RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Luo’s primary research interests center on distributed numerical modeling of watershed hydrology including water quantity and quality issues. Using distributed data input of climate, vegetation, soil, morphology and geology, the model – LUOM (Luo, 2007) generates both lumped and distributed output such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface water depth, stream flow (discharge), infiltration, soil moisture, recharge to groundwater, and groundwater table. The model makes use of GIS as the pre- and post-process tool. The model is also capable to simulate sediment production on hill slopes and sediment transportation in the overland flow and stream flow, deposition on and erosion of the riverbed. The model application includes stream flow estimation, flood prediction, impacts of climate change, impacts of land use change/urbanization, and effects of forest management, etc.

PROJECTS
Ongoing Projects

• Calibration and Application of LUOM in Southern Guam Watersheds With and Without Flow Data (March 2009 – February 2010)

This project is conducted by Dr. Luo and Dr. Khosrowpanah. The Large-scale, Unified and Optimization Model, LUOM (Luo, 2007) is a fully physically based, 2-dimensionally distributed watershed model simulating the hydrologic cycle on a watershed scale. The model discretizes the watershed into rectangular grid cells and makes use of spatial distributed GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data such as DEM (Digital Elevation Model), vegetation, soil and aquifer data. The model comprises of a series of sub-models for climate data distribution, evapotranspiration, infiltration, groundwater, surface flow, etc. The surface flow sub-model solves the two-dimensional Saint Venant equations. Making use of climate input data, mainly precipitation, temperature and wind speed, the model is able to generate not only one-dimensional output – discharge hydrographs, but also two-dimensional hydrologic quantities such as evapotranspiration, infiltration, soil moisture, groundwater table and surface water depth. Simulating impacts of land use (vegetation) transformation and global climate changes are within the model’s capability.

In southern Guam, there are some watersheds with both rainfall and flow gages. But some other watersheds have only rainfall gages but no flow gages. In these watersheds without a flow gage, it is obviously difficult to carry out watershed management studies which require flow data. Even in some those watersheds with a flow gage, the flow gage is not always located at the watershed outlet but a distance upstream of the outlet.

The objective of this research is to calibrate the LUOM (Luo, 2007) in a watershed with both rainfall and flow gages such as Ugum Watershed. Then to apply the calibrated model to those watersheds without a stream flow gage or the whole watershed that the flow gage is not located at the outlet. T he application of the calibrated model will generate hydrographs for the whole watershed.

The benefits of this project will be enormous not only to Guam but also to other island in Western Pacific. Researchers will be able to implement various watershed management practices within the watershed. Examples, by having flow data, researchers could develop a correlation between stream flow, rainfall, and turbidity at various section of a watershed for studying the impact of various watershed management practices. The model will benefit to Agencies such as Guam Water Authority (GWA) for exploring potential sources of drinking water in Southern Guam. As mentioned earlier, there are 16 streams that are not gauged; by having flow data, potential sites for developing drinking water supply such as construction of small dam will be identified.

COURSES TAUGHT

Hydrology (EV 542, fall semester, even year, 3 credit hours)

This graduate course covers the principles of engineering hydrology and analysis and modeling techniques applicable to common environmental situations that arise on tropical islands, and/or other parts of the world.  Topics encompass: a) physical principles of hydrology, b) principles of hydrologic measurement, c) deterministic hydrologic analysis and modeling, d) principles of statistical analysis and hydrologic design.

Hydrology: Geology & Engineering (EV 511, spring semester, each year, 3 credit hours)

As one of the core courses of the Environmental Science MS Program, this course surveys the key aspects of geology and engineering that environmental scientists should be familiar with.  Team taught by the WERI faculty, topics include meteorology, surface hydrology, open channel flow, erosion and sedimentation, and groundwater hydrology.

Engineering Orientation (ES 100, fall semester, each year, 1 credit hours)

This course is designed to give freshmen students’ insight into the nature of technology and an engineer’s role in society.  This is the first course of the Pre-Engineering Undergraduate Program at the University of Guam.

Engineering Statics (ES 201, fall semester, each year, 3 credit hours)

This course covers forces, resultants and equilibrium, the analysis of trusses, frames, machines, centroid, moment of inertia, and friction.

PUBLICATIONS

Five Most Recent Publications

Luo, Q., 2007. A distributed surface flow model for watersheds with large water bodies and channel loops. J. Hydrol. 337, 172–186. (doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.01.029)

Luo, Q., 2007. Reply to ‘‘Comments on ‘A distributed surface flow model for watersheds with large water bodies and channel loops’ by Qiang Luo, 2007 ..., J. Hydrol., 346, 171– 173. (doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.06.030)

Luo, C., Y. Alila, S. Chatwin, 2006. A distributed hydrological model of a large mountain pine beetle attacked watershed, Proceedings of CWRA Annual Conference.

Luo, C., Y. Alila, S. Chatwin, 2006. The Impact of Mountain Pine Beetle Attack and Salvage Harvesting on Streamflows, Technical Report to Forest Practices Board, BC, Canada.

Luo, C.Q., and Y. Alila, 2006. Hydrologic Recovery of the Peak Flow Regime in Two Snow Dominated Meso-Scale Watersheds in the Southern Interior of British Columbia: An Investigation Using a Conceptual Hydrologic Model. Technical Report to FSP, BC, Canada.

Journal Articles:

Luo, Q., 2007. A distributed surface flow model for watersheds with large water bodies and channel loops. J. Hydrol. 337, 172–186. (doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.01.029)

Luo, Q., 2007. Reply to ‘‘Comments on ‘A distributed surface flow model for watersheds with large water bodies and channel loops’ by Qiang Luo, 2007 ..., J. Hydrol., 346, 171– 173. (doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.06.030)

Luo, Q. and G. Huang, 2002. The basin-scale inverse identification of distributed aquifer parameters, Journal of Engineering Geology, 1004-9665/2002/10(Addition)-0123-06, China Society of Eng. Geology, pp.123-128.

Luo, Q., N. Tamai and G. Huang, 2000. Non-optimization direct method of the inverse problem (NODMIP) for groundwater modeling in a large-scale basin, Journal of Japan Society of Hydrology & Water Resources, 13(2), pp.151-158.

Luo, Q., N. Tamai and G. Huang, 1999. A grid-based stream-structure model for large-scale watershed (GSMLW), Annual Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, JSCE, pp.19-24.

Conference Proceedings:

Luo, Q., 2009. Daoism and Environmental Sustainability – A Completely Different Way of Thinking, Proceedings of International Workshop o/n Sustainable City Region, Bali, Indonesia, Feb. 23-24, 164-171.

Luo, C., Y. Alila, S. Chatwin, 2006. A distributed hydrological model of a large mountain pine beetle attacked watershed, Proceedings of CWRA Annual Conference.

Luo, Q., et al., The basin-wide two-dimensional model of sediment production and transportation for estuary sediment simulation, Proceedings of International Conference on Estuaries and Coasts, Nov. 9-11, 2003, Hangzhou, China, pp. 847-857, 2003.

Tamai, N., Luo Qiang, and G. Huang, Impact of Climate Change on Basin-wide Evapotranspiration Predicted by a Distributed Model, 2000 China-Japan Joint Symposium on Green Science and Technology, March 21-25, 2000, Hefei City, P. R. China, pp.25-34, 2000.

Luo, Q., and N. Tamai, The Simplified Two-layer Infiltration and Recharge-to-groundwater Model (STIRM), Proceedings of the Second International Summer Symposium, JSCE, pp.181-184, 2000.

Luo, Q., N. Tamai, Y. Jia and G. Huang, A Complementary Stream-network and Watershed Model for River Basins in Plain and Urban Areas (CSWM), Proceedings of IAHR28 Congress, Graz, Austria, August 22-27, 1999, pp199(1-6).

Luo, Q., N. Tamai and G. Huang, A Simplified Inverse Large-Scale Groundwater Model (SILGROM), Proceedings of the international Symposium on Groundwater in Environmental Problems, Chiba University, pp. 19-24 (1999).

Luo, Q., N. Tamai and G. Huang, Free, Seriate Tree Structure, A Stream Network Structure Adaptable to Grid Based Large - Scale Model, Proceedings of the First International Summer Symposium, August 6, 1999, Tokyo Japan, International Activities Committee of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, pp109-112.

Technical Reports:

Luo, C., Y. Alila, S. Chatwin, 2006. The Impact of Mountain Pine Beetle Attack and Salvage Harvesting on Streamflows, Technical Report to Forest Practices Board, BC, Canada.

Luo, C.Q., and Y. Alila, 2006. Hydrologic Recovery of the Peak Flow Regime in Two Snow Dominated Meso-Scale Watersheds in the Southern Interior of British Columbia: An Investigation Using a Conceptual Hydrologic Model. Technical Report to FSP, BC, Canada.