Evaluation of clayed silt properties on the behavior of hydrate production in South China Sea

Gas hydrate is one kind of potential energy resources that is buried under deep seafloor or frozen areas. The first trial offshore production from the silty reservoir was conducted in the South China Sea by the China Geological Survey (CGS). During this test, there were many unique characteristics different from the sand reservoir, which was believed to be related to the clayed silt physical properties. In this paper, simulation experiments, facilities analysis, and theoretical calculation were used to confirm the hydrate structure, reservoir thermo-physical property, and bond water movement rule. And the behavior of how they affected production efficiency was analyzed. The results showed that: It was reasonable to use the structure I rather than structure II methane hydrate phase equilibrium data to make the production plan; the dissociation heat absorbed by hydrate was large enough to cause hydrate self-protection or reformation depend on the reservoir thermal transfer and gas supply; clayed silt got better thermal conductivity compared to coarse grain, but poor thermal convection especially with hydrate; clayed silt sediment was easy to bond water, but the irreducible water can be exchanged to free water under high production pressure, and the most obvious pressure range of water increment was 1.9–4.9 MPa.     

我国红黏土物理力学性能研究现状及展望

采用文献综述研究方法,梳理了红黏土研究成果并进行了评述,对红黏土的物理力学性质进行了归纳和总结,对红黏土的性能改良研究成果进行了汇总,指出红黏土的物理力学性能的差异性根源在于微观结构的个性差异存在,红黏土性能改良的困难在于红黏土的水敏性和热敏性,红黏土性能改良的关键在于控制其含水率。最后指出了研究不足在于普适性理论和知识体系没有构建,改良方法和技术探究应该加强,展望了红黏土性能改良的物理—化学—生物耦合作用的机理及复合技术开发和应用的研究。     

Downvalley fining of hillslope sediment in an alpine catchment: implications for downstream fining of sediment flux in mountain rivers

The size distributions of sediment delivered from hillslopes to rivers profoundly influence river morphodynamics, including river incision into bedrock and the quality of aquatic habitat. Yet little is known about the factors that influence size distributions of sediment produced by weathering on hillslopes. We present results of a field study of hillslope sediment size distributions at Inyo Creek, a steep catchment in granitic bedrock of the Sierra Nevada, USA. Particles sampled near the base of hillslopes, adjacent to the trunk stream, show a pronounced decrease in sediment size with decreasing sample elevation across all but the coarsest size classes. Measured size distributions become increasingly bimodal with decreasing elevation, exhibiting a coarse, bouldery mode that does not change with elevation and a more abundant finer mode that shifts from cobbles at the highest elevations to gravel at mid elevations and finally to sand at low elevations. We interpret these altitudinal variations in hillslope sediment size to reflect changes in physical, chemical, and biological weathering that can be explained by the catchment's strong altitudinal gradients in topography, climate, and vegetation cover. Because elevation and travel distance to the outlet are closely coupled, the altitudinal trends in sediment size produce a systematic decrease in sediment size along hillslopes parallel to the trunk stream. We refer to this phenomenon as ‘downvalley fining.’ Forward modeling shows that downvalley fining of hillslope sediment is necessary for downstream fining of the long-term average flux of coarse sediment in mountain landscapes where hillslopes and channels are coupled and long-term net sediment deposition is negligible. The model also shows that abrasion plays a secondary role in downstream fining of coarse sediment flux but plays a dominant role in partitioning between the bedload and suspended load. Patterns observed at Inyo Creek may be widespread in mountain ranges around the world. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Channel stability in steep gravel–cobble streams is controlled by the coarse tail of the bed material distribution

Researchers have associated channel-forming flows with reach-average shear stresses close to the entrainment threshold for the surface D₅₀ . We conducted experiments using a model of a generic steep, gravel–cobble stream to test this association. Our results suggest that channel-forming flows fully mobilize the D₅₀ , and produce shear stresses close to the entrainment threshold for the largest grains in the bed. The channel dimensions were set by flows capable of mobilizing between 85% and 90% of the bed surface, which produced a brief period of lateral instability lasting about 1 h, followed by a prolonged period of relative stability during which modest adjustments occurred, but during which the reach-average hydraulics remained about the same. The adjustments during the unstable phase of the experiments are characterized by rapid bank erosion, extensive deposits on the channel bed and a restructuring of the major morphologic elements of the stream. The adjustments during the stable phase of the experiments involved barform migration and bed surface coarsening but did not appreciably modify the physical template established by the end of the unstable phase. The behaviour we observed is not consistent with the concept of a dynamic equilibrium associated with a formative flow that is just capable of entraining the bed surface D₅₀ . Instead, it suggests that rapid adjustments occur once a stability threshold is exceeded, which creates a template that constrains channel activity until another event drives the system across the stability threshold, and re-sets the template. While we believe that it is probably too simplistic to associate a channel-forming discharge with the entrainment threshold for a single grain size, our results suggest that the D₉₅ is a more logical choice than the D₅₀ © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment flux-driven channel geometry adjustment of bedrock and mixed gravel–bedrock rivers

Sediment supply (Q_s) is often overlooked in modelling studies of landscape evolution, despite sediment playing a key role in the physical processes that drive erosion and sedimentation in river channels. Here, we show the direct impact of the supply of coarse-grained, hard sediment on the geometry of bedrock channels from the Rangitikei River, New Zealand. Channels receiving a coarse bedload sediment supply are systematically (up to an order of magnitude) wider than channels with no bedload sediment input for a given discharge. We also present physical model experiments of a bedrock river channel with a fixed water discharge (1.5 l min⁻¹) under different Q_s (between 0 and 20 g l⁻¹) that allow the quantification of the role of sediment in setting the width and slope of channels and the distribution of shear stress within channels. The addition of bedload sediment increases the width, slope and width-to-depth ratio of the channels, and increasing sediment loads promote emerging complexity in channel morphology and shear stress distributions. Channels with low Q_s are characterized by simple in-channel morphologies with a uniform distribution of shear stress within the channel while channels with high Q_s are characterized by dynamic channels with multiple active threads and a non-uniform distribution of shear stress. We compare bedrock channel geometries from the Rangitikei and the experiments to alluvial channels and demonstrate that the behaviour is similar, with a transition from single-thread and uniform channels to multiple threads occurring when bedload sediment is present. In the experimental bedrock channels, this threshold Q_s is when the input sediment supply exceeds the transport capacity of the channel. Caution is required when using the channel geometry to reconstruct past environmental conditions or to invert for tectonic uplift rates, because multiple configurations of channel geometry can exist for a given discharge, solely due to input Q_s. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Controls on the lateral channel-migration rate of braided channel systems in coarse non-cohesive sediment

Lateral movements of alluvial river channels control the extent and reworking rates of alluvial fans, floodplains, deltas, and alluvial sections of bedrock rivers. These lateral movements can occur by gradual channel migration or by sudden changes in channel position (avulsions). Whereas models exist for rates of river avulsion, we lack a detailed understanding of the rates of lateral channel migration on the scale of a channel belt. In a two-step process, we develop here an expression for the lateral migration rate of braided channel systems in coarse, non-cohesive sediment. On the basis of photographic and topographic data from laboratory experiments of braided channels performed under constant external boundary conditions, we first explore the impact of autogenic variations of the channel-system geometry (i.e. channel-bank heights, water depths, channel-system width, and channel slope) on channel-migration rates. In agreement with theoretical expectations, we find that, under such constant boundary conditions, the laterally reworked volume of sediment is constant and lateral channel-migration rates scale inversely with the channel-bank height. Furthermore, when channel-bank heights are accounted for, lateral migration rates are independent of the remaining channel geometry parameters. These constraints allow us, in a second step, to derive two alternative expressions for lateral channel-migration rates under different boundary conditions using dimensional analysis. Fits of a compilation of laboratory experiments to these expressions suggest that, for a given channel bank-height, migration rates are strongly sensitive to water discharges and more weakly sensitive to sediment discharges. In addition, external perturbations, such as changes in sediment and water discharges or base level fall, can indirectly affect lateral channel-migration rates by modulating channel-bank heights. © 2019 The Author. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2019 The Author. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

陕西省地电阻率观测干扰因素分析研究

运用陕西省2011—2018年地电阻率观测资料,分析得出该省地电阻率观测干扰因素主要有：观测系统故障、自然环境干扰和场地环境干扰;计算观测数据受干扰影响的幅度,得出影响的时间尺度,解析每种类型干扰的表现形式和曲线变化的形态特征,提出干扰抑制的方法及建议,并对干扰影响观测数据变化的物理机制进行分析;阐明地震预报中数据应用的基本工作流程,申明准确识别各类干扰、寻求解决干扰问题途径以及探索新的干扰数据处理方法的重要意义。     

河北省中南部一次大雾天气过程分析

对2003年11月河北省中南部大雾天气进行了分析,结果表明与稳定度有关的物理量场的变化不仅是强对流等灾害性天气的预报指标,对大雾天气也有一定的指示意义：雾是在稳定的大气层结下出现的天气现象,根据大气稳定层结的状况及变化,可以判断大雾天气的有无及其生消时间。另外,前期湿度条件的积累也是影响大雾生成的主要原因。     

Modelling aspects of structures isolated with the frictional pendulum system

Different modelling aspects of structures isolated using the frictional pendulum system and subjected to earthquake ground motions are studied herein. Although the vertical dynamics of these structures is given special emphasis, other effects such as large isolator deformations and bidirectional input motion are also considered. Different structural models of the FPS are developed and tested for single-storey structures and a real four-storey building frame; among them, an ‘exact’ formulation of the FPS force–deformation constitutive relationship is presented. Results show that global building responses can be computed within 20 per cent error in the mean using a simplified model that ignores the vertical motion of the building; however, structural member deformations and forces need to be computed using a model that considers such motion. This is of particular importance when there exist correlation between the horizontal and vertical components of ground motion. Further, a physical model of the FPS is introduced and used to determine the response of a real four-storey frame, including uplift and downward impact. Results from this analysis show that local column responses may vary substantially depending on the stiffness of the isolation storey and the presence of a mass at the isolation level. Such mass is capable of filtering the large increase in column shear that results from the impact of the structure after uplift. Uplift occurs at several instants of the response of the structure considered, leading to an increase in column base shear as large as 3 times the shear obtained by ignoring the vertical dynamics of the building. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

平推式滑坡运动距离计算模型

平推式滑坡是四川盆地红层地区和三峡库区普遍存在的一类十分特殊的滑坡。多发育于近水平砂、泥岩互层的斜坡中,岩层倾角一般仅3°～5°,最陡者也不超过10°。基于平推式滑坡的地质力学模型及运动过程分析,利用能量守恒的原理推导了平推式滑坡运动距离的理论计算公式。进行了3组物理模型模拟试验,第Ⅰ组试验模拟滑坡后部裂缝在不同宽度及水头高度作用下滑坡体的运动距离,对推导的理论公式进行校验。通过对比分析认为,平推式滑坡前缘剪出口地下水排泄状态呈少量点状排泄时,滑坡基底扬压力分布形态整体上与矩形更加接近。为了进一步校验理论公式,进行了第Ⅱ组、第Ⅲ组试验,每组分别固定初始水头高度和初始裂缝宽度,模型设置了前缘整体渗水和完全堵塞两种情况。物理模拟试验验证了理论公式的可靠性和适用性。将理论公式应用于狮子山滑坡运动距离的计算,应用结果表明计算公式适用性良好。研究成果对平推式滑坡防治具有一定的指导意义。