Inverse analysis of viscoelastic pavement properties using data from embedded instrumentation

The paper deals with inferring the mechanical layer properties of pavement systems by way of inverse analysis. The proposed scheme is based on the availability of sensory gear embedded within the system ‐ collecting different types of response traces resulting from moving wheel loads. The inverse analysis task simultaneously exploits the readings from all available sensors and therefore formulated as a multicriterion optimization problem. Data from an experimental asphalt pavement are employed to demonstrate the scheme. A versatile and computationally efficient layered viscoelastic pavement model is offered and implemented as a forward solver. Recoverable layer properties, elastic and viscoelastic, are derived and also compared with laboratory values. Results and possible future uses of the work are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transverse and longitudinal fluid flow modelling in fractured porous media with non‐matching meshes

A new discrete fracture model is introduced to simulate the steady‐state fluid flow in discontinuous porous media. The formulation uses a multi‐layered approach to capture the effect of both longitudinal and transverse permeability of the discontinuities in the pressure distribution. The formulation allows the independent discretisation of mesh and discontinuities, which do not need to conform. Given that the formulation is developed at the element level, no additional degrees of freedom or special integration procedures are required for coupling the non‐conforming meshes. The proposed model is shown to be reliable regardless of the permeability of the discontinuity being higher or lower than the surrounding domain. Four numerical examples of increasing complexity are solved to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the new technique when compared with results available in the literature. Results show that the proposed method can simulate the fluid pressure distribution in fractured porous media. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis demonstrated the stability regarding the condition number for wide range values of the coupling parameter.     

Relating hydrograph components to rainfall and streamflow: a case study from northern Taiwan

Abstract

This study investigates the characteristics of hydrograph components from a watershed in Taiwan. Hydrograph components were modelled by using a model of three serial reservoirs with one parallel reservoir. Mean rainfall was calculated by using the block kriging method. The model parameters for 38 events were calibrated by using the shuffled complex evolution optimization algorithm. The model verification was made using 18 events. Based on the study results, the following findings were obtained: (1) for single-peak events, times to peak of hydrograph components are an increasing power function of the peak time of rainfall; (2) peak discharges of hydrograph components are linearly proportional to that of total runoff, and the ratios of quick and slow runoff are approximately 83% and 17% of total runoff, respectively; and (3) the total volume of quick runoff component is 52% of total runoff and that of slow runoff is 27%.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis

Citation Li, Y.-J., Cheng, S.-J. Pao, T.-L. and Bi, Y.-J., 2012. Relating hydrograph components to rainfall and streamflow: a case study from northern Taiwan. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (5), 861–877.     

基于裂隙渗流效应的水封油库涌水量预测分析

准确预测洞室涌水量和库区渗流场的空间分布特征是确保地下水封油库施工期安全性和运行期经济性的基础性工作之一。为真实地反映地下水封油库围岩随机分布裂隙的渗流效应对涌水量预测和渗流场空间分布特性的影响,提出了一种基于嵌入裂隙单元模型（EFE模型）的裂隙岩体渗流分析方法,并采用该方法对湛江水封油库的三维渗流场进行了计算分析,通过对比工程实测资料,验证了所提出方法的可靠性,进而预测了实例工程在运行期的涌水量。计算结果表明,EFE模型能够较好地模拟裂隙对洞室岩体局部渗流场的影响,反映库区渗流场及洞室涌水量空间分布不均匀的特性。研究成果可为水封洞库渗控措施的精准设计以及运行期污水处理设施配套设计工作提供参考。     

Source Lithology and Magmatic Processes Recorded in the Mineral of Basalts from the Parece Vela Basin

Since the Early Cenozoic, the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) has undergone a complex tectonic evolution. During this period the Parece Vela Basin (PVB) was formed by seafloor spreading in the back-arc region of the proto-Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc. However, until now, studies of the geological, geophysical, and tectonic evolution of the PVB have been rare. In this study, we obtained in situ trace element and major element compositions of minerals in basalts collected from two sites in the southern part of the PVB. The results reveal that the basalts from site CJ09-63 were likely formed via ~10% partial melting of spinel-garnet lherzolite, while the basalts from site CJ09-64 were likely formed via 15%–25% partial melting of garnet lherzolite. The order of mineral crystallization for the basalts from site CJ09-64 was olivine, spinel, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase, while the plagioclase in the basalts from site CJ09-63 crystallized earlier than the clinopyroxene. Using a plagioclase-liquid hygrometer and an olivine-liquid oxybarometer, we determined that the basalts in this study have high H2O contents and oxygen fugacities, suggesting that the magma source of the Parece Vela basalts was affected by subduction components, which is consistent with the trace element composition of whole rock.     

改进的岩质凸块的超载储备极限平衡法

脱离模式是块体理论提出的有限可动块体的失稳模式之一。虽然直接塌落是地下工程中最常见的失稳现象,但是目前依然缺少适用的定量分析方法,这使得地下工程的开挖和加固设计缺乏必要的理论支撑。为此,提出了一种改进的考虑渐进破坏的岩块稳定分析方法。主要改进了3处：(1)引入超载基数和超载方向两个参数来量化描述储备荷载;(2)提出了Tan和Scal两种超载基数设定方式;(3)超载方向设定在节理锥的边界扇面上。算例验证结果表明,改进方法完全兼容现有双面滑模式的安全系数算法,实现了脱离模式的定量稳定性分析。最后,讨论了改进方法的刚度参数取值方法及其敏感性。     

红土镍矿化学成分的相关性探析

红土镍矿进口量大、成分复杂、差异性大。为全面了解红土镍矿中各化学成分的相关性,以日照港为主,连云港、天津港为辅,从2013年1月—12月,按进港量多少,每月抽取11~25个样本,共228个。通过元素分析,检出主要元素19个,逐对分析相关性。发现地质作用造成的多元素共生关系,也有外部环境风化淋滤后的弱相关、不相关,甚至有风化淋滤过程中形成的强相关。     

Improved Wildcat Modelling of Mineral Prospectivity

Wildcat modelling of mineral prospectivity has been proposed for greenfields geologically-permissive terranes where mineral targets have not yet been discovered but a geological map is available as a source of spatial data of predictors of mineral prospectivity. This paper (i) revisits the initial way of assigning wildcat scores (S_c) to predictors of mineral prospectivity and (ii) proposes an improvement by transforming S_c into improved wildcat scores (IS_c) by using a logistic function. This was shown in wildcat modelling of prospectivity for low-sulphidation epithermal-Au (LSEG) deposits in Aroroy district (Philippines). Based on knowledge of characteristics of and controls on LSEG mineralization in the Philippines, the spatial predictors of LSEG prospectivity used in the study are proximity to porphyry plutonic stocks, faults/fractures and fault/fracture intersections. The S_c and IS_c of spatial predictors are input separately to principal components analysis to extract a favourability function that can be interpreted as a wildcat model of LSEG prospectivity. The predictive capacity of the wildcat model of LSEG prospectivity based on the IS_c of geological predictors is roughly 70% higher than that of the wildcat model of LSEG prospectivity based on the S_c of geological predictors. A slight increase of predictive capacity of wildcat modelling of LSEG prospectivity is also achieved when the IS_c of geological predictors are integrated with the IS_c of geochemical anomalies, but not with the S_c of geochemical anomalies. The proposed improvement is significant because if the study district were a greenfields exploration area, then a wildcat model of LSEG prospectivity based on the old wildcat methodology would have caused several LSEG targets to be missed.     

Surface displacements due to batter piles driven in cross‐anisotropic media

This article derives the closed‐form solutions for estimating the vertical surface displacements of cross‐anisotropic media due to various loading types of batter piles. The loading types include an embedded point load for an end‐bearing pile, uniform skin friction, and linear variation of skin friction for a friction pile. The planes of cross‐anisotropy are assumed to be parallel to the horizontal ground surface. The proposed solutions are never mentioned in literature and can be developed from Wang and Liao's solutions for a horizontal and vertical point load embedded in the cross‐anisotropic half‐space. The present solutions are identical with Wang's solutions when batter angle equals to 0^°. In addition, the solutions indicate that the surface displacements in cross‐anisotropic media are influenced by the type and degree of material anisotropy, angle of inclination, and loading types. An illustrative example is given at the end of this article to investigate the effect of the type and degree of soil anisotropy (E/E′, G′/E′, and ν/ν′), pile inclination (α), and different loading types (a point load, a uniform skin friction, and a linear variation of skin friction) on vertical surface displacements. Results show that the displacements accounted for pile batter are quite different from those estimated from plumb piles, both driven in cross‐anisotropic media. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determining the spatial scale of variation in soil radon concentration

Increasing concern about possible links between emissions of radon and certain types of malignant disease has led to local and regional surveys to measure radon concentrations in the soil and in dwellings. The spatial scale at which radon varies is largely unknown, and so efficient sampling schemes and methods of mapping cannot be selected. To determine the spatial scale of radon variation in the English Midlands we measured radon in the soil using solid-state nuclear track detection in three areas of different geological complexity. In two of them we used an unbalanced multistage sampling scheme with seven stages of nesting: the Hereford survey covered distances from 10 m to 7.5 km, and the Buxton survey distances from 1 m to 3.75 km. The results from the nested surveys suggested that geology exerts a strong control on the variation. Finally radon was measured every 20 m along a 2-km long transect which crossed several lithologies close to Nottingham. The soil radon values changed in an erratic way along the transect. The sample variogram of radon has a substantial nugget variance, suggesting that much of the variation occurred for distances less than the sampling interval. The structure at the longer scale seems to be controlled by the underlying geology. These results have implications for designing further surveys and for selecting a method of mapping. Stratification based on lithology might be the only feasible solution to sampling, estimating and mapping radon concentrations over large areas. Where the locally erratic component of variation is large, estimation by kriging, for example, would confer little additional benefit compared with that by classification.