Interference of Multiple Strip Footings on Sand Using Small Scale Model Tests

By using small scale model tests, the interference effect on the vertical load-deformation behavior of a number of equally spaced strip footings, placed on the surface of dry sand, was investigated. At any stage, all the footings were assumed to (i) carry exactly equal magnitude of load, and (ii) settle to the same extent. No tilt of the footing was permitted. The effect of clear spacing (s) among footings on the results was explored. A new experimental setup was proposed in which only one footing needs to be employed rather than a number of footings. The bearing capacity increases continuously with decrease in spacing among the footings. The interference effect becomes further prominent with increase in soil friction angle. In contrast to an increase in the bearing capacity, with decrease in spacing of footings, an increase in the footing settlement associated with the ultimate state of shear failure was observed. The present experimental observations were similar to those predicted by the available theory, based on the method of characteristics. As compared to the theory, the present experimental data, however, indicates much greater effect of interference especially for larger spacing among footings.     

Characterization of Estuarine Marine Clays for Coastal Reclamation in Pusan, Korea

Large scale reclamation works in coastal areas of the Nakdong River plain are at various stages of progress, since early 1990's on in-situ soft marine clay deposits. These deposits are of the order of 30 to 40 m thick. A realistic rapid characterization of soft ground would ensure success of any reclamation work in this area. In order to cope with the work carried out with different agencies, it is desirable to evolve a systematic methodology. In this study, engineering properties of clays at three coastal areas, Gadukdo, Noksan and Shinho, have been generated. The analysis of data has been done within the framework of classical developments in soil mechanics. Analysis has also been made by making use of the recent developments in dealing with soft clays. The dominant factors, namely, stress, time, and environment influencing the response of clay to loading are identified.     

A study of Coriolis effects on long waves propagating in an unbounded ocean, channel and basin

The effects of Coriolis force on long waves have been discussed based on gravity waves propagating in an unbounded ocean, channel and basin. In case of ocean, results show that the Coriolis effect will be significant and negligible, when the wave period is comparable to 2π/f and much shorter, respectively. Results also show in a channel, the wave amplitude and water particle velocity decrease exponentially in the positive y direction in the northern hemisphere (where f is positive). Moreover, in a basin, the Cotidal lines have been found as curves and rotate counterclockwise around the origin.     

Integration of local–global upscaling and grid adaptivity for simulation of subsurface flow in heterogeneous formations

We propose a methodology, called multilevel local–global (MLLG) upscaling, for generating accurate upscaled models of permeabilities or transmissibilities for flow simulation on adapted grids in heterogeneous subsurface formations. The method generates an initial adapted grid based on the given fine-scale reservoir heterogeneity and potential flow paths. It then applies local–global (LG) upscaling for permeability or transmissibility [7], along with adaptivity, in an iterative manner. In each iteration of MLLG, the grid can be adapted where needed to reduce flow solver and upscaling errors. The adaptivity is controlled with a flow-based indicator. The iterative process is continued until consistency between the global solve on the adapted grid and the local solves is obtained. While each application of LG upscaling is also an iterative process, this inner iteration generally takes only one or two iterations to converge. Furthermore, the number of outer iterations is bounded above, and hence, the computational costs of this approach are low. We design a new flow-based weighting of transmissibility values in LG upscaling that significantly improves the accuracy of LG and MLLG over traditional local transmissibility calculations. For highly heterogeneous (e.g., channelized) systems, the integration of grid adaptivity and LG upscaling is shown to consistently provide more accurate coarse-scale models for global flow, relative to reference fine-scale results, than do existing upscaling techniques applied to uniform grids of similar densities. Another attractive property of the integration of upscaling and adaptivity is that process dependency is strongly reduced, that is, the approach computes accurate global flow results also for flows driven by boundary conditions different from the generic boundary conditions used to compute the upscaled parameters. The method is demonstrated on Cartesian cell-based anisotropic refinement (CCAR) grids, but it can be applied to other adaptation strategies for structured grids and extended to unstructured grids.     

Accurate local upscaling with variable compact multipoint transmissibility calculations

We propose a new single-phase local upscaling method that uses spatially varying multipoint transmissibility calculations. The method is demonstrated on two-dimensional Cartesian and adaptive Cartesian grids. For each cell face in the coarse upscaled grid, we create a local fine grid region surrounding the face on which we solve two generic local flow problems. The multipoint stencils used to calculate the fluxes across coarse grid cell faces involve the six neighboring pressure values. They are required to honor the two generic flow problems. The remaining degrees of freedom are used to maximize compactness and to ensure that the flux approximation is as close as possible to being two-point. The resulting multipoint flux approximations are spatially varying (a subset of the six neighbors is adaptively chosen) and reduce to two-point expressions in cases without full-tensor anisotropy. Numerical tests show that the method significantly improves upscaling accuracy as compared to commonly used local methods and also compares favorably with a local–global upscaling method.     

Estimation of runoff distribution within river systems: Application to the Lena Basin (Siberia)

A channel account approach is proposed to estimate longitudinal changes in runoff along large river systems. This new method provides a quantitative basis for describing the fluvial transport of suspended particulate material and dissolved substances. This method includes an evaluation of basic elements of water balance in separate sections of the river network and subsequent correction of channel accounting equations for the entire system using a maximum likelihood principle. To calculate water discharges of tributaries that have no hydrological information, structural analysis of river network is performed. This approach provides less error in comparison with traditional methods of estimating lateral inflow. The method is used to trace water discharge with increasing distance along the Lena river basin and to evaluate the contribution of geologically and lithologically uneven sub-basins in water discharge formation during a summer low water period.     

Temperature dependence of large-scale water-retention curves: a case study

A local-scale model for temperature-dependence of water-retention curves may be applicable to large scales. Consideration of this temperature dependence is important for modeling unsaturated flow and transport in the subsurface in numerous cases. Although significant progress has been made in understanding and modeling this temperature effect, almost all the previous studies have been limited to small scales (on the order of several centimeters). Numerical experiments were used to investigate the possibility of extending a local-scale model for the temperature-dependence of water retention curves to large scales (on the order of meters). Temperature effects on large-scale hydraulic properties are of interest in many practical applications. Numerical experiment results indicate that the local-scale model can indeed be applicable to large-scale problems for special porous media with high air entry values. A typical porous medium of this kind is the porous tuff matrix in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed geologic disposal site for national high-level nuclear wastes. Whether this finding can approximately hold for general cases needs to be investigated in future studies.     

Effects of detailed soil spatial information on watershed modeling across different model scales

Hydro-ecological modelers often use spatial variation of soil information derived from conventional soil surveys in simulation of hydro-ecological processes over watersheds at mesoscale (10–100 km²). Conventional soil surveys are not designed to provide the same level of spatial detail as terrain and vegetation inputs derived from digital terrain analysis and remote sensing techniques. Soil property layers derived from conventional soil surveys are often incompatible with detailed terrain and remotely sensed data due to their difference in scales. The objective of this research is to examine the effect of scale incompatibility between soil information and the detailed digital terrain data and remotely sensed information by comparing simulations of watershed processes based on the conventional soil map and those simulations based on detailed soil information across different simulation scales. The detailed soil spatial information was derived using a GIS (geographical information system), expert knowledge, and fuzzy logic based predictive mapping approach (Soil Land Inference Model, SoLIM). The Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys) is used to simulate two watershed processes: net photosynthesis and stream flow. The difference between simulation based on the conventional soil map and that based on the detailed predictive soil map at a given simulation scale is perceived to be the effect of scale incompatibility between conventional soil data and the rest of the (more detailed) data layers at that scale. Two modeling approaches were taken in this study: the lumped parameter approach and the distributed parameter approach. The results over two small watersheds indicate that the effect does not necessarily always increase or decrease as the simulation scale becomes finer or coarser. For a given watershed there seems to be a fixed scale at which the effect is consistently low for the simulated processes with both the lumped parameter approach and the distributed parameter approach.     

Re-placing the Pilbara's mining unions

This paper examines the attempt by mining management in Western Australia's Pilbara to replace mining unions—quite literally—by removing them from the processes of representation and bargaining. It analyses the way in which those unions have tried to re-place themselves, in the senses of transforming themselves in those spaces in which they were already operating and reviving themselves where they were not. Where unionists have succeeded in these engagements, it has been by working at a range of geographical scales, using the ‘power of place’ in the Pilbara and reshaping traditional geographies of union organisation. It is suggested here that many of these emergent outcomes are the result of the embeddedness of geographically specific historical structures along with new intersections of nationally and locally scaled labour politics.     

The role of diapycnal mixing for the equilibrium response of thermohaline circulation

Using a zonally averaged, one-hemispheric numerical model of the thermohaline circulation, the dependence of the overturning strength on the surface equator-to-pole density difference is investigated. It is found that the qualitative behavior of the thermohaline circulation depends crucially on the nature of the small-scale vertical mixing in the interior of the ocean. Two different representations of this process are considered: constant vertical diffusivity and the case where the rate of mixing energy supply is taken to be a fixed quantity, implying that the vertical diffusivity decreases with increasing stability of the water column. When the stability-dependent diffusivity parameterization is applied, a weaker density difference is associated with a stronger circulation, contrary to the results for a fixed diffusivity. A counterintuitive consequence of the stability-dependent mixing is that the poleward atmospheric freshwater flux, which acts to reduce the thermally imposed density contrast, strengthens the thermally dominated circulation and its attendant poleward heat transport. However, for a critical value of the freshwater forcing, the thermally dominated branch of steady states becomes unstable, and is succeeded by strongly time-dependent states that oscillate between phases of forward and partly reversed circulation. When a constant vertical diffusivity is employed, on the other hand, the thermally dominated circulation is replaced by a steady salinity-dominated state with reversed flow. Thus in this model, the features of the vertical mixing are essential for the steady-state response to freshwater forcing as well as for the character of flow that is attained when the thermally dominated circulation becomes unstable.Responsible Editor: Jin-Song von Storch