Progress 12/01/04 to 11/01/11
Outputs
Target Audience:Professionals Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The experience of this project, and the use of the USDA SPAW software, demonstrated an ability to design a pond for water supply. The use could be irrigation, water consumption by animals or for domestic uses, or water supply for non agricultural uses such as fire control. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops on pond design have been presented as continuing education programs at ASABE and internationally in several central American countries, several African countries, New Zealand, and Vietnam. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is a final report.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Protocols were developed for modeling non-agricultural practices such as porous pavement, and building roofs. The modeling approaches were used to preliminarily model runoff from the Jefferson location, catching water from roof runoff and storing for landscape irrigation, roof-cooling purposes, fire flow requirements, landscape irrigation and other requirements yet to be identified. We began by simulating a roof, bare soil, and porous pavement as equivalent 'soils' did not exist for these media. As a starting point, we sized bioretention storage capable of containing 90% of rainfall events without overflowing for the area including roof runoff and runoff from a porous paved parking lot. Modeling results suggested that adequate water could be impounded for summer roof cooling (if such were feasible from energy analysis), summer landscape irrigation (5 acres), and supplying supplemental water in the summer for some 500 people. Storage for fire control purposes appears to be an option as well. Economic analysis of several alternatives and brainstorming for additional alternatives would appear to be the next step. Varying predicted sizes by 10% to 15% would not make much difference in irrigation or supply reliability.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/11 to 09/30/11
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
See final report
Publications
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Various methods exist in the literature to predict removal of sediment by buffer areas. The sediment delivery ratio is the most widely applied in theory, but in practice, the simple setback approach is used. The sediment delivery ratio is defined as the ratio of sediment collected at a watershed outlet to the gross watershed erosion. Most calculations of the delivery ratio account for one or more on-site factors to estimate sediment transport and deposition. Predictive potential of two techniques was explored. One method was the stiff diagram combined with a logistic probit curve, widely used in geography and geochemistry to heuristically integrate multiple effects and the second method was use of artificial neural networks to heuristically capture the complex interactions among factors involved in sediment transport and deposition. The two methods were used to estimate sediment delivery ratio using sediment yield data from 30 watersheds and catchments located in the U.S., Canada and Germany. For these 30 sets of data, the stiff diagram approach gave a coefficient of determination of 0.2 for a linear fit between estimated and measured sediment delivery ratios and a negative Nash Sutcliffe efficiency. Integration of the stiff diagram area with artificial neural network improved the estimation of sediment delivery ratio. However, the use of an artificial neutral network with 10 neurons in the hidden layer performed better than stiff diagram method. The optimally trained neural network using 10 neurons in the hidden layer with five inputs, gave MSE of 0.001, R2 of 0.98, and Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.98. This bodes very well for a predictive tool that is rigorously tied to sediment predictions. PARTICIPANTS: The work was done by E W Tollner and Graduate Students Herbert Ssegane. The USAID-AquaCrsp project provided support as did the USEPA. A workshop on Pond design was given at the ASABE Water Quality conference in Costa Rica TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The project expired and was in deferred status. A revision has been sent forward.
Impacts
Current approaches to development take a one size fits all approach to determining riparian buffer widths in that the width is mandated by regulations that do not take into account any physiographic characteristics of the region. The erosion prediction approach is a key component of a model being developed that will enable physiographic and soils data to evaluate buffer effectiveness as a function of width. The use of the sediment delivery ratio design tool is a step toward rational design for meeting water quality goals in agricultural and non-industrial urban watersheds.
Publications
- Zhu, X., L.M. Risse, S.C. McCutcheon, E.W. Tollner, T. Rasmussen and L.T. West. 2010. Laboratory investigation of rill erosion on compost blankets under concentrated flow conditions. Transactions of the ASABE 53(4): 1077-1086.
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Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Erosion from farm field and construction sites is of fundamental importance for best prescribing management practices to protect Georgia Streams. Riparian buffer strips are often used for stream protection when sediment sources are nearby. Using 30 datasets representing 7 different locations, we developed a sediment delivery ratio prediction as a function of buffer width based on soil texture, runoff rate over the buffer, buffer cover, slope, slope shape,and roughness. An artificial neural net was fit over the data to provide R squared values in excess of 90% with predicted and observed sediment delivery ratio. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The newly developed sediment delivery ratio method enables a riparian buffer design that can enable more realistic buffer widths compared to the traditional arbitrary set-backs typically used by agencies.
Publications
- Ssegane, H., Tollner EW, McCutcheon SC. 2009. Riparian sediment delivery ratio: stiff diagrams and artificial neural networks Trans. ASABE 52(6): 1885-1893.
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Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Land physiographic and cover assessment is necessary for taxation purposes, engineering designs and environmental assessment. The widespread availability of GoogleEarthTM makes it possible for farmers, homeowners and government officials to gain similar views of nearly any location on earth. Google EarthTM Pro enhancements enable additional measurement tools and higher resolution images. The missing component needed to make this tool useful for scientific and engineering studies is a suite of analytical approaches necessary for reaching specific goals. Erosion from farm field and construction sites is of fundamental importance for best prescribing management practices to protect Georgia Streams. The study set out to analyze the feasibility of using Google Earth Pro derived elevations to characterize topographic parameters for erosion prediction. An approach was identified for extracting elevation data, required dimensional and other lengths and cover assessment from the computer display. Slopes, lengths, and crop cover data from Google EarthTM Pro was then combined with Rainfall data and soils data (available from published sources and on-line) with the aid of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to make the average annual erosion estimates. PARTICIPANTS: AquaFish CRSP provided funding to do this work as did the IDI Developers of Atlanta. This was in addition to the funding provided by the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations. TARGET AUDIENCES: This work is relevant for Agricultural Engineers working in the area of land development and other applications requiring assessment of land use change on downstream development. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Data from Moiben, Kenya and the Phil Campbell conservation research station watershed (Watkinsville, GA, P1 watershed) compared to established elevations to within the 3 to 4 meter tolerance of the hand-held GPS units used in the study, suggestion that the Google EarthTM Pro-derived measurements were useful. Slopes, lengths and areas of 9 test watersheds around the US and Uganda compared well with published data for the respective watersheds. Estimated averaged erosion differed from measurements from ten micro-watersheds by mean absolute error of 0.76 Mg ha-1 yr-1 and r2 = 0.95. An approach for making an objective assessment of effective slope length needed for the erosion estimation was an advance in making the improved erosion predictions. The study stretched the applications of Google EarthTM Pro from a location search and 3D Earth observatory tool to a remote sensing tool useful in extracting micro-watershed topographic parameters in regions with high resolution photographs. The major disadvantage of the approach was that some areas have comparably low resolution photographs that limit the estimation of soil cover. Current approaches to development take a one size fits all approach to determining riparian buffer widths in that the width is mandated by regulations that do not take into account any physiographic characteristics of the region. The erosion prediction approach is a key component of a model being developed that will enable physiographic and soils data to evaluate buffer effectiveness as a function of width. The use of the erosion tool will enable planners to rapidly estimate erosion potentials, which will in turn enable rapid buffer effectiveness estimation. This work will enable a science-based buffer prediction that will better protect streams and enable sensible development.
Publications
- Hilten, R. H., T. M. Lawrence, and E. W. Tollner. 2008. Developing a predictive stormwater model for a greenroof system with engineered soil. Journal of Hydrology 358(3-4):288-293.
- Bhandarkar, S.M., X. Luo, R.F. Daniels and E.W. Tollner. 2008. Automated planning and optimization of lumber production using machine vision and computer tomography. Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering 5:1-18.
- Tollner, E.W., D. Meyer, S. Triminio-Meyer2 and J. J. Molnar. 2008. Spreadsheet tool for computing levee pond excavation costs for developing countries. Aquacultural Engineering (In Press).
- Tollner, E.W. 2008. Natural Resources Engineering. IN Encyclopedia of Rural America. Ed. by G. Goreham. Greyhouse Publishing, Millerton, NY. 2:667-672. (invited).
- Ssegane, H., E. W. Tollner, and S. C. McCutcheon. 2008. Prediction of Riparian Zone Sediment Delivery Ratio Using Stiff Diagram and Artificial Neural Networks. Paper no. 08-3561presented at the ASABE International Meeting, Providence, RI. Am. Soc. Agr. Engrs., St. Joseph, MI.
- Singh, K., E. W. Tollner, S. Mani, L. M. Risse, K. C. Das, and J. Worley. 2008. Emergy Analysis of a Pyrolysis Process., Accepted for presentation at 5th Biennial emergy research conference, January 31 - February 2, 2008, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Singh, K, E. W. Tollner, S. Mani, L. M. Risse, K. C. Das, and John Worley. 2008. Transforming solid wastes into high quality bioenergy products: Entropy analysis, Accepted for presentation at North American Waste to Energy Conference (NAWTEC-16), May 19-21, Philadelphia, PA.
- Ssegane, H. T. Jordan and E.W.Tollner. 2008. Integration of GIS, Remote Sensing and USLE to Estimate Soil Erosion Potential in Nzoia River Basin (Kenya). Paper 08-xxxx presented at the 21st Century Watershed Technology: Improving Water Quality and Environment, Concepcion, Chile, Am Soc Agr. Engineers, St. Joseph, MI.
- Tollner, E.W. 2008. Variation in computing the Length Factor in the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE International Meeting. ASEE, Washington, DC.
- Ssegane, H., E W Tollner and S. Mccutcheon. 2008. Estimation of micro-watershed topographic parameters using earth observatory tools. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, In Press.
- Mosqueda, M., E W Tollner, R W Mcclendon, G. Boyhan and C. Li. 2008. Simulating onion packinghouse product flow for performance evaluation and education, Bioresource Engineering. In Press.
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
A software package was assembled and evaluated for assessing the potential of soil erosion due to urban and agricultural development within the Nzoia River basin (Kenya). Google Earth Pro was used to define site characteristics. An extensive analysis of the components of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and the US Forest Service sediment delivery ratio method was made to determine erosion potential and sediment yield respectively. The paired t-test comparison between GPS elevation and Google Earth Pro derived elevation showed difference between the elevations but the error margin was within the GPS unit's error margin of 5 meters. The ground truth results obtained from measured data for Watkinsville (US) and Bukora (Uganda) watersheds compared to the predicted values yielded 6 % average deviation and 10.5 % average deviation respectively with R2 of 0.995. The Moore and Sergoit bridge sites located near Eldoret, Kenya were analyzed. The predicted average soil
loss at Moore's bridge site was 192 tons ha-1 yr-1 with a stream sediment yield of 1.8 tons ha-1 yr-1 while at Sergoit site was 5.3 tons ha-1 yr-1 with a stream sediment yield of 0.05 tons ha-1 yr-1. It was deduced that Google Earth Pro is useful for the initial surveys in extracting site topographic and land use patterns. The preliminary results suggested that agricultural pollution is not a threat in this particular region but would become one as more riparian zones are cleared. Also, the rainfall energy of the region is close to that in the US, common crops of the US are in production, and the soils of the region are of the Ultisol and Oxisol classifications (southeast US). The success of the remotely sensed erosion potential suggests that storm water management with riparian buffers that are designed with site-specificity may provide more meaningful options for effective urban storm water management in urban areas. Approaches developed are being applied to a paired watershed in
north Georgia where one of the watersheds is undergoing active urbanization. Additionally, the success of this work is directly applicable to the physiographic analysis required for nutrient management plan development for poultry, beef and dairy enterprises.
Impacts
Current approaches to development take a one size fits all approach to determining riparian buffer widths in that the width is mandated by regulations that do not take into account any physiographic characteristics of the region. The erosion prediction approach is a key component of a model being developed that will enable physiographic and soils data to evaluate buffer effectiveness as a function of width. The use of the erosion tool will enable planners to rapidly estimate erosion potentials, which will in turn enable rapid buffer effectiveness estimation. This work will enable a science-based buffer prediction that will better protect streams and enable sensible development.
Publications
- K.C. Das, P.A. Annis, E.W. Tollner and S. Dudka. 2006. Technical and economic aspects of utilizing fibrous wool composts in horticulture. Journal of Applied Horticulture 8(2): 165-169.
- Meyer, S., J. Molnar, D. Meyer. and E. Tollner. 2007. Tilapia fingerling production in Honduras. Journal of Applied Aquaculture 19 (2): 1-27.
- Tollner, E.W. and C. Kazanci. 2007. Discrete simulation approaches for analyzing ecological thermodynamics.208(1): 68-79.
- Tekeste, M.Z., R.L.Raper and E.W. Tollner, T.R. Way. 2007. Finite element analysis of cone penetration in soil for prediction of hardpan location. Trans. ASABE 50(1): 23-31.
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Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06
Outputs
A study was conducted to examine how a simple ecosystem, a greenroof, when added to a typical roof affects stormwater quantity and building energy loads, and if climate type influences those effects. Heat and moisture transport parameters for a modular block greenroof system were evaluated based on physical measurements and simulated soil hydraulics. Using climatic data from seven U.S. evaluation cities, the greenroof system was then evaluated to determine the stormwater runoff compared to an impervious roof surface such as a typical commercial building built-up roof (BUR). Additionally, overall impact on building energy loads for cooling and heating for a greenroof were compared to a conventional BUR. Runoff simulations were run in HYDRUS-1D, while energy load simulations were run for a hypothetical retail warehouse building in the evaluation cities using an accepted tool, eQuest. Simulation results were validated based upon in situ observations at a greenroof
installation in Athens, Georgia. Simulated yearly runoff and cooling load reductions for the evaluation cities ranged from 17-81 % and 2.5-6.9 %, respectively, for a typical commercial building.
Impacts
This project will enable planners to understand the potential stormwater implications and energy implications of the green roof concept. Current greenroof concepts do not show significant energy benefits in most cases but do reduce stormwater runoff peaks.
Publications
- Hilten, R. H., T. M. Lawrence, and E. W. Tollner. Developing a predictive stormwater model for a greenroof system with engineered soil. Submitted to Journal of Hydrology, June 2006.(In Review)
- Birkett, C., E.W. Tollner and D. Gattie. 2006. Total Suspended Solids and Hydraulic Regime effects on periphyton growth in a laboratory flume. Transactions of the ASABE. (Accepted)
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Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
A study was conducted to determine how green roofing affects stormwater runoff from a rooftop. Stormwater runoff was simulated in seven evaluation cities representing various climate types of the United States. Simulations were run using HYDRUS-1D, a one-dimensional heat, moisture, and multiple solute simulation for variably-saturated porous media. Simulated runoff quantities were validated based on physical measurements at a greenroof study site located on the University of Georgia's Athens campus. The study site consisted of a 400 ft square modular greenroof system atop a utility room for University of Georgia Science Library. The modular blocks were 60 cm square, 10 cm deep aluminum containers filled with an engineered soil. Vegetation consisted of several Sedum species, a succulent CAM plant. Soil hydraulic parameters including a characteristic moisture release curve were evaluated for the engineered soil using both physical measurements from Tempe cell experiment
and simulation results from HYDRUS-1D. Using 2004 climate data from seven evaluation cities along with hydraulic parameters of the greenroof soil, HYDRUS-1D predicted urban stormwater reduction in the range of 17-81 % for greenroof installations in the seven evaluation cities using a five, ten, fifteen, and thirty-centimeter soil depths.
Impacts
A successful stormwater runoff and energy load prediction tool was developed. Though many studies have developed prediction tools for stormwater runoff, energy load prediction tools were not readily available to assess the energy saving benefits of green roofs. In addition, a previously untested engineered soil was evaluated in term of hydraulic properties. In all, a method is presented with the hope that builders, designers, and planners could better predict for consumers the effects of green roofs in various climate types long before construction begins at a site.
Publications
- Tollner, E.W. and T.C. Rasmussen. 2005. Simulated moving bed forms effects on real time in-stream sediment concentration measurement with densitometry. Jour. of Hydraulic Engineering. (In Press).
- Bhandarkar SM, X.Z. Luo, R. Daniels and E.W. Tollner. 2005. Detection of cracks in computer tomography images of logs Pattern Recognition Letters 26 (14): 2282-2294.
- Gattie D.K., E.W. Tollner, T.L. Foutz. 2005. Network environ analysis: A mathematical basis for describing indirect effects in ecosystems. Trans ASAE, Vol. 48(4):1645-1652.
- Tollner, E.W., R. Gitiatus, K. Seebold and B. Maw. 2005. Experiences with an onion inspection machine. In review, Applied Engineering in Agriculture 21 (5): 907-912.
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