The response of flexible pipes buried in sand to static surface stress

A series of laboratory tests on thin-walled PVC-U (i.e. very flexible) pipes buried in sand is described. The tests were conducted in a glass-fronted test tank, the pipe being positioned up against the glass with its longitudinal axis perpendicular to the glass. This allowed direct observation of the sand–pipe interactions. Photographs were taken through the glass allowing discrete measurement of pipe and soil displacements during pipe installation and subsequent surface loading. This paper discusses the influences on pipe response of installation method, cover depth and pipe stiffness as increasing static surface stress was applied. The results of the laboratory tests indicate very clearly the importance of well-controlled backfilling around flexible buried pipes to ensure their long-term performance. The stiffness of the pipe affects the way it behaves and hence its performance in resisting applied stresses. This is demonstrated by the observed changes in arching effects above pipes of different stiffness. The effect of increasing cover depth is demonstrated and confirms previous research findings regarding the influence of the ground surface on pipe performance. The results clearly demonstrate the valuable insight afforded by direct observation of the soil–pipe interaction during installation and the subsequent loading of flexible pipes.     

Application of a non-coaxial soil model in shallow foundations

The influence of a non-coaxial model for granular soils on shallow foundation analyses is investigated. The non-coaxial plasticity theory proposed by Rudnicki and Rice (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 1975, 23, 371–394) is integrated into a Drucker–Prager model with both perfect plasticity and strain hardening. This non-coaxial model is numerically implemented into the finite-element program ABAQUS using a substepping scheme with automatic error control. The influence of the non-coaxial model on footing settlement and bearing capacity is investigated under various loading and boundary conditions. Compared with the predictions using conventional coaxial models, the non-coaxial prediction results indicate that the settlement of a footing increases significantly when the non-coaxial component of plastic strain rate is taken into consideration, although ultimate footing bearing capacities are not affected significantly. The non-coaxial model has a different effect on footing settlements under different loading and boundary conditions. In general, the discrepancies between coaxial and non-coaxial predictions increase with increasing rotation of principal stresses of the soil mass beneath a footing. It can be concluded that if the non-coaxial component of plastic strain rate is neglected in shallow foundation problems using the finite-element method, the results tend to be non-conservative when designs are dominated by settlement of footings.     

A cyclic elastoplastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for soils

An elastoplastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for soils is presented in this study, based on an original approach concerning viscous modelling. In this approach, the viscous behaviour is defined by internal viscous variables and a viscous yield surface. The model has been developed from a basic elastoplastic model (CJS model) by considering an additional viscous mechanism. The evolution of the viscous yield surface is governed by a particular hardening called ‘viscous hardening’. This model is able to explain the time-dependent behaviour of soils such as creep (primary, secondary and un-drained creep rupture), stress relaxation and strain rate effects in static and cyclic loadings. The existing problems in the classical elasto-viscoplastic models related to the plasticity failure, the rapid loading and the cyclic loading are solved in the proposed model. The physical meanings and the identification strategy of model parameters are clearly given. The validation on certain triaxial test results and the simulation of cyclic triaxial test indicate the capacity of this model in prediction of time-dependent behaviour of clayey soils.     

面向对象的高分辨率遥感影像信息提取技术

介绍了单张高空间分辨率的航空遥感数据在没有其他专题图辅助的情况下进行面向对象的信息提取的方法。以山西省平顺县为研究区,ADS40彩色航空影像为数据源,对不同的地物采取不同尺度的多尺度分割,形成具有"同质性"的对象,然后分别采取不同的信息提取策略,得到研究区信息分类成果,且有效避免了"同谱异物"、"同物异谱"及"椒盐现象",对高分辨率遥感影像信息提取技术研究具有一定的实践指导意义。     

基于智能规则的1∶10000省级基础测绘成果质检模型设计研究

为解决省级基础测绘成果质检问题,提高省级基础地理信息数据库建库质量,提出了基于智能规则的空间数据质检模型。抽象质检模型为质检任务、质检方案、质检项、质检规则四要素,并以智能质检规则为基础,建立了完善的省级基础测绘成果质检规则和算法模型。本文阐述了该质检模型的概念和体系结构,并通过实验验证了质检模型的科学性、有效性和合理性,大大提高了程序在入库数据预处理过程中的检查效率。     

Pelagic microplastics around an archipelago of the Equatorial Atlantic

Plastic marine debris is presently widely recognised as an important environmental pollutant. Such debris is reported in every habitat of the oceans, from urban tourist beaches to remote islands and from the ocean surface to submarine canyons, and is found buried and deposited on sandy and cobble beaches. Plastic marine debris varies from micrometres to several metres in length and is potentially ingested by animals of every level of the marine food web. Here, we show that synthetic polymers are present in subsurface plankton samples around Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean. To explain the distribution of microplastics around the Archipelago, we proposed a generalised linear model (GLM) that suggests the existence of an outward gradient of mean plastic-particle densities. Plastic items can be autochthonous or transported over large oceanic distances. One probable source is the small but persistent fishing fleet using the area.     

A developed algorithm of apriori based on association analysis

A method for mining frequent itemsets by evaluating their probability of supports based on association analysis is presented. This paper obtains the probability of every 1-itemset by scanning the database, then evaluates the probability of every 2-itemset, every 3-itemset, everyk-itemset from the frequent 1-itemsets and gains all the candidate frequent itemsets. This paper also scans the database for verifying the support of the candidate frequent itemsets. Last, the frequent itemsets are mined. The method reduces a lot of time of scanning database and shortens the computation time of the algorithm.     

Automatic revision of rules used to guide the generalisation process in systems based on a trial and error strategy

Automating the generalisation process, a major issue for national mapping agencies, is extremely complex. Several works have proposed to deal with this complexity using a trial and error strategy. The performance of systems based on such a strategy is directly dependent on the quality of the control knowledge (i.e. heuristics) used to guide the trials. Unfortunately, most of the time, the definition and updation of knowledge is a fastidious task. In this context, automatic knowledge revision can not only improve the performance of the generalisation, but also allow it to automatically adapt to various usages and evolve when new elements are introduced. In this article, an offline knowledge revision approach is proposed, based on a logging of the system and on the analysis of outcoming logs. This approach is dedicated to the revision of control knowledge expressed by production rules. We have implemented and tested this approach for the automated generalisation of groups of buildings within a generalisation model called AGENT, from initial data that reference a scale of approximately 1:15,000 compared with the target map's scale of 1:50,000. The results show that our approach improves the quality of the control knowledge and thus the performance of the system. Moreover, the approach proposed is generic and can be applied to other systems based on a trial and error strategy, dedicated to generalisation or not.     

Defining and generating axial lines from street center lines for better understanding of urban morphologies

Axial lines are defined as the longest visibility lines for representing individual linear spaces in urban environments. The least set of axial lines that cover the free space of an urban environment or the space between buildings constitute what is often called an axial map. This is a fundamental tool in space syntax, a theory developed by Bill Hillier and his colleagues for characterizing the underlying urban morphologies. For a long time, generating axial lines with the help of some graphic software has been a tedious manual process that is criticized for being time consuming, subjective, or even arbitrary. In this article, we redefine axial lines as the least set of individual straight line segments mutually intersected along natural streets that are generated from street center lines using the Gestalt principle of good continuity. Based on this new definition, we develop an automatic solution for generating the newly defined axial lines from street center lines. We apply this solution to six typical street networks (three from North America and three from Europe) and generate a new set of axial lines for analyzing the urban morphologies. Through a comparison study between the new axial lines and the conventional or old axial lines and between the new axial lines and natural streets, we demonstrate with empirical evidence that the newly defined axial lines are a better alternative for capturing the underlying urban structure.     

Discrimination of mangrove forests and characterization of adjoining land cover classes using temporal C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data: A case study of Sundarbans

C-band dual polarization (HH, HV) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from Radarsat-2 were used to discriminate and characterize mangrove forests of the Sundarbans. Multi-temporal data acquired during winter and rainy seasons were analysed for the segregation of mangrove forest area. A decision rule based classification involving combination of three-date HH (range −11 to −2 dB) with single-date cross-polarization ratio (2–8) was applied on the datasets for discriminating mangrove forests from other land cover classes. Application of textural measures (entropy and angular second moment) in the aforesaid decision rule based classification produced three broad homogeneous mangrove classes. The area covered by the most homogeneous class increased from January to March and decreased from July to September, and correlated well to the change in the phenological status of the mangroves. Extent of homogeneous areas was more in the eastern region of the Sundarbans than that of the central and western side. Thus, the study revealed that textural measures combined with multi-temporal HH backscatter and single-date cross-polarization ratio in a decision rule classification could be satisfactorily used for characterization of the mangrove forests.