Accounting for sparsely observed rainfall space—time variability in a rainfall—runoff model of a semiarid Tunisian basin/Prise en compte d'observations peu denses de la variabilité spatiotemporelle de la pluie dans une modélisation pluie—débit d'un bassin semi-aride Tunisien

Abstract

The management of water excesses and deficits is a major task in semiarid Mediterranean regions, where the variability of rainfall inputs is high at different time and space scales. Thus intense hydrometeorological events, which generate both potential resource and hazards, are of major interest. A simple method is proposed, with the example of the Skhira basin (192 km²) in central Tunisia, to account for the event space–time variability of rainfall in a rainfall–runoff model, in order to check its influence on the shape, magnitude and timing of resulting hydrographs. The transfer function used is a geomorphology-based unit hydrograph with an explicit territorial significance. Simulations made for highly variable events show the relevance of this method, seen as the first step of a downward approach, and its robustness with respect to the quality and the density of rainfall data.     

Groundwater–surface water interactions in a lowland watershed: source contribution to stream flow

The lower coastal plain of the Southeast USA is undergoing rapid urbanisation as a result of population growth. Land use change has been shown to affect watershed hydrology by altering stream flow and, ultimately, impairing water quality and ecologic health. However, because few long‐term studies have focused on groundwater–surface water interactions in lowland watersheds, it is difficult to establish what the effect of development might be in the coastal plain region. The objective of this study was to use an innovative improvement to end‐member mixing analysis (EMMA) to identify time sequences of hydrologic processes affecting storm flow. Hydrologic and major ion chemical data from groundwater, soil water, precipitation and stream sites were collected over a 2‐year period at a watershed located in USDA Forest Service's Santee Experimental Forest near Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Stream flow was ephemeral and highly dependent on evapotranspiration rates and rainfall amount and intensity. Hydrograph separation for a series of storm events using EMMA allowed us to identify precipitation, riparian groundwater and streambed groundwater as main sources to stream flow, although source contribution varied as a function of antecedent soil moisture condition. Precipitation, as runoff, dominated stream flow during all storm events while riparian and streambed groundwater contributions varied and were mainly dependent on antecedent soil moisture condition. Sensitivity analyses examined the influence of 10% and 50% increases in analyte concentration on EMMA calculations and found that contribution estimates were very sensitive to changes in chemistry. This study has implications on the type of methodology used in traditional forms of EMMA research, particularly in the recognition and use of median end‐member water chemistry in hydrograph separation techniques. Potential effects of urban development on important hydrologic processes (groundwater recharge, interflow, runoff, etc.) that influence stream flow in these lowland watersheds were qualitatively examined. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical layer‐element method for non‐axisymmetric consolidation of multilayered soils

A numerically efficient and stable method is developed to analyze Biot's consolidation of multilayered soils subjected to non‐axisymmetric loading in arbitrary depth. By the application of a Laplace–Hankel transform and a Fourier expansion, the governing equations are solved analytically. Then, the analytical layer‐element (i.e. a symmetric stiffness matrix) describing the relationship between generalized displacements and stresses of a layer is exactly derived in the transformed domain. Considering the continuity conditions between adjacent layers, the global stiffness matrix of multilayered soils is obtained by assembling the inter‐related layer‐elements. Once the solution in the Laplace–Hankel transformed domain that satisfies the boundary conditions has been obtained, the actual solution can be derived by the inversion of the Laplace–Hankel transform. Finally, numerical examples are presented to verify the theory and to study the influence of the layered soil properties and time history on the consolidation behavior. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explicit integration of bounding surface model for the analysis of earthquake soil liquefaction

This paper presents a new plasticity model developed for the simulation of monotonic and cyclic loading of non‐cohesive soils and its implementation to the commercial finite‐difference code FLAC, using its User‐Defined‐Model (UDM) capability. The new model incorporates the framework of Critical State Soil Mechanics, while it relies upon bounding surface plasticity with a vanished elastic region to simulate the non‐linear soil response. Stress integration of constitutive relations is performed using a recently proposed explicit scheme with automatic error control and substepping, which so far has been employed in the literature only for constitutive models aiming at monotonic loading. The overall accuracy of this scheme is evaluated at element level by simulating cyclic loading along complex stress paths and by using iso‐error maps for paths involving change of the Lode angle. The performance of the new constitutive model and its stress integration scheme in complex boundary value problems involving earthquake‐induced liquefaction is evaluated, in terms of accuracy and computational cost, via a number of parametric analyses inspired by the successful simulation of the VELACS centrifuge Model Test No. 2 studying the lateral spreading response of a liquefied sand layer. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

梯级水库运行期设计洪水理论和方法

人类活动和气候变化显著地改变了河川径流及洪水的时空分配过程，直接影响下游断面的设计洪水。本文综述水库对下游水文情势的影响，提出梯级水库运行期设计洪水理论方法和研究内容；重点探讨非一致性洪水频率分析和基于Copula函数的最可能地区洪水组成法，比较各种方法的实用性；推荐采用运行期设计洪水及汛控水位指导水库调度运行，建议进一步加强水库运行期设计洪水计算理论和方法研究。     

A mathematical programming approach for scheduling equipment in a surface coal mining operation

Summary A mathematical programming model for scheduling open pit mining was developed and validated using data from a surface mining operation. A two-phase solution procedure was used involving repeated evaluations of an integer scheduling model and a simple transportation model.     

Satellite-tracked drifting buoy observations in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean

Three satellite-tracked drifting buoys released in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean followed the path of the current moving westward approximately zonally in the vicinity of 10 S latitude. On nearing the east coast of Africa two buoys moved north and the third moved south. Over the open sea regime the buoys moved with a speed of approximately 30 cm/s at an angle of about 35° to the left of the wind. The overall tendencies seen in the buoy drift are similar to those observed elsewhere in the world oceans.     

Versuch der Geschlechtsbestimmung beim Wels,Silurus glanis L., mit Hilfe der Diskriminanzanalyse von Brustflossendaten

Width of the first ray of the pectoral fin has been measured in two places for 154 young and 89 adult wels. Statistical relationships between the above characters and fish length as well as its maturity and sex have been proved. Three models of discriminant function for identification of adult fish sex have been derived and verified. The accuracy of sex separation has been 89,5% in a standard sample of wels, and 90,6% in a routine sample, after an adjustment in the procedure.