A new multi-scale groundwater modelling methodology is presented to simulate pumped water levels in abstraction boreholes accurately within regional groundwater models. This provides a robust tool for assessing the sustainable yield of supply boreholes, thus improving our understanding of groundwater availability during drought. Under UK legislation water companies are required to quantify the reliable, or deployable, output (DO) of all groundwater and surface water sources under drought conditions. However, there is a current lack of appropriate tools for assessing groundwater DO, especially for hydrogeologically complex sources. This is a particular issue for sources in the Chalk aquifer, which is vertically heterogeneous and closely linked with the surface water system. The DO of an abstraction borehole is influenced by processes operating at different scales. The multi-scale model incorporates these processes, providing a new and unique method for simultaneously representing regional groundwater processes, local-scale processes, and features of a borehole. The 3D borehole-scale model solves the Darcy-Forchheimer equation in cylindrical co-ordinates to simulate both linear and non-linear radial flow to a borehole. It represents important features of the borehole itself and incorporates horizontal and vertical aquifer heterogeneity. The radial flow model is embedded within a Cartesian grid using a hybrid radial-Cartesian finite difference method which has not previously been applied in the field of groundwater modelling. A novel methodology is developed to couple this model to a regional groundwater model, ZOOMQ3D, using the OpenMI model linkage software. This provides a flexible and efficient tool for assessing the behaviour of a groundwater source within its regional hydrogeological context during historic droughts and under climate change. The advantages of the new method for calculating the sustainable yield of abstraction boreholes are demonstrated through application to a Chalk supply borehole in the Thames Basin. The multi-scale methodology has many potential applications beyond DO, but provides a valuable tool for water companies to produce a more reliable and robust assessment of groundwater availability, in line with the current water resources planning guidelines.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are used widely in the provision of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) services. Today, metre-level positioning accuracy, which is required for many applications including route guidance, fleet management and traffic control can be fulfilled by GNSS-based systems. Because of this level of success and potential, there is an increasing demand for GNSS to support applications with more stringent positioning requirements. These include safety related applications that require centimetre/decimetre level positioning accuracy, with high integrity, continuity and availability such as lane control, collision avoidance and intelligent speed assistance. Detecting lane level irregular driving behaviour is the basic requirement for lane level ITS applications. Currently, some research has addressed road level irregular driving detection, however very little research has been done in lane level irregular driving detection. The two major issues involved in the lane level irregular driving identification are access to high accuracy positioning and vehicle dynamic parameters, and extraction of erratic driving behaviour from this and the lane related information. This thesis proposes an integrated solution for the detection of lane level irregular driving behaviour. Access to high accuracy positioning is enabled by GPS and its integration with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) using Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF) and Particle Filtering (PF) with precise vehicle motion models and lane centre line information. Four motion models are used in this thesis: Constant Velocity (CV), Constant Acceleration (CA), Constant Turn Rate and Velocity (CTRV) and Constant Turn Rate and Acceleration (CTRA). The CV and CA models are used on straight lanes and the CTRV and CTRA models on curved lanes. Lane centre line information is extracted from defined lane coordinates in the simulation and is surveyed and stored as sets of positioning points from the motorway in the field test. The high accuracy vehicle positioning and dynamic parameters include yaw rate (omega) and lateral displacement (d) in addition to conventional navigation parameters such as position, velocity and acceleration. The detection of irregular driving behaviour is achieved by comparing the sorting rules of a driving classification indicator from the filter estimations with what is extracted from the reference. The detected irregular driving styles are characterized by weaving, swerving, jerky driving and normal driving on straight and curved lanes, based on the Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). The solution proposed in the thesis has been tested by simulation and validated by real field data. The simulation results show that different types of lane level irregular driving behaviour can be correctly identified by the algorithms developed in this thesis. This is confirmed by the application of data from a field test during which the dynamics of an instrumented vehicle supplied by Imperial College London were captured in real time. The results show that the precise positioning algorithms developed can improve the accuracy of GPS positioning and that the FIS based irregular driving detection algorithms can detect the different types of irregular driving. The evaluation of the designed integrated systems in the field test shows that a positioning accuracy of 0.5m (95%) source is required for lane level irregular driving detection, with a correct detection rate of 95% and availability of 94% based on a 1s output rate. This is useful for many safety related applications including lane departure warnings and collision avoidance.

The aim of this research was to develop a novel thermal treatment technology able to transform the problematic fine fraction of incinerator bottom ash (IBA) into an inert material suitable for the production of ceramics. In this project two different problematic fractions of fine IBA have been used. The less than 1mm fraction of processed fine IBA dust was obtained from the dry discharge system for IBA used in the Energy from Waste (EfW) plant at Monthey, Zurich. The dry discharged fine IBA dust from the Monthey plant is currently disposed of to landfill at high cost. The second fine IBA fraction was supplied by Day Group who process wet discharge IBA from the Lakeside and the Newhaven EfW facilities in the South of England. There are currently no beneficial uses for the fine fraction which is either blended back into coarser fractions or disposed of to landfill. The conclusion from the research is that the fine fractions of IBA generated from both discharge techniques can be transformed into an inert material suitable for the production of hard, dense ceramics. Processing involves the addition of glass, wet ball milling and calcining, pressing and sintering. The addition of glass aids liquid phase sintering and improves the appearance of the ceramic body formed, milling increases sintering reactivity and calcining limits the loss of volatiles and shrinkage during firing. This transforms the major crystalline phases present in the fine IBA fraction from quartz (SiO2), calcite (CaCO3), gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7) and hematite (Fe2O3), to the pyroxene group minerals diopside (CaMgSi2O6) and clinoenstatite (MgSi2O6), together with some andradite (Ca3Fe2Si3O12). Processed calcined powders can be pressed and sintered to form dense (>2.5 g/cm3), hard ceramics that exhibit low firing shrinkage (<7%), zero water absorption and minimal leaching. Calcining the IBA: glass powders before processing was able to minimize the linear shrinkage observed compared to samples produced using uncalcined powders. Calcining also had the effect of reducing the leaching of metals of environmental concern present in the fine IBA fraction by over 95%. These are encapsulated within the glassy phases present in the calcined and sintered materials.

This thesis explores the effects that large-scale land-use/cover change (LUCC) and climate change pose to the terrestrial water cycle, by developing a case study in the Upper Ganges (UG) river basin, in India. In an area experiencing rapid rates of LUCC and changes in irrigation practices, historic land-use maps are developed, based on satellite images, to investigate historical trends of LUCC. Future projection scenarios of LUCC for years up to 2035 are derived from Markov chain analysis. To explore the impacts of those changes in hydrology, the generated maps are used to force the Land Surface Model (LSM) JULES. JULES is found to be reasonably skilful in terms of its ability to reproduce observed streamflow. However, the results indicate that there is much room left for improved estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes, which JULES is found to over-predict. By dynamically coupling JULES with the crop model InfoCrop, the simulated ET fluxes are improved, compared to the original JULES model. The difference in mean annual ET between the two models (coupled and original) is approximately 150 mm/yr and indicates the potential error in ET flux estimations of an LSM without dynamic vegetation. The impact of LUCC and climate change on the hydrological response of the UG basin is quantified, by calculating variations in hydrological components (streamflow, ET and soil moisture) during the period 2000-2035. Severe increases in the high extremes of flows (+40% in the multi-model mean) are being projected for the nearby future (2030-2035). The changes in all examined hydrological components are greater in the combined land-use and climate change scenario, whilst climate change is the main driver of those changes. These results provide the necessary evidence-base to support regional land-use planning, advanced irrigation practices and develop future-proof water resource management strategies under a water-limited environment.

In many areas of the world, the absence of streamflow data to calibrate hydrological models limits the ability to make reliable streamflow predictions. Whilst a large and increasing number of regions are insufficiently gauged, there are also many highly monitored catchments. Transferring the knowledge gained in data-rich areas to data-scarce regions offers possibilities to overcome the absence of streamflow observations. In this thesis knowledge is transferred in the form of signatures, which reflect hydrological response characteristics of a particular catchment. Several signatures may be required to capture different aspects of catchment functional behaviour. Using a large dataset of catchments, observed signatures are regressed against physical and climatic catchment descriptors. Signatures for an ungauged location with known descriptors are then estimated utilising the derived relationships. A Bayesian procedure is subsequently used to condition a conceptual model for the ungauged catchment on the estimated signatures with formal uncertainty estimation. Particular challenges related to the Bayesian approach include the selection of signatures, and specification of the prior distribution and the likelihood functions. A methodological development is based on an initial transformation of the commonly adopted uniform parameter prior into a prior that maps to a uniform signature distribution, aimed at cases where limited prior knowledge regarding the model structure adequacy and the parameters distribution exist. The suggested methodology contributes to improved estimation of response signatures, and is particularly relevant when regionalised information is highly uncertain. A further contribution of this thesis refers to the integration of several regionalised signatures into the model, accounting for the inter-signature error covariance structure. By increasing the number and regionalisation quality of signatures in the conditioning process, better predictions are obtained. Additionally, the consideration of the inter-signature error structure may improve the results when correlations between errors are shown to be strong. When regionalised signatures are integrated into the model, it is shown that model structural inadequacy has a strong effect on the prediction quality.

Sewage sludge is an unavoidable consequence of wastewater treatment (WWT). Increasing legislation has propagated sludge production whilst limiting disposal options. WWT effluent contains many trace contaminants, one group of significant concern being endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Their removal is becoming a priority. Sludge is a potentially valuable material which offers opportunities for reuse and valorisation. This research has undertaken an in depth and rigorous study of the optimization of sludge carbonization and activation to produce inorganic-carbonaceous adsorbents akin to activated carbon. The resulting sludge based adsorbents (SBAs) have been comprehensively evaluated for their adsorption of EDCs using bisphenol A (BPA). This data has enabled a fundamental analysis of SBA-EDC adsorption processes and the proposal of an adsorption mechanism. SBA production using various European sludge types was undertaken, to produce high performance SBAs based on surface area (SA) and EDC adsorption. Key research findings were: • SBAs can be produced from most types of municipal sludge, except lime added sludge. • Carbonized or carbonized/steam activated SBAs presented low SA (270_m2/g) and BPA adsorption capacity (87 mg/g) when compared to chemically activated SBAs. • K2CO3 was the best chemical reagent in producing high SA up to 1979 m2/g and BPA adsorption of 714 mg/g. • FeCl3 is a very attractive chemical reagent in giving high BPA adsorption and SBA yield of 119_mg/g and 59.3_%, respectively. • Bisphenol A adsorption fitted well with Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin equations with the best fit depending on the production conditions (temperature, time, activating reagent). • BPA adsorption by SBAs generally depend on SA and pore volume, with surface chemistry also influencing adsorption, especially for chemically activated SBAs. • The SBAs produced from K2CO3 activation outperformed all commercial activated carbons (CACs); the best SBA outperformed the best CAC by nearly 2-fold indicating the significant potential of SBAs as effective adsorbents for WWT effluents.

Importance of addressing cyclic behaviour when designing piled foundations has been emphasised in recent years. Instrumented full scale field and model pile tests have revealed key features of pile's axial cyclic response in recent years. Along with those, laboratory tests may be conducted to provide site specific cyclic soil characteristics, but questions arise concerning how to: (i) take into account the pile installation process and (ii) apply the results to assess pile capacity and deformation responses under cyclic loads. This thesis describes an investigation into the cyclic behaviour of Dunkerque and NE34 Fontainebleau sands, performed to support and help analyse field-scale and model pile cyclic loading tests on the same soils. Series of triaxial and HCA cyclic and static tests were performed, following testing schemes developed that reflect the conditions applying adjacent to the pile shafts. Assessments were made of how the cyclic variations of stresses imposed during installation and the period allowed for the sands to creep following such 'installation' effects, affect the response to subsequent cycling. Constant-volume cyclic tests involving up to 4500 cycles were imposed from alternative sets of initial conditions that revealed the relationships between the cyclic amplitude, the changes in effective stress and number of cycles as well as the permanent strain accumulation and cyclic stiffness characteristics. Monotonic compression and extension tests were also performed for both sands to help frame their strength, stiffness and critical state properties. Finally, methods are introduced to compare the laboratory results with field and model pile tests.

It has been recognized that spatial pattern of activities and how they are connected by the transportation system determines the accessibility of a particular location. It has also been acknowledged that identification of locations with poor accessibility to key services is an important first step in the development of appropriate social and health policy interventions. Moreover, the current literature acknowledges that the lack of accessibility to basic goods and services deepens the isolation of rural households, undermining their opportunities to access socio - economic and basic services. Therefore, provision of effective interventions to reduce the lack of access to basic facilities/services would go a long way to improving peoples' well being in rural areas. From a policy perspective, to ensure that resources are properly targeted, it is important to identify (1) communities that are most deprived in terms of their access to key facilities and (2) how the levels of accessibili ty affect the health, social and economic well being of the local communities. The focus of this study is to contribute to point (1), and in particular to proper understanding of point (2). The analysis of this thesis is based on household survey data from a sample of 989 households across thirty villages in a rural district of Malawi. The study employed GIS, TransCAD 4.8 (Caliper Corporation, 2005) tool to estimate distances from the villages to the nearest key facilities. Using SPSS version 19.0 (SPSS, 2010), a series of binary and ordinal logistic regression models were performed to estimate the influence of distance, local topography, state of road network and socio-economic characteristics on (i) school attendance and educational performance and (ii) rural health care seeking behaviour. In addition, a series of bivariate analysis were performed to investigate the trade-offs between school attendance and (i) farm tasks and (ii) water collection. The main contribution of this thesis is in Chapters Six, Seven and Eight. The results suggested that a significant number of villages in Chikwawa district were far from key services and the general state of the road network in most villages was poor. It was established that distance was the strongest predictor of school attendance and healthcare seeking behaviour. It was also established that villages located close to schools benefited by (a) lower levels of absenteeism and (b) more time available for farm tasks. The thesis recommends a balanced mix of transport policies that (i) takes into account the actual modes of transport used, (i) aims at improved local (3)4z(Bnon-car(3)4y) Bpaths and footbridges alongside a cost-effective road network and (iii) aims at encouraging a better spread of activity locations.

Urbanisation - the demographic transition from rural to urban - can pose challenges for urban areas by increasing pressure on urban ecosystem services. In meeting these challenges, urban planning and design is increasingly looking towards techniques that work with rather than against nature. Despite this, the impact of urban land use/management on urban ecosystem services is currently little understood and urban land use planning stakeholders have limited means by which to assess the impacts of their decisions on urban ecosystem services. The overarching aim of this thesis therefore is to understand, develop, trial and evaluate new approaches to urban planning that can operationalise key aspects of the ecosystems approach. The interdisciplinary research approach adopted had three main stages: 1) review, assessment and synthesis of technical evidence to inform the development of principles and technical guidance for ecosystems approach based urban land use planning; 2) development a nd trialling of new tools, models and guidance for considering ecosystem services in urban planning; and 3) evaluation of new tools, models and guidance. The research methods used are document review, rapid evidence assessment (REA), action research and semi-structured interviews. Geographic information system (GIS) technology has been used to integrate qualitative data from the evidence assessment with existing spatial datasets to develop new spatial models for urban land use planning. This thesis has demonstrated how existing technical principles and theories from discrete natural science and social science disciplines (e.g. planning, landscape ecology and hydrology) can be combined with existing spatial datasets to produce tools, models and guidance for ecosystems approach based urban land use planning. In this regard, a new approach to urban planning has been developed comprising the following elements: 1) a suite of ecosystems approach guiding principles; 2) three new spatial models to prioritise land use/management intervention for specific urban ecosystem services; and 3) supporting technical guidance.

Thermal and smouldering remediation can effectively remove toxic organic compounds from contaminated sites, opening them up for re-development or environmental enrichment. However, these treatments generate elevated temperatures in the soil (40-1200℃) that may impact its quality, particularly its ability to support plant growth and microbial activity. This thesis demonstrates the effects of such heating on soil properties, the impact on plant and microbial systems, and potential methods for rehabilitating soils to improve plant growth after remediation. Soils subjected to heating underwent a number of changes including losses of organic carbon (>250℃), nitrogen (>500℃), and clay sized particles (>500℃). These changes resulted in significantly lower plant growth, microbial abundance, and microbial activity in soils heated above 500℃ indicating that remediation techniques operating above this temperature will require additional soil improvement steps. In addition, soil toxicity w as generated at temperature regimes of 105-250℃ and >750℃ in some soils. For two soils subject to smouldering remediation, organic soil conditioners (compost and anaerobic digestate) were used to improve the yield of biomass crops. In a calcium-rich topsoil, toxic conditions generated during smouldering (pH>11) were too severe and biomass crop growth could not be established. In a nutrient-poor soil, higher levels of productivity were established with compost amendment, but high levels of zinc in the anaerobic digestate proved toxic. A tipping point was identified (500℃), due to losses of nitrogen and labile carbon, above which soil conditioning will be required to facilitate biological activity. Soil conditioners can be used to improve biological activity, but interactions between soil type, remediation temperature, and soil conditioner will be significant in developing soil conditioning programmes. Thermal and smouldering remediation can mitigate toxicity of contaminated sites; however, soil conditions after remediation need to be taken into account to facilitate desired land use, including additional treatment steps when required.