Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
Automated Load–Settlement Prediction of Shallow Foundations from Pushed-in PENCEL Pressuremeter Data Based on Briaud (2007) Method: A Python-Based Framework
Published: 2025-07-25
Subjects: Engineering
This study presents a fully automated, Python-based framework for predicting shallow foundation settlements from pushed-in PENCEL pressuremeter (PPMT) data, using an adapted implementation of Briaud’s (2007) method. The framework transforms raw in-situ test results into design-grade load–settlement curves by automating key analytical steps, including borehole wall-point detection, Lemée-type [...]
Gauging the Effectiveness and Translatability of Oil Spill Response Technologies to Plastic Pellet Spills
Published: 2025-07-25
Subjects: Engineering
Plastic pellet spills are a growing environmental concern, yet response strategies remain limited and poorly adapted. This study evaluates whether existing oil spill recovery tools, including booms, skimmers, and specialized vessels, can be repurposed to respond to acute releases of plastic pellets. Plastic pellets, while small (typically 1–5 mm in diameter), are characterized by complex physical [...]
Assessing uncertainty of source rock properties using Monte Carlo basin modeling – Application to Canning Basin, Australia
Published: 2025-07-23
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
This study presents a Monte Carlo basin modeling framework for quantifying uncertainty in source rock property predictions by integrating geological, geophysical, and geochemical inputs. The approach accounts for variability in petrological parameters from rock physics inversion, paleo-erosion magnitudes, organic facies properties, and boundary conditions to simulate source rock properties such [...]
Recommendations for improving the design, amenity and performance of privately owned, small-scale biobasins
Published: 2025-07-13
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Due to spatial constraints in cities, it is increasingly challenging to integrate appropriate water sensitive urban design (WSUD) solutions. There has been a shift from larger, precinct-scale bioretention systems owned by local governments to smaller scale ‘biobasins’ managed by private landholders. This shift has brought about unique challenges in regulation, design, maintenance, and [...]
Thermal analysis of meso-scale high-temperature Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) systems with varying operational cycles
Published: 2025-07-12
Subjects: Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Other Mechanical Engineering
High temperature and short-term subsurface heat storage using BTES is a promising option and an emerging technology for increasing the fraction of renewable energy in the heat sector and supplying stored heat at high and directly usable temperatures. Investigation of thermal interactions of multiple BHEs employed for high-temperature cyclic storage operations is required to understand the system [...]
Towards HydroLLM: Building a Domain-Specific Language Model for Hydrology
Published: 2025-07-11
Subjects: Engineering
As large language models (LLMs) continue to expand, their effective adaptation to specialized fields remains a critical challenge. This work presents an initial step toward the development of HydroLLM, a domain-specific LLM for hydrology. We construct a dataset of approximately 8,800 hydrology-focused question–answer pairs, each with a supporting context passage drawn from textbooks and [...]
Remote Sensing-Based Geospatial Analysis of Channel Migration Patterns in the Lower Shire Valley of the Shire River, Chikwawa District, Malawi
Published: 2025-07-11
Subjects: Engineering
This study examines the spatiotemporal dynamics of fluvial geomorphology along the Shire River floodplain in Malawi from 1975 to 2023, with emphasis on channel migration, width variation, sinuosity, meander curvature, and sediment budget changes. Utilizing multi-temporal satellite imagery and geospatial analysis, morphometric indicators were quantified across 41 cross-sectional zones over four [...]
Domain-Specific Embedding Models for Hydrology and Environmental Sciences: Enhancing Semantic Retrieval and Question Answering in RAG Pipelines
Published: 2025-07-11
Subjects: Education, Engineering
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown strong performance across natural language processing tasks, yet their general-purpose embeddings often fall short in domains with specialized terminology and complex syntax, such as hydrology and environmental science. This study introduces HydroEmbed, a suite of open-source sentence embedding models fine-tuned for four QA formats: multiple-choice (MCQ), [...]
Leveraging Large Language Models for Automating Water Distribution Network Optimization
Published: 2025-07-10
Subjects: Engineering
Effective management of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is essential to ensure efficient and reliable water supply in cities. However, many management tasks require complex system modelling and optimization approaches, which heavily rely on specialized domain expertise and human resources. Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) offer promising opportunities to automate complex [...]
Regional Variability of Drought-Crop Sensitivities Across Iowa Using Unsupervised Learning
Published: 2025-07-10
Subjects: Engineering
Understanding the spatial variability of crop drought sensitivity is critical for improving agricultural resilience in the face of climate change. This study presents a station-level analysis of meteorological and yield data across Iowa from 1998 to 2022 to investigate the relationship between multiple drought indices and detrended yields of Corn and Soybean. Eleven drought indicators were [...]
Carbon removal trading can promote economic growth in the Global South but could undermine food and energy security
Published: 2025-07-06
Subjects: Engineering
A fundamental mismatch between countries’ carbon dioxide removal (CDR) responsibilities and their domestic capacities to fulfil them poses a major challenge to achieving the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal. Interregional CDR trade offers a solution, yet there has been no quantitative assessment of how such trade could reshape the economies of exporting regions and impact their [...]
Could seismo-volcanic catalogues be improved or created using weakly supervised approaches with pre-trained systems?
Published: 2025-07-04
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Real-time monitoring of volcano-seismic signals is complex. Typically, automatic systems are built by learning from large seismic catalogs, where each instance has a label indicating its source mechanism. However, building complete catalogs is difficult owing to the high cost of data-labelling. Current machine learning techniques have achieved great success in constructing predictive monitoring [...]
Simultaneous spectral induced polarization and X-ray µCT imaging to investigate pore-scale dynamics and geoelectrical responses in porous media
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding the interplay between pore-scale fluid distribution and bulk electrical properties is critical to improving petrophysical models of partially saturated porous media. This study introduces and evaluates a novel experimental setup that enables synchronized spectral induced polarization (SIP) and X-ray micro-computed tomography (µCT) measurements under dynamic saturation conditions. A [...]
Hydraulic Fracturing in a Confined Space System: Stress State, Fracture Space, and Production Enhancement Mechanism
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Engineering, Mining Engineering
Existing mechanical models for hydraulic fracturing technology are established based on open space systems, assuming fractures are primarily formed through tensile failure. However, the source mechanism of newly created fracture space under confined space conditions with constant total volume remains unclear. This study develops a mechanical model for hydraulic fracturing in confined space [...]
Multi-Model Machine Learning Analysis of Urban Temperature Trends: A Comparative Study on Climate Change Impacts in U.S. Cities of Midwest KANI Region
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Education, Engineering, Life Sciences
Urban temperature prediction is critical for regional climate planning, environmental monitoring, and thermal hazard mitigation. This study employs a multi-model supervised machine learning framework to predict and forecast daily urban air temperatures and evaluate model performance across key counties in the U.S. Midwest KANI region: Polk (IA), Pulaski (AR), Lancaster (NE), and Johnson (KS), [...]