Influence of a Two-scale Surface Roughness on a Neutral Turbulent Boundary Layer

Flow in the urban boundary layer is strongly influenced by the surface roughness, which is composed principally of isolated buildings or groups of buildings. Previous research has shown that the flow regime depends on the characteristic height of these obstacles (H), and the spacing between them (W). In reality, the urban boundary layer contains roughness elements with a wide range of length scales; in many practical situations these can be classified into large-scale roughness—buildings, or groups of buildings—and small-scale roughness, such as street furniture and elements on the façades and roofs. It is important to understand how the small-scale roughness might modify mass and momentum transfer in the urban boundary layer, but relatively little information is available concerning the potential interaction between large- and small-scale roughness elements in the different flow regimes. This problem has been studied using wind-tunnel experiments, by measuring vertical velocity profiles over a two-dimensional obstacle array, adding small-scale roughness elements to the top of larger parallel square bars. The experiments were performed for different cavity aspect ratios: the results show that the small-scale roughness increases the turbulence intensities and the momentum transfer when the large-scale obstacles are closely packed (H/W > 1) but it has very little effect for more widely-spaced obstacles (H/W < 1).     

The role of near-surface cavities in the carbon dioxide cycle of karst areas: evidence from the Carburangeli Cave Natural Reserve (Italy)

Hydrological, chemical and meteorological data collected during the years 2006–2007 at Carburangeli Cave (Italy) have provided new insights on the near-surface cycle of carbon dioxide, particularly concerning the role played by fractures and karst conduits. Carbon dioxide is trapped in the underground atmosphere essentially when its temperature is lower than the outer one. By contrast, convective air circulation disperses all the excess CO₂ in the external environment when the thermal differential is inverted. The network of fractures and karst conduits then works, in the vadose zone, as a re-circulator of CO₂ from the soil to the atmosphere. The total amount of CO₂ fixed in the underground is controlled, during the wet season, by the amount of infiltrating waters, which act as the main carrier of CO₂ in the subsoil. By contrast, during the dry season, gravitational drainage is responsible for the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the underground voids. The quantitative balance demonstrated that the degassed CO₂ amounts are one order of magnitude higher than the dissolved CO₂. In light of this, if the near-surface outgassing processes are not taken into account, CO₂ budgets may be affected by significant errors.     

Transfer function‐noise modelling of an aquifer system in NE Italy

In this article, we use a transfer function‐noise (TFN) modelling strategy with single output and multiple/single inputs to study the relationships among a large unconfined aquifer in the upper Venetian plain (Northeast Italy), its recharge components (rainfalls and losing river) and a multi‐layered confined system located in the middle Venetian plain. Model identification from the data raises a range of difficulties when seeking models with consistent physical behaviour, but no information related to the transfer function order and the lags with no zero weights is available. Therefore we use an automatic identification procedure for TFN models. The obtained results suggest that the rainfall component is more important than the river discharge in the unconfined aquifer, and the behaviours of the deep‐confined aquifers are synchronous with that observed in the Badoere area. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Land uplift due to subsurface fluid injection

The subsurface injection of fluid (water, gas, vapour) occurs worldwide for a variety of purposes, e.g. to enhance oil production (EOR), store gas in depleted gas/oil fields, recharge overdrafted aquifer systems (ASR), and mitigate anthropogenic land subsidence. Irrespective of the injection target, some areas have experienced an observed land uplift ranging from a few millimetres to tens of centimetres over a time period of a few months to several years depending on the quantity and spatial distribution of the fluid used, pore pressure increase, geological setting (depth, thickness, and area extent), and hydro-geomechanical properties of the injected formation. The present paper reviews the fundamental geomechanical processes that govern land upheaval due to fluid injection in the subsurface and presents a survey of some interesting examples of anthropogenic uplift measured in the past by the traditional levelling technique and in recent times with the aid of satellite technology. The examples addressed include Long Beach, Santa Clara Valley, and Santa Ana basin, California; Las Vegas Valley, Nevada; Cold Lake and other similar sites, Canada; Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Krechba, Algeria; Upper Palatinate, Germany; Chioggia and Ravenna, Italy.     

Stability of (Cs,K)Al<Subscript>4</Subscript>Be<Subscript>5</Subscript>B<Subscript>11</Subscript>O<Subscript>28</Subscript> (londonite) at high pressure and high temperature: a potential neutron absorber material

The stability and the thermo-elastic behaviour of a natural londonite

Rheological behaviour of the crust in Southern Apennine (Italy): results from a thermal and seismological study

To add information on the brittle/ductile transition of the Southern Apennine, we investigated a rheological profile of the crust along a WSW–ENE‐oriented cross‐section running from Neapolitan Volcanic Zone to Apulia foreland. The rheological model was obtained computing a thermal modelling and constrained by a relocalization of earthquakes of the area. Results show that the area is characterized by horizontal rheological variations, with two horizons interlayered with ductile horizons, that are quite predominant with respect to vertical ones. The horizontal stratification of lithospheric rheology has important geodynamic consequence and could provide new insights to better understand the tectonic processes which have played a major role to construct the Southern Apennine belt. Results of this study suggested that well‐constrained rheological models, built integrating information from both relocated earthquakes and thermal state, could give important hints on the mechanical behaviour of the crust and its related tectonic processes.     

Superconducting filter for radio astronomy using interdigitated, capacitively loaded spirals

A matched pair of microstrip spiral superconducting filters with centre frequency 357.5?MHz and 29.4% bandwidth has been developed for radio astronomy. The high coupling coefficients required for the large bandwidth have been achieved through interdigitating the spirals to provide a large interaction length, and by adding loading capacitors on the inner ends of the resonators, together with previously reported features. A low-pass filter has been cascaded with each band-pass filter to mitigate spurious responses. Measurements show 0.09?dB loss, thought to arise mainly from sources outside the filter itself, plus 0.12?dB maximum ripple.     

Experimental Study of Pollutant Dispersion Within a Network of Streets

We investigate the dispersion of a passive scalar within an idealised urban district made up of a building-like obstacle array. We focus on a street network in which the lateral dimension of the buildings exceeds the street width, a geometry representative of many European cities. To investigate the effect of different geometries and wind directions upon the pollutant dispersion process, we have performed a series of wind-tunnel experiments. Concentration measurements of a passive tracer have enabled us to infer the main features characterising its dispersion within the street network. We describe this by focusing on the roles of different transfer processes. These are the channelling of the tracer along the street axes, the mixing at street intersections, and the mass exchange between the streets and the overlying atmospheric flow. Our experiments provide evidence of the dependence of these processes on the geometrical properties of the array and the direction of the overlying atmospheric flow.