Effect of isolation on fragility curves of highway bridges based on simplified approach

The trend of isolating highway bridges is on the rise after the recent large earthquakes in Japan, the United States, and other countries. Recent investigation shows that isolated systems perform well against seismic forces as the substructures of such systems experience less lateral forces due to energy dissipation of the isolation device. Hence, it is anticipated that there might be an effect on fragility curves of highway bridges due to isolation. In this study, 30 isolated bridge models were considered (and they were designed according to the seismic design code of highway bridges in Japan) to have a wider range of the variation of structural parameters, e.g. pier heights, weights, and over-strength ratio of structures. Then, fragility curves were developed by following a simplified procedure using 250 strong motion records, which were selected from 5 earthquake events that occurred in Japan, the USA, and Taiwan. It is observed that the level of damage probability for the isolated system is less than that of the non-isolated one for a lower level of pier height. However, having the same over-strength ratio of the structures, the level of damage probability for the isolated system is found to be higher for a higher level of pier height compared to the one of the non-isolated system. The proposed simple approach may conveniently be used in constructing fragility curves for a class of isolated bridge structures in Japan that have similar characteristics.     

Efficacy of Hollow‐Fiber Ultrafiltration for Microbial Sampling in Groundwater

The goal of this study was to test hollow‐fiber ultrafiltration as a method for concentrating in situ bacteria and viruses in groundwater samples. Water samples from nine wells tapping a shallow sandy aquifer in a densely populated village in Bangladesh were reduced in volume approximately 400‐fold using ultrafiltration. Culture‐based assays for total coliforms and Escherichia coli, as well as molecular‐based assays for E. coli, Bacteroides, and adenovirus, were used as microbial markers before and after ultrafiltration to evaluate performance. Ultrafiltration increased the concentration of the microbial markers in 99% of cases. However, concentration factors (CF = post‐filtration concentration/pre‐filtration concentration) for each marker calculated from geometric means ranged from 52 to 1018 compared to the expected value of 400. The efficiency was difficult to quantify because concentrations of some of the markers, especially E. coli and total coliforms, in the well water (WW) collected before ultrafiltration varied by several orders of magnitude during the period of sampling. The potential influence of colloidal iron oxide precipitates in the groundwater was tested by adding EDTA to the pre‐filtration water in half of the samples to prevent the formation of precipitates. The use of EDTA had no significant effect on the measurement of culturable or molecular markers across the 0.5 to 10 mg/L range of dissolved Fe²⁺ concentrations observed in the groundwater, indicating that colloidal iron did not hinder or enhance recovery or detection of the microbial markers. Ultrafiltration appears to be effective for concentrating microorganisms in environmental water samples, but additional research is needed to quantify losses during filtration.     

Application of electrical resistivity to map the stratigraphy and salinity of fluvio-deltaic aquifers: case studies from Bangladesh that reveal benefits and pitfalls

Fluvio-deltaic aquifers are the primary source of drinking water for the people of Bangladesh. Such aquifers, which comprise the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta, are hydrogeologically heterogeneous. Because of widespread groundwater quality issues in Bangladesh, it is crucial to know the hydrostratigraphic architecture and hydrochemistry, as some aquifer units are contaminated, whereas others are safe. Geophysical methods provide a potentially effective and noninvasive method for extensive characterization of these aquifers. This study applies and investigates the limitations of using electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) for mapping the hydrostratigraphy and salinity of an aquifer-aquitard system adjacent to the Meghna River. Some electrical resistivity (ER) sections showed excellent correlation between resistivity and grain size. These suggest that ERI is a powerful tool for mapping internal aquifer architecture and their boundaries with finer-grained aquitards which clearly appear as low-ER zones. However, in parts of some ER sections, variations in electrical properties were determined by porewater resistivity. In these cases, low ER was indicative of brine and did not indicate the presence of finer-grained materials such as silt or clay. Accordingly, the following hydrostratigraphic zones with different resistivities were detected: (1) aquifers saturated with fresh groundwater, (2) a regional silt/clay aquitard, and (3) a deeper brine-saturated formation. In addition, shallow silt/clay pockets were detected close to the river and below the vadose zone. ERI is thus a promising technique for mapping aquifers versus aquitards; however, the observations are easily confounded by porewater salinity. In such cases, borehole information and groundwater salinity measurements are necessary for ground-truthing.

     

Recommended Sampling Intervals for Arsenic in Private Wells

Geogenic arsenic in drinking water is a worldwide problem. For private well owners, testing (e.g., private or government laboratory) is the main method to determine arsenic concentration. However, the temporal variability of arsenic concentrations is not well characterized and it is not clear how often private wells should be tested. To answer this question, three datasets, two new and one publicly available, with temporal arsenic data were utilized: 6370 private wells from New Jersey tested at least twice since 2002, 2174 wells from the USGS NAWQA database, and 391 private wells sampled 14 years apart from Bangladesh. Two arsenic drinking water standards are used for the analysis: 10 µg/L, the WHO guideline and EPA standard or maximum contaminant level (MCL) and 5 µg/L, the New Jersey MCL. A rate of change was determined for each well and these rates were used to predict the temporal change in arsenic for a range of initial arsenic concentrations below an MCL. For each MCL and initial concentration, the probability of exceeding an MCL over time was predicted. Results show that to limit a person to below a 5% chance of drinking water above an MCL, wells that are ½ an MCL and above should be tested every year and wells below ½ an MCL should be tested every 5 years. These results indicate that one test result below an MCL is inadequate to ensure long-term compliance. Future recommendations should account for temporal variability when creating drinking water standards and guidance for private well owners.     

Multi-temporal annual soil loss risk mapping employing Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model in Nun Nadi Watershed, Uttrakhand (India)

The present comparative study is multi-temporal in nature. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), remote sensing, and GIS were used to model the soil loss estimation for soil conservation and vegetation rehabilitation in Nun Nadi watershed for the years 2000 and 2009. The estimated mean soil loss for the year 2000 and 2009 is 3,283.11 and 1,419.39 Mg?ha^?1 year^?1, respectively. The study finds that about 80 % area has low or least risk of erosion and about 7 % is exposed to high or very high risk which indicates the improvement in terms of soil loss if we compare the data of both the time periods. The findings show that the rainfall, LULC change, and elevation are the main responsible factors for the soil loss in Nun Nadi watershed. Conservation measures have been adopted; however, the problem still remains serious and demands urgent attention.     

A study on selection of probability distributions for at-site flood frequency analysis in Australia

The most direct method of design flood estimation is at-site flood frequency analysis, which relies on a relatively long period of recorded streamflow data at a given site. Selection of an appropriate probability distribution and associated parameter estimation procedure is of prime importance in at-site flood frequency analysis. The choice of the probability distribution for a given application is generally made arbitrarily as there is no sound physical basis to justify the selection. In this study, an attempt is made to investigate the suitability of as many as fifteen different probability distributions and three parameter estimation methods based on a large Australian annual maximum flood data set. A total of four goodness-of-fit tests are adopted, i.e., the Akaike information criterion, the Bayesian information criterion, Anderson–Darling test, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, to identify the best-fit probability distributions. Furthermore, the L-moments ratio diagram is used to make a visual assessment of the alternative distributions. It has been found that a single distribution cannot be specified as the best-fit distribution for all the Australian states as it was recommended in the Australian rainfall and runoff 1987. The log-Pearson 3, generalized extreme value, and generalized Pareto distributions have been identified as the top three best-fit distributions. It is thus recommended that these three distributions should be compared as a minimum in practical applications when making the final selection of the best-fit probability distribution in a given application in Australia.     

The Love wave scattering matrix for a continental margin (numerical)

Summary . This paper presents the numerical computation of the results previously obtained by the author through a scattering matrix formulation (together with plane wave and variational approximations) which describes the diffraction of plane, harmonic, monochromatic Love waves incident normally (from either side) upon the plane of discontinuity in a structure consisting of a half-space with a surface step — an idealized model of a continental margin. Magnitudes of reflection and transmission coefficients are computed numerically for different frequencies for a model which has been considered previously by Knopoff & Hudson and also by Alsop in their studies of the same problem. The results obtained under the plane wave approximation are compared with those obtained under the variational approximation in order to assess the effects of the body-wave contributions. Finally, the results of both approximations are compared with those obtained by previous authors.     

Vegetation response to climate and climatic extremes in northwest Bangladesh: a quantile regression approach

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The present study assessed the vegetation response to climate in the water-stressed northwest Bangladesh (NWB). The quantile regression analysis was employed...