Beach nourishments at Coolangatta Bay over the period 1987–2005: Impacts and lessons

Erosion of the southern Gold Coast beaches (SE Queensland, Australia) was exacerbated after the extension of the Tweed River training walls in the early 1960s. To achieve the objective of restoring and maintaining beach amenity, significant nourishment works have been undertaken in Coolangatta Bay over the past 30 years. Particularly, under the Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) since 1995, a number of nourishment campaigns and the implementation of a permanent sand bypass system in 2001 have resulted in significant changes of Coolangatta Bay morphology. The present case study investigates the influence of both wave climate and nourishment works on the area extending from the updrift Snapper Rocks area to downdrift Kirra Beach. SWAN spectral wave model is implemented at Coolangatta Bay area and forced by the global wave model WW3 to estimate wave forcing and the potential natural longshore drift entering in Coolangatta. Specific transects extracted from accurate bathymetric surveys are used to investigate and quantify Coolangatta Bay sedimentation for the period 1987–2005. A network of Argus video stations provides high sample rate information on the shoreline evolution. Results show that, over the past 10 years, Coolangatta Bay has infilled rapidly. Sedimentation reached up to 6 m in some areas between 1995 and 2005, with beach width increasing by 200 m at Kirra Beach. Rapid seaward shoreline migration is consistent with the intense over-pumping of sand relative to the natural potential to move sand alongshore. The nourishment strategy used during this project has successfully delivered large amounts of sand to the southern Gold Coast embayment, although it has been up to now controversial from many community perspectives. The artificial sand bypassing process proved to be much more efficient than depositing the dredged sand in the nearshore area which requires a significant period of low energy condition in order for the deposited sediment to migrate shoreward and weld to the shore. This case study confirms that, when carefully undertaken, sand bypassing is a sustainable and flexible soft engineering approach which can work in concert with natural processes.     

集合卡尔曼滤波在流域水文模型流量预报中的应用

针对流域降雨入渗过程,引入集合卡尔曼滤波(EnKF)理论,视整个边坡流域为一个随机动态系统,将边坡流域流量观测值作为系统的输出,用集合卡尔曼滤波模型来描述系统的状态;结合流域流量计算方法,实现水文模型参数的随机动态估计,在有效获得待估参数的同时还给出估计值的不确定性.通过数值算例表明,集合卡尔曼滤波可以有效地对含噪声的量测数据进行处理,能够跟踪水文模型的动态变化.相对于常用最优化算法,集合卡尔曼滤波同时给出反演结果和先验知识的后验分布,显示出更好的实时性和可靠性.     

孤岛油田南区馆1+2砂层组细分对比标志特征

基于沉积学和储层地质学理论,以孤岛油田南区馆1+2砂层组高弯曲流河沉积为例,充分利用密井网条件下的测井资料,研究储层细分对比中的标志类型、特征、分布及其应用。首先,介绍了馆1+2砂层组的测井响应、地震反射等宏观特征;接着,利用感应电导率曲线、自然电位曲线的响应特征寻找细分对比标志;然后,将选取的标志联合使用得到孤岛油田南区馆1+2砂层组的顶面构造图。结果表明:研究区缺少全区性标志,但存在局部性标志;局部性标志有泥岩类、砂岩类、"钙质尖"类、砂泥组合类等4类;泥岩类标志表现出高感应电导率特点,砂岩类标志表现为低电阻率,自然电位曲线呈"箱形"或小型的"钟形","钙质尖"类标志表现为高电阻、高微电阻、低声波时差,低自然电位值的尖锋,砂泥组合类标志表现为感应曲线特征的可对比性强;泥岩类和砂岩类标志分布面积较大,呈局部连片状;"钙质尖"类和砂泥组合类标志分布面积较小,呈条带状;上述4类标志在平面上的叠合分布完全覆盖研究区。总之,充分利用好局部性标志,同样能够很好地进行类似地区的储层细分对比。     

The precipitation infiltration and runoff recharging experiment observation in the Taklimakan Desert

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Ancient and modern cold-climate aeolian sand deposition: A review

Although partly active aeolian sand sheets and dunes cover large areas in the zones of (dis)continuous permafrost, little precise information is available about the influence of cold-climate conditions on modern aeolian processes. This means that palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the stabilised, mainly Late Pleistocene dune fields and cover sand regions in the ‘sand belts’ of the European Lowlands and the Northern Great Plains of the USA and Canada, are necessarily still based on ancient evidence. Cold-climate wind deposits are typically derived from areas of abundant sediment supply like unvegetated flood plains, glacial outwash plains, till plains and lake shores. The common parabolic and transverse dune forms resemble those observed in temperate regions. Although a variety of periglacial features has been identified in Late Pleistocene dune and cover sands none of them indicate that permafrost is crucial to aeolian activity. Specific structures in aeolian strata permit tentative interpretation of the moisture content of depositional sand surfaces, the nature of annual sedimentation cycles and the processes by which strata were deposited and/or contorted. But surprisingly little is known about the role of vegetation in the process of sand accumulation. Dunes are most informative with respect to reconstructions of past wind regimes, which offer important data for verification of palaeoclimatic simulations.     

石家庄地面水回渗地下过程的氮行为影响试验研究

石家庄是我国北方地下水位下降较大的城市之一,利用其毗邻滹沱河宽阔河滩,地面水可直接入渗补给地下水的有利水文地质条件,实施地面水回渗地下工程,将具有现实意义.为探索地面水回渗后的水质变化,该文针对地面水在回渗过程中对水质起限制性影响的氮行为作用进行了模拟试验研究.结果显示,利用2 m厚的滹沱河细砂土及与粘土按一定比例的混合砂土层,可对间歇式实施地面水回渗中的铵氮组分形成一定容量的截留去除,并且该截留量又在随回渗次数的增加而缓慢下降,当采用人工增加环境碱度及湿度的办法后可消除这种下降.同时,还显示对回渗水中硝酸氮的去除率不高,但若采用人工添加乙醇碳源和接种优势脱氮微生物菌种方法,硝酸氮的去除率将会得到较大提高.     

Selection of sand models and identification of parameters using an enhanced genetic algorithm

Numerous constitutive models of granular soils have been developed during the last few decades. As a consequence, how to select an appropriate model with the necessary features based on conventional tests and with an easy way of identifying parameters for geotechnical applications has become a major issue. This paper aims to discuss the selection of sand models and parameters identification by using genetic algorithm. A real‐coded genetic algorithm is enhanced for the optimization with high efficiency. Models with gradually varying features (elastic‐perfectly plastic modelling, nonlinear stress–strain hardening, critical state concept and two‐surface concept) are selected from numerous sand models as examples for optimization. Conventional triaxial tests on Hostun sand are selected as the objectives in the optimization. Four key points are then discussed in turn: (i) which features are necessary to be accounted for in constitutive modelling of sand; (ii) which type of tests (drained and/or undrained) should be selected for an optimal identification of parameters; (iii) what is the minimum number of tests that should be selected for parameter identification; and (iv) what is the suitable and least strain level of objective tests to obtain reliable and reasonable parameters. Finally, a useful guide, based on all comparisons, is provided at the end of the discussion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrological responses to climatic variability in a cold agricultural region

Extended severe dry and wet periods are frequently observed in the northern continental climate of the Canadian Prairies. Prairie streamflow is mainly driven by spring snowmelt of the winter snowpack, whilst summer rainfall is an important control on evapotranspiration and thus seasonality affects the hydrological response to drought and wet periods in complex ways. A field‐tested physically based model was used to investigate the influences of climatic variability on hydrological processes in this region. The model was set up to resolve agricultural fields and to include key cold regions processes. It was parameterized from local and regional measurements without calibration and run for the South Tobacco Creek basin in southern Manitoba, Canada. The model was tested against snow depth and streamflow observations at multiple scales and performed well enough to explore the impacts of wet and dry periods on hydrological processes governing the basin scale hydrological response. Four hydro‐climatic patterns with distinctive climatic seasonality and runoff responses were identified from differing combinations of wet/dry winter and summer seasons. Water balance analyses of these patterns identified substantive multiyear subsurface soil moisture storage depletion during drought (2001–2005) and recharge during a subsequent wet period (2009–2011). The fractional percentage of heavy rainfall days was a useful metric to explain the contrasting runoff volumes between dry and wet summers. Finally, a comparison of modeling approaches highlights the importance of antecedent fall soil moisture, ice lens formation during the snowmelt period, and peak snow water equivalent in simulating snowmelt runoff.     

Assessment of slope stability in cohesive soils due to a rainfall

The primary focus in this work is on proposing a methodology for the assessment of stability of natural/engineered slopes in clayey soils subjected to water infiltration. In natural deposits of fine‐grained soils, the presence of water in the vicinity of minerals results in an interparticle bonding. This effect cannot be easily quantified as it involves complex chemical interactions at the micromechanical level. Here, the evolution of strength properties, including the apparent cohesion resulting from initial suction at the irreducible fluid saturation, is described by employing the framework of chemoplasticity. The paper provides first the formulation of the problem; this involves specification of the constitutive relation, development of an implicit return mapping scheme, and the outline of a coupled transient formulation. The framework is then applied to examine the stability of a slope subjected to a prolonged period of intensive rainfall. It is shown that the water infiltration may trigger the loss of stability resulting from the degradation of material properties. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.