Numerical calculation for the flow of submerged bodies under a free surface

The flow field generated by a Rankine body moving under a free surface in afinite-depth water is calculated by potential theory. Velocity field generated by a source located at the origin is calculated first by using highly efficient and adaptive quadratures of the QUADPACK library. This solution is used for generating the flow around a Rankine body by locating a source and an equal strength sink along the body axis. Results agree well with the existing literature.     

A survey on semisubmersible wind loads

The methods and assumptions of calculating wind drags and overturning moments on semisubmersible offshore drilling rigs are investigated. The empirical methods and the wind tunnel testing are compared.     

The role of organic coatings in the enrichment of marine particles with selenium. The fixation of selenite on an adsorbed amino acid

The enrichment of marine particles with selenium cannot be explained as that with metals present in cationic form by complexation with anionic functional groups of adsorbed organic matter. Physicochemical data obtained using a model system are reported. The surface of the particles is modelized by a mercury electrode whose surface charge density can be easily changed, covered by a layer of adsorbed polymers. Studies with different kinds of macromolecules and salts show a specific interaction between adsorbed polyalanine and selenite. The results can be explained by the concordance of the distances between two oxygen atoms in this oxyanion and between two amine groups of the adsorbed polypeptide. A similar mechanism could occur in marine aggregates whatever their nature, as long as they contain amine groups at their surface which result in this concordance. Some prospects derived from the results are discussed.     

Analysis of dry and wet climate characteristics at Uttarakhand (India) using effective drought index

Natural Hazards - Drought is a complex natural disaster that adversely affects human life and the ecosystem. A variety of drought indexes are available for monitoring meteorological drought events....     

台风菲特暴雨诊断分析

"菲特"台风暴雨具有阶段性特征,包括台风远距离降水、台风倒槽和内螺旋雨带降水、台风外部螺旋雨带降水、台风残留低压环流与冷空气相互作用降水4个阶段。利用地面观测、气象雷达观测、NCEP分析资料,对"菲特"台风暴雨环流形势进行了分析。引导台风东移的高压东西部具有不同热力属性,东部暖性深厚、西部冷性浅薄。浅薄冷高压阻挡登陆台风继续西移,延长台风倒槽和外围螺旋雨带的降水时间。"丹娜丝"台风的靠近,有利于东南风水汽输送的增强。副热带高压的增强,在黄海上空逼近东移高空槽形成稳定的高空急流。文章提出与传统垂直风切变大、高空急流强的冷空气阻挡型不同的侵入型冷空气和台风相互作用形势。侵入型冷空气从低层入侵,影响台风残留低压的外围环流。在低压外围环流的北部形成较强的东北风,并与海上的东风对峙辐合形成海岸锋。冷空气侵入型的空间不对称特征明显:对流有效位能东高西低,垂直风切变西北高东南低。残留低压的中层受冷空气影响较小,沿海地区的东南风持续的时间更长。中层高位涡区与地面海岸锋的互应,为变性的台风残留低压暴雨提供有利条件。     

Influence of long‐period filter cut‐off on elastic spectral displacements

The effect of the long‐period filter cut‐off, T_c, on elastic spectral displacements is investigated using a strong ground‐motion database from Europe and the Middle East. The relation between the filter and oscillator responses is considered to observe the influence of T_c for both analogue and digital records, and the variations with site classification, magnitude, filter order and viscous damping. Robust statistics are derived using the re‐processed European data to generalize the effects of the long‐period filter cut‐off on maximum oscillator deformation demands as a function of these seismological and structural features. Statistics with a 95% confidence interval are derived to suggest usable period ranges for spectral displacement computations as a function of T_c. The results indicate that the maximum period at which spectral displacements can be confidently calculated depend strongly on the site class, magnitude and filter order. The period range where reliable long‐period information can be extracted from digital accelerograms is twice that of analogue records. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Critical evaluation of the customisation process of the UNDRR disaster resilience scorecard for cities to earthquake-induced soil liquefaction disaster events

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - As cities become larger and more densely populated the impacts of major earthquake events on city communities become more severe. Improving community resilience...     

Performance of shape indices and classification schemes for characterising perceptual shape complexity of building footprints in GIS

Shape characterisation is important in many fields dealing with spatial data. For this purpose, numerous shape analysis and recognition methods with different degrees of complexity have so far been developed. Among them, relatively simple indices are widely used in spatial applications, but their performance has not been investigated sufficiently, particularly for building footprints (BFs). Therefore, this article focuses on BF shape characterisation with shape indices and classification schemes in a GIS environment. This study consists of four phases. In the first phase, the criteria for BF shape complexity were identified, and accordingly, benchmark data was constructed by human experts in three shape complexity categories. In the second phase, 18 shape indices were selected from the literature and automatically computed in GIS. The performance of these indices was then statistically assessed with histograms, correlation matrix and boxplots, and consequently four indices were found to be appropriate for further investigation. In the third phase, two new indices (Equivalent Rectangular index and Roughness index) were proposed with the objective to measure some BF shape characteristics more efficiently. The proposed indices also were found to be appropriate with the same statistical assessment procedures. In the final phase, BF shape complexity categories were created with the pairs of six appropriate indices and four choropleth mapping classification schemes (equal intervals, natural break, standard deviation, and custom) in GIS. The performance of the index–scheme pairs was assessed against the benchmark data. The findings demonstrated that both new indices and two of the selected indices (Convexity and Rectangularity) delivered higher performance. The custom classification scheme was found more ideal to reveal absolute shape complexity with the index value ranges derived from the boxplots while the other classification schemes were more appropriate to reveal relative shape complexity.     

Verringerung der Schwermetall‐ und Sulfatbelastung in sauren bergbaubelasteten Gewässern durch Aluminiumpräzipitate

Attenuation of Heavy Metals and Sulfate by Aluminium Precipitates in Acid Mine Drainage During the mixing of acid mine waters with nearly neutral tributaries, often precipitates are formed which are high in iron or aluminium. These precipitates cover the river bed for many kilometres. Near the town of Lehesten (Thuringian slate mining area), leachates of slate quarries and waste rock dumps contain high amounts of aluminium, sulfate, copper, nickel, zinc, manganese, and H⁺ ions as a result of the oxidation of incorporated pyrite. These leachates enter the brooks Loquitz, Kleine Sormitz, and Rehbach leading to the phenomenon named above. The contribution of the forming aluminium‐rich precipitates on the attenuation of sulfate and heavy metals by sorption or coprecipitation was studied by analysing the composition of water and sediment samples as well as samples of suspended matter. Sulfate is often considered as conservative tracer in acid mine drainage. However, sulfate does not behave conservatively in this system what might be explained by the adsorption of sulfate to the aluminium precipitates. Instead, conservative behaviour was found for calcium, potassium, chloride, zinc, manganese, and nickel. A formation of jurbanite can be excluded because of the low sulfate contents. The sulfate content of the sediment depends on the pH. At low pH values (4.8) the S/Al ratio corresponds to the theoretical ratio in basaluminite and decreases with rising pH. Sulfate is weakly bound to the solid phase and can easily be replaced by OH^– ions. A formation of basaluminite is possible at low pH values with a fluent transition to aluminium hydroxide. Therefore the precipitates are assumed to consist predominantly of aluminium hydroxide with sulfate being adsorbed to the surface.