Faculty Publications
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Item 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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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 nation’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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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, 45–65% 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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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 India’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 aquaculture’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. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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 aquifers 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 India’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. Kriging’s statistical approaches provided the best root mean square error (RMSE) values overall. No additional summary statistics shed any light on the regression method’s selection or settings. After thorough testing, we concluded that many parameters might be better detected using cross-validation. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.Item 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. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.