Coefficient of permeability determined by measurable parameters

Selection of a coefficient of permeability or the hydraulic conductivity in practical situations has required a fair amount of judgment and the expectation of accuracy can range over an order of magnitude. A determination of the coefficient based on measurable characteristics would greatly reduce the judgment aspect. The coefficient of permeability of a porous media can be derived from the following measurable parameters: the density and viscosity of the permeating fluid, the porosity of the media, the average hydraulic radius of the pores, and the gravitation constant. The hydraulic radius is calculated from the grain size distribution analysis of the porous media assuming spherical particles and a factor to account for the shape of the particles. The shape factor ranges from 1.0 to 1.4 in the extreme but, for common porous media, ranges only from 1.0 to about 1.1. All of the variables, except the shape factor, are measurable by standard test procedures. An important advantage of using this procedure for determining permeability is that the factors can be visualized as part of the physical flow process. The procedure assumes laminar flow and applies equally to liquid or gas fluids.     

Turbulent flow through porous media

The pressure driving flow through porous media must be equal to the viscous resistance plus the inertial resistance. Formulas are developed for both the viscous resistance and the inertial resistance. The expression for the coefficient of permeability consists of parameters which describe the characteristics of the porous medium and the permeating fluid and which, for unconsolidated isotropic granular media, are all measurable. A procedure is proposed for testing for the occurrence of turbulence and calculating the effective permeability when it occurs. The formulas are applied to a set of data from 588 permeameter runs ranging from laminar to highly turbulent. The equations fit the data from the permeameter closely through the laminar flow conditions and quite closely through the turbulent conditions. In the turbulent range, the plotting of the data separates into three distinct lines for each of the three shapes of particles used in the tests. For the porous medium and fluid of these tests, turbulence begins at a head gradient of about 0.1.     

The planning of NOAO 8 m telescope enclosure and facilities

The National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) proposes to build 8 m telescopes at two locations. The Northern Hemisphere location is on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the Southern Hemisphere location is within the existing boundary of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. This paper describes the sites under consideration and the facilities that support the operation of each telescope, namely, the telescope enclosure, the control facility, and the recoating facility.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

A decision support system for geotechnical applications

A knowledge-based system shell called ‘Confound’ has been developed for the production of decision support systems. It was initially used for developing a system for conceptual foundation design but has subsequently been used for retaining wall, expansive soil and ground investigation applications. It uses a hierarchical object-oriented knowledge base where each object represents a decision in the decision making process. A simple rule-based approach is used to provide advice on the suitability of each potential choice, based on project specific information that is provided by the user. Confound has the ability to work with incomplete information and uses a system of confidence levels so that the user is aware of the confidence with which each piece of advice is given. Conflicting information in areas where knowledge is poorly defined can also be handled. Confound is designed to leave the user in full control. It simply provides comments on suitability (with an indication of confidence) and leaves the final decision to the user.     

Atmospheric circulation and daily precipitation in Wales

Summary Daily precipitation affinity areas are established for Wales by means of S-mode Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis, using data for the autumn-winter (September-January) period, 1982–87, subset according to surface wind direction. Relatively strong PCA simple structures were found for five wind directions clockwise from south to north, using the OBLIMIN rotation for the first four (south to northwest) and the VARIMAX rotation for the last (north). Whilst interpretation of many of the most significant Prinicipal Components (PCs) was difficult in strictly meteorological or climatological terms, the precipitation areas produced by clustering based on the most important PCs, yielded a continuum of change in areal organisation with progressively changing wind direction. Only the far southwest and northwest of the country appear in every area map, although superficially, northeastern, English border and southeastern areas were present on most. The derived areas bear only small overall resemblance to currently used forecasting areas.With 9 Figures     

Control of the chlorate factor in electrooxidation leaching of molybdenum concentrates

A study was made of the United States Bureau of Mines electrooxidation process for the recovery of molybdenum from molybdenite. The investigation sought to determine the effect of solution parameters on by-product chlorate formation and the resulting loss in current efficiency. The minimization of the chlorate production during the electrolytic oxidation of molybdenite would contribute to making the process economically attractive.The study showed that chlorate production could be minimized during electrooxidation by operating at low temperatures, low pH's, a large excess of molybdenite and low current densities. Anodes having a high oxygen overvoltage were found to favorably reduce chlorate production.The rate of dissolution of molybdenite under these conditions was also investigated. It was determined that the generation of hypochlorite was the rate controlling step. The rate of dissolution of molybdenite was found to be zero order. The zero-order rate constant equalled the rate of production of hypochlorite divided by the hypochlorite/molybdenite stoichiometric ratio.     

Waves in an elastic plate with an irregular boundary

Summary Green's function corresponding to the displacements for anSH-line source inside a wedge shaped medium finite or infinite in which the density and the elastic parameter are not constant throughout but some class of function ofr, the radial distance (i.e. and satisfy some differential equation) has been obtained. The paths of propagation of the cylindrical waves, their reflections on different boundaries and their continuous refractions within the medium has been clearly established. The scattered field from the different parts of the body have been pointed out with prescribed distribution of and in this inhomogeneous wedge. It is shown that for some distribution of and the rays are curved and the reflections at the two plane boundaries occur in such a way that no ray will go to infinity by reflection, rather they are coming back towards the apex after suitable number of reflections with variable intensity. Also there are some distributions of and in the same class as mentioned earlier, such that the behaviour of the waves is similar to that in a homogeneous wedge, i.e. these waves will go to infinity by a suitable number of reflections and ultimately die out. The first case is quite unlike the usual homogeneous medium with non parallel boundaries and so care must be taken in computing the field within the nonhomogeneous medium within the non-parallel boundaries.     

Final evolutionary stages of 8–10M ⊙ stars

Star evolution at constant mass is typically considered as well defined, given initial mass and composition. However, in the stellar mass range of 8–10M , large uncertainties — as to the treatment of convection and hydrodynamical burning, or that of electron captures — exist. They are the key to the issue whether electron captures induce star collapse or the star is disrupted by a deflagration. The final fate of the star strongly depends, therefore, on the adopted treatment for those problems. This paper is aimed at analyzing such a dependence.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meetings of the IAU on New Windows to the Universe, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.     

ELF radiation from the New Zealand power system

Measurements of the vertical electric field strength of ELF and VLF radio waves in the Earth-ionosphere wave-guide to the south of New Zealand are presented. No significant mains harmonics (>1μ Vm^?1) are found at frequencies above 1.5 kHz and the harmonic content is found to decrease in a southerly direction until at Stewart Island only a single but strong (~10 sm Vm^?1) harmonic is present at 300 Hz. This harmonic is shown to be radiated by the Benmore-Haywards d.c. power line and not by the standard 220 kV a.c. power grid. A method of determining the level of the 300 Hz radiation retrospectively from the records of the Amberley Magnetic Observatory is described.