Stability of rubble-mound breakwater using H50 wave height parameter

The prediction of rubble mound breakwaters' stability is one of the most important issues in coastal and maritime engineering. The stability of breakwaters strongly depends on the wave height. Therefore, selection of an appropriate wave height parameter is very vital in the prediction of stability number. In this study, H₅₀, the average of the 50 highest waves that reach the breakwater in its useful life, was used to predict the stability of the armor layer. First, H₅₀ was used instead of the significant wave height in the most recent stability formulas. It was found that this modification yields more accurate results. Then, for further improvement of the results, two formulas were developed using model tree.To develop the new formulas, two experimental data sets of irregular waves were used. Results indicated that the proposed formulas are more accurate than the previous ones for the prediction of the stability parameter. Finally, the proposed formulas were applied to regular waves and a wide range of damage levels and it was seen that the developed formulas are applicable in these cases as well.     

Smoothed response spectra including soil-structure interaction effects

Elastic response spectra that take into account the effects of soil-structure interaction on soft soils are developed. The response spectra are calculated utilizing a 3 DOF system including deformations of the superstructure and foundation. The equations of motion of the system are solved using direct integration under normalized earthquake records. Statistical processing of the results is implemented resulting in response spectra for "short and dense buildings with low interaction", "short and dense buildings with high interaction", "tall and light buildings with low interaction" and "tall and light buildings with high interaction". The resulting response spectra are smoothed and discussed.     

Dietary pattern recognition on Twitter: a case example of before,during, and after four natural disasters

Natural Hazards - Little is known about what foods/beverages (F&B) are common during natural disasters. The goal of this study was to track high-frequency F&B mentions during four...     

The Recovery of Two Long-logged Headwaters in Temengor Reservoir,Perak,Malaysia

A study on water quality of the two long-logged and abandoned headwaters in Temengor Reservoir was conducted to determine their natural recovery.In this study,we used National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia prepared by Malaysian Department of Environment as an indicator for water quality recovery.The parameters measured were dissolved oxygen（mg/L）,water temperature（℃）,pH,conductivity（mS/cm）,total dissolved solids（mg/ L）,water velocity（m/s）,ortho-phosphate（PO₄-P）,nitrite-nitrogen（NO₂-N）,nitrate-nitrogen（NO₃,-N）and alkalinity. In general,water quality in Sungai Enam and Sungai Telang were in ClassⅠ,indicating water quality in both streams have recovered.Based on the t-test,Sungai Enam and Sungai Telang differed significantly in all parameters except for dissolved oxygen,NO₂-N and NO₃-N.In spatial analyses（upper,middle and lower reaches comparisons）, the two-way ANOVA analysis shows that there were significant differences in all studied parameters between the two rivers except for dissolved oxygen,total dissolved solids,NO₂-N and NO₃-N.Stream flow,hydrologic pathways,geomorphology,physical and environmental characteristics are essential elements in understanding the dynamics of water systems in Sungai Enam and Sungai Telang.Due to the recovery,these two headwaters are thus suitable for fish conservation and restoration sites.     

Evaluation on the two filling functions for the recovery of forest information in mountainous shadows on Landsat ETM + Image

In general,topographic shadow may reduce performance of forest mapping over mountainous regions in remotely sensed images.In this paper,information in shadow was synthesized by using two filling techniques,namely,roifill and imfill,in order to improve the accuracy of forest mapping over mountainous regions.These two methods were applied to Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM +) multispectral image from Dong Yang County,Zhejiang Province,China.The performance of these methods was compared with two conventi...     

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Velocity and Turbulence Intensities for Mid-Channel Bar

Water Resources - Turbulent phenomenon in braided rivers is much more complex compared to the straight and meandering rivers. The turbulent flow structure at locations upstream and downstream of...     

Array Signal Processing for Radio Astronomy

Radio astronomy forms an interesting application area for array signal processing techniques. Current synthesis imaging telescopes consist of a small number of identical dishes, which track a fixed patch in the sky and produce estimates of the time-varying spatial covariance matrix. The observations sometimes are distorted by interference, e.g., from radio, TV, radar or satellite transmissions. We describe some of the tools that array signal processing offers to filter out the interference, based on eigenvalue decompositions and factor analysis, which is a more general technique applicable to partially calibrated arrays. We consider detection of interference, spatial filtering techniques using projections, and discuss how a reference antenna pointed at the interferer can improve the performance. We also consider image formation and its relation to beamforming.     

The gravitational-wave spectrum of a non-axisymmetric torus around a rapidly spinning black hole

The gravitational-wave spectrum emitted by a non-axisymmetric torus rotating at an angular velocity Ω_T, is derived in terms of a structure function representing a combination of sausage-tilt modes in the torus in the limit of an incompressible fluid. The analysis of the gravitational-wave spectrum is then applied to a model proposed recently, in which a highly magnetized torus interacts with a stellar mass, Kerr black hole via poloidal field lines that connect the torus and the horizon. The deformation of the torus results from global magnetic instabilities when the magnetic field strength inside the torus exceeds a few times 10¹⁵ Gauss. The dynamics of the system is illustrated using a non-MHD toy model. It is found that, quite generally, most of the gravitational-wave energy emitted is in the frequency range of sensitivity of LIGO and Virgo.     

The Reissner–Sagoci problem for a transversely isotropic half‐space

A transversely isotropic linear elastic half‐space, z?0, with the isotropy axis parallel to the z‐axis is considered. The purpose of the paper is to determine displacements and stresses fields in the interior of the half‐space when a rigid circular disk of radius a completely bonded to the surface of the half‐space is rotated through a constant angle θ₀. The region of the surface lying out with the circle r?a, is free from stresses. This problem is a type of Reissner–Sagoci mixed boundary value problems. Using cylindrical co‐ordinate system and applying Hankel integral transform in the radial direction, the problem may be changed to a system of dual integral equations. The solution of the dual integral equations is obtained by an approach analogous to Sneddon's (J. Appl. Phys. 1947; 18 :130–132), so that the circumferential displacement and stress fields inside the medium are obtained analytically. The same problem has already been approached by Hanson and Puja (J. Appl. Mech. 1997; 64 :692–694) by the use of integrating the point force potential functions. It is analytically proved that the present solution, although of a quite different form, is equivalent to that given by Hanson and Puja. To illustrate the solution, a few plots are provided. The displacements and the stresses in a soil deposit due to a rotationally symmetric force or boundary displacement may be obtained using the results of this paper. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.