Torsional vibrations of elastic foundation on saturated media

A comprehensive analytical solution is developed to examine the torsional vibration of an elastic foundation on a semi-infinite saturated elastic medium for the first time. First, the governing equations of saturated media are solved by use of Hankel transform techniques. Then, based on the assumption that the contact between the foundation and the half-space is perfectly bonded, this dynamic mixed boundary-value problem can lead to dual integral equations, which are further reduced to the standard Fredholm integral equations of the second kind and solved by numerical procedures. Numerical examples are given at the end of the paper. The numerical results indicate that the response of the elastic foundation strongly depends on the material and geometrical properties of both the saturated soil-foundation system and the load acting on the foundation. In most of the cases, the dynamic behavior of an elastic foundation on saturated media significantly differs from that of a rigid plate bearing on the elastic half-space.     

Transient foundation solution of saturated soil to impulsive concentrated loading

The transient dynamic response of saturated soil under suddenly applied normal and horizontal concentrated loading is studied in this paper. The behavior of saturated soil is governed by Biot's consolidation theory. The general solutions for Biot equations of equilibrium are derived in terms of displacements and variations of fluid volume, using Laplace–Hankel integral transforms. The solutions in the time domain can be evaluated by numerical inverse Laplace–Hankel transforms. Selected numerical results for displacements, stresses, and pore pressures are presented. Comparisons with existing closed-form solutions for the elastic half-space are made to confirm the accuracy of the present solutions. The solutions can be used to study a variety of transient wave propagation problems and dynamical interactions between saturated soil and structures.     

Fuzzy neural network models for liquefaction prediction

Integrated fuzzy neural network models are developed for the assessment of liquefaction potential of a site. The models are trained with large databases of liquefaction case histories. A two-stage training algorithm is used to develop a fuzzy neural network model. In the preliminary training stage, the training case histories are used to determine initial network parameters. In the final training stage, the training case histories are processed one by one to develop membership functions for the network parameters. During the testing phase, input variables are described in linguistic terms such as ‘high’ and ‘low’. The prediction is made in terms of a liquefaction index representing the degree of liquefaction described in fuzzy terms such as ‘highly likely’, ‘likely’, or ‘unlikely’. The results from the model are compared with actual field observations and misclassified cases are identified. The models are found to have good predictive ability and are expected to be very useful for a preliminary evaluation of liquefaction potential of a site for which the input parameters are not well defined.     

Water resources and ecological conditions in the Tarim Basin

Temporal sequential analyses of the hydrological observational data in the Tarim Basin over the last forty years revealed an annual increase of 2× 10⁷m³ in the water quantities at the three headstreams of the upper courses and an annual decrease of 3 × 10⁷m³ in the water flow from Alaer, which is on the upper main stream. A prediction of the trends indicates that there can be severe situations under which intermittent water interceptions occur. By means of approximate estimations on vegetative water consumption through phreatic evaporation combined with a quota assessment, the ecological water demands required to maintain the ecological environment in the mainstream area over the three different targeted years of 2005, 2010 and 2030 are defined as standing at 31.86 × 10⁸m³, 36.27 × 10⁸m³ and 41.04 × 10⁸m³ respectively. Ecological fragility indexes are established on the basis of the selection of environmental sensitivity factors. Rational evaluations give proof that the lower reaches of the mainstream have already turned into zones where their ecological environments are gravely damaged. Multi-objective optimization should be conducted and protective schemes be framed within the threshold limits of the bearing capacities of water resources and the environment     

Sandy desertification in the north of China

With the economic and social development, desertification exerted increasingly profound influences on natural environment and social development and attracted widespread attention of international communities. China, as one of the countries facing severe desertification problems, has witnessed some progress in understanding and combating the process of desertification through many years of hard work. Based on the experiences and research achievements, this paper briefly discusses the causes, developmental processes, damage assessment and control mechanism of desertification in the north of China so as to provide some basic experiences for the further study of desertification.     

Remote sensing analysis of desert vegetation and its landscape changes: The case in middle reaches of Tarim River Basin,Xinjiang, China

Based on remote sensing information sources including B/W aerial photos of 1983, pseudo-color aerial photos of 1992 and JERS-1/OPS VNIR image of 1996, vegetation types of Yingbazha, in the middle reaches of the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang, China are mapped using ARC/INFO and related software. The changes in vegetation areas and distribution conditions are analyzed. As a result of natural and human influences, vegetation changes have temporal and spatial characteristics. According to the principles of landscape ecology and geographical information science, the landscape changes are indicated. Moreover, the remote sensing and GIS techniques are integrated to study vegetation and its landscape.     

Utilization of water resources,ecological balance and land desertification in the Tarim Basin,Xinjiang

Because of the human exploitation and utilization of water resources in the Tarim Basin, the water resources consumption has changed from mainly natural ecosystem to artificial oasis ecosystem, and the environment has changed correspondingly. The basic changes are: desertification and oasis development coexist, both “the human being advance and the desert retreat” and “the desert advance and the human being retreat” coexist, but the latter is dominant. In the upper reaches, water volume drawing to irrigated agricultural areas has increased, artificial oases have been enlarging and moving from the deltas in the lower reaches of many rivers to the piedmont plains. In the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River, the stream flow has decreased, old oases have declined, natural vegetations have been degenerating, desertification has been enlarging, and the environment has deteriorated. The transition regions, which consist of forestlands, grasslands and waters between the desert and the oases, have been decreasing continuously, their shelter function to the oases has been weakened, and the desert is threatening the oases seriously.     

地震前兆时空非均匀性指标Cv值的实验检验

在双向加载条件下，对两种构造和介质不同的岩石标本进行变形实验，测量了标本表面不同部位的应变．在此基础上，利用王晓青和陈学忠等提出的描述地震前兆非均匀分布的参量————Cv值，分析了标本变形失稳过程中应变异常的分布，以期从实验角度检验Cv值方法并探讨其物理意义．研究表明，Cv值的变化与岩石变形特征的变化有关，是描述前兆分布非均匀性的一种有效指标；Cv值在失稳发生前先异常上升，然后下降，并在Cv值恢复过程中或恢复后伴随着失稳事件的发生．因此，Cv值是一种有效的预报指标．      

1996年包头6.4级地震的地壳应变特征

根据GPS观测资料求出的水平地应变和由跨断层垂直形变计算出的速率强度累积率，研究了包头-大同地区1992～1995年、1995～1996年和1996～1999年的各时期的应变特征，并对包头6.4级(1996年5月3)地震前后的地应变进行对比，认为以压应变为主导的高值区可能是未来强震孕育的地区．面应变、主压应变、剪应变和趋势累积率同时较高的地区，强震危险性较大．一般低应变区和张应变为主导的地区，孕育强震的可能性小，属于比较稳定的地区．1992～1999年包头-大同地区的GPS水平应变的演变，反映了1996～1998年地震幕的孕育发展及结束的全过程．以压应变为主的高应变区和应变梯度带可作为未来强震危险区的判定标志之一．      

Determining gaseous composition of fluid inclusions with quadrupole mass spectrometer

Quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) is an instrument for effectively determining gaseous composition of fluid inclusion. The gaseous component is extracted from inclusions with thermal decrepitation method and then determined with the sensitive QMS instrument. The method is characterized by high sensitivity and high accuracy with the relative standard deviation (RSD,n=6) of less than 3%. It has been successfully used for analyzing fluid inclusions. The analytical results meet the requirement of geological study.