Acoustic seabed segmentation from direct statistical clustering of entire multibeam sonar backscatter curves

A fast, simple method is presented to obtain acoustic seabed segmentation from multibeam sonar backscatter data, for situations where processed backscatter curves are already available. Unsupervised statistical clustering is used to classify multibeam sonar backscatter curves in their entirety, with the curves essentially treated as geometrical entities. High variability in the backscatter curves is removed by along-track averaging prior to clustering, and no further preprocessing is required. The statistical clustering method is demonstrated with RESON 8125 multibeam sonar data obtained in two bathymetrically complex environments. These are a sandwave field in Keppel Bay, Queensland, and an area of inter-island sand, reef, seagrass, and rhodolith beds in Esperance Bay, Western Australia. The resulting acoustic charts are visually compelling. They exhibit high spatial coherence, are largely artifact free, and provide spatial context to comparatively sparse grab samples with relatively little effort. Since the backscatter curve is an intrinsic property of the seafloor, the mappings form standalone charts of seafloor acoustic properties. In themselves they do not need ground truthing. Conceptually, use of the full angular backscatter curve should form the primary means of obtaining acoustic seabed segmentation. However, this is dependent on the scale and configuration of seabed backscatter features compared to the dimensions of the averaged swathe used to obtain reliable realisations of the backscatter curve.     

Multi-beam backscatter measurements used to infer seabed habitats

Backscatter from multi-beam sonar (MBS) was used to discriminate ecologically relevant seabed characteristics based on 62 reference sites sampled with georeferenced video, sediment grab and rock dredge between 50 and 500 m water depth. A simple biotope characteristic of soft (unconsolidated) and hard (consolidated) was used to compare the acoustic backscatter data with the data on mega-epifauna and substrate type obtained from video and physical sampling. Substrate type of homogeneous reference sites was predicted by matching the backscatter incidence angle profile (0–70°) to that of a seabed scattering model. Referencing the seabed backscatter to a consistent incidence angle (40°) gave a metric with high spatial resolution (2.4–20 m), which minimised errors of range, incident angle and beam compensation. This simple metric provided a consistent approach to analyse and interpret the data and was strongly correlated with substrate type and faunal functional groups. The high resolution backscatter metric was a closer match to the small spatial scale of seabed patch lengths observed by video (50% <50 m).     

辽东湾近海海底土小应变动力特性试验研究

开展场地地震动反应分析是众多海洋工程活动顺利实施和长期安全运行的重要保障,其中查明海底土小应变动力特性是十分关键的。文章借助海上原位钻孔取样和室内共振柱仪对辽东湾近海海底土小应变动力特性开展试验研究,探讨前人总结提出的滨海海底土初始动剪切模量G_max预测经验公式在辽东湾海域的适用性,对比文章试验结果与周边海域已有海底土剪切波速测试结果,分析小应变范围内海底土动剪切模量的衰减特征和阻尼比发展演变趋势,并同时进行定量化模拟预测,评价海底土动剪切模量衰减曲线的归一化特征。研究结果表明：(1)共振柱试验得到的原状海底土剪切波速与周边海域已有海底土剪切波速测试结果吻合良好;(2)相比起陆地土,海洋土在小应变范围内归一化动剪切模量G/G_max衰减得更慢,阻尼比增长得也更慢;(3)通过引入临界剪应变,不同土类和埋深对应的海底土小应变动剪切模量衰减曲线可以进行归一化。研究成果对合理开展海洋工程场地地震动反应分析评价具有一定的指导意义。     

波浪作用下成层海床孔隙水压力响应的简化分析

采用不排水条件下孔隙水压力发展模式,作为Terzagh i一维固结方程中考虑波浪循环作用所引起的孔隙水压力源项,对于成层海床建立了推广的一维动力固结方程,运用数理方程中的分离变量法与G reen函数求解了成层海床在波浪作用下残余孔隙水压力的发展规律,进而对成层海床的液化势进行了评判。对比计算与分析表明,海床表层土的渗透性及其厚度对于海床的整体抗液化性能具有显著的影响,低渗透性的表层导致海床孔隙水压力的显著积累,此时表层置换法是防治液化的有效途径。     

Composition and distribution of seabed and suspended sediments in north and central Torres Strait,Australia

Widespread seagrass dieback in central Torres Strait, Australia has been anecdotally linked to the delivery of vast quantities of terrigenous sediments from New Guinea. The composition and distribution, and sedimentological and geochemical properties, of seabed and suspended sediments in north and central Torres Strait have been determined to investigate this issue. In northern Torres Strait, next to Saibai Island, seabed sediments comprise poorly sorted, muddy, mixed calcareous–siliciclastic sand. Seabed sediments in this region are dominated by aluminosilicate (terrigenous) phases. In central Torres Strait, next to Turnagain Island, seabed and suspended sediments comprise moderately sorted coarse to medium carbonate sand. Seabed sediments in this region are dominated by carbonate and magnesium (marine) phases. Mean Cu/Al ratios for seabed sediments next to Saibai Island are 0.01, and are similar to those found in New Guinea south coastal sediments by previous workers. Mean Cu/Al ratios for seabed sediments next to Turnagain Island are 0.02, indicating an enrichment of Cu in central Torres Strait. This enrichment comes from an exogenous biogenic source, principally from foraminifers and molluscs. We could not uniquely trace terrigenous sediments from New Guinea to Turnagain Island in central Torres Strait. If sediments are a factor in the widespread seagrass dieback in central Torres Strait, then our data suggest these are marine-derived sediments sourced from resuspension and advection from the immediate shelf areas and not terrigenous sediments dispersed from New Guinea rivers. This finding is consistent with outputs from recently developed regional hydrodynamic and sediment transport models.     

平面海底界面上球体目标的声散射建模研究

根据目标声散射的T矩阵方法、将界面附近点源激发的声场利用复像方法展开、并考虑到界面对散射声场的影响,建立了平面海底界面上方目标的声散射模型.与已有模型相比,该模型能够计算更一般情况点源激发的三维声散射场.通过计算考察基于复像方法的有关系数证明了该模型的准确性,并给出了不同入射方向的界面上刚性球体和弹性球壳的散射声场算例,对目标散射幅度的分布以及随角度的变化规律做了分析.最后,设计实验对该模型做了验证.     

Dynamic response of an offshore pile to pseudo-Stoneley waves along the interface between a poroelastic seabed and seawater

A coupled model is developed to investigate the dynamic interaction between an offshore pile, a porous seabed and seawater when subjected to the pseudo-Stoneley wave along the seabed and the seawater interface. The pile and the seabed are treated as the porous medium governed by Biot's theory, while the seawater is considered as an acoustic medium and is described by the conventional Helmholtz equation. The free field solution of the incident pseudo-Stoneley wave is obtained using Biot's theory and the potential method. Based on the boundary element method (BEM) for the porous medium and the acoustic medium, three BEM formulations are constructed for the pile, the seabed and the seawater, respectively, which are combined together using the continuity conditions between the pile, the seabed and the seawater to formulate the coupled model for the system. As shown in numerical examples, when the system is subjected to the pseudo-Stoneley wave, the maximum pore pressure of the seabed usually occurs at the region near the interfaces between the seabed and the seawater.     

海底地震动作用下近海桥梁地震响应研究

以某近海大桥引桥段连续梁桥为工程背景,建立考虑海底地震动特性和腐蚀效应的近海桥梁地震反应分析模型。采用增量动力分析方法分析腐蚀效应以及海底地震动作用对近海桥梁地震响应的影响。研究结果表明:腐蚀效应与海底地震动作用都会不同程度影响近海桥梁结构的抗震性能。其中:腐蚀效应会增大近海桥梁的破坏指标,降低最大墩底剪力和弯矩值,从而降低桥梁的抗震性能;海底地震动作用会增大近海桥梁的破坏指标及最大墩底剪力、弯矩值;在2种因素耦合作用下,桥梁的抗震性能将会进一步降低。     

Effect of seabed instability on fixed offshore platforms

Storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes may cause seabed instability, especially if the seabed is weak. The seabed instability, manifested in movement of soil layers, exerts lateral forces that may cause large stresses in offshore foundations. The induced stresses may compromise the stability of the foundation and supported structure. The effect of seabed instability on a fixed offshore structure is examined in this study. The method used accounts for soil nonlinearity, dynamic soil resistance, and pile–soil–pile interaction within the stable soil layer. Dynamic p–y curves, dynamic t–z curves and q–z curves have been used to simulate the soil resistance in the lateral and axial directions. The effect of different parameters that influence the response of offshore structures to seabed instability is evaluated. The parameters considered include the value of soil movement, the sliding layer depth, the wave loading, the pile flexibility, the soil movement profile, and the axial loading at the pile head. The response predicted using the proposed analysis compared well with that calculated using a boundary element solution for a case history of a failed offshore platform.     

Can the benefits of physical seabed restoration justify the costs? An assessment of a disused aggregate extraction site off the Thames Estuary,UK

Physical and biological seabed impacts can persist long after the cessation of marine aggregate dredging. Whilst small-scale experimental studies have shown that it may be possible to mitigate such impacts, it is unclear whether the costs of restoration are justified on an industrial scale. Here we explore this question using a case study off the Thames Estuary, UK. By understanding the nature and scale of persistent impacts, we identify possible techniques to restore the physical properties of the seabed, and the costs and the likelihood of success. An analysis of the ecosystem services and goods/benefits produced by the site is used to determine whether intervention is justified. Whilst a comparison of costs and benefits at this site suggests restoration would not be warranted, the analysis is site-specific. We emphasise the need to better define what is, and is not, an acceptable seabed condition post-dredging.     

波浪和风生浪流作用下的近岸海底泥沙运移模型的推广和应用

本文利用数值计算和经验公式相结合的方法,获得了在波浪和风生流和波浪共同作用下海底泥沙输移的二维模型.在此基础上,讨论了海底泥沙输移在风速、风向和泥沙粒径不同等三种情况下的变化特征;指出了经验公式对泥沙输移规律的适用范围以及风速、风向对于近岸处泥沙输移重要性.这一研究结果对近岸结构物的选址设计具有实际应用价值.     

Numerical analysis of liquefaction of porous seabed around pipeline fixed in space under seismic loading

Liquefaction of seabed under seismic loading is one of the main points that govern the overall stability of submarine pipeline. However, most previous investigations concerned only with free seabed and searched for seismic accumulative excess pore pressure by solving Terzaghi's consolidation equation containing pore pressure source term. It is not able to introduce two-dimensional structures such as submarine pipelines in one-dimensional problem, and it is also not able to obtain the distribution of seismic accumulative excess pore pressure in seabed around submarine pipelines by such a way. In this study, a FEM numerical analysis method for determining the liquefaction of sandy seabed around a buried pipeline under seismic loading is presented. The empirical mode of dynamic increase of pore pressure under undrained shearing induced by seismic loading is incorporated with two-dimensional dynamic consolidation equation and a numerical procedure based on FEM is developed to assess the accumulative excess pore pressure. By numerical computations, the accumulative process of pore pressure and liquefaction potential of seabed soil during seismic loading is evaluated. From a series of numerical computations based on the presented model with various parameters, the effects of soil characteristic parameters and pipeline geometry on seismic accumulative excess pore pressure around submarine pipeline and along the depth of seabed are explored in detail.     

Seismic dynamics of offshore breakwater on liquefiable seabed foundation

Offshore structures, such as composite breakwaters, are generally vulnerable to strong seismic wave propagating through loose or medium-dense seabed foundation. However, the seismically induced failure process of offshore structures is not well understood. In this study, seismic dynamics of a composite breakwater on liquefiable seabed foundation is investigated using a fully coupled numerical model FSSI-CAS 2D. The computation results show that the numerical model is capable of capturing a variety of nonlinear interaction phenomena between the composite breakwater and its seabed foundation. The numerical investigation demonstrates a three-stage failure process of the breakwater under seismic loading. In this process, the far-field seabed can become fully liquefied first, inducing excessive settlement of the structure, followed by significant lateral movement and tilting of the structure when the near-field soil progressively liquefies. The study demonstrates great promise of using advanced numerical analysis in geotechnical earthquake design of offshore structures.     

Effects of cross-anisotropic soil behaviour on the wave-induced residual liquefaction in the vicinity of pipeline buried in elasto-plastic seabed foundations

In this paper, a two-dimensional integrated numerical model is developed to examine the influences of cross-anisotropic soil behaviour on the wave-induced residual liquefaction in the vicinity of a pipeline buried in a porous seabed. In the wave model, the RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes) equation is used to govern the wave motion. In the seabed model, the residual soil response in the vicinity of an embedded pipeline is considered with the 2-D elasto-plastic solution, where the phase-resolved shear stress is used as a source for the build-up of residual pore pressure. Classical Biot׳s consolidation equation is used for linking the solid-pore fluid interaction. The validation of the proposed integrated numerical model is conducted by the comparisons with the previous experimental data. Numerical examples show that the pore pressures can accumulate to a large value, thus resulting in a larger area of liquefaction potential in the given anisotropic soil compared to that with isotropic solution. The influences of anisotropic parameters on the wave-induced residual soil response in the vicinity of pipeline are significant. A high rate of pore pressure accumulation and dissipation is observed and the liquefaction potential develops faster as the anisotropic parameters increase. Finally, a simplified approximation based on a detailed parametric investigations is proposed for the evaluation of maximum liquefaction depth (z_L) in engineering application.     

Unsupervised fuzzy classification and object-based image analysis of multibeam data to map deep water substrates, Cook Strait, New Zealand

A comprehensive 32 kHz multibeam bathymetry and backscatter survey of Cook Strait, New Zealand (∼8500 km²), is used to generate a regional substrate classification map over a wide range of water depths, seafloor substrates and geological landforms using an automated mapping method based on the textural image analysis of backscatter data. Full processing of the backscatter is required in order to obtain an image with a strongly attenuated specular reflection. Image segmentation of the merged backscatter and bathymetry layers is constrained using shape, compactness, and texture measures. The number of classes and their spatial distribution are statistically identified by employing an unsupervised fuzzy-c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm to sediment samples, independent of the backscatter data. Classification is achieved from the overlay of the FCM result onto a segmented image and attributing segments with the FCM class. Four classes are identified and uncertainty in class attribution is quantified by a confusion index layer. Validation of the classification map is done by comparing the results with the sediment and structural maps. Backscatter (BS) strength angular profiles are used to show acoustic class separation. The method takes us one step further in combining multibeam data with physical seabed data in a complementary analysis to seek correlations between datasets using object-based image analysis and unsupervised classification. Texture within these identified classes is then examined for correlation with typical backscatter angular responses for mud, sand and gravel. The results show a first order correlation between each of the classes and both the sedimentary properties and the geomorphological map.     

Seismic buffer recognition using wavelet-based features and neural classification

One of the first operations in a seismic signal processing system applied to earthquake data is to distinguish between valid and invalid records. Since valid signals are characterized by a combination of their time and frequency properties, wavelets are natural candidates for describing seismic features in a compact way. This paper develops a seismic buffer pattern recognition technique, comprising wavelet-based feature extraction, feature selection based on the mutual information criterion, and neural classification based on feedforward networks. The ability of the wavelet transform to capture discriminating information from seismic data in a small number of features is compared with alternative feature reduction techniques, including statistical moments. Three different variations of the wavelet transform are used to extract features: the discrete wavelet transform, the single wavelet transform and the continuous wavelet transform. The mutual information criterion is employed to select a relatively small set of wavelets from the time–frequency grid. Firstly, it is determined whether wavelets can capture more informative data in an equal number of features compared with other features derived from raw data. Secondly, wavelet-based features are compared with features selected based on prior knowledge of class differences. Thirdly, a technique is developed to optimize wavelet features as part of the neural network training process, by using the wavelet neural network architecture. The automated classification techniques developed in this paper are shown to perform similarly to human operators trained for this function. Wavelet-based techniques are found to be useful, both for preprocessing of the raw data and for extracting features from the data. It is demonstrated that the definition of wavelet features can be optimized using the classification wavelet network architecture.     

Finite element modelling for water waves-soil interaction

The soil permeability and shear modulus of many marine sediments vary with depth because of consolidation under overburden pressure. However, conventional theories for wave-induced soil response have assumed a homogeneous porous seabed, with constant soil permeability and shear modulus. This paper presents a finite element model for the wave-induced soil response in a porous seabed, with variable permeability and shear modulus as a function of burial depth. The soil matrix considered here is unsaturated and hydraulically anisotropic, and subjected to a three-dimensional short-crested wave system. The present finite element formulation is established by using a combination of semi-analytical techniques and the Galerkin method. The nodal effective stresses directly derived from the governing equations can be calculated accurately in the present model. Verification is available through the reduction to the simple case of homogeneous seabed. Three typical marine materials, course, fine sand and gravel, are considered in this study. The numerical results indicate that the soil permeability affects the wave-induced seabed response significantly especially for gravelled seabed, as does the soil shear modulus for sandy seabed.     

位场边缘识别特征点提取方法及应用

位场边缘识别技术在地质构造特征研究中发挥着重要作用,但相关的自动化解释技术却发展缓慢.本文在位场边缘识别技术的基础上,研究了一套脊点提取、连接及特征线综合信息提取方法,可促进自动化地质解释的发展.首先,依据脊点的局部性质判断其存在性并计算其位置,采用分类连接、双向连接及排序等技术保证了脊点连接的连续性和高效性;之后,利用脊线方向、脊线笔直度、固定值线方向和固定值线扁度对特征线(脊线和固定值线)进行分区,并通过对特征线的方向、条数以及长度或面积进行综合统计,进一步提取边缘识别结果蕴含的信息.最后,通过实际资料测试验证了本文方法的有效性和实用性.     

The dynamic response of seabed anchored floating tunnels under seismic excitation

In this paper a procedure for analysing the seismic response of seabed anchored floating tunnels is presented. The first step of the research was the development of an ‘ad hoc’ finite element for modelling the behaviour of anchor elements, with particular reference to the problem of transverse oscillations under time varying axial loads. The element was subsequently inserted in a step‐by‐step procedure for the numerical analysis of non‐linear response to multiple‐support seismic input; the procedure encompasses simplified modelling of fluid–structure and soil–structure interaction effects. An example of an application is given concerning two 4680 m long floating tunnels with different seabed profiles. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.