A coupled model for prediction of settlement and gas flow in MSW landfills

Prediction of long‐term settlement and control of gas pollution to the environment are two principle concerns during the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The behavior of settlement and gas flow in MSW landfills is complicated due to the combined effect of mechanical deformation of the solid skeleton and continuous biodegradation of the waste. A one‐dimensional settlement and gas flow model is presented in this paper, which is capable of predicting time evolution of settlement as well as temporal and spatial distribution of gas pressure within multi‐layered landfills under a variety of operating scenarios. The analytical solution to the novel model is evaluated with numerical simulation and field measurements. The resulting efficiency and accuracy highlight the capability of the proposed model to reproduce the settlement behavior and gas flow in MSW landfills. The influences of operating conditions and waste properties on settlement and gas pressure are examined for typical MSW landfills. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Otolith chemical signature and growth of Chaetodon speculum in coastal areas of New Caledonia

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They are currently exposed to increasing levels of anthropogenic perturbations. Several recent reviews point to the lack of good indicators for these perturbations especially to monitor their effects on fish populations or fish assemblages. The SW lagoon of New Caledonia is an ideal location to test indicator species in this context as contrasting sites are present within a small geographical range. This study analysed fish from four sites, one with heavy industrial pollution, another dominated by domestic waste, a third with historic mining activities, and the fourth as a control. The butterfly fish, Chaetodon speculum, was chosen to determine C. speculum's potential as an indicator species due to its link to coral, its sedentary behaviour and its wide geographical distribution. The size distribution, growth rate, age distribution and whole otolith composition were analysed at each site. Age and mean growth rate were analysed from daily increments of the otoliths. The concentrations of eight elements (Li, Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, Rb, Sr, and Ba) were measured by ICP-MS in the otoliths of a subset of individuals. The sites under anthropogenic impact were distinct from the control site by fish size frequencies, age distributions, and the chemical content of their otoliths. The chemical elements Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, and Rb showed differences amongst sites. Fish belonging to the sites furthest from Nouméa could be discriminated in nearly 80% of samples or 60% of the cases when otolith weight or fish age respectively were taken into account. Ni concentrations of the otoliths were also higher in the bays where water concentrations of this element were known to be higher, but these differences were no longer significant once corrected for otolith weight. These results should be mitigated by the fact that: (1) despite significant differences between sites in age distribution and size frequencies there were no differences in growth rates or body condition; (2) differences in age or size were not correlated to perturbation levels; and (3) discrimination between sites based on chemical levels in the otoliths, even though significant, was not sufficient to identify the origin of the fish at a level useful for screening tests. The hypothesis that environmental differences between sites would be reflected in the otolith chemical composition is therefore not fully supported by our results.     

Distribution and environmental impact of coal-mining wastes in Upper Silesia, Poland

 About 50 million tonnes/year of waste rock from coal-mining is generated in the limited area of the thickly populated Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in Poland. There are 380 coal-mining waste dumps, including 76 active dump sites covering over 2,000 ha. About 15-16 million tonnes/year of waste rock is being reused for civil engineering purposes in the same area. This brings about a problem of ground water deterioration by constituents leached from waste rock exposed to atmospheric conditions. The major factors determining the ground water contamination potential from waste rock are chloride salinity, sulfur content and acid generation potential. The concept behind the presented studies was to provide data for correct evaluation and prediction of contaminant release from the waste rock, based on the characterization of coal-mining waste properties, as well as on long-term laboratory, lysimetric and field studies. The results show that coal-mining waste dumps can be a long-term source of ground water contamination, lasting for decades and increasing with time. Ground water down-gradient from the disused 15–30-years-old part of the studied dump displays high and increasing acidification, high TDS, SO₄, and the highest, still increasing concentrations of Mn, Fe and Zn. Cost-effective and efficient pollution control measures, similar to the presented design and construction elements of the dump site, can mitigate the negative environmental impacts. Received: 3 July 1997 · Accepted: 9 September 1998     

Large scale failure of the external waste dump at the “South Field” lignite mine, Northern Greece

This paper presents the failure process of the external waste dump of the South Field Mine, the major open pit mine in Greece. The waste materials of the mine were deposited in three phases, forming an average inclination slope 10% and a total height of 110 m from the ground surface. The failure occurred when the third phase of the deposit was initiated. The high moisture content of the waste materials and their deposition over a spring, choking its flow, had as a result the development of high pore water pressure in clayey and marly materials in the base of the deposit. As a consequence, a large scale slope failure incident occurred. The landslide involved the mobilization of waste material in the order of 40 Mm³, while the material that moved outside the boundaries of the waste dump was in the order of 2.5 Mm³. The stability of the waste dump was investigated using the limit equilibrium analysis and different types of models.Limit equilibrium analyses were performed using different methods and considering the clay layer of small shear resistance that exists in the base of the deposit. They do not indicate activation of failure mechanism, only that there is a combination of high pore water pressure that developed in the deposit because the covering of the spring with the clayey materials of the dump.     

高放废物地质处置库花岗岩体预选研究

简要介绍了应用遥感技术结合地质研究,优选高放废物地质处置库花岗岩体的思路和方法。以北山外围地区为例,通过遥感数据处理,遥感影像解译,岩体地质特征分析,岩体预选准则的建立,在野外勘查的基础上,预选了若干有利的花岗岩体。为优选高放废物地质处置库场址提供决策依据。     

基于卷积神经网络与条件随机场方法提取乡镇非正规固体废弃物

随着村镇经济建设发展,生活垃圾和工业固体废弃物造成的污染问题日益突出,已经成为制约新农村建设发展和生态文明建设的关键问题,而目前针对乡镇非正规固体废弃物的调查与统计主要依赖全国各乡镇相关部门逐级调查上报,工作量较大。本文基于高分辨率遥感影像,将深度学习模型和条件随机场模型相结合引入到乡镇固体废弃物的提取研究中,探索一种基于深度卷积神经网络的乡镇固体废弃物提取模型。由于固体废弃物在影像上表现为面积小,分布破碎等特点,为了提高工作效率,将模型特分为识别和提取2个部分：① 通过全连接卷积网络（CNN）对固体废弃物进行快速识别判断,筛选感兴趣区域影像块;② 在传统的全卷积神经网络(FCN)的基础上加入条件随机场模型(CRF)提取固体废弃物边界,提高整体分割精度。根据安徽、山西等地区相关部门上报固体废弃物堆放点以及住房与城乡建设部城乡规划管理中心进行野外检查的结果,实验最终识别精度达到86.87%以上;形状提取精度为89.84%,Kappa系数为0.7851,识别与提取精度均优于传统分类方法。同时,该方法已经逐步应用于住房和城乡建设部有关成都、兰州、河北等部分乡镇非正规固体废弃物的核查工作,取得了较为满意的结果。     

Chemical enrichment in the early galaxy

New, precise abundance data for a large number of elements in a growing sample of extremely metal-poor stars are accumulating from the new 8-m telescopes. Combined with theoretical models, these results advance our understanding of the first generations of stars, whose nucleosynthesis products are fossilised in the oldest stars we see today and thus give clues to the earliest phases of evolution in the Galaxy. In particular, the heaviest elements give us insight into the different neutron capture mechanisms and the stellar sites where such elements could be produced. They also afford an independent way to determine the age of the Galaxy, by radioactive chronology. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

某核废物填埋区土壤对Sr吸附的动态模拟实验研究

目前,我国处理极低放废物采用的是就近地质填埋的方法,通过选择合适的吸附材料及添加剂,建立人工屏障,以最大限度地阻滞核素进入与人类生活有关的自然环境中。这里通过研究某地土壤对Sr的吸附,做了动态模拟试验,建立了动态模型,进行不同高度柱体的对比实验。经实验表明：填埋区土壤TY29＋1％人造沸石作为填埋场屏障材料,可营造“碱性～还原”氛围,对阻滞Sr迁移非常有效。不同高度柱体对比实验表明：当柱高度之比为1：2：3,C／C0=0．5时,其累计输出的流量之比为1：1．96：2．16,平均渗透系数分别为：0．62、0．52、0．54。由此可见,随高度增加,吸附性能呈增高的趋势,且柱体渗透性降低。在柱体吸附一段时间后,三个柱的吸附能力都出现了减小的突越,这与在吸附过程中前期为物理吸附进行的较快,后期为化学吸附进行的较慢有关。     

新型土体固化剂加固海底淤泥力学特性研究

海底淤泥具有特殊的土性特点,其固化研究尚处于起步阶段。GS固化剂是一种以工业固废为主要原料的适用于软土加固的绿色固化材料。本文开展了GS固化剂加固海底淤泥的应用研究。以香港某工程海底淤泥为加固对象,对比分析了GS固化剂和水泥的掺量、龄期对固化土无侧限抗压强度的影响。研究结果表明,相比于普通水泥,GS固化土的早期强度更高、强度增长更快,强度提高比在2.03~2.91。同时,建立了回归模型,提出了GS固化剂加固海底淤泥的强度预测方法。研究成果有助于指导工业固废的资源化处置和建筑行业绿色发展。