Behavior of Reinforced Soil Retaining Wall With Limited Fill Zone Paramete

Several experiments are carried out to understand the deformation behavior of reinforced soil retaining wall with limited fill zones under vertical surcharge strip loading. Test set-up along with all the instrumentations is developed to carry out the experiments. Panel displacements and strain distribution along geogrid layers are observed. Effectiveness of the reinforced soil wall is also evaluated using a geogrid material. Finite element analysis is carried out using commercial software PLAXIS version 8 for the above problem without and with anchoring of reinforced soil retaining wall in the limited fill zone. The results are compared and reported in this present paper.     

Impact of sea surface temperature in modulating movement and intensity of tropical cyclones

It is well recognized that sea surface temperature (SST) plays a dominant role in the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones. A number of observational/empirical studies were conducted at different basins to investigate the influence of SST on the intensification of tropical cyclones and in turn, modification in SST by the cyclone itself. Although a few modeling studies confirmed the sensitivity of model simulation/forecast to SST, it is not well quantified, particularly for Bay of Bengal cyclones. The present study is designed to quantify the sensitivity of SST on mesoscale simulation of an explosively deepening storm over the Bay of Bengal, i.e., Orissa super cyclone (1999). Three numerical experiments are conducted with climatological SST, NCEP (National Center for Environmental Prediction) skin temperature as SST, and observed SST (satellite derived) toward 5-day simulation of the storm using mesoscale model MM5. At model initial state, NCEP skin temperature and observed SST over the Bay of Bengal are 1–2°C warmer than climatological SST, but cooler by nearly 1°C along the coastline. Observed SST shows a number of warm patches in the Bay of Bengal compared with NCEP skin temperature. The simulation results indicate that the sea surface temperature has a significant impact on model-simulated track and intensity of the cyclonic storm. The track and intensity of the storm is better simulated with the use of satellite-observed SST.     

A Study on the Impact of Parameterization of Physical Processes on Prediction of Tropical Cyclones over the Bay of Bengal With NCAR/PSU Mesoscale Model

Prediction of the track and intensity of tropical cyclones is one of the most challenging problems in numerical weather prediction (NWP). The chief objective of this study is to investigate the performance of different cumulus convection and planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterization schemes in the simulation of tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal. For this purpose, two severe cyclonic storms are simulated with two PBL and four convection schemes using non-hydrostatic version of MM5 modeling system. Several important model simulated fields including sea level pressure, horizontal wind and precipitation are compared with the corresponding verification analysis/observation. The track of the cyclones in the simulation and analysis are compared with the best-fit track provided by India Meteorological Department (IMD). The Hong-Pan PBL scheme (as implemented in NCAR Medium Range Forecast (MRF) model) in combination with Grell (or Betts-Miller) cumulus convection scheme is found to perform better than the other combinations of schemes used in this study. Though it is expected that radiative processes may not have pronounced effect in short-range forecasts, an attempt is made to calibrate the model with respect to the two radiation parameterization schemes used in the study. And the results indicate that radiation parameterization has noticeable impact on the simulation of tropical cyclones.     

A procedure for the design and analysis of geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes

Summary A procedure for the stability analysis and design of geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes over a firm foundation is described. Firstly the unreinforced slope is analysed, and for this a circular failure method is used which allows a surcharge load to be taken into account. Any method of slip circle analysis could be used to identify the coordinates of the centre of the slip circle, its radius and the minimum factor of safety. In this study, both internal and external stability analysis of the reinforced slope is presented. Internal stability deals with the resistance to pullout failure within the reinforced soil zone resulting from the soil/reinforcement interaction. The external stability is considered by an extension of the bilinear wedge method which allows a slip plane to propagate horizontally along a reinforcing sheet. The results for total tensile force, internal and external stability are presented in the form of charts.For given properties of soil and slope geometry, the required strength of the geosynthetic and the length of reinforcement at the top and bottom of the slope can be determined using these charts. The results are compared with the published design charts by Schmertmannet al. (1987).     

Plate on viscoelastic foundation under a moving load

Summary In this note the deflection of a simply supported rectangular elastic plate on viscoelastic foundation has been obtained due to a moving load.     

New regression model for Indian summer monsoon rainfall

Summary Based on the study of 45 years (1948–1992) data, the average lowest MSL pressure of heat low over central Pakistan and adjoining northwest India of the month of May is found to have potential as a parameter for predicting all India Summer monsoon seasonal rainfall. This new parameter is seen to have stable and significant correlation with monsoon rainfall. Its correlation coefficients for different periods are found significant at 0.1% to 1% level of significance. The stability of the correlation coefficients was tested using 10, 20 and 30 year sliding windows. This test revealed that it is the most dependable parameter in comparison with 7 of the well known parameters analysed in this study. Regression models have been developed considering this new parameter along with other circulation parameters. The regression models developed are seen to perform very well for the independent data. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values of some of these models, for independent data, are smaller than those of similar regression models reported in literature.With 8 Figures     

Unsteady hydromagnetic free convection flow past an accelerated infinite vertical porous plate

Unsteady laminar free convection flow of a viscous incompressible and electrically conducting fluid past an accelerated vertical infinite porous plate subjected to a suction velocity proportional to (time)^–1/2 is studied in presence of a uniform horizontal magnetic field. Results are discussed with the effects of the Grashof number Gr, and the magnetic field parameterM for Pr (the Prandtl number)=0.71 and 7.0 representing air and water respectively at 20 °C.Nomenclature a suction/injection parameter - C _p specific heat at constant pressure - B ₀ magnetic induction - g acceleration due to gravity - Gr Grashof number (vg(T'_w-T')/U ₀ ³ ) - K thermal conductivity - M magnetic field parameter (B ₀ ² _e ² /U ₀ ² ) - Pr Prandtl number (C _p/K) - T' temperature of the fluid near the plate - T' _w temperature of the plate - T' temperature of the fluid at infinity - t' time variable - t dimensionless time (t' U ₀ ² /v) - u non-dimensional velocity (u'/U ₀) - U' velocity of the plate - U dimensionless velocity of the plate (U'/U _o) - U ₀ reference velocity - v' ₀ suction velocity - v ₀ nondimensional suction velocity (v' ₀/U ₀)=at^–1/2 - v' normal velocity component - v dimensionless normal velocity - Ec Eckert number ((vU ₀)^2/3/C _p(T' _w -T' )) - T dimensionless temperature of the fluid near the plate ((T'-T' )/T' _w –T' )) - x',y' coordinates along and normal to the plate - y dimensionless ordinate (=y' U _o/v) - v kinematic viscosity - coefficient of volume expansion - electric conductivity of the fluid - similarity variable (y/2t) - _w density of the fluid at the plate - density of the fluid at infinity - ' skin-friction - dimensionless skin-friction - coefficient of viscosity - _e magnetic permeability     

Evidence for a fluid flow triggered spatio-temporal migration of seismicity in the 2001 M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.7 Bhuj earthquake region,Gujarat, India,during 2001–2013

We studied the variations in spatial and temporal clustering of earthquake activity (during 2001–2013) in the Kachchh seismic zone, Gujarat, India, by precisely relocating 3478 events using a joint hypocentral determination (JHD) relocation technique, and high-quality arrival times of 21032 P- and 20870 S-waves. Temporal disposition of estimated station corrections of P- and S-waves suggests that the fluid flow in the causative fault zone of the 2001 Bhuj mainshock increased during 2001–2010, while it reduced during 2011–2013, due to the healing process associated with the perturbed Kachchh fault zone. We also estimated the isotropic seismic diffusivities from epicentral growth patterns, which are found to be much lower than those observed for reservoir-induced seismicity sites in the world. Finally, we analysed the spatial and temporal evolution of this earthquake sequence by solving the diffusion equation of pore-pressure relaxation caused by co- and post-seismic stress changes associated with earthquakes. The value of the isotropic diffusivity is estimated to be 100 m²/s for the Kachchh rift zone. This gives a higher permeability (after a lapse time of 14 years from the occurrence of the 2001 Bhuj mainshock) in comparison to those observed for other intraplate regions in the world. Our results suggest that the observed spatio-temporal migration of seismicity is consistent with the shallow (meteoric water circulation at 0–10 km depths) and deeper (metamorphic fluid and volatile CO₂ circulation at 10–40 km depths) fluid flows in the permeable and fractured causative fault zone of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.