Fast iterative solution of large undrained soil‐structure interaction problems

In view of rapid developments in iterative solvers, it is timely to re‐examine the merits of using mixed formulation for incompressible problems. This paper presents extensive numerical studies to compare the accuracy of undrained solutions resulting from the standard displacement formulation with a penalty term and the two‐field mixed formulation. The standard displacement and two‐field mixed formulations are solved using both direct and iterative approaches to assess if it is cost‐effective to achieve more accurate solutions. Numerical studies of a simple footing problem show that the mixed formulation is able to solve the incompressible problem ‘exactly’, does not create pressure and stress instabilities, and obviate the need for an ad hoc penalty number. In addition, for large‐scale problems where it is not possible to perform direct solutions entirely within available random access memory, it turns out that the larger system of equations from mixed formulation also can be solved much more efficiently than the smaller system of equations arising from standard formulation by using the symmetric quasi‐minimal residual (SQMR) method with the generalized Jacobi (GJ) preconditioner. Iterative solution by SQMR with GJ preconditioning also is more elegant, faster, and more accurate than the popular Uzawa method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The data‐driven approach as an operational real‐time flood forecasting model

Accurate water level forecasts are essential for flood warning. This study adopts a data‐driven approach based on the adaptive network–based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to forecast the daily water levels of the Lower Mekong River at Pakse, Lao People's Democratic Republic. ANFIS is a hybrid system combining fuzzy inference system and artificial neural networks. Five ANFIS models were developed to provide water level forecasts from 1 to 5 days ahead, respectively. The results show that although ANFIS forecasts of water levels up to three lead days satisfied the benchmark, four‐ and five‐lead‐day forecasts were only slightly better in performance compared with the currently adopted operational model. This limitation is imposed by the auto‐ and cross‐correlations of the water level time series. Output updating procedures based on the autoregressive (AR) and recursive AR (RAR) models were used to enhance ANFIS model outputs. The RAR model performed better than the AR model. In addition, a partial recursive procedure that reduced the number of recursive steps when applying the AR or the RAR model for multi‐step‐ahead error prediction was superior to the fully recursive procedure. The RAR‐based partial recursive updating procedure significantly improved three‐, four‐ and five‐lead‐day forecasts. Our study further shows that for long lead times, ANFIS model errors are dominated by lag time errors. Although the ANFIS model with the RAR‐based partial recursive updating procedure provided the best results, this method was able to reduce the lag time errors significantly for the falling limbs only. Improvements for the rising limbs were modest. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MCZT在气枪震源信号频谱分析中的应用

气枪震源信号是短时非平稳信号,采用频谱细化算法能提高频谱分析的准确性。首先进行了改进线性调频Z变换(MCZT)和FFT两种频谱分析算法的误差仿真计算,然后进行气枪震源的水下子波信号和地震波信号的对比计算。结果表明MCZT计算误差较小、计算时间较少,能有效提高气枪震源信号频率和幅度特征提取的准确性,是气枪震源信号频谱特征分析的一个有效方法。     

Use of fluorescein as a ground water tracer in brackish water aquifers

A drift and pumpback experiment was conducted in a brackish water sandfill. The sandfill was reclaimed from the sea in the eastern part of Singapore and contains sands with low organic and clay/silt contents. The high salinity in the ground water precludes the use of chloride and bromide as tracers in such an environment, and a field experiment was conducted to assess the viability of using fluorescein as a tracer in brackish water aquifers. Nitrate was used as a second tracer to serve as a check. Initial laboratory studies showed that fluorescence was unaffected over the range of electrical conductivity and pH of the ground water. Results from the field experiment show that fluorescein appears to behave conservatively.     

Effects of meteorological and hydrogeological factors on gross recharge percentage at unconfined sandy aquifers with an equatorial climate

A thorough understanding of rainfall recharge processes and their controlling factors is essential for management of groundwater systems. This study investigates the effects of various meteorological and hydrogeological factors on the gross recharge percentages, the rainfall–recharge relationships and the recharge threshold values for unconfined sandy aquifers under an equatorial climate. Among the meteorological factors investigated, rainfall intensity was found to have the most significant impact on the gross recharge rate. The effects of potential evaporation rate, relative humidity and air temperature on the gross recharge percentage were significant when the vadose zone thickness is larger than 2·5 m. The recharge threshold values were found to depend strongly on the vadose zone thickness. The rainfall–recharge relationships could generally be well defined by a normal–log relationship. The rainfall–recharge relationships derived here are applicable to yield estimates of gross recharge percentages for unconfined sandy aquifers under an equatorial climate, using rainfall intensity and vadose zone thickness as input variables. In this study, a theory was developed and validated to provide physical explanations for the observations, based on the residence time of the percolated rainwater within the vadose zone. Among the soil hydraulic parameters tested, porosity and saturated hydraulic conductivity were found to have the most pronounced effects on the gross recharge percentage. Utilizing the sensitivity results and the theory derived, an approach was developed for extending the application of the derived rainfall–recharge relationships to other sand textures. The approach was found to be capable of producing rough and fast estimations of gross recharge percentage for other sand textures. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A hybrid Bayesian back‐propagation neural network approach to multivariate modelling

There is growing interest in the use of back‐propagation neural networks to model non‐linear multivariate problems in geotehnical engineering. To overcome the shortcomings of the conventional back‐propagation neural network, such as overfitting, where the neural network learns the spurious details and noise in the training examples, a hybrid back‐propagation algorithm has been developed. The method utilizes the genetic algorithms search technique and the Bayesian neural network methodology. The genetic algorithms enhance the stochastic search to locate the global minima for the neural network model. The Bayesian inference procedures essentially provide better generalization and a statistical approach to deal with data uncertainty in comparison with the conventional back‐propagation. The uncertainty of data can be indicated using error bars. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the convergence and generalization capabilities of this hybrid algorithm. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the incidence of magnetic fields in slowly pulsating B, β Cephei and B-type emission-line stars

We have obtained 40 high-resolution circular spectropolarimetric measurements of 12 slowly pulsating B (SPB) stars, eight β Cephei stars and two Be stars with the Echelle Spectropolarimetric Device for the Observation of Stars at CFHT (ESPaDOnS) and Narval spectropolarimeters. The aim of these observations is to evaluate recent claims of a high incidence of magnetic field detections in stars of these types obtained using low-resolution spectropolarimetry by Hubrig et al. The precision achieved is generally comparable to or superior to that obtained by Hubrig et al., although our new observations are distinguished by their resolution of metallic and He line profiles, and their consequent sensitivity to magnetic fields of zero net longitudinal component. In the SPB stars, we confirm the detection of magnetic field in one star (16 Peg), but find no evidence of the presence of fields in the remaining 11. In the β Cep stars, we detect a field in  ξ¹  CMa, but not in any of the remaining seven stars. Finally, neither of the two B-type emission-line stars shows any evidence of magnetic field. Based on our results, we conclude that fields are not common in SPB, β Cep and B-type emission-line stars, consistent with the general rarity of fields in the broader population of main sequence B-type stars. A relatively small, systematic underestimation of the error bars associated with the UV Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph for the Very Large Telescope (FORS1) longitudinal field measurements of Hubrig et al. could in large part explain the discrepancy between their results and those presented here.     

多尺度阵列嵌套组合反演宾川气枪源区横波速度结构

本文基于多尺度阵列嵌套组合的方式,利用频率-贝塞尔变换法(Frequency-Bessel,F-J方法)提取背景噪声面波频散信息,通过多个阵列融合的频散曲线反演得到宾川气枪发射台周边不同深度的横波速度结构.结果显示:浅层一阶面波频散信息的加入,使得基阶反演结果更加收敛,反演深度加深到8 km;深度在8 km以下的结构的研究利用多尺度阵列(密集台阵—宾川气枪台网—云南区域地震台网)嵌套组合的方式,面波基阶低频信息从0.55 Hz拓宽到0.008 Hz,使横波速度结构的反演深度显著增加,同时对反演过程提供约束,使得70 km深度以上的横波速度更收敛.由此本文所得的横波速度结构为该区地下结构的探测提供基础,多尺度阵列嵌套组合频散谱的研究方式也为以后区域结构的研究提供一种新的方法和思路.     

宾川地区的地壳厚度和泊松比分布特征研究

This paper presents the changes of crust thickness and Poissons ratios distribution in the Binchuan region,where the first air-gun transmitting station and its a small dense array were deployed.From September 2011 to January 2014,more than 239 teleseismic events of M≥6.0 were recorded in 16 stations in the Binchuan region.Their P-wave receiver functions were analyzed respectively.The high spatial resolution result shows that the average crust thickness of Binchuan region is 45.3km,it follows the rule of"deeper in the north and east part,shallower in the south and west part."The deepest region is in Xiaoyindian Station;the crust thickness is 47.9km;the shallowest region is in Paiying Station,it has the thickness of 42.1km.It shows that the deeper Moho surface nearby the Chenghai fault and shallower nearby the Honghe fault;the isoline distribution of thickness changes greatly nearby the Chenghai fault and slowly nearby the Honghe fault.From the distribution of Poissons ratios,it is unevenly in the study area with a great difference from the north part to the south part,which shows a characteristic of"lower in the north,higher in the south".The Poissons ratio nearby the Honghe fault is medium too high(0.26≤σ≤0.29);lower nearby the Chenghai fault(σ≤0.26).This paper concludes the possible reason of different characteristic between Poissons ratio and crust thickness is thicker in the upper crust in the Binchuan region.