Performance of surface footing on geocell-reinforced soft clay beds

This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests carried out to develop an understanding of the behaviour of geocell-reinforced soft clay foundations under circular loading. Natural silty clay was used in this study. The geocells were prepared using biaxial polymer grid. The performance of the reinforced bed is quantified using non-dimensional factors i.e., Bearing capacity improvement factor (I_f) and Percentage reduction in footing settlement (PRS). The test results demonstrate that the geocell mattress redistributes the footing load over a wider area thereby improving the performance of the footing. The load carrying capacity of the clay bed is increased by a factor of up to about 4.5 times that of unreinforced bed. From the pressure-settlement responses, it is observed that the geocell-reinforced foundation bed behaves as a much stiffer system compared to the unreinforced case indicating that a substantial reduction in footing settlement can be achieved by providing geocell reinforcement in the soft clay bed. The maximum reduction in footing settlement obtained with the provision of geocell mattress of optimum size placed close to the footing is around 90%. Further improvement in performance is obtained with provision of an additional planar geogrid layer at the base of the geocell mattress.     

Stress induced time dependent behavior of clayey soils

It is shown that time compression curve obtained from one-dimensional consolidation curve in the laboratory may include six phases. These are initial compression, first primary compression, transition from first primary compression to second primary compression, second primary compression, and transition from second primary compression to creep and lastly creep. This paper attempts to identify the quantitative beginnings and characteristics of these phases. A mathematical characteristic of all the soils that follow primary consolidation as per Terzaghi’s one dimensional consolidation theory is derived. It is known as the constant of primary consolidation. It is used to study the beginning of secondary consolidation and its effects on primary consolidation. Another characteristic of soils for creep and total absence of primary compression is derived. Methods are suggested for the determination of coefficients of Primary and Secondary consolidations and the compression index.     

Rainfall intensity characteristics at coastal and high altitude stations in Kerala

Rainfall intensities measured at a few stations in Kerala during 2001–2005 using a disdrometer were found to be in reasonable agreement with the total rainfall measured using a manual rain gauge. The temporal distributions of rainfall intensity at different places and during different months show that rainfall is of low intensity (< 10 mm/hr), 65% to 90% of the time. This could be an indication of the relative prevalence of stratiform and cumuliform clouds. Rainfall was of intensity < 5 mm/hr for more than 95% of the time in Kochi in July 2002, which was a month seriously deficient in rainfall, indicating that the deficiency was probably due to the relative absence of cumuliform clouds. Cumulative distribution graphs are also plotted and fitted with the Weibull distribution. The fit parameters do not appear to have any consistent pattern. The higher intensities also contributed significantly to total rainfall most of the time, except in Munnar (a hill station). In this analysis also, the rainfall in Kochi in July 2002 was found to have less presence of high intensities. This supports the hypothesis that the rainfall deficiency was probably caused by the absence of conditions that favoured the formation of cumuliform clouds.     

Potential impacts of aerosol–land–atmosphere interactions on the Indian monsoonal rainfall characteristics

Aerosols can affect the cloud-radiation feedback and the precipitation over the Indian monsoon region. In this paper, we propose that another pathway by which aerosols can modulate the multi-scale aspect of Indian monsoons is by altering the land–atmosphere interactions. The nonlinear feedbacks due to aerosol/diffuse radiation on coupled interactions over the Indian monsoon region are studied by: (1) reviewing recent field measurements and modeling studies, (2) analyzing the MODIS and AERONET aerosol optical depth datasets, and (3) diagnosing the results from sensitivity experiments using a mesoscale modeling system. The results of this study suggest that the large magnitude of aerosol loading and its impact on land–atmosphere interactions can significantly influence the mesoscale monsoonal characteristics in the Indo-Ganges Basin.     

Source Parameters of the Deadly M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.6 Kashmir Earthquake of 8 October, 2005

During the last six years, National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad has established a semi-permanent seismological network of 5–8 broadband seismographs and 10–20 accelerographs in the Kachchh seismic zone, Gujarat with a prime objective to monitor the continued aftershock activity of the 2001 M_w 7.7 Bhuj mainshock. The reliable and accurate broadband data for the 8 October M_w 7.6 2005 Kashmir earthquake and its aftershocks from this network as well as Hyderabad Geoscope station enabled us to estimate the group velocity dispersion characteristics and one-dimensional regional shear velocity structure of the Peninsular India. Firstly, we measure Rayleigh-and Love-wave group velocity dispersion curves in the period range of 8 to 35 sec and invert these curves to estimate the crustal and upper mantle structure below the western part of Peninsular India. Our best model suggests a two-layered crust: The upper crust is 13.8 km thick with a shear velocity (Vs) of 3.2 km/s; the corresponding values for the lower crust are 24.9 km and 3.7 km/sec. The shear velocity for the upper mantle is found to be 4.65 km/sec. Based on this structure, we perform a moment tensor (MT) inversion of the bandpass (0.05–0.02 Hz) filtered seismograms of the Kashmir earthquake. The best fit is obtained for a source located at a depth of 30 km, with a seismic moment, Mo, of 1.6 × 10²⁷ dyne-cm, and a focal mechanism with strike 19.5°, dip 42°, and rake 167°. The long-period magnitude (M_A ~ M_w) of this earthquake is estimated to be 7.31. An analysis of well-developed sPn and sSn regional crustal phases from the bandpassed (0.02–0.25 Hz) seismograms of this earthquake at four stations in Kachchh suggests a focal depth of 30.8 km.     

Cryptosporidium Oocysts in Drinking Water Supply of Chennai City,Southern India

Cryptosporidium is an enteric parasitic protozoan capable of causing chronic diarrhea. One of the most common modes of transmission is through faeces‐contaminated water. This study determines the distribution of Cryptosporidium oocysts for the first time in Chennai City's drinking water supply. 199 drinking water samples were collected from ten zones of the city. In the water samples Cryptosporidium, a common pathogenic protozoan of the gastrointestinal tract, has been analyzed physico chemically as well as microbiologically for heterotrophic organisms and total coliforms (TC). The studies revealed that three zones of the city were highly contaminated with coliforms and parasitic protozoa. A statistical analysis was done to find any correlation between heterotrophic organisms, total coliforms, and oocysts. Even though a positive correlation exists between oocysts and bacteriological parameters, a regression equation shows that heterotrophic plate count (HPC) and total coliforms were only 20% responsible for the presence of oocysts. The level of Cryptosporidium oocysts isolated from the water samples may present a public health hazard although no major outbreaks have so far been reported in Chennai City. Routine surveillance of water quality throughout the city is needed to curb the pollutants.     

Dynamical problem of micropolar viscoelasticity

The dynamic problem in micropolar viscoelastic medium has been investigated by employing eigen value approach after applying Laplace and Fourier transformations. An example of infinite space with concentrated force at the origin has been presented to illustrate the application of the approach. The integral transforms have been inverted by using a numerical technique to obtain the displacement components, force stresses, couple stress and microrotation in the physical domain. The results for these quantities are given and illustrated graphically.     

Migration and contamination of major and trace elements in groundwater of Madras city,India

Groundwater samples collected from both open and bore wells in an area of about 270 km² from Madras City, India, have been analyzed for major ions (HCO₃, Cl, Si, Na, Ca, and Mg) and trace elements (As, Se, B, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Mn, Ni, Mo, and Ba). The study reveals that the quality of potable water has deteriorated to a large extent. Seawater intrusion into the aquifer has been observed in nearly 50 percent of the study area. The toxic elements (As and Se) have already exceeded the maximum permissible limits of drinking water in almost the entire city. A positive correlation of As and Se with other toxic metals such as V, Cr, Fe, B, etc., indicates that all these elements are anthropogenic in origin. Applying multivariate analysis, the source for trace elements in groundwater has been grouped into two major factors: pollution and mobilization factors. The groundwater in the study area is largely contaminated by organic effluents and reflects the intensity of pollution caused by the overlying soil sediment and rapid infiltration of the pollutants.