Assessment of Grouting Efficiency for Treatment of Underground Cavities

Ground subsidence incidents occurred in a residential suburb in an arid desert terrain due to sinkholes. Several investigation programs were conducted to understand the cause of the incidents attributed to the dissolution of the limestone bedrock and the subsequent ravelling of the overburden soil cover. A pilot area within the affected locale of the residential suburb in the state of Kuwait was selected for implementing treatment measures. The main purpose of the treatment measures was to fill the uppermost layer of the limestone bedrock in order to eliminate the risk of recurrence of ground subsidence. Cavity filling and permeation cement grouts were injected from the ground surface for filling the underground cavities and the fractured rocks. Results of the implemented grouting measures for treating underground voids and the GIN concept are presented in the paper. Reduction in the porosity of the bedrock layer due to the applied treatment measures was verified and percentage of treatment fill volume for the entire pilot area was estimated. An assessment method for the efficiency of the treatment measures coupled with the properties of grout materials, and lessons learned from the implemented treatment are also presented herein.     

Empirical Correlations for Predicting Strength Properties of Rocks from P-Wave Velocity Under Different Degrees of Saturation

Determination of P-wave velocity (V _p), which is closely related to intact rock properties both in laboratory and in situ conditions, is a non-destructive, easy and less complicated procedure. Due to these advantages, there is an increasing trend to predict the physico-mechanical properties of rocks from V _p. By considering that no attempt on the estimation of mechanical properties of rocks from V _p under different degrees of saturation has been made, in this study, it was aimed to correlate strength properties (uniaxial compressive and tensile strengths) with V _p of various rock types under different degrees of saturation. For this purpose, fourteen different rock types were collected from several parts of Turkey and a comprehensive laboratory testing program was conducted. Experimental results indicated that strength and deformability properties of the rocks decreased with increasing degree of saturation, while V _p showed increasing and decreasing trends depending on degree of saturation. Simple regression analysis results indicated that although prediction of the strength properties of rocks directly from V _p at different degrees of saturation was possible, the equations developed would yield some under- or over-predictions. In the second stage of statistical analyses, a series of different prediction relationships were developed by using independent variables such as V _p, degree of saturation and effective clay content (ECC). The statistical tests suggested that the resultant multivariate equations had very high prediction performances and were very useful tools to estimate the strength properties from V _p determined at any degree of saturation. In addition, the comparisons between the theoretical Gassmann–Biot velocities, which were calculated at different degrees of saturation, and the experimental results suggest that the theoretical Gassmann–Biot velocities show inconsistencies with the experimental results obtained from the investigated rock types with high ECC. Therefore, it was concluded that the use of theoretical velocities is not suitable for rock types with high ECC.     

A Triangular Form‐based Multiple Flow Algorithm to Estimate Overland Flow Distribution and Accumulation on a Digital Elevation Model

In this study, we present a newly developed method for the estimation of surface flow paths on a digital elevation model (DEM). The objective is to use a form‐based algorithm, analyzing flow over single cells by dividing them into eight triangular facets and to estimate the surface flow paths on a raster DEM. For each cell on a gridded DEM, the triangular form‐based multiple flow algorithm (TFM) was used to distribute flow to one or more of the eight neighbor cells, which determined the flow paths over the DEM. Because each of the eight facets covering a cell has a constant slope and aspect, the estimations of – for example – flow direction and divergence/convergence are more intuitive and less complicated than many traditional raster‐based solutions. Experiments were undertaken by estimating the specific catchment area (SCA) over a number of mathematical surfaces, as well as on a real‐world DEM. Comparisons were made between the derived SCA by the TFM algorithm with eight other algorithms reported in the literature. The results show that the TFM algorithm produced the closest outcomes to the theoretical values of the SCA compared with other algorithms, derived more consistent outcomes, and was less influenced by surface shapes. The real‐world DEM test shows that the TFM was capable of modeling flow distribution without noticeable ‘artefacts’, and its ability to track flow paths makes it an appropriate platform for dynamic surface flow simulation.     

Experimental study of the velocity of density currents in convergent and divergent channels

The head velocity of the density current in the convergent and divergent channel is a key parameter for evaluating the extent to which suspended material travels,and for determining the type and distribution of sediment in the water body.This study experimentally evaluated the effects of the reach degree of convergence and divergence on the head velocity of the density current.Experiments were conducted in the flume with 6.0 m long,0.72 m width and 0.6 m height.The head velocity was measured at three convergent degrees(-8°;-12°;-26°),at three divergent degrees(8°;12°;26°) and two slopes(0.009,0.016) for various discharges.The measured head velocity of the density current is compared with the head velocity of the density current in the constant cross section channel. Based on non-dimensional and statistical analysis,relations as linear multiple regression offered for prediction head velocity of the density current in the convergent,divergent and constant cross section channel.Also the results of this research show that for the same slope and discharge,the head velocity of the density current in the convergent and divergent channel are greater and less than the head velocity of the constant cross section, respectively.     

Stochastic control of a micro-dam irrigation scheme for dry season farming

Micro-dams are expected to be feasible options for water resources development in semi-arid regions such as the Guinea savanna agro-ecological zone of West Africa. An optimal water management strategy in a micro-dam irrigation scheme supplying water from an existing reservoir to a potential command area is discussed in this paper based on the framework of stochastic control. Water intake facilities are assumed to consist of photovoltaic pumping system units and hoses. The knowledge of current states of the storage volume of the reservoir and the soil moisture in the command area is fed-back to the intake flow rate. A system of two stochastic differential equations is proposed as a model for the dynamics of the micro-dam irrigation scheme, so that temporally backward solution of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation determines an optimal control, which represents the optimal water management strategy. A computational procedure using the finite element method is successfully implemented to provide comprehensive information on the optimal control. The results indicate that the water initially stored in the reservoir can support full irrigation for about 80 days under the optimal water management strategy, which is predominantly based on the demand-side principle. However, the volatility of the soil moisture in the command area must be reasonably small.     

Effect of out-of-plane behavior on seismic fragility of masonry buildings in Turkey

This study focuses on the evaluation of seismic safety of unreinforced masonry buildings in Turkey by using fragility curves generated for two behavior modes of load bearing walls: in-plane and out-of-plane. During generation of fragility curves, a force-based approach has been used. There exist two limit states in terms of base shear strength for in-plane behavior mode and flexural strength for out-of-plane behavior mode. To assess the seismic vulnerability of unreinforced masonry buildings in Turkey, fragility curves generated for in-plane behavior were verified by the observed damage during the 1995 Dinar (Turkey) earthquake and fragility curves generated for out-of-plane behavior were verified by the observed damage during the 2010 Elaz?? (Turkey) earthquake. The verification results reveal that the proposed fragility-based procedure can provide an alternative for the seismic safety evaluation of unreinforced masonry buildings in Turkey. Using this procedure, it becomes possible to investigate a large population of masonry buildings located in regions of high seismic risk in a short period of time. The obtained results are valuable in the sense that they can be used as a database during the development of strategies for pre-earthquake planning and risk mitigation for earthquake prone regions of Turkey.     

Vibration analysis of steel structures including the effect of panel zone flexibility based on the energy method

New approximate formulas are proposed to determine the natural frequencies of structures considering the effects of panel zone flexibility and soil-structure interaction. Several structures with various earthquake resisting systems are idealized as prismatic cantilever flexural-shear beams. Floor masses are considered as lumped masses at each story level and masses of columns are evenly distributed along the cantilever beam. Soil-structure interaction is considered as axial and rotational springs, whose potential energy are formulated and incorporated into overall potential energy of the structure. Subsequently, natural frequency equations are derived on the basis of energy conservation principle. The effect of axial forces on natural frequency is also considered in the proposed formulas. Using the method presented in this study, natural frequencies are computed using a simplified method with no complex numerical modeling. The proposed formulas are verified via experimental and numerical methods. Close agreement between the results from these three approaches are observed. Furthermore, the effects of panel zone flexibility, continuity plates and doubler plates on the natural frequencies of buildings are investigated.     

Assessing the impact of climate change on Mogan and Eymir Lakes’ levels in Central Turkey

Global warming is likely to have significant effect on the hydrological cycle. Some parts of the world may see significant reductions in precipitation or major alterations in the timing of wet and dry seasons. Climate change is one of the serious pressures facing water resources and their management over the next few years and decades. As part of the southern belt of Mediterranean Europe, Turkey is highly vulnerable to anticipated climate change impacts. The changes in global climate will seriously affect inland freshwater ecosystems and coastal lakes. Mogan and Eymir Lakes located in Central Turkey are shallow lakes that may be impacted significantly by climate change. The interaction between the lakes and groundwater system has been modelled in order to analyse the response of lake levels to climate change over a planning period of 96 years, beginning from October 2004 and ending in September 2100. The impacts of the emission scenarios of A2 and B1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on lake levels have been analyzed with the help of the lake-aquifer simulation model. The fluctuations in lake levels due to climate change scenarios are compared with the results of a scenario generated by the assumption of the continuation of the average recharge and discharge conditions observed for 1999 and 2004. The results show that very small, but long-term changes to precipitation and temperature have the potential to cause significant declines in lake levels and temporary drying of the lakes in the long-term. The impact of climate change on lake levels will depend on how these water resources are managed in the future.     

Planar and nonplanar quantum dust ion-acoustic Gardner double layers in multi-ion dusty plasma

The longitudinal fast solitary waves induced by weakly relativistic positron showers of astrophysical origin are studied in a plasma system contaminated with some massive impurities in presence of superthermal effects. The superthermal effects are due to the high energy electrons. The impurities are dust corpuscles with positive and negative charges. It is noticed that increase in the kappa parameter of electrons and relativistic streaming factor of weakly relativistic positron shower, negative dust concentration invoke an enhancement in the strength of solitary wave. On the other hand increase in the shower’s temperature as well as positive dust concentration diminish the solitary hump strength. It is worth to mention that only hump type compressive fast solitary waves are predicted by our model, for the given set of plasma parameters, because the convective coefficient of the nonlinear governing equation for solitary wave remains positive in considered regime of interaction for plasma and positron shower. Our calculations in linear regime predict both the fast and slow positron shower induced longitudinal, electrostatic perturbations. Our results may be of importance in understanding the nonlinear propagation of waves in doped astrophysical superthermal plasmas with relativistic positron showers.     

New technique to compute the geometrical elements of the eclipsing of W UMa-type

The aim of this paper is to present a general method for computation of the geometrical elements of totally eclipsing W UMa (close, or in actual contact) binary systems in the frequency-domain.This method has been done using a new technique (two minima with the improved values of the photometric perturbation effects). The results are compared with the results calculated by different methods, that have used the same observation references.The improved photometric perturbation terms have been discussed and its effects are computed for both (primary and secondary) minima.