Reliability assessment of granular filters in embankment dams

Empirical criteria have been used successfully to design filters of most embankment large dam projects throughout the world. However, these empirical rules are only applicable to a particular range of soils tested in laboratory and do not take into account the variability of the base material and filter particle sizes. In addition, it is widely accepted that the safety of fill dams is mainly dependent on the reliability of their filter performance. The work herein presented consists in a new general method for assessing the probability of fulfilling any empirical filter design criteria accounting for base and filter heterogeneity by means of first‐order reliability methods (FORM), so that reliability indexes and probabilities of fulfilling any particular criteria are obtained. This method will allow engineers to estimate the safety of existing filters in terms of probability of fulfilling their design criteria and might also be used as a decision tool on sampling needs and material size tolerances during construction. In addition, sensitivity analysis makes possible to analyse how reliabilities are influenced by different sources of input data. Finally, in case of a portfolio risk assessment, this method will allow engineers to compare the safety of several existing dams in order to prioritize safety investments and it is expected to be a very useful tool to evaluate probabilities of failure due to internal erosion. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Holocene great earthquakes and relative sea‐level change at Kenai,southern Alaska

Kenai, located on the west coast of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, subsided during the great earthquake of AD 1964. Regional land subsidence is recorded within the estuarine stratigraphy as peat overlain by tidal silt and clay. Reconstructions using quantitative diatom transfer functions estimate co‐seismic subsidence (relative sea‐level rise) between 0.28±0.28 m and 0.70±0.28 m followed by rapid post‐seismic recovery. Stratigraphy records an earlier co‐seismic event as a second peat‐silt couplet, dated to ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP with 1.14±0.28 m subsidence. Two decimetre‐scale relative sea‐level rises are more likely the result of glacio‐isostatic responses to late Holocene and Little Ice Age glacier expansions rather than to co‐seismic subsidence during great earthquakes. Comparison with other sites around Cook Inlet, at Girdwood and Ocean View, helps in constructing regional patterns of land‐level change associated with three great earthquakes, AD 1964, ～950–850 cal. yr BP and ～1500–1400 cal. yr BP. Each earthquake has a different spatial pattern of co‐seismic subsidence which indicates that assessment of seismic hazard in southern Alaska requires an understanding of multiple great earthquakes, not only the most recent. All three earthquakes show a pre‐seismic phase of gradual land subsidence that marked the end of relative land uplift caused by inter‐seismic strain accumulation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subtidal sea level and current variations in the northern reach of San Francisco Bay

Analyses of sea level and current-meter data using digital filters and a variety of statistical methods show a variety of phenomena related to non-local coastal forcing and local tidal forcing in the northern reach of San Francisco Bay, a partially mixed estuary. Low-frequency variations in sea level are dominated by non-local variations in coastal sea level and also show a smaller influence from tidally induced fortnightly sea level variations. Low-frequency currents demonstrate a gravitational circulation which is modified by changes in tidal-current speed over the spring-neap tidal cycle. Transients in gravitational circulation induce internal oscillations with periods of two to four days.     

Vertical Sound Velocity Transition in the Coral Reef Core and Its Significance of Indicating Facies

On the basis of the sound velocity measurements of the coral reef core from Nanyong No.1 well of Yongshu Reef in the Nansha Islands,the paper studies the relations between the vertical sound velocity transition features in the coral reef core and the corresponding stratigraphic depositional facies change as well as stratigraphic gap of erosion,analyses the cause of the sound velocity transition,expounds the concrete process of the sea level change resulting in the stratigraphic gap of erosion and facies change in the coral reef and explains the relations between the vertical sound velocity transition in the coral reef core and the corresponding stratigraphic paleoclimate and the sea level change.This study is of important practical value and theoretical significance to the island and reef engineering construction and the acoustic logging for oil exploration in the reef limestone area as well as the paleoceanographic study of the marginal sea in the westerm Pacific Ocean.     

Testing earthquake prediction methods: «The West Pacific short-term forecast of earthquakes with magnitude MwHRV ≥ 5.8»

Analyzing the tables and probability maps posted by Yan Y. Kagan and David D. Jackson in April 2002–September 2004 at http://scec.ess.ucla.edu/~ykagan/predictions_index.html and the catalog of earthquakes for the same period, the conclusion is drawn that the underlying method could be used for prediction of aftershocks, while it does not outscore random guessing when main shocks are considered.     

Researches on Cartographic Database-Based Interactive Three-Dimensional Topographic Map

With the development of computer graphics, the three-dimensional (3D) visualization brings new technological revolution to the traditional cartography. Therefore, the topographic 3D-map emerges to adapt to this technological revolution, and the applications of topographic 3D-map are spread rapidly to other relevant fields due to its incomparable advantage. The researches on digital map and the construction of map database offer strong technical support and abundant data source for this new technology, so the research and development of topographic 3D-map will receive greater concern. The basic data of the topographic 3D-map are rooted mainly in digital map and its basic model is derived from digital elevation model (DEM) and 3D-models of other DEM-based geographic features. In view of the potential enormous data and the complexity of geographic features, the dynamic representation of geographic information becomes the focus of the research of topographic 3D-map and also the prerequisite condition of 3D query and analysis. In addition to the equipment of hardware that are restraining, to a certain extent, the 3D representation, the data organization structure of geographic information will be the core problem of research on 3D-map. Level of detail (LOD). space partitioning, dynamic object loading (DOL) and object culling are core technologies of the dynamic 3D representation. The objectselection, attribute-query and model-editing are important functions and interaction tools for users with 3D-maps provided by topographic 3D-map system, all of which are based on the data structure of the 3D-model. This paper discusses the basic theories, concepts and cardinal principles of topographic 3I)-map,expounds the basic way to organize the scene hierarchy of topographic 3D-map based on the node mechanism and studies the dynamic representation technologies of topographic 3D-map based on LOD, space partitioning, DOL and object culling. Moreover. such interactive operation functions are explored, in this paper, as spatial query, scene editing and management of topographic 3D-map. Finally, this paper describes briefly the applications of topographic 3D-map in its related fields.     

禾青井动水位对断层蠕动与慢地震过程的响应初析

以湖南禾青井深井水位观测的异常图象为例进行定性分析，发现动水位观测有可能直接反映出断层的滑动或断层的慢地震过程，前者可能为地下水物理参量的观测与研究提供亲折思路，后者则可能对震源物理学的发展和地震预报水平的提高具有特殊的意义。     

基岩水的壁间运动及基本特征

本文通过对基岩水与孔隙水的比较分析，介绍了基岩水的分布、水动力学和水化学特征，指出了基岩水运动具有均位趋势、选择流动及汇流特性，得出了渗流理论不宜用于基岩水的结论。     

Early Ordovician Sea Level Changes in South China and Their Worldwide Correlation

INTRODUCTIONTheoaf~ansed~arewidelydistributedinSouthetna,fromtheYanalCratondPborminnorthtocontinentalmarginofsoutheastern~insouth.ThePreSentpaperdiscussesmainlytheEarlyOrdovidan(thehoeofHirmtodontussimplex~tothebaseofNemopagngraciliszone,Wangatal.,1992)sealeVelchangeSandtheirworldwidecorrelationbasedonasyntheticalstudyofseqUenCe,bioshatiglaphyandaretratigl'aphy.Thisapproachwillfillinthe~instudyoftheOrdovidanofChina,andimprovethesu~ionandCO~ionofbio--,litho--andcbronostheigraphy.Mea…     

利用地下水预报河南登封4.7级地震的资料分析过程

通过对１９９２年河南登封４．７级地震的资料分析，表明拐河老井地下水位变化是区域应力场的变化效应。在时间上有连续性，在空间上和构造体系上有一定的相关性