Numerical modelling of bit–rock fracture mechanisms in percussive drilling with a continuum approach

This paper presents a numerical method for continuum modelling of the dynamic bit–rock interaction process in percussive drilling. The method includes a constitutive model based on a combination of the recent viscoplastic consistency model, the isotropic damage concept and a parabolic compression cap. The interaction between the drill bit and rock is modelled using contact mechanics by treating the bit as a rigid body. As the bit–rock interaction in percussive drilling is a transient event, the method is implemented in explicit dynamics FEM. The rock strength heterogeneity is characterized at the mesoscopic level statistically using the Weibull distribution. The bit–rock interaction is simulated under axisymmetric conditions using cylindrical and hemispherical buttons. The choice of the quite complex constitutive model accounting, e.g. for plastic compaction, viscoplastic shear and tensile failure along with induced damage and rate dependency is justified by numerical simulations. Moreover, the quasi‐static and dynamic cases are compared in plane strain simulations. Finally, some results clarifying the discrepancy of opinions found in the literature concerning the side (lateral) crack formation are obtained. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A case study of airborne and satellite remote sensing of a spring bloom event in the Gulf of Finland

The concentrations of chlorophyll-a (chl-a), total suspended solids (TSS) and the absorption coefficient of colored dissolved organic matter (a_CDOM(400)) are estimated in Case II waters using medium resolution imaging spectrometer (MERIS) satellite (full resolution [FR] level 1b, 300 m resolution) and AISA airborne spectrometer data acquired during a spring bloom in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea on April 27, 2004. The accuracy of the estimation is analyzed using empirical band-ratio algorithms together with in situ observations that include water samples analyzed in a laboratory (variation ranges: 22–130 μg/l, 2.9–20 mg/l, and 1.29–2.61 m⁻¹ for chl-a, TSS and a_CDOM(400), respectively). Additional in situ estimates (transects) on these characteristics are available through absorption and scattering coefficients measured with an ac-9 absorption and attenuation meter installed in a flow-through system. The retrieval accuracy (R²) of all three water quality characteristics with MERIS data is close to or above 0.9, while the RMSE is 7.8 μg/l (22%), 0.74 mg/l (16%) and 0.08 m⁻¹ (5%), for chl-a, TSS and a_CDOM(400), respectively. The validity of the chl-a algorithm is tested using nine additional data points. The BIAS-error for these points is 5.2 μg/l and the RMSE is 10.6 μg/l. The effects of changes in the atmospheric characteristics on band-ratio algorithms in cases where no concurrent in situ reference data are available are analyzed using the MODerate spectral resolution atmospheric TRANSmittance algorithm and computer model (MODTRAN). The additional error due to these changes is estimated to be below 20% for the applied ratio algorithms. The water quality data available in the level 2 MERIS-product distributed by the European Space Agency did not include valid results for the date investigated here.     

The role of phosphorus in growth of phytoplankton in Lake Vesijärvi,southern Finland – a multitechnique approach

The role of phosphorus in phytoplankton growth was studied in Lake Vesijärvi, a large previously eutrophic body of water with a history of flourishing fishery. The study combined different approaches: long-term algal enrichment experiments with natural phytoplankton assemblages were carried out together with observations on nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations, elemental ratios (N:P, C:P, C:N) of particulate matter, and analysis of P uptake using [³³P]. None of the approaches revealed periods of P limitation, but some growth experiments as well as elemental ratios indicated slight deficiency in early summer. Concentrations of total dissolved phosphorus (TDP), which were usually 20–30 g l^–1, also indicated luxurious P resources. Thermal stratification was weak and the lake mixed twice during the study period; this was reflected in the phytoplankton biomass that increased up to 4-fold. Results of elemental ratios usually suggested the occurrence of nitrogen limitation, and in general these ratios were low for a lake. All size fractions >0.22 m in the experiments with [³³P] showed P uptake. In August most of the P was taken up by picoplankton, but when the lake turned over in September, the uptake of P by this fraction was absent. Thus, there was always a plentiful supply of P for phytoplankton, but the shortage of inorganic N may have affected those algae not capable of fixing N₂. These conditions should have favoured the growth of heterocystous cyanobacteria, but these prokaryotes never attained high abundances. This may have been due to the weak stability of the water column, or the growth of cyanobacteria may have been limited by trace elements such as molybdenum or iron.     

Tracing tsunami signatures of the ad 551 and ad 1303 tsunamis at the Gulf of Kyparissia (Peloponnese,Greece) using direct push in situ sensing techniques combined with geophysical studies

The western Peloponnese was repeatedly hit by major tsunami impacts during historical times as reported by historical accounts and recorded in earthquake and tsunami catalogues. Geological signatures of past tsunami impacts have also been found in many coastal geological archives. During the past years, abundant geomorphological and sedimentary evidence of repeated Holocene tsunami landfall was found between Cape Katakolo and the city of Kyparissia. Moreover, neotectonic studies revealed strong crust uplift along regional faults with amounts of uplift between 13 m and 30 m since the mid-Holocene. This study focuses on the potential of direct push in situ sensing techniques to detect tsunami sediments along the Gulf of Kyparissia. Direct push measurements were conducted on the landward shores of the Kaiafa Lagoon and the former Mouria Lagoon from which sedimentary and microfaunal evidence for tsunami landfall are already known. Direct push methods helped to decipher in situ high-resolution stratigraphic records of allochthonous sand sheets that are used to document different kinds of sedimentological and geomorphological characteristics of high-energy inundation, such as abrupt increases in grain size, integration of muddy rip-up clasts and fining upward sequences which are representative of different tsunami inundation pulses. These investigations were completed by sediment coring as a base for local calibration of geophysical direct push parameters. Surface-based electrical resistivity tomography and seismic data with highly resolved vertical direct push datasets and sediment core data were all coupled in order to improve the quality of the geophysical models. Details of this methodological approach, new in palaeotsunami research, are presented and discussed, especially with respect to the question of how the obtained results may help to facilitate tracing tsunami signatures in the sedimentary record and deciphering geomorphological characteristics of past tsunami inundation. Using direct push techniques and based on sedimentary data, sedimentary signatures of two young tsunami impacts that hit the Kaiafa Lagoon were detected. Radiocarbon age control allowed the identification of these tsunami layers as candidates for the ad 551 and ad 1303 earthquake and tsunami events. For these events, there is reliable historical data on major damage on infrastructure in western Greece and on the Peloponnese. At the former Mouria Lagoon, corroborating tsunami traces were found; however, in this case it is difficult to decide whether these signatures were caused by the ad 551 or the ad 1303 event.     

Thermal shock weakening of granite rock under dynamic loading: 3D numerical modeling based on embedded discontinuity finite elements

This paper presents a numerical study of thermal shock weakening of granite rock under dynamic loading. A fully 3D numerical scheme based on a combined continuum viscodamage-embedded discontinuity model and an explicit scheme to solve the underlying thermomechanical problem was developed and validated through numerical examples. First, the dynamic Brazilian disc test is simulated on intact numerical rock. Then, thermal shock-induced cracking due to a moving external heat flux boundary condition, mimicking experiments based on plasma jet treatment, is numerically predicted. Finally, numerical Brazilian disc test is conducted on the thermal shocked numerical samples. The predicted and experimental weakening effects are in good agreement demonstrating that the present modeling approach has good predictive capabilities. The practical significance of the results is that heat shock pretreatment can substantially enhance rock gravel and rubble crushing.     

Observations and Modelling of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Over Sea-Ice in a Svalbard Fjord

Sonic anemometer and profile mast measurements made in Wahlenbergfjorden, Svalbard Arctic archipelago, in May 2006 and April 2007 were employed to study the atmospheric boundary layer over sea-ice. The turbulent surface fluxes of momentum and sensible heat were calculated using eddy correlation and gradient methods. The results showed that the literature-based universal functions underestimated turbulent mixing in strongly stable conditions. The validity of the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory was questionable for cross-fjord flow directions and in the presence of mesoscale variability or topographic effects. The aerodynamic roughness length showed a dependence on the wind direction. The mean roughness length for along-fjord wind directions was (2.4 ± 2.6) × 10⁻⁴ m, whereas that for cross-fjord directions was (5.4 ± 2.8) × 10⁻³ m. The thermal stratification and turbulent fluxes were affected by the synoptic situation with large differences between the 2 years. Channelling effects and drainage flows occurred especially during a weak large-scale flow. The study periods were simulated applying the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with 1-km horizontal resolution in the finest domain. The results for the 2-m air temperature and friction velocity were good, but the model failed to reproduce the spatial variability in wind direction between measurement sites 3 km apart. The model suggested that wind shear above the stable boundary layer provided a non-local source for the turbulence observed.     

Lithospheric structure of the Trans-European Suture Zone along the TTZ–CEL03 seismic transect (from NW to SE Poland)

The large-scale CELEBRATION 2000 seismic experiment investigated the velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle between western portion of the East European Craton (EEC) and the eastern Alps. This area comprises: the Trans-European Suture Zone, the Carpathian Mountains, the Pannonian Basin and the Bohemian Massif. This experiment included 147 chemical shots recorded by 1230 seismic stations during two deployments. Good quality data along 16 main and a few additional profiles were recorded. One of them, profile CEL03, was located in southeastern Poland and was laid out as a prolongation of the TTZ profile performed in 1993. This paper focuses on the joint interpretation of seismic data along the NW–SE trending TTZ–CEL03 transect, located in the central portion of the Trans-European Suture Zone. First arrivals and later phases of waves reflected/refracted in the crust and upper mantle were interpreted using two-dimensional tomographic inversion and ray-tracing techniques. This modelling established a 2-D (quasi 3-D) P-wave velocity lithospheric model. Four crustal units were identified along the transect. From northwest to southeast, thickness of the crust varies from 35 km in the Pomeranian Unit (NW) to 40 km in the Kuiavian Unit, to 50 km in the Radom–Łysogóry Unit and again to 43 km in the Narol Unit (SE). The first two units are thought to be proximal terranes detached from the EEC farther to the southeast and re-accreted to the edge of the EEC during the Early Palaeozoic. The origin of the remaining two units is a matter of dispute: they are either portions of the EEC or other proximal terranes. In the area of the Polish Basin (first two units), the P-wave velocity is very low (V_p < 6.1 km/s) down to depths of 15–20 km indicating that a very thick sedimentary and possibly volcanic rock sequence, whose lower portion may be metamorphosed, is present. The velocity beneath the Moho was found to be rather high, being 8.25 km/s in the northwestern portion of the transect, 8.4 km/s in the central sector, and 8.1 km/s in the southeastern sector.     

Mineralogical and strontium isotopic record of hydrothermal processes in the lower ocean crust at and near the East Pacific Rise

Tectonic exposures of upper plutonics (>800 m) that are part of a contiguous section of young East Pacific Rise (EPR) crust at the Hess Deep Rift provide the first regional-scale constraints on hydrothermal processes in the upper plutonic crust formed at a fast-spreading ridge. Submersible-collected samples recovered over a 4-km-wide region show that the sheeted dike complex is largely underlain by a 150- to 200-m-thick gabbro unit, followed by a more primitive gabbronorite unit. Gabbroic samples are variably altered by pervasive fluid flow along fracture networks to amphibole-dominated assemblages. The gabbroic rocks are significantly less altered (average 11% hydrous phases) than the overlying sheeted dike complex (average 24%), and the percentage of hydrous alteration diminishes with depth. Incipient, pervasive fluid flow occurred at amphibolite facies conditions (average 720°C), with slightly higher temperatures in the lower 500 m of the section. The extent of subsequent lower-temperature alteration is generally low and regionally variable. The gabbroic samples are slightly elevated in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr relative to fresh rock values (0.7024) and less enriched than the overlying sheeted dike complex. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr for the pervasively altered gabbroic samples ranges from 0.70244 to 0.70273 (mean 0.70257), tonalites is 0.7038, and pyroxene hornfels ranges from 0.70259 to 0.70271. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr does not vary with depth, and there is a strong positive correlation with the percentage of hydrous phases. Strontium contents of igneous and hydrothermal minerals, combined with bulk rock ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, indicate that Sr-isotopic exchange is largely controlled by the uptake of fluid ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in hydrous minerals and does not require Sr gain or loss. The minimum, time-integrated fluid–rock ratio for the sheeted dike complex and upper plutonics is 0.55–0.66, and the fluid flux calculated by mass balance is ~2.1 to 2.5 × 10⁶ kg m⁻², 30–60% higher than fluid fluxes calculated in the same manner for sheeted dike complexes on their own at Hess and Pito Deeps, and Ocean Drilling Program Hole 504B. Alteration patterns within the upper plutonics evolved in response to axial magma chamber (AMC) dynamics at the EPR, such that magma replenishment led to assimilation and thermal metamorphism of the country rock, and the position of the hydrothermal root-zone tracked the vertical migration of the AMC. The freshness of the lowermost gabbroic rocks suggests that pervasive fluid flow does not lead to significant fluid and heat fluxes at and near fast-spreading ridges.     

Automated facies identification by Direct Push-based sensing methods (CPT,HPT) and multivariate linear discriminant analysis to decipher geomorphological changes and storm surge impact on a medieval coastal landscape

In ad 1362, a major storm surge drowned wide areas of cultivated medieval marshland along the north-western coast of Germany and turned them into tidal flats. This study presents a new methodological approach for the reconstruction of changing coastal landscapes developed from a study site in the Wadden Sea of North Frisia. Initially, we deciphered long-term as well as event-related short-term geomorphological changes, using a geoscientific standard approach of vibracoring, analyses of sedimentary, geochemical and microfaunal palaeoenvironmental parameters and radiocarbon dating. In a next step, Direct Push (DP)-based Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) and the Hydraulic Profiling Tool (HPT) were applied at vibracore locations to obtain in situ high-resolution stratigraphic data. In a last step, multivariate linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was successfully applied to efficiently identify different sedimentary facies (e.g., fossil marsh or tidal flat deposits) from the CPT and HPT test dataset, to map the facies' lateral distribution, also in comparison to reflection seismic measurements and test their potential to interpolate the borehole and CPT/HPT data. The training dataset acquired for the key site from coring and DP sensing finally allows an automated facies classification of CPT/HPT data obtained elsewhere within the study area. The new methodological approach allowed a detailed reconstruction of the local coastal landscape development in the interplay of natural marsh formation, medieval land reclamation and storm surge-related land losses.     

Contaminant exposure and effects in Baltic ringed and grey seals as assessed by biomarkers

The Baltic Sea ecosystem has suffered from a heavy pollutant load for more than three decades. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals have been of most concern due to their persistence and toxic properties. Ringed seals (Phoca hispida baltica) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) living in the Baltic Sea have been suffering from pathological impairments, including reproductive disturbances, which have resulted in a depressed reproductive capacity. We investigated several biochemical parameters as potential biomarkers for exposure to and effects of the contaminant load in the Baltic seals. Seals from less polluted areas were used as reference material in terms of the pollution load. In both Baltic seal populations, the levels of some biochemical parameters diverged from those in the reference seals, and some of these showed a clear correlation with the individual contaminant load. Of the potential bioindicators, we propose cytochrome P4501A activity and vitamin E levels, in blubber or plasma, as exposure biomarkers for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in both species. The arylhydrocarbon receptor-mediated chemical-activated luciferase gene expression (CALUX) response reflects the whole PCB and DDT burden in ringed seals. Retinyl palmitate (vitamin A) levels showed a negative correlation with the individual POP load, and is proposed as potential effect biomarkers for the depletion of the vitamin A stores. As the nutritional levels of both vitamin A and E have an impact on the vitamin levels in the seals, more information on the dietary vitamin levels is needed before any conclusions can be drawn. As the relationship between biochemical parameters and contaminants varied between the two species, species-specific characteristics has to be considered when monitoring the health status and possible toxic effects of the contaminant load in ringed and grey seals.