The near-field method: a modified equivalent linear method for dynamic soil–structure interaction analysis. Part I: Theory and methodology

This paper presents a new direct modeling approach to analyze 3D dynamic SSI systems including building structures resting on shallow spread foundations. The direct method consists of modeling the superstructure and the underlying soil domain. Using a reduced shear modulus and an increased damping ratio resulted from an equivalent linear free-field analysis is a traditional approach for simulating behavior of the soil medium. However, this method is not accurate enough in the vicinity of foundation, or the near-field domain, where the soil experiences large strains and the behavior is highly nonlinear. This research proposes new modulus degradation and damping augmentation curves for using in the near-field zone in order to obtain more accurate results with the equivalent linear method. The mentioned values are presented as functions of dimensionless parameters controlling nonlinear behavior in the near-field zone. This paper summarizes the semi-analytical methodology of the proposed modified equivalent linear procedure. The numerical implementation and examples are given in a companion paper.     

On the advection of sharp material interfaces in geodynamic problems: entrainment of the D″ layer

The D″ layer is a dense and chemically distinct layer at the base of the convecting mantle. Numerical modeling of the entrainment of this layer by mantle convection requires the solution of the advective transport equation without introducing numerical diffusion across sharp material boundaries. We use our improved second moment numerical method to solve the equation. The method conserves the amount of material and the first and second moments of material distribution in each control volume. We first consider two examples of isothermal Rayleigh–Taylor instability to illustrate the performance of our method by comparing our results with those of a number of field, tracer and marker chain methods. We show that the performance of our method in minimizing the numerical diffusion is better than the field methods and comparable to the tracer and marker chain methods. We then study the instability of the dense D″ layer and its interaction with the overlying mantle. A range of density contrast between the D″ layer and the mantle, layer thickness, and the Rayleigh number, Ra, is examined. We show that for higher values of these parameters, the amount of entrainment decreases and the layer remains stable over longer periods of time. For very thick D″ layers and high Ra values, internal convection can take place within the layer.     

Visibility Analysis In Vision Metrology Network Design

The aim of this paper is to present a method whereby accuracy enhancement of an existing photogrammetric network is achieved through the automatic selection of additional camera stations. The determination of the positions of these 'accuracy fulfilment' camera stations is based upon what has been termed 'visibility uncertainty prediction modelling' of visibility constraints derived from the existing network geometry. Following a review of vision constraints in network design, the concepts of visibility uncertainty prediction and visibility uncertainty spheres are introduced. These provide a mechanism to predict the visibility of current object target points for the new accuracy fulfilment images. This in turn aids in network design improvement. The visibility uncertainty modelling is then illustrated for two close range photogrammetric network configurations, for which the test results demonstrate that the proposed model can reliably predict target visibility with an overall certainty of 75%.     

Identifying complexity of annual precipitation variation in Iran during 1960–2010 based on information theory and discrete wavelet transform

The hydrologic process and dynamic system of precipitation is influenced by many physical factors which are excessively complex and variable. Present study used a wavelet transform based multiscale entropy (WME) and wavelet-based multiscale relative entropy (WMRE) approach in order to analyze and gage the complexity of the precipitation series and spatially classify the raingauges in Iran. For this end, historical annual precipitation data of 51 years (1960–2010) from 31 raingauges was decomposed using WT in which smooth Daubechies (db) mother wavelet (db5–db10), optimal level of decomposition and boundary extensions were considered. Next, entropy concept was applied for components obtained from WT to measure of dispersion, uncertainty, disorderliness and diversification in a multi-scale form. Spatial classification of raingauges was performed using WME and WMRE values as input data to SOM and k-means approaches. Three validity indices namely Davis Bouldin (DB), Silhouette coefficient (SC) and Dunn index were used to validate the proposed model’s efficiency. Based on results, it was observed that k-means approach had better performance in determining homogenous areas with SC = 0.337, DB = 0.769 and Dunn = 1.42. Finally, spatial structure of precipitation variation in latitude and longitude directions demonstrated that WME and WMRE values had a decreasing trend with latitude, however, it was seen that WME and WMRE had an increasing relationship with longitude in Iran.     

Numerical modelling-based comparison of longitudinal dispersion coefficient formulas for solute transport in rivers

River water quality models usually apply the Fischer equation to determine the longitudinal dispersion coefficient (D_x) in solving the advection–dispersion equation (ADE). Recently, more accurate formulas have been introduced to determine D_x in rivers, which could strongly affect the accuracy of the ADE results. A numerical modelling-based approach is presented to evaluate the performance of various D_x formulas using the ADE. This approach consists of a finite difference approximation of the ADE, a MATLAB code and a MS Excel interface; it was tested against the analytical ADE solution and demonstrated using eight well-known D_x formulas and tracer study data for the Chattahoochee River (USA), the Severn (UK) and the Athabasca (Canada). The results show that D_x has an important effect on tracer concentrations simulated with the ADE. Comparison between the simulated and measured concentrations confirms the appropriate performance of Zeng and Huai’s formula for D_x estimation. Use of the newly proposed equations for D_x estimation could enhance the accuracy of solving the ADE.     

A multiscale spatio-temporal framework to regionalize annual precipitation using k-means and self-organizing map technique

Determination of homogenous precipitation-based regions is a very important task in effective management of water resources. The present study tried to propose an effective precipitation-based regionalization methodology by conjugating both temporal pre-processing and spatial clustering approaches in a way to take advantage of multiscale properties of precipitation time series. Annual precipitation data of 51 years (1960-2010) for 31 rain gauges (RGs) were collected and used in proposed clustering approaches. Discreet wavelet transform (DWT) was used to capture the time-frequency attributes of the time series and multiscale regionalization was performed by using k-means and Self Organizing Maps (SOM) clustering techniques. Daubechies function (db) was selected as mother wavelet to decompose the precipitation time series. Also, proper boundary extensions and decomposition level were applied. Different combinations of the approximation (A) and detail (D) coefficients were used to determine the input dataset as a basis of spatial clustering. The proposed model’s efficiency in spatial clustering stage was verified using three different indexes namely, Silhouette Coefficient (SC), Dunn index and Davis Bouldin index (DB). Results approved superior performance of k-means technique in comparison to SOM. It was also deduced that DWT-based regionalization methodology showed improvements in comparison to historical-based models. Cross mutual information was used to investigate the RGs of cluster 3’s homogeneousness in DWT-k-means approach. Results of non-linear correlation approach verified homogeneity of cluster 3. Verifications based on mean annual precipitation values of rain gauges in each cluster also approved the capability of multiscale approach in precipitation regionalization.