Trend analysis of hydro-meteorological parameters in the Jhelum River basin,North Western Himalayas

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The Jhelum River basin drains the entire Kashmir valley and is susceptible to floods, surrounded Himalayan Mountain range. The trend analysis of...     

Comparison of precipitation projections of CMIP5 and CMIP6 global climate models over Yulin,China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - This study compared precipitation projections of CMIP5 and CMIP6 GCMs over Yulin City, China. The performance of CMIP5 and CMIP6 GCMs in replicating Global...     

Enhancing Slope Stability Prediction Using Fuzzy and Neural Frameworks Optimized by Metaheuristic Science

Mathematical Geosciences - Recently, machine learning models have acted as effective tools for slope stability analysis. But due to the crucial significance of this issue, reaching a reliable...     

Review: Assessment and modeling of seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers of the Arabian Peninsula

Hydrogeology Journal - Significant urbanization and industrialization, combined with strong population growth, have been witnessed in the Arabian Peninsula (Oman, United Arab Emirates, Saudi...     

Impact of land cover changes and topography on soil quality in the Kasso catchment,Bale Mountains of southeastern Ethiopia

This study assessed land cover change and topographic elevation on selected soil quality parameters in the Kasso catchment, southeastern Ethiopia. Twenty‐seven soil samples collected from 0–30cm depth under four land cover types across three elevation gradients were analysed for selected soil quality parameters. Results indicated that soil particle size distribution is different (p<0.001) in the catchment because of the effect of land cover change and elevation. Most cultivated lands occupy lower elevations where clay accumulates as a result of its movement from higher to lower elevations. Ploughing accentuates weathering, making cultivated lands richer in finer materials. Cation exchange capacity and exchangeable magnesium and potassium negatively correlated with elevation, total nitrogen and available phosphorous. Conversion of natural vegetation to cropland contributed to changes in pH (p<0.05), exchangeable calcium (p<0.01), potassium (p<0.001), available phosphorous (p<0.01) and nitrogen (p<0.01) contents. Parameter soil degradation index results showed that soil organic carbon, nitrogen, available phosphorous and exchangeable potassium contents declined and bulk density increased because of the land cover change. This negative effect on agricultural development and environmental health of the catchment makes an integrated land resource management approach indispensable for sustaining agricultural productivity and the environmental health of the Kasso catchment.     

Modelling hydrodynamics in Yachiyo Lake using a non‐hydrostatic general circulation model with spatially and temporally varying meteorological conditions

In this study, a three‐dimensional (3D) non‐hydrostatic circulation model was applied to study the thermal structure, its evolution and water circulation of Yachiyo Lake in Hiroshima, Japan. The simulations were conducted for 1 month during July 2006. The meteorological forcing variables such as wind stress, surface atmospheric pressure and heat flux transfer through the lake surface were provided by an atmospheric mesoscale model run. The vertical mixing process of the lake was calculated using the Mellor‐Yamada turbulence model. The 1‐month numerical simulation revealed the wind‐induced currents of the lake, two gyres in the mid‐layer, and depth‐averaged monthly mean currents. Further numerical experiments studying the mechanism of the two gyres in the lake showed the important role of topography in gyre formation. The thermal structure of the lake and its evolution both in space and in time as predicted by the model showed very good agreement with the observed values and characteristics of Yachiyo Lake. The internal gravity waves, which are crucial for mixing in the stratified lake, are depicted by the vertical fluctuation of isotherms. Using the non‐dimensional gradient Richardson number, Yachiyo Lake was determined to be stable under strong stratification during the study period, and therefore very sensitive to wind stress. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined use of dimensional analysis and modern experimental design methodologies in hydrodynamics experiments

In this paper, a combined use of dimensional analysis (DA) and modern statistical design of experiment (DOE) methodologies is proposed for a hydrodynamics experiment where there are a large number of variables. While DA is well-known, DOE is still unfamiliar to most ocean engineers although it has been shown to be useful in many engineering and non-engineering applications. To introduce and illustrate the method, a study concerning the thrust of a propeller is considered. Fourteen variables are involved in the problem and after dimensional analysis this reduces to 11 dimensionless parameters. Then, a two-level fractional factorial design was used to screen out parameters that do not significantly contribute to explaining the dependent dimensionless parameter. With the remaining five statistically significant dimensionless parameters, various response surface methodologies (RSM) were used to obtain a functional relationship between the dependent dimensionless thrust coefficient, and the five dimensionless parameters. The final model was found to be of reasonable accuracy when tested against results not used to develop the model. The methodologies presented in the paper can be similarly applied to systems with a large number of control variables to systematically derive approximate mathematical models to predict the responses of the system economically and accurately.     

Laboratory study of shear strength response of Chlef natural sand: Effect of saturation

Abstract

The study of the unsaturated soils is a very complex field to which several researches in laboratory and on site are directed these last years. An experimental study aims to quantify the influence of the Skempton coefficient B characterizing the degree of saturation on the behavior of the granular sand to the liquefaction resistance of sand. The study is based on undrained triaxial tests performed on natural Chlef sand carried out at an initial relative density Dr = 50% under a confining pressure of 50, 100 and 200?kPa for Skempton coefficient B?=?10 to 92%. The results of the tests show that an increase of confining pressure leads to an increase of the shear stress of the samples. For the lower value of the degree of saturation results of our findings indicate an increase of the resistance to liquefaction; our results are in good agreement with others observed in several research projects conducted with other sands. The increase of Skempton coefficient B induces an increase of pore water pressure and a decrease of the shear strength. The pore pressure (u) increases with an exponential manner with the increase of the degree of saturation; while the residual shear strength (Rs) decreases with logarithmic manner with the increase of degree of saturation (B).