Hydrological characteristics of vegetated river flows: a laboratory flume study

Abstract

Laboratory flume experiments were undertaken to measure the vertical profiles of mean flow velocity for three different flow discharges and four different stem densities of Hydrilla verticillata. The data were used to calculate three parameters, namely Manning's roughness coefficient, the Reynolds number and the Froude number. In addition, empirical equations were obtained for the vertical distribution of measured flow velocity within the transitional zone and above the plant canopy. The results show that: (a) the vertical distribution of measured flow velocity exhibits three zone profiles; (b) Manning's roughness coefficient decreases with increasing depth-averaged flow velocity; (c) the relationship between Manning's roughness coefficient and the depth-averaged flow velocity is within the smooth left inverse curve; (d) Manning's roughness coefficient significantly changes with increasing density of Hydrilla; (e) the Froude number is independent of the density of Hydrilla; and (f) both the Reynolds number and the Froude number increase with increasing depth-averaged flow velocity.

Citation Shi, J.Z., Li, Y.-H., Hughes, J.M.R., and Zhao, M., 2013. Hydrological characteristics of vegetated river flows: a laboratory flume study. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (5), 1047–1058.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz     

Vertical heterogeneities of hydraulic aquitard parameters: preliminary results from laboratory and in situ monitoring

Abstract

A borehole is developed in a shallow multi-layered aquifer and used to derive the porosity, specific storage and hydraulic conductivity of the aquitard. Local values of hydrodynamical parameters are estimated from petrophysical analysis of core samples, and the empirical relationship between porosity and permeability. Vertical diffusivity is determined from the response of the aquitard to a loading cyclic signal using pressure records at different depths. Hydraulic conductivities deduced from the petrophysical analysis ranged from 10^?8 to 10^?10 m s^?1 and are comparable with those of facies of marine/lacustrine clay observed in samples. The permeability values calculated based on diffusivity are within the range 10^?9 to 10^?11 m s^?1 with a quasi-systematic bias of one order of magnitude. These values are average for a larger part of the aquitard and correspond to an integrated value. The methodology retained for the aquitard characterization is discussed with emphasis on the implications for the management of a complex aquifer system.

Citation Larroque, F., Cabaret, O., Atteia, O., Dupuy, A., and Franceschi, M., 2013. Vertical heterogeneities of hydraulic aquitard parameters: preliminary results from laboratory and in situ monitoring. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (4), 912–929.     

Spatio-temporal variations of reference crop evapotranspiration and pan evaporation in the West Songnen Plain of China

Abstract

The spatio-temporal variations of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET_ref) reflect the combined effects of meteorological variables, primarily wind speed, relative humidity, net radiation and air temperature. This study investigated the spatial distribution and temporal trends of ET_ref (calculated by the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation), pan evaporation (E_pan) and pan coefficient (K_p) in a 140?×?10³ km² semi-humid to semi-arid area in China. The results show that: (i) although the spatial distributions of ET_ref and E_pan are roughly similar and their spatial correlation is high over the growing season, K_p varied considerably in space due to high humidity in the east of the region and low humidity in the southwest; (ii) the monthly variations of ET_ref and E_pan are similar to that of net radiation and opposite to that of relative humidity, while the monthly variation of K_p is similar to that of relative humidity and opposite to that of wind speed, and the long-term trend is slightly increasing for ET_ref and E_pan, while significantly (10% significance level) increasing for K_p; and (iii) generally, the time series of ET_ref and E_pan from 1951 to 2001 could be divided into three phases due to variations of meteorological variables.

Citation Liang, L.-Q., Li, L.-J. & Liu, Q. (2011) Spatio-temporal variations of reference crop evapotranspiration and pan evaporation in the West Songnen Plain of China. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(7), 1300–1313.     

Comparison of ten notable meteorological drought indices on tracking the effect of drought on streamflow

ABSTRACT

Ten notable meteorological drought indices were compared on tracking the effect of drought on streamflow. A 730-month dataset of precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration for 88 catchments in Oregon, USA, representing pristine conditions, was used to compute the drought indices. These indices were correlated with the monthly streamflow datasets of the minimum, maximum and mean discharge, and the discharge monthly fluctuation; it was revealed that the 3-month Z-score drought index (Z3) has the best association with the four streamflow variables. The Mann-Kendall trend detection test applied to the latter index time series mainly highlighted a downward trend in the autumn and winter drought magnitude (DM) and an upward trend in the spring and summer DM (p = 0.05). Finally, the Pettitt test indicated an abrupt decline in the annual and autumn DM, which began in 1984 and 1986, respectively.     

OPERATING A LIMESTONE AQUIFER AS A RESERVOIR FOR A WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

Abstract

An aquifer can be used not only as water source but also as a regulating reservoir linked to a water supply system, planning the operation of such reservoirs calls for a good knowledge of the characteristics and limitations of the aquifer, an estimate of its natural replenishment and outflows, as weil as the determination of a programme for pumping and artificial recharge.

A limestone aquifer of karstic nature, heavily exploited and artificially recharged, has been studied recently with respect to its storage capacity and responses to a planned scheme of operations established for the national water supply systems.

The physical characteristics of this aquifer, its inflows, outflows and dynamic behaviour, were first determined by geological and hydrological investigations. The dynamic model obtained was then verified and improved by use of a resistor-capacitor electric analog constructed for this purpose. Later on, several operational alternatives were tested on the same analog. An optimization analysis was performed on a simplified single cell model representing the aquifer system. The methodology of such integrational operation is discussed in light of the results obtained.     

滑坡稳定性评价中地震作用力计算的讨论

阐述了目前国内外在滑坡地震稳定性评价方面的理论研究成果和实际应用情况,指出地质矿产行业规范在采用静力法计算地震力时没有乘以0.25的综合影响系数,和其它规范的差别是巨大的.分析后认为这个规定是值得商榷的.最后根据宏观震害现象提出易引起滑坡的地质情况并对其进行了分析,为滑坡治理工程设计和以后的规范修编提供了方法和思路.     

Evaluation of the saltation process of bed materials by video imaging under altered bed roughness

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of particle saltation and movement over the beds of fixed roughness from flume experiments. A series of experiments are carried out to study the saltation of individual sand particles of different sizes over rough beds under different flow conditions. A 3‐D acoustic Doppler velocimeter is used to record the fluid velocity components; subsequently, under different flow conditions, the images of released sand particles are recorded using high‐speed video imaging technique. Systematic analysis is made with regard to the forces acting on the grains and the variation of their magnitudes along the saltation trajectories of the grains. Relations between the saltation parameters, flow intensity and bed roughness are developed. The distributions of the angle of orientations during a single saltation follows almost a Gaussian distribution. The shape of the Gaussian distribution depends on the particle size and bed roughness. Particle collisions with rough beds and the resulting coefficients of restitution are also discussed. A theoretical framework is developed to compute the mean particle velocity considering the spin in the energy balance equation. Results of the detailed analysis using the imaging technique are much better than in previously reported studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monthly and annual effective infiltration coefficients in Dinaric karst: example of the Gradole karst spring catchment

Abstract

The method of “historic event” is used to generate synthetic hyetographs based on statistical analysis of precipitation data. A synthetic triangular model was developed based on rainfall data of Zioud watershed (central Tunisia) with a standard time step of one hour. A database of 2799 observed rainfall events was used to provide statistical parameters for a simple triangular-shaped hyetograph model. The developed model provides a synthetic hyetograph in dimensionless form for different storm durations (2, 3 and 4 hours). For a given season and location, the variation of the first dimensionless moment with duration was relatively small, with an average range of 13% for all the stations. The resulting dimensionless hyetographs were found to be nearly identical when they were non-dimensionalized using the rainfall depth and duration, showing some seasonal effect and insignificant effects of the rainfall duration. A good agreement between simulated and observed hyetographs was achieved based on not only visual impressions, but also statistical numerical and graphical tests.     

利用外部DEM辅助山区SAR立体像对匹配及地形制图

SAR立体像对的匹配是利用雷达摄影测量技术提取地形高程信息的关键,匹配精度将直接影响结果 DEM的高程精度。针对山区SAR立体像对匹配过程中同名点选取困难的问题,引入外部粗分辨率DEM作为辅助数据,将该DEM高程转换为视差,为匹配提供初值,同时采用金字塔匹配策略,不仅可以缩小搜索范围,提高搜索效率,而且能够减少粗差的产生。试验结果表明,采用外部DEM辅助之后,匹配粗差点数量相对于传统的雷达摄影测量处理结果明显减少,从而有效地提高了高程信息提取重建的精度。     

Impact of terrain complexity on the turbulence drag coefficient: A case study from the Indian Himalayan region

The aerodynamic drag coefficient (C_D) is conjectured to change (or remains almost uniform) with the horizontal wind speed (U) over a flexible (or fixed) surface element, which is represented with the surface roughness (z₀). This conjecture is tested for the near neutral atmospheric turbulence (i.e. when surface stability z/L is almost equal to 0, where z is the measurement height and L is Obukhov length) of monsoon and winter season at an on-slope and a ridge-top site in the Indian Himalaya, wherein the ridge-top site is associated with a higher degree of sensitivity to the roughness element and terrain attributes. This hypothesis is successfully verified for two conditions, (i) the monsoon period observations of ridge-top site are found to have higher z₀ due to vegetative growth than the winter period for flows having similar terrain signature, and (ii) the monsoon and winter period observations of on-slope site are noted to have similar z₀ for flows having signature of steep terrain. Subsequently, constants (i.e. a and b) of the power-law relationships between C_D and U (i.e. C_D = aU^b), as a function of z₀, are optimized. It is noted that the relationship between C_D and U has higher sensitivity towards the terrain slope than the vegetative growth.