DAC 12203 Environmental Engineering (Lecture Notes)

This module will give the students an understanding of the Environmental Engineering for the course DAC 12203 offered by the Centre of Diploma Studies (CeDS), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM

Environmental Engineering (Laboratory)

This module will give the students an understanding of the Environmental Engineering (Laboratory) for the course DAC 12203 offered by the Centre of Diploma Studies (CeDS), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)

Earthquake Risk Assessment of Sabah, Malaysia Based on Geospatial Approach

Sabah is located in the northeast region of East Malaysia and recognized as the most active seismic areas in Malaysia. The scalability and frequency of earthquakes are growing due to the existence of both local and distant ground motions from active faults, with more than 100 earthquake events have been recorded since 1923. On the other hand, the skewed socio-economic development process associated with the rapid population growth and changes in the family structure, inequality issues, and the lack of adaptation measures would intensify the vulnerability of the earthquakes. Key elements linked to socio-economic vulnerability need to be address in order to reduce the risk of earthquake. Based on previous studies, we identified vulnerabilities from a multi-dimensional perspective consisting of exposure, resilience and capacity across districts. Subsequently, a holistic indicators system with 18 variables was constructed to assess the potential earthquake vulnerability in Sabah, Malaysia. The accumulated data will present an earthquake vulnerability classification using a Geographical Information System (GIS) approach. Finally, the earthquake risk was derived by integrating the earthquake vulnerability map with earthquake hazard map proposed by the Department of Mineral and Geoscience (JMG) Malaysia. The results of the analysis revealed that the highest levels of earthquake risk accounts for 15.5% were concentrated in the eastern part of the Sabah region; the high-risk areas accounts for 7.7%; the moderate-risk areas accounts for 11.3%; and the area of low to very low risk accounts for 65.4%. Accordingly, it is expected that the derived earthquake vulnerability and risk map will allow the policymakers and response teams to improve the earthquake disaster mitigation and management in Sabah

Earthquake Risk Assessment of Sabah, Malaysia Based on Geospatial Approach

Sabah is located in the northeast region of East Malaysia and recognized as the most active seismic areas in Malaysia. The scalability and frequency of earthquakes are growing due to the existence of both local and distant ground motions from active faults, with more than 100 earthquake events have been recorded since 1923. On the other hand, the skewed socio-economic development process associated with the rapid population growth and changes in the family structure, inequality issues, and the lack of adaptation measures would intensify the vulnerability of the earthquakes. Key elements linked to socio-economic vulnerability need to be address in order to reduce the risk of earthquake. Based on previous studies, we identified vulnerabilities from a multi-dimensional perspective consisting of exposure, resilience and capacity across districts. Subsequently, a holistic indicators system with 18 variables was constructed to assess the potential earthquake vulnerability in Sabah, Malaysia. The accumulated data will present an earthquake vulnerability classification using a Geographical Information System (GIS) approach. Finally, the earthquake risk was derived by integrating the earthquake vulnerability map with earthquake hazard map proposed by the Department of Mineral and Geoscience (JMG) Malaysia. The results of the analysis revealed that the highest levels of earthquake risk accounts for 15.5% were concentrated in the eastern part of the Sabah region; the high-risk areas accounts for 7.7%; the moderate-risk areas accounts for 11.3%; and the area of low to very low risk accounts for 65.4%. Accordingly, it is expected that the derived earthquake vulnerability and risk map will allow the policymakers and response teams to improve the earthquake disaster mitigation and management in Sabah

Flood Prediction Using Geographical Information System (GIS) Application at Sungai Sembrong

The occurrence of flood disaster in Malaysia has received much attention due to its negative impact towards society, environment and economy. In hydrological field, researchers are interested in flood prediction analysis and it is no longer a stranger in this area. The latest flood incident that hit Sg. Sembrong, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia in 2007 is considered as the worst flood occurrence in Johor. This study focused on the effectiveness of using Geographical Information System (GIS) to predict flood at Sg. Sembrong. The combination of hydrological model and water balance model that takes into consideration the minimum, maximum and average temperature data for January 2007 is used to illustrate the predicted flood area for future reference. The results from the analysis showed that flood does not occur at the minimum and average rainfall, 17.2mm and 2mm respectively. However, with the maximum rainfall of 203mm, it is expected that 9983ha of land will be affected with 2m water level rise. In can be concluded that GIS is a suitable tool for the provision of preliminary information of flood, and it can be a powerful tool in aiding flood analysis, problem solving and provides rational, accurate and efficient decision making

Effectiveness of different surface cover types in reducing runoff and soil erosion in oil palm catchments

Soil losses from hill slopes in oil palm plantation in Sedenak Estate, Johor were measured using runoff plots and rainfall simulator. The plot was designed to be removable but the size was fixed at 0.8 x 3.75m. Four types of surface covers were applied for the plots i.e. half bare soil and grass cover (HGC), half bare soil and dry frond (HDF), fully grass cover (FG), and fully bare soil (BS). The effects of physical soil factors such as soil moisture and saturated hydraulics conductivity, Ks along with land slope were also evaluated. The rainfall simulator produced rainfall intensities between 90 and 160 mm/hr with durations from 45 to 60 min per run. BS exhibited the highest Ks value among all surface plots but the percentage of soil moisture on this surface was low. The results indicate that there are significant differences in runoff generation and soil loss production with respects to different types of surface cover. The lowest runoff coefficient (ROC) was produced on BS with the value of 52±15%, followed by HGC (58.2±0%), FG (78.5±7%) and HDF (86.3±12%).The highest average cumulative soil loss was from BS plot (806.8 t.h-1.yr-1) and the lowest from HGC (167.1 t.h-1.yr-1). Overall, surface cover such as grasses and dry fronds are effective measures in reducing risk of runoff and soil erosion

Study on The Effectiveness of Egg Tray and Coir Fibre as A Sound Absorber

Sound or noise pollution has become one major issues to the community especially those who lived in the urban areas. It does affect the activity of human life. This excessive noise is mainly caused by machines, traffic, motor vehicles and also any unwanted sounds that coming from outside and even from the inside of the building. Such as a loud music. Therefore, the installation of sound absorption panel is one way to reduce the noise pollution inside a building. The selected material must be a porous and hollow in order to absorb high frequency sound. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of egg tray and coir fibre as a sound absorption panel. The coir fibre has a good coefficient value which make it suitable as a sound absorption material and can replace the traditional material; syntactic and wooden material. The combination of pyramid shape of egg tray can provide a large surface for uniform sound reflection. This study was conducted by using a panel with size 1 m x 1 m with a thickness of 6 mm. This panel consist of egg tray layer, coir fibre layer and a fabric as a wrapping for the aesthetic value. Room reverberation test has been carried to find the loss of reverberation time (RT). Result shows that, a reverberation time reading is on low frequency, which is 125 Hz to 1600 Hz. Within these frequencies, this panel can shorten the reverberation time of 5.63s to 3.60s. Hence, from this study, it can be concluded that the selected materials have the potential as a good sound absorption panel. The comparison is made with the previous research that used egg tray and kapok as a sound absorption panel

Study on The Effectiveness of Egg Tray and Coir Fibre as A Sound Absorber

Sound or noise pollution has become one major issues to the community especially those who lived in the urban areas. It does affect the activity of human life. This excessive noise is mainly caused by machines, traffic, motor vehicles and also any unwanted sounds that coming from outside and even from the inside of the building. Such as a loud music. Therefore, the installation of sound absorption panel is one way to reduce the noise pollution inside a building. The selected material must be a porous and hollow in order to absorb high frequency sound. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of egg tray and coir fibre as a sound absorption panel. The coir fibre has a good coefficient value which make it suitable as a sound absorption material and can replace the traditional material; syntactic and wooden material. The combination of pyramid shape of egg tray can provide a large surface for uniform sound reflection. This study was conducted by using a panel with size 1 m x 1 m with a thickness of 6 mm. This panel consist of egg tray layer, coir fibre layer and a fabric as a wrapping for the aesthetic value. Room reverberation test has been carried to find the loss of reverberation time (RT). Result shows that, a reverberation time reading is on low frequency, which is 125 Hz to 1600 Hz. Within these frequencies, this panel can shorten the reverberation time of 5.63s to 3.60s. Hence, from this study, it can be concluded that the selected materials have the potential as a good sound absorption panel. The comparison is made with the previous research that used egg tray and kapok as a sound absorption panel