Projects and Proposals
Guidelines for Resilient Erosion- and Sediment-Control Practices
(2024-2025)
Project Summary
The project addresses the critical challenge of sediment pollution from highway construction, which degrades water quality, disrupts ecosystems, and increases flooding risks. Traditional E&SC designs often fail during severe storm events, leading to frequent failures and costly repairs. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore existing E&SC design approaches, identify practices lacking sufficient or any design guidance, and investigate resilience and risk-based hydrologic designs. The review also evaluated hydraulic and hydrologic modeling research, assessed performance-based testing methods, and classified E&SC practices as unstudied, outdated, or newly emerging. These findings will inform the development of resilient, risk-based E&SC design guidelines that account for regional hydrology, soil characteristics, and climate change impacts. The project aims to establish scientifically supported guidelines for selecting, sizing, and placing E&SC measures that can withstand severe storm events, enhancing the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of stormwater management practices across diverse applications.
Maximizing Living Shoreline Longevity through Optimized Thin Layer Depths (2023-2024)
Project Summary
Coastal wetlands are essential for protecting shorelines from erosion, rising sea levels, and storms while also improving water quality and providing habitats for wildlife. In the northern Gulf of Mexico, these wetlands face significant threats from accelerated sea level rise, stronger storms, and ongoing erosion, leading to substantial land loss. This study aimed to determine the optimal depth of sediment addition, known as thin layer placement (TLP), to support the survival of Juncus roemerianus (Black Needle Rush) in this vulnerable region. Findings provide crucial insights for coastal restoration efforts, suggesting that sediment additions should not exceed 8 inches to maintain healthy plant growth. This knowledge can guide more effective and sustainable shoreline restoration, extending the life of living shorelines and offering a cost-effective alternative to expensive hard structures, ultimately ensuring better protection for coastal communities.
Evaluation Methods for Application of Flocculants on Construction Sites (2022-2023)
Project Summary
Erosion and sediment control (E&SC) practices are continuously evolving as new ideas are evaluated and implanted. The use of flocculants is one practice in E&SC that is still being explored as their current uses are based on manufacturers' guidelines that are not specific to site conditions. Utilizing flocculants in control settings (i.e., wastewater treatment plants) is easier to regulate and monitor than when used on construction sites as the conditions are constantly changing and inconsistent. Currently, there is a knowledge gap in monitoring flocculant implementation as a whole on construction sites. This gap in knowledge is why many state agencies do not use flocculants in their E&SC practices. This research
strives to provide a baseline of testing methodologies to evaluate various flocculant products, provide a better understanding of how flocculants behave in field applications to ensure proper conditions are met for maximizing the product, and aid in reducing fine sediment particles that take too long to fall out of suspension on their own.
Hydraulic Performance Evaluation of Wattle Encasement and Density Used for Erosion and Sediment Control (2021-2022)
Project Summary
The popularity of wattles has increased in practice due to the availability of the variety of materials within the wattle and their various applications through ditch checks, perimeter controls, and inlet protection practices. Past wattle research has found that even though a wide variety of materials can be used within wattles, only a few materials are effective at minimizing erosion. Shifting the focus to the encasement material on the wattle has the potential to improve wattle efficacy. Four different socking materials were evaluated on excelsior wattles – plastic netting, polypropylene, polyester and polypropylene mix, and cotton woven fabrics. Two wattles with increased excelsior density were also assessed with the plastic netting encasement. Each wattle was subjected to four inflow rates at three longitudinal channel slopes per inflow rate. The results from each wattle were normalized by creating a depth ratio and a length ratio.
The Effects of Stereotypes on Engineering Identities Among Latinx Undergraduate Engineering Students (2021-2022)
Project Summary
Latinx undergraduate engineering students often experience stereotype threats during their degree programs that can affect their engineering identity. A stereotype threat is when the fear or anxiety related to one's performance or actions within a group could be associated with a negative stereotype (Shapiro, 2011), which can negatively impact a student’s experience and ultimately affect their academic performance and persistence. Engineering identity is a student's sense of belonging within the engineering community. Each of these factors play a significant role in a student's educational performance and professional persistence in engineering programs. While some research has studied the negative experiences of Latinx students, there is a lack of understanding of how stereotype threats affect their engineering identity. This study aims to evaluate the effects of ethnicity- and gender-based stereotype threats as they relate to Latinx undergraduate engineering students’ engineering identity.
