Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Civil Engineering
Reliability of Contrast-Based Automated Fracture Detection from Decimeter Resolution Aerial Imagery
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Other Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Aerial imagery that captures outcrop exposures of rocks enables the characterization of structural discontinuities such as faults and fractures across large and difficult-to-access areas. These datasets provide an opportunity to analyze the characteristics of fault and fracture networks as analogues for the subsurface. The application of automated interpretation methods to imagery has the [...]
A comprehensive calibration framework for the Northwest River Forecast Center
Published: 2025-04-19
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Hydrology, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering
We present a comprehensive framework developed by the Northwest River Forecast Center for calibrating hydrologically diverse basins. The framework includes models for snow, soil moisture, routing, channel loss, and consumptive use. Data inputs include a wide range of open-access datasets for meteorology, land use, topography, and land cover. The framework uses conceptual hydrologic models to [...]
Understanding Flood Risk in Public Transit Systems: Insights from Accessibility and Vulnerability Analysis in Iowa
Published: 2025-03-14
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Risk Analysis, Spatial Science, Transportation Engineering
Flooding is a major challenge for urban transportation systems, hindering access to essential services and jobs, especially for vulnerable populations. This study examines the impact of large flood extents on public transportation in Johnson and Linn counties, Iowa, United States, focusing on flood-prone bus routes, reduced service frequency, and access to job locations. Using Geographic [...]
A GPR Based Non-destructive Approach to Monitor the Engineering Properties of Compacted Base Layer
Published: 2025-03-07
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Transportation Engineering
Construction variability and isolated defects in base layer can be limiting factors in pavement’s service life. To control construction quality and implement an efficient quality management system, this study develops a quick, accurate, and simple non-destructive method using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to determine reliable values of in-place compacted base material properties, such as [...]
HydroLang FRAM: Web-Based Framework for Comprehensive Flood Risk and Mitigation Assessment and Communication
Published: 2024-12-31
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
As the frequency and impact of floods continue to rise, real-time systems for assessment and sharing flood risk and mitigation information are crucial for proactive stakeholder engagement, effective decision-making, and public education on flood risks. This study introduces an innovative web-based framework designed to revolutionize access and utilization of flood information for flood risk and [...]
AI-Driven Decision-Making for Water Resources Planning and Hazard Mitigation Using Automated Multi Agents
Published: 2024-12-27
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer and Systems Architecture, Computer Engineering, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Higher Education, Hydraulic Engineering, Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Risk Analysis, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Systems Engineering, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Transportation Engineering
This project simulates the Multi-Hazard Tournament (MHT) framework, a decision support system designed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, using AI agents to enhance decisionmaking processes for flood mitigation and water resource management. The objective of the framework is to develop optimal strategies for protecting water resources, habitats, and communities within a defined budget. The [...]
Improved Streamflow Simulations in Hydrologically Diverse Basins using Physically Informed Deep Learning Models
Published: 2024-12-23
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Engineering, Hydrology
Physically informed deep learning models, especially Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, have shown promise in large-scale streamflow simulations. However, an in-depth understanding of the relative contribution of physical information in deep learning models has been missing. Using a large-sample testbed of 220 catchments in hydrologically diverse regions of the Indian subcontinent, we [...]
Integration and Execution of Community Land Model Urban (CLMU) in a Containerized Environment
Published: 2024-11-27
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences
The Community Land Model Urban (CLMU) is a process-based numerical urban climate model that simulates the interactions between the atmosphere and urban surfaces, serving as a powerful tool for the convergence of urban and climate science research. Despite its advanced capabilities, CLMU presents significant challenges for users unfamiliar with numerical modeling due to the complexities of model [...]
HydroSuite-AI: Facilitating Hydrological Research with LLM-Driven Code Assistance
Published: 2024-11-26
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Computational Engineering, Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Science and Mathematics Education, Systems and Communications
In the hydrology and environmental domains, researchers often encounter complex hydrological models, evolving frameworks and libraries, and complex documentation, which necessitate both domain knowledge and coding expertise. This paper introduces HydroSuite-AI, a large language model-enhanced web application designed to address these challenges by integrating three open-source libraries: [...]
A Simple Method for Designing Infiltration Low Impact Development Techniques Considering Effects of Urbanization and Climate Change
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Infiltration-focused low-impact development (LID) solutions aim to gradually absorb surface runoff, playing a critical role in reducing both peak flow rates and runoff volumes. These systems are commonly designed with specific surface areas and controlled ponding depths to provide sufficient storage capacity that counteracts the increased runoff resulting from urban expansion. Nevertheless, [...]
Challenges and Opportunities of Data Driven Advance Classification for Hard Rock TBM excavations
Published: 2024-09-21
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering
Excavation with tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) is a widely used method of tunneling in all ground types including soil and rock today. The paper addresses the shift from traditional subjective methods to data-driven approaches for advance classification of TBMs in hard rock tunnel excavation. By leveraging continuous TBM operational data, these methodologies offer more objective, transparent, [...]
Uncertainty-aware sample mass determination for particle size analyses of gravel-dominated soil
Published: 2024-08-23
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Geology, Geomorphology, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Other Earth Sciences, Probability, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Stratigraphy
Determining particle size distributions (PSD) of soils is a basic first step in many geotechnical analyses and guidance is given in different national standards. For ambiguous reasons, the recommended minimum sample mass (m_min) for the PSD-analyses of soils with a main component of gravel or greater is based on equations including the soil's maximum grain diameter (D_max). We claim that the [...]
Integrating Conversational AI Agents for Enhanced Water Quality Analytics: Development of a Novel Data Expert System
Published: 2024-06-01
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Civil Engineering, Databases and Information Systems, Environmental Engineering, Hydrology, Software Engineering
Despite advancements in environmental monitoring, the gap between data collection and user-friendly data interpretation remains a significant challenge, especially in the domain of water quality management. This paper introduces the Artificial Intelligence Data Expert (AI-DE), a novel data analytics system that is designed to facilitate on-demand analysis of time-series sensor data related to [...]
The State of Hydroinformatics Prior to Generative AI: Establishing a Quantitative Baseline (2018–2023)
Published: 2024-05-31
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Computational Engineering, Education, Engineering, Environmental Engineering
The rapid advancement of web applications and machine learning has fundamentally reshaped hydrogeological sciences. While the recent emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) dominates current discourse, understanding the trajectory of this shift requires quantifying the foundational digitization trends that preceded it. This study presents an automated web-mining framework designed to extract [...]
Geo-WC: Custom Web Components for Earth Science Organizations and Agencies
Published: 2024-04-16
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Engineering Education, Hydraulic Engineering
The development of web technologies and their integration into various fields has allowed a new era in data-driven decision-making and public information accessibility, especially through their adoption of monitoring and quantification environmental data resources provided by governmental institutions. While the use of web technologies has given way to the creation of democratized applications, [...]