Undergraduate Research Day Projects
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Organized by the University of Houston Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards, Undergraduate Research Day is an annual event showcasing exceptional scholarship undertaken by the UH undergraduate community.
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Browsing Undergraduate Research Day Projects by Department "Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of"
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Item Aggregation of Lead Phosphate Nanoparticles: Implications for Lead Immobilization in Soil and Pipes(2017-10-12) Aljijakli, Munir; Zhao, Juntao; Dai, ChongFlint, Michigan (2014) and Washington D.C. (2001) found high levels of lead in their drinking water pipelines. Problem: Lead in pipes is corroding and contaminating the drinking water. Goal: To study the aggregation behavior and find the optimal conditions for lead (Pb) removal from the drinking water pipes and the soil.Item Are Hempcrete Blocks a Reliable Replacement in the Construction Industry?(2022-04-14) Gomez, Esteban; Lapizar, Dynesse; Ramirez-Torres, JosueIn today’s climate, most people understand that global warming continues to be a prevalent issue within our society. However, many people are unaware of just how much the construction industry contributes to this problem. While in total, buildings generate nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions, 23% of that emission is due to materials like concrete, steel, and aluminum. (Architecture, 2020). With such a high carbon footprint like this, it is evident that the materials we choose need to be more sustainable. Hempcrete blocks are a rising alternative to modern-day materials due to its lightweight, thermal, and sustainable qualities. Hempcrete is made from dried hemp stock and lime, making it an eco-friendly replacement for concrete blocks because its production process does not create pollution. Hempcrete by itself is a weaker building block than concrete, however, there is now a method that integrates an internal biodegradable structure to the hempcrete that allows it to achieve the same resistance strength as concrete. Overall, this report explores the production, uses, and comparisons of hemp blocks to other materials.Item Artificial Gecko Skin: Harnessing the power of Van der Waal's Force in Shear Systems(2023-04-13) Gustavo, Chavez; Lara, Jose; Redmond, Patrick; Sola, JohnArtificial Gecko Skin was developed in 2010s by Stanford professor Dr. Mark Cutkosky in response to a competition to design, build and test a climbing robot in a vertical environment. To achieve this Dr. Mark Cutkosky was inspired to mimic a gecko's feet. After researching the physics of how a gecko climbs, he found some amazing realities. Geckos do not use suction cups. Nor do they have little hairs or spikes. Their feet have little spatula which are a few nanometers in dimension. This allows for an extremely small point of contact giving the gecko the ability to obtain an extremely close contact with the material it is climbing. This contact is so tight it is called an adhesion. Dr. Mark Cutkosky's research shows the gecko leverages the molecular Vander Vaal’s force at the atomic level. Geckos achieve this considerable bond by use of an extremely week molecular bond. Dr. Mark Cutkosky created a crude approximation of artificial gecko skin using molded silicon. He has successfully used his silicon gecko skin in robotics to pick up extremely delicate objects using a small force normal. This artificial material when loaded in shear creates enough surface area of contact to hold up an object. Perhaps the most amazing feature of this silicon gecko skin is that is not a glue or suction. When the lifting force is released the gecko material effortlessly lets go of the object. By integrating gecko material into repeatable processes much time and energy could be saved.Item Corrosion in Produced Water Desalination and Treatment Facilities(2017-10-12) Furrh, Jacob; Kiaghadi, AminItem Determining the Binding Affinity of Pesticides and Dissolved Organic Matter(2021-04-01) Leon, Oscar D.; Berte, Tchemongo B.Pesticide is a general term used to comprise the insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in the environment, all of which are substances that are utilized to control unwanted elements. As these elements decay, insects, weeds, and fungi become organic material, which are composed of thousands of complex, organic compounds known as Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM). As DOM tends to bind with certain pesticides, these interactions can lead to leaching from soils into surface water and groundwater, thus altering water treatment processes and drinking water supplies. Thus, the objective of the research conducted was to determine the relationship between the complex, chemical structure of DOM and its binding affinity with pesticide chemicals utilizing the equilibrium dialysis experiment. DOM of 14 Texas locations were characterized before the dialysis experiment by taking total organic carbon (TOC) and ultraviolet (UV) measurements. The contaminant utilized in the PTFE dialysis units with the extracted DOM was the herbicide alachlor. From high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) results, two samples exhibited significant interactions and binding with alachlor. Although the interactions correlated with either high or low levels of pH, TOC, and SUVA, the losses of total alachlor in the dialysis devices and its difficulty in replicating environmental conditions resulted in inconclusive data, as reported in prior studies. Additionally, the dialysis process demonstrated to be an inefficient method to reach equilibration and replicate environmental conditions.Item Development of Wireless Smart Concrete Sensing Technology Using Carbon Nanofiber Aggregate(2022-04-14) Doshi, AkashThe focus of this research will be to develop a wireless smart concrete sensing technology by using Carbon Nanofiber Aggregates (CNFAs) which will be piezoelectric aggregates and that can respond uniquely to different multi-hazards. Since concrete is the most widely used construction material, this unique response makes this a sensor that is capable of being used in the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of civil infrastructures in each of the multi-hazards which produces a unique vibration pattern to the CNFA sensors. Alongside picking up unique stress levels and vibration patterns from various hazards, the CNFA will also be able to assess flooding by taking the total hydrostatic pressure into account that is applied on the surface of the CNFA. This hydrostatic pressure of structural stress produces equivalent stress in the CNFA which is derived from the strain generated in it. As a result, the CNFA based structural health monitoring system will be employed to determine the flood water depth around any concrete structures. Through the development of a wireless structural health monitoring system, the system can then alert and enable the humankind to assess the impacts remotely which are caused by various disasters. This system will continuously monitor the civil infrastructures and couple the historical data with real-time data for decision making, and wirelessly transmit the information to a central monitoring system to immediately guide operators and to provide hazard-specific damage assessment tools for post-disasters structural health analysis.Item Ferrihydrite Nanoparticles Aggregation(2017-10-12) Pham, Christopher; Liu, JuanjuanItem King Solomon's Temple a Cornerstone for Modern Construction(2022-04-14) Lapizar, Dynesse; Zarazua, JocelynHistorians believe the traditional construction began to take shape in Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Achaemenid empire. However, there is no specific building or area that can be marked as the beginning of modern construction. As the world constantly advances, we need to understand that modern technology and practices have evolved from prior principles and guidelines. Engineers today need to understand the principles that have laid the foundation for contemporary construction, and how they have developed over the years. King Solomon’s temple is a perfect example of a structure that embodies these principles to which we still practice. As engineers, we begin to analyze this building to understand how it came to be by asking questions like, how the structure was built, what planning went into making it possible, why the material selection was so important, and how they were able to transport these materials with limited technology at that time. These questions are important because they help set fundamental reasoning and similarity with modern-day construction. This study discusses the key construction methodologies of how antiquity serves as foundations of modern construction such as prefabrication.Item Measuring Pore Sizes in Covalent Organic Framework (COF) Membranes through Dye Rejection Experiments(2023-04-13) Bailey, Kendall; Reed, Dana N.Water recycling reclaims water from a variety of waste sources, then treats and reuses it for beneficial purposes, enhancing water security, sustainability, and resilience. Nanofiltration is a membrane separation process that is useful in many water recycling applications. It uses pressure to filter out solutes based on solute size and membrane pore size. Nanofiltration membranes have a high throughput and are more cost effective to operate than reverse osmosis membranes. In this work, I studied Covalent Organic Framework, or COF membranes for use in nanofiltration. These are considered a new porous polymer material as they were only discovered in 2006. COFs can be synthesized as ordered, customizable thin films and membranes, which have a great potential for nanofiltration performance due to their uniform pores and high porosity. The challenge is that it is hard to measure the pore size of these nanoscale porous materials. In this work, I made COF membranes with various chemistries, characterized their properties, and performed rejection experiments with dye solutes that have various sizes (Brilliant Blue, Congo Red, Primulin, Nitroaniline, Safranine, Methyl Blue, Reactive Black). I assessed the rejection performance of each of the COFs using UV-VIS spectrophotometry and analyzed their results to estimate their pore sizes. Knowing the pore sizes supports future work to understand which COFs would better reject of certain solutes, to identify what membrane characteristics impact rejection, and to evaluate actual rejection performance. This knowledge would allow for COF membranes to be used for more challenging water recycling and nanofiltration applications.Item Plastic Bricks, the Future for Infrastructure(2022-04-14) Castaneda, Brandon; Quintanilla, Edwin; Voehl, JillianThis project focuses on the innovation of using plastic waste and transforming it to create bricks that are not only stronger and more sustainable than other building materials but also have the potential of solving a major environmental and economical crisis.Item Predicting High-Performance Concrete Compressive Strength with Machine Learning(2019) Tran, TommyRecent technological advances in computer hardware and software enable complex computations and allow handling intensive data sets. In particular, the development of machine learning tools has enabled us to extract science and patterns from larger heterogeneous data. Herein, we utilize machine learning to address problems in civil engineering—predict the compressive strength of high-performance concrete based on the composition of the ingredients. Although there are prior efforts on using Artificial Neural Networks to predict the compressive strength, herein we employ more advanced and modern machine learning techniques and algorithms—Keras, Tensorflow, and scikit-learn Python libraries—to make predictions. Specifically, we will use supervised machine learning methods—deep neural networks and support vector machines—for modeling the performance of HPC. The dataset used contains 1,030 batches of HPC and was obtained from the University of California, Irvine Machine Learning Repository. Using numerical experiments, we show that machine learning is an effective tool for predicting concrete properties, and neural networks of the multilayer perceptron type giving higher predictability than support vector machines for this particular dataset.Item Removal of Pharmaceutical Contaminants from Water using MoO3 nanomaterials(2018-10-18) Aka, MarieWhile chemicals are being disposed of in the environment, more harmful substances are getting found in our waterways. One of those substances is Methylene blue, a blue dye and medication. The accumulation of medications in our waterways is impacting the environment, animals and human health. In fact, polluted water from pharmaceutical disposal if ingurgitated, can cause several health issues. This research focuses on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds, mainly methylene blue, from contaminated water using a photocatalytic nanomaterial, MoO3 (molybdenum trioxide). MoO3 is a nanohybrid materials that can be easily recovered and reused, which makes the water treatment more cost-effective and greener. Molybdenum was selected as the main parent material since it is photocatalytic in visible light. The main goal of this research is to investigate the photocatalytic activities of MoO3 for the removal of chemical and hazardous contaminants in water. In the first part, the MoO3 nanoparticles were synthesized, characterized and tested with methylene blue under visible light and also the dark. We combined metal oxides with Mo as it produces a superior nanohybrid material with great photocatalytic activity under visible light. We then studied the mechanism of degradation and the dissolution of the nanoparticles with respect to time. As a matter of fact, we found out that the structure of the nanoparticles synthesized and the pH of the methylene blue solution greatly impact the degradation process. We still need to find the right combination of those parameters in order to get an optimal contaminants removal.Item Repairing Steel & Concrete Structures Using Smart Materials Including Fiber Reinforced Polymers & Shape Memory Alloys(2018-10-18) Gallagher, JustinThis project examines the repair of Metallic Structural Elements with Fiber Reinforced Polymers and Shape Memory Alloys, and the rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Columns with Shape Memory AlloysItem Self-Healing Concrete(2017-10-12) Montesinos, RuthConcrete is made up of three components: Portland cement, aggregate, and water. CaCO3 Cement “Glue” in concrete. Cement is vital in construction because of its ability to hold the structure together and aid in providing the strength necessary to support stresses and strains. One of concrete’s major setbacks is the lack of long term durability. The end goal is to incorporate bacteria and its nutrient in the concrete by mixing and then letting it set. The concrete should have everything necessary to heal itself without human intervention. More experiments have to be conducted in order to determine whether self-healing concrete is a viable option for the future.Item Using SAM to Model the Prevalence of Preeclampsia, its Risk Factors, and Mortality(2019) Shawareb, LaylaTo help address the specific maternal health issue of Preeclampsia, I had the goal of modeling a visual representation risk factors for this health condition using a simulation and secondary research. Some of the most important risk factors for Preeclampsia include chronic hypertension prior to or during pregnancy, previous history of preeclampsia or family history of preeclampsia, multiple pregnancies, race (especially Black and Asian women), lack of prenatal care, and advanced maternal age[3]. We can draw attention to the issue of maternal health and maternal mortality by creating this simulation.