Predicting Total Dissolved Gas Concentration on a Daily Scale Using Kriging Interpolation,Response Surface Method and Artificial Neural Network: Case Study of Columbia River Basin Dams,USA

Natural Resources Research - Total dissolved gas (TDG) is an important factor for aquatic life and can cause gas bubble trauma in fish if the concentration is higher than 110%. Dissolved gas is...     

Numerical Investigation of the Optimum Location for Vertical Drains in Gravity Dams

The seepage beneath a concrete dam causes an upward force acting to the dam foundation, known as uplift. Previous literatures show that implementation of drainage wells in gravity dam foundations causes a reduction in uplift forces. The main aim of these wells is to drain excess seepage flow bypassed from the cutoff wall and to reduce the uplift force. The location of the drains in the foundation plays a key role in reducing the pressure. In the present study, effect of the location of drain pipes from the upstream face of the dam (s), space among them (n) and drain’s diameter (d) in uplift force reduction is investigated. The processes of the study have been performed by the Seep/w software based on the finite element method. Results show that the use of a drain system reduced the uplift forces developed beneath the floor of the structure. If the drain is located close to the face of the dam, it may not be effective in reducing the uplift. On the other hand, shifting it too much away from the upstream face of the dam will lead to increased total uplift. It is, therefore, desirable to find out the location of the drain such that the total uplift is optimum. Optimum location of the vertical drains is not fixed, and by increasing vertical drains distances from each other and also decreasing drain diameter, optimum location would be shifted to the downstream. For example introduction of system of pipe drains to the floor of gravity dams reduced the uplift force acting on the floor by up to 80% for d/l = 0.0004, n/l = 0.024 and s/l = 0.08. This reduction in uplift becomes up to 65% for d/l = 0.0004, n/l = 0.048 and s/l = 0.12. The best location of the drain is such that the total uplift is minimum and this is presented in both design charts and algebraic equations in this study.     

Exploiting transformation-domain sparsity for fast query in multiple-point geostatistics

Multiple-point geostatistics has recently attracted significant attention for characterization of environmental variables. Such methods proceed by searching a large database of patterns obtained from a training image to find a match for a given data-event. The template-matching phase is usually the most time-consuming part of a MPS method. Linear transformations like discrete cosine transform or wavelet transform are capable of representing the image patches with a few nonzero coefficients. This sparsifying capability can be employed to speed up the template-matching problem up to hundreds of times by multiplying only nonzero coefficients. This method is only applicable to rectangular data-events because it is impossible to represent an odd-shaped data-event in a transformation domain. In this paper, the method is applied to speed up the image quilting (IQ) method. The experiments show that the proposed method is capable of accelerating the IQ method tens of times without sensible degradation in simulation results. The method has the potential to be employed for accelerating optimization-based and raster-scan patch-based MPS algorithms.     

A Study on Truss Bolt Mechanism in Controlling Stability of Underground Excavation and Cutter Roof Failure

The truss bolt reinforcement system has been used in controlling the stability of underground excavations in severe ground conditions and cutter roof failure in layered rocks especially in coal mines. In spite of good application reports, working mechanism of this system is largely unknown and truss bolts are predominantly designed based on past experience and engineering judgement. In this study, the reinforcing effect of the truss bolt system on an underground excavation in layered rock is studied using non-linear finite element analysis. Different indicators are defined to evaluate the reinforcing effects of the truss bolt system. Using these indicators one can evaluate the effects of a reinforcing system on the deformation, loosened area, failure prevention, horizontal movement of the immediate layer, shear crack propagation and cutter roof failure of underground excavations. Effects of truss bolt on these indicators reveal the working mechanism of the truss bolt system. To illustrate the application of these indicators, a comparative study is conducted between three different truss bolt designs. It is shown that the design parameters of truss bolt systems, including tie-rod span, length, and angle of the bolts can have significant effects on the reinforcing capability of the system.     

Magnetotelluric inversion for azimuthally anisotropic resistivities employing artificial neural networks

An extension of an artificial neural network (ANN) approach to solve the magnetotelluric (MT) inverse problem for azimuthally anisotropic resistivities is presented and applied for a real dataset. Three different model classes, containing general 1-D and 2-D azimuthally anisotropic features, have been considered. For each model class, characteristics of three-layer feed forward ANNs trained through an error back propagation algorithm have been adjusted to approximate the inverse modeling function. It appears that, at least for synthetic models, reasonable results would be obtained by applying the amplitudes of the complex impedance tensor elements as inputs. Furthermore, the Levenberg-Marquart algorithm possesses optimal performance as a learning paradigm for this problem. The evaluation of applicability of the trained ANNs for unknown data sets excluded from the learning procedure reveals that the trained ANNs possess acceptable interpolation and extrapolation abilities to estimate model parameters accurately. This method was also successfully used for a field dataset wherein anisotropy had been previously recognized.     

Selection of wastewater treatment process based on the analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods

This paper presents an application of the analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods for selecting the best wastewater treatment process. The analytical hierarchy process is one of the best ways for deciding among the complex criteria structure in different levels, and the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is a synthetic extension of the classical method when the fuzziness of the decision makers are considered. After reviewing aerobic treatment processes operated in Iran’s industrial estates and determining the main criteria used for treatment process evaluation, they are arranged in a hierarchy structure. Selection of the best wastewater treatment process is a multi-criteria decision making problem. Conventional methods are inadequate for dealing with the imprecise or vague nature of linguistic assessment. To overcome this difficulty, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is proposed for dealing with the vagueness of decision makers’ judgments. The alternatives consist of extended aeration, absorption bio-oxidation, integrated fixed-film activated sludge, sequencing batch reactor, aerated lagoon. Based on the general condition of industrial estate’s wastewater treatment plants, technical/administrative, economic and environmental criteria and their sub-criteria are weighted and then criteria evaluated and priorities of alternatives have been done by analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods by the use of triangular fuzzy numbers. Finally, selection of the best process and ranking of these five processes are carried out by these foregoing methods, and some sensitivity analyses are conducted to show the results’ sensitiveness to the changes of the weights of the evaluation criteria.     

2D inversion of the magnetotelluric data from Mahallat geothermal field in Iran using finite element approach

The natural-field magnetotelluric (MT) method has proven very useful for mapping the geothermal fields as resistivity sections. The depth of investigation of the MT method is sufficiently large to penetrate deep into the upper crust. MT soundings along two transects across Mahallat geothermal field in Iran were carried out to determine the crustal structure in the region. The selected MT profiles in the region cross over the hydrothermally altered zones and different geological structures. Data were acquired along two profiles crossing the Mahallat hot springs with a total of 28 MT stations in a frequency range of 8,000 to 0.008 Hz. Spacing between stations was kept 500 m for a good resolution. We have used the code MT2DInvMATLAB for inversion using the method of finite elements for forward modeling. Apparent resistivity and phase data of transverse electric (TE), transverse magnetic (TM), and TE + TM modes along each profile were modeled. The geothermal fluid reservoir is resolved at 1,000 to 3,000 m depth and the geothermal resource is estimated to be located at 7,000 m or deeper.     

Estimating the vulnerability and loss functions of residential buildings

This paper is concerned with an investigation of the damage to residential buildings in two areas within Gilan and Zanjan provinces, Iran, caused by the Manjil-Rudbar earthquake of 20 June 1990. A statistical correlation between the observed ground motion and the damage to the residential buildings is derived for overall damaged buildings and expressed as the vulnerability function. The loss function is calculated by combining the seismic hazard with the vulnerability function.The study of vulnerability and annual seismic hazard shows that the specific annual risk for the range of motion of 0.18 to 0.5 g is equal to 0.02. This indicates that the specific risk for semi-engineered residential buildings with a lifetime of 20 years is about 33%. This study also shows that in large cities, such as Tehran, located in seismic areas, the extent of damage according to the vulnerability function will be 45 and 70% for expected maximum accelerations of 0.3 and 0.4 g, respectively.     

Determination of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of sandy soils: a new pore network approach

Acta Geotechnica - Hydraulic conductivity is one of the most important characteristics of unsaturated soils. Its determination is essential for modeling various phenomena of interest such as...     

Combining Arc-GIS and OWA model in flooding potential analysis (case study: Meshkinshahr city)

Natural Hazards - “Streets have been turned into rivers”; this is a news headline which we have been hearing more often recently and refers to the floodwaters flowing into cities....