Earthquake response of a multiblock nuclear reactor graphite core: Experimental model vs simulations

The complex dynamics of a quarter‐scale model of a graphite nuclear reactor core, representative of the second generation of British advanced gas‐cooled nuclear reactors, is investigated numerically and experimentally. Advanced gas‐cooled nuclear reactor cores are polygonal, multilayer, arrays of graphite bricks, with each brick allowed to rock by design relative to each other in accordance with the boundary conditions. A 35 000 DOF, nonlinear finite element model of the core created by Atkins Nuclear, was analysed on a high performance computing facility at the University of Bristol, and a corresponding 8 t physical model, equipped with 3200 data acquisition channels, was built and tested on the University of Bristol 6‐DOF shaking table. In this paper, the two models are subjected to a series of (1) synthetic earthquake and (2) idealised harmonic input motions. The experimental data are used to compare and verify the two models and explore the dynamics of the core. A kinematic model of the response is also developed based solely on geometric constraints. The results are presented in the form of response maps and graphs. Important conclusions are drawn as to the dynamics and earthquake response of such systems, which inform numerical model validation. It is found that contrary to the case of a small number of rocking blocks that exhibit highly complex response patterns, the behaviour of the model at hand is both smooth and repeatable. An analogy between the response of the core and that of dense granular matter exhibiting particle interlocking and dilatancy is highlighted.     

Ecohydrologic separation alters interpreted hydrologic stores and fluxes in a headwater mountain catchment

Recent studies have demonstrated that compartmentalized pools of water preferentially supply either plant transpiration (poorly mobile water) or streamflow and groundwater (highly mobile water) in some catchments, a phenomenon referred to as ecohydrologic separation. The omission of processes accounting for ecohydrologic separation in standard applications of hydrological models is expected to influence estimates of water residence times and plant water availability. However, few studies have tested this expectation or investigated how ecohydrologic separation alters interpretations of stores and fluxes of water within a catchment. In this study, we compare two rainfall‐runoff models that integrate catchment‐scale representations of transport, one that incorporates ecohydrologic separation and one that does not. The models were developed for a second‐order watershed at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Oregon, USA), the site where ecohydrologic separation was first observed, and calibrated against multiple years of stream discharge and chloride concentration. Model structural variations caused mixed results for differences in calibrated parameters and differences in storage between reservoirs. However, large differences in catchment storage volumes and fluxes arise when considering only mobile water. These changes influence interpreted residence times for streamflow‐generating water, demonstrating the importance of ecohydrologic separation in catchment‐scale water and solute transport.     

Global distribution of coastal cliffs

Previous studies have estimated that coastal cliffs exist on about 80% of the global shoreline, but have not been validated on a global scale. This study uses two approaches to capture information on the worldwide existence and erosion of coastal cliffs: a detailed literature survey and imagery search, and a GIS-based global mapping analysis. The literature and imagery review show coastal cliffs exist in 93% of the combined recognized independent coastal states and non-independent coastal regions worldwide (total of 213 geographic units). Additionally, cliff retreat rates have been quantified in at least one location within 33% of independent coastal states and 15% of non-independent regions. The GIS-based mapping used the near-global Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 3 arc second digital elevation model and Arctic Coastal Dynamics Database to obtain near-global backshore coastal elevations at 1 km alongshore intervals comprising about 1,340,000 locations (81% of the world vector shoreline). Backshore coastal elevations were compared with the mapped distribution of European coastal cliffs to produce a model training set, and this relationship was extended globally to map the likelihood of coastal cliff locations. About 21% of the transects (17% of the world vector shoreline) were identified as mangroves and eliminated as potential cliff locations. The results were combined with estimates of cliff percentages for Greenland and Antarctica from the literature, extending the global coverage to estimate cliff occurrence across 89% of the world vector shoreline. The results suggest coastal cliffs likely exist on about 52% of the global shoreline. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Using model error in response history analysis to evaluate component calibration methods

This research is part of a larger effort to better understand and quantify the epistemic model uncertainty in dynamic response-history simulations. This paper focuses on how calibration methods influence model uncertainty. Structural models in earthquake engineering are typically built up from independently calibrated component models. During component calibration, engineers often use experimental component response under quasi-static loading to find parameters that minimize the error in structural response under dynamic loading. Since the calibration and the simulation environments are different, if a calibration method wants to provide optimal parameters for simulation, it has to focus on features of the component response that are important from the perspective of global structural behavior. Relevance describes how efficiently a calibration method can focus on such important features. A framework of virtual experiments and a methodology is proposed to evaluate the influence of calibration relevance on model error in simulations. The evaluation is demonstrated through a case study with buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBF). Two calibration methods are compared in the case study. The first, highly relevant calibration method is based on stiffness and hardening characteristics of braces; the second, less relevant calibration method is based on the axial force response of braces. The highly relevant calibration method consistently identified the preferable parameter sets. In contrast, the less relevant calibration method showed poor to mediocre performance. The framework and methodology presented here are not limited to BRBF. They have the potential to facilitate and systematize the improvement of component-model calibration methods for any structural system.     

Critical tissue copper residues for marine bivalve (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and echinoderm (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) embryonic development: conceptual, regulatory and environmental implications

Critical tissue copper (Cu) residues associated with adverse effects on embryo-larval development were determined for the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) following laboratory exposure to Cu-spiked seawater collected from San Diego Bay, California, USA. Whole body no-observed-effect-residues (NOER) were similar, with means of 21 and 23mugg(-1)dw, for M. galloprovincialis and S. purpuratus, respectively. Mean whole body median effect residues (ER50) were 49 and 142mugg(-1)dw for M. galloprovincialis and S. purpuratus, respectively. The difference in ER50s between species was reduced to a factor of <2 when expressed as soft tissue residues. Coefficients of variation among whole body-ER50s were 3-fold lower than median waterborne effect concentrations (EC50) for both species exposed to samples varying in water quality characteristics. This suggests that tissue concentrations were a better predictor of toxicity than water concentrations. The CBRs described herein do not differentiate between the internal Cu concentrations that are metabolically available and those that are accumulated and then detoxified. They do appear, however, to be well enough related to the level of accumulation at the site of action of toxicity that they serve as useful surrogates for the copper concentration that affects embryonic development of the species tested. Results presented have potentially important implications for a variety of monitoring and assessment strategies. These include regulatory approaches for deriving saltwater ambient water quality criteria for Cu, contributions towards the development of a saltwater biotic ligand model, the conceptual approach of using CBRs, and ecological risk assessment.     

Spectral theory and stability in astrophysics

This paper is part II of a limited review of the applications of the spectral theory of linear operators in an astrophysical context. A major part of the paper is devoted to describing the results obtained by Dyson and Schutz (1979) for differentially rotating perfect fluid stars. The functional-analytic techniques used and the results so obtained are compared with those in Paper I. As in the case of ideal magnetohydrodynamics, the mathematical structure of the rotating star problem is very rich indeed. Many questions remain unanswered in both areas.     

Regional modeling of decadal rainfall variability over the Sahel

A regional climate model is used to investigate the mechanism of interdecadal rainfall variability, specifically the drought of the 1970s and 1980s, in the Sahel region of Africa. The model is the National Center for Environmental Prediction’s (NCEPs) Regional Spectral Model (RSM97), with a horizontal resolution of approximately equivalent to a grid spacing of 50 km, nested within the ECHAM4.5 atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), which in turn was forced by observed sea surface temperature (SST). Simulations for the July–September season of the individual years 1955 and 1986 produced wet conditions in 1955 and dry conditions in 1986 in the Sahel, as observed. Additional July–September simulations were run forced by SSTs averaged for each month over the periods 1950–1959 and the 1978–1987. These simulations yielded wet conditions in the 1950–1959 case and dry conditions in the 1978–1987 case, confirming the role of SST forcing in decadal variability in particular. To test the hypothesis that the SST influences Sahel rainfall via stabilization of the tropospheric sounding, simulations were performed in which the temperature field from the AGCM was artificially modified before it was used to force the regional model. We modified the original 1955 ECHAM4.5 temperature profiles by adding a horizontally uniform, vertically varying temperature increase, taken from the 1986–1955 tropical mean warming in either the AGCM or the NCEP/National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis. When compared to the 1955 simulations without the added tropospheric warming, these simulations show a drying in the Sahel similar to that in the 1986–1955 difference and to the decadal difference between the 1980s and 1950s. This suggests that the tropospheric warming may have been, at least in part, the agent by which the SST increases led to the Sahel drought of the 1970s and 1980s.