Using PIV to measure granular temperature in saturated unsteady polydisperse granular flows

The motion of debris flows, gravity-driven fast moving mixtures of rock, soil and water can be interpreted using the theories developed to describe the shearing motion of highly concentrated granular fluid flows. Frictional, collisional and viscous stress transfer between particles and fluid characterizes the mechanics of debris flows. To quantify the influence of collisional stress transfer, kinetic models have been proposed. Collisions among particles result in random fluctuations in their velocity that can be represented by their granular temperature, T. In this paper particle image velocimetry, PIV, is used to measure the instantaneous velocity field found internally to a physical model of an unsteady debris flow created by using “transparent soil”—i.e. a mixture of graded glass particles and a refractively matched fluid. The ensemble possesses bulk properties similar to that of real soil-pore fluid mixtures, but has the advantage of giving optical access to the interior of the flow by use of plane laser induced fluorescence, PLIF. The relationship between PIV patch size and particle size distribution for the front and tail of the flows is examined in order to assess their influences on the measured granular temperature of the system. We find that while PIV can be used to ascertain values of granular temperature in dense granular flows, due to increasing spatial correlation with widening gradation, a technique proposed to infer the true granular temperature may be limited to flows of relatively uniform particle size or large bulk

Modeling Slope Instability as Shear Rupture Propagation in a Saturated Porous Medium

When a region of intense shear in a slope is much thinner than other relevant geometric lengths, this shear failure may be approximated as localized slip, as in faulting, with strength determined by frictional properties of the sediment and effective stress normal to the failure surface. Peak and residual frictional strengths of submarine sediments indicate critical slope angles well above those of most submarine slopes—in contradiction to abundant failures. Because deformation of sediments is governed by effective stress, processes affecting pore pressures are a means of strength reduction. However, common methods of exami ning slope stability neglect dynamically variable pore pressure during failure. We examine elastic-plastic models of the capped Drucker-Prager type and derive approximate equations governing pore pressure about a slip surface when the adjacent material may deform plastically. In the process we identify an elastic-plastic hydraulic diffusivity with an evolving permeability and plastic storage term analogous to the elastic term of traditional poroelasticity. We also examine their application to a dynamically propagating subsurface rupture and find indications of downslope directivity.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science

DNA-Based Diet Analysis for Any Predator

Background: Prey DNA from diet samples can be used as a dietary marker; yet current methods for prey detection require a priori diet knowledge and/or are designed ad hoc, limiting their scope. I present a general approach to detect diverse prey in the feces or gut contents of predators. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the example outlined, I take advantage of the restriction site for the endonuclease Pac I which is present in 16S mtDNA of most Odontoceti mammals, but absent from most other relevant non-mammalian chordates and invertebrates. Thus in DNA extracted from feces of these mammalian predators Pac I will cleave and exclude predator DNA from a small region targeted by novel universal primers, while most prey DNA remain intact allowing prey selective PCR. The method was optimized using scat samples from captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) fed a diet of 6–10 prey species from three phlya. Up to five prey from two phyla were detected in a single scat and all but one minor prey item (2% of the overall diet) were detected across all samples. The same method was applied to scat samples from free-ranging bottlenose dolphins; up to seven prey taxa were detected in a single scat and 13 prey taxa from eight teleost families were identified in total. Conclusions/Significance: Data and further examples are provided to facilitate rapid transfer of this approach to any predator. This methodology should prove useful to zoologists using DNA-based diet techniques in a wide variety of study systems

Influences of mentoring functions on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of graduate employees

Abstract: A significant percentage of the workforce, within the construction sector is nearing retirement age over the next ten years. These employees have acquired a tremendous amount of knowledge about how things work, how to get things done and who to go to when problems arise. Losing their expertise and experience could significantly reduce efficiency, resulting in costly mistakes, unexpected quality problems, or significant disruptions in services and or performance. The business world has long known and relied upon mentoring as a proven technique for developing in house talent. Previous studies proved that the implementation of mentoring programme is beneficial for enhancing employee skills and attitudes. Few researchers are devoted to exploring the impact. This paper is aimed at examining the effects of mentoring functions on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of new graduates in the South African construction industry..

The empirical basis for modelling glacial erosion rates

Glaciers are highly effective agents of erosion that have profoundly shaped Earth’s surface, but there is uncertainty about how glacial erosion should be parameterised in landscape evolution models. Glacial erosion rate is usually modelled as a function of glacier sliding velocity, but the empirical basis for this relationship is weak. In turn, climate is assumed to control sliding velocity and hence erosion, but this too lacks empirical scrutiny. Here, we present statistically robust relationships between erosion rates, sliding velocities, and climate from a global compilation of 38 glaciers. We show that sliding is positively and significantly correlated with erosion, and derive a relationship for use in erosion models. Our dataset further demonstrates that the most rapid erosion is achieved at temperate glaciers with high mean annual precipitation, which serve to promote rapid sliding. Precipitation has received little attention in glacial erosion studies, but our data illustrate its importance

Numerical Modeling of a Granular Collapse Immersed in a Viscous Fluid

The three-dimensional unsteady collapse of the granular column in a viscous fluid has been investigated with an IBM/DEM approach. Present numerical simulations allow one to confirm quantitatively several experimental observations of Rondon et al. regarding morphology, characteristic sizes of granular deposits and the basal pressure below the column. In the presented simulations, the collapse dynamics is controlled by the viscous time Tv. To our knowledge, a numerical approach, e.g. the IBM/DEM method, is able for the first time to capture the pore pressure feedback phenomenon in flowing fluid-grains mixture. The effect of the initial packing fraction has a great influence of the dynamics of granular collapse in the simulation results as in the experiments of Rondon et al. Furthermore, the IBM/DEM permits to investigate the inner state of the granular column during the collapse, in particular, the evolution of the pressure field inside the granular column can be analyzed which is difficult to do in experiments. Simulations of the collapse of a granular column immersed in a fluid can be performed in the inertial and free-fall regimes as well varying the nature of the fluid and/or the particles