Integrated rainfall–runoff and flood inundation modeling for flash flood risk assessment under data scarcity in arid regions: Wadi Fatimah basin case study,Saudi Arabia

This paper presents a proposed integrated approach for flood hazardous evaluation in arid and semi-arid areas. Wadi Fatimah in Saudi Arabia is utilized for implementation of such an approach. The approach consists of four stages. In the first stage, a statistical analysis of rainfall data is performed to determine the design storms at specified return periods. In the second stage, geological and geomorphologic analyses are followed to estimate the geomorphic parameters. The third stage concerned with land use and land cover analyses linked with hydrological analysis to estimate the hydrographs. The fourth stage is related to the delineation of the inundation area under two scenarios: the presence and absence of the dam. The statistical analysis proved that some rainfall stations do not follow a Gumbel distribution. The presence of the dam reduces the inundation depth by about 10 %. The reduction in the inundation area due the presence of the dam is about 25 %.     

An artificial neural network model for flood simulation using GIS: Johor River Basin, Malaysia

Flooding is one of the most destructive natural hazards that cause damage to both life and property every year, and therefore the development of flood model to determine inundation area in watersheds is important for decision makers. In recent years, data mining approaches such as artificial neural network (ANN) techniques are being increasingly used for flood modeling. Previously, this ANN method was frequently used for hydrological and flood modeling by taking rainfall as input and runoff data as output, usually without taking into consideration of other flood causative factors. The specific objective of this study is to develop a flood model using various flood causative factors using ANN techniques and geographic information system (GIS) to modeling and simulate flood-prone areas in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The ANN model for this study was developed in MATLAB using seven flood causative factors. Relevant thematic layers (including rainfall, slope, elevation, flow accumulation, soil, land use, and geology) are generated using GIS, remote sensing data, and field surveys. In the context of objective weight assignments, the ANN is used to directly produce water levels and then the flood map is constructed in GIS. To measure the performance of the model, four criteria performances, including a coefficient of determination (R ²), the sum squared error, the mean square error, and the root mean square error are used. The verification results showed satisfactory agreement between the predicted and the real hydrological records. The results of this study could be used to help local and national government plan for the future and develop appropriate (to the local environmental conditions) new infrastructure to protect the lives and property of the people of Johor.     

Analytical‐numerical solution for stress distribution around tunnel reinforced by radial fully grouted rockbolts

This paper presents an analytical‐numerical approach to obtain the distribution of stresses and deformations around a reinforced tunnel. The increase in the radial stress of the reinforced tunnel, based on the performance of a bolt, is modeled by a function, which its maximum value is in the vicinity of the bolt periphery and it exponentially decreases in the far distance from the bolt. On the basis of this approach, the shear stiffness between the bolt and the rock mass and the shear stress distribution around the bolt within the rock mass are also analytically obtained. The results are compared with those obtained by the assumption of ‘uniform increase of radial stress’ method, which is made by the previous studies. The analyses show when the bolts' spacing is large, the safety factor must be increased if the ‘uniform increase of radial stress’ method is used for the design. Finally, a procedure is introduced to calculate the non‐equal deformation of the rock mass between the bolts at any radius that can be useful to compute the bending moment in shotcrete layer in New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Different Irrigation Methods and Their Comparisons Based on the Parametric Evaluation Method in Khosouyeh Dam Subbasin,Iran

Today, the world's population is rising dramatically, and in line with this increase in the population of food and agricultural products, there must be an increasing in the number of problems associated with this process of agricultural land. Then it is necessary to use the maximum potential of this lands that product maximum yield without any damage. To reach this objective, land suitability evaluation is the most important way that can reach human to this objective. The main objective of this research was to compare different irrigation methods based on a parametric evaluation system in an area of 221402 ha in the Khosouyeh Subbasin of the Fars province, in the south of Iran. After preparing land unit map, 37 points were selected for sampling. Soil properties were evaluated and analyzed. Suitability maps for drop and gravity irrigation were generated using GIS technique. The results revealed land suitability of 98.42% of the case study was classified as permanently not suitable (N₂) and 1.52% currently not suitable (N₁) for gravity irrigation. On the other hand, land suitability of 77.73% of the case study was classified as permanently not suitability (N₂), 6.05% currently not suitable (N₁), 12.43% marginally suitable (S₃) and 3.79% moderately suitable (S₂) for drop irrigation. The limiting factors for both kinds of drop and gravity irrigation are soil depth and slope of land.     

On the relationship between MODIS Land Surface Temperature and topography in Iran

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is considered important in monitoring the energy flux between the land surface and atmosphere. Due to the diversity of topography in Iran and its effect on the climate diversity, we decided to study the effect of topography on the LST variations. To this end, the LST digital data derived from the observations of the MODIS Terra and Aqua were used. The results indicated that, during the daytime, from sea level up to a height of 400 meters, the LST increased, and then the temperature decreased with increasing altitude, and up to a height of 3000 meters, there was a strong correlation between the two. LST lapse rate was more during the daytime compared with that of the night time and it was more during the winter compared with the summer. LST lapse rate showed larger variability in diurnal cycle, but its monthly patterns were similar in different aspects. The aspect had substantial effect on LST inversion elevation. Furthermore, the inverse relationship between LST and slope was strong in slopes up to 20°.     

Tunnel flexibility effect on the ground surface acceleration response

Flexibility of underground structures relative to the surrounding medium, referred to as the flexibility ratio, is an important factor that influences their dynamic interaction. This study investigates the flexibility effect of a box-shaped subway tunnel, resting directly on bedrock, on the ground surface acceleration response using a numerical model verified against dynamic centrifuge test results. A comparison of the ground surface acceleration response for tunnel models with different flexibility ratios revealed that the tunnels with different flexibility ratios influence the acceleration response at the ground surface in different ways. Tunnels with lower flexibility ratios have higher acceleration responses at short periods, whereas tunnels with higher flexibility ratios have higher acceleration responses at longer periods. The effect of the flexibility ratio on ground surface acceleration is more prominent in the high range of frequencies. Furthermore, as the flexibility ratio of the tunnel system increases, the acceleration response moves away from the free field response and shifts towards the longer periods. Therefore, the flexibility ratio of the underground tunnels influences the peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the ground surface, and may need to be considered in the seismic zonation of urban areas.     

Performance of Hybrid SCA-RF and HHO-RF Models for Predicting Backbreak in Open-Pit Mine Blasting Operations

Natural Resources Research - Backbreak is an adverse phenomenon in blasting operation, which can cause, among others, mine walls instability, falling down of machinery, drilling efficiency...     

Tidal asymmetry in a tidal creek with mixed mainly semidiurnal tide,Bushehr Port,Persian Gulf

This study investigated the tidal asymmetry imposed by both the interaction of principal tides and the higher harmonics generated by distortions within a tidal creek network with mixed mainly semidiurnal tide in the Bushehr Port, Persian Gulf. Since velocity and water-level imposed by principal triad tides K₁-O₁-M₂ are in quadrature, duration asymmetries during a tidal period in this short, shallow inverse estuary should be manifest as skewed velocities. The principal tides produce periodic asymmetries including a strong ebb-dominance and a weak flood-dominance condition during spring and neap tides respectively. The higher harmonics induced by nonlinearities engender a flood-dominance condition where the convergence effects are higher than frictional effects, and an ebbdominance condition where intertidal storage are extended. Since the triad K₁-O₁-M₂ driven asymmetry is not overcome by higher harmonics close to the mouth, the periodic asymmetry dominates within the creek in which higher harmonics reinforce the weak flood-dominance (strong ebb-dominance) condition in the convergent channel (divergent area). Also, the maximum flood and the maximum ebb from all harmonic constituents occurred close to high water slack time during both spring and neap tides in this short creek. Since occational wetting of intertidal areas happened close to the high water (HW) time during spring tide, the water level flooded slowly close to the HW time of the spring tide.