temperature and precipitation) on the technical efficiency of cotton growing farmers as its determinants in Samarkand region. Empirical analyzes were performed on the cases of 1141 cotton-growing farms using panel-based Time-Invariant Inefficiency model. According to the results of the analysis, cotton farms in the region have an average technical efficiency of 76%, which in …

Bibliometric Survey On Effect Of Climate Factors On Spread Of Coronavirus (Covid-19), Seema Patil, Jay Makwana, Manish Attri

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The new SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 has spread quickly around the globe since it was first reported in Wuhan city of China, in December 2019 subsequent to being contracted from a zoonotic source. The main focus of this bibliometric survey is to recognize the few studies which have upheld the epidemiological hypothesis that the effect of climatic factors is playing a crucial role in the spreading of COVID-19. The analysis is done on the basis of 412 documents such as journals, articles, editorials, short surveys and some review papers. The United States contributes to the maximum number of publications followed by the …

Bibliometric Survey On Effects Of Climate Change On Incidences Of Infectious Diseases, Seema Harshad Patil, Yatharth Jain, Vedant Marathe

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

^{For understanding the influx of Infectious Diseases, research of climate change and its effects pertaining to the diseases is important. The motive of this bibliometric survey is to understand the research which has been carried out regarding the aforementioned topics. This paper summarizes the research in the 21st Century from 2001 to present. We conducted this analysis using tools such as Gephi, Researchgate, Scopus, ScienceScape, Google Scholar and Mapchart. This Bibliometric Survey on “Effects of Climate Change on Infectious Diseases” showed that maximum publications are articles. These publications are from conferences and journals related to Environmental Science. The United States …}

Economic Assesment Of The Impact Of Climate Factors On Wheat Yield In Samarkand Region, Sh.B. Babakholov

Irrigation and Melioration

Agricultural production is highly vulnerable to climate shocks and predicted climate consequences may pose severe challenges to the resilience of Uzbek agricultural system, especially in terms of food security and income stability of rural producers. In this context, present study proposed to assess the impact of climate factors, such particular changes in mean temperature and rainfalls on total output of wheat-cultivating farmers in Samarkand region. By considering irrigation source and heterogeneous geography of the region, farmers engaged in wheat production were analyzed in two: upstream and downstream zones using Fixed effect panel approach. The empirical findings of study revealed that, …

Determination And Assessment Of The Spatio-Temporal Changing Dynamics In The Groundwater Level And Mineralization In Irrigated Areas Under Climate Change (As An Example Of Syrdarya Province), S. Khasanov, S. Adilov, R. Kulmatov

Irrigation and Melioration

In the irrigated lands of the Aral Sea Basin, salinization processes are taking place as a result of rising groundwater levels and increasing its mineralization due to the unsustainable use of water and land resources. This, in turn, leads to the withdrawing of arable land and a decrease in crop yields. This is especially the case in the irrigated areas of the lower reaches of the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers, located in Uzbekistan, southern Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. This research was aimed to learn and evaluate the long-term changing behavior of groundwater level and mineralization in the irrigated areas of the …