Uncertainty in Coal Property Valuation in West Virginia: A Case Study

Interpolated grids of coal bed thickness are being considered for use in a proposed method for taxation of coal in the state of West Virginia (United States). To assess the origin and magnitude of possible inaccuracies in calculated coal tonnage, we used conditional simulation to generate equiprobable realizations of net coal thickness for two coals on a 7 min topographic quadrangle, and a third coal in a second quadrangle. Coals differed in average thickness and proportion of original coal that had been removed by erosion; all three coals crop out in the study area. Coal tonnage was calculated for each realization and for each interpolated grid for actual and artificial property parcels, and differences were summarized as graphs of percent difference between tonnage calculated from the grid and average tonnage from simulations. Coal in individual parcels was considered minable for valuation purposes if average thickness in each parcel exceeded 30 inches. Results of this study show that over 75% of the parcels are classified correctly as minable or unminable based on interpolation grids of coal bed thickness. Although between 80 and 90% of the tonnages differ by less than 20% between interpolated values and simulated values, a nonlinear conditional bias might exist in estimation of coal tonnage from interpolated thickness, such that tonnage is underestimated where coal is thin, and overestimated where coal is thick. The largest percent differences occur for parcels that are small in area, although because of the small quantities of coal in question, bias is small on an absolute scale for these parcels. For a given parcel size, maximum apparent overestimation of coal tonnage occurs in parcels with an average coal bed thickness near the minable cutoff of 30 in. Conditional bias in tonnage for parcels having a coal thickness exceeding the cutoff by 10 in. or more is constant for two of the three coals studied, and increases slightly with average thickness for the third coal.     

Low frequency waves in plasmas with spatially varying electron temperature

Low frequency electrostatic waves are studied in magnetized plasmas with an electron temperature which varies with position in a direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. For wave frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency, the waves need not follow any definite dispersion relation. Instead a band of phase velocities is allowed, with a range of variation depending on the maximum and minimum values of the electron temperature. Simple model equations are obtained for the general case which can be solved to give the spatial variation of a harmonically time varying potential. A simple analytical model for the phenomenon is presented and the results are supported by numerical simulations carried out in a 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell numerical simulation. We find that when the electron temperature is striated along B₀ and low frequency waves (_ci) are excited in this environment, then the intensity of these low frequency waves will be striated in a manner following the electron temperature striations. High frequency ion acoustic waves (_ci) will on the other hand have a spatially more uniform intensity distribution.     

油气储运系统钢结构设备地震火灾效应研究

预防和减轻油气储运系统地震火灾危险性是防震减灾中的重要课题。本文论述了油气储运系统的地震火灾特征及防火要求，对钢结构的防火涂料在遭到破坏和平时情况下的抗火性能进行了对比分析，并应用有限元法对油气储运系统中典型钢结构设备在地震火灾荷载作用下的抗火性能进行了数值模拟。研究结果表明，防火涂料遭到强地震荷载破坏后，钢结构的抗火性能大大降低。     

双节点有限元模拟直立走滑断裂地震位移场

结合位错理论和有限单元法，对介质横向不均匀性引起的直立走滑断裂地震水平位移场不对称性进行了数值模拟研究。结果表明，断层两侧介质泊松比和弹性模量的横向不均匀性，均可以引起直立走滑断层同震破裂及地震位移场的不对称性，其中，断层两侧介质的剪切模量比(刚度比)对直立走滑断裂地震位移场不对称性起主要作用。     

利用地层空间的相对稳定性、井资料、地震资料模拟高分辨率波阻抗资料

由于地震资料是带限的,而井资料约束反演过程中的地震反演频带的展宽也是有一定限度的,使得反演地震波阻抗也是带限的。如何进一步拓宽反演地震波阻抗的频带宽度,提高地震资料的分辨率是文中研究的内容。利用井约束下的地震反演波阻抗资料、地震资料及井资料,借鉴地质模拟技术,研究如何利用地层的空间相对稳定性特征,通过相关函数的分析,估计反演更高分辨率的地震波阻抗资料。考虑到地质体空间的相关性及分辨率,相关半径取相关函数从最大点到第1个极值点的范围。在目标函数的计算过程中,既考虑当前计算点的权系数信息,又考虑井外推时的权系数信息,这样使计算结果更加稳定可靠。通过综合模拟计算,能够识别较小砂体     

投影寻踪模型在地下水水质评价中的应用

文中分析了常用的水体质量评价模型的缺陷,提出了基于序列二次规划算法SQP(Sequentialquadraticprogramming)的投影寻踪评价模型,并利用多项式插值的方法进行水质分类,取得了符合客观实际的评价结果。某水源地地下水质量评价结果表明:用投影寻踪方法可以揭示高维数据的结构特征;所建立的评价模型不仅简单、直观和易于理解,而且结果合理。为水源地的保护和合理利用提供了决策依据。     

Reliability analysis of drilled shaft behavior using finite difference method and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Monte Carlo</Emphasis> simulation

Load displacement analysis of drilled shafts can be accomplished by utilizing the “t-z” method, which models soil resistance along the length and tip of the drilled shaft as a series of springs. For non-linear soil springs, the governing differential equation that describes the soil-structure interaction may be discretized into a set of algebraic equations based upon finite difference methods. This system of algebraic equations may be solved to determine the load–displacement behavior of the drilled shaft when subjected to compression or pullout. By combining the finite difference method with Monte Carlo simulation techniques, a probabilistic load–displacement analysis can be conducted. The probabilistic analysis is advantageous compared to standard factor of safety design because uncertainties with the shaft–soil interface and tip properties can be independently quantified. This paper presents a reliability analysis of drilled shaft behavior by combining the finite difference technique for analyzing non-linear load–displacement behavior with Monte Carlo simulation method. As a result we develop probabilistic relationships for drilled shaft design for both total stress (undrained) and effective stress (drained) parameters. The results are presented in the form of factor of safety or resistance factors suitable for serviceability design of drilled shafts.     

Digital Image Based Approach for Three-Dimensional Mechanical Analysis of Heterogeneous Rocks

Summary This paper presents a digital image based approach for three-dimensional (3-D) numerical simulation and failure analysis of rocks by taking into account the actual 3-D heterogeneity. Digital image techniques are adopted to extract two-dimensional (2-D) material heterogeneity from material surface images. The 2-D image mesostructures are further extrapolated to 3-D cuboid mesostructures by assuming the material surface as a representation of the inner material heterogeneity within a very small depth. The iterative milling and scanning system is set up to generate the 3-D rock mesostructures. A Hong Kong granite specimen is used as an example to demonstrate the procedure of 3-D mesostructure establishment. The mechanical responses and failure process under the conventional Brazilian tensile test condition are examined through numerical analyses. The stress distribution, crack propagation process and failure model of heterogeneous material cases are simulated with a finite difference software. The numerical results indicate that material heterogeneity plays an important role in determining the failure behavior of rocks under external loading.     

Far-field simulation of the 1946 Aleutian tsunami

We present hydrodynamic far-field simulations of the Aleutian tsunami of 1946 April 1, using both a dislocation source representing a slow earthquake and a dipolar one modelling a large landslide. The earthquake source is derived from the recent seismological study by López and Okal, while the landslide source was previously used to explain the exceptional run-up at Scotch Cap in the near field. The simulations are compared to a field data set previously compiled from testimonies of elderly witnesses at 27 far-field locations principally in the Austral and Marquesas Islands, with additional sites at Pitcairn, Easter and Juan Fernández. We find that the data set is modelled satisfactorily by the dislocation source, while the landslide fails to match the measured amplitudes, and to give a proper rendition of the physical interaction of the wavefield with the shore, in particular at Nuku Hiva, Marquesas. The emerging picture is that the event involved both a very slow earthquake, responsible for the far-field tsunami, and a major landslide explaining the near-field run-up, but with a negligible contribution in the far field.