A study on the bio-hydro mechanical effects of the tree roots on the Agaclı coal reclaimed – forested land

The research area that is in the north of Istanbul (Turkey) and it is a land of open pit coal mining residuals reclaimed and turned to forest in 1988–1989. The materials that are open pit mine spoils are formed by sandy loam, sandy clay loam, heavy loam and clay (noncalcareous Pliocene I sediments). Pseudoacacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), Maritima Pine (Pinus pinaster) and Stone Pine (Pinus pinea) are planted on these materials. The aims of this research were to determine the strength of the material provided by tree roots and evaluate the performance of the forestation practices at lands especially where open pit coal mining spoil (residual) materials piled up. The research has been performed at two stages. The first one was hydro-mechanical effect concerned about material moisture depletion as a result of transpiration and the second one was bio-mechanical effects due to strength parameters of the roots and their growth pattern within the material. All results were evaluated in relation to tensile strength and displacement curves due to pre and post failure behaviors of materials and root systems. The results showed the increase of the displacement of the material was the significant indicator of the bio-mechanics tensile strength of the material provided by the tree roots. The fast growing type of tree roots have stabilized the material up to a depth for 80–100 cm by covering the coal residual materials within 12 years.     

Toxic metal (Pb, Cd and Hg) levels in the nearshore surface sediments from the European and Anotolian Shores of Bosphorus, Turkey

In this study, some toxic metal such as Pb, Cd and Hg analyzes have been done in the nearshore surface sediments. Sediment samples have been collected from five parts from the European and Anotolian Shores of the Bosphorus during 2003-2004. Total Pb, Cd and Hg contents vary between <0.01μgg(-1) and 238μgg(-1); <0.01μgg(-1) and 0.92μgg(-1); 0.001μgg(-1) and 0.45μgg(-1), respectively. Contamination Factor (CF) values of Pb and Cd range between 1 and 3 whilst CF values of Hg are lower than 1 in all the stations. It means that there are no Hg metal enrichment by natural or anthropogenic inputs contrary to moderately contamination for Pb and Cd metals throughout the Bosphorus sediments.     

Evaluation of dynamic properties of geosynthetic reinforced clay samples for environmental impact practices

A series of tests were conducted to investigate the improvement of damping properties of clay samples with geosynthetic inclusions. Flexible thermoplastic polymer synthetics improve damping properties of clay samples. Resonant column tests were conducted to measure the low strain shear modulus and damping ratio of laboratory prepared synthetic inclusion clay specimens. The shear modulus and damping ratio of the reinforced clay samples were investigated considering geosynthetic type (geotextile and geomembrane), number of geosynthetic sheets, and confining pressure. The test results demonstrated that the geomembrane and the number of geosynthetic sheets significantly improved the shear modulus and damping ratio of reinforced clay samples compared with those of the unreinforced clay samples.     

Case study of the Agacli landslide–gully complex during post-coal-mining reclamation and afforestation

The concept of sustainable development has gained wide acceptance in the fields of mining and environmental studies. Mining is a temporary activity, but its impact on the environment persists long after mine closure. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of land-use change on the stability of the Agacli landslide, northern coastal part of the Istanbul (Turkey), spanning periods of mining, reclamation, and afforestation. Geological and geophysical surveys were performed to determine the effects of erosion on the landslide. To assess the possibility of water responsible for triggering a landslide–gully complex, the dynamic elastic parameters of the field are calculated. Field observations indicate that surface erosion and gully development have ceased in the afforested area; however, gullies in non-forested areas continue to increase in size and depth. Uncontrolled surface water and water from stock watering ponds have trigger erosion and rapid sedimentation of the landslide–gully complex, resulting in over-steepening and enhanced landslide activity on the flanks of the main slide.     

An Incremental Response Spectrum Analysis Procedure Based on Inelastic Spectral Displacements for Multi-Mode Seismic Performance Evaluation

The so-called Nonlinear Static Procedure (NSP) based on pushover analysis has been developed in the last decade as a practical engineering tool to estimate the inelastic response quantities in the framework of performance-based seismic evaluation of structures. However NSP suffers from a major drawback in that it is restricted with a single-mode response and therefore the procedure can be reliably applied only to the two-dimensional response of low-rise, regular buildings. Recognizing the continuously intensifying use of the pushover-based NSP in the engineering practice, the present paper attempts to develop a new pushover analysis procedure to cater for the multi-mode response in a practical and theoretically consistent manner. The proposed Incremental Response Spectrum Analysis (IRSA) procedure is based on the approximate development of the so-called modal capacity diagrams, which are defined as the backbone curves of the modal hysteresis loops. Modal capacity diagrams are used for the estimation of instantaneous modal inelastic spectral displacements in a piecewise linear process called pushover-history analysis. It is illustrated through an example analysis that the proposed IRSA procedure can estimate with a reasonable accuracy the peak inelastic response quantities of interest, such as story drift ratios and plastic hinge rotations as well as the story shears and overturning moments. A practical version of the procedure is also developed which is based on the code-specified smooth response spectrum and the well-known equal displacement rule. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Estimation of Tsunami Run-up Height by Three Artificial Neural Network Methods

Tsunami run-up height is a significant parameter for dimemsions of coastal structures.In the present study,tsunami run-up heights are estimated by three different Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models,i.e.Feed Forward Back Propagation (FFBP),Radial Basis Functions (RBF) and Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN).As the input for the ANN configuration,the wave height (H) values are employed.It is shown that the tsunami run-up height values are closely approximated with all of the applied ANN methods.The ANN estimations are slightly superior to those of the empirical equation.It can he seen that the ANN applications are especially significant in the absence of adequate number of laboratory experiments.The restdts also prove that the available experiment data set can he extended with ANN simulations.This may be helpful to decrease the burden of the experimental studies and to supply results for comparisons.     

Automatic Building Extraction from Image and LiDAR Data with Active Contour Segmentation

Automatic building extraction is an important topic for many applications such as urban planning, disaster management, 3D building modeling and updating GIS databases. Its approaches mainly depend on two data sources: light detection and ranging (LiDAR) point cloud and aerial imagery both of which have advantages and disadvantages of their own. In this study, in order to benefit from the advantages of each data sources, LiDAR and image data combined together. And then, the building boundaries were extracted with the automated active contour algorithm implemented in MATLAB. Active contour algorithm uses initial contour positions to segment an object in the image. Initial contour positions were detected without user interaction by a series of image enhancements, band ratio and morphological operations. Four test areas with varying building and background levels of detail were selected from ISPRS’s benchmark Vaihingen and Istanbul datasets. Vegetation and shadows were removed from all the datasets by band ratio to improve segmentation quality. Subsequently, LiDAR point cloud data was converted to raster format and added to the aerial imagery as an extra band. Resulting merged image and initial contour positions were given to the active contour algorithm to extract building boundaries. In order to compare the contribution of LiDAR to the proposed method, the boundaries of the buildings were extracted from the input image before and after adding LiDAR data to the image as a layer. Finally extracted building boundaries were smoothed by the Awrangjeb (Int J Remote Sen 37(3): 551–579.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2015.1131868, 2016) boundary regularization algorithm. Correctness (Corr), completeness (Comp) and accuracy (Q) metrics were used to assess accuracy of segmented building boundaries by comparing extracted building boundaries with manually digitized building boundaries. Proposed approach shows the promising results with over 93% correctness, 92% completeness and 89% quality.     

Prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of compacted granular soils by using inference systems

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and artificial neural network (ANN) models have been extensively used to predict different soil properties in geotechnical applications. In this study, it was aimed to develop ANFIS and ANN models to predict the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of compacted soils. For this purpose, 84 soil samples with different grain-size distribution compacted at optimum water content were subjected to the unconfined compressive tests to determine their UCS values. Many of the test results (for 64 samples) were used to train the ANFIS and the ANN models, and the rest of the experimental results (for 20 samples) were used to predict the UCS of compacted samples. To train these models, the clay content, fine silt content, coarse silt content, fine sand content, middle sand content, coarse sand content, and gravel content of the total soil mass were used as input data for these models. The UCS values of compacted soils were output data in these models. The ANFIS model results were compared with those of the ANN model and it was seen that the ANFIS model results were very encouraging. Consequently, the results of this study have important findings indicating reliable and simple prediction tools for the UCS of compacted soils.     

Assessment of excavatability,abrasivity and slope stability in a sandstone quarry in Istanbul,Turkey

The Cebeci region is characterized by outcrops of Carboniferous sandstone, including diabase dykes. This region is very important area for aggregate production in Istanbul, Turkey. The aim of this study is to determine the engineering geological properties of sandstones to assess the excavatability, abrasivity and stability of cut slopes in a quarry site. Firstly, the sandstone samples were used to determine their petrographical and mineralogical characteristics. Then, physico-mechanical tests were performed on these samples. In order to determine rock mass properties, scan-line surveys were performed, and the major orientations of discontinuities were analyzed through the stereographic projection technique. Kinematical analyses were also made to determine the potential failures at the quarry site. According to the results obtained, excavatability is changed from easy ripping to hard ripping on sandstones; the carbonated sandstone is less abrasive than other sandstones. Based on the field studies and stability analyses of the cut slopes, optimum slope geometry and necessary support measures, such as wire mesh and rock fall barriers, are suggested.     

Coastal forest effects on tsunami run-up heights

An experimental study was carried out to determine the effects of a coastal forest on tsunami run-up heights. The beach was built as a natural sandy beach at laboratory scale. The coastal forest model was constructed using artificial trees (FM–I) and cylindrical timber sticks (FM–II). Artificial trees were placed on a 1:5 slope in three different layouts: rectilinear, staggered, and dense rectilinear. It was shown that in the case when the trees were placed in the dense rectilinear pattern and close to the still water level (SWL), the run-up height was reduced by approximately 45% compared with the case without trees. After evaluation of the experimental results, the parameters that affect the run-up height were determined. These parameters were written as a dimensionless group using Buckingham's Pi theorem. An extensive regression analysis was carried out and equations proposed. Furthermore, all experiments were repeated with a slope of 1:3.5 to verify the proposed equations. The experimental results were compared with the results of the proposed equations, and it was shown a good agreement between the results.