The inspection of the triggering mechanism for a hazardous mudflow in an urbanized territory

On October 16, 1998, a mudflow of 2,000 m³ resulting in five deaths in the Neihu area of Taipei city came in the wake of Typhoon Zebert, which delivered approximately 300 mm/day of precipitation. The destructive 50-m-long mudflow rushed down the hill without any forewarning, wreaking severe destruction to the properties below. Based on in-situ investigation, this paper discusses the event scenario and provides critical data analyses to identify the contributing factors and main triggering mechanism of the disaster. The chances of possible water uplift due to groundwater conditions, the engineering properties of the geomaterials, and the influence of man-made changes in the morphology are examined in weighing the importance of these factors and identifying the main trigger.     

集集地震引起台湾浊水溪冲积扇水文地质空间异常变化的多尺度地质统计方法

本研究运用一般克里金法(Ord inary Kriging)、连续高斯模拟法(SequentialGaussian Simulation)和模拟退火演算法(Simulated Annealing Simulation)将标准卫星导向系统(SSOCPS)和地下水观测系统(GMNS)观测点的完全异位成套数据进行重置,并运用阶乘克里金法分析得出七个变量之间的关系,这些变量包括三个含水层的水压传导率、地面垂向位移和三个含水层中地下井水水位变化量,并绘制出了集集地震引起台湾浊水溪冲积扇多尺度水文地质空间异常变化的特性图像。在本研究中,与此地震相关的水文地质空间变化异常的小尺度、中尺度和大尺度特性分别用9、12和36 km来描绘。在研究区,按地区分布的区域运用中尺度和大尺度来获得,并运用阶乘克里金法来绘图。集集地震在地下水水文空间变化上的主要影响运用阶乘克里金分析法来论证,包括小尺度上的多孔渗水介质压缩、中尺度上含水层沉积物的水文地质多相性和大尺度上变向应力的周期加载。最后,整个区域的空间变化图完整地描述了集集地震所有水文地质变化的空间异常,从而可以鉴别、确定和监控本研究区的水文地质特性。     

Assessing debris-flow hazard in a watershed in Taiwan

This paper presents the results of a pilot study for assessing debris-flow hazards using geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The watershed of the Chen-Yu-Lan River is investigated in this pilot study. Factors that are believed to be critical to the occurrence of debris flow are identified and considered in the assessment of debris-flow hazards. Using the spatial analysis feature of GIS, the impact of these factors, expressed in terms of debris-flow hazard (DH) index, is calculated. By taking a simple summation of all DH indexes according to each factor, the overall debris-flow hazard at a particular watershed may be assessed. The applicability of the proposed approach for analyzing the watershed of the Chen-Yu-Lan River has been confirmed with the field observations in a recent typhoon event.     

Biokinetics of Nitrification in the Activated Sludge Process with Bioaugmentation

A laboratory study was conducted to determine the effect of bioaugmentation on nitrification performance in activated sludge process for treating municipal wastewaters. Two continuous flow bench-scale activated sludge systems consisting of 3 reactors each were operated for 30 months. The bacterial culture product used in bioaugmentation contained supplementary heterotrophic and nitrifying microorganisms. Parameters investigated included wastewater strength, hydraulic detention time, and sludge age in an activated sludge reactor system, which were low, medium and high strength; 6, 12, and 24 hours detention time; and 5, 10, and 20 days sludge age. A first reaction order mathematical model was developed for the nitrification process. Statistical fitting of the experimental data to the mathematical model allowed for determination of nitrification rate constant, decay coefficients, minimum aeration time required for initiation of the nitrification process, and the ability of the system to perform nitrification for the applied operation conditions. The results indicated that bioaugmentation improved nitrification at higher influent strength and at longer sludge age, did initiate nitrification earlier in the reactors, and did not affect the nitrification rate nor the decay coefficients.     

Petrogenetic relationship between Allan Hills 77005 and other achondrites

Allan Hills (ALHA) 77005 is a newly discovered, unique achondrite from Antarctica. Petrologic similarities with the shergottites in terms of mineralogy, oxidation state, inferred source region composition, shock metamorphic effects and shock ages suggest a genetic relationship. Volatile to involatile element ratios (e.g. K/U, Rb/U, Cs/U, Tl/U) and abundances of other trace elements support this hypothesis. ALHA 77005 may be a cumulate that crystallized from a liquid parental to those from which the shergottites crystallized; alternatively it may be a sample of the type of source peridotite from which shergottite parent liquids were derived by partial melting. Chemical similarities with terrestrial ultramafic rocks suggest that this unique meteorite provides an additional sample of the only other solar system body known to have basalt source regions chemically similar to the upper mantle of the Earth.     

Results of geodetic and geotechnical monitoring of subsidence for Taiwan High Speed Rail operation

Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR), which began operations in January 2007, passes through an area in Yunlin County where the largest cumulative subsidence measured during 1992–2006 exceeds 100 cm. Leveling benchmarks, GPS pillars and multi-level monitoring wells were deployed in this area to collect detailed subsidence data from October 2003 to 2006. Leveling is carried out on both ground benchmarks and survey bolts attached to THSR columns. Minimum constraint solutions of leveling networks produce estimated heights accurate to a few mm. Special attention is paid to code smoothing, ionospheric, tropospheric and ocean tidal loading (OTL) effects, so that height estimates from GPS are optimal. Leveling and GPS-derived height changes are consistent to 1 cm, and show that from Stations 210 to 240K of TSHR, the subsidence is bowl shaped. Measurements of sediment compaction in specific depth intervals at three monitoring wells indicate that most of the subsidence is caused by sediment compaction at depths from 50 to 300 m. The major compaction occurs in the interval 220–300 m and is attributed to ground water withdrawal. Large angular deflections as determined from subsidence measurements are detected at some columns, but are below the upper bound (1/1,000) of tolerance specified in the safety code. With the current subsidence and sediment compaction, no significantly reduced loading capacity of the columns is expected to occur. For a safe THSR operation, subsidence and sediment-compaction monitoring should be continued, and current ground water withdrawal in Yunlin must be reduced or stopped.     

Landslide Hazard Assessment Using Random SubSpace Fuzzy Rules Based Classifier Ensemble and Probability Analysis of Rainfall Data: A Case Study at Mu Cang Chai District,Yen Bai Province (Viet Nam)

Landslide hazard assessment at the Mu Cang Chai district; Yen Bai province (Viet Nam) has been done using Random SubSpace fuzzy rules based Classifier Ensemble (RSSCE) method and probability analysis of rainfall data. RSSCE which is a novel classifier ensemble method has been applied to predict spatially landslide occurrences in the area. Prediction of temporally landslide occurrences in the present study has been done using rainfall data for the period 2008–2013. A total of fifteen landslide influencing factors namely slope, aspect, curvature, plan curvature, profile curvature, elevation, land use, lithology, rainfall, distance to faults, fault density, distance to roads, road density, distance to rivers, and river density have been utilized. The result of the analysis shows that RSSCE and probability analysis of rainfall data are promising methods for landslide hazard assessment. Finally, landslide hazard map has been generated by integrating spatial prediction and temporal probability analysis of landslides for the land use planning and landslide hazard management.     

Thorium speciation in seawater

Since the 1960s, thorium isotopes occupy a special place in the oceanographer's toolbox as tracers for determining rates and mechanisms of oceanic scavenging, particle dynamics, and carbon fluxes. Due to their unique and constant production rates from soluble parent nuclides of uranium and radium, their disequilibrium can be used to calculate rates and time scales of sinking particles. In addition, by ratio-ing particulate ²³⁴Th (as well, in principle, other Th-nuclides) to carbon (and other elements), and linking this ratio to the parent–daughter disequilibrium in the water column, it is possible to calculate fluxes of carbon and other elements. Most of these applications are possible with little knowledge of the dissolved chemical properties of thorium, other than its oxidation state (IV) and tendency to strongly sorb to surfaces, i.e., its “particle- or surface-activity”. However, the use of any tracer is hindered by a lack of knowledge of its chemical properties. Recent observations in the variability of carbon to ²³⁴Th ratios in different particle types, as well as of associations of Th(IV) with various marine organic biomolecules has led to the need for a review of current knowledge and what future endeavors should be taken to understand the marine chemistry of thorium.     

A method for estimating specimen tangent stiffness for hybrid simulation

Researchers have long recognized the importance and potential benefits of utilizing the tangent stiffness matrix of a test specimen in hybrid simulations employing implicit and mixed‐integration schemes. However, the computation of the tangent stiffness matrix during testing has proved to be challenging, particularly for test specimens with more than one degree of freedom (dof). This paper presents a new methodology that is more straightforward and simpler than existing techniques for computing the tangent stiffness matrix of a multi‐dof test specimen. The proposed method is combined with the operator‐splitting method (OSM), and the capabilities, advantages and limitations of the new formulation are demonstrated through several examples. The accuracy, stability, and error propagation characteristics of the modified OSM are also studied theoretically as well as numerically. The research results show that the proposed algorithm provides results that are better than those produced via the regular OSM alone, especially for damped structures undergoing highly inelastic behavior during testing. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.