Design of Buoys for Mounting Wind Turbines at Exposed Sites

In this study, two designs for a buoy capable of supporting a 10 kW wind turbine and its tower were developed to operate at the University of New Hampshire’s Center of Ocean Renewable Energy testing site located off the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. The buoys are to be moored by a catenary chain system. To evaluate wave response, two Froude-scaled models were constructed, tested, and compared at the Ocean Engineering wave tank at the University of New Hampshire. These buoys have been implemented and compared with wave tank measurements of the spar displacement at a reference elevation 2.44 m above the mean water level.     

Anthropogenic affects on lake sedimentation process: a case study from Lake Sapanca, NW Turkey

Lake Sapanca in NW Turkey is a fault originated freshwater basin fed by seasonally variable flows of 15 streams. Considerations of lake–river interaction, supported by statistical measures of 47 bottom samples, suggest that sediment transport and deposition within the lake is controlled by two types of human constructed structures in addition to natural factors: (1) the dykes constructed in the front of streams, which feed the lake by strong flows, to prevent the filling of lakebed by coarse-grained sediments; (2) the constructed regulator on the outflowing Çarksuyu stream results in a higher sedimentation rate of clay-sized material on the NE corner of the lake, which is extraordinary in the shelf environment.     

An experimental investigation of plunging breaker boundary layers in the transformation zone

Experimental investigation is made on the boundary layers of the transformation zone (i.e. the region between the last symmetrical wave profile depth and the breaking point) of plunging breakers propagating on a smooth beach with 1/12 uniform slope. Using a laser anemometer, the particle velocities are measured at four verticals along the transformation zone for three different steepnesses of waves within the plunging breaker range. The boundary layer flow in the transformation zone is found mostly of turbulent character and vertical distribution of particle velocities does not seem to conform to the classical law of the wall distribution given for steady-flow boundary layers. The results show that free-stream particle velocities, in the boundary layer of the breaker under the crest phase, increase considerably as the wave progresses towards the breaking point. The boundary layer thickness, defined as the velocity-affected region, remains constant throughout the transformation zone but it decreases with increasing deep-water wave steepness for the particular beach slope tested.     

Design of a caisson plate under wave impact

From the laboratory experiments and field studies it has been shown that when a wave breaks directly on a vertical wall, impact pressures of high magnitude and short duration, are produced. Despite the recent advances made in collecting data on impact pressure histories and their spatial distributions, analyses on the structural behaviour of the walls loaded by the impact forces do not seem adequate. In the present study the theoretical analysis of the response characteristics of a caisson plate, having different aspect ratios, under the wave impact loading is investigated. Numerical results for the dynamic values of moments and transverse displacements are obtained by the method of finite elements. Some prerequisite experimental data for wave breaking and resulting impact pressures are provided. The static results for moments and deflections are also computed for comparing them with the dynamic values. The dynamic results are found significantly greater than the static values. The ratio between the dynamic and static values is called “Dynamic magnification factor” that varies with plate aspect ratio. Based on this factor a procedure is proposed which may have practical consequences in the design of caisson plates.     

Impact pressure of breaking waves on vertical and sloping walls

Laboratory tests are conducted to measure the impact pressures of breaking waves on vertical, 5° forward, and 5, 10, 20, 30, and 45° backward sloping walls. The base structure of the wall has a foreshore slope of . Regular waves are used throughout the experiments for all wall angles. The maximum impact pressures on the wall are shown to satisfy the log-normal probability distribution. It is found from the present experiments that the impact pressures and resulting forces on sloping walls can be greater than those on a vertical wall. On the seven different walls tested, the maximum impact pressures occur most frequently slightly below the still-water level. The pattern of the impact pressure history does not change with the slope of the wall, and as the probability of maximum impact pressure decreases, the pressures around the peak pressure region of the impact pressure histories remain longer.     

Breaking wave impact on vertical and sloping coastal structures

The results of laboratory experiments on the maximum and bottom impact pressures from waves breaking directly on vertical and sloping faced coastal structures are presented. Direct wave breaking on a wall is classified as early, late, and perfect breaking. Although the present study is aimed at dealing with the type of impact resulting from the perfect breaking, to some extent the occurrence of early and late breaking are unavoidable. The wave impact pressures, therefore, have a random nature of variation from impact-to-impact under the same conditions. The maximum and bottom impact pressures on walls are treated statistically. The effects of the wall angle and foreshore slope on these two quantities are examined. The results show that for practical applications, the still-water level can be taken as the acting place for the maximum impact pressure on the wall. Simultaneous impact pressure distribution below and above still-water level may be approximated as parabolic and linear, respectively. Finally, using a wall deflection criterion, a water depth region in front of the wall is defined, where the breaking wave forces may reach a critical level.     

Results from a Multi-disciplinary Sedimentary Pilot Study of Tectonic Lake Iznik (NW Turkey) – Geochemistry and Paleolimnology of the Recent Past

A limnogeological reconnaissance study was carried out on Lake Iznik, located in the southeast of the Marmara region of Turkey, involving a seismic survey and collection of short sediment cores. This lake is located on the middle branch of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), a transform plate boundary between the Eurasian and Anatolian Plates. It is, therefore, tectonically active and offers an opportunity to investigate the interplay of sedimentary and seismo-tectonic processes, as well as climate change and human impact in the region. Short cores of the three sub-basins, maximum length of 35.5 cm, recovered non-laminated, blackish clays and silts with varying amounts of biogenic and minerogenic (allochthonous, autochthonous) material, which documented almost the last 80 years of deposition and environmental history. High sedimentation rates in the deeper core sections are accompanied by changes in land use (conversion of woodland to farmland) in the northern areas of Lake Iznik, which caused the deposition of more weathered material (high K/Na ratios) and higher contents of Mn in the lake. A tendency towards eutrophic conditions within the last 20 years is indicated by high nutrient content (N, TOC, P), decreasing C/N-ratios, and characteristic diatom and cladoceran associations. Also increased pollution is revealed by higher Pb, Cu, and Zn contents and increased supply of human and animal faeces (high coprostanol content) during the last two decades. But simultaneous lower sedimentation rates towards the core tops complicate the reconstruction of recent and past eutrophication and pollution states of Lake Iznik. This requires an extension of the pilot study and deeper sediment cores, to recover non-anthropogenic influenced sediment levels.     

Segmentation and kinematics of the North America‐Caribbean plate boundary offshore Hispaniola

We explored the submarine portions of the Enriquillo–Plantain Garden Fault zone (EPGFZ) and the Septentrional–Oriente Fault zone (SOFZ) along the Northern Caribbean plate boundary using high‐resolution multibeam echo‐sounding and shallow seismic reflection. The bathymetric data shed light on poorly documented or previously unknown submarine fault zones running over 200 km between Haiti and Jamaica (EPGFZ) and 300 km between the Dominican Republic and Cuba (SOFZ). The primary plate‐boundary structures are a series of strike‐slip fault segments associated with pressure ridges, restraining bends, step overs and dogleg offsets indicating very active tectonics. Several distinct segments 50–100 km long cut across pre‐existing structures inherited from former tectonic regimes or bypass recent morphologies formed under the current strike‐slip regime. Along the most recent trace of the SOFZ, we measured a strike‐slip offset of 16.5 km, which indicates steady activity for the past ~1.8 Ma if its current GPS‐derived motion of 9.8 ± 2 mm a^?1 has remained stable during the entire Quaternary.     

Combining two filter paper‐based analytical methods to monitor temporal variations in the geochemical properties of fluvial suspended particulate matter

Many of the commonly used analytical techniques for assessing the properties of fluvial suspended particulate matter (SPM) are neither cost effective nor time efficient, making them prohibitive to long‐term high‐resolution monitoring. We present an in‐depth methodology utilizing two types of spectroscopy which, when combined with automatic water samplers, can generate accurate, high‐temporal resolution SPM geochemistry data, inexpensively and semi‐destructively, directly from sediment covered filter papers. A combined X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy approach is developed to estimate concentrations for a range of elements (Al, Ca, Ce, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Si, Ti) and compounds (organic carbon, Al_dithionate, Al_oxalate, Fe_dithionate, and Fe_oxalate) within SPM trapped on quartz fibre filters at masses as low as 3 mg. Calibration models with small prediction errors are derived, along with mass correction factor models to account for variations in retained SPM mass. Spectral pre‐processing methods are shown to enhance the reproducibility of results for some compounds, and the importance of filter paper selection and homogeneous sample preparation in minimizing spectral interference is emphasized. The geochemical signal from sediment covered filter papers is demonstrated to be time stable enabling samples to be stored for several weeks prior to analysis. Example results obtained during a heavy precipitation event in October 2012 demonstrate the methodology presented here has considerable potential to be utilized for high‐resolution monitoring of SPM geochemistry under a range of in‐stream hydrological conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.