Three-dimensional antidunes coexisting with alternate bars

Antidunes are fluvial bedforms that form in rivers with supercritical flows. The water surface over antidunes is strongly in phase with the bed surface, and the water surface is amplified to produce large surface waves. Many experimental studies have addressed antidunes; however, the shapes of three-dimensional antidunes in a wide channel with alternate bars have not yet been appropriately understood. In this study, we experimentally investigated the streamwise and transverse length scales of antidunes under conditions with a large width–depth ratio. Our experimental results provide evidence for the coevolution of antidunes and free alternate bars, and show for the first time that the development of free bars greatly alters the three-dimensional shape of water surface waves over antidunes. In the absence of free bars in a wide channel, multiple longitudinal wave trains form, and the number of wave trains counted in the transverse direction increases with increases in the width–depth ratio. However, the presence of free bars affects the local flow characteristics, resulting in a decrease of the number of wave trains in the transverse direction. Therefore, we propose a simple model for predicting the reduction in the number of wave trains by combining two previous theories for antidunes and free bars. Results obtained by the model were found to largely agree with experimental observations. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Real-time hybrid experimental system with actuator delay compensation and its application to a piping system with energy absorber

A real-time hybrid experimental method, in which output from an actuator-excited vibration experiment and response calculation are combined on-line and conducted simultaneously in real time, is being developed as a new seismic experimental method for structural systems. In real-time hybrid experiments, however, there is an inevitable actuator-response delay, which has an effect equivalent to negative damping. To solve this problem, a real-time hybrid experimental system (including an actuator-delay compensation method) was developed. And seismic experiments were conducted in order to demonstrate the advantages of this system. Experimental results obtained using the developed hybrid experimental system were compared with exact results obtained using shaking-table experiments, and it was found that the two experimental methods gave almost identical results. It can therefore be concluded that the structural response can be obtained precisely by using the developed hybrid experimental system. Comparison of these experiments showed the advantages of the hybrid experiments; that is, they are simple and economical. This is because the hybrid experiment requires only a small structure as the excitation model, while a shaking-table experiment must consider the whole structural system. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vortex structures around a hemispheric hump

The vortex structure formed in front of and behind a hemispheric surface hump has been studied in a water recirculating flume. In the recirculation zone behind the hemisphere, arched vortex tubes were formed. Up to a certain critical Reynolds number, each tube was shed individually from the recirculation zone. However, when the Reynolds number exceeded a critical value, several of the tubes coalesced in the recirculation zone before shedding. In front of the hemisphere, some parabolic vortex tubes formed. Their number increased with Reynolds number below its critical value and decreased above this value. The dimensionless height of the parabolic vortex tube decreased with Reynolds number.     

A near-infrared fabry-perot imager at CRL 1.5m telescope and the structure and velocity field of shocked H2 emission in orion KL region

We have developed a near-infrared Fabry-Perot imager at the Nasmyth focus of the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) 1.5 m telescope at Tokyo. Using this wide field Fabry-Perot imager, we obtained continuum-subtracted images of the H₂ v=1–0 S(1) line for the Orion KL region.     

A cross-correlation analysis of tidal current,water temperature and salinity records

Fifteen day records of current velocity, water temperature and salinity were obtained at a coastal station in the Seto Inland Sea. It was observed that water movement was characterized by an exchange of two distinctive water masses east and west of the station. Cross-correlation analysis shows that, at the semi-diurnal period, the motion of these characteristic waters causes temperature and salinity variations. At frequencies higher than 2 cycles per day where power spectra of current velocity have a slope of ?5/3, coherence between current velocity and both water temperature and salinity decreases rapidly.     

Modeling urban expansion scenarios by coupling cellular automata model and system dynamic model in Beijing, China

Spatially explicit urban expansion models that can trace urban development in the past and predict the expansion scenarios in the future are indispensable for examining urban planning policies. This paper demonstrates a new urban expansion scenario (UES) model by coupling one “bottom-up” cellular automata (CA)-based model and one “top-down” system dynamics (SD)-based model. By implementing the UES model in Beijing, the urban evolution from 1991 to 2004 was simulated and the UESs from 2004 to 2020 were predicted. The results suggest that a dilemma of urban expansion versus limited water resource and environment deterioration exists. Dealing with such a dilemma remains a challenge for the local government.     

A numerical experiment on the sedimentation processes in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea

Sedimentation processes of suspended matter supplied from the Huanghe (Yellow River) and the Changjiang are investigated with the use of a three-dimensional numerical model of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea which includes the tidal current, residual flow and wind waves. Suspended matter supplied from the Huanghe mainly deposits in the Bohai Sea and that from the old river mouth of the Huanghe and from the Changjiang in the central part of the Yellow Sea or south of Cheju Island. The calculated results well reproduce the observed sedimentation pattern qualitatively except for the offshore area of the southeastern coast of China.     

VSOP Space VLBI observations of Pearson-Readhead survey sources

The VSOP Space VLBI mission uses the HALCA spacecraft, launched from Japan in February 1997, in conjunction with ground radio observatories around the world to create a high resolution radio-wavelength imaging facility. We are using this unique facility to observe a sub-sample of Pearson-Readhead Survey sources at 4.8 GHz to determine core brightness temperatures and pc-scale jet properties. We will highlight one of the sources that has been observed using a combination of the HALCA spacecraft and the EVN, 1642+690, and describe the preliminary brightness temperature distribution for the sub-sample, based on all data analyzed to date.