An investigation of trends in precipitation volume for the last three decades in different regions of Fars province, Iran

Under condition of climate changes as global warming, monitoring and detecting trend of precipitation volume is essential and will be useful for agricultural sections. Considering the fact that there were not enough research related to precipitation volume, this study aimed to determine trends in precipitation volume, monthly and annually in different regions of Fars province for the last three decades (33?years period; 1978–2010). Fars province is located in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, and it plays an important role in agricultural production. Inverse distance weighting interpolation method was used to provide precipitation data for all regions. To analyze the trends of precipitation volume, Mann–Kendall test, Sen’s slope estimator, and 10-year moving average low-pass filter (within time series) were used. The negative trends were identified by the Sen’s slope estimator as well as Mann–Kendall test. However, all the trends were insignificant at the surveyed confidence level (95%). With regards to the application of 10-year moving average low-pass filter, a considerable decreasing trend was observed after around year 1994. Since one of the most important restrictions in agricultural development of the Fars province is lack of sufficient water resources, any changes onward to lack of sufficient precipitation impose impressive pressure and stress on valuable resources and subsequently agricultural production.     

Upper-mantle structure of the Baltic Shield below the Swedish National Seismological Network (SNSN) resolved by teleseismic tomography

Upper-mantle structure under the Baltic Shield is studied using non-linear high resolution teleseismic P -phase tomography. Observed relative arrival-time residuals from 52 teleseismic earthquakes recorded by the Swedish National Seismological Network (SNSN) are inverted to delineate the structure of the upper mantle. The network consists of 47 (currently working) three-component broad-band stations located in an area about 450 km wide and 1450 km long. In order to reduce complications due to possible significant three-dimensionality of Earth structure, events chosen for this study lay close to in-line with the long-axis of the array  (±30°)  . Results indicate P -wave velocity perturbations of ±3 per cent down to at least 470 km below the network. The size of the array allows inversion for structures even at greater depths, and lateral variations of velocity at depths of up to 680 km appear to be resolved. Below the central part of the array (60°–64° N), where ray coverage is best, the data reveals a large region of relatively low velocity at depths of over about 300 km. At depths less than about 250–300 km, the models include a number of features, including an apparent slab-like structure dipping gently towards the north.     

Novel Hybrid Integration Approach of Bagging-Based Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Function for Groundwater Potential Analysis

Natural Resources Research - Groundwater is a vital water source in the rural and urban areas of developing and developed nations. In this study, a novel hybrid integration approach of...     

PM10 Source Apportionment in Ahvaz,Iran, Using Positive Matrix Factorization

Source apportionment of particulate matter <10 µm in diameter (PM₁₀), having considerable impacts on human health and the environment, is of high priority in air quality management. The present study, therefore, aimed at identifying the potential sources of PM₁₀ in an arid area of Ahvaz located in southwest of Iran. For this purpose, we collected 24‐h PM₁₀ samples by a high volume air sampler. The samples were then analyzed for their elemental (Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Li, Ti, V, Zn, Mo, and Sb) and ionic (NH, Cl^?, NO, and SO) components using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and ion chromatography instruments, respectively. Eight factors were identified by positive matrix factorization: crustal dust (41.5%), road dust (5.5%), motor vehicles (11.5%), marine aerosol (8.0%), secondary aerosol (9.5%), metallurgical plants (6.0%), petrochemical industries and fossil fuel combustion (13.0%), and vegetative burning (5.0%). Result of this study suggested that the natural sources contribute most to PM₁₀ particles in the area, followed closely by the anthropogenic sources.     

Hydro-mechanical evaluation of stabilized mine tailings

. In this study, mine tailings waste was stabilized using a combination of lime, fly ash type "C", and aluminum. Treated samples were subjected to mineral identification for evaluating the formation of ettringite and gypsum. Also, unconfined compression, hydraulic conductivity, and cyclic freeze and thaw tests were performed to evaluate the hydro-mechanical properties of the stabilized samples. Experimental results have shown that the application of lime and fly ash type "C" to high sulfate content tailings has improved its plasticity, workability, and volume stability. Moreover, upon addition of aluminum to lime and fly ash in a sulfate-rich environment, ettringite and calcium sulfo-aluminate hydrate are formed in these samples. Application of 5% lime, 10% fly ash type "C", in combination with 110 ppm aluminum, resulted in the formation of a solid monolith capable of producing more than 1,000 kPa of unconfined compressive strength, and reduced tailings permeability to 1.96᎒^–6 cm s^–1, which is less than the recommended permeability of 10^–5 cm s^–1 by most environmental protection agencies for reusability of solidified/stabilized samples. The permeability of the treated tailings samples remained below the recommended permeability, even after exposing the treated samples to 12 freeze and thaw cycles. Therefore, based on the experimental results, it is concluded that treatment of high sulfate-content tailings with lime and fly ash, combined with the availability of aluminum for reactions, is a successful method of solidifying highly reactive mine tailings.     

Empirical modeling of plate load test moduli of soil via gene expression programming

New empirical models were developed to predict the soil deformation moduli using gene expression programming (GEP). The principal soil deformation parameters formulated were secant (E_s) and reloading (E_r) moduli. The proposed models relate E_s and E_r obtained from plate load-settlement curves to the basic soil physical properties. The best GEP models were selected after developing and controlling several models with different combinations of the influencing parameters. The experimental database used for developing the models was established upon a series of plate load tests conducted on different soil types at depths of 1–24 m. To verify the applicability of the derived models, they were employed to estimate the soil moduli of a part of test results that were not included in the analysis. The external validation of the models was further verified using several statistical criteria recommended by researchers. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the contributions of the parameters affecting E_s and E_r. The proposed models give precise estimates of the soil deformation moduli. The E_s prediction model provides considerably better results in comparison with the model developed for E_r. The simplified formulation for E_s significantly outperforms the empirical equations found in the literature. The derived models can reliably be employed for pre-design purposes.     

Study on elastic response of structures to near-fault ground motions through record decomposition

Accelerograms recorded near active faults have some important characteristics that make them different from those recorded in far-fault regions. High-frequency components in acceleration records and long-period velocity pulses are among notable specifications of such ground motions. In this paper, a moving average filtering with appropriate cut-off frequency has been used to decompose the near-fault ground motions into two components having different frequency contents: first, Pulse-Type Record (PTR) that possesses long-period pulses; second, the relatively high-frequency BackGround Record (BGR), which does not include large velocity pulses. Comparing the results with those extracted through wavelet analysis shows that moving average filter is an appropriate and efficient tool for near-fault records decomposition. The method is applied to decompose a suite of 91 selected near-fault records and the elastic response of structures is examined through their response to the decomposed parts. The results emphasizes that in contrast with ordinary far-fault earthquake records, response spectra of near-fault ground motions typically have two distinct local peaks, which are representatives of the high- and low-frequency components, i.e., BGR and PTR, respectively. Moreover, a threshold period is identified below which the response of structures is dominated by BGR while PTR controls the response of structures with periods longer than this period.     

Experimental and 3D Numerical Simulation of Reinforced Shear Joints

The load transfer capacity and failure mechanism of a fully grouted bolt installed across a joint in shear is investigated, both experimentally and numerically, in five types of bolt. The double-shearing testing of bolts were studied in concrete blocks of 20, 40 and 100 MPa strengths, subjected to different pretension loads of 0, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 80 KN, respectively. The parameters examined include: shear resistance, shear displacement, induced strains and stresses during the bolt-bending process, and its ultimate failure across the sheared joint planes. The conclusions drawn from the study were that the strength of the concrete, bolt profile configuration and bolt pretension load played a significant influence on the shear resistance, shear displacement and failure mechanism of the reinforced medium. Experimental and numerical simulations showed that the failure occurs as a result of the induced axial and shear stresses acting between the hinge point distances in the vicinity of the shear joint plane.     

A hybrid computational approach to formulate soil deformation moduli obtained from PLT

In this study, new empirical equations were developed to predict the soil deformation moduli utilizing a hybrid method coupling genetic programming and simulated annealing, called GP/SA. The proposed models relate secant (E_s), unloading (E_u) and reloading (E_r) moduli obtained from plate load–settlement curves to the basic soil physical properties. Several models with different combinations of the influencing parameters were developed and checked to select the best GP/SA models. The database used for developing the models was established upon a series of plate load tests (PLT) conducted on different soil types at various depths. The validity of the models was tested using parts of the test results that were not included in the analysis. The validation of the models was further verified using several statistical criteria. A traditional GP analysis was performed to benchmark the GP/SA models. The contributions of the parameters affecting E_s, E_u and E_r were analyzed through a sensitivity analysis. The proposed models are able to estimate the soil deformation moduli with an acceptable degree of accuracy. The E_s prediction model has a remarkably better performance than the models developed for predicting E_u and E_r. The simplified formulations for E_s, E_u and E_r provide significantly better results than the GP-based models and empirical models found in the literature.     

Location of Areas Prone to Flood Spreading Using GIS (Ilam Province,Iran)

Water Resources - The present study aimed to locate the areas prone to flood spreading in order to manage surface water resources. Therefore, the information layers of slope, land capability,...