Laboratory study of deep-water breaking waves

In an attempt to elucidate the mechanics of deep-water wave breaking, a variety of breaking waves, including spilling and plunging waves, of different length scales and geometries was studied. The waves were generated through wave-wave interactions using wave packets with constant-steepness components, constant-amplitude components, and also components following the Pierson-Moskowitz distribution. Wave steepening prior to breaking were found to cause an increase in the high frequency spectral slope of the wave spectrum. The slopes were correlated to the type of breaking and the intensity of the breaking. The energy loss through breaking varied with the spectral characteristics of the wave packet. On the other hand, it was also noted that, irrespective of the wave packet, the losses were from the higher frequency end of the first harmonics.     

Experimental investigation of the vertical pullout cyclic response of bucket foundations in sand

A series of 1 g model tests was conducted to investigate the accumulated vertical pullout displacement and unloading stiffness of bucket foundations embedded in dry and saturated sands. The foundations were subjected to vertical pullout cyclic loading with different load amplitudes. Cyclic load was applied up to 10⁴ cycles. Test results showed that the accumulated vertical pullout displacement increased with the increase in the number of load cycles and cyclic load amplitudes. The unloading stiffness of the bucket foundations decreased with the increase in load amplitude and number of cycles. Empirical equations were proposed based on the test results to evaluate the accumulated vertical pullout displacement and unloading stiffness of the bucket foundations in saturated sand. These equations can be used for the preliminary design of single or tripod bucket foundations.     

Surface Elevation Distribution of Sea Waves Based on the Maximum Entropy Principle

A probability density function of surface elevation is obtained through improvement of the method introduced by Cieslikiewicz who employed the maximum entropy principle to investigate the surface elevation distribution. The density function can be easily extended to higher order according to demand and is non-negative everywhere, satisfying the basic behavior of the probability. Moreover because the distribution is derived without any assumption about sea waves, it is found from comparison with several accepted distributions that the new form of distribution can be applied in a wider range of wave conditions. In addition, the density function can be used to fit some observed distributions of surface vertical acceleration although something remains unsolved.     

Primary productivity in the western tropical Pacific and equatorial warm waters

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＢｙｓｔｕｄｙｉｎｇｃｈｌｏｒｏｐｈｙｌｌａｎｄｐｒｉｍａｒｙｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｖｉｔｙｉｎｏｃｅａｎ ,ｅｉｔｈｅｒｉｎｔｈｅｂｉｇ ｓｃａｌｅｏｒｉｎｔｈｅｓｍａｌｌｓｃａｌｅ ,ｔｈｅｐｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｖｉｔｙｄｉｓｔｒｉｂｕｔｉｏｎａｎｄｖａｒｉａｔｉｏｎｏｆｍａｒｉｎｅｏｒｇａｎｉｃｍａｔｅｒｉａｌｉｎｔｈｅｔｅｍｐｏ ｒａｌａｎｄｓｐａｔｉａｌｃａｎｂｅｕｎｄｅｒｓｔｏｏｄ .Ｔｈｅｓｅａａｒｅａｓ ,ｓｉｔｕａｔｉｎｇｉｎｔｈｅｗｅｓｔｅｒｎｔｒｏｐｉｃａｌＰａｃｉｆｉｃ…     

利用GPS三频数据计算电离层垂直总电子含量变化率

研究了通过采样间隔为1 s的GPS三频载波相位观测数据计算1 Hz电离层垂直总电子含量变化率（RVTEC）的方法,推导了直接采用双频载波相位观测量计算RVTEC的公式,对一般空间环境与电离层活动剧烈两种条件下L1L2、L1L5、L2L5三种载波相位组合计算的RVTEC进行了一致性分析,给出了通过三频载波相位观测数据计算电离层RVTEC的修正方法,比较了X射线太阳耀斑期间RVTEC与由传统方法计算的总电子含量变化率（ROT）响应,在双星串飞编队测高模式下对计算方法进行了应用.结果表明,L1L2、L1L5两种组合之间的一致性较好,由L1L2、L1L5组合计算的RVTEC的中误差约为0.004 TECu/s,RVTEC较ROT更能体现TEC变化的细节,在双星串飞编队测高模式下海面高梯度的计算中,电离层延迟之差可以忽略.

     

A numerical study of the behavior of fully grouted rockbolts under dynamic loading

The widespread preference for rockbolts in providing adequate rock stability in underground mines and man-made cavities make it necessary to obtain a better understanding of the response of these support systems. It is widely accepted that the fully grouted rockbolts provide better roof stability in areas of very poor roof condition which may be caused by high ground stress conditions. There is little information about the in situ behavior of these systems especially under dynamic loading. Hence, to study the behavior of fully grouted rockbolts under dynamic loading, a numerical modeling study was conducted using the FLAC^3D code. In this study the behavior of three types of fully grouted rockbolts were compared with each other including rockbolts with and without head plate and a yielding type one. The results of analyses indicated that under dynamic loading the fully grouted rockbolts without the head plate are incapable of controlling the rock mass movement. Although fully grouted rockbolts with head plate damp a considerable amount of the dynamic energy through friction as these bolts slide within the grout, but the elongation of the rockbolt is not possible due to the rapid breakage of the rockbolt–grout interface. Yielding rockbolts are the best choice for the absorption of the dynamic stress wave and controlling of the rock mass movement. The obtained results show that the optimal design of yielding rockbolt should be in such a way that after dynamic loading, anchoring part of bolt has a limited movement to prevent stress concentration in the shaft of rockbolt and its breakage.     

Trimmed L-moments (1,0) for the generalized Pareto distribution

Abstract

Statistical analysis of extremes is often used for predicting the higher return-period events. In this paper, the trimmed L-moments with one smallest value trimmed—TL-moments (1,0)—are introduced as an alternative way to estimate floods for high return periods. The TL-moments (1,0) have an ability to reduce the undesirable influence that a small value in the statistical sample might have on a large return period. The main objective of this study is to derive the TL-moments (1,0) for the generalized Pareto (GPA) distribution. The performance of the TL-moments (1,0) was compared with L-moments through Monte Carlo simulation based on the streamflow data of northern Peninsular Malaysia. The result shows that, for some cases, the use of TL-moments (1,0) is a better option as compared to L-moments in modelling those series.

Citation Ahmad, U.N., Shabri, A. & Zakaria, Z.A. (2011) Trimmed L-moments (1,0) for the generalized Pareto distribution. Hydrol.Sci. J. 56(6), 1053–1060.     

An approach for the determination of precipitation input for worst-case flood modelling

ABSTRACT

There is a lack of suitable methods for creating precipitation scenarios that can be used to realistically estimate peak discharges with very low probabilities. On the one hand, existing methods are methodically questionable when it comes to physical system boundaries. On the other hand, the spatio-temporal representativeness of precipitation patterns as system input is limited. In response, this paper proposes a method of deriving spatio-temporal precipitation patterns and presents a step towards making methodically correct estimations of infrequent floods by using a worst-case approach. A Monte Carlo approach allows for the generation of a wide range of different spatio-temporal distributions of an extreme precipitation event that can be tested with a rainfall–runoff model that generates a hydrograph for each of these distributions. Out of these numerous hydrographs and their corresponding peak discharges, the physically plausible spatio-temporal distributions that lead to the highest peak discharges are identified and can eventually be used for further investigations.

Editor A. Castellarin; Associate editor E. Volpi     

Predicting the displacement of triple pendulum™ bearings in a full‐scale shaking experiment using a three‐dimensional element

The accuracy of a series spring model to predict the peak displacement and displacement history of Triple Pendulum? (TP) bearings in a strongly shaken, full‐scale building is evaluated in this paper. The series spring model was implemented as a self‐contained three‐dimensional TP bearing element in OpenSees and is now available for general use. The TP bearing element contains the option for constant friction or a generalized friction model that accounts for the effect of instantaneous velocity and compression load on the friction coefficient. Comparison between numerical simulation and experimental data of a five‐story steel moment frame building shows that the peak displacement of isolation system can generally be predicted with confidence using a constant friction coefficient model. The friction coefficient model accounting for the effect of axial load and velocity leads to minor improvement over the constant friction coefficient models in some cases. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

长江流域汛期降水集中程度和洪涝关系研究

用新定义的降水集中度和集中期分别讨论了我国长江流域不同地段汛期降水在时间和空间上的分布特征和变化规律. 结果表明在对长江流域旱涝灾害研究方面,降水集中度和集中期能够定量地表征降水量在时空场上的非均匀性,提取出最大降水重心对应的时段,因此可以比较理想地分析旱涝灾害发生的基本特征及其形成机制. 并且在长江中下游地区的降水集中度与东亚副热带季风之间存在着比较密切的联系.