Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
Model-Free Relative Permeability Estimation and Oil Recovery Prediction in Reservoir Rocks from Capillary Pressure Curves
Published: 2026-08-12
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This paper presents and validates a model-free method for predicting the relative permeability and oil recovery of reservoir rocks directly from the shape of the capillary pressure curve, tested against real reservoir core, digital rock models, and a large soil-hydraulic dataset. Relative permeability is the key saturation function governing production forecasts, water cut, and oil recovery in [...]
Machine Learning for GIS-Based Flood Susceptibility Mapping: A Global Bibliometric and Systematic Review of Research Trends and Future Directions (2005-2026)
Published: 2026-08-12
Subjects: Engineering
Flood susceptibility mapping (FSM) has become an essential component of disaster risk reduction and sustainable environmental management, particularly with the growing frequency and severity of flood events under changing climatic conditions. The integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and machine learning (ML) has significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency of flood [...]
Barrier vulnerability following outwash: A balance of overwash and dune gap recovery
Published: 2026-08-11
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Existing barrier evolution models only simulate storm impacts from landward-driven flows (overwash), neglecting the impacts of seaward-directed flows (outwash). Here, we modify an existing model to incorporate outwash processes. We find that outwash enhances barrier vulnerability (the tendency to drown) over decadal timescales by scarring the island interior, creating lower, narrower landforms. [...]
Effect of Three-Phase Relative Permeability on Field-Scale Carbon Dioxide Storage and Oil Recovery
Published: 2026-08-04
Subjects: Engineering, Petroleum Engineering
Currently, the vast majority of subsurface carbon dioxide storage occurs in mature oil fields, where sequestration is combined with enhanced oil recovery. When carbon dioxide is injected below the minimum miscibility pressure, three-phase flow occurs. We study the sensitivity of assumptions made in the assignment of three-phase relative permeabilities on predicted oil recovery and carbon dioxide [...]
Reconstructing Spatial Denudation Patterns in a Reverse-Engineered Fluvial Catchment
Published: 2026-08-03
Subjects: Engineering
Quantifying the spatial heterogeneity of denudation rates is a challenge in geomorphology, particularly in tectonically subdued montane landscapes. We develop a sediment flux-based framework to estimate spatial denudation using a generic reverse-engineered fluvial catchment. The model combines physically based hydraulic geometry with a sediment transport relation to compute gravel flux throughout [...]
Microstructural Inference Framework for Saturated Soils Based on the Maximum Entropy Principle: Analytical Formulation, Numerical Implementation, and Validation
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Engineering
The unit weight γ and the permeability k define an underdetermined inverse problem: infinitely many pore-size distributions p(s) are compatible with the same pair of observations. Empirical correlations resolve this ambiguity by imposing rigid structural forms —valid only for a limited range of materials— that do not hold across the broad spectrum of natural soils. This work formulates an [...]
Integrating Climate Change into Hydraulic Hazard Assessment: A Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Modeling Approach on the Muto Stream Basin
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering
The Mediterranean basin is currently experiencing a profound shift in its climatological baseline, with extreme weather events striking coastal and inland catchments with unprecedented intensity. This changing paradigm forces engineers, hydrologists, and environmental planners to fundamentally rethink how spatial management and infrastructure design are approached. In this paper, we document and [...]
Beyond Black-Box Flood Susceptibility Mapping: An Explainable and Community-Validated GIS-Machine Learning Framework
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Engineering
Floods are among the most destructive natural hazards, causing substantial economic losses, environmental degradation, and threats to human lives worldwide. Although Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and machine learning (ML) have significantly improved flood susceptibility mapping (FSM), many existing models remain difficult to interpret due to their black-box nature, limiting stakeholder [...]
Model and algorithm for constructing a horizon surface in the vicinity of a single fault
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The article addresses the problem of constructing 3D structural models of geological horizons under faulting conditions. The most labor-intensive stage of structural reservoir modeling is the construction of horizon surfaces that must simultaneously fit seismic data and satisfy structural consistency conditions near faults. It is proposed to reduce the problem of recovering the "unreliable" [...]
Dynamic Framework to Quantify Thermal Resiliency and Passive Survivability During Prolonged Air Conditioning Outages in Extreme Hot Climate: Arizona Case Study
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Engineering, Other Engineering
Increasing frequency and severity of extreme heat events, and growing dependence on air-conditioning systems emphasize the need to evaluate thermal resiliency of buildings during cooling outages. Existing thermal resiliency evaluation methodology do not fully capture passive survivability and recovery components. This study aims to develop a comprehensive dynamic framework to evaluate thermal [...]
A Blueprint for Modern Floodplain Management: System Requirements and Architecture for AI-Ready Platforms
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
Floodplain managers play a critical role in mitigating flood risks and ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. Their daily work often depends on a patchwork of standalone tools, manual processes, and legacy systems that have evolved over time to meet regulatory and community needs. To establish a foundation for next-generation technological solutions, we synthesized [...]
Residential Structure-Resolved Fuel Loading for Emissions Estimation in a Wildland–Urban Interface Fire
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Engineering
Fuels in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) include a variety of anthropogenic materials connected to historical and socio-economic backgrounds in addition to biomass. Yet current emission inventories rely on uniform fuel loading factors (FLFs) that treat all structures as compositionally identical. In this study, we develop a structure-resolved combustible fuel inventory for ~5,400 single-family [...]
Machine Learning-Based Sedigraph Reconstruction for Enhanced Sediment Yield Estimation in the Upper Blue Nile Basin
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering
Sediment-laden runoff in Ethiopia’s Upper Blue Nile Basin (UBNB) threatens the ecological balance of Lake Tana and the operational efficiency of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a critical hydropower infrastructure. High sediment loads, driven by intense monsoon rainfall and erodible soils, exacerbate erosion and sedimentation, affecting water quality and the longevity of [...]
Machine-learning-based classification of shear-band particles in a discrete-element reverse-fault model
Published: 2026-07-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering
Discrete element method (DEM) simulations provide time-resolved particle-scale information on particle motion, contact forces, rotation, and local deformation. However, these outputs are high-dimensional, making it difficult to directly interpret which particle-level descriptors characterize localized deformation. This study develops a machine-learning workflow for classifying shear-band [...]
PSI monitoring of fault zones at the Starobin potash deposit based on Sentinel-1 data
Published: 2026-07-24
Subjects: Engineering
The Starobin potash salt deposit has been mined for over forty years with annual extraction measured in millions of tons. In the vicinity of tectonic fault junction zones, this creates a risk of local technogenic earthquakes caused by fault activation. Local geodetic monitoring within mining allotments is of limited utility for assessing large-scale tectonic deformations, since intense local [...]