Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for January
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Ph. D. Seminar
Fri, Jan 18, 2013 @ 04:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Felipe de Barros and Dr. Ketan Savla, USC-Civil and Environmental Engineering
Talk Title: Research in Civil Engineering
Abstract: Dr. Felipe de Barros and Dr. Ketan Savla are new hired faculty in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They will speak to faculty and graduate students about their research work.
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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CEE Oral Dissertation Defense
Fri, Jan 18, 2013 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Reza Jafakhani, CE Ph.D. Candidate
Talk Title: Studies Into Vibration-Signature-Based Methods for System Identification, Damage Detection and Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructures
Abstract:
Civil infrastructures play a vital role in human societies. Recent catastrophic events due to the deficiency, failure or malfunction of these systems, claiming many lives and resulting in substantial economic loss, have attracted extensive attention focused on reviewing and amending the design and maintenance procedures of civil infrastructures. In addition to the possible failure of structural components, long-term forms of damage due to deterioration or fatigue may also necessitate regular monitoring of civil structures. Therefore, depending on the importance, use and risk, the structure of interest needs to be equipped with inspection, monitoring and maintenance systems. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is generally associated with any engineering methodology whose aim is to detect, locate and quantify the damage in the target system. Vibration-based techniques, as the most conventional SHM approaches, acquire and analyze the structural response using a variety of sensors mounted at different locations on the structure. The main goal of the study reported herein is to investigate and compare different vibration-signature-based methods for system identification, damage detection and health monitoring of civil structures. Various well-known techniques such as finite element model updating approach and damage detection methods based on artificial neural networks are studied and evaluated. Experimental data from two case studies, a quarter-scale two-span bridge system, tested at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a 1/20 scale 4-story building equipped with smart devices of magneto-rheological (MR) damper, are used for investigation and validation purposes. Guidelines are established for the optimum selection of the dominant control parameters involved in the application of some of the robust SHM approaches for achieving reliable SHM results under realistic conditions.
Advisor: Sami Masri
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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CEE Ph.D. Seminar
Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Joon-Ho Choi Ph.D., LEED AP, Assistant Professor of Building Science, USC
Talk Title: Human-Building Interaction: Potential Use of Bio-Signals for Indoor Environmental Controls
Abstract: TBA
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Astani CEE Seminar
Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amy E. Childress, Civil and Environmental Department Chair, University of Nevada, Reno
Talk Title: Towards water and energy sustainability with innovative membrane processes and systems
Abstract: Fresh water scarcity is forcing water providers to rely on alternative water supply sources such as saline waters (e.g., seawater) and ââ¬Åwasteââ¬Â waters. Low-energy treatment processes are desired to remove both established and emerging contaminants from these process waters. Forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD) have gained national and international attention as viable, economic alternatives for seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation. Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) in combination with RO is also being considered to achieve water desalination at low energy expenditure.
FO is an osmotically driven membrane separation process that can be used as a high-level pretreatment for RO or other desalination process. The FO membrane provides an economical means to pretreat process waters and protect the RO membrane from excessive fouling. The FO-followed-by-RO scheme also represents a dual osmotic barrier that may be particularly useful for the removal of micropollutants. MD is a thermally driven membrane separation process that has long been investigated in small-scale laboratory studies and has the potential to become a viable tool for water desalination and brine concentration. Compared to conventional distillation methods, MD requires only small temperature differences â⬓ temperature differences achievable through the use of low-grade or waste heat sources. Compared to RO, the driving force in MD is not reduced by osmotic pressure and thus, MD can be used to treat high salinity solutions or to provide enhanced recovery through brine desalination. Results from investigations on the energy, recovery, and water quality advantages of FO and MD over conventional methods will be presented. The state-of-the-art of research and development of FO and MD systems will also be discussed.
In PRO, water from a low salinity solution permeates through a membrane into a pressurized, high salinity solution; power is obtained by depressurizing the permeate through a hydroturbine. A synergistic RO-PRO desalination system was designed to reduce RO energy requirements and to dilute the brine generated by the RO process prior to disposal. The development and testing of this system will be presented.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes