Effects of heavy metal pollution on farmland soils and crops: A case study of the Xiaoqinling Gold Belt,China

This paper focuses on the heavy metal enrichment and heavy metal pollution degree associated with mining activities in some crops and the soils of different parent materials in the Xiaoqinling Gold Belt. According to the geochemical analysis results of the soils observed in the gold belt, the soils are most highly enriched in Pb, followed by Cr, Cu, and Zn. Furthermore, they are relatively poor in Hg, Cd, and As. It is also shown that the heavy metals in all kinds of soils have the same geochemical characteristics in the gold belt. As for the crops (such as corn and wheat) in the gold belt, Zn and Cu are the most abundant elements, followed by Pb and Cr. Meanwhile, Hg, Cd, and As were found to have relatively low concentrations in the crops. The heavy metals in wheat and corn have the same geochemical characteristics in the gold belt in general. Compared to the aeolian loess soils and the crops therein, heavy metals are more enriched in diluvial and alluvial soils and the crops therein. As shown by relevant studies, the Hg, Pb, Cd, Cu, and Zn pollution are mainly caused by mining activities. Corn and wheat in the gold belt have a high tendency of risk exposure to heavy metal pollution since they are mostly affected by mining activities and feature high background values of heavy metal concentrations. Furthermore, wheat is more liable to be enriched in heavy metals than corn is grown in all types of soils. The Hg pollution in soils leads to Hg accumulation, increasing the risk of Hg uptake in crops, and further affecting human health. This study will provide a scientific basis for the control and management of heavy metals in farmland soils of mining areas.     

Finite-difference model of land subsidence caused by cluster loads in Zhengzhou,China

Groundwater exploitation has been regarded as the main reason for land subsidence in China and thus receives considerable attention from the government and the academic community.Recently,building loads have been identified as another important factor of land subsidence,but researches in this sector have lagged.The effect of a single building load on land subsidence was neglected in many cases owing to the narrow scope and the limited depth of the additional stress in stratum.However,due to the superposition of stresses between buildings,the additional stress of cluster loads is greater than that of a single building load under the same condition,so that the land subsidence caused by cluster loads cannot be neglected.Taking Shamen village in the north of Zhengzhou,China,as an example,a finite-difference model based on the Biot consolidation theory to calculate the land subsidence caused by cluster loads was established in this paper.Cluster loads present the characteristics of large-area loads,and the land subsidence caused by cluster loads can have multiple primary consolidation processes due to the stress superposition of different buildings was shown by the simulation results.Pore water migration distances are longer when the cluster loads with high plot ratio are imposed,so that consolidation takes longer time.The higher the plot ratio is,the deeper the effective deformation is,and thus the greater the land subsidence is.A higher plot ratio also increases the contribution that the deeper stratigraphic layers make to land subsidence.Contrary to the calculated results of land subsidence caused by cluster loads and groundwater recession,the percentage of settlement caused by cluster loads in the total settlement was 49.43%and 55.06%at two simulated monitoring points,respectively.These data suggest that the cluster loads can be one of the main causes of land subsidence.     

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS FLEXURAL CAPACITY OF EDGE LOADED ANNULAR FOUNDATIONS

Edge loaded annular foundations have been analysed assuming the soil pressure at the contact to be non-uniform using the lower bound approach of Limit Analysis. Variable fixity at the edges has been allowed and the foundation slab is made to follow the Square yield criterion. Results presented in the form of curves can be readily used to obtain the locations of the yield hinge circles for the given slab and the corresponding collapse load. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地震作用下预应力锚索边坡的稳定性分析

稳定性分析对边坡工程具有重要的意义。为探究地震对预应力锚固边坡的影响,基于预应力锚索具有安全储备的特点,分析了地震作用下边坡的分阶段模型。在传统Newmark法的基础上,采用拟动力计算,推导了顺层岩质边坡的位移、锚固力和安全系数计算公式。结合工程两个算例,探究了不同锚索模型和地震累积作用下的边坡变形规律。由结果可知,当锚索锚固力取固定值时,边坡计算位移偏大,随时间呈线性增长。当考虑锚索的安全储备时,位移增长速率随时间逐渐减小,最后趋近于定值。不同锚索模型对位移影响较大,锚索储备作用不可忽略。同时地震会对预应力锚固边坡产生永久性影响。当再次发生扰动时,其表现为临界滑动阈值的提升,位移增长率与受震经历的加速度幅值呈反指数变化。以露天矿区边坡为背景,在抗震设防标准下确定最佳支护方案。     

The effect of varied dam release mechanisms and storage volume on downstream river thermal regimes

Temperature plays an essential role in the ecology and biology of aquatic ecosystems. The use of dams to store and subsequently re-regulate river flows can have a negative impact on the natural thermal regime of rivers, causing thermal pollution of downstream river ecosystems. Autonomous thermal loggers were used to measure temperature changes downstream of a large dam on the Macquarie River, in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin to quantify the effect of release mechanisms and dam storage volume on the downstream thermal regime. The magnitude of thermal pollution in the downstream river was affected by different release mechanisms, including bottom-level outlet releases, a thermal curtain (which draws water from above the hypolimnion), and spill-way release. Dam storage volume was linked to the magnitude of thermal pollution downstream; high storage volumes were related to severe thermal suppressions, with an approximate 10 °C difference occurring when water originated from high and low storage volumes. Downstream temperatures were 8 ̶ 10 °C higher when surface releases were used via a thermal curtain and the spillway to mitigate cold water pollution that frequently occurs in the river. Demonstrating the effectiveness of engineering and operational strategies used to mitigate cold water pollution highlight their potential contribution to fish conservation, threatened species recovery and environmental remediation of aquatic ecosystems.     

基于拟动力法的抗滑桩加固边坡地震稳定性分析

地震力作用下土质边坡动态稳定性研究对实际边坡工程有着重要的意义。采用拟动力法结合简化毕肖普法研究坡顶抗滑桩加固土质边坡在地震力作用下的动态稳定性。尽管拟静力法是目前处理地震力最为广泛的方法之一,但其局限性在于无法考虑地震力随时间变化且忽略了地震波在土体中的传播。而拟动力法采用正弦波模拟地震波在土中传播,并考虑地震波从坡脚传递到坡顶的相位差以及阻尼力对边坡稳定性的影响,通过边坡安全系数的变化揭示土质边坡在地震力作用下的稳定性变化规律。将得到的结果与拟静力法进行对比,突出了拟动力法的优势。最后,考虑水平地震加速度系数、加速度幅值放大系数以及土体内摩擦角对边坡稳定性的影响,以期对实际工程提供理论借鉴。     

Application of advanced system identification technique to extract roll damping from model tests in order to accurately predict roll motions

In this paper our previously developed advanced system identification technique [1] has been applied to extract the frequency dependent roll damping from a series of model tests run in irregular (random) waves. It is shown that this methodology accurately models the roll damping which can then be used to produce accurate predictions of the ships roll motion. These roll motion predictions are not only more accurate than the potential flow predictions but more accurate than potential flow models corrected using either empirical prediction methods [2] and even those corrected using roll damping obtained from free decay sallying experiments. This methodology has the potential to significantly improve roll motion prediction during full scale at sea trails of vessels in order to dramatically improve safety of critical operations such as helicopter landing or ship to ship cargo transfer.     

畸形波作用下双层水平板防波堤压力分布特性研究

基于物理模型试验,考虑畸形波参数、相对板宽、相对波高等影响因素,就畸形波对平顶双层水平板防波堤作用进行研究。首先对畸形波作用下双层水平板的波浪力分布特征进行了讨论,然后就最大波动压强、结构最大总垂向力与不规则波作用进行了对比分析。结果表明,畸形波作用下,双层水平板最大波动压力出现在前端迎浪区域附近,向尾端逐渐递减。双层水平板4个受力面的压力分布不同且有相位差,4个受力面的最大波动压力时间差约在0.1T_p~0.4T_p范围内变化。与不规则波作用比较,畸形波作用没有显著改变波压包络分布特征,但增大了波压包络强度值。试验范围内,就最大总力而言,两者最大总浮托力比值在1.06~2.45间变化;向下的最大总垂向力比值在1.22~2.07之间变化;就波动压力而言,其增大的幅度与畸形波参数α₁相关性最强,随α₁的增大而增大,在α₁=2.04~3.1试验范围内,畸形波作用时的最大压强比不规则波作用时可约增大20%~80%。就最大波吸力而言,两者的比值与畸形波参数α₄相关性最强,随α₄的增大而减小。在α₄=0.62~0.75试验范围内,最大波吸力强度的比值在1.61~0.87范围内变化。当α₄≤0.72时,畸形波作用时的最大波吸力大于不规则波作用时的最大波吸力;当α₄ > 0.72时则刚好相反。     

The Baltic Sea environment and the European Union: Analysis of governance barriers

The EU enlargement brought the Baltic Sea into the sphere of EU environmental policymaking, making the sea, with the exception of Russia, an EU inland sea. Yet, the state of the Baltic Sea environment is deteriorating at an alarming pace. This paper describes the evolution of the EU governance of the Baltic Sea environment, focussing on governance barriers. The findings demonstrate how the choice of analytical lens influences the construction of governance barriers and the respective intervention strategies. Such understanding can help policy practitioners in their search for successful measures to improve the governance situation in the Baltic Sea region.     

Anchor loads in taut moorings: The impact of inverse catenary shakedown

Taut mooring systems have become prospective alternatives for the station keeping of offshore floating facilities in deep water. The associated embedded anchors cause a part of the mooring line to be buried in the seabed − the inverse catenary − which introduces a requirement to predict the load and uplift angle at the padeye, where the chain is connected to the anchor. The padeye load and angle depend on the shape and tension profile of the inverse catenary, which must be assessed in the mooring system design. The dynamic interaction between the embedded chain and the soil in the inverse catenary is not usually considered in this analysis. Instead, the inverse catenary is assessed statically, albeit potentially using cyclically-degraded soil strength parameters. The present study employs the lumped mass method to simulate the dynamic response of mooring lines under different imposed oscillations at the fairlead, where the chain is connected to the floating facility. A new chain-soil interaction model, which includes hysteresis effects associated with irrecoverable relative chain-soil displacement is calibrated by experimental results. Simulations of cyclic vessel motion are then performed, and the resulting chain-seabed interaction is observed. During constant-amplitude vessel motion cycles, the load angle at the padeye significantly decreases due to progressive ratcheting or ‘shakedown’ of the inverse catenary from the initial static profile towards a straighter profile. This effect is due to the hysteretic soil response and creates a less onerous loading condition for the anchor which may be beneficial, but is conventionally overlooked in design. At the end of the present study, an elastic bound method is proposed to estimate the profile of the inverse catenary after shakedown. A parametric study illustrates the performance of this simple method for predicting the steady state condition.