Damage model for jointed rock mass and its application to tunnelling

This paper establishes an anisotropic nonlinear damage model in strain space to describe the behavior of jointed rock and applies it to mechanical analysis of tunnelling. This work focuses on rate-independent and small-deformation behavior during static isothermal processes. The prime results include: (1) the properties of damage-dependent elasticity tensors based on geological information of the jointed rock mass; (2) the damage evolution law presented on the basis of thermodynamics and combined with endochronic theory; and (3) the global damage tensor based on the work-equivalence principle and the local geological data of multi-joint sets. Finally the numerical results of a tunnel intersection in jointed rock is presented to illustrate the mechanical behavior of this model.     

School vulnerability to disaster: examination of school closure,demographic, and exposure factors in Hurricane Ike’s wind swath

Damage and destruction to schools from climate-related disasters can have significant and lasting impacts on curriculum and educational programs, educational attainment, and future income-earning potential of affected students. As such, assessing the potential impact of hazards is crucial to the ability of individuals, households, and communities to respond to natural disasters, extreme events, and economic crises. Yet, few studies have focused on assessing the vulnerability of schools in coastal regions of the USA. Using Hurricane Ike’s tropical storm wind swath in the State of Texas as our study area, we: (1) assessed the spatial distribution patterns of school closures and (2) tested the relationship between school closure and vulnerability factors (namely physical exposure and school demographics) using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. The regression results show that higher probabilities of hurricane strikes, more urbanized school districts, and school districts located in coastal counties on the right side of Ike’s path have significant positive associations with an increase in the number of school closure days. Socioeconomic characteristics were not significantly associated with the number of days closed, with the exception of proportion of Hispanic youth in schools, a result which is not supported by the social vulnerability literature. At a practical level, understanding how hurricanes may adversely impact schools is important for developing appropriate preparedness, mitigation, recovery, and adaptation strategies. For example, school districts on the right side of the hurricane track can plan in advance for potential damage and destruction. The ability of a community to respond to future natural disasters, extreme events, and economic crises depends in part on mitigating these adverse effects.     

Calcium carbonate dissolution in deep sea sediments: reconciling microelectrode, pore water and benthic flux chamber results

We report the benthic fluxes of O₂, titration alkalinity (TA), Ca²⁺, NO₃⁻, PO₄³⁻, and Si(OH)₄ from in situ benthic flux chamber incubations on the Ceara Rise and Cape Verde Plateau and compare them to previously published results. We find within analytical uncertainty that the TA flux is twice the calcium flux, suggesting that dissolution/precipitation of CaCO₃ is the principal mechanism controlling benthic TA and Ca²⁺ fluxes. At sites where the sediments contain significant (>35%) CaCO₃ and the overlying waters are supersaturated with respect to CaCO₃, the ratios of the total dissolution rate to the remineralization rate are significantly less than at all other study sites. We propose that these observations can be explained by precipitation of fresh CaCO₃ at the supersaturated sediment surface followed by redissolution deeper in the sediments because of metabolically-produced CO₂. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this explanation. In addition, surface exchange reactions in high-CaCO₃ sediments coupled with high rates of particle mixing may also impact rates of metabolic dissolution and depress chamber-derived estimates of carbonate alkalinity and calcium benthic fluxes. These results suggest that at supersaturated, high CaCO₃ locations, previous models of sediment diagenesis may have overestimated the impact of metabolic dissolution on the preservation of CaCO₃ deposited on the sea floor.     

Intraplate deformation and 3D rheological structure of the Rhine Rift System and adjacent areas of the northern Alpine foreland

The lithosphere of the Northern Alpine foreland has undergone a polyphase evolution during which interacting stress-induced intraplate deformation and upper mantle thermal perturbations controlled folding of the thermally weakened lithosphere. In this paper we address relationships among deeper lithospheric processes, neotectonics and surface processes in the Northern Alpine foreland with special emphasis on tectonically induced topography. We focus on lithosphere memory and neotectonics, paying special attention to the thermo-mechanical structure of the Rhine Graben System and adjacent areas of the northern Alpine foreland lithosphere. We discuss implications for mechanisms of large-scale intraplate deformation and links with surface processes and topography evolution.     

Multiseason evaluation of the MM5, COAMPS and WRF over southeast United States

Three models, MM5, COAMPS, and WRF, have been applied for the warm season in 2003 and the cool season in 2003?C2004 to evaluate their performances. All models run over the same domain area covering the north Gulf Mexico and southeastern United States (US) region with the same spatial resolution of 27?km. It was found that the temporal variations of the mean error distribution and strength at 24 and 36?h were rather weak for surface temperature, sea level pressure, and surface wind speed for all models. A warm bias in surface temperature forecasts dominated over land during the warm season, whereas a cool bias existed during the cool season. The MM5 and WRF produced negative biases of sea level pressure during the warm season and positive biases during the cool season while the COAMPS yielded a similar distribution of sea level pressure biases during both seasons. During both seasons, similar surface wind speed biases produced by each model included a high wind speed forecast over most areas by MM5 while the COAMPS and WRF yielded weak surface winds over the western Plains and stronger surface winds over the eastern Plains. Root-mean-squared errors revealed that the forecast of surface temperature, sea level pressure, and surface wind speed were degraded with the increase of forecast time. For rainfall evaluation, it was found that the MM5 underpredicted seasonal precipitation while the COAMPS and WRF overpredicted. The bias scores revealed that the MM5 yielded an underprediction of the coverage of precipitation areas, especially for heavier rainfall events. The MM5 presented the lower threat score at lighter rainfall events compared to the COAMPS and WRF. For moderate and heavier thresholds, all models lacked forecast accuracy. The WRF accuracy in predicting precipitation was heavily dependent upon the performance of the selected cumulus parameterization scheme. Use of the Grell?CDevenyi and Bette?CMiller?CJanjic schemes helps suppress precipitation overprediction.     

Modelling atmospheric and hydrologic processes for assessment of meadow restoration impact on flow and sediment in a sparsely gauged California watershed

The restoration of meadowland using the pond and plug technique of gully elimination was performed in a 9‐mile segment along Last Chance Creek, Feather River Basin, California, in order to rehabilitate floodplain functions such as mitigating floods, retaining groundwater, and reducing sediment yield associated with bank erosion and to significantly alter the hydrologic regime. However, because the atmospheric and hydrological conditions have evolved over the restoration period, it was difficult to obtain a comprehensible evaluation of the impact of restoration activities by means of field measurements. In this paper, a new use of physically based models for environmental assessment is described. The atmospheric conditions over the sparsely gauged Last Chance Creek watershed (which does not have any precipitation or weather stations) during the combined historical critical dry and wet period (1982–1993) were reconstructed over the whole watershed using the atmospheric fifth‐generation mesoscale model driven with the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and US National Center for Environmental Prediction reanalysis data. Using the downscaled atmospheric data as its input, the watershed environmental hydrology (WEHY) model was applied to this watershed. All physical parameters of the WEHY model were derived from the existing geographic information system and satellite‐driven data sets. By comparing the prerestoration and postrestoration simulation results under the identical atmospheric conditions, a more complete environmental assessment of the restoration project was made. Model results indicate that the flood peak may be reduced by 10–20% during the wet year and the baseflow may be enhanced by 10–20% during the following dry seasons (summer to fall) in the postrestoration condition. The model results also showed that the hydrologic impact of the land management associated with the restoration mitigates bank erosion and sediment discharge during winter storm events. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.