Dynamic response of flexible rockfall barriers under different loading geometries

Flexible steel barriers are commonly constructed on steep hillsides to mitigate rockfall. The evaluation of the dynamic response of proprietary flexible barriers is conventionally performed using full-scale field tests by dropping a weight onto the barriers in accordance with the European test standard ETAG 27. The weight typically has a spherical or polyhedral shape and cannot reproduce more complex rockfall scenarios encountered in the field. A rigid slab may load a barrier over a larger area and its effect has not been investigated. In this study, a calibrated three-dimensional finite-element model was developed to study the performance of vertically and horizontally orientated rockfall barriers under concentrated areal impact loads. A new bilinear force-displacement model was incorporated into the model to simulate the behavior of the energy-dissipating devices on the barriers. The effect of different weight geometries was studied by considering impacts by a rigid single spherical boulder and a rigid slab. Results reveal that areal loading induced by a rigid slab increases the loading on the barrier foundation by up to 40 % in both horizontally and vertically positioned barriers when compared to a concentrated load scenario with a single boulder. This indicates that barriers tested under the current test standard does not give the worst-case scenario in terms of foundation loads, and barrier designers should take into account the possible effect of increased foundation loads by reinforcing the barrier posts and/or increasing their spacing.     

Velocity attenuation of debris flows and a new momentum-based load model for rigid barriers

Effective design of mitigation measures against debris flow hazards remains a challenging geotechnical problem. At present, a pseudo-static approach is commonly used for the calculation of impact load acting on a rigid debris-resisting barrier. The impact load is normally calculated based on the maximum velocity observed in the transportation zone under free-field conditions without considering debris-barrier interaction. In reality, the impact load acting on a barrier varies with the change of debris momentum flux but this is seldom considered in barrier design. To provide a scientific basis for assessing debris momentum flux during impact, this paper presents results from a study of debris-barrier interaction using physical flume modelling. This study showed that, following the first stage of impact, the accumulated debris behind a barrier formed a stationary zone and caused the remaining debris to slow down in a run-up process. In the experiments, the peak debris momentum was 30 % lower compared to that observed under free-field conditions. A new momentum-based model was developed to take into account attenuation of momentum flux for predicting debris impact load on rigid barriers. The new rationalised model was assessed using data from the notable Yu Tung Road debris flow in Hong Kong. The assessment showed that the design bending moment at the base of the barrier wall could be reduced more than 30 % using the proposed model, compared with the current design approach. The adoption of the proposed model could offer a new opportunity for practitioners to optimise the design of rigid barriers.     

Seasonal variations in the community structures of macrobenthic fauna and their health status in an estuarine bay,Gwangyang Bay in Korea

Macrobenthic fauna in an estuarine Gwangyang Bay, southern Korean coast, were investigated to uncover recent variations in their community structures. In the study area, macrobenthic faunal communities were mainly composed of polychaete worms which were the most abundant faunal group with the highest values in species number and density, while mollusks accounted for the highest proportion in total biomass. There was no clear seasonal difference in species richness during the two year period of the investigation, but the mean density and biomass increased every spring and summer due to the mass recruitment of Theora fragilis. The Shannon’s diversity index (H') was more than 2.0 during most sampling seasons and did not show any significant seasonal difference except for the data in August, 2011 when azoic conditions occurred. The community structures of macrobenthos in Gwangyang Bay did not show any remarkable change in the dominance of the two top dominant species, Scoletoma longifolia and Heteromastus filiformis, which abundantly occurred in all seasons, except for the abundance peaks associated with high occurrence of T. fragilis and Paraprionospio cordifolia, especially in spring and summer and in autumn, respectively. These fauna changes reflected the changes in the macrobenthic community health status in Gwangyang Bay, where stable conditions and a healthy status prevailed in winter, but a slightly disturbed status prevailed from spring to autumn.     

A new species of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ammonicera</Emphasis> (Prosobranchia,Omalogyridae) in a coralline algae community from Jeju Island,off the south coast of Korea

A species of the genus Ammonicera Vayssière, 1893 collected from coralline algae communities in Jeju Island, South Korea, is described as a new species, A. aurea, for science. Its morphological characters are described and illustrated by SEM micrographs. This new species can be clearly distinguished from other Ammonicera species from the Pacific Ocean by the presence of a spiral cord and about 25 slightly-elevated axial ribs, resulting in about 25 nodules at intersecting points of the cord and ribs on the last whorl of the teleoconch.     

Adaptive GPS/INS integration for relative navigation

Relative navigation based on GPS receivers and inertial measurement units is required in many applications including formation flying, collision avoidance, cooperative positioning, and accident monitoring. Since sensors are mounted on different vehicles which are moving independently, sensor errors are more variable in relative navigation than in single-vehicle navigation due to different vehicle dynamics and signal environments. In order to improve the robustness against sensor error variability in relative navigation, we present an efficient adaptive GPS/INS integration method. In the proposed method, the covariances of GPS and inertial measurements are estimated separately by the innovations of two fundamentally different filters. One is the position-domain carrier-smoothed-code filter and the other is the velocity-aided Kalman filter. By the proposed two-filter adaptive estimation method, the covariance estimation of the two sensors can be isolated effectively since each filter estimates its own measurement noise. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method improves relative navigation accuracy by appropriate noise covariance estimation.     

Novel Extreme Learning Machine-Multi-Verse Optimization Model for Predicting Peak Particle Velocity Induced by Mine Blasting

Natural Resources Research - Peak particle velocity (PPV) is an important criterion for assessing the risk level of ground vibration induced by mine blasting. Based on this criterion, many efforts...     

Generation mechanisms of convectively induced internal gravity waves in a three-dimensional framework

The generation mechanisms of convective gravity waves in the stratosphere are investigated in a three-dimensional framework by conducting numerical simulations of four ideal storms under different environmental conditions: one un-sheared and three constant low-level sheared basic-state winds with the depth of the shear layer of 6 km and the surface wind speeds (U_s) of 8, 18, and 28 m s^?1, using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) model. The storms simulated under the un-sheared (U_s = 0 m s^?1), weakly sheared (U_s = 8 and 18ms^?1), and strongly sheared (U_s = 28ms^?1) basicstate winds are classified into single-cell, multicell, and supercell storms, respectively. For each storm, the wave perturbations in a control simulation, including nonlinearity and microphysical processes, are compared with those in quasi-linear dry simulations forced by diabatic forcing and nonlinear forcing that are obtained from the control simulation. The gravity waves generated by the two forcing terms in the quasi-linear dry simulations are out of phase with each other for all of the storms. The gravity waves in the control simulation are represented by a linear sum of the wave perturbations generated by the nonlinear forcing and diabatic forcing. This result is consistent with the results of previous studies in a two-dimensional framework. This implies that both forcing mechanisms are important for generating the convective gravity waves in the three-dimensional framework as well. The characteristics of the three-dimensional gravity waves in the stratosphere were determined by the spectral combination of the forcing terms and the wave-filtering and resonance factor that is determined from the basic-state wind and stability as well as the vertical structure of the forcing.     

Threshold value of Benthic Pollution Index (BPI) for a muddy healthy benthic faunal community and its application to Jinhae Bay in the southern coast of Korea

For the determination of benthic community health criteria of a biotic index, Benthic Pollution Index (BPI), the faunal data on macrobenthic community of Deukryang Bay collected in 2012 were used. Each macrobenthic fauna was classified into 4 functional groups according to their feeding and life history strategies and BPI was calculated using the abundance of fauna for these functional groups. Amphipods were the dominant faunal group belonging to Functional Group (FG) II in Deukryang Bay during all seasons. The BPI value fluctuated seasonally from 55 to 61, and the overall mean value of BPI in the reference area was 60, which was estimated as the threshold value for healthy communities. We tried to use BPI as an assessment tool for macrofaunal community health status by categorizing the BPI values into 5 grades. If the BPI value of the community is more than 60, the health status of a macrobenthic community will be assessed as ‘Excellent’ (Grade 1) and as ‘Good’ (Grade 2), if between 40 and 60, as ‘Fair’ (Grade 3), if between 30 and 40, as ‘Poor’ (Grade 4), if between 20 and 30, and finally the health status of a community will be assessed as ‘Very Poor’ (Grade 5), if the BPI value is less than 20. This assessment tool using BPI was applied to macrobenthic communities in Jinhae Bay including the Special Management Area of South Korea. In Jinhae Bay, the FG IV containing a spionid species, Paraprionospio patiens was the most dominant group. The values of BPI in Jinhae Bay were very low and ranged from 11 to 23. The ecological health status of macrobenthic communities in Jinhae Bay was ‘Very Poor’ at more than 50% of sites, especially in summer.     

Cimetidine,acetaminophen, and 1,7-dimethylxanthine,as indicators of wastewater pollution in marine sediments from Masan Bay,Korea

Concerns have emerged regarding the presence of human-use pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments. We investigated the status of contamination by 29 human-use pharmaceuticals as well as wastewater indicator compounds, fecal sterols and the synthetic endocrine disruptor nonylphenol, in marine sediments from Masan Bay, one of the most contaminated bays in Korea as a result of untreated and/or treated sewage. Among the 29 pharmaceuticals determined, 10 including antacid, analgesic, antibiotic, and antipruritic compounds, and metabolites of caffeine and nicotine were detected in all sediment samples. Cimetidine, acetaminophen, and 1,7-dimethylxanthine were the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals (frequency > 50%), and at high concentrations. The highest concentrations and detection frequencies were at stations located close to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfalls and at the river mouth. The spatial distributions of pharmaceutical were significantly correlated with those of wastewater compounds. These results indicate that occurrence of the pharmaceuticals in marine environments is likely associated with direct sewage inputs, such as WWTP effluents and with other sewage-influenced sources, such as river discharge.     

Molecular characterization of four genes highly expressed during megalopa stage in Chinese mitten crab,Eriocheir sinensis

Ocean Science Journal - The molecular markers to distinguish different larval stages have various applications in ecological studies. Using the differential display RT-PCR technique, we isolated...