21,627 research outputs found
Laboratory experiments on cohesive soil bed fluidization by water waves
Part I. Relationships between the rate of bed fluidization and the rate of wave energy dissipation, by Jingzhi Feng and Ashish J. Mehta and Part II. In-situ rheometry for determining the dynamic response of bed, by David J.A. Williams and P. Rhodri Williams.
A series of preliminary laboratory flume experiments were carried out to examine the time-dependent
behavior of a cohesive soil bed subjected to progressive, monochromatic waves. The bed was an aqueous,
50/50 (by weight) mixture of a kaolinite and an attapulgite placed in a plexiglass trench. The nominal bed
thickness was 16 cm with density ranging from 1170 to 1380 kg/m 3, and water above was 16 to 20 cm
deep. Waves of design height ranging from 2 to 8 cm and a nominal frequency of 1 Hz were run for
durations up to 2970 min. Part I of this report describes experiments meant to examine the rate at which
the bed became fluidized, and its relation to the rate of wave energy dissipation. Part II gives results on
in-situ rheometry used to track the associated changes in bed rigidity.
Temporal and spatial changes of the effective stress were measured during the course of wave action,
and from these changes the bed fluidization rate was calculated. A wave-mud interaction model developed
in a companion study was employed to calculate the rate of wave energy dissipation. The dependence of
the rate of fluidization on the rate of energy dissipation was then explored.
Fluidization, which seemingly proceeded down from the bed surface, occurred as a result of the loss
of structural integrity of the soil matrix through a buildup of the excess pore pressure and the associated loss of effective stress. The rate of fluidization was typically greater at the beginning of wave action and
apparently approached zero with time. This trend coincided with the approach of the rate of energy
dissipation to a constant value. In general it was also observed that, for a given wave frequency, the larger
the wave height the faster the rate of fluidization and thicker the fluid mud layer formed. On the other
hand, increasing the time of bed consolidation prior to wave action decreased the fluidization rate due to
greater bed rigidity. Upon cessation of wave action structural recovery followed.
Dynamic rigidity was measured by specially designed, in situ shearometers placed in the bed at
appropriate elevations to determine the time-dependence of the storage and loss moduli, G' and G", of
the viscoelastic clay mixture under 1 Hz waves. As the inter-particle bonds of the space-filling, bed
material matrix weakened, the shear propagation velocity decreased measurably. Consequently, G'
decreased and G" increased as a transition from dynamically more elastic to more viscous response
occurred. These preliminary experiments have demonstrated the validity of the particular rheometric
technique used, and the critical need for synchronous, in-situ measurements of pore pressures and moduli
characterizing bed rheology in studies on mud fluidization.
This study was supported by WES contract DACW39-90-K-0010.
(This document contains 151 pages.
AUV-enabled adaptive underwater surveying for optimal data collection
A new adaptive strategy for performing data collection with a sonar-equipped autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is proposed. The approach is general in the sense that it is applicable to a wide range of underwater tasks that rely on subsequent processing of side-looking sonar imagery. By intelligently allocating resources and immediately reacting to the data collected in-mission, the proposed approach simultaneously maximizes the information content in the data and decreases overall survey time. These improvements are achieved by adapting the AUV route to prevent portions of the mission area from being either characterized by poor image quality or obscured by shadows caused by sand ripples. The peak correlation of consecutive sonar returns is used as a measure for image quality. To detect the presence of and estimate the orientation of sand ripples, a new innovative algorithm is developed. The components of the overall data-driven path-planning algorithm are purposely constructed to permit fast real-time execution with only minimal AUV onboard processing capabilities. Experimental results based on real sonar data collected at sea are used to demonstrate the promise of the proposed approach
Champagne Flutes and Brandy Snifters: Modelling Protostellar Outflow-Cloud Chemical Interfaces
A rich variety of molecular species has now been observed towards hot cores
in star forming regions and in the interstellar medium. An increasing body of
evidence from millimetre interferometers suggests that many of these form at
the interfaces between protostellar outflows and their natal molecular clouds.
However, current models have remained unable to explain the origin of the
observational bias towards wide-angled "brandy snifter" shaped outflows over
narrower "champagne flute" shapes in carbon monoxide imaging. Furthermore,
these wide-angled systems exhibit unusually high abundances of the molecular
ion HCO. We present results from a chemo-dynamic model of such regions
where a rich chemistry arises naturally as a result of turbulent mixing between
cold, dense molecular gas and the hot, ionized outflow material. The injecta
drives a rich and rapid ion-neutral chemistry in qualitative and quantitative
agreement with the observations. The observational bias towards wide-angled
outflows is explained naturally by the geometry-dependent ion injection rate
causing rapid dissociation of CO in the younger systems.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 12 pages, 8 Figure
Mercury accumulation in fishes from tropical aquatic ecosystems in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
Fishes are important biomarkers of trace elements in
aquatic ecosystems, and are used to evaluate the status
of water pollution by mercury in tropical aquatic ecosystems in Nigeria. Common fishes, Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus,Brycinus nurse, Hemichromis fasciatus,
Lutianus ava, Oreochromis nilotica, Pomadasys jubelini,
Stellifer stellifer and Tilapia guineensis were analysed
for Hg accumulation using the cold vapour atomic absorption spectrophotometry technique. The results
showed that Hg concentration in P. jubelini was relatively
the highest, with a mean concentration of 0.063 ± 0.03 mg kg–1. Other concentration values were 0.044 ± 0.031 mg kg–1 for O. nilotica, 0.026 ± 0.013 mg kg–1 for B. nurse, 0.034 ± 0.034 mg kg–1 for H. fasciatus, 0.023 ± 0.020 mg kg–1 for C. nigrodigitatus and 0.33 ± 0.016 mg kg–1 for L. ava. Concentrations of Hg accumulated by the fishes were low and within internationally accepted limit, not likely to cause mercury poisoning. Because of the high Hg accumulating potential of P. jubelini, it is recommended as a biomarker for assessment of Hg toxicity in a tropical aquatic environment
The Spectral Correlation Function -- A New Tool for Analyzing Spectral-Line Maps
The "spectral correlation function" analysis we introduce in this paper is a
new tool for analyzing spectral-line data cubes. Our initial tests, carried out
on a suite of observed and simulated data cubes, indicate that the spectral
correlation function [SCF] is likely to be a more discriminating statistic than
other statistical methods normally applied. The SCF is a measure of similarity
between neighboring spectra in the data cube. When the SCF is used to compare a
data cube consisting of spectral-line observations of the ISM with a data cube
derived from MHD simulations of molecular clouds, it can find differences that
are not found by other analyses. The initial results presented here suggest
that the inclusion of self-gravity in numerical simulations is critical for
reproducing the correlation behavior of spectra in star-forming molecular
clouds.Comment: 29 pages, including 4 figures (tar file submitted as source) See
also: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~agoodman/scf/velocity_methods.htm
Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer Observations of Solar Active Region Dynamics
The EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode satellite is capable of
measuring emission line center positions for Gaussian line profiles to a
fraction of a spectral pixel, resulting in relative solar Doppler-shift
measurements with an accuracy of less than a km/s for strong lines. We show an
example of the application of that capability to an active region sit-and-stare
observation in which the EIS slit is placed at one location on the Sun and many
exposures are taken while the spacecraft tracking keeps the same solar location
within the slit. For the active region examined (NOAA 10930), we find that
significant intensity and Doppler-shift fluctuations as a function of time are
present at a number of locations. These fluctuations appear to be similar to
those observed in high-temperature emission lines with other space-borne
spectroscopic instruments. With its increased sensitivity over earlier
spectrometers and its ability to image many emission lines simultaneously, EIS
should provide significant new constraints on Doppler-shift oscillations in the
corona.Comment: 7 Pages, 7 figure
Observations of Transient Active Region Heating with Hinode
We present observations of transient active region heating events observed
with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) and X-ray Telescope
(XRT) on Hinode. This initial investigation focuses on NOAA active region 10940
as observed by Hinode on February 1, 2007 between 12 and 19 UT. In these
observations we find numerous examples of transient heating events within the
active region. The high spatial resolution and broad temperature coverage of
these instruments allows us to track the evolution of coronal plasma. The
evolution of the emission observed with XRT and EIS during these events is
generally consistent with loops that have been heated and are cooling. We have
analyzed the most energetic heating event observed during this period, a small
GOES B-class flare, in some detail and present some of the spectral signatures
of the event, such as relative Doppler shifts at one of the loop footpoints and
enhanced line widths during the rise phase of the event. While the analysis of
these transient events has the potential to yield insights into the coronal
heating mechanism, these observations do not rule out the possibility that
there is a strong steady heating level in the active region. Detailed
statistical analysis will be required to address this question definitively
Translating a walking intervention for health professional delivery within primary care: a mixed methods treatment fidelity assessment
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