| xxxx |
Environmental, Ocean, and Risk and Safety Engineering Research in Environmental Engineering within the ME Department is quite diverse with on-going projects in surface water, ground water, and air quality as well as in ocean engineering, energy efficiency, and environmental risk analysis. In the area of surface water, the main emphasis is on the transport and fate of hydrophobic contaminants and includes research on the resuspension and erosion of bottom sediments, the flocculation and deposition of fine-grained sediments, the sorption of hydrophobic contaminants to these sediments, and the risk assessment and remediation of the contaminated sediments. This work includes numerical modeling, laboratory experiments, and field studies. The transfer of contaminants between surface waters and air and the subsequent transport and fate of these contaminants is also being investigated. In ground water and soil contamination, investigations are being made into the flow of water in soils where a water-air interface is present within the soil and also into the transport and fate of radioactive materials and organic chemicals in soils. Research in Ocean Engineering is focused on hydrodynamic processes relevant to engineering in the ocean and coastal environment. Current projects include research on wind wave generation, wave breaking, radar scattering from the sea surface, cable deployment, sediment transport modelling, flow over ripples and dunes, scour, and flow separation. Energy-efficient technologies are being developed for industrial cooling and heating systems as well as for fluid transport in pipelines. Hydrodynamic studies of additives for enhanced flood control are underway, and studies of the removal of surfactants and other chemical additives from water are also being conducted. A major interest is risk assessment, especially in connection with the definition of uncertainties, the resolution of issues on complex physicochemical behavior during accidents, the analysis of complex technological systems, and the analysis and modifications of risks due to environmental contamination and potential remedial actions. Research facilities include a wave tank 55 m long and 3.5 m wide, a tilting 22 m long flume for sediment and wave research, a wind tunnel, an annular flume and a straight flume with a movable core for sediment resuspension and erosion studies, several disk and Couette flocculators for the study of particle aggregation, and particle sizing instrumentation capable of measuring particle sizes from 10 nm to 500 um. Both theoretical and experimental investigations are well-supported by computer work stations in the laboratories as well as by easy access to more powerful computers in the College.Faculty: |
________________________________________________________________________________
Page Revised December 14, 2005 - webmaster
Home | People | Research | Graduate | Undergraduate | News & Events