Environmental Engineering / Çevre Mühendisliği
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/4321
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Article Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 5Stabilization of Calcareous Subgrade Soils With Polyelectrolytes: Mechanisms and Mechanical Properties(Taylor & Francis, 2023) Huang, Jianxin; Kogbara, Reginald; Mohomad, Yosef; Kogbara, Reginald B.; Masad, Eyad; Sukhishvili, Svetlana; Little, DallasOrganic polyelectrolytes, i.e. anionic poly(sodium 4-styrenesulphonate) (PSS), cationic poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) and their polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) were evaluated for stabilisation of calcareous sandy subgrade soil. This paper investigated the effects of polymer type, surface charge type of PEC, concentrations of PEC solutions and dosages of polymer solutions added to the soil on improvement of soil mechanical properties. We found that anionic polymers, for both PECs and individual polyelectrolytes, were superior to their cationic counterparts in improving soil strength. Besides, the constituent polyelectrolytes, PSS and PDADMAC, worked better than their PECs for the specific soil investigated. The strength of polymer-treated soils was also found to increase with the increase in dosages of the polymer solutions as well as curing periods. Furthermore, polymer-treated soil specimens exhibited significant toughness improvement, which was higher than cement-treated samples. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed the abundance of long palygorskite fibres covering the surfaces of larger calcite and dolomite particles and linking surrounding aggregates after adding polymers. This observation suggests the interconnection of palygorskite fibres and their linking networks between and among coarse aggregates as the likely mechanism of polymer stabilisation of the soil studied.Article Citation - WoS: 11Citation - Scopus: 13A Systematic Assessment of Flooding Potential in a Semi-Arid Watershed Using Grace Gravity Estimates and Large-Scale Hydrological Modeling(Taylor & Francis, 2022) Khorrami, Behnam; Fıstıkoğlu, Okan; Gündüz, OrhanThe emergence of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) paved the way for remote tracking of hydrological water cycle components at large scales. With the main motivation of evaluating the feasibility of the coarse resolution GRACE data for small-scale analysis, the GRACE data and large-scale hydrological models were utilized in an integrated manner to monitor the variations of the flood potential index (FPI) over the Western Anatolian Basin (WAB). The results show an ascending trend for monthly and annual FPI over the WAB. The results also suggest that the monthly FPI in 2015, 2003, 2009, and 2016 was the highest, from which the highest potentiality of flood appertains to 2015/07 with an FPI of 0.92. The lowest and highest annual FPI is 0.26 (in 2007) and 0.76 (in 2015), respectively. The validation of the results indicates that variations of FPI coincide with that of the flood incidents, stream discharge, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the simulated flood risk. The findings accentuate the high feasibility of the GRACE JPL Mascons for better surveillance of floods over local scale areas. Highlights The coarse resolution GRACE JPL mascon functions very well in tracing the spatio-temporal characteristics of flood incidents over local scales. There is an ascending trend in the variations of flood potential over the Western Anatolia Basin (WAB). The WAB has experienced its lowest and highest possibility of flooding in 2007 and 2015 with an average FPI of 0.26 and 0.76, respectively. The variations of the flood potential index (FPI) coincides with that of the reported flood incidents, stream discharge, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the simulated flood risk.Article Citation - WoS: 36Citation - Scopus: 38Detection and Analysis of Drought Over Turkey With Remote Sensing and Model-Based Drought Indices(Taylor & Francis, 2022) Khorrami, Behnam; Gündüz, OrhanUnder the severe impacts of climate change, drought has become one of the most undesirable and complex natural phenomena with critical consequences for the environment, economy and society. The orthodox drought monitoring approaches use observations of meteorological stations, which are typically restricted in time and space. Remote sensing, conversely, provides continuous global coverage of a variety of hydro-meteorological variables that are influential in drought, and data extracted from remote sensing and modeling missions are now considered more practical and alluring for researchers. In this study, we applied a combination of field data, remotely sensed data and modeled data to detect and quantitatively analyze drought phenomena. To achieve this objective, we utilized Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies (TWSA) estimations from GRACE mission, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from MODIS mission, Surface Runoff (R) and Evapotranspiration from ERA5 reanalysis datasets and Soil Moisture (SM) from GLDAS data model to evaluate their feasibility in detecting recent droughts over Turkey. We validated the accuracy of several remote sensing-based indices (GRACE Drought Severity Index, Water Storage Deficit Index [WSDI], Soil Moisture Index, Standardized Runoff Index and NDVI) with the traditional indices (SPI and SPEI) calculated from in situ observations of precipitation. The results revealed that the GRACE-based WSDI gave the best performance with high correlations with the SPI index both temporally and spatially over Turkey. We also found that monthly and annual time series of WSDI agreed well with the SPI index with correlations of 0.69 and 0.73, respectively. The results of drought analysis also indicated that WSDI could be used as a proxy to standard meteorological drought indices over Turkey as it performed well to detect and characterize the recent droughts of Turkey based on its comparisons to SPI results.Article Citation - WoS: 36Citation - Scopus: 40Land Deformation and Sinkhole Occurrence in Response To the Fluctuations of Groundwater Storage: an Integrated Assessment of Grace Gravity Measurements, Icesat/Icesat-2 Altimetry Data, and Hydrologic Models(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Khorrami, Behnam; Arık, Fetullah; Gündüz, OrhanUncontrolled extraction of water from groundwater aquifers causes groundwater depletion, which in turn triggers the formation of sinkholes in many parts of the world. Monitoring and detection of these geomorphologic features are of utmost importance and priority for the decision-makers to minimize significant environmental as well as socio-economic implications of land deformation. In this study, a systematic approach is proposed to investigate the spatio-temporal associations of groundwater storage changes with sinkhole evolution and land deformation by using a number of remotely sensed and modeled data as well as in-situ observations. The proposed approach is implemented and tested in Konya Closed Basin (KCB), Turkey, which is one of the most critical areas in central Turkey concerning sinkhole formation. The results of GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) estimates suggest that there is a descending trend in the temporal variations of TWSA (Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies) and GWSA (Groundwater Storage Anomalies) over KCB with an average storage depletion of 4.12 ± 0.34 cm/yr and 3.40 ± 0.61 cm/yr, respectively. The analysis of land deformation from ICESat/ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite) altimetry data also indicates a descending trend with an estimated average vertical displacement of 5 cm/yr for the study area, which seems to be in rational accord with the sinkhole evolution over KCB. The results further suggest that the sinkhole evolution over KCB has an acceptable association with the variations of groundwater storage, groundwater use, and precipitation.Article Citation - WoS: 26Citation - Scopus: 34Arsenite Removal From Groundwater in a Batch Electrocoagulation Process: Optimization Through Response Surface Methodology(Taylor & Francis, 2019) Şık, Emrah; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Demirbaş, Erhan; Kobya, Mehmet; Öncel, Mehmet SalimIn this study, influences of seven process variables such as initial pH (pH(i)), applied current (i), operating time (t(EC)), initial As(III) concentration (C-o), diameter of Fe ball anode (d(p)), column height in the electrocoagulation (EC) reactor (h) and airflow rate (Q(air)) for removal of As(III) from groundwater by a new air-fed fixed-bed EC reactor were evaluated with a response surface methodology (RSM). The proposed quadratic model fitted very well with the experimental data for the responses. The removal efficiencies and operating costs were determined to be 99% and 0.01 $/m(3) at the optimum operating conditions (a pH(i) of 8.5, 0.05 A, 4.94 min, d(p) of 9.24 mm, h of 7.49 cm, Q(air) of 9.98 L/min for 50 mu g/L). This study clearly showed that the RSM in the EC process was a very suitable method to optimize the operating conditions at the target value of effluent As(III) concentration (10 mu g/L) while keeping the operating cost to minimal and maximize the removal efficiency.