Discrete stability of the Differential System Method evaluated with geostatistical techniques

The Differential System Method (DSM) permits identification of the physical parameters of finite-difference groundwater flow models in a confined aquifer when piezometric head and source terms are known at each point of the finite-difference lattice for at least two independent flow situations for which the hydraulic gradients are not parallel. Since piezometric head data are usually few and sparse, interpolation of the measured data onto a regular grid can be performed with geostatistical techniques. We apply kriging to the sparse data of a synthetic aquifer to evaluate the stability of the DSM with respect to uncorrelated measurement errors and interpolation errors. The numerical results show that the DSM is stable.     

Effect of Conditioning Randomly Heterogeneous Transmissivity on Temporal Hydraulic Head Measurements in Transient Two-Dimensional Aquifer Flow

We investigated the effect of conditioning transient, two-dimensional groundwater flow simulations, where the transmissivity was a spatial random field, on time dependent head data. The random fields, representing perturbations in log transmissivity, were generated using a known covariance function and then conditioned to match head data by iteratively cokriging and solving the flow model numerically. A new approximation to the cross-covariance of log transmissivity perturbations with time dependent head data and head data at different times, that greatly increased the computational efficiency, was introduced. The most noticeable effect of head data on the estimation of head and log transmissivity perturbations occurred from conditioning only on spatially distributed head measurements during steady flow. The additional improvement in the estimation of the log transmissivity and head perturbations obtained by conditioning on time dependent head data was fairly small. On the other hand, conditioning on temporal head data had a significant effect on particle tracks and reduced the lateral spreading around the center of the paths.     

Effect of Conditioning Randomly Heterogeneous Transmissivity on Temporal Hydraulic Head Measurements in Transient Two-Dimensional Aquifer Flow

We investigated the effect of conditioning transient, two-dimensional groundwater flow simulations, where the transmissivity was a spatial random field, on time dependent head data. The random fields, representing perturbations in log transmissivity, were generated using a known covariance function and then conditioned to match head data by iteratively cokriging and solving the flow model numerically. A new approximation to the cross-covariance of log transmissivity perturbations with time dependent head data and head data at different times, that greatly increased the computational efficiency, was introduced. The most noticeable effect of head data on the estimation of head and log transmissivity perturbations occurred from conditioning only on spatially distributed head measurements during steady flow. The additional improvement in the estimation of the log transmissivity and head perturbations obtained by conditioning on time dependent head data was fairly small. On the other hand, conditioning on temporal head data had a significant effect on particle tracks and reduced the lateral spreading around the center of the paths.     

Nonlinear stability of baroclinic flows over topography

Abstract

A new nonlinear stability criterion is derived for baroclinic flows over topography in spherical geometry. The stability of a wide class of exact three-dimensional nonlinear steady state solutions subject to arbitrary disturbances is established. The resonance condition, at the highest total wavenumber, for the steady state solutions and the stability criteria for baroclinic flow in the absence of topography provide the boundaries of the regions of stability in the presence of topography. The analogous results for flow on periodic or infinite beta planes incorporating non-orthogonal function large scale flows are also discussed.     

Application of the BME approach to soil texture mapping

In order to derive accurate space/time maps of soil properties, soil scientists need tools that combine the usually scarce hard data sets with the more easily accessible soft data sets. In the field of modern geostatistics, the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) approach provides new and powerful means for incorporating various forms of physical knowledge (including hard and soft data, soil classification charts, land cover data from satellite pictures, and digital elevation models) into the space/time mapping process. BME produces the complete probability distribution at each estimation point, thus allowing the calculation of elaborate statistics (even when the distribution is not Gaussian). It also offers a more rigorous and systematic method than kriging for integrating uncertain information into space/time mapping. In this work, BME is used to estimate the three textural fractions involved in a texture map. The first case study focuses on the estimation of the clay fraction, whereas the second one considers the three textural fractions (sand, silt and clay) simultaneously. The BME maps obtained are informative (important soil characteristics are identified, natural variations are well reproduced, etc.). Furthermore, in both case studies, the estimates obtained by BME were more accurate than the simple kriging (SK) estimates, thus offering a better picture of soil reality. In the multivariate case, classification error rate analysis in terms of BME performs considerably better than in terms of kriging. Analysis in terms of BME can offer valuable information to be used in sampling design, in optimizing the hard to soft data ratio, etc.     

Influence of hydropower outflow characteristics on riverbank stability: case of the lower Osage River (Missouri,USA)

ABSTRACT

This research examined the influences of outflow characteristics affecting riverbank stability. The 130-km stretch of the Lower Osage River downstream from Bagnell Dam (Missouri, USA) provided an excellent case study for this purpose. The integrated BSTEM model with the HEC-RAS model was accurately calibrated and validated with data from the US Geological Survey. Then, the outflow characteristics (peak flow duration, flow drawdown rate, and low flow duration) were investigated individually. The results of this study showed that: (1) riverbank stability is little affected by the duration time of the peak flow, especially on the reaches far from the dam; (2) sudden flow drawdown significantly reduces riverbank stability; however, the impact of the drawdown rate decreases with distance from the dam; and (3) the duration of the low flow after peak flow influences the riverbank stability value proportional to the distance from the dam. The time of low flow before failure increases as the distance from the dam increases.     

Evaluation of the soil water balance in an alluvial flood plain with a shallow groundwater table

Abstract

Many of the hydrological and ecological functions of alluvial flood plains within watersheds depend on the water flow exchanges between the vadoze soil zone and the shallow groundwater. The water balance of the soil in the flood plain is investigated, in order to evaluate the main hydrological processes that underlie the temporal dynamics of soil moisture and groundwater levels. The soil moisture and the groundwater level in the flood plain were monitored continuously for a three-year period. These data were integrated with the results derived from applying a physically-based numerical model which simulated the variably-saturated vertical water flow in the soil. The analysis indicated that the simultaneous processes of lateral groundwater flow and the vertical recharge from the unsaturated zone caused the observed water table fluctuations. The importance of these flows in determining the rises in the water table varied, depending on soil moisture and groundwater depth before precipitation. The monitoring period included two hydrological years (September 2009–September 2011). About 13% of the precipitation vertically recharged the groundwater in the first year and about 50% in the second. The difference in the two recharge coefficients was in part due to the lower groundwater levels in the recharge season of the first hydrological year, compared to those observed in the second. In the latter year, the shallow groundwater increased the soil moisture in the unsaturated zone due to capillary rise, and so the mean hydraulic conductivity of the unsaturated soil was high. This moisture state of soil favoured a more efficient conversion of infiltrated precipitation into vertical groundwater recharge. The results show that groundwater dynamics in the flood plain are an important source of temporal variability in soil moisture and vertical recharge processes, and this variability must be properly taken into account when the water balance is investigated in shallow groundwater environments.

Citation Pirastru, M. and Niedda, M., 2013. Evaluation of the soil water balance in an alluvial flood plain with a shallow groundwater table. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (4), 898–911.     

通过相关距平法探讨河源4号孔氡值的映震效能

本文研究河源4号孔水氡值变化规律,在干扰排除的情况下,运用相关距平分析方法分析其正常年变的变化,提取资料的异常信息与地震的映震关系,得出该方法对本区地震的对应关系比较明显。     

The effect of dispersion on the stability of density-driven flows in saturated homogeneous porous media

This work is a continuation of Musuuza et al. [37] in which a stability criterion for density-driven flow in a saturated homogeneous medium was derived. The criterion predicted the stability of a system as a function of the density and viscosity contrasts, the magnitude of the flow velocity and the concentration gradients for flow aligned orthogonal to gravity. It could not accurately predict stability transition with increasing velocity, a failure we attributed to dispersion effects that were not included. Small-scale dispersion and molecular diffusion, the main stabilising mechanisms in homogeneous media can stabilise flow if the instability wavelengths are below a certain cutoff. The width of the mixing zone is also central in controlling the range of wavelengths that persist into fingers. We propose a method of quantifying the cutoff wavelength and the width of the mixing zone, which are incorporated into the earlier criterion as constituents of the dispersive part. The earlier criterion is reformulated in terms of the Rayleigh number and with the dispersive part added, we attempt to predict the number of fingers formed which is directly related to the physical stability of the system. The inclusion of the Rayleigh number and dispersion into a single stability criterion provides new insight in the way dispersion affects vertical flow systems. Stability numbers computed with the new criterion are in reasonable agreement with numerical simulations for a range of physical variables. The numerical computations are performed with the software package d³f, which uses the cell-centred finite volume and the implicit Euler methods for the spatial and temporal discretisations, respectively. The admission of the density and dispersivities as inputs into the criterion makes it usable in practical problems.     

Analysis on the ecological benefits of the stream water conveyance to the dried-up river of the lower reaches of Tarim River,China

Water is the foundation of the composition, de-velopment and stability of the oasis ecosystems in thearid areas, and is the key ecological factor in the aridareas. The study results showed that in the arid areasthe biological process is weak, the biological ecosys-tems are small in scale and low in stability[1— . So the 9]growth of the natural vegetation is directly influencedby the change of groundwater level, leading to thedegradation of ecosystem[10,11]. Analysis on the rela-tionship betwe…     

Impact of the simulation algorithm, magnitude of ergodic fluctuations and number of realizations on the spaces of uncertainty of flow properties

 Geostatistical simulation algorithms are routinely used to generate conditional realizations of the spatial distribution of petrophysical properties, which are then fed into complex transfer functions, e.g. a flow simulator, to yield a distribution of responses, such as the time to recover a given proportion of the oil. This latter distribution, often referred to as the space of uncertainty, cannot be defined analytically because of the complexity (non-linearity) of transfer functions, but it can be characterized algorithmically through the generation of many realizations. This paper compares the space of uncertainty generated by four of the most commonly used algorithms: sequential Gaussian simulation, sequential indicator simulation, p-field simulation and simulated annealing. Conditional to 80 sample permeability values randomly drawn from an exhaustive 40×40 image, 100 realizations of the spatial distribution of permeability values are generated using each algorithm and fed into a pressure solver and a flow simulator. Principal component analysis is used to display the sets of realizations into the joint space of uncertainty of the response variables (effective permeability, times to reach 5% and 95% water cuts and to recover 10% and 50% of the oil). The attenuation of ergodic fluctuations through a rank-preserving transform of permeability values reduces substantially the extent of the space of uncertainty for sequential indicator simulation and p-field simulation, while improving the prediction of the response variable by the mean of the output distribution. Differences between simulation algorithms are the most pronounced for long-term responses (95% water cut and 50% oil recovery), with sequential Gaussian simulation yielding the most accurate prediction. In this example, utilizing more than 20 realizations generally increases only slightly the size of the space of uncertainty.     

A quadratic element method for evaluating groundwater flow by the inversion of surface tilt with application to the Tono Area, Japan

By modifying a previous method with constant elements, we developed a quadratic element method for more accurately estimating groundwater flow by the inversion of tilt data. In this method: (1) a region of groundwater flow is divided into quadratic elements in which the change in groundwater volume per unit volume of rock (Δv) and the Skempton coefficient (B) vary in a quadratic manner with the coordinates, (2) the values of Δv are set to zero at the boundaries of the region of groundwater flow and (3) the sum of the squared second derivatives of Δv is adopted as a constraining condition that is weighted and added to the sum of the squared errors in tilt. First, analyses were performed for a flow model to determine the accuracy of this method for estimating groundwater flow and also to clarify the effect of the assumed size of a region of groundwater flow. These analyses showed that the quadratic element method proposed in this study gives a much better estimation of Δv than the constant element method and that a large region of groundwater flow should be assumed, rather than a small region, since the values of Δv at points outside of the actual region of groundwater flow are estimated to be nearly zero when a large region is assumed while these values are greatly overestimated when an excessively small region is assumed. Finally, the quadratic element method was applied to the site of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory in the Tono area, Japan. Inverse analyses were performed for tilt data measured by four tiltmeters with a resolution of 10⁻⁹ radians during the excavation of two shafts under the assumption that the rock mass is an isotropic and homogeneous half- space. The results showed that the method proposed in this study reproduced the tilt data very accurately. Thus, the distribution of Δv was estimated without sacrificing the reproducibility of the tilt data. The contour maps of B(1 + ν)Δv (ν: Poisson’s ratio) showed that the heterogeneous flow of groundwater occurred at the site and that groundwater volume decreased mainly in the area surrounded by two faults. The latter result is consistent with the finding obtained by previous investigations that these faults have low permeability in the direction perpendicular to the strike and may act as a flow barrier.     

Temporal and spatial variation and stability of the oasis in the Sangong River Watershed, Xinjiang, China

The unique ecological landscapes are composed of the mountain systems with the obviousvertical differentiation, vast natural desert systems, and oasis systems on which the human beings rely for the existence in the arid areas in West China. Oases are the …     

Structure-configurational entropy and its effect on the thermodynamic stability of uranyl phases: With special application for geological disposal of nuclear waste

Uranyl phases are found as the alteration products of uraninite under oxidizing condi- tions[1—3]. They are also expected to be the dominant alteration products of spent UO2 fuel in an oxidizing environment, such as at nuclear waste repositories[4—8]. …     

Statistical aspects of Tricomi's function and modified Bessel functions of the second kind

Some of the considerable statistical content of modified Bessel functions of the second kind and of Tricomi's confluent hypergeometric function is illustrated. Moment solutions for the parameters of exponential class distribution functions based on both are derived. Unlike the generalised inverse Gaussian, the Tricomi exponential distribution is little known but it emerges that it is of wide applicability, highly flexible and has the gamma distribution as a special case.     

不同容重的泥石流淤积厚度计算方法研究

泥石流的淤积厚度是泥石流灾害评估和防治的最重要的参数之一,但迄今还没有较好的方法计算不同容重的泥石流淤积厚度。本文通过研究泥石流屈服应力的特点,提出了用地区参数和泥石流体积浓度来计算泥石流屈服应力,进而计算泥石流淤积厚度的方法。采用本文方法计算已发生泥石流地区不同容重泥石流的淤积厚度,可以很好地应用于泥石流灾害评估和防治。     

西藏天摩沟冰川遥感监测及泥石流触发成因分析

对于有冰川发育的泥石流隐患点而言, 获取冰川动态有助于分析泥石流触发成因.西藏波密县天摩沟是大型泥石流灾害隐患点, 在过去二十年中多次暴发泥石流.本文利用Planet、TanDEM-X和Sentinel-2卫星数据估计了天摩沟冰川2016—2021年间的边界变化、2000—2016年间的表面高程变化, 以及2016—2021年间的流速变化.冰川边界、表面高程和流速变化观测结果均表明天摩沟冰川在2018年7月11日大型泥石流暴发前未发生跃动或崩塌.通过分析高分辨光学影像和气象数据, 认为冰川附近山体崩滑产生的岩屑, 冰川前方的冰碛物和散冰, 以及主沟中上游沟岸滑坡产生的松散物共同组成2018年7月11日泥石流的启动物源, 灾前连续两天降水使得物源含水量达到饱和, 土体抗剪强度降低, 灾害当天持续小雨诱发高位物源启动, 形成泥石流灾害.天摩沟冰川对泥石流发育的作用在于贡献了部分物源和水源.其流速明显高于周边冰川, 主干峰值流速可达0.80±0.02 m·d^-1.冰川高速流动使得高位冰碛物堆积速度快, 而冰川融水使得泥石流降雨启动阈值更低.天摩沟在2018年7月之后没有再发生大规模泥石流, 但是主沟中上游及中游两侧坡体陡峭且岩性松散, 在雨水和冰雪融水作用下极易垮塌.无人机像片显示目前主沟中游沟底已经累积一定量的松散物.同时天摩沟冰川的流动会持续增加高位冰碛物体积.如果沟内物源累积到一定程度, 强降雨仍会诱发泥石流.