Percolation losses in paddy fields with a dynamic soil structure: model development and applications

The hydraulic characteristics of the plough pan of paddy fields provide continuous ponding conditions during the growing season and control the water use efficiency in wet rice production. Its saturated hydraulic conductivity K_s, however, exhibits a large spatiotemporal variability as a consequence of a highly dynamic soil structure involving temporary shrinkage cracks. Water flow through the earthen bunds surrounding the fields further contributes to the uncertainty in water flux calculations. The objective of this study was to develop a simple deterministic model with stochastic elements (‘PADDY‐FLUX’) for depiction of deep percolation, and to assess the effect of different water management scenarios on percolation in two channel command areas. Darcy's law is used as the fundamental equation for water flow calculations with the ponding water depth h as a time‐dependent variable. Flux uncertainty is estimated by a Monte‐Carlo‐type implementation. K_s is treated as a random variable of a bimodal probability density function (PDF), which is the weighted sum of two Gaussian PDFs (accounting for a matrix and a preferential flow domain). The weighing factor α is a function of h, reflecting an increasing risk for preferential flow situations after desiccation and the development of shrinkage cracks. Under‐bund percolation is calculated using transfer functions. The results demonstrate that percolation losses increase in the following order: continuous soil saturation < continuous flooding (CF) < mid‐season drainage and intermittent irrigation (MD + II) < mid‐season drainage and continuous flooding. The bunds contribute up to 54 and 17% to total fluxes under CF and MD + II, respectively. Preferential water fluxes are responsible for the major part of water losses as soon as desiccation causes the formation of shrinkage cracks. As a conclusion, continuous soil saturation should be promoted as the least water‐intensive irrigation regime, while intermittent irrigation is recommended only in case that irreversible shrinkage cracks have already developed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同干燥方法对重塑膨润土压汞试验用土样的影响试验研究

采用风干法、烘干法和冻干法分别对不同含水率的重塑膨润土进行干燥制样,利用压汞试验得到的累积进汞量曲线,对重塑膨润土进行了孔隙尺度划分,根据测试结果对土样孔隙尺度分布特征进行了定量分析。试验结果表明：采用风干法、烘干法和冻干法干燥制样后土体孔隙分布存在较大的差异性,土样的含水率越高,差异越明显;风干法、烘干法干燥土样会引起孔隙收缩,导致土体微孔隙特征的变化,冻干法不会引起孔隙收缩,因而不会导致土体微孔隙特征的变化。由此得出了干燥重塑膨润土制备压汞试验用土样最好的干燥方法是冻干法这一结论     

干湿循环作用下膨胀土裂隙演化规律试验研究

对南阳膨胀土在反复干湿循环作用下的裂隙演化规律进行了室内试验研究。试验中采用烘干法模拟脱湿过程,采用抽气饱和法模拟饱和过程。在脱湿过程中,定时对土样进行称重、定点拍照,以记录裂隙发育状况。利用矢量图技术对裂隙照片进行矢量化处理,以提取裂隙的各种几何要素,继而进行裂隙度计算。裂隙度变化规律分析结果表明,影响裂隙张开程度的关键因素并非土体含水率,而是含水率梯度,而脱湿速率的空间分布、土块渗透特性以及土块尺寸大小则是决定含水率梯度大小的关键因素;膨胀土裂隙在干湿循环的作用下会逐步发育,主要体现在裂隙总面积与总长度的增加,但此作用有限,裂隙的发育达到一定程度以后便会因为土块尺寸过小而停止;反复干湿循环会使土体产生范性变形,该范性变形与完整土块的胀缩特性并无直接联系,其主要成因是裂隙的发育与土体完整性的破坏,裂隙越发育,土体范性变形量越大     

失水对海洋沉积物磁学性质的影响

为了探究沉积物的干燥过程及方式对其磁学性质的影响,选取含水率高的南海沉积物样品,对其中685个样品在自然条件下逐步晾干,并每间隔40 d测量1次低频磁化率（κlf）、高频磁化率（κhf）、饱和等温剩磁（SIRM）、S-300和频率磁化率系数（κfd）,共测量5次;对另外60个样品进行冷冻干燥,并在干燥前后测量相同的磁学参数。结果表明：1）自然晾干过程中,除少数异常点（约7%）外,大多数样品的κlf和κhf呈减小趋势,少数样品呈增大趋势,S-300和κfd均呈减小趋势,SIRM先减后增,整体上呈增大趋势;2）冷冻干燥过程中,样品的κlf、κhf、S-300和κfd呈增大趋势,SIRM呈减小趋势;3）2种干燥方法均不影响κlf、κhf、SIRM和S-300的剖面变化趋势,但对κfd的影响较大,这在磁学指标的古环境研究中具有关键的指示意义。磁学参数的变化,可能是由于失水过程发生的微弱氧化作用、失水导致水的抗磁性“负贡献”降低、细粒磁铁矿和磁赤铁矿在湿润状态下转变成顺磁性和不完全反铁磁性等综合因素造成的。建议对同一批次的样品采取相同的干燥方法。     

A wetting and drying algorithm with a combined pressure/free-surface formulation for non-hydrostatic models

A wetting and drying method for free-surface problems for the three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic Navier–Stokes equations is proposed. The key idea is to use a horizontally fixed mesh and to apply different boundary conditions on the free-surface in wet and dry zones. In wet areas a combined pressure/free-surface kinematic boundary condition is applied, while in dry areas a positive water level and a no-normal flow boundary condition are enforced. In addition, vertical mesh movement is performed to accurately represent the free-surface motion. Non-physical flow in the remaining thin layer in dry areas is naturally prevented if a Manning–Strickler bottom drag is used. The treatment of the wetting and drying processes applied through the boundary condition yields great flexibility to the discretisation used. Specifically, a fully unstructured mesh with any finite element choice and implicit time discretisation method can be applied. The resulting method is mass conservative, stable and accurate. It is implemented within Fluidity-ICOM [1] and verified against several idealized test cases and a laboratory experiment of the Okushiri tsunami.     

失水过程中的土壤孔隙比―含水量―吸力关系

当土体总应力状态保持不变时,基质吸力的提高是导致孔隙水排水、土样体积收缩、孔隙结构改变的根本原因,通过吸力可以将土壤收缩曲线和土水特征曲线联系起来进行比对研究。采用广义有效应力原理分析超固结土样和正常土样的失水过程,结果表明:超固结土样中存在着相应的先期固结压力的吸力值,称之为先期固结吸力ψc。当土样吸力小于ψc时,超固结土样和正常固结土样的收缩曲线、土水特征曲线不同:超固结土孔隙比随吸力提高而减小的坡度较缓,约等于土样的回弹再压缩指数,土样处于结构性收缩阶段;先期固结压力越大,土水特征曲线的进气值越高。当土样吸力高于ψc时,超固结土样和正常固结土样的收缩曲线、土水特征曲线重合。     

Modeling of RC columns strengthened with RC jackets

Constructing concrete jackets is a common technique when strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) columns, particularly in seismic regions. However, there are many uncertainties concerning the behavior of the composite specimen, particularly at the interface between the old and new concrete. In this paper, monotonic finite element (FE) analyses are performed to examine the behavior of strengthened columns under monotonic and cyclic loading. Through investigating two independent series of experimental results, it is demonstrated that monotonic FE analysis with appropriate assumptions can simulate both monotonic and cyclic loading conditions to a reasonable degree of accuracy. According to the results of this study, it is found that a simulation of the interface between the old and the new concrete is vital and cannot be ignored by simply considering a perfect bond at the interface. In the case of strengthened RC columns subjected to cyclic loading, strength degradation at the interface has to be included and can be effectively modeled by reducing the coefficients of friction and adhesion by using a proposed formula. Finally, the effect of jacket concrete shrinkage is simulated that leads to a reduced maximum load and stiffness of strengthened columns. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microbial mats implicated in the generation of intrastratal shrinkage (‘synaeresis’) cracks

Intrastratal shrinkage (often termed ‘synaeresis’) cracks are commonly employed as diagnostic environmental indicators for ancient salinity‐stressed, transitional fluvial‐marine or marginal‐marine depositional environments. Despite their abundance and use in facies interpretations, the mechanism of synaeresis crack formation remains controversial, and widely accepted explanations for their formation have hitherto been lacking. Sedimentological, ichnological, petrographic and geochemical study of shallow marine mudstone beds from the Ordovician Beach Formation of Bell Island, Newfoundland, has revealed that crack development (cf. synaeresis cracks) on the upper surface of mudstone beds is correlated with specific organic, geochemical and sedimentological parameters. Contorted, sinuous, sand‐filled cracks are common at contacts between unbioturbated mudstone and overlying sandstone beds. Cracks are absent in highly bioturbated mudstone, and are considered to pre‐date firmground assemblages of trace fossils that include Planolites and Trichophycus. The tops of cracked mudstone beds contain up to 2·1 wt% total organic carbon, relative to underlying mudstone beds that contain around 0·5 wt% total organic carbon. High‐resolution carbon isotope analyses reveal low δ¹³C_org values (?27·6‰) on bed tops compared with sandy intervals lacking cracks (?24·4 to ?24·9‰). Cracked mudstone facies show evidence for microbial matgrounds, including microbially induced sedimentary structures on bedding planes and carbonaceous laminae and tubular carbonaceous microfossils in thin section. Non‐cracked mudstone lacks evidence for development of microbial mats. Microbial mat development is proposed as an important prerequisite for intrastratal shrinkage crack formation. Both microbial mats and intrastratal shrinkage cracks have broad palaeoenvironmental distributions in the Precambrian and early Phanerozoic. In later Phanerozoic strata, matgrounds are restricted to depositional environments that are inhospitable to burrowing and surface‐grazing macrofauna. Unless evidence of synaeresis (i.e. contraction of clay mineral lattices in response to salinity change) can be independently demonstrated, the general term ‘intrastratal shrinkage crack’ is proposed to describe sinuous and tapering cracks in mudstone beds.     

Continuous determination of drying-path SWRC of fine-grained soils

Establishing the soil water retention curve, SWRC or the soil water characteristic curve, SWCC, is very useful for determination of unsaturated properties of soils. However, it has been observed that SWRC of a soil is not unique and depends on various factors such as the initial moisture content, density of soil, method of compaction, soil fabric and the path (drying or wetting) adopted for establishing it. In this context, many techniques and instruments have been employed by earlier researchers for determination of the SWRC of soils. However, these techniques entail weighing of the samples during prolonged testing, manually, and hence yield discrete data points. In this situation, AquaSorp® Isotherm Generator (manufactured by Decagon Devices Inc., USA) has been found to be quite useful for continuous determination of the drying-path SWRC of fine-grained soils. This device has been primarily employed for food products, powders and amorphous materials. Hence, demonstration of the utility and limitations of this device for SWRC determination of fine-grained soils becomes essential. With this in mind, extensive studies were conducted on commercially available soils (Kaolinite and Bentonite) by employing this device. In order to understand the influence of specimen specific parameters on the obtained SWRCs, the molding water content and thickness of the specimens were varied and the results have been evaluated critically. Details of the methodology adopted for these investigations, and the findings of the study are presented in this technical note. Based on a critical comparison of the results obtained from this device with those obtained from the dewpoint potentiameter, WP4®, the utility of this device for continuous determination of drying-path SWRC of the soils has also been demonstrated.     

1951-2005年中国区域气候变化与干旱化趋势

摘 要：利用1951-2006年中国区域160个站的月降水及月平均气温资料,对中国区域近56 a气候要素的变化及其与干旱化联系的事实进行了分析。结果表明：降水减少的地区主要位于我国北方的西北东部、华北及东北;在南方,西南的降水减少趋势与上述地区具有类似特征。气温基本为增温趋势,而西北东部及西南地区气温也在20世纪80年代发生转折性变化,由80年代中期以前的降温趋势转为其后的增温趋势。地表湿润指数分析的结果指出：我国西北东部、华北、东北及西南地区当前正处于一个干旱化过程,但不同地区干湿变化特征及干旱化的持续时间和位相却有差别。