Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of Reduced Order Models Using Reservoir Simulation And Physics Informed Machine Learning Techniques, Mark V. Behl Jr

LSU Master's Theses

Reservoir simulation is the industry standard for prediction and characterization of processes in the subsurface. However, simulation is computationally expensive and time consuming. This study explores reduced order models (ROMs) as an appropriate alternative. ROMs that use neural networks effectively capture nonlinear dependencies, and only require available operational data as inputs. Neural networks are a black box and difficult to interpret, however. Physics informed neural networks (PINNs) provide a potential solution to these shortcomings, but have not yet been applied extensively in petroleum engineering.

A mature black-oil simulation model from Volve public data release was used to generate training data …

Adsorption And Reconfiguration Of Amphiphiles At Silica-Water Interfaces: Role Of Electrostatic Interactions, Van Der Waals Forces And Hydrogen Bonds, Yao Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ability to explore and predict metastable structures of hybrid self-assemblies is of central importance for the next generation of advanced materials with novel properties. As compared to their thermodynamically stable forms, the kinetically stabilized materials show improved functionality potentially over their stable counterparts. The self-assembly processes usually originate from weak intermolecular interactions, involving a dynamic competition between attractive and repulsive interactions. These weak forces, including van der Waals (vdW), electrostatic interaction and the hydrogen bonding (H-bonding), can be tuned by external stimuli, e.g., confinement, temperature and ionization, and consequently driving hybrid materials into different configurations. It is challenging to …

A Modelling Study For Smart Pigging Technique For Pipeline Leak Detection, Caitlyn Judith Thiberville

LSU Master's Theses

Although leak incidents continue, a pipeline remains the most reliable mode of transportation within the oil and gas industry. It becomes even more important today because the projection for new pipelines is expected to increase by 1 billion BOE through 2035. In addition, increasing number and length of subsea tiebacks face new challenges in term of data acquisition, monitoring, analysis, and remedial actions. Passive leak-detection methods commonly used in the industry have been successful with some limitations in that they often cannot detect small leaks and seeps. In addition to a thorough review of related topics, this study investigates how …

Using Spatial Analysis And Machine Learning Techniques To Develop A Comprehensive Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Consolidation Model, Samira Soleimani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The safety of highway-railroad grade crossings (HRGC) is still an issue in the United States of America (USA). The grade crossing is where a railroad crosses a road at the same level without any over or underpass. To improve the safety of crossings, the crossings’ condition should be explored from several aspects such as engineering design (speed limit, warning signs, etc.), road condition (number of lanes, surface markings, etc.), rail design (the type of track, ballast, etc.), temporal variables (weather, visibility, time of day, lightning, etc.), social variables (population, race, etc.), and last but not least, spatial variables (the type …

Traffic Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Statewide Analysis Of Social Separation And Activity Restriction, Scott Parr, Brian Wolshon, John Renne, Pamela Murray-Tuite, Karl Kim

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant social and economic impacts throughout the world. In addition to the health consequences, the impacts on travel behavior have also been sudden and wide ranging. This study describes the drastic changes in human behavior using the analysis of highway volume data as a representation of personal activity and interaction. Same-day traffic volumes for 2019 and 2020 across Florida were analyzed to identify spatial and temporal changes in behavior resulting from the disease or fear of it and statewide directives to limit person-to-person interaction. Compared to similar days in 2019, overall statewide traffic volume dropped …

Evolution Of Computational Thinking Contextualized In A Teacher-Student Collaborative Learning Environment., John Arthur Underwood

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The discussion of Computational Thinking as a pedagogical concept is now essential as it has found itself integrated into the core science disciplines with its inclusion in all of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2018). The need for a practical and functional definition for teacher practitioners is a driving point for many recent research endeavors. Across the United States school systems are currently seeking new methods for expanding their students’ ability to analytically think and to employee real-world problem-solving strategies (Hopson, Simms, and Knezek, 2001). The need for STEM trained individuals crosses both the vocational certified and college degreed …

The Siltcatcher: A Sediment-Capture System For Wetland Creation And Coastal Protection In Western Lake Pontchartrain, Andrew M. Wright

LSU Master's Theses

The West Lake Pontchartrain region faces a number of long-term environmental challenges due to anthropogenic climate disturbance and landscape modification, including sea level rise, increased storm surge risk, shoreline erosion, and wetland degradation. In response, this thesis applies recent research in the fields of landscape architecture and civil engineering to propose a dynamic, natural-systems solution for wetland creation and shoreline protection. The project envisions a series of breakwater-like structures in western Lake Pontchartrain positioned to slow water released from the nearby Bonnet Carré Spillway, causing suspended sediment to settle and create self-building and self-sustaining wetlands capable of keeping pace with …

Physical And Biological Factors Controlling The Fate Of Nitrate In A Louisiana Coastal Deltaic Floodplain, Alexandra Christensen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River Delta is threatened by a growing pressure to support large human populations in the United States both with food production, navigation systems, and urban development in the Mississippi River Basin. Nitrate-nitrogen load in the Mississippi River, up to 100 Tg N yr^-1 from agricultural and urban runoff, leads to phytoplankton blooms and hypoxia across the Louisiana continental shelf, creating dead zones of low dissolved oxygen threatening a significant commercial fishery. Along the coast and river corridors, floodplain ecosystems have the capacity to retain and remove nitrate. This dissertation explores the role of productive, actively growing coastal …

The Long-Term Outlook Of The Mississippi-Atchafalaya Bifurcation: A Convergence Of Engineering, Economics, And Deltaic Evolution, Thomas Mitchell Andrus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The most recent and currently active delta lobe of the Mississippi River (MR) is the Atchafalaya-Wax Lake lobe, which was initiated approximately 400 years ago as a result of MR stream capture by the Atchafalaya River (AR). This capture process accelerated in the early to mid-1900s but further progress was prevented by construction and operation of the Old River Control Structure (ORCS) Complex. Many recent studies indicate that MR system below the ORCS is on a retreating geologic trajectory due to contributing factors such as sea level rise, subsidence, faulting, and declining hydraulic stream power. Diversions along the Lower MR …

Effect Of Channelized And Unchannelized Lateral Outflow On Three-Dimensional Flow Structure And Sediment Transport Mechanisms In A River Delta, Mohammad Kifayath Chowdhury

LSU Master's Theses

Spatial and temporal patterns in three-dimensional flow structure have been linked to channel morphology and processes in many environments, including river meander bends, confluences-diffluences, and bedrock canyons. However, there is not yet an understanding of how channelized and gradual, distributed lateral outflows that are often prevalent in deltaic distributary systems influence three-dimensional flow structure and sediment transport mechanisms. This thesis presents an analysis of 3D flow structure data collected from Wax Lake Delta, a naturally developing river-dominated delta in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Three hydrographic surveys were conducted using boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) at two sites: an …

Mass Spectrometric Calibration For Real -Time Hydrocarbon Detection, Makuachukwu Mbaegbu

LSU Master's Theses

Determining gas compositions from live well fluids on a drilling rig is critical for real time formation evaluation. However, development and utilization of a reliable mass spectrometric method to accurately characterize these live well fluids is always a challenging issue because of lack of a robust, quick and effectively selective instrument and method. The primary goal of this research is to understand reasons of such discrepancies in results between “good” spectra, and “poor” ones. The objectives are thus to identify the detection issues, calibrate and QA/QC the instruments, and analyze the results in lab settings. In this study, we used …

Breaking Coastal Hypoxia: Destratification Of Gulf Of Mexico Deadzone To Encourage Oxygen Transport Downwards To Maintain Marine Fauna, Veda Thipparthi

LSU Master's Theses

As a consequence of seasonal eutrophication and human input, a vast hypoxic area termed The Dead Zone develops every year in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) during summer along the Louisiana coastline characterized by vertical seawater density-stratification with oxygen concentrations less than 2 mg.l^-1 at the seafloor. It poses a threat to bottom-dwelling faunae and their environment which has negative ecological and economic consequences. This project aims to mitigate hypoxia by employing mechanical impellers placed at strategic water depths and locations in the Gulf. Enhanced transport of oxygen results by mixing oxygen-enriched seawater at the surface, downward into the …

The Effects Of Temperature On The Yields Of Aliphatic And Aromatic Products From The Supercritical Pyrolysis Of 1-Octene, Elizabeth Anne Hurst

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior to their combustion, fuels for future high-speed aircraft are expected to experience supercritical conditions, leading to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), precursors to solid carbonaceous deposits, via pyrolytic reactions. These solid deposits can clog fuel-transfer lines, causing unsafe aircraft operation. To prevent the formation of fuel-line deposits, it is critical to understand the reaction pathways that lead to PAH formation in the supercritical fuel pyrolysis environment.

To better understand the role of large 1-alkenes in PAH formation, supercritical pyrolysis experiments with model fuel 1-octene, a representative 1-alkene product from supercritical n-alkane pyrolysis, have been performed. The …

Investigation Of Subsurface Stratigraphy And Groundwater Dynamics In The Mississippi River Delta, An Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) is socioeconomically important to the state of Louisiana and the United States. Various types of land-water system data have been collected in the MRD. However, very few efforts have been made to utilize these datasets in modeling regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics in the MRD, especially for the upper 50 m of the depth. In this interval of depth, the Mississippi River and surrounding interdistributary bays intensively interact with the groundwater system. The lack of knowledge in regional stratigraphy and groundwater dynamics hinder an understanding of how hydrogeological setting affects processes such as surface-groundwater interaction, …

Visualizing The Fate And Distribution Of Pahs In Spartina And Avicennia Tissues From Barataria Basin, La, Kristina Jeannette Sebastian

LSU Master's Theses

During crude oil spill events, vegetation in marsh environments sequester polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the crude oil by partitioning from the air phase through the waxy cuticle on the leaf surface. Recent studies from Macondo oil-impacted marshes have demonstrated that cycling of low molecular weight petrogenic PAHs occurs through the cuticle and other leaf tissue. At present, our understanding of how PAHs travel through the cuticle is coarse and limited by grab samples across the entire leaf, which preventing a full understanding the dynamics of PAH cycling in this environment. Multiphoton (MP) confocal microscopy visualizes the distribution of PAHs …

Field Drilling Data Cleaning And Preparation For Data Analytics Applications, Daniel Cardoso Braga

LSU Master's Theses

Throughout the history of oil well drilling, service providers have been continuously striving to improve performance and reduce total drilling costs to operating companies. Despite constant improvement in tools, products, and processes, data science has not played a large part in oil well drilling. With the implementation of data science in the energy sector, companies have come to see significant value in efficiently processing the massive amounts of data produced by the multitude of internet of thing (IOT) sensors at the rig. The scope of this project is to combine academia and industry experience to analyze data from 13 different …

Maximizing And Modeling Malonyl-Coa Production In Escherichia Coli, Tatiana Thompson Silveira Mello

LSU Master's Theses

In E. coli, fatty acid synthesis is catalyzed by the enzyme acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), which converts acetyl-CoA into malonyl-CoA. Malonyl-CoA is a major building block for numerous of bioproducts. Multiple parameters regulate the homeostatic cellular concentration of malonyl-CoA, keeping it at a very low level. Understanding how these parameters affect the bacterial production of malonyl-CoA is fundamental to maximizing it and its bioproducts. To this end, competing pathways consuming malonyl-CoA can be eliminated, and optimal nutritional and environmental conditions can be provided to the fermentation broth. Most previous studies utilized genetic modifications, expensive consumables, and high-cost quantification methods, making …

Numerical Modeling Of Wave Dynamics And Sediment Transport Near The Mississippi Birdfoot Delta And Barataria Estuary, Soroush Sorourian

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Barataria Basin is a large estuarine system in Southeastern Louisiana, connected to the Gulf of Mexico through a number of inlets, the most important of which is the Barataria Pass. This research examines, during April-June 2010 including both cold front passage and calm summer-time wind regimes, the wave dynamics in this basin and in its major inlets, morphological evolution near the Barataria Pass, and the budgeting and dispersal of the Mississippi River sediment in the birdfoot delta region. An unstructured grid, terrain following, high resolution coupled FVCOM-SWAVE-SED model is employed and validated in this study. The numerical model results …

Application Of X-Ray Grating Interferometry To Polymer/Flame Retardant Blends In Additive Manufacturing, Omoefe Joy Kio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

X-ray grating interferometry is a nondestructive tool for visualizing the internal structures of samples. Image contrast can be generated from the absorption of X-rays, the change in phase of the beam and small-angle X-ray scattering (dark-field). The attenuation and differential phase data obtained complement each other to give the internal composition of a material and large-scale structural information. The dark-field signal reveals sub-pixel structural detail usually invisible to the attenuation and phase probe, with the potential to highlight size distribution detail in a fashion faster than conventional small-angle scattering techniques. This work applies X-ray grating interferometry to the study of …

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 …

Peerra: An Extensible And Structured Web Service For Peer-To-Peer Assistance, Drake Lambert

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Airlifted Tidal Mesocosm For Oil Degradation Studies, Daniel Christopher Alt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mesocosms were constructed to allow scientists to isolate variables in a microtidal marsh environment, mimicking the natural conditions found in Terrebonne Bay. The control offered by these mesocosms is given by a process control system that takes user inputs and automates water movement. Twelve mesocosms were constructed, each holding 4.02 m³ (142 ft³) of marsh soil and 3.88 m³ (137 ft³) of water to give 3 experimental levels and a control, all in triplicate.

Each mesocosms that was constructed contained marsh plants in soil plugs 9 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep. These …

High-Throughput Assessment Of A Novel, Thiol-Acrylate Hydrogel For Tumor Spheroid Synthesis In A Microfluidic Device, Nathan Daniel Kersker

LSU Master's Theses

The extracellular environment plays an important role in regulating cell behavior. The mechanical, structural, and compositional properties of the extracellular matrix can determine the fate of the growing cells. Standard two-dimensional culturing in a flask fails to represent a native cellular environment. To create the native environment suitable for cells, hydrogels were previously studied. One of the most extensively studied synthetic hydrogels was a poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) (PEGDA) hydrogel. However, the need for UV polymerization may introduce unwanted changes in cell morphology and viability. The hydrogel being proposed was a form of a thiol-acrylate hydrogel that can eliminate this problem …

Numerical Study Of Liquid Atomization And Breakup Using The Volume Of Fluid Method In Ansys Fluent, Sai Saran Kandati

LSU Master's Theses

The spherical metal particles produced from the centrifugal atomization process have been the topic of numerous theoretical, experimental and numerical studies from the past few years. This atomization process uses centrifugal force to break-up molten material into spherical droplets, which are quenched into solidified granules by the flow of cold air on the spherical droplets. In the present work, a transient three-dimensional multiphase CFD model is applied to three different materials: Molten slag, aqueous glycerol solution, and molten Ni-Nb to study the influence of the dimensionless parameters on the centrifugal atomization outcome.

Results from numerical experiments indicated that the droplet …

Bipartite Quantum Interactions: Entangling And Information Processing Abilities, Siddhartha Das

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to advance the theory behind quantum information processing tasks, by deriving fundamental limits on bipartite quantum interactions and dynamics. A bipartite quantum interaction corresponds to an underlying Hamiltonian that governs the physical transformation of a two-body open quantum system. Under such an interaction, the physical transformation of a bipartite quantum system is considered in the presence of a bath, which may be inaccessible to an observer. The goal is to determine entangling abilities of such arbitrary bipartite quantum interactions. Doing so provides fundamental limitations on information processing tasks, including entanglement distillation and secret key …

Identifying Key Factors Associated With High Risk Asthma Patients To Reduce The Cost Of Health Resources Utilization, Amani Ahmad

LSU Master's Theses

Asthma is associated with frequent use of primary health services and places a burden on the United States economy. Identifying key factors associated with increased cost of asthma is an essential step to improve practices of asthma management.

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with over utilization of primary health services and increased cost via claims data and to explore the effectiveness of case management program in reducing overall asthma related cost.

Claims data analysis for Medicaid insured asthma patients in Louisiana was conducted. Asthma patients were identified using their ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, forward variable …

Predicting River Stage Using Recurrent Neural Networks, Eric Rohli

LSU Master's Theses

River stage prediction is an important problem in the water transportation industry. Accurate river stage predictions provide crucial information to barge and tow boat operators, port terminal captains, and lock management officials. Shallow river levels caused by prolonged drought impact the loading capacity of barges and tow boats. High river levels caused by excessive rainfall or snowmelt allow for greater tow capacities but make downstream transportation and lock management risky. Current academic river height prediction systems utilize either time series statistical analysis or machine learning algorithms to forecast future river heights, but systems that combine these two areas often limit …

Distributed Iterative Graph Processing Using Nosql With Data Locality, Ayam Pokhrel

LSU Master's Theses

A tremendous amount of data is generated every day from a wide range of sources such as social networks, sensors, and application logs. Among them, graph data is one type that represents valuable relationships between various entities. Analytics of large graphs has become an essential part of business processes and scientific studies because it leads to deep and meaningful insights into the related domain based on the connections between various entities. However, the optimal processing of large-scale iterative graph computations is very challenging due to the issues like fault tolerance, high memory requirement, parallelization, and scalability. Most of the contemporary …

Waste Management By Waste: Removal Of Acid Dyes From Wastewaters Of Textile Coloration Using Fish Scales, S M Fijul Kabir

LSU Master's Theses

Removal of hazardous acid dyes by economical process using low-cost bio-sorbents from wool industry wastewaters is of a pressing need, since it causes skin and respiratory diseases and disrupts other environmental components. Fish scales (FS), a by-product of fish industry, a type of solid waste, are usually discarded carelessly resulting in pungent odor and environmental burden. In this research, the FS of black drum (Pogonias cromis) were used for the removal of acid dyes (acid red 1 (AR1), acid blue 45 (AB45) and acid yellow 127 (AY126)) from wool industry wastewaters by absorption process with a view to …

The Tensile Root Strength Of Emergent Coastal Macrophytes, Lauris Olivia Hollis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Spartina patens is a dominant emergent macrophyte in fresh, intermediate, and brackish marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of United States where its biomechanical properties are a key component of wetland health and resilience. Its root biomass and tensile root strength are essential for anchorage, erosion protection, and are important determinants of soil strength. Nutrients and the herbicide atrazine are suspected of negatively impacting this wetland plant and others. The objectives of this study were to: 1) ascertain the tensile root strength of five emergent coastal macrophytes in coastal estuaries, and 2) test the effects of nutrient addition, atrazine …