Characterizing and classifying urban watersheds with compositional and structural attributes

Current land-use classifications used to assess urbanization effects on stream water quality date back to the 1980s when limited information was available to characterize watershed attributes that mediate non-point source pollution. With high resolution remote sensing and widely used GIS tools, there has been a vast increase in the availability and precision of geospatial data of built environments. In this study, we leverage geospatial data to expand the characterization of developed landscapes and create a typology that allows us to better understand the impact of complex developed landscapes across the rural to urban gradient. We assess the ability of the developed landscape typology to reveal patterns in stream water chemistry previously undetected by traditional land-cover based classification. We examine the distribution of land-cover, infrastructure, topography and geology across 3876 National Hydrography Dataset Plus catchments in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, USA. From this dataset, we generate metrics to evaluate the abundance, density and position of landscape features relative to streams, catchment outlets and topographic wetness metrics. While impervious surfaces are a key distinguishing feature of the urban landscape, sanitary infrastructure, population density and geology are better predictors of baseflow stream water chemistry. Unsupervised clustering was used to generate a distinct developed landscape typology based on the expanded, high-resolution landscape feature information. Using stream chemistry data from 37 developed headwater catchments, we compared the baseflow water chemistry grouped by traditional land-cover based classes of urbanization (rural, low, medium and high density) to our composition and structure-based classification (a nine-class typology). The typology based on 22 metrics of developed landscape composition and structure explained over 50% of the variation in NO₃⁻-N, TDN, DOC, Cl⁻, and Br⁻ concentration, while the ISC-based classification only significantly explained 23% of the variation in TDN. These results demonstrate the importance of infrastructure, population and geology in defining developed landscapes and improving discrete classes for water management.     

Three dimensional numerical simulation of residential building on shrink–swell soils in response to climatic conditions

Shrink–swell soils can cause distresses in buildings, and every year, the economic loss associated with this problem is huge. This paper presents a comprehensive system for simulating the soil–foundation–building system and its response to daily weather conditions. Weather data include rainfall, solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, all of which are readily available from a local weather station or the Internet. These data are used to determine simulation flux boundary conditions. Different methods are proposed to simulate different boundary conditions: bare soil, trees, and vegetation. A coupled hydro‐mechanical stress analysis is used to simulate the volume change of shrink–swell soils due to both mechanical stress and water content variations. Coupled hydro‐mechanical stress‐jointed elements are used to simulate the interaction between the soil and the slab, and general shell elements are used to simulate structural behavior. All the models are combined into one finite element program to predict the entire system's behavior. This paper first described the theory for the simulations. A site in Arlington, Texas, is then selected to demonstrate the application of the proposed system. Simulation results are shown, and a comparison between measured and predicted movements for four footings in Arlington, Texas, over a 2‐year period is presented. Finally, a three‐dimensional simulation is made for a virtual residential building on shrink–swell soils to identify the influence of various factors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental characterization of the impact of temperature and humidity on the breakdown of soil water repellency in sandy soils and composts

Soil water repellency is a widespread phenomenon with the capacity to alter hydrological and geomorphological processes. Water repellency decays with time, and the consequences are only of concern during the timescale at which the water repellency persists. This study aimed to characterize the influence of temperature and humidity on the breakdown of water repellency. Apparent contact angle measurements were carried out on samples consisting of sand treated with stearic acid as well as naturally repellent dune sands and composts. Temperature and humidity were controlled using a cooled incubator and a purpose designed enclosed box in which humidity could be raised or lowered. Results showed the contact angle of the stearic‐acid‐treated sands decayed with time and that there was a significant increase with stearic acid concentration. For all samples, the decay in apparent contact angle could be described with a continuous breakdown model. The stearic‐acid‐treated sands showed a significant increase in contact angle with relative humidity at a temperature of 10 and 20 °C. These differences diminished with increasing temperature. Similar results were seen for the dune sands and composts. Despite the influence of temperature and humidity on contact angles, there was no significant change in the rate at which the contact angle decayed in any sample. Absolute humidity was found to provide a more relevant indicator than relative humidity when assessing the influence of humidity on repellency over a range of temperatures. The contact angle initially increased with absolute humidity before plateauing owing to the confounding effect of temperature. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics modelling of soil–water mixing and resulting changes in average strength

Soil–water interaction is a pivotal process in many underwater geohazards such as underwater landslides where soil sediments gradually evolve into turbidity currents after interactions with ambient water. Due to the large deformations, multiphase interactions and phase changes this involves, investigations from numerical modelling of the transition process have been limited so far. This study explores a simple numerical replication of such soil–water mixing with respect to changes in average strength using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). A uniform viscoplastic model is used for both the solid-like and fluid-like SPH particles. The proposed numerical solution scheme is verified by single-phase dam break tests and multiphase simple shear tests. SPH combinations of solid-like and fluid-like particles can replicate the clay–water mixture as long as the liquidity index of the solid-like particles is larger than unity. The proposed numerical scheme is shown to capture key features of an underwater landslide such as hydroplaning, water entrainment and wave generation and thus shows promise as a tool to simulate the whole process of subaquatic geohazards involving solid–fluid transition during mass transport.     

Analytical modeling on consolidation of stiffened deep mixed column-reinforced soft soil under embankment

Stiffened deep mixed (SDM) column is a new ground improvement technique to improve soft soil, which can be used to increase bearing capacity, reduce deformation, and enhance stability of soft soil. This technique has been successfully adopted to support the highway and railway embankments over soft soils in China and other countries. However, there have been limited investigations on its consolidation under embankment loading. This paper developed an analytical solution for the consolidation of embankment over soft soil with SDM column in which core pile is equal to or shorter than outer DM column. The consolidation problem was simplified as a consolidation of composite soil considering the load shear effect of core pile. The developed solution was verified by a comparison with the results computed by three-dimensional (3-D) finite element analysis. A parametric study based on the derived solution was conducted to investigate influence factors—length of core pile, diameter of core pile, diameter of SDM column, modulus of DM column, and permeability coefficient of DM column—on the consolidation behavior of SDM column-supported embankment over soft soil. The developed solution was applied to a case history of SDM column-supported embankment, and a good agreement was found between the predictions and the field measurements.     

Estimation of daily stream water temperatures with a Bayesian regression approach

Stream water temperature plays a significant role in aquatic ecosystems where it controls many important biological and physical processes. Reliable estimates of water temperature at the daily time step are critical in managing water resources. We developed a parsimonious piecewise Bayesian model for estimating daily stream water temperatures that account for temporal autocorrelation and both linear and nonlinear relationships with air temperature and discharge. The model was tested at 8 climatically different basins of the USA and at 34 sites within the mountainous Boise River Basin (Idaho, USA). The results show that the proposed model is robust with an average root mean square error of 1.25 °C and Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of 0.92 over a 2‐year period. Our approach can be used to predict historic daily stream water temperatures in any location using observed daily stream temperature and regional air temperature data.     

Deducing the spatial variability of exchange within a longitudinal channel water balance

Developing an appropriate data collection scheme to infer stream–subsurface interactions is not trivial due to the spatial and temporal variability of exchange flowpaths. Within the context of a case study, this paper presents the results from a number of common data collection techniques ranging from point to reach scales used in combination to better understand the spatial complexity of subsurface exchanges, infer the hydrologic conditions where individual influences of hyporheic and groundwater exchange components on stream water can be characterized, and determine where gaps in information arise. We start with a tracer‐based, longitudinal channel water balance to quantify hydrologic gains and losses at a sub‐reach scale nested within two consecutive reaches. Next, we look at groundwater and stream water surface levels, shallow streambed vertical head gradients, streambed and aquifer hydraulic conductivities, water chemistry, and vertical flux rates estimated from streambed temperatures to provide more spatially explicit information. As a result, a clearer spatial understanding of gains and losses was provided, but some limitations in interpreting results were identified even when combining information collected over various scales. Due to spatial variability of exchanges and areas of mixing, each technique frequently captured a combination of groundwater and hyporheic exchange components. Ultimately, this study provides information regarding technique selection, emphasizes that care must be taken when interpreting results, and identifies the need to apply or develop more advanced methods for understanding subsurface exchanges. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of conservation practices in sloped croplands on soil hydraulic properties and root‐zone moisture dynamics

Rain‐induced erosion and short‐term drought are the two factors that limit the productivity of croplands in the red soil region of subtropical China. The objective of this study was to estimate the effects of conservation practices on hydraulic properties and root‐zone water dynamics of the soil. A 3‐year experiment was performed on a slope at Xianning. Four treatments were evaluated for their ability to reduce soil erosion and improve soil water conditions. Compared with no practices (CK) and living grass strips (GS), the application of polyacrylamide (PAM) significantly reduced soil crust formation during intense rainfall, whereas rice straw mulching (SM) completely abolished soil crust formation. The SM and PAM treatments improved soil water‐stable aggregates, with a redistribution of micro‐aggregates into macro‐aggregates. PAM and SM significantly increased the soil water‐holding capacity. These practices mitigated the degradation of the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) during intense rainfalls. These methods increased soil water storage but with limited effects during heavy rainfalls in the wet period. In contrast, during the dry period, SM had the highest soil water storage, followed by PAM and CK. Grass strips had the lowest soil water storage because of the water uptake during the vigorous grass growth. A slight decline in the soil moisture resulted in a significant decrease in the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (Ku) of the topsoil. Therefore, the hydraulic conductivity in the field is governed by soil moisture, and the remaining soil moisture is more important than improving soil properties to resist short‐term droughts. As a result, SM is the most effective management practice when compared with PAM and GS, although they all protect the soil hydraulic properties during wet periods. These results suggest that mulching is the best strategy for water management in erosion‐threatened and drought‐threatened red soils. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Severe soil erosion during a 3‐day exceptional rainfall event: combining modelling and field data for a fallow cereal field

Exceptional rainfall events cause significant losses of soil, although few studies have addressed the validation of model predictions at field scale during severe erosive episodes. In this study, we evaluate the predictive ability of the enhanced Soil Erosion and Redistribution Tool (SERT‐2014) model for mapping and quantifying soil erosion during the exceptional rainfall event (~235 mm) that affected the Central Spanish Pyrenees in October 2012. The capacity of the simulation model is evaluated in a fallow cereal field (1.9 ha) at a high spatial scale (1 × 1 m). Validation was performed with field‐quantified rates of soil loss in the rills and ephemeral gullies and also with a detailed map of soil redistribution. The SERT‐2014 model was run for the six rainfall sub‐events that made up the exceptional event, simulating the different hydrological responses of soils with maximum runoff depths ranging between 40 and 1017 mm. Predicted average and maximum soil erosion was 11 and 117 Mg ha^?1 event^?1, respectively. Total soil loss and sediment yield to the La Reina gully amounted to 16.3 and 9.0 Mg event^?1. These rates are in agreement with field estimations of soil loss of 20.0 Mg event^?1. Most soil loss (86%) occurred during the first sub‐event. Although soil accumulation was overestimated in the first sub‐event because of the large amount of detached soil, the enhanced SERT‐2014 model successfully predicted the different spatial patterns and values of soil redistribution for each sub‐event. Further research should focus on stream transport capacity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.