Abstract: Land surface evapotranspiration (ET) determines the local and regional water-heat balances. Accurate estimation of regional surface ET provides a scientific basis for the formulation and implementation of water conservation programs. This study set up a table of the momentum roughness length and zero-plane displacement related with land cover and an empirical relationship between land surface temperature and air temperature. A revised quantitative remote sensing ET model, the SEBS-Taiwan model, was developed. Based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, SEBS-Taiwan was used to simulate and evaluate the typical actual daily ET values in different seasons of 2002 and 2003 in Taiwan. SEBS-Taiwan generally performed well and could accurately simulate the actual daily ET. The simulated daily ET values matched the observed values satisfactorily. The results indicate that the net regional solar radiation, evaporation ratio, and surface ET values for the whole area of Taiwan are larger in summer than in spring, and larger in autumn than in winter. The results also show that the regional average daily ET values of 2002 are a little higher than those of 2003. Through analysis of the ET values from different types of land cover, we found that forest has the largest ET value, while water areas, bare land, and urban areas have the lowest ET values. Generally, the Northern Taiwan area, including Ilan County, Nantou County, and Hualien County, has higher ET values, while other cities, such as Chiayi, Taichung, and Tainan, have lower ET values.
Abstract: Analysis of sensitivity of bioretention cell design elements to their hydrologic performances is meaningful in offering theoretical guidelines for proper design. Hydrologic performance of bioretention cells was facilitated with consideration of four metrics: the overflow ratio, groundwater recharge ratio, ponding time, and runoff coefficients. The storm water management model (SWMM) and the bioretention infiltration model RECARGA were applied to generating runoff and outflow time series for calculation of hydrologic performance metrics. Using a parking lot to build a bioretention cell, as an example, the Morris method was used to conduct global sensitivity analysis for two groups of bioretention samples, one without underdrain and the other with underdrain. Results show that the surface area is the most sensitive element to most of the hydrologic metrics, while the gravel depth is the least sensitive element whether bioretention cells are installed with underdrain or not. The saturated infiltration rate of planting soil and the saturated infiltration rate of native soil are the other two most sensitive elements for bioretention cells without underdrain, while the saturated infiltration rate of native soil and underdrain size are the two most sensitive design elements for bioretention cells with underdrain.
Abstract: Both physical and chemical processes affect the fate and transport of herbicides. It is useful to simulate these processes with computer programs to predict solute movement. Simulations were run with HYDRUS-1D to identify the sorption and degradation parameters of atrazine through calibration from the breakthrough curves (BTCs). Data from undisturbed and disturbed soil column experiments were compared and analyzed using the dual-porosity model. The study results show that the values of dispersivity are slightly lower in disturbed columns, suggesting that the more heterogeneous the structure is, the higher the dispersivity. Sorption parameters also show slight variability, which is attributed to the differences in soil properties, experimental conditions and methods, or other ecological factors. For both of the columns, the degradation rates were similar. Potassium bromide was used as a conservative non-reactive tracer to characterize the water movement in columns. Atrazine BTCs exhibited significant tailing and asymmetry, indicating non-equilibrium sorption during solute transport. The dual-porosity model was verified to best fit the BTCs of the column experiments. Greater or lesser concentration of atrazine spreading to the bottom of the columns indicated risk of groundwater contamination. Overall, HYDRUS-1D successfully simulated the atrazine transport in soil columns.
Abstract: In meandering rivers, the flow pattern is highly complex, with specific characteristics at bends that are not observed along straight paths. A numerical model can be effectively used to predict such flow fields. Since river bends are not uniform–some are divergent and others convergent–in this study, after the SSIIM 3-D model was calibrated using the result of measurements along a uniform 180° bend with a width of 0.6 m, a similar but convergent 180° bend, 0.6 m to 0.45 m wide, was simulated using the SSIIM 3-D numerical model. Flow characteristics of the convergent 180° bend, including lengthwise and vertical velocity profiles, primary and secondary flows, lengthwise and widthwise slopes of the water surface, and the helical flow strength, were compared with those of the uniform 180° bend. The verification results of the model show that the numerical model can effectively simulate the flow field in the uniform bend. In addition, this research indicates that, in a convergent channel, the maximum velocity path at a plane near the water surface crosses the channel’s centerline at about a 30° to 40° cross-section, while in the uniform bend, this occurs at about the 50° cross-section. The varying range of the water surface elevation is wider in the convergent channel than in the uniform one, and the strength of the helical flow is generally greater in the uniform channel than in the convergent one. Also, unlike the uniform bend, the convergent bend exhibits no rotational cell against the main direction of secondary flow rotation at the 135° cross-section.
Abstract: Vulnerability to natural disasters falls into three categories: exposure, resistance, and resilience, where resilience mainly refers to the capability of a pressure-bearing system to recover by returning to its initial state, that is, the ability to adapt to disaster pressure. Resilience is a major subject of research on disaster prevention and mitigation. This research mainly focuses on the ability of the hydraulic structure to recover from the significant impacts of typhoons. According to the load/unload response ratio theory, the degree of instability by which nonlinear systems can be identified according to the difference between load and unload responses was analyzed. This analysis was used as a basis to study the resilience of a hydraulic structure. Taking the Yangtze River embankments under the impact of Typhoon Matsa as an example, the ability of the typical sections of different types of embankments to adapt to the significant impact of the typhoon, i.e., the resilience of the hydraulic structure, is described with the help of the load/unload response ratio (L). The results of the calculated resilience reflect the actual conditions of the structure and can be used to determine the applicability of the embankment section. The load/unload response ratio theory is one of the effective tools for calculating the resilience of hydraulic structures under the significant impacts of typhoons.
Abstract: According to the hydraulic calculation principles of the orifice outflow, the discharge capacity of the columnar reversing gate under the partial opening condition was calculated and checked. Using ANSYS, a large finite element analysis software, the discharge process was simulated. The distribution rule of the velocities in the gate chamber and downstream channel was obtained. An FEM model of the columnar reversing gate was built, and the natural vibration properties of the gate were analyzed. Based on the Westergaard added mass method, the added mass caused by the fluid-structure coupling motion was taken into account, and the effects of the coupling interaction were discussed. The results show that the size of the small gates meets the demand for discharge capacity, the current in the gate chamber is quite turbulent, the trunnion and arms are obviously impacted by flow, and the effects of water on vibration characteristics are remarkable. The study provides a reference for the design and calculation of gates of the same type.
Abstract: Due to the complexity of soil-structure interaction, simple constitutive models typically used for interface elements in general computer programs cannot satisfy the requirements of discontinuous deformation analysis of structures that contain different interfaces. In order to simulate the strain-softening characteristics of interfaces, a nonlinear strain-softening interface constitutive model was incorporated into fast Lagrange analysis of continua in three dimensions (FLAC3D) through a user-defined program in the FISH environment. A numerical simulation of a direct shear test for geosynthetic interfaces was conducted to verify that the interface model was implemented correctly. Results of the numerical tests show good agreement with the results obtained from theoretical calculations, indicating that the model incorporated into FLAC3D can simulate the nonlinear strain-softening behavior of interfaces involving geosynthetic materials. The results confirmed the validity and reliability of the improved interface model. The procedure and method of implementing an interface constitutive model into a commercial computer program also provide a reference for implementation of a new interface constitutive model in FLAC3D.
Abstract: In this study, for the purpose of improving the efficiency and accuracy of numerical simulation of massive concrete, the symmetric successive over relaxation-preconditioned conjugate gradient method (SSOR-PCGM) with an improved iteration format was derived and applied to solution of large sparse symmetric positive definite linear equations in the computational process of the finite element analysis. A three-dimensional simulation program for massive concrete was developed based on SSOR-PCGM with an improved iteration format. Then, the programs based on the direct method and SSOR-PCGM with an improved iteration format were used for computation of the Guandi roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity dam and an elastic cube under free expansion. The comparison and analysis of the computational results show that SSOR-PCGM with the improved iteration format occupies much less physical memory and can solve larger-scale problems with much less computing time and flexible control of accuracy.
Abstract: Soil undergoes both elastic and plastic deformations under different loading conditions. A relatively accurate constitutive model of soil behaviors should be capable of predicting the elastic and plastic deformations properly. Among a large number of elastoplastic constitutive models developed over the last several decades, constitutive models based on generalized plasticity have been successfully utilized in modeling the mechanical behavior of various soils. This paper attempts to present a review of the most recent developments of generalized plasticity models for geotechnical problems. After a brief review of generalized plasticity theories and constitutive models, limitations of the original Pastor-Zienkiewicz model in practical application are summarized. Afterwards, recent achievements in the generalized plasticity models for both saturated and unsaturated soils and their applicability are analyzed, and a general approach for modification of generalized plasticity models is highlighted.
Abstract: This paper presents a rapid and simple risk calculation method for large and complex engineering systems, the simulated maximum entropy method (SMEM), which is based on integration of the advantages of the Monte Carlo and maximum entropy methods, thus avoiding the shortcoming of the slow convergence rate of the Monte Carlo method in risk calculation. Application of SMEM in the calculation of reservoir flood discharge risk shows that this method can make full use of the known information under the same conditions and obtain the corresponding probability distribution and the risk value. It not only greatly improves the speed, compared with the Monte Carlo method, but also provides a new approach for the risk calculation in large and complex engineering systems.
