Browsing by Author "Thotakura, T.V."

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A Review on Application of Soft Computing Techniques in Geotechnical Engineering
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Sireesha, M.; Sunil, B.M.; Alisha, S.S.
Numerous test results, mathematical relationships, and in-the-moment analysis and design are all components of geotechnical issues. Additionally, due to smart infrastructure and materials, the research trend in engineering nowadays is shifting toward intelligent tools and their ability to tackle engineering problems. Artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), genetic algorithms (GA), and particle swarm optimization algorithms (PSO), among other soft computing techniques, have made significant progress in recent years in solving geotechnical issues. Based on a review of more than 800 published research, this study discusses the applicability of soft computing techniques in the current environment. Traditional methods, such as regression analysis and trial-and-error techniques, take time and could be more effective. Additionally, most geotechnical designs require considerable experimental data and may require laborious work. A novel methodology for soft computing approaches has emerged to solve the problems mentioned above. This paper presents soil problems and geotechnical challenges while examining recent developments and the potential applications of soft computing. Â© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
A Study on Aquaculture Waste Leachate Transport Through Soil
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.
Aquaculture waste is one of the emerging wastes due to rapid expansion and intensification of aquaculture practices and less attention has been paid for environmental concern as compared with municipal waste. Moreover, in the delta region of Andhra Pradesh, nearly one-third of the land cover is occupied by the aquaculture ponds. Major contaminants in aquaculture ponds are rich in nutrients, chemicals, disinfectants, feed residues, metals, minerals, and nitrates. This paper presents the aquaculture waste leachate and clay interaction. Our findings revealed that ammonia interaction with the clay particles significantly influence the hydraulic behavior of the clays. Further, long-term clay-leachate interactions lead to negative environmental consequences. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Assessment of Environmental Impact of Aquaculture Ponds in the Western Delta Region of Andhra Pradesh
(MDPI, 2022) Thotakura, T.V.; Malegole, S.B.; Chaudhary, B.; Gobinath, G.
Aquaculture is persistent and well-established in the delta region of Andhra Pradesh. In recent years, the expansion of aquaculture has conferred positive economic growth in the newly formed state. However, the enormous development of aqua ponds increases the effluents from aquaculture which contain various chemical compounds that can cause negative impacts when released into the environment. This paper presents the effect of unengineered aquaculture on the environment in the delta region of Andhra Pradesh. The expansion rate of aquaculture practice in the delta region has been carried out using remote sensing and a geospatial information system. An experimental investigation was carried out on soil and water samples collected from the aquaculture ponds to evaluate the water quality parameters and soil characterization. Analysis of the geotechnical properties and microstructure was carried out to determine the interaction between the soil and the aquaculture contaminants. Based on the geospatial data and field survey, the aquaculture practice in the delta region of Andhra Pradesh was intensive and extended towards the northeast from the southwest. Between 2016 and 2020, aquaculture practice significantly increased by 6.08%. Moreover, the water quality parameters and pond bottom soil showed a higher concentration of ammonia and nitrates. Further, aquaculture leachate may interact with the subsoil and have a negative impact on soil mineralogy and hydraulic conductivity. The extensive experimental data and field surveys reveal that adequate guidelines are needed to control the pollution load on the ecosystem. © 2022 by the authors.
Assessment of Nitrate Fluxes in Intensive Aquaculture Region in Godavari Delta Using Spatial Interpolation Kriging
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.; Rambabu, T.
In areas with a high concentration of intense aquaculture, nitrate pollution and nutrient enrichment are growing concerns. With predicted future climate changes, these problems are expected to intensify for aquifersÂ and surface waters. The possibility exists to reduce some of these worries through land management and utilization modifications. However, there is much ambiguity surrounding how these alterations will relate. This article uses conventional kriging and empirical Bayesian kriging (EBK) to estimate nitrate levels in Indiaâ€™s intensive aquaculture zone, the Godavari delta. The stable, exponential, rational quadratic, and Gaussian models were used to fit experimental variograms using weighted least squares. The number of neighbors that generated the best cross-validation outcome has been further investigated for the model with the shortest residual sum of the squares. Krigingâ€™s statistical approaches provided the best root mean square error (RMSE) values overall. No additional summary statistics shed any light on the regression methodâ€™s selection or settings. After thorough testing, we concluded that many parameters might be better detected using cross-validation. Â© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Dynamics of the Aquacultural Intensification in the Godavari-Krishna Inter Delta Region in India and Its Impact on Ecological Balance
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Rambabu, T.; Mantena, S.; Sunil, B.M.
One of Indiaâ€™s mega deltas, the Godavari-Krishna inter delta, has abundant natural resources that are good for the growth of agriculture. However, regional limitations are also rapidly giving way to aquaculture. In the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the West Godavari and Krishna districts, aquaculture is one of the land feature classes that is expanding quickly. The other land cover elements, including vegetation and built-up areas, will be negatively impacted by aquacultureâ€™s unrestrained and indiscriminate expansion. Geographic information system (GIS) software was used to evaluate the dynamic changes in land use and land cover between 2013 and 2019. With the loss of about 650 square kilometers in both deltas, agricultural practices are changing to intensive aquaculture with an emphasis on increasing yields rather than lowering environmental quality. In the short period between 2013 and 2019, 16.5% of the agricultural land in the Godavari-Krishna delta was cleared to make way for infrastructure improvements and aquaculture. The essential components of the Godavari-Krishna delta aquaculture scenario are also highlighted in this research. The Godavari-Krishna delta is changing coastal ecology and is vividly depicted in this study. Â© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Impact of Aquaculture Solid Waste on Environment in the Delta Region of Andhra Pradesh: A Case Study
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.
Aquaculture solid waste (ASW) from the aquaculture ponds is emerging waste which impacts on the environment due to intensive culture practices. In intensive aquaculture ponds, 45â€“65% of the dry weight of waste (shells, fins, and bones), surplus feed, chemicals, and minerals. This has led to a decline in the quality of the water used for aquaculture, environmental pollution, the occurrence of aquatic diseases, and even ecological imbalance, which has become a significant concern. This study presents the leachate characteristics and groundwater characteristics of the nearby dump sites. Field surveys were carried to know the source and disposal of ASW and to identify the lacunae of practice. Based on the leachate characteristics, it has been suggested that proper management of ASW is needed. This study also explores the Indian ASW and its impact on environment. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Influence of Aquaculture Sludge on Volume Change Behavior of Expansive Clays
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.
Aquaculture waste sludge (AWS) from the aquaculture ponds in the delta region of Andhra Pradesh is most popular. Intensive aquaculture practice involves usage of higher dosages of minerals and chemicals in the aquaculture ponds. Further, due to the intensive activity, there is a formation of AWS at the bottom of the ponds. In this study, experimental investigation was carried with various concentrations of ASW sludge was blended with the expansive clays. A summary of one-dimensional swell-consolidation studies on expansive clays blended with AWS is presented. Rate of heave, swell potential, and swelling pressure significantly decreased with the increase in ASW content. The paper also explores microstructural behavior of the expansive clays blended with AWS. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Multivariate Statistical Approach for Assessment of Surface Water Quality in the Intensive Inland Aquaculture Region in India
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.; Bala, G.
Andhra Pradesh's western Godavari Delta region is India's primary inland aquaculture zone, with a well-developed canal network. The Venkaya-Vayyeru canal is the most important canal stream depending on aquaculture catchment. It also serves as a drinking water supply for villages, aquaculture, and irrigation. As a result, the quality of the canal's water is essential. To determine the probable location as a pollution source, this study considered eight physicochemical water quality characteristics at three distinctive places along the canal for principal component analysis (PCA). Most parameters show significant geographical variation, indicating anthropogenic influence. According to PCA findings, the principal pollution sources are aquaculture ponds, processing businesses, and urban activities. Aquaculture intensively may contaminate canal water with salinity, ammonia, and Ca2+. Aquaculture effluents, soluble salts, nutrients, and organic matter were found to be the essential parameters responsible for changes in water quality using PCA and factor analysis. The study demonstrates the usefulness of multivariate statistical methods in understanding a pattern of feature variability and devising management techniques to enhance canal water quality by identifyingÂ prevailing characteristics that cause the most degradation in the water quality. Â© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.
Novel assessment tools for inland aquaculture in the western Godavari delta region of Andhra Pradesh
(Springer, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Malegole, S.B.; Chaudhary, B.; Gobinath, G.; Chitturi, P.; Durga Prasad, D.P.
The production of fisheries and shrimp has been twice every 10 years for the previous five decades, making it the most rapidly expanding food industry. This growth is due to intensive farming and the conversion of agriculture into aquaculture in many parts of South Asia. Furthermore, intensive aquaculture generates positive economic growth but leads to environmental degradation without proper monitoring. Unfortunately, technical innovation is less in aquaculture than agricultural and manufacturing industries. The advent of remote sensing and soft computing has expanded various opportunities for utilizing and integrating technological advances in civil and environmental disciplines. This paper presents the aquaculture scenario in the western Godavari delta region of Andhra Pradesh and proposes various novel assessment tools to monitor the aquaculture environment. An experimental investigation was carried out on the physicochemical characteristics of the inland aquaculture ponds to evaluate water quality in the aquaculture ponds. Furthermore, to assess the intensity of inland aquaculture, the current work concentrates on the potential application of remote sensing and soft computing approaches. Geospatial models of kriging and inverse distance weighing (IDW) show higher performance in estimating ammonia levels in the intensive aquaculture groundwaters with coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.947 and 0.901, respectively. Teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO) and adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO), two of the five soft computing techniques utilized in the study, perform better than the others. Additionally, it was found that remote sensing-based assessment tools and soft computing prediction models were both trustworthy, accurate, and easy to use. Furthermore, these methods could assist in the real-time evaluation of inland aquaculture waters by stakeholders and policymakers. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023.
Prediction of ammonia contaminants in the aquaculture ponds using soft computing coupled with wavelet analysis
(Elsevier Ltd, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.; Durga Prasad, C.D.; Gobinath, G.
Intensive aquaculture practices generate highly polluted organic effluents such as biological oxygen demand (BOD), alkalinity, total ammonia, nitrates, calcium, potassium, sodium, iron, and chlorides. In recent years, Inland aquaculture ponds in the western delta region of Andhra Pradesh have been intensively expanding and are more concerned about negative environmental impact. This paper presents the water quality analysis of aquaculture waters in 64 random locations in the western delta region of Andhra Pradesh. The average water quality index (WQI) was 126, with WQI values ranging from 21 to 456. Approximately 78% of the water samples were very poor and unsafe for drinking and domestic usage. The mean ammonia content in aquaculture water was 0.15 mg/L, and 78% of the samples were above the acceptable limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 0.5 mg/L. The quantity of ammonia in the water ranged from 0.05 to 2.8 mg/L. The results show that ammonia levels exceed the permissible limits and are a significant concern in aquaculture waters due to toxicity. This paper also presents an intelligent soft computing approach to predicting ammonia levels in aquaculture ponds, using two novel approaches, such as the pelican optimization algorithm (POA) and POA coupled with discrete wavelet analysis (DWT-POA). The modified and enhanced POA with DWT can converge to higher performance when compared to standard POA, with an average percentage error of 1.964 and a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.822. Moreover, it was found that prediction models were reliable with good accuracy and simple to execute. Furthermore, these prediction models could help stakeholders and policymakers to make a real-time prediction of ammonia levels in intensive farming inland aquaculture ponds. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
Prediction of Inland Aquaculture Ammonia Using Hybrid Intelligent Soft Computing
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024) Thotakura, T.V.; Bala, G.; Durga Prasad, C.; Sunil, B.M.
One of the crucial factors in assessing the pond's intensive inland aquaculture water quality condition is ammonia. The excessive ammonia content will likely worsen water quality and result in the mass mortality of cultured individuals. For aquaculture management, it is therefore vital to accurately identify the ammonia nitrogen level of cultured water. However, the accuracy of technology for monitoring the ammonia content of aquaculture water currently needs to be improved to satisfy the demands of intensive aquaculture. This paper presents the prediction of the ammonia concentration of aquaculture water in real time using a hybrid intelligent soft computing algorithm. Radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN) and a hybrid model combining RBFNN, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are used in this technique. Root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (R2) were two separate statistical metrics used to compare the two methodologies and assess how well the soft computing strategies performed. The ammonia prediction results showed that the PSO-RBFNN method outperformed the RBFNN. The PSO-RBFNN model offers a real-time ammonia prediction value in inland farming waters that is moderately and generally accurate. Â© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.
Stabilization of Expansive Clays: A Micro-mechanistic Study
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Venkata Rao, M.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.
Stabilization of expansive clays is well known in practice worldwide. However, an additive and appropriate dosage is needed to understand blended clays' chemical and micro-structural behavior. Moreover, in current practice, most studies rely on blended clays' index and engineering properties even though the swell-shrink behavior of expansive clays chiefly depends on chemical constituents. Such exposition of selection of additives has chances of improper estimation of quantity. This paper presents the experimental investigation of index properties of soils by varying additives and their contents. The index properties were significantly improved with increasing additive content in the clays. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) were carried out to assess the long-term strength development. SEM and EDS micrographs revealed the potential role of the chemical composition in the strength development in chemically altered expansive clays. This study provides in-depth aspects of the role of chemical constituents indeed imperative to deciding the optimum dosage of chemical additives in the expansive clay blends. Further, this could be helpful to avoid over/under estimation of chemical dosage and economize project costs. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Understanding the Role of Biological Oxygen Demand in Aquaculture Waters in the Western Delta Region of Andhra Pradesh
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Chaudhary, B.
The aquaculture industry with intensive farming activities has been gaining potential benefits to the nationâ€™s economic growth and food security. However, due to intensive farming, harmful pollutants are emerging with a higher concentration of biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and ammonia nitrates are more concerns. This study presents the role and assessment of BOD for the aquaculture ponds in the western delta region of Andhra Pradesh. The collected water samples at various locations in the study area have been tested for physicochemical characteristics and the test data used for BOD prediction. For evaluating the sensitivity of the prediction model, particle swarm optimization (PSO) with variations of inertia weight and damping factors is used to obtain the best global solution. As a result, prediction models developed for assessing BOD using PSO show convergent predictions. So, based on the prediction results, the implementation of prediction models of BOD using PSO could be helpful for sustainable aquaculture management in the western delta region of Andhra Pradesh. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Utilization of GGBS-Based Geopolymer Lateritic Soils for Sustainable Pavements
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Thotakura, T.V.; Sunil, B.M.; Venkata Rao, M.V.
Nowadays geopolymers have been recognized as eco-friendly materials as well as potential replacement of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and lime, which are cementitious materials with three-dimensional tetrahedral frameworks of Al and Si. This paper presents experimental investigation on compaction characteristics such as optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry density (MDD) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of a lateritic soil chemically altered with alkali activator along with precursor as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) with varying amounts of GGBS content. GGBS was added to the lateritic soil up to 30% in increments of 5%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was undertaken on the geopolymer blends to know the micro-structural behaviour and chemical compounds. The results revealed that the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the GGBS-based geopolymer soils improved with addition of GGBS content. The micro-structural analysis confirmed the both pozzolanic reaction and ionic exchange takes place in the alkali-activated lateritic blends. The impetus for the utilization of geopolymers can be consuming GGBS in large quantities in their synthesis with the potential to reduce the use of high carbon footprint ordinary Portland cement. Â© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.