The effects of surcharge on liquefaction resistance of silty sand

In the recent earthquakes, numerous cases of liquefaction occurred in sands containing both plastic and nonplastic fines that resulted in significant damage. Most previous research efforts have focused on clean sands regardless whether the sand contain fines or not made evident by widespread shallow foundation failures, numerous cases of settlement, and lateral displacement. Still, despite the amount of related research, results seem somewhat contradictory. This study directly demonstrates the beneficial or detrimental effect of uncertainty surcharges on seismic responses. Models were subjected to two destructive realistic events with similar PGA with various frequency contents and duration. In this paper, the dynamic analyses were conducted as fully non-linear elasto-plastic coupled stress-flow analyses with coupled liquefaction triggering which reasonably captured the actual behavior. The silty sand deposits underlying the surcharge are capable of liquefying and developing large shear deformations that can cause serious damage. Therefore, excess pore water pressure ratio cannot be enough by itself to evaluate liquefaction potential, so the deformations should be examined. Numerical results provide an estimate of the seismic performance liquefiable deposits underlying the surcharge; these results can be useful for a realistic practical engineering.     

A new analytical solution based on joint relaxation for analyzing symmetrical block stability

The magnitude of clamping forces has a significant influence on the estimated ultimate pullout force of a block. The Crawford–Bray equation, which is fundamental in considering clamping forces, is only a function of horizontal stress and block height. Further research to incorporate the influence of induced stress in block stability analysis was considered, but all the previous analytical solutions for analyzing block stability assume a continuum medium to estimate clamping forces and do not allow joint deformations to occur before block movement due to gravity. Assuming a continuous medium to estimate clamping forces leads to an overestimation of block stability and therefore unsafe design. In this paper, an attempt has been made to deepen the understanding of the block failure mechanism and correct the estimated magnitude of clamping forces in a discontinuous medium. A conceptual model is proposed based on the loading–unloading of the block from an in‐situ state to failure. Based on this model, an analytical solution has been developed that calculates clamping forces in a discontinuous medium. The validity and model uncertainty of the solution were checked for different conditions. The new analytical solution is both precise and accurate and can be used as a design tool to estimate block stability. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of horizontal well performance using Visual MODFLOW

A proposed horizontal well or radial collector well installation in shallow aquifers to enhance water withdrawal rates in Pintu Geng well field in Kelantan, Malaysia was simulated using the Drainage Package of MODFLOW groundwater model. The modelling exercise aimed at identifying an optimum pumping rate that would safely achieve the desired drawdown of less than 2 m in an area of 300 m radius surrounding the Pintu Geng horizontal collector well. The model also would serve as a basis for the design of the horizontal well components. High degree of grid refinement for the well location is needed to simulate the real field installation. However, for the purpose of designing water withdrawal systems, it is important to obtain the correct production rate of these wells for a given drawdown. A transient groundwater flow model was calibrated and validated with few assumptions of the horizontal well hydraulic properties. The model demonstrates that under natural flow condition at ?3 m depth, the six collectors (drains) tap a volume of 19,200–43,700 m³/day. A steady-state model was also developed to predict the capture zone delineation. Attention is also given to the impact of the well installation to the surrounding 300 m radius by inspecting the degree of the drawdown.     

Siting MSW landfills by combining AHP with GIS in Hamedan province, western Iran

In most large and fast growing urban areas, finding suitable lands for construction of landfill is one of the serious problems in environmental management. Land fill site selection process depends on different factors, regulations and constraints. Ignoring each of these parameters may cause miscalculations and lead to selection of an inappropriate landfill site which could have negative environmental, economical, and ecological impacts. Therefore, this process must be accomplished by taking into account all of the related criterions and variables. In this study, landfill site selection is performed by combining geographic information system (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in Hamedan province, west of Iran. In relation to landfill site selection, ten different criteria including Geology, surface water, aquifer, land use, elevation, slope, and distance to main roads, residential areas, faults and sinkholes were investigated. Using AHP each criterion was weighted, then geographic information system (Arc GIS 9.3 software) was used to manipulate and present spatial data. Finally, suitability map was prepared by overlay analyses and most suitable and suitable areas were identified and checked in field. The results indicate that 60.4 % of the area in the Hamedan province (11,631 km²) is unsuitable, 33 % (6,257.7 km²) moderately suitable and 6.6 % (1,344 km²) most suitable for construction of landfill.     

BIOMONITORING OF AMBIENT CONCENTRATIONS OF CADMIUM, COPPER, I,EAD AND ZINC IN THE COASTAL WETLAND WATER BY USING GILLS OF THE GREEN- LIPPED MUSSEL PERNA VIRIDIS

The distribution and concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were determined in the gills and remaining soft tissues of Perna viridis collected from 12 geographical sites （ 10 from the west and 2 from the east coastal waters） of Peninsular Malaysia. All samples showed that the levels of Cd, Pb and Zn were generally higher in the gill than those in the remaining soft tissues. These results could be due to the fact that gills are the first organ of metal accumulation and larger surface area with mucus sheets in the organ. Since the mussel gill is a better accumulator of Cd, Pb and Zn of ambient seawater than remaining soft tissue, it is a potential indicator of ambient levels of dissolved metals in the ambient seawater. However, further validations based on laboratory conditions are needed.     

An Improvement on the Clustering of High-Resolution Satellite Images Using a Hybrid Algorithm

The challenge of obtaining training data for supervised classifications of satellite images has led researchers to unsupervised algorithms, i.e. cluster analysis. Numerous researches have been conducted to improve quality and decrease uncertainty of results of this analysis. This study proposes a hybrid cost function as well as a hybrid clustering algorithm-Artificial Bee Colony optimization approach for the clustering of high-resolution satellite images. In order to evaluate viability of the proposed methodology, it is compared to some other classic clustering algorithms such as modified K-Means, K-Medoids, Fuzzy C-Means, and Kernel-based Fuzzy C-Means methods over three different study areas selected from a WorldView-2 satellite image. The Shannon entropy technique, Kappa coefficient, compactness, and separation criteria are used as quality and uncertainty indicators for the evaluation. The results of the study show that, compared to other methods, the hybrid algorithm obtained from the proposed cost function, Kernel-based Fuzzy C-Means method, and ABC algorithm provide clustering capabilities of higher quality and lower uncertainty levels.     

Application of kinematic vorticity and gold mineralization for the wall rock alterations of shear zone at Dungash gold mining,Central Eastern Desert,Egypt

The use of porphyroclasts rotating in a flowing matrix to estimate mean kinematic vorticity number (Wm) is important for quantifying the relative contributions of pure and simple shear in wall rocks alterations of shear zone at Dungash gold mine. Furthermore, it shows the relationship between the gold mineralization and deformation and also detects the orientation of rigid objects during progressive deformation. The Dungash gold mine area is situated in an EW-trending quartz vein along a shear zone in metavolcanic and metasedimentary host rocks in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. These rocks are associated with the major geologic structures which are attributed to various deformational stages of the Neoproterozoic basement rocks. We conclude that finite strain in the deformed rocks is of the same order of magnitude for all units of metavolcano-sedimentary rocks. The kinematic vorticity number for the metavolcanic and metasedimentary samples in the Dungash area range from 0.80 to 0.92, and together with the strain data suggest deviations from simple shear. It is concluded that nappe stacking occurred early during the underthrusting event probably by brittle imbrication and that ductile strain was superimposed on the nappe structure during thrusting. Furthermore, we conclude that disseminated mineralization, chloritization, carbonatization and silicification of the wall rocks are associated with fluids migrating along shearing, fracturing and foliation of the metamorphosed wall rocks.     

BIOMONITORING OF AMBIENT CONCENTRATIONS OF CADMIUM,COPPER, LEAD AND ZINC IN THE COASTAL WETLAND WATER BY USING GILLS OF THE GREEN- LIPPED MUSSEL PERNA VIRIDIS

1 INTRODUCTIONThe use of marine mussels for the biomonitoringpurposes is widely found in the literatures. However,the use of a particular tissue/organ for more accurateindicators of metal bioavailability and contaminationwere continually reported. For exa…