Modelling of short runout propagation landslides and debris flows

This paper proposes an extension of methods used to predict the propagation of landslides having a long runout to smaller landslides with much shorter propagation distances. The method is based on: (1) a depth-integrated mathematical model including the coupling between the soil skeleton and the pore fluids, (2) suitable rheological models describing the relation between the stress and the rate of deformation tensors for fluidised soils and (3) a meshless numerical method, Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics, which separates the computational mesh (or set of computational nodes) from the mesh describing the terrain topography, which is of structured type – thus accelerating search operations. The proposed model is validated using two examples for which there are analytical solutions, and then it is applied to two short runout landslides which happened in Hong Kong in 1995, for which there is available information.     

Early warning of rainfall-induced shallow landslides and debris flows in the USA

The state of knowledge and resources available to issue alerts of precipitation-induced landslides vary across the USA. Federal and state agencies currently issue warnings of the potential for shallow, rapidly moving landslides and debris flows in a few areas along the Pacific coast and for areas affected by Atlantic hurricanes. However, these agencies generally lack resources needed to provide continuous support or to expand services to other areas. Precipitation thresholds that form the basis of landslide warning systems now exist for a few areas of the USA, but the threshold rainfall amounts and durations vary over three orders of magnitude nationwide and over an order of magnitude across small geographic areas such as a county. Antecedent moisture conditions also have a significant effect, particularly in areas that have distinct wet and dry seasons. Early warnings of shallow landslides that include specific information about affected areas, probability of landslide occurrence, and expected timing are technically feasible as illustrated by a case study from the Seattle, WA area. The four-level warning scheme (Null, Outlook, Watch, Warning) defined for Seattle is based on observed or predicted exceedance of a cumulative precipitation threshold and a rainfall intensity–duration threshold combined with real-time monitoring of soil moisture. Based on analysis of historical data, threshold performance varies according to precipitation characteristics, and threshold exceedance corresponds to a given probability of landslide occurrence. Experience in Seattle during December 2004 and January 2005 illustrates some of the challenges of providing landslide early warning on the USA West Coast.     

Erratum to: Early warning of rainfall-induced shallow landslides and debris flows in the USA

The state of knowledge and resources available to issue alerts of precipitation-induced landslides vary across the USA. Federal and state agencies currently issue warnings of the potential for shallow, rapidly moving landslides and debris flows in a few areas along the Pacific coast and for areas affected by Atlantic hurricanes. However, these agencies generally lack resources needed to provide continuous support or to expand services to other areas. Precipitation thresholds that form the basis of landslide warning systems now exist for a few areas of the USA, but the threshold rainfall amounts and durations vary over three orders of magnitude nationwide and over an order of magnitude across small geographic areas such as a county. Antecedent moisture conditions also have a significant effect, particularly in areas that have distinct wet and dry seasons. Early warnings of shallow landslides that include specific information about affected areas, probability of landslide occurrence, and expected timing are technically feasible as illustrated by a case study from the Seattle, WA area. The four-level warning scheme (Null, Outlook, Watch, Warning) defined for Seattle is based on observed or predicted exceedance of a cumulative precipitation threshold and a rainfall intensity–duration threshold combined with real-time monitoring of soil moisture. Based on analysis of historical data, threshold performance varies according to precipitation characteristics, and threshold exceedance corresponds to a given probability of landslide occurrence. Experience in Seattle during December 2004 and January 2005 illustrates some of the challenges of providing landslide early warning on the USA West Coast.     

浅层滑坡诱发沟谷泥石流的地形和降雨条件

2011年贵州省望谟县打易镇的大范围浅层滑坡诱发的沟谷泥石流提供了研究这类泥石流地形和降雨条件的机会。在地质条件一致和小区域内的降雨条件基本一致的情况下,地形条件就是这些泥石流暴发与否的唯一决定因素。对比一些重要的地形因素与泥石流暴发的关系,得出了由流域面积、沟床纵比降和25°~45°山坡坡度面积比组成的泥石流综合地形因子T。在地形因子T的基础上,研究获得了由前期降雨量、1 h降雨强度、年平均降雨量等组成的降雨因子R。由地形因子T和降雨因子R获得的临界条件P可以判断该区域的泥石流暴发。由于研究工作部分基于泥石流的形成机理,研究成果还可用于其他区域的泥石流形成预测,为泥石流的预测预报提供了一个较好的方法。     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Numerical analysis of multiphase flow in porous material

Greenhouse gas emissions, energy security and sustainability are three of the greatest contemporary global challenges to mankind today. The Sino-German Group of scientists have composed a special issue, which is a collection of diverse quality scientific works, that will try to elucidate the current developments in CO₂ geologic sequestration research to reduce greenhouse emission including measures to monitor surface leakage, groundwater quality and the integrity of caprock, while ensuring a sufficient supply of clean energy.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Numerical analysis of multiphase flow in porous material

Recent developments in the application of x-ray micro-tomography in laboratory geomechanics have allowed all the individual grains of sand in a test sample to be seen and identified uniquely in 3D. Combining such imaging capabilities with experiments carried out “in situ” within an imaging set-up has led to the possibility of directly observing the mechanisms of deformation as they happen. The challenge has thus become extracting pertinent, quantified information from these rich time-lapse 3D images to elucidate the mechanics at play. This paper presents a new approach (ID-Track) for the quantification of individual grain kinematics (displacements and rotations) of large quantities of sand grains (tens of thousands) in a test sample undergoing loading. With ID-Track, grains are tracked between images based on some geometrical feature(s) that allow their unique identification and matching between images. This differs from Digital Image Correlation (DIC), which makes measurements by recognising patterns between images. Since ID-Track does not use the image of a grain for tracking, it is significantly faster than DIC. The technique is detailed in the paper, and is shown to be fast and simple, giving good measurements of displacements, but suffering in the measurement of rotations when compared with Discrete DIC. Subsequently, results are presented from successful applications of ID-track to triaxial tests on two quite different sands: the angular Hostun sand and the rounded Caicos Ooids. This reveals details on the performance of the technique for different grain shapes and insight into the differences in the grain-scale mechanisms occurring in these two sands as they exhibit strain localisation under triaxial loading.     

北祁连山区泥石流发育特点及其防治措施

北祁连山区是我国西部主要的矿产地。同时又是甘肃省3大内陆河的发源地及干流流经区。有丰富的水力资源。随着西部大开发的实施,当地的矿产资源及水能资源已逐渐得到开发。祁连山已逐渐结束了人迹罕至的历史。研究总结对该区地质灾害的认识有助于较好地进行工程开发中的减灾及防灾工作。论文通过几处典型致灾泥石流的介绍结合在北大河谷进行的泥石流调查资料综合分析了该区泥石流的特点、形成条件、危害特点并提出了防治措施。结论认为该区泥石流普遍发育,具中等易发性,以中、小型规模为主,治理难度大。采取避让与预防措施效果较佳。     

南疆铁路K230段冻土区滑坡泥石流勘察整治

本文结合南疆铁路K230滑坡、泥石流的勘察与治理工程设计,深入分析了冻土地区滑坡的成因,滑面特性,泥石流产生的原因等,进而针对原因分析提出了采用对原地层扰动较小的锚索框架治理滑坡、采用拦挡坝治理泥石流,且采用保温盲沟疏排地下水的综合治理措施。该段地质病害的成功治理,对类似冻土地区地质病害的勘察与整治具有一定的借鉴意义。     

兰州市寺儿沟泥石流物源特征及其危险性分析

寺儿沟流域位于甘肃省兰州市西固区, 历史上曾发生过大规模泥石流, 造成重大人员伤亡和财产损失。文章基于野外调查和遥感解译, 结合已有文献成果和室内测试, 研究寺儿沟泥石流物源特征及影响因素, 采用FLO-2D软件模拟分析泥石流的危险性。研究结果表明: 寺儿沟以黏性泥石流为主, 表现为低频活动, 目前处于衰退期; 寺儿沟流域内物源丰富, 可分为坡面型物源、崩滑型物源、沟道型物源和人为型物源共4种, 其中崩滑型、沟道型物源控制了泥石流的暴发规模; 而一次性冲出量的大小主要取决于泥石流起动时崩滑体的发育程度, 崩滑体越发育, 一次性冲出量越大, 泥石流规模越大; 在临界降雨条件下, 寺儿沟将会暴发泥石流, 中—高危险区集中于流通区, 严重威胁冲沟内构筑物如兰西高铁、环城高速等安全运营。当遭遇极端强降雨时, 寺儿沟将暴发更大规模泥石流。因此, 有必要进一步研究极端天气条件下泥石流的危险性, 为区内泥石流的防灾减灾提供地质依据。     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Enhancement of bio-sludge gravitational thickening with weak ultrasound

Gravitational thickening is the prevailing method to reduce bio-sludge volume though the process is slow and usually requires addition of polyelectrolyte(s). This paper investigated the potential benefits of sonication on enhancing the bio-sludge gravitational thickening with very low energy dose, thereby called ??weak ultrasound??. Results showed that weak sonication significantly changed the bio-sludge settleability and the main mechanism was release of the loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances. The changes were strongly influenced by power density and sonication duration. Low frequency was better but the difference was insignificant. Weak sonication (<680?kJ/kg?DS) improved the sludge gravitational thickening while high ultrasonic energy deteriorated the process. Considering both the sludge thickening efficiency and energy consumption, the optimum conditions were 0.15?W/ml, 7?s and 25?kHz. Under such conditions, the energy dose was only 155?kJ/kg?DS, much lower than literature reports and the sludge settling time shortened from the original 24 to 12?h. Weak sonication could substitute expensive polyelectrolyte coagulant for bio-sludge thickening. Combination of weak sonication and polyelectrolyte could further reduce the settling time to 6?h. The final water content of the thickened bio-sludge was not changed after sonication or polyelectrolyte addition.     

北京地区泥石流灾害的发育特征及预报方法探讨

通过认真研究北京地区泥石流的发育特征,深入分析了泥石流的形成条件和影响因素,并在此基础上对北京地区泥石流预报方法进行了初步探讨,建立了综合考虑地形地貌、地质条件、土壤类型以及降雨情况等因素的判断公式,并就北京地区泥石流预报方法提出了建议.     

碎屑流冲击下桩梁组合结构拦挡效果及受力特征研究

以高位泥石流、碎屑流区桩梁组合新型拦挡结构为研究对象, 在总结已有桩梁组合结构的基础上, 运用颗粒流分析仿真程序、通用显示动力分析程序分别对碎屑流冲击下单排、多排桩林及桩梁组合结构拦挡效果、不同位置桩梁组合结构拦挡效果对比模拟以及桩梁组合结构受力特征模拟研究, 探讨了拦挡结构阻挡后碎屑流堆积特征和结构应力传递特征。计算结果表明: 碎屑流中较大粒径颗粒与拦挡结构、两侧沟道边界接触形成的桩-巨石力链拦挡效应可有效阻挡、迟滞后续碎屑流运动, 桩梁组合结构桩-巨石力链拦挡效应最佳; 第一排桩和第二排桩之间改流区进一步抑制了碎屑流速度; 桩梁组合结构在设计布置位置时, 一方面要考虑在碎屑流启动、势动转换过程中尽早抑制碎屑流速度, 另一方面仍需重视库容的设计, 谨防跃顶造成部分碎屑流逃逸, 在上述二者之间选择最优解进行位置布置; 碎屑流巨石冲击桩梁组合结构时, 冲击应力将通过连梁分散传递到后排桩, 连系梁两端连接部分的应力几乎达到屈服强度, 需加强配筋。     

Numerical simulations of flow motion and deposition characteristics of granular debris flows

Flow motion and deposition characteristics of debris flows are of concern regarding land use planning and management. A simple model for the prediction of mentioned characteristics has been developed, incorporating a friction–collision rheological model. It demonstrated to be able to satisfactorily simulate the two-dimensional behavior of laboratory results and the one-dimensional behavior of two real debris-flow events. The numerical results show that the topography of the channel bed, the yield stress level of the debris flows, and the inflow pattern have significant influence on the simulated flow motion and deposition characteristics of debris flows. In addition, the predicted run-out distance has been compared with analytical solutions and field observations. The model could be employed for the preliminary evaluation of one-dimensional run-out distance of granular debris flows provided that the volume of the debris involved in the initial mobilization is assumed.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: The hydrochemical framework of surface water basins in southern Ghana

Surface water resources play a crucial role in the domestic water delivery system in Ghana. In addition, sustainable food production is based on the quality and quantity of water resources available for irrigation purposes to supplement rain-fed agricultural activities in the country. The objective of this research was to determine the main controls on the hydrochemistry of surface water resources in the southern part of Ghana and assess the quality of water from these basins for irrigation activities in the area. R-mode factor and cluster analyses were applied to 625 data points from 6 river basins in southern Ghana after the data had been log transformed and standardized for homogeneity. This study finds that surface water chemistry in the south is controlled by the chemistry of silicate mineral weathering, chemistry of rainfall, fertilizers from agricultural activities in the area, as well as the weathering of carbonate minerals. A Gibb’s diagram plotted with total dissolved solids (TDS) on the vertical axis against (Na⁺ + K⁺)/(Ca²⁺ + K⁺ + Na⁺) on the horizontal axis indicates that rock weathering plays a significant role in the hydrochemistry. Activity diagrams for the CaO–Na₂O–Al₂O–SiO₂–H₂O and CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O systems suggest that kaolinite is the most stable clay mineral phase in the system. In addition, an assessment of the irrigation quality of water from these basins suggests that the basins are largely low sodium—low to medium salinity basins, delivering water of acceptable quality for irrigation purposes.     

Effect of slit-type barrier on characteristics of water-dominant debris flows: small-scale physical modeling

Slit-type barriers, one of open-type barriers, are widely used as active measures to mitigate potential risk and damage by debris flows, and those are designed and installed to reduce the flow energy by only passing relatively small debris. However, the mechanisms of slit-type barriers in reducing the debris flow velocity and debris volume remain poorly understood because of the lack of well-controlled and reliable physical modeling results. This study explored the influence of various arrangements of slit-type barriers, including P-type barriers in which each rectangular barrier was placed in parallel and V-type barriers where the barriers were placed in a V-shape, on characteristics of water-dominant debris flows via small-scale model experiments. The debris flow events were reproduced against the slit-type barriers, where the velocity reduction and trap ratio were monitored, varying the angle and shape of barrier arrangements. The velocity reduction and trap ratio appeared to increase as the angle of the barrier wall decreased because of the decreased opening ratio. The V-type barriers resulted in higher velocity reduction and trap ratio than the P-type, primarily because of the smaller effective opening ratio and the more backwater effect. In addition, as the debris contained more boulders, the extent of velocity reduction and debris trap became greater in all barrier types. Two types of opening ratios, the projected and effective opening ratios, were correlated to the interactions between debris and walls. The obtained results provide baseline data for the optimum design of slit-type barriers against debris flow and suggest that the slit-type barriers can effectively manage the risk of damage by debris flows.     

汶川震区暴雨泥石流激发雨量特征

利用搜集的汶川震区典型泥石流暴发前后的降雨过程资料,分析了泥石流的激发雨量过程,获得了汶川震区的泥石流激发雨量特征,以期为泥石流的预测预报提供依据。结果表明,汶川地震区的泥石流激发雨型可分为快速激发型、中速激发型和慢速激发型3类,其差异主要体现在降雨的持续时间和强度方面。不同激发雨型下的泥石流形成过程的差别主要体现在松散土体饱和过程。雨型的差异(降雨的持续时间和强度)使得土体饱和产生超渗产流的时间出现差异,进而使得泥石流暴发的时间存在差异。激发雨强跟激发雨型存在一定的关系,激发雨强最大者为中速激发雨型,其次是慢速激发雨型,最小者为快速激发雨型。与地震之前相比,地震后的泥石流暴发时的累积雨量和临界雨量都有所降低。     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Space and time distributions of major winter storms in the United States

Winter storms are a major weather problem in the United States and their losses have been rapidly increasing. A total of 202 catastrophic winter storms involving ice storms, blizzards, and snowstorms, each causing >$5 million in damages, occurred during 1949–2003, and their losses totaled $35.2 billion (2003 dollars). Catastrophic winter storms occurred in most parts of the contiguous United States, but were concentrated in the eastern half of the nation where 88% of all storm losses occurred. They were most frequent in the Northeast climate district (95 storms), and were least frequent in the West district (14 catastrophic storms). The annual average number of storms is 3.7 with a 1-year high of nine storms, and one year had no storms. Temporal distributions of storms and their losses exhibited considerable spatial variability across the nation. For example, when storms were very frequent in the Northeast, they were infrequent elsewhere, a result of spatial differences in storm-producing weather conditions over time. The time distribution of the nation’s 202 storms during 1949–2003 had a sizable downward trend, whereas the nation’s storm losses had a major upward trend for the 55-year period. This increase over time in losses, given the decrease in storm incidences, was a result of significant temporal increases in storm sizes and storm intensities. Increases in storm intensities were small in the northern sections of the nation, but doubled across the southern two-thirds of the nation, reflecting a climatic shift in conditions producing intense winter storms.     

基于地貌特征的崩塌、滑坡、泥石流遥感自动识别

建立了一种基于地貌特征的崩滑流（崩塌、滑坡、泥石流）遥感自动识别方法,通过对地物的光谱特性、几何形状和顺坡性相关的6次布尔运算完成对崩滑流的自动识别。并以碧罗雪山一处高山峡谷地区为例,采用10m空间分辨率的SPOT-5多光谱影像和1：5万地形图生成的DEM（数字高程模型）作为数据源,进行了崩滑流自动识别效果的检验。实验结果表明：①该方法顾及了地貌对崩滑流空间几何形态的影响,可以有效地提高崩滑流遥感自动识别的正确率;②识别对象与数据源的关系明确、逻辑简单、决策阈值容易确定,便于使用决策树进行分类;③该方法对数据源要求较低,只需中等以上比例尺的DEM和拥有红、近红外的遥感影像即可;④粘连图斑的分割是该方法面临的主要难题。