Revisiting the morphological method in two-dimensions to quantify bed-material transport in braided rivers

Research in the 1990s showed that bed-material transport rates could be estimated at the reach scale in both one-dimension and, over small spatial scales (10s of m), in two-dimensions. The limit on the latter was the spatial scale over which it was possible to obtain distributed data on morphological change. Here, we revisit the morphological method given progress in both topographical data acquisition and hydraulic modelling. The bed-material transport needed to conserve mass is calculated in both one and two dimensions for a 1600 m × 300 m Alpine braided river “laboratory”. High-resolution topographical data were acquired by laser scanning to quantify Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), and morphological changes caused by the flushing of the water intake were derived from repeated surveys. Based on DEMs of differences, 1D bed-material transport rates were calculated using the morphological method. Then, a 2D hydraulic model was combined with a topographic correction to route sediment through the network of braided channels and to obtain a spatially variable estimate of transport in both downstream and cross-stream directions. Monte Carlo simulation was applied to the routing model parameters, allowing identification of the most probable parameter values needed to minimize negative transport. The results show that within-section spatial compensation of erosion and deposition using the 1D treatment leads to substantial local errors in transport rate estimates, to a degree related to braiding intensity. Even though the 2D application showed that a large proportion of the total transport was actually concentrated into one main channel during the studied low flow event, the proportion of transport in secondary anabranches is substantial when the river starts braiding. Investigations of the effects of DEM resolution, competent flow duration and survey frequency related to ‘travelling bedload’ and sequential erosion-deposition emphasized the critical importance of careful data collection in the application of the morphological method. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acoustic and petrophysical properties of mechanically compacted overconsolidated sands: Part 2 – Rock physics modelling and applications

Part one of this paper reported results from experimental compaction measurements of unconsolidated natural sand samples with different mineralogical compositions and textures. The experimental setup was designed with several cycles of stress loading and unloading applied to the samples. The setup was aimed to simulate a stress condition where sediments underwent episodes of compaction, uplift and erosion. P-wave and S-wave velocities and corresponding petrophysical (porosity and density) properties were reported. In this second part of the paper, rock physics modelling utilizing existing rock physics models to evaluate the model validity for measured data from part one were presented. The results show that a friable sand model, which was established for normally compacted sediments is also capable of describing overconsolidated sediments. The velocity–porosity data plotted along the friable sand lines not only describe sorting deterioration, as has been traditionally explained by other studies, but also variations in pre-consolidation stress or degree of stress release. The deviation of the overconsolidated sands away from the normal compaction trend on the V_P/V_S and acoustic impedance space shows that various stress paths can be predicted on this domain when utilizing rock physics templates. Fluid saturation sensitivity is found to be lower in overconsolidated sands compared to normally consolidated sands. The sensitivity decreases with increasing pre-consolidation stress. This means detectability for four-dimensional fluid saturation changes can be affected if sediments were pre-stressed and unloaded. Well log data from the Barents Sea show similar patterns to the experimental sand data. The findings allow the development of better rock physics diagnostics of unloaded sediments, and the understanding of expected 4D seismic response during time-lapse seismic monitoring of uplifted basins. The studied outcomes also reveal an insight into the friable sand model that its diagnostic value is not only for describing sorting microtextures, but also pre-consolidation stress history. The outcome extends the model application for pre-consolidation stress estimation, for any unconsolidated sands experiencing similar unloading stress conditions to this study.     

穿越走滑断层海底管道局部屈曲研究及应变响应预测

海洋地震频繁且海底土体环境复杂,当地震导致断层土体发生永久变形后,穿越断层的海底埋地管道也将受迫发生变形。为确定变形后的管道能否正常工作,需根据实际工况对其进行应变响应预测。首先通过有限元计算软件ABAQUS建立管道与走滑断层的三维实体模型,模拟管-土间的接触作用并通过等效边界方法修正模型,得到管道局部屈曲破坏形式及应变分布情况。然后,通过调整有限元模型参数对断层交角、管道工作内压、管道径厚比对管道极限塑性应变的影响进行敏感性分析,定性分析不同敏感性因素对穿越走滑断层海底管道应变响应的影响。最后,在数值模拟数据的基础上通过MATLAB软件利用基于遗传算法优化的BP神经网络实现对管道应变响应的精确预测。结果表明:穿越走滑断层管道在发生局部屈曲时,可根据轴向压缩应变突变现象确定管道局部屈曲时对应的断层位移,并且断层交角、管道工作内压和管道径厚比都会对跨断层管道应变响应产生影响。     

基于三维应变格林函数反演中小震震源机制

随着复杂速度结构反演的发展和高性能计算能力的提升,基于高精度3D介质模型计算格林函数反演震源机制更具可行性。中小地震因具有更好的覆盖和近似点源效应,在区域结构成像中有着广泛的应用。基于波形类的反演方法如波动方程层析成像\,全波形反演都需要震源机制解,而传统的震源机制反演方法不能很好地应用于中小地震。采用有限差分法构建应变格林张量(Strain Green Tensor,SGT)数据库,将合成波形和实际波形按震相截窗并滤波到不同的频带范围,先通过最小化互相关走时差来进行震源重定位,再通过最小化波形残差反演震源机制。通过合成数据测试验证方法的正确性,随后将该方法应用于青藏高原东部边缘龙门山地区,反演一系列M_W3.4～5.7的中小地震震源机制。由于应变格林张量数据库可预先构建,该方法可以应用于(近)实时震源机制解反演。     

循环荷载作用下红黏土累积变形研究

通过GDS动三轴设备对赣南红黏土进行了一系列排水条件下的大次数循环试验,研究不同循环应力比、固结应力比及围压对赣南红黏土累积变形特性的影响。结果表明：在不同固结应力比、固结压力和循环应力比条件下,红黏土的累积应变都呈现出先迅速累积,后增长变缓,最终稳定的趋势;在一定的循环次数之后,不同初始固结应力和不同初始应力比条件下累积应变与循环次数之间的变形规律呈现为线性关系,且初始固结应力和初始固结应力比越小,其线性相关性越好;不同循环应力比下赣南红黏土的平均累积应变速率与循环次数之间也呈现出明显的线性关系。此外,基于以上关系建立了赣南红黏土在长期循环荷载作用下的累积变形预测模型,并通过对比验证了该模型的可行性。     

Dynamic soil–structure interaction analysis of a telescope at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory

This paper presents the dynamic soil–structure analysis of the main telescope T250 of the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ, Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory) on the Pico del Buitre. Vibration control has been of prime concern in the design, since astrophysical observations may be hindered by mechanical vibration of optical equipment due to wind loading. The telescope manufacturer therefore has imposed a minimal natural frequency of 10 Hz for the supporting telescope pier. Dynamic soil–structure interaction may significantly influence the lowest natural frequency of a massive construction as a telescope pier. The structure clamped at its base has a resonance frequency of 14.3 Hz. A coupled finite element–boundary element (FE–BE) model of the telescope pier that accounts for the dynamic interaction of the piled foundation and the soil predicts a resonance frequency of 11.2 Hz, demonstrating the significant effect of dynamic soil–structure interaction. It is further investigated to what extent the coupled FE–BE model can be simplified in order to reduce computation time. The assumption of a rigid pile cap allows us to account for dynamic soil–structure interaction in a simplified way. A coupled FE–BE analysis with a rigid pile cap predicts a resonance frequency of 11.7 Hz, demonstrating a minor effect of the pile cap flexibility on the resonance frequency of the telescope pier. The use of an analytical model for the pile group results in an overestimation of the dynamic soil stiffness. This error is due to the large difference between the actual geometry and the square pile cap model for which the parameters have been tuned.     

A study on low strain integrity testing of platform-pile system using staggered grid finite difference method

To study the three-dimensional characteristics of wave propagation in platform-pile system, a three-dimensional computation model for transient vibration of platform-pile-soil system is established. Based on initial and boundary conditions, the numerical solution of this model is obtained. A MATLAB program is compiled through using staggered grid finite difference method. The dynamic response of the integrate pile in platform-pile-soil system is got under vertical impact force, and the reliability and feasibility of the numerical simulation are corroborated by comparing calculation result with measured data of low strain integrity testing of platform-pile system. The optimal sensor location at platform top is studied. The results show the position distancing the pile center 0.5R~0.6R (R is pile radius) is the optimal sensor location, which the line between sensor location and pile center parallels the short side. It plays a certain role in reducing three-dimensional interference through increasing shear wave velocity of surrounding soil and appropriately increasing the ratio of characteristic wavelength to pile radius. In addition, contact area has less influence on low strain integrity testing of platform-pile system.     

Structure of residual oil as a function of wettability using pore-network modelling

In the water flooding of mixed-wet porous media, oil may drain down to relatively low residual oil saturations (S_or). Various studies have indicated that such low saturations can only be reached when oil layers in pore corners are included in the pore-scale modelling. These processes within a macroscopic porous medium can be modelled at the pore-scale by incorporating the fundamental physics of capillary dominated displacement within idealised pore network models. Recently, the authors have developed thermodynamic criteria for oil layer existence in pores with non-uniform wettability which takes as input geometrically and topologically representative networks, to calculate realistic S_or values for mixed-wet and oil-wet sandstones [16, 21]. This previous work is developed in this paper to include (i) the visualisation of the 3D structure of this residual oil, and (ii) a statistical analysis of this “residual/remaining” oil. Both the visualisation and the statistical analysis are done under a wide range of wettability conditions, which is reported for the first time in this paper.The structure of residual oil for strongly water wet systems is well known (where residual = remaining oil) and our model agrees with this but this structure changes radically for mixed wet systems (where residual ≠ remaining) and this has not yet been visualised experimentally. We find that for more water-wet systems high final residual oil saturations are reached at relatively small amounts of water injected and this oil is present in the pores as bulk oil. On the other hand, for more oil-wet systems we find a slow decrease of the amount of remaining oil with increasing amounts of injected water. During the process, the remaining connectivity of the oil phase is increasingly provided by oil layers only, hence the slow drainage. The final residual oil saturation, only reached in the theoretical limit of an infinite amount of injected water, is almost entirely contained in large number of (relatively low volume) oil layers, which are present in pores of most radius sizes.     

Understanding river dune splitting through flume experiments and analysis of a dune evolution model

Forecasts of water level during river floods require accurate predictions of the evolution of river dune dimensions, because the hydraulic roughness of the main channel is largely determined by the bed morphology. River dune dimensions are controlled by processes like merging and splitting of dunes. Particularly the process of dune splitting is still poorly understood and – as a result – not yet included in operational dune evolution models. In the current paper, the process of dune splitting is investigated by carrying out laboratory experiments and by means of a sensitivity analysis using a numerical dune evolution model. In the numerical model, we introduced superimposed TRIAS ripples (i.e. triangular asymmetric stoss side‐ripples) on the stoss sides of underlying dunes as soon as these stoss sides exceed a certain critical length. Simulations with the model including dune splitting showed that predictions of equilibrium dune characteristics were significantly improved compared to the model without dune splitting. As dune splitting is implemented in a parameterized way, the computational cost remains low which means that dune evolution can be calculated on the timescale of a flood wave. Subsequently, we used this model to study the mechanism of dune splitting. Literature showed that the initiation of a strong flow separation zone behind a superimposed bedform is one of the main mechanisms behind dune splitting. The flume experiments indicated that besides its height also the lee side slope of the superimposed bedform is an important factor to determine the strength of the flow separation zone and therefore is an important aspect in dune splitting. The sensitivity analysis of the dune evolution model showed that a minimum stoss side length was required to develop a strong flow separation zone. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multi‐storage groundwater concept for the SWAT model to emphasize nonlinear groundwater dynamics in lowland catchments

Hydrological models are useful tools to analyze present and future conditions of water quantity and quality. The integrated modelling of water and nutrients needs an adequate representation of the different discharge components. In common with many lowlands, groundwater contribution to the discharge in the North German lowlands is a key factor for a reasonable representation of the water balance, especially in low flow periods. Several studies revealed that the widely used Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model performs poorly for low flow periods. This paper deals with the extension of the groundwater module of the SWAT model to enhance low flow representation. The current two‐storage concept of SWAT was further developed to a three‐storage concept. This was realized due to modification of the groundwater module by splitting the active groundwater storage into a fast and a slow contributing aquifer. The results of this study show that the groundwater module with three storages leads to a good prediction of the overall discharge especially for the recession limbs and the low flow periods. The improved performance is reflected in the signature measures for the mid‐segment (percent bias ?2.4% vs ?15.9%) and the low segment (percent bias 14.8% vs 46.8%) of the flow duration curve. The three‐storage groundwater module is more process oriented than the original version due to the introduction of a fast and a slow groundwater flow component. The three‐storage version includes a modular approach, because groundwater storages can be activated or deactivated independently for subbasin and hydrological response unit level. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.