The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects on DC sputtered thin films after different surface treatments on aluminum targets. Abrasive papers and nonwovens were used to polish the aluminum targets before sputtering. Surface morphology of the aluminum targets before and during sputtering were characterized using surface profiler. In addition, the erosion rate of the aluminum targets was obtained by measuring the changes of the erosion depth with sputtering time at a fixed processing condition. On the other hand, the surface morphology and electrical characteristics of the deposited thin films with respect to different aluminum targets were investigated. We found that surface roughness of the treated aluminum targets is of great importance to the stability of the film quality.

This study is separated into two parts. Firstly, the Ag thin film was deposited on substrates with different average roughness by sputtering to examine the effect of substrate roughness on optical reflection. The results exhibit 10 percent difference of reflectivity within several nanometer changing in average roughness, indicating the reflectivity is easily affected by surface roughness. Secondly, optical reflectivity and electrical resistivity of multi-component AgMgAl alloys, both crystalline and amorphous, were measured. The crystalline alloys exhibit high reflection in infrared region but a steeper drop in visible and ultraviolet regions. By contrast, amorphous alloys show a lower but relatively uniform reflectivity in the visible and infrared regions. In both cases, the reflectivity was observed to scale with the square root of electrical resistivity. The scaling law was explained based on classical reflection theory. The different scaling factors for crystalline and amorphous alloys could be rationalized by the difference in the mean free time of charge carriers. Moreover, the mechanical properties of crystalline and amorphous thin film alloys, including hardness and modulus, were measured by nanoindentation. The hardness of thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs) is obviously higher than crystalline metals, while the modulus of TFMGs is similar to crystalline metals.

Unknown bridge foundations pose a significant safety risk due to stream scour and erosion. Records from older structures may be non-existent, incomplete, or incorrect. Nondestructive and inexpensive geophysical methods have been identified as suitable to investigate unknown bridge foundations. The objective of the present study is to apply advanced 2D electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) in order to identify depth of unknown bridge foundations. A survey procedure is carried out in mixed terrain water and land environments with rough topography. A conventional resistivity survey procedure is used with the electrodes installed on the stream banks. However, some electrodes must be adapted for underwater use. Tests were conducted in one laboratory experimentation and at five field experimentations located at three roadway bridges, a geotechnical test site, and a railway bridge. The first experimentation was at the bridges with the smallest foundations, later working up in size to larger drilled shafts and spread footings. Both known to unknown foundations were investigated. The geotechnical test site is used as an experimental site for 2D and 3D ERI. The data acquisition is carried out along 2D profile with a linear array in the dipole-dipole configuration. The data collections have been carried out using electrodes deployed directly across smaller foundations. Electrodes are deployed in proximity to larger foundations to image them from the side. The 2D ERI can detect the presence of a bridge foundation but is unable to resolve its precise shape and depth. Increasing the spatial extent of the foundation permits better image of its shape and depth. Using electrode < 1 m to detect a slender foundation < 1 m in diameter is not feasible. The 2D ERI method that has been widely used for land surface surveys presently can be adapted effectively in water-covered environments. The method is the most appropriate geophysical method for determination of unknown bridge foundations. Fully 3D ERI method at bridge sites is labor intensive, time consuming, and does not add enough value over 2D ERI to make it worthwhile.

Moisture dynamics in the critical zone have significant implications for a variety of hydrologic processes, from water availability to plants, to infiltration and groundwater recharge rates. These processes are perturbed by events such as wildfires, which may have long-lasting impacts. In September 2011, the most destructive wildfire in Texas history occurred in and around Bastrop State Park, which was significantly affected; thus this is a rare opportunity to study soil moisture under such burned conditions. A 165 m long transect, bridging burned and unburned areas, was established within the “Lost Pines” of the park. Soil moisture was monitored using a variety of methods, including 2D electrical resistivity imaging (using dipole-dipole and Schlumberger configurations), handheld measurements using a ThetaProbe, and readings at depth using PR2 profile probes. Field measurements were collected at approximately one-month intervals to study temporal and seasonal effects on soil moisture. Greater soil moisture was found near the ground surface at the heavily burned end of the transect, where the majority of trees were killed by the fire and grasses now dominate, and lower near-surface soil moisture and higher resistivity at the opposite end of the transect, which is still populated by pine trees. These variations can likely be attributed to the vegetative variations between the two ends of the transect, with trees consuming more water at one end and the ground cover of grasses and mosses consuming less water and helping reduce evaporation at the burned end. Soil texture differences could also be a factor in greater soil moisture retention at the burned end of the transect. Given the higher moisture throughout the soil profile at the burned end of the transect, this could be an indication of greater infiltration, and could increase recharge, at least in the short term. / text

Understanding the internal organization of the Lower Pleistocene 8 Sand reservoir in the Green Canyon 18 field, Gulf of Mexico, helps to increase knowledge of the geology and the petrophysical properties, and hence contribute to production management in the area. Interpretation of log data from 29 wells, core and production data served to detail as much as possible a geological model destined for a future reservoir simulation. Core data showed that the main facies resulting from fine-grained turbidity currents is composed of alternating sand and shale layers, whose extension is assumed to be large. They correspond to levee and overbank deposits that are usually associated to channel systems. The high porosity values, coming from unconsolidated sediment, were associated to high horizontal permeability but generally low kv/kh ratio. The location of channel deposits was not obvious but thickness maps suggested that two main systems, with a northwest-southeast direction, contributed to the 8 Sand formation deposition. These two systems were not active at the same time and one of them was probably eroded by overlying formations. Spatial relationships between them remained unclear. Shingled stacking of the channel deposits resulted from lateral migration of narrow, meandering leveed channels in the mid part of the turbidite system. Then salt tectonics tilted turbidite deposits and led to the actual structure of the reservoir. The sedimentary analysis allowed the discrimination of three facies A, B and E, with given porosity and permeability values, that corresponded to channel, levee and overbank deposits. They were used to populate the reservoir model. Well correlation helped figure out the extension of these facies.

Presented in this thesis are two studies that apply nondestructive testing methods to civil engineering problems. The first study examines the relationship between the small-strain and large-strain properties of exhumed cast iron water pipes. Nondestructive and destructive testing programs were performed on eight pipes varying in age from 40 to 130 years. New applications of frequency domain analysis techniques including Fourier and wavelet transforms of ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements are presented. The effects of Lamb wave propagation on the ultrasonic testing results are investigated. Microstructure evaluation revealed two different types of cast iron within the pipes sampled: grey cast iron and ductile iron. A low correlation between wave propagation and large-strain measurements was observed. However, the wave velocities were consistently different between ductile and grey cast iron pipes (14% to 18% difference). Lamb waves were found to contribute significantly to the frequency content of the ultrasonic signals possibly resulting in the poor correlations observed. Therefore, correlations between wave velocities and large strain properties obtained using samples from exhumed water pipes must be used with caution in the condition assessment of aged water pipes especially for grey cast iron pipes. The second study presented in this thesis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of three geophysical methods for geotechnical site characterization in swamps and environmentally sensitive wetland areas. The geophysical methods evaluated were electrical resistivity imaging (ERI), seismic refraction (SR), and multiple-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW). The geophysical test results were verified against the results from borehole and CPT logs. The ERI results were best for determining the depth to the glacial till. The SR results overestimated the depth to the till because of the presence of a stiffness reversal. The MASW results predicted the depth to the refusal till layer less accurately than the ERI method. However, this method was able to detect the three distinct layers above the till. These methods can be used as a basis for further development to optimize a procedure to reduce the number of boreholes required for conventional site investigations in areas that are environmentally sensitive or where access is restricted.

Macroscopic properties of rocks are functions of pore-scale geometry and can be determined from laboratory experiments using rock samples. Macroscopic properties can also be determined from computer simulations using 3D pore geometries derived from various imaging techniques. Using 3D imagery and computer simulations, we can calculate the porosity, permeability, formation resistivity factor and cementation exponent in reservoir drill cores. The objective of this thesis was to develop a workflow using Synchrotron X-ray Computed Microtomography (CMT) images and commercially available software in order to determine the macroscopic properties in reservoir drill cores for Midale Marly (M0) and Vuggy Shoal (V6) rocks. The workflow started by using CMT data that provided three-dimensional images of the reservoir rocks taken from drill cores in the Weyburn oil field. The resulting CMT grey scale images were used to isolate the pore space in the rock image. A three-dimensional mesh, representing the pore space, was then used to obtain the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid and Laplace's equation for electrical current flow. Solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations were computed with different inlet pressures for the same pore geometry in order to confirm a direct proportionality between the mass fluid flux and pressure gradient as Darcy’s Law specifies. Previously measured laboratory transport properties were compared with my calculated transport properties on a smaller sub-volume of the same rock core imaged using 0.78 µm resolution CMT images. For the Midale Marly rock, the calculated permeability ranged from 0.01 to 3.53 mD. The formation resistivity factor ranged from 29.3 to 309.43 and the cementation exponent ranged from 1.99 to 2.10. The sample was verified to be nearly isotropic as the permeability was similar for three orthogonal fluid flow directions. Even though the sub-volume analyzed was smaller than a Representative Elementary Volume (REV), the results are within an order of magnitude of the previously calculated laboratory results as completed by Glemser (2007) and fall on the same power law trend. A Vuggy (V6) sample was investigated after the sample had been exposed to CO2, and dissolution within the rock matrix resulted in large visible pore spaces. Using 7.45 µm resolution CMT images, the permeability for a large isolated pore could not be calculated using the previous workflow due to computer memory limitations. Resampling enabled the data to fit into the available computer memory. The permeability values ranged from 2.66x10^5 to 8.59x10^5 mD for resampling the CMT images from 2x to 10x.

As of September 2007, there were over 67,000 U.S. bridges in the National Bridge Inventory classified as having unknown foundations. The bridges spanning rivers are of critical importance due to the risks of potential scour. In fact, over half of all bridge collapses are due to scour. Not only are these failures costly, they can be deadly for the traveling public. On April 5, 1987, ten people were killed in New York when a pier collapsed on the Schoharie Creek Bridge causing two spans of the deck to fall into the creek. Several other fatal collapses have occurred since the Schoharie Creek Bridge failure. Detecting scour is only part of the assessment that must take place to determine risk of failure and knowing the foundation depth is a critical component of the assessment. While this issue is not new, current techniques are typically invasive or costly. This research explores the feasibility and effectiveness of induced polarization (IP) and electrical resistivity imaging (ERI), near surface geophysical methods, for determining the depth of unknown foundations. In this work, forward models are created to ascertain the effects of the bridge layout on data quality such as varying depths and the impact of adjacent foundations on the foundation in question. Next, an experimental study is conducted at a National Geotechnical Experimentation Site (NGES) to further identify key parameters for the testing design and setup in order to obtain optimal surveys of bridge foundations. The conclusions of the forward modeling and NGES investigations are used to plan the field surveys on four bridges with known foundations. The outcomes of the four bridges show that IP and ERI can be used in concert with one another to estimate the type and depth of bridge foundations. The results of the field surveys are used to create a probability of non-exceedance curve for future predictions of unknown bridge foundations using the methods described in this research.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Submitted by LIVIA PORTES INNOCENTI HELENE null (liviapihelene@gmail.com) on 2016-06-21T12:43:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lívia Portes Innocenti Helene - Dissertação de Mestrado - Geociências e Meio Ambiente.pdf: 4796413 bytes, checksum: 855bad8bdc51e3f5607033ce919693b3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-06-23T13:48:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 helene_lpi_me_rcla.pdf: 4796413 bytes, checksum: 855bad8bdc51e3f5607033ce919693b3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-23T13:48:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 helene_lpi_me_rcla.pdf: 4796413 bytes, checksum: 855bad8bdc51e3f5607033ce919693b3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O gerenciamento das áreas contaminadas prevê o levantamento de um conjunto de dados que variam desde informações do histórico da ocorrência, diagnóstico, remediação e monitoramento. O assentamento Monte Alegre localizado nos municípios de Motuca – SP e Araraquara- SP foi alvo de disposição irregular de aparas de couro de curtume no solo no ano de 2001 proveniente de indústrias da região. O processo de curtimento envolve o uso de sais de cromo, considerado cancerígeno em sua forma hexavalente. Baseado em indícios prévios, a CETESB realizou análises químicas no local e reconheceu a contaminação do solo em alguns lotes. O presente estudo realizou levantamentos geofísicos em um destes lotes. Foram utilizados os métodos da eletrorresistividade e da polarização induzida, por meio de 10 linhas paralelas de tomografia elétrica em arranjo Schlumberger. Os dados processados são representados em modelos logarítmicos bidimensionais e tridimensionais. A partir dos modelos de inversão 2D, foi possível reconhecer uma alternância de linhas com valores de resistividade, relacionados a áreas impactadas e não impactadas. Para o caso das medidas de cargabilidade, também foi reconhecido esta alternância de valores. A modelagem 3D permitiu uma estimativa de continuidade lateral e em profundidade das áreas contrastantes, além da estimativa de alcance máximo de 4 metros de profundidade, ou seja, restrita ao solo superficial. A análise conjunta entre o histórico ambiental da área e resultados geofísicos permite caracterizar a presença de contaminantes metálicos (Cr) em faixas de solo que recebem leiras de aparas de couro, cuja presença de metal é indicada pela alta cargabilidade (acima de 0,67mV/V), em relação ao padrão natural da área. Decorridos aproximadamente 14 anos da denúncia de lançamento indevido de aparas de couro no assentamento e da completa retirada dos resíduos ainda são reconhecidos claros indícios de contaminação no solo por cromo, possivelmente devido a dissolução em águas de chuva, infiltração no solo e complexação/retenção por argilominerais. / The management of contaminated sites includes the purchase of a dataset ranging from the historical information of the occurrence, preliminary and detail diagnostic, monitoring and remediation. The settlement Monte Alegre located in Motuca (SP) and Araraquara (SP) received an irregular disposal of waste of tannery leather on the soil surface in 2001 by the industries of the region. The tanning process involves the use of chromium salts, considered a carcinogen element in its hexavalent form. Based on preliminary evidence, the environmental state agency performed chemical analysis and recognized soil contamination in some rural properties. This study conducted geophysical surveys at one of these properties. The geophysical methods of resistivity and induced polarization conduced 10 parallel lines of electrical tomography with Schlumberger array. The processed data are presented in two-dimensional and three-dimensional logarithmic models. From the 2D inversion models, it was possible to recognize an alternation in lines that received and incorporated the leather in the soil, and the ones who did not. In the chargeability data, it was also recognized this alternation of values. The 3D modeling allowed an estimate of lateral continuity and depth of contrasting areas, besides the estimate of maximum range of 4 meters in depth, hence restricted to the superficial soil. The analysis of the environmental history of the field and geophysical results, allowed the characterization of the presence of metal contaminants (Cr) in soil, which receive leather indicated by high chargeability (above 0,67mV/V) in relation to the natural pattern of the area. After 14 years of the end of improper release of leather crust in the settlement and the complete removal of the waste, it is still recognized clear indications of contamination on soil by chromium, possibly due to its dissolution in water and infiltration into the soil and complexion/retention by clay minerals.