Local level rainfall and temperature variability in drought-prone districts of rural Sidama,central rift valley region of Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine local level spatiotemporal rainfall and temperature variability in drought-prone districts of rural Sidama, Central Rift Valley region of Ethiopia. The study used 129 gridded monthly rainfall and temperature data of 32 years (1983–2014). The gridded rainfall and temperature records were encoded into GIS software and evaluated through different statistical and geospatial techniques. Mann-Kendal rank test and F distribution tests were used to test temporal and spatial statistical significance, respectively, of the data. The analysis revealed that Belg and Kiremt are the main rainfall seasons, constituting 81% of the annual rainfall. Although annual, Kiremt, and Belg rainfall amounts appear to have decreased over time, the decreasing trend is statistically significant only for Belg rainfall records. On the other hand, rainfall standard anomaly results indicated seven droughts of different magnitudes: one extreme, two severe, and four moderate. The study also revealed increasing temperature trends over the years under consideration that are statistically significant. The findings of this study on rainfall contradict other findings obtained around the study area. Thus, climate change adaptations need to focus on location-specific climate data analysis so that the intended adaptive interventions can be successful.     

Three-dimensional finite element simulation of fracture propagation in rock specimens with pre-existing fissure(s) under compression and their strength analysis

A FORTRAN program, consistent with the commercially available finite element (FE) code ABAQUS, is developed based on a three-dimensional (3D) linear elastic brittle damage constitutive model with two damage criteria. To consider the heterogeneity of rock, the developed FORTRAN program is used to set the stiffness and strength properties of each element of the FE model following a Weibull distribution function. The reliability of the program is assessed against available experimental results for granite cylindrical specimens with a throughgoing, flat and inclined fissure. The calibration procedure of the material parameters is explained in detail, and it is shown that the compressive to tensile strength ratio can have a substantial influence on the failure response of the specimens. Numerical simulations are conducted for models with different levels of heterogeneity. The results show a smaller load bearing capacity for models with less homogeneity, representing gradual coalescence of fully damaged elements forming throughout the models during loading. The maximum load bearing capacity is studied for various combinations of inclination angles of two centrally aligned, throughgoing and flat fissures of equal length embedded in cylindrical models under uniaxial and multiaxial loading conditions. The key role of the compressive to tensile strength ratio is highlighted by repeating certain simulations with a lower compressive to tensile strength ratio. It is proven that the peak loads of the rock models with sufficiently small compressive to tensile strength ratios containing two throughgoing fissures of equal length are similar, provided that the minimum inclination angles of the models are the same. The results are presented and discussed with respect to the existing experimental findings in the literature, suggesting that the numerical model applied in this study can provide useful insight into the failure behaviour of rock-like materials.     

Implementation of a coupled plastic damage distinct lattice spring model for dynamic crack propagation in geomaterials

This paper studies dynamic crack propagation by employing the distinct lattice spring model (DLSM) and 3‐dimensional (3D) printing technique. A damage‐plasticity model was developed and implemented in a 2D DLSM. Applicability of the damage‐plasticity DLSM was verified against analytical elastic solutions and experimental results for crack propagation. As a physical analogy, dynamic fracturing tests were conducted on 3D printed specimens using the split Hopkinson pressure bar. The dynamic stress intensity factors were recorded, and crack paths were captured by a high‐speed camera. A parametric study was conducted to find the influences of the parameters on cracking behaviors, including initial and peak fracture toughness, crack speed, and crack patterns. Finally, selection of parameters for the damage‐plasticity model was determined through the comparison of numerical predictions and the experimentally observed cracking features.     

Micromechanical approach to effective viscoelastic properties of micro‐fractured geomaterials

The aim of this paper is to formulate a micromechanics‐based approach to non‐aging viscoelastic behavior of materials with randomly distributed micro‐fractures. Unlike cracks, fractures are discontinuities that are able to transfer stresses and can therefore be regarded from a mechanical viewpoint as interfaces endowed with a specific behavior under normal and shear loading. Making use of the elastic‐viscoelastic correspondence principle together with a Mori‐Tanka homogenization scheme, the effective viscoelastic behavior is assessed from properties of the material constituents and damage parameters related to density and size of fractures. It is notably shown that the homogenized behavior thus formulated can be described in most cases by means of a generalized Maxwell rheological model. For practical implementation in structural analyses, an approximate model for the isotropic homogenized fractured medium is formulated within the class of Burger models. Although the approximation is basically developed for short‐term and long‐term behaviors, numerical applications indicate that the approximate Burger model accurately reproduce the homogenized viscoelastic behavior also in the transient conditions.     

低轨道人造卫星(CHAMP、GRACE、GOCE)与高精度地球重力场——卫星重力大地测量的最新发展及其对地球科学的重大影响

评述了卫星重力大地测量的最新发展及其对地球科学的重大影响。为了更好地理解地球内部物理构造与海洋动力学，以及大陆，冰川和海洋的相互作用，改善现有地球重力场模型（包括精度和空间解析度）是非常重要的。IUGG等国际组织对此已经强调了很多年。最近，由德国的GFZ（GeoForschungsZentrum)，美国的NASA（National Aeronautics and Space Adminitration)以及欧洲宇航局ESA（European Space Agency)开发研制了最先进的地球监测技术－SST（Satellite-to-Sateilite Tracking)。其主要特点是利用现有的GPS连续追踪新发射低轨道卫星，并由低轨道卫星对地球重力场作精密观测。已经发射和即将发射的卫星有3颗：GHAMP（Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload for Geophysical Research an Application)已经于2000年发射；GRACE（Gravity Recovery and Climate Experimert)定于2002年发射；GOCE（Gravity Field and Steady-state Ocean Cirulation Explorer)计划2004年发射，它们可以统称为重力卫星。载有SST技术的人造卫星的主要目的是获得具有前所未有的高精度和高空间解析度的全球重力场和大地水准面模型，加强人们对地球内部构造的理解并为海洋和气象研究提供更好地参考。上述3个重力卫星工作在有明显区别的不同波谱内，它们有不同的科学应用，仅有一小部分重合。所以，就应用而言它们是完全互补的。它们在地球科学中的应用将是广泛的，特别对于固体地球物理学，海洋学以及大地测量学等领域，它们将会带来革命性的变化，其意义不亚于GPS。     

亚毫米波射电天文用超导SIS接收机的研制(英文)

为了研制亚毫米波射电天文用超导SIS(超导 -绝缘体 -超导 )接收机 ,我们重点开展了如下研究 ,1 )Nb超导SIS结在其能隙频率附近的量子混频特性 ,及其结合高能隙超导薄膜 (NbTiN)和高电导率金属薄膜 (Al)分布结阵在 780 - 950GHz频率区间的量子混频特性 ;2 )亚毫米波超导混频器嵌入阻抗的数值和实验表征 ;3)高电流密度小面积Nb超导SIS结的制备和特性表征 ;4)一个 60 0 - 72 0GHz超导SIS混频器的研制和特性表征。本文详细介绍了相关的数值分析和实验测量结果。     

Smeared crack approach: back to the original track

This paper briefly reviews the formulations used over the last 40 years for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking, with both the discrete and the smeared crack approaches. The paper focuses on the smeared approach, identifying as its main drawbacks the observed mesh‐size and mesh‐bias spurious dependence when the method is applied ‘straightly’. A simple isotropic local damage constitutive model is considered, and the (exponential) softening modulus is regularized according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The continuum and discrete mechanical problems corresponding to both the weak discontinuity (smeared cracks) and the strong discontinuity (discrete cracks) approaches are analysed and the question of propagation of the strain localization band (crack) is identified as the main difficulty to be overcome in the numerical procedure. A tracking technique is used to ensure stability of the solution, attaining the necessary convergence properties of the corresponding discrete finite element formulation. Numerical examples show that the formulation derived is stable and remarkably robust. As a consequence, the results obtained do not suffer from spurious mesh‐size or mesh‐bias dependence, comparing very favourably with those obtained with other fracture and continuum mechanics approaches. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GRADATION AND ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGE DEGREE OF NATURAL LANDSCAPE IN XING, AN COUNTY, GUANGXI

A new technique designed to help quantify the degree of damage to the landscape from one area to another shows a close relationship between population density and the degree of landscape damage. The technique establishes a scale of damage from 0 to 5 (zero = no damage; 5 = severe damage) using data from aerial photographs, land-use maps, and field data. The related formula allows one to compare the relative degree of damage across regions using a combination of an absolute index, a theoretical index, a relative index, and population density. Xing'an County is used to demonstrate the technique.     

CARBON DYNAMICS OF WETLAND IN THE SANJIANG PLAIN

1INTRODUCTIONWetlandsplayanimportant roleintheprocessofcar-bonstorage.Thetotalcarbonstoredindifferentkindsofwetlandsisabout15%-35%ofthetotalcarboninthegloballandsoils(POSTetal.,1982;GORHAM,1991).Inaddition,wetlandsaresignificantnaturalsources fortheatmospheric CH4 (MOORE,1994).It isestimatedthatabout110×1012gCH4 originates fromanaerobicdecompositioninthenaturalwetlands,CH4 emission fromthenaturalwetlandsis15%-30%oftheglobalCH4 emission andtheCH4 emission from thepeat land at hi…     

Tidal effects on temperature front in the Yellow Sea

Temperature front (TF) is one of the important features in the Yellow Sea, which forms in spring, thrives in summer, and fades in autumn as thermocline declines. TF intensity ⋎S _T ⋎ is defined to describe the distribution of TF. Based on the MASNUM wave-tide-circulation coupled model, temperature distribution in the Yellow Sea was simulated with and without tidal effects. Along 36°N, distribution of TF from the simulated results are compared with the observations, and a quantitative analysis is introduced to evaluate the tidal effects on the forming and maintaining processes of the TF. Tidal mixing and the circulation structure adapting to it are the main causes of the TF. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. G1999043809) and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 49736190).