Analysing Lava Risk for the Etnean Area: Simulation by Cellular Automata Methods

The model SCIARA, based on the Cellular Automata paradigm, is a versatile instrument whose scope is to analyse volcanic risk from lava flows.The possible fields of intervention are:[(a)] Long term forecasting of the flow direction at various eruption rates and points of emission by locating potential risk areas and permitting the creation of detailed maps of risk;[(b)] The possibility to follow the progress of an event and predict its evolution;[(c)] The verification of the possible effects of human intervention on real or simulated flows in stream deviation.A risk scenario has been developed for the Etnean territories of the towns of Nicolosi, Pedara and S. Alfio, simulating possible episodes with different vent locations along the fracture opened in the 1989 eruption and successively activated in the 1991–1993 eruption.The main characteristics of lava flows, that might be dangerous to the inhabited areas, have been analysed on the basis of the carried out Cellular Automata.     

On-chip earthquake simulation model using potentials

A two-dimensional (2-D) Cellular Automata (CA) dynamic system constituted of cells-charges has been proposed for the simulation of the earthquake process. The CA model has been calibrated with the use of real data. The calibration incorporates major seismic characteristics of the area under test. The simulation results are found in good quantitative and qualitative agreement with the recorded Gutenberg–Richter (GR) scaling relations. The model is enriched with a powerful multi-parameter interface that enables the user to load real data from different regions. This paper examines the on-chip realisation of the model and its instrumentation. The CA model hardware implementation is based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) logic. It utilises an array of 32 × 32 cells. Parameters that construct the local CA rule constitute the input data. The initial seed, which to some extent corresponds to the seismic features of the area under test, is loaded in a semi-parallel way and the process is completed in a certain number of time steps. The automatic response of the processor provides the corresponding GR scaling law of the area under study. The hardware implementation of the CA-based earthquake simulation model is advantageous in terms of low-cost, high-speed, compactness and portability features. It can operate as a preliminary data-acquisition filter that accelerates the evaluation of recorded data as far as its origin time, spatial and magnitude completeness and quality are concerned. Software that performs reliable automatic phase picking, as well as data elaboration, can be assembled next to the earthquake recording instruments (the whole network) output to assure a quick and reliable iteration of the focal parameters of a recorded earthquake (epicentre coordinates, focal depth and magnitude). The dedicated processor can be accommodated right after this stage (before any manual elaboration) focusing on the near real-time development of a reliable qualitative dynamical seismic record and a mapping of the seismic characteristics of the area.     

The application of cellular automata to the erosion of landforms

Two approaches to modelling surface erosion are described which can be used to explain the development of geomorphological features. The first approach uses non-linear wave theory and shows how surface gradient discontinuities can arise as the erosion of an initially smooth surface proceeds. For isotropic erosion, surface shapes may be predicted by a simple application of the Huyghens wavefront construction and Snell's law at media boundaries. A second approach uses a computational cellular method. The general shapes predicted by the computer simulations are shown to agree with those determined from the wave approach. The application of the cellular method to problems of geomorphological interest are discussed.     

随机性细胞自动机的地震模拟的动力学含义

结合随机的能量输入和确定的能量损耗，本文用随机性细胞自动机(CA)进行了地震事件的数字模拟，并对事件进行了能量分维和时间序列的多重分形分析。初步结果表明，大量事件的能量-频次的统计分布可能遵从最经典的Gutenberg—Richter关系．不同的初始能量分布和不同的能量传递准则都对模型的输出产生影响，b值与模型参数的设置密切相关，地震现象本质上的复杂性可能是随机性与确定性的统一体现。     

基于CA的昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂传播的空间模拟

元胞自动机CA（Cellular Automaton）与地理信息系统（GIS）的集成弥补了GIS在时空分析和时空演化方面的不足,为昆虫种群生态学的研究提供了新的手段。利用DEM提取地形因子,使用统计分析分析了昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂与林分因子、立地因子之间的关系。主要取得了腮扁叶蜂虫口密度与立地因子关系密切,并推导出了腮扁叶蜂的虫口密度与海拔、坡度、坡向、坡位的逐步逻辑回归数学模型。以数学模型结合空间自相关函数建立时空预测模型作为转换规则,以地理信息系统为平台利用元胞自动机模型模拟腮扁叶蜂传播,预测结果给出了昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂密度分布的结果,给防治决策提供了方便。     

Simulations of the 2004 lava flow at Etna volcano using the magflow cellular automata model

Since the mechanical properties of lava change over time, lava flows represent a challenge for physically based modeling. This change is ruled by a temperature field which needs to be modeled. MAGFLOW Cellular Automata (CA) model was developed for physically based simulations of lava flows in near real-time. We introduced an algorithm based on the Monte Carlo approach to solve the anisotropic problem. As transition rule of CA, a steady-state solution of Navier-Stokes equations was adopted in the case of isothermal laminar pressure-driven Bingham fluid. For the cooling mechanism, we consider only the radiative heat loss from the surface of the flow and the change of the temperature due to mixture of lavas between cells with different temperatures. The model was applied to reproduce a real lava flow that occurred during the 2004–2005 Etna eruption. The simulations were computed using three different empirical relationships between viscosity and temperature.     

影响地震活动性因素的非均匀细胞自动机模拟研究

基于细胞自动机模型,构建了由81×81个细胞单元组成非均匀二维单断层介质样本,研究了断层结构细观非均匀性以及相关模型参数变化对模拟输出结果和强度分布特征的影响。研究结果表明：结构非均匀性是影响地震活动性的控制性参量,随着非均匀程度的增强,地震事件数量增多,震级分布变得越来越均匀,破裂演化模式由相对“脆性”向“塑性”变化;介质结构的初始条件和应力加载的随机性对地震活动演化过程基本不产生影响。此外,应力降分配系数减小使b值主体线性段向大震级延伸;随着局部摩擦损耗系数增大,模拟地震事件的数量有所增加,大震级事件数量和震级衰减增强,b值主体线性区间变窄,使断层的变形破坏方式由相对“脆性”向“塑性”变化。这些对我们理解孕震过程的复杂性是有帮助的。     

摩擦时间依从的地震活动性细胞自动机模型

设计了一个改进的单断层地震孕育过程细胞自动机（ＣＡ）模型,通过设计外界通过 施加应力与模型间进行的能量交换和模型的细胞之间存在的非线性力学作用,试图理解地震 活动特性的力学机制．与早期细胞自动机模型相比,改进了参数的取值方式,将摩擦时间依 从的理论引进模型,使该细胞自动机模型更接近实际的孕震系统．研究表明参数取值方式对 人工地震序列和各细胞破裂事件的非均匀时间特性有重要影响,较小震级和较大震级范围中 的事件分别遵从明显不同的累积频度一震级关系．     

Simulating the 1999 Capbreton canyon turbidity current with a Cellular Automata model

A numerical model has been developed for the simulation of turbidity currents driven by nonuniform, non cohesive sediment and flowing over a complex three dimensional submarine topography. The model is based on an alternative approach known as Cellular Automata paradigm. The model is validated by comparing a simulation with a reported field-scale event. The chosen case is a turbidity current which occurred in Capbreton Canyon and was initiated by a storm in December 1999. Using data from recent oceanographic cruises, the deposit of the event has been precisely described, which constrain values of model parameters. The model simulates the 1999 turbidity current over the actual canyon topography and related turbidite using three different types of particle. The model successfully simulates areas of erosion and deposition in the canyon. It predicts the vertical and longitudinal grain size evolution, and shows that the fining-up sequence can be deposited by several phases of deposition and erosion related to the current energetic variation during its evolution. This result could explain the presence of intrabed contacts or the frequent lack of facies in Bouma sequences.     

格子玻尔兹曼方法及其在大气湍流研究中的应用

文章的目的是对格子玻尔兹曼方法进行系统的介绍，格子玻尔兹曼方法(Lattice Boltzmann Method)的出现直接来源于20世纪60年代的元胞自动机(Cellular Automata)思想，而这一方法用于解决流动现象时，又可以追溯到19世纪的分子运动论，求解的是Boltzmann提出的玻尔兹曼输运方程，因此将这一方法称为格子玻尔兹曼方法，之前也被称为格子气自动机(Lattice Gas Automaton)。该方法多用于研究复杂现象，如材料晶体凝聚时的生长过程、城市土地利用的演化等方面。在20世纪70年代由Hardy、Pomeau和Pazzis建立了第一个用于研究流体运动的格子气自动机，此后，这一方法被广泛用来模拟各种流动问题，诸如二相流、孔隙介质中的渗流等，并根据这一方法开发了相应的商业软件PowerFlow。同时，格子玻尔兹曼方法由于其在微观水平描述运动的特点，成为研究湍流的一个很好的数值计算工具，特别是用其进行直接数值模拟(DNS)计算，成为继传统的差分法、有限体积法和谱方法之后的又一有力的手段。而作为大气运动的一个主要现象的大气湍流，比普通湍流更加复杂，在这里着重介绍了大气湍流的特点和应用格子玻尔兹曼方法模拟湍流的发展过程。