Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
The sizes and shapes of plastics in rivers
Published: 2025-09-17
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Limited data exists on physical and geometric properties of river litter. To resolve this, we reveal the physical-structural relationships of river litter, using two of the most comprehensive datasets generated to date. First, we dissect the properties of river litter using a detailed dataset of over 14,000 riverbank items, for which their dimensions (longest L₁, intermediate L₂, shortest L₃) and [...]
Nanoindentation study of ripidolite and illite: Micromechanical controls on the sealing capacity of clay-rich caprocks
Published: 2025-09-11
Subjects: Engineering
Clay-rich caprocks are essential for sealing underground energy storage formations, yet their micromechanical behavior under varying stress conditions is not well constrained. In particular, the influence of loading parameters on hardness, elastic modulus, fracture toughness, and time-dependent deformation of individual clay minerals remains insufficiently explored. This study addresses this gap [...]
A HORIZONTAL VECTOR APPROACH TO 3D ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY
Published: 2025-09-03
Subjects: Engineering
Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is commonly implemented with collinear electrode arrays that measure only electric field components along the survey line, neglecting horizontal variations in other directions. This limitation is acceptable in two-dimensional (2D) ERT but can be significant in three-dimensional (3D) settings with complex geometry and strong resistivity contrasts. We propose [...]
Trends in Nitrate Levels in Iowa's Community Water Systems (2000-2022): Characteristics of Systems Vulnerable to MCL Exceedances and Future Regulatory Scenarios
Published: 2025-09-01
Subjects: Engineering
This study examines trends in nitrate contamination in Iowa's community water systems (CWS) from 2000 to 2022, focusing on the characteristics of CWS that are most vulnerable to elevated nitrate levels and those likely to be impacted by a lower maximum contaminant level (MCL). Using Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) compliance data for CWSs currently without nitrate removal, we analyzed nitrate [...]
Development of Low-Cost, Open-Source Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Water System Monitoring
Published: 2025-08-28
Subjects: Education, Engineering
Commercially available Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) in the market are expensive, and the software used for automating navigation and bathymetry mapping are typically proprietary. Large scale collection of water quantity and quality data requires dynamic in-situ sensing approaches with open-source software for user flexibility. This manuscript presents an open-source, economic, and efficient [...]
Design and Application of Three-component Force Sensor Principle and Structural Progress
Published: 2025-08-25
Subjects: Engineering
Three-component force sensors are capable of simultaneously detecting force or moment components in three directions in space, and are widely used in robotics, industrial automation, medical equipment, and sports technology. This article focuses on resistive-strain, capacitive, and piezoelectric three-component force sensors. Among them, the resistance strain type three-component force sensor has [...]
Validating and Comparing Energy Estimation Methods at Water Resource Recovery Facilities
Published: 2025-08-23
Subjects: Engineering
Water resource recovery facilities play a crucial role in the water-energy nexus, consuming a substantial amount of energy in the United States. Growing treatment volumes and more stringent water quality standards are expected to increase the amount of energy needed to treat wastewater, but accurately estimating energy consumption and potential remains challenging due to variability in scale, [...]
Development of an Integrated Geological-Engineering Framework for Assessing the Heat Extraction Potential from the Geopressured Wilcox Reservoir on the Gulf Coast of Texas
Published: 2025-08-18
Subjects: Engineering
This study aims to establish a comprehensive framework for evaluating the geothermal potential of High-Pressure and High-Temperature (HPHT) aquifers or geopressured geothermal reservoirs in the Wilcox Formation on the onshore Gulf Coast of Texas, USA. The framework integrates geological and engineering approaches to determine the feasibility and viability of harnessing geothermal energy from [...]
Altitudinal and Seasonal Assessment of Precipitation Chemistry and Wet Deposition in the Vaz Research Forest, Northern Iran
Published: 2025-08-14
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
This study examines the chemical composition of precipitation across altitudinal gradients in the Vaz Research Forest, northern Iran, from 1999 to 2003. Precipitation samples were collected at 300, 1000, 1600, and 2200 m above sea level. Concentrations of nitrate (NO₃⁻), sulfate (SO₄²⁻), chloride (Cl⁻), ammonium (NH₄⁺), calcium (Ca²⁺), and magnesium (Mg²⁺) and their wet deposition values were [...]
High-ambition climate action in all sectors can achieve a 60% greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Korea by 2035
Published: 2025-08-13
Subjects: Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Under the Paris Agreement’s ratchet mechanism, countries are expected to enhance their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), including new targets for 2035. For Korea, one of the world’s largest CO2 emitters, the challenge is to strengthen its existing policy framework to not only ensure the achievement of its 2030 NDC but also support a more ambitious 2035 pathway. This study employs an [...]
Development of a Streamlit-Based Deep Learning Tool for Instant Soil Classification from Borehole Grain Size Data
Published: 2025-08-11
Subjects: Engineering
Soil classification is an important part of geology in geotechnical engineering, because it affects the design of foundations, slope stability, and the safety of the construction site. This study presents an easy, dependable, and intelligent soil classification framework using a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) deep learning model. Data used to train the MLP model included both real borehole grain [...]
Virunga Volcanoes Supersite Biennial Report: 2017- 2019
Published: 2025-08-09
Subjects: Education, Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Virunga Volcanoes is the first Supersite established on the African continent in a highly populated Multi-hazards region. This permanent Supersite was established in a critical context as little was known about the Virunga hazards sources and their dynamics, and little done as measures to evaluate, mitigate and reduce their impacts. Similarly, the active volcanoes are poorly studied and [...]
Technological Adaptation Outpaces Climate Impacts on Aviation: Evidence from Three Decades of Warming
Published: 2025-08-08
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Climate impact assessments frequently prioritize projections over empirical validation of operational outcomes. We introduce and apply a generalizable empirical validation framework that (i) separates operational encounters from safety outcomes and (ii) tests climate → operations linkages via physical mechanism validation with explicit detectability bounds. Using 33 years (1991–2023) of U.S. [...]
Geomodelling of multi-scenario non-stationary reservoirs with enhanced GANSim
Published: 2025-08-05
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Hydrology, Mining Engineering, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
Reservoir geomodelling is critical for groundwater management, CO₂ storage, geothermal exploitation, and hydrocarbon exploration, yet traditional geostatistical methods like multiple-point statistics (MPS) struggle with simulating complex geological patterns. GANSim, a Generative Adversarial Networks-based geomodelling method, has proven effective for single-scenario stationary reservoirs, but [...]
Artificial Intelligence in Earth Science: A GeoAI Perspective
Published: 2025-08-03
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
GeoAI, or geospatial artificial intelligence, has transformative potential for Earth science by integrating geospatial data with artificial intelligence to enhance environmental monitoring, predictive modeling, and decision-making. This commentary, based on the Greg Leptoukh Lecture at AGU 2024, explores the evolving role of GeoAI in addressing pressing challenges—from environmental change in the [...]