Three dimensional simulation of fluid flow in X‐ray CT images of porous media

A numerical scheme is developed in order to simulate fluid flow in three dimensional (3‐D) microstructures. The governing equations for steady incompressible flow are solved using the semi‐implicit method for pressure‐linked equations (SIMPLE) finite difference scheme within a non‐staggered grid system that represents the 3‐D microstructure. This system allows solving the governing equations using only one computational cell. The numerical scheme is verified through simulating fluid flow in idealized 3‐D microstructures with known closed form solutions for permeability. The numerical factors affecting the solution in terms of convergence and accuracy are also discussed. These factors include the resolution of the analysed microstructure and the truncation criterion. Fluid flow in 2‐D X‐ray computed tomography (CT) images of real porous media microstructure is also simulated using this numerical model. These real microstructures include field cores of asphalt mixes, laboratory linear kneading compactor (LKC) specimens, and laboratory Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC) specimens. The numerical results for the permeability of the real microstructures are compared with the results from closed form solutions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Status of sedimentation in King Talal Dam,case study from Jordan

This paper focuses on characterizing the current status of physical and chemical characteristics of King Talal Dam (KTD) sediments. The quality of sediments was investigated based on several international sediment quality guidelines. The volume of sediment and sedimentation rate in (KTD) was also estimated. Five types of granulometric textural facies were observed for the sediments of KTD reservoir bed, with an average grain size distribution of gravel (1.38%), sand (32.38%), silt (32.35%) and clay (32.38%). The fraction of <63 micron showed that the total mean size was 8.0 micron. Other sediment parameters in KTD were 7.0% for total organic matter (TOM), 7.3 for pH, 35.9% for CaCO₃ and 100.5 meq/100 g for cation exchange capacity, with dominant mineralogical constituents of quartz, calcite, dolomite, clay minerals and minor feldspar. The total concentrations of F, Cl, NO₂, NO₃, PO₄ and SO₄ in sediment samples were lower inward for KTD. The vast majority of trace metals in sediments were generally within the standard limits recommended for soils. TOM and grain size of sediment are major factors governing the trace metal concentrations. The calculated geoaccumulation index (I _geo) and enrichment factor of metals in bottom sediments showed that the metals were in the following order: Cd > Pb > Zn > Co > Cr > Ni > Fe > Cu > Sr > Mn and Cd > Zn > Pb > Co > Cr > Ni > Cu > Sr > Mn, respectively. Based on the sonic survey of KTD reservoir, the annual sedimentation rate was about 0.4061 MCM/year, in which about 18.66% of the reservoir initial storage capacity was lost to sediments and a projected lifespan of about 198 years.     

Characteristics of concentrated flow hydraulics for rangeland ecosystems: implications for hydrologic modeling

Concentrated flow is often the dominant source of water erosion following disturbance on rangelands. Because of the lack of studies that explain the hydraulics of concentrated flow on rangelands, cropland‐based equations have typically been used for rangeland hydrology and erosion modeling, leading to less accurate predictions due to different soil and vegetation cover characteristics. This study investigates the hydraulics of concentrated flow using unconfined field experimental data over diverse rangeland landscapes within the Great Basin Region, United States. The results imply that the overall hydraulics of concentrated flow on rangelands differ significantly from those of cropland rills. Concentrated flow hydraulics on rangelands are largely controlled by the amount of cover or bare soil and hillslope angle. New predictive equations for concentrated flow velocity (R² = 0·47), hydraulic friction (R² = 0·52), and width (R² = 0·4) representing a diverse set of rangeland environments were developed. The resulting equations are applicable across a wide span of ecological sites, soils, slopes, and vegetation and ground cover conditions and can be used by physically‐based rangeland hydrology and erosion models to estimate rangeland concentrated flow hydraulic parameters. Published in 2011. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Pipe Service Age Effect on Chlorine Decay in Drinking‐Water Transmission and Distribution Systems

Maintaining acceptable quality of water transported in the transmission and distribution system requires the chlorination of water beyond the treatment plant. While flowing through pipes, the chlorine concentration decreases for different reasons. Reaction with the pipe material itself and the reaction with both the biofilm and tubercles formed on the pipe wall are known as pipe wall demand. This varies with pipe parameters. The aim of this paper was to assess the impact of the service age of pipes on the chlorine wall decay constant. One hundred and fifty three pipe sections of different sizes and four different pipe materials were collected and tested for their chlorine first‐order wall decay constants. The results showed that pipe service age was an important factor that must not be ignored. For the range of the 55 years of pipe service age used in this study, the change in the wall decay ranged from 8 to 531% of the corresponding values in the recently installed pipes. The effect of service age on the wall decay constants was most evident in steel pipes. Other important findings were reached.     

Modeling approaches and strategies for data-scarce aquifers: example of the Dar es Salaam aquifer in Tanzania

Management of groundwater resources can be improved by using groundwater models to perform risk analyses and to improve development strategies, but a lack of extensive basic data often limits the implementation of sophisticated models. Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is an example of a city where increasing groundwater use in a Pleistocene aquifer is causing groundwater-related problems such as saline intrusion along the coastline, lowering of water-table levels, and contamination of pumping wells. The lack of a water-level monitoring network introduces a problem for basic data collection and model calibration and validation. As a replacement, local water-supply wells were used for measuring groundwater depth, and well-top heights were estimated from a regional digital elevation model to recalculate water depths to hydraulic heads. These were used to draw a regional piezometric map. Hydraulic parameters were estimated from short-time pumping tests in the local wells, but variation in hydraulic conductivity was attributed to uncertainty in well characteristics (information often unavailable) and not to aquifer heterogeneity. A MODFLOW model was calibrated with a homogeneous hydraulic conductivity field and a sensitivity analysis between the conductivity and aquifer recharge showed that average annual recharge will likely be in the range 80–100 mm/year.     

A study on the polarimetric properties of various features using SIR-C data

Spaceborne Imaging Radar (SIR-C) data acquired over Gujarat, India in 1994 were processed and analysed using differnet techniques applicable to polarimetric SAR data such as polarization signatures, polarization index, decomposition of the signal and polarization phase difference and limited groundtruth data. It has been observed that multi-frequency polarimetric data enhances the potential of retrieving geo-physical parameters. The polarization signatures are found to vary with the nature of the target. Target decomposition of the returned signal will be useful for the classification of various features. Polarization Phase Difference (PPD) gives good information about the vegetation parameters.     

Potential use of faujasite–phillipsite and phillipsite–chabazite tuff in purification of treated effluent from domestic wastewater treatment plants

Characterization of zeolitic tuff from Jabal Hannoun (HN) and Mukawir (MR) was carried out to examine the ability of using low-cost natural materials in domestic wastewater treatment. The grain size between 0.3 and 1 mm (0.3–1 mm) of the HN and MR has the highest total zeolite grade (faujasite–phillipsite and phillipsite–chabazite) and suitable cation exchange capacity. They were used as fixed-bed ion exchangers and adsorbents. The zeolitic tuff efficiently removed the organic and nitrogen compounds, Pb and Zn from the effluent. One bed volume (1 BV) of the zeolitic tuff is capable to remove up to 95 % of total organic carbon form 500 BV of the effluent. The removal percent of total nitrogen by HN and MR is close to 95 and 90 %, respectively. The zeolitic tuff has an excellent efficiency to remove Pb and Zn from the effluent. 1 BV of HN completely cleans Zn and Pb from 680 and 730 BV of the effluent, respectively, whereas 1 BV of MR is able to clean completely Zn and Pb from 500 and 685 BV of the effluent, respectively. The greater performance of the HN compared with the MR may be explained by its higher zeolites grade and presence of faujasite.     

Geochronology of the American-Antarctic Ridge

A new map of chrons for the American-Antarctic Ridge area has been compiled. Its analysis and the calculations performed showed that the seafloor spreading with respect to its axis started before 85 My B.P. The spreading directions were 115° (chrons C34-C29), 145° (chrons C29-C21), 110° (chrons C21-C5C), and 85° (chrons C5C-C1). The maximum rates of about 4 cm/year were reached earlier than 52 My B.P.; subsequently, a progressive general decrease in the spreading rate has been observed. According to our forecast, the spreading may cease in the following 3.5 My.