Behavior of Deformation and Strength of Concrete Under Biaxial Stresses

The study of the behavior of concrete under biaxial stresses is essential to the design of offshore concrete platforms. Using the multiaxial test apparatus developed by the authors, the deformation and strength of concrete under biaxial stresses are studied experimentally. Based on the test data, an endochronic damage constitutive model and a failure criterion are proposed. According to the above model, an incremental nonlinear iterative programme is developed, and a plate sample in plane stress state is analyzed.     

Hydraulic Modeling of A Curtain-Walled Dissipater by the Coupling of RANS and Boussinesq Equations

A hybrid numerical method for the hydraulic modeling of a curtain-walled dissipater of reflected waves from breakwa-ters is presented. In this method, a zonal approach that combines a nonlinear weakly dispersive wave (Boussinesq-type equation) method and a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method is used. The Boussinesq-type equation is solved in the far field to describe wave transformation in shallow water. The RANS method is used in the near field to re-solve the turbulent boundary layer and vortex flows around the structure. Suitable matching conditions are enforced at the interface between the viscous and the Boussinesq region. The Coupled RANS and Boussinesq method successfully resolves the vortex characteristics of flow in the vicinity of the structure, while unexpected phenomena like wave re-reflection are effectively controlled by lengthening the Boussinesq region. Extensive results on hydraulic performance of a curtain-walled dissipater and the mechanism of dissipation of reflected waves     

Consolidation and permeability characteristics of high-porosity surficial sediments in Eckernförde Bay

Back-pressured, constant-rate-of-deformation consolidation, and permeability tests were conducted on 21 undisturbed samples from Eckernförde Bay in the Baltic Sea. The soft fine-grained sediments have very high in-situ void ratios and are highly compressible. The compression index decreases slightly in the upper 40 cm but remains essentially unchanged below 40 cm at an average value of 3.5 to a depth of 260 cm. Recompression indices range from 5 to 19% of the virgin indices. The preconsolidation stress is consistently higher than the overburden stress, particularly near the surface. Permeabilities at in situ void ratios vary between 3 × 10^–4 and 10^–6 cm s^–1, with the relationship between void ratio and the logarithm of permeability being linear.     

Shear Behavior of Sand–Silt Mixtures: A Laboratory Investigation of Coastal Silty Sand Soils of Mostaganem

In recent years, interest in understanding the mechanisms of mechanical instability of porous media, leading to catastrophic failure has been continuously revised to include, new porous media parameters generating the phenomenon of liquefaction under static or dynamic loadings. Results from experimental test programs have concluded too many physical concepts based on material intrinsic properties, initial states, and other characteristics. Despite the great progress on the subject, these concepts do not allow a unified treatment of such porous media. The assessment of critical shear strength of sandy soils as porous media under undrained conditions is a major challenge in stability analysis. Such strength serves to evaluate the occurrence of flow deformation under liquefaction phenomena. The determination of the critical undrained strength is essentially fundamental for the design of soil structures such as earth dams, bridge supports, building foundations as well as soil densification process to avoid catastrophic failure due to soil instability manifested by failure or large displacement such as settlement. In this work, experimental program on reconstituted loose and medium dense specimens of terrigenous silica sands with different specified fine contents was carried out to analyze its mechanical behavior under undrained conditions. The present article is an attempt to experimentally describe mechanical behavior and theoretically justify such response of loose and medium dense sand by means of critical state soil parameters.     

Estimating the Influence of Thermal Inertia and Feedbacks in the Atmosphere–Ocean System on the Variability of the Global Surface Air Temperature

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The modern climate of our planet is characterized not only by a trend caused by an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,...     

Effect of sulphates and curing period on stress–strain curves and failure modes of soil–lime–natural pozzolana mixtures

Abstract

An experimental investigation was undertaken in order to assess the effect of sodium (Na₂SO₄) and calcium (CaSO₄·2H₂O) sulphates and curing period on stress–strain curves and failure modes of grey (GS) and red (RS) clayey soils stabilised by lime (L), natural pozzolana (NP) and their combinations (L–NP). Several soil–L–NP mixtures were studied to be used as subgrade soils for road pavements. Stress–strain curves were obtained from unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test made on several soil–L–NP specimens after curing for 7 and 120 days. Tests results showed that the use of L or L–NP without sulphates produced a significant increase in peaks stress of both clayey soils and then modified their stress–strain curves from nonlinear to linear behaviour almost up to 70% of peak stress after a longer curing period. However, the presence of 2% Na₂SO₄ or any CaSO₄·2H₂O content provided beneficial effects on peaks stress and stress–strain curves of both stabilised clayey soils and then improved their linearity almost up to 95% of peak stress after curing for 120 days. In contrast, the presence of 6% Na₂SO₄ caused undesirable effects. In addition, both sulphates greatly affected the failure modes of soil–L–NP specimens, particularly at a later stage.     

A coupled model of submerged vegetation under oscillatory flow using Navier–Stokes equations

This work presents a new model for wave and submerged vegetation which couples the flow motion with the plant deformation. The IH-2VOF model is extended to solve the Reynolds Average Navier–Stokes equations including the presence of a vegetation field by means of a drag force. Turbulence is modeled using a k–ε equation which takes into account the effect of vegetation by an approximation of dispersive fluxes using the drag force produce by the plant. The plant motion is solved accounting for inertia, damping, restoring, gravitational, Froude–Krylov and hydrodynamic mass forces. The resulting model is validated with small and large-scale experiments with a high degree of accuracy for both no swaying and swaying plants. Two new formulations of the drag coefficient are provided extending the range of applicability of existing formulae to lower Reynolds number.     

Experimental Study of Hydrodynamic Loading on Submarine Composite Pipelines under the Action of Waves and Current

- This article is aimed at the experimental study of the hydrodynamic loading induced by waves and current acting on the JZ 20-2 submarine composite pipelines. The corresponding hydrodynamic coefficients obtained in this experimental study can be applied to engineering projects.     

Detection and assessment of cloud cover and precipitation parameters using data of scanning radiometers of polar–orbiting and geostationary meteorological satellites

Two multispectral threshold techniques have been developed and tested for the automatic classification of AVHRR/NOAA and SEVIRI/Meteosat-10 data. They provide day-and-night detection and the assessment of cloud-cover parameters, as well as the discrimination of precipitation zones and severe weather phenomena. The validation of output information products, which has been performed with ground-based conventional meteorological observations and radar data, as well as with independent satellite-based estimates of cloud cover and precipitation parameters, confirms the feasibility of developed techniques and reasonable accuracy of output products. Therefore, the technique is concurrent to those implemented in current foreign satellite centers.     

Frequency of Summer Atmospheric Blockings in the Northern Hemisphere in Different Phases of El Niño and Pacific Decadal and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillations

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - Regional anomalies in the frequency of atmospheric blockings in the Northern Hemisphere detected on the basis of reanalysis data since 1979 during...     

Systematization of Ionospheric,Geodynamic, and Thermal Precursors of Strong (M ≥ 6) Earthquakes Detected from Space

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The article describes the formation features of short- and mid-term strong (M ≥ 6) earthquake precursors detected from space. A database has been...     

Ice–ocean interactions during shallow convection under conditions of steady winds: three-dimensional numerical studies

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic ocean model coupled to a thermohydrodynamic model for young sea ice is applied to study shallow haline convection in the central Greenland Sea, with an emphasis on sub-mesoscale ice–ocean interactions. Two types of young sea ice are distinguished; i.e., frazil and pancake ice, both acting different on surface heat, salt, and momentum fluxes. Two scenarios are considered: (a) continued frazil-ice production during steady winds, and (b) the same scenario but with the intermittent formation of pancake ice during a short intervening period of low winds. Brine release due to new-ice production creates shallow convection in both cases. Under conditions of continued frazil-ice production, ice streaks develop at the sea surface, finally becoming oriented roughly parallel to the wind. These streaks are the result of convective plumes that induce organized patterns of convergent and divergent surface currents. Frazil-ice is herded into convergence zones where it becomes as thick as 6 m within 24 h. The studies suggest a strong relationship between streak spacing and the penetration depth of convection, given by an aspect ratio in the range of 2–3. After pancake ice has been formed, however, the organized ice streaks vanish, developing into complex patterns of pancake ice. This finding is in agreement with recent field observations in the Greenland Sea Is-Odden ice tongue. With the existence of pancake ice, moreover, the surface-averaged buoyancy flux decreases and is determined from the integral of local sub-mesoscale ice–ocean interactions.     

Grains of Nonferrous and Noble Metals in Iron–Manganese Formations and Igneous Rocks of Submarine Elevations of the Sea of Japan

Iron–manganese formations and igneous rocks of submarine elevations in the Sea of Japan contain overlapping mineral phases (grains) with quite identical morphology, localization, and chemical composition. Most of the grains conform to oxides, intermetallic compounds, native elements, sulfides, and sulfates in terms of the set of nonferrous, noble, and certain other metals (Cu, Zn, Sn, Pb, Ni, Mo, Ag, Pd, and Pt). The main conclusion that postvolcanic hydrothermal fluids are the key sources of metals is based upon a comparison of the data of electron microprobe analysis of iron–manganese formations and igneous rocks dredged at the same submarine elevations in the Sea of Japan.     

Morphology and Structural Features of the Subduction Zone in the Vicinity of Kuril–Kamchatka–Aleutian Junction

Oceanology - The specific morphology of the inner and outer slopes of the eastern Kuril–Kamchatka Trench were revealed based on joint study of bathymetry and seismic profiles obtained in two...     

Numerical modelling of the depth variation and the fluctuation of the thermocline under the effects of wind in the Bohai Sea

In this paper, numerical modelling of the fluctuation of the thermocline in the Bohai Sea has been made using a two-dimensional nonlinear model in stratified ocean and the model for the depth of the thermocline under the effects of wind stirring. The computed results depict the variations of the fluctuation of the thermocline driven by different kinds of wind fields. The fluctuation of the thermocline in the Bohai Sea varies somewhat with different directions, paths and locations of typhoon (cyclone). Under the effects of strong wind, the thermoclines both sink due to mixing and fluctuate. Furthermore, the fluctuation of the thermocline speeds up mixing. At last, the thermoclines disappear after 12-15 h when the strong wind increases from Force 6 to Force 9.     

Reflection of the State of Magmatic Matter and Seismotectonic Features of the Structure of the Avachinsky–Koryaksky and Dzenzur–Zhupanovsky Volcanic Groups of Kamchatka in Terms of Kinematic Parameter VP/VS

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - For regional earthquakes, the kinematic parameter VP/VS, an analog of the TAU parameter, was analyzed in order to study the state of magmatic matter,...     

Numerical modelling of the sea level under the actions of the tide and strong wind in the Bohai Sea

In this paper, the numerical modelling of the tidal level and current in the Bohai Sea was carried out with ADI method, by taking the sum of four main tidal components M2,S2K2,O1 as the open boundary condition. The calculated values were consistent with the predicted ones (the observed values in the case of calm) in the Tidal Table. On the basis of the modelling of the tide, the sea level and current fields under the effects of strong wind were simulated. The calculated results were also quite satisfactory.     

Reanalysis of seasonal and interannual variability of Black Sea fields for 1993–2012

A retrospective analysis has been done for the hydrophysical fields of the Black Sea for 1993–2012 with the assimilation of undisturbed monthly average profiles of temperature and salinity that were obtained by using an original procedure of joint processing of satellite altimetry and rare hydrological observations. The accuracy of the reconstructed fields of temperature and salinity of the Black Sea is evaluated by comparison with the data of sounding from the hydrological stations and the Argo floats. A comparative analysis is performed for the integral characteristics of the fields of temperature, salinity, and kinetic energy with the same characteristics of the reanalysis for 1992–2012 that assimilated the average annual profiles of temperature and salinity, surface temperature and altimetry level of the sea after being adjusted with respect to climate seasonal variability. The proposed procedure of the reanalysis execution allows a more precise reconstruction of the interannual variability of temperature and salinity stratification in the main pycnocline. The correlation between the annual and seasonal variability of the eddy of the wind friction tangential stress and the average kinetic energy at the levels is revealed.