Effects of the geometry of two‐dimensional fractures on their hydraulic aperture and on the validity of the local cubic law

Flow through rough fractures is investigated numerically in order to assess the validity of the local cubic law for different fracture geometries. Two‐dimensional channels with sinusoidal walls having different geometrical properties defined by the aperture, the amplitude, and the wavelength of the walls' corrugations, the corrugations asymmetry, and the phase shift between the two walls are considered to represent different fracture geometries. First, it is analytically shown that the hydraulic aperture clearly deviates from the mean aperture when the walls' roughness, the phase shift, and/or the asymmetry between the fracture walls are relatively high. The continuity and the Navier–Stokes equations are then solved by means of the finite element method and the numerical solutions compared to the theoretical predictions of the local cubic law. Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.066 to 66.66 are investigated so as to focus more particularly on the effect of flow inertial effects on the validity of the local cubic law. For low Reynolds number, typically less than 15, the local cubic law properly describes the fracture flow, especially when the fracture walls have small corrugation amplitudes. For Reynolds numbers higher than 15, the local cubic law is valid under the conditions that the fracture presents a low aspect ratio, small corrugation amplitudes, and a moderate phase lag between its walls.     

太阳发电机理论研究进展

太阳发电机理论主要解释太阳磁场的起源和演化，是太阳物理中最基本、最重要的问题之一．对它的研究不仅具有重要的科学价值，而且对空间天气的预测和空间技术的发展有一定的影响．随着日震学的发展，该理论也得到了很大改进。从相关观测入手，综述了发电机理论需解释的观测事实，以及为发电机理论提供约束的太阳内部动力学结构；介绍了基本理论和近来的主流模型，并指出尚待解决的问题和进一步的努力方向。     

Application of micropolar plasticity to post failure analysis in geomechanics

A micropolar elastoplastic model for soils is formulated and a series of finite element analyses are employed to demonstrate the use of a micropolar continuum in overcoming the numerical difficulties encountered in application of finite element method in standard Cauchy–Boltzmann continuum. Three examples of failure analysis involving a deep excavation, shallow foundation, and a retaining wall are presented. In all these cases, it is observed that the length scale introduced in the polar continuum regularizes the incremental boundary value problem and allows the numerical simulation to be continued until a clear collapse mechanism is achieved. The issue of grain size effect is also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River sediments,great floods and centennial‐scale Holocene climate change

A new analysis of all 346 published ¹⁴C dated Holocene alluvial units in Britain offers a unique insight into the regional impacts of global change and shows how surprisingly sensitive British rivers have been to relatively modest but repeated changes in climate. Fourteen major but probably brief periods of flooding are identified bracketed within the periods 400–1070, 1940–3940, 7520–8100 and at ca. 10 420 cal. yr BP. There is a strong correspondence between climatic deteriorations inferred from mire wet shifts and major periods of flooding, especially at ca. 8000 cal. yr BP and since ca. 4000 cal. yr BP. The unusually long and complete British record also demonstrates that alterations in land cover have resulted in a step change in river basin sensitivity to variations in climate. This has very important implications for assessing and mitigating the impact of increasing severe flooding. In small and medium‐sized river basins land use is likely to play a key role in either moderating or amplifying the climatic signal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CORROSION AND ADHERENCE AT SEA OIL-PLATFORM

Measurements of the adhesive corrosion and protective potentials of 3 Bohai Sea oilplatforms under different cathodic protection showed corrosion still occurred on these platforms undertheir designed protective potentials. Preliminary conclusions from indoor experiments on the relation betweenadhesive corrosion and cathodic protection showed adhering organisms caused the corrosion onthese platforms.     

区域GPS网实时计算可降水量的若干问题

目前地基GPS气象学测得的可降水量 (PWV )精度好于 2mm ,但在利用区域GPS网实时计算每个测站上空的PWV时 ,要涉及到很多常规GPS资料处理时所忽略的问题 ,如需考虑数据处理软件和计算方式的选择、站坐标的确定和约束、轨道的使用方法、网外辅助站最佳数量的确定、海潮对实时计算PWV的影响以及实时应用于气象服务时的端部效应等问题。利用上海GPS综合应用网获取的 2 0 0 2年 6、7月份长江三角洲地区入梅前后的数据 ,分析了利用区域性的GPS网实时计算高精度的PWV时要解决的各种问题 ,探讨了其数据处理方案     

Does time dilation tell us the distance to gamma-ray bursts?

Since the discovery that dim gamma-ray bursts last longer on average than bright ones (time dilation) the cosmological origin of this effect has been contested by various researchers. I discuss the current status of this issue and conclude that current models for a non-cosmological time dilation only explain part of the observed phenomenon, and even then betray themselves by distinct signatures in the data. As those signatures have not been seen, the cosmological origin remains the favoured explanation of the time dilation.     

Predicting ground-motion variations at the Turkey-flat test site,California

Results of a single group participating in an international experiment are analyzed. The experiment served to verify computational predictions of the ground-motion variations due to near-surface geological effects at a site established for that purpose by the California Department of Conservation. Based on an acceleration record at a rock location, and geotechnical model of medium, records at the other locations of a nearby sedimentary deposit were predicted. A 2-D finite-difference sensitivity analysis suggested that the lateral wave-propagation effects are negligibly small, and locally 1-D computations are sufficient for the present site. Those computations are compared with observations not available to the authors during the blind prediction. Peak accelerations, peak velocities and RMS accelerations were predicted with errors less than 159%, 114% and 62%, respectively. Maxima of the response spectra were fitted within a factor of 2. The predicted and observed Husid's plots (i.e., the normalized cumulative plots of the acceleration squared) have the correlation coefficients 0.98. The detected misfits do not show any simple relation to the instrument location, component, frequency, or time.     

Church-based social capital, networks and geographical scale: Katrina evacuation, relocation, and recovery in a New Orleans Vietnamese American community

This research examines the role of social capital and networks to explain the evacuation, relocation, and recovery experiences of a Vietnamese American community in New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As the single largest community institution, the parish church’s complex bonding and bridging social capital and networks proved particularly critical in part because of its historically based ontological security. The process of evacuation, but especially relocation and recovery, was dependent on deploying co-ethnic social capital and networks at a variety of geographical scales. Beyond the local or community scale, extra-local, regional, and national scales of social capital and networks reproduced a spatially redefined Vietnamese American community. Part of the recovery process included constructing discursive place-based collective-action frames to successfully contest a nearby landfill that in turn engendered social capital and networks crossing ethnic boundaries to include the extra-local African American community. Engaging social capital and networks beyond the local geographical scale cultivated a Vietnamese American community with an emergent post-Katrina cultural and political identity.