Thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled simulation of the land subsidence due to aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system in soft soils

Aquifer thermal energy storage(ATES)system has received attention for heating or cooling buildings.However,it is well known that land subsidence becomes a major environmental concern for ATES projects.Yet,the effect of temperature on land subsidence has received practically no attention in the past.This paper presents a thermo-hydro-mechanical(THM)coupled numerical study on an ATES system in Shanghai,China.Four water wells were installed for seasonal heating and cooling of an agriculture greenhouse.The target aquifer at a depth of 74e104.5 m consisted of alternating layers of sand and silty sand and was covered with clay.Groundwater level,temperature,and land subsidence data from 2015 to 2017 were collected using field monitoring instruments.Constrained by data,we constructed a field scale three-dimensional(3D)model using TOUGH(Transport of Unsaturated Groundwater and Heat)and FLAC3D(Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua)equipped with a thermo-elastoplastic constitutive model.The effectiveness of the numerical model was validated by field data.The model was used to reproduce groundwater flow,heat transfer,and mechanical responses in porous media over three years and capture the thermo-and pressure-induced land subsidence.The results show that the maximum thermoinduced land subsidence accounts for about 60%of the total subsidence.The thermo-induced subsidence is slightly greater in winter than that in summer,and more pronounced near the cold well area than the hot well area.This study provides some valuable guidelines for controlling land subsidence caused by ATES systems installed in soft soils.

Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of land use/land cover(LULC)changes in the Jinghe River Basin,China

Understanding the trajectories and driving mechanisms behind land use/land cover(LULC)changes is essential for effective watershed planning and management.This study quantified the net change,exchange,total change,and transfer rate of LULC in the Jinghe River Basin(JRB),China using LULC data from 2000 to 2020.Through trajectory analysis,knowledge maps,chord diagrams,and standard deviation ellipse method,we examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of LULC changes.We further established an index system encompassing natural factors(digital elevation model(DEM),slope,aspect,and curvature),socio-economic factors(gross domestic product(GDP)and population),and accessibility factors(distance from railways,distance from highways,distance from water,and distance from residents)to investigate the driving mechanisms of LULC changes using factor detector and interaction detector in the geographical detector(Geodetector).The key findings indicate that from 2000 to 2020,the JRB experienced significant LULC changes,particularly for farmland,forest,and grassland.During the study period,LULC change trajectories were categorized into stable,early-stage,late-stage,repeated,and continuous change types.Besides the stable change type,the late-stage change type predominated the LULC change trajectories,comprising 83.31% of the total change area.The period 2010-2020 witnessed more active LULC changes compared to the period 2000-2010.The LULC changes exhibited a discrete spatial expansion trend during 2000-2020,predominantly extending from southeast to northwest of the JRB.Influential driving factors on LULC changes included slope,GDP,and distance from highways.The interaction detection results imply either bilinear or nonlinear enhancement for any two driving factors impacting the LULC changes from 2000 to 2020.This comprehensive understanding of the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of LULC changes offers valuable insights for the planning and sustainable management of LULC in the JRB.

Land use change and its driving factors in the ecological function area:A case study in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province,China

Land use and cover change(LUCC)is important for the provision of ecosystem services.An increasing number of recent studies link LUCC processes to ecosystem services and human well-being at different scales recently.However,the dynamic of land use and its drivers receive insufficient attention within ecological function areas,particularly in quantifying the dynamic roles of climate change and human activities on land use based on a long time series.This study utilizes geospatial analysis and geographical detectors to examine the temporal dynamics of land use patterns and their underlying drivers in the Hedong Region of the Gansu Province from 1990 to 2020.Results indicated that grassland,cropland,and forestland collectively accounted for approximately 99% of the total land area.Cropland initially increased and then decreased after 2000,while grassland decreased with fluctuations.In contrast,forestland and construction land were continuously expanded,with net growth areas of 6235.2 and 455.9 km^(2),respectively.From 1990 to 2020,cropland was converted to grassland,and both of them were converted to forestland as a whole.The expansion of construction land primarily originated from cropland.From 2000 to 2005,land use experienced intensified temporal dynamics and a shift of relatively active zones from the central to the southeastern region.Grain yield,economic factors,and precipitation were the major factors accounting for most land use changes.Climatic impacts on land use changes were stronger before 1995,succeeded by the impact of animal husbandry during 1995-2000,followed by the impacts of grain production and gross domestic product(GDP)after 2000.Moreover,agricultural and pastoral activities,coupled with climate change,exhibited stronger enhancement effects after 2000 through their interaction with population and economic factors.These patterns closely correlated with ecological restoration projects in China since 1999.This study implies the importance of synergy between human activity and climate change for optimizing land use via ecological patterns in the ecological function area.

Monitoring Study of Long-Term Land Subsidence during Subway Operation in High-Density Urban Areas Based on DInSAR-GPS-GIS Technology and Numerical Simulation

During subway operation,various factors will cause long-term land subsidence,such as the vibration subsidence of foundation soil caused by train vibration load,incomplete consolidation deformation of foundation soil during tunnel construction,dense buildings and structures in the vicinity of the tunnel,and changes in water level in the stratum where the tunnel is located.The monitoring of long-term land subsidence during subway operation in high-density urban areas differs from that in low-density urban construction areas.The former is the gathering point of the entire urban population.There are many complex buildings around the project,busy road traffic,high pedestrian flow,and less vegetation cover.Several existing items requiremonitoring.However,monitoring distance is long,and providing early warning is difficult.This study uses the 2.8 km operation line between Wulin Square station and Ding’an Road station of Hangzhou Subway Line 1 as an example to propose the integrated method of DInSAR-GPS-GIS technology and the key algorithm for long-term land subsidence deformation.Then,it selects multiscene image data to analyze long-termland subsidence of high-density urban areas during subway operation.Results show that long-term land subsidence caused by the operation of Wulin Square station to Ding’an Road station of Hangzhou Subway Line 1 is small,with maximumsubsidence of 30.64 mm,and minimumsubsidence of 11.45 mm,and average subsidence ranging from 19.27 to 21.33 mm.And FLAC3D software was used to verify the monitoring situation,using the geological conditions of the soil in the study area and the tunnel profile to simulate the settlement under vehicle load,and the simulation results tended to be consistent with the monitoring situation.

Impact,Mechanism,Monitoring of Land Subsidence in Coastal Cities(Annual Work of IGCP 663)

Land subsidence is a worldwide geohazard consisting in the lowering of the ground surface due to natural and human-induced processes occurring in the shallow and deep subsoil.Over the last two decades,land subsidence has caused damages and widespread impacts to a variety of infrastructures in coastal cities(Ma et al.,2011;Liu et al.,2016;Minderhoud et al.,2018).

The Characteristics and Causes of Land Subsidence in Tanggu Based on the GPS Survey System and Numerical Simulation

Land subsidence is a severe hazard threatening Tanggu, a flat lowland area, and evidences of land subsidence can be seen throughout the city. A new reasonable GPS network was set up in this area from 2008 to 2010. The monitoring data show that land subsidence was serious and two main subsidence cones were obviously formed in the region. One emerged at Hujiayuan, with the maximum rate reaching 60 ram/a, and the influence region enlarged prominently from 2005 to 2010. The other one occurred at Kaifaqu, which became obvious only after 2005, and it showed a decreasing tendency with time. To analyze the causes of ground settlement, a correlation between groundwater withdrawal and land subsidence was firstly made. The results confirmed that over-exploitation of groundwater was the major cause for the severe settlement in Hujiayuan. Meanwhile, the subsidence of Kaifaqu was also related to groundwater withdrawal before 2005. However, the relationship became unconspicuous after 2005. To find the cause of this abnormity, a three-dimensional finite element numerical model, coupled with groundwater flow and subsidence, was built. The simulation results indicate that the subsidence induced by high-rise buildings is serious, but the affected range is limited and it also shows a decreasing trend with time, corresponding to the subsidence characteristics at Kaifaqu. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this hazard induced by engineering construction besides groundwater withdrawal, as more high-rise buildings are under construction in Tanggu.

Advances and Practices on the Research, Prevention and Control of Land Subsidence in Coastal Cities

Land subsidence severely threatens most of the coastal plains around the world where high productive industrial and agricultural activities and urban centers are concentrated. Coastal subsidence damages infrastructures and exacerbates the effect of the sea-level rise at regional scale. Although it is a well-known process, there is still much more to be improved on the monitoring, mapping and modeling of ground movements, as well as the understanding of controlling mechanisms. The International Geoscience Programme recently approved an international project(IGCP 663) aiming to bring together worldwide researchers to share expertise on subsidence processes typically occurring in coastal areas and cities, including basic research, monitoring and observation, modelling and management. In this paper, we provide the research communities and potential stakeholders with the basic information to join the participating teams in developing this project. Specifically, major advances on coastal subsidence studies and information on well-known and new case studies of land subsidence in China, Italy, The Netherlands, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are highlighted and summarized. Meanwhile, the networking, dissemination, annual meeting and field trip are briefly introduced.

Prediction of land subsidence caused by groundwater exploitation in Hanoi, Vietnam, using multifactorial correlation analysis

Multifactorial correlation analysis is a new method used to predict the land subsidence caused by groundwater exploitation This article introduces and applies the method to establish the function of the surface settlement rate （Vs） and the function of the time-dependent surface settlement （St） caused by groundwater exploitation, based on data acquired at three land subsidence monitoring stations in the Hanoi area of Vietnam. Comparison with actual monitoring data indicates that the prediction results are relatively close to the monitoring data. From this, we conclude that multifactorial correlation analysis is a reliable method and can be used to predict future land subsidence caused by groundwater exploitation in Hanoi.

Comprehensive study on ecological restoration and land exploitation of mining subsidence in suburbs of Chinese mining cities

China has nearly a hundred mining cities derived from mining development.While mining development has brought about immense achievements in a city’s economic construction,it has also resulted in different levels of damage to the eco-environment of the mining city,leaving behind a lot of subsided wasteland and heavily confining the sustainable development and transformation there.How to restore and exploit the land and eco-environment disrupted by mining development in an effective way,therefore,has become a pressing challenge that Chinese mining cities are facing.In this paper,the planning and construction of Nanhu Eco-city in the suburb of Tangshan City is analyzed as an example.After characterizing the coal-mining subsided lands in Kailuan Tangshan Mine originated in different periods and under different geological mining conditions and evaluating their safety level,the authors try to demonstrate how eco-restoration and comprehensive land exploitation should be implemented by making the best use of available local resources to achieve "economy-society-environment" sustainability and coexistence in a mining city.

Role of the different planting age of seabuckthorn forests to soil amelioration in coal mining subsidence land

To investigate the effects of seabuckthorn(Hippophae rhamnoides)on soil amelioration,using the space replacement method,soil physical and chemical indexes as well as the microorganism quantity and soil enzyme activities were analyzed.The results showed that:the soil bulk density of surface soil decreased and soil porosity and field capacity increased after afforestation with seabuckthorn.The plant was found to effectively reduce the soil pH,increase the soil conductivity,soil organic matters and available nutrients.Soil microorganism quantity,soil enzyme activities were both higher in 0-20 cm layer than in 20-40 cm layer.With the increase years of remediation with seabuckthorn,the quantity of soil microorganism and enzyme activities were increasing to a higher level 5 to 8 years later.Our study indicates that seabuckthorn can effectively improve soil physical and chemical properties,increase the quantity of soil microorganisms and enzyme activities,which is of great significance for the ecosystem restoration in mining areas.

KEY TECHNOLOGY OF D-INSAR AT X-BAND FOR MONITORING LAND SUBSIDENCE IN MINING AREA AND ITS APPLICATION

In theory, land subsidence measurement results with high accuracy can be obtained by using the Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar(D-InSAR) at X-band. In practice, however, the measuring accuracy of D-InSAR at X-band has been seriously affected by some factors, e.g., decorrelation and high deformation gradient. In this work, the monitoring capability of D-InSAR for coal-mining subsidence is evaluated by using SAR data acquired by TerrraSAR-X system. The SAR image registration method for low coherence image pairs, the denoising phase filter for high noise level interferogram and atmospheric effects mitigation method are the key technical aspects which directly influence the measurement results of D-InSAR at X-band. Thus, a robust image registration method, an improved phase filter method and an atmospheric effects mitigation method are proposed in this paper. The proposed image registration method successfully achieves InSAR coregistration, while the amplitude cross-correlation cannot properly coregister low coherence SAR image pairs. Moreover, the time complexity of the proposed image registration method is obviously slighter than that of the Singular Value Decomposition(SVD) method. The comparing experiment results and the unwrapping phase results show that the improved Goldstein filter is more effective than the original Goldstein filter in noise elimination. The atmospheric influence correction experiment results show that the land subsidence areas with atmospheric influence correction are more clarified than that of without atmospheric influence correction. In summary, the presented methods directly improved the measurement results of D-InSAR at X-band.

Process and mechanism of arable land change in Hebei Province during the past 50 years

Hebei Province is one of the regions with most densely population, fastest economic growth and most intensive land use in China. The contradiction of land shortage sharpened by high-speed economic development with population growth has become a serious problem, which has restricted regional sustainable development.This paper revealed the basic process, regional differences of change and the gravity center of arable land area according to the long-series statistical data of arable land during the past 50 years. On the basis of the above mentioned, the major driving forces that influence the changes of the arable land are discussed. The research results indicate that there is a trend of obvious fluctuating decrease in arable land area during the last 50 years. The changes of arable land area undergo the process from increase to sharp decrease to gently decrease. The regional disparity of change in arable land area is very notable and the gravity center of arable land area moves to the northeast 49.22 km. Regarding the decrease in arable land, the direct driving forces include adjustments of agricultural structure and reclamation, and indirect driving forces include advance in technology, economic interest and population growth etc.

Seismic and Geotechnical Study of Land Subsidence and Vulnerability of Rural Buildings

In recent years, the land subsidence due to different phenomena such as excessive withdrawal of groundwater resources has lead to significant damages to farmlands, residential buildings, roads and transmission lines. Inattention to the land subsidence results in the ruining of buildings which in turn causes the migration of people and imposes financial and social costs on the government. In this paper a case study is performed for Marvdasht plain and rural regions of Fars province, Iran. All affecting parameters and their related damages are considered in the study. The variation of groundwater level and the conditions of rainfall and drought processes in recent years are investigated. The effects of faults and the seismic vulnerability of the regions are also studied by seismic methods. Such factor as groundwater level drop, thickness of clay layers, variation in the thickness of layers at the hillsides and the coincidence of the direction of created cracks and fissures with direction of available faults in the studied area have been investigated as the main factors affecting the soil settlement. At the end of the research, appropriate solutions for the land subsidence prevention and consequently the reduction of the related damages are presented.

Study on Spatial Variation of Soil Moisture in Coal Mining Subsidence Area in Mu Us Sandy Land

In order to explore the spatial distribution and variation characteristics of soil moisture in coal mining subsidence area in Mu Us sandy Land,and provide theoretical basis for the restoration of the mining area,experiments based on a linear sampling and classic statistical and geostatistical methods were conducted. Spatial distribution characteristics and variation of soil moisture in the typical 0 to 100 cm dune area in the subsidence area and the non-subsidence area( control) were studied. The results showed that in the typical sand dune location of nonsubsidence area( control),the probability distribution curves of soil moisture changes in all layers along vertical and horizontal directions were all normal distribution,and it was consistent with the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of soil moisture in conventional dunes in Mu Us sandy land. By contrast,two years after the coal mine collapsed,the variations of soil moisture in different layers along vertical and horizontal directions were different,and soil moisture loss was more serious than that of control dune by nearly 10% to 30%,and the standard deviation varied from 0. 54 to 1. 05,increasing by 52. 08% compared with the non-subsidence area( control). The probability of positive and negative deviation greater than 1 was over 50%,and the coefficient of variation varied from 0. 14 to 0. 28,which was 80% higher than that of nonsubsidence area( control). After collapsing,the average level of soil moisture,standard deviation,variance and variation coefficient had greatly changed,and influence of coal mining subsidence on soil moisture was the most in the middle layer( 30-70 cm),and was not obvious in the surface( 0-20 cm) and lower layer( 80-100 cm). In coal mining subsidence area,the dispersion degree of soil moisture in different layers along the vertical and horizontal direction was greatly improved,which increased spatial variation of soil moisture.

Dynamic model and performance analysis of landing buffer for bionic locust mechanism

The landing buffer is an important problem in the research on bionic locust jumping robots, and the different modes of landing and buffering can affect the dynamic performance of the buffering process significantly. Based on an experimental observation, the different modes of landing and buffering are determined, which include the different numbers of landing legs and different motion modes of legs in the buffering process. Then a bionic locust mechanism is established, and the springs are used to replace the leg muscles to achieve a buffering effect. To reveal the dynamic performance in the buffering process of the bionic locust mechanism, a dynamic model is established with different modes of landing and buffering. In particular, to analyze the buffering process conveniently, an equivalent vibration dynamic model of the bionic locust mechanism is proposed.Given the support forces of the ground to the leg links, which can be obtained from the dynamic model, the spring forces of the legs and the impact resistance of each leg are the important parameters affecting buffering performance, and evaluation principles for buffering performance are proposed according to the aforementioned parameters. Based on the dynamic model and these evaluation principles, the buffering performances are analyzed and compared in different modes of landing and buffering on a horizontal plane and an inclined plane. The results show that the mechanism with the ends of the legs sliding can obtain a better dynamic performance. This study offers primary theories for buffering dynamics and an evaluation of landing buffer performance,and it establishes a theoretical basis for studies and engineering applications.

Spatial-temporal Characteristics of Land Subsidence Corresponding to Dynamic Groundwater Funnel in Beijing Municipality,China

Due to long-term over-exploitation of groundwater in Beijing Municipality,regional groundwater funnels have formed and land subsidence has been induced.By combining a groundwater monitoring network,GPS monitor-ing network data,radar satellite SAR data,GIS and other new technologies,a coupled process model based on the dy-namic variation of groundwater and the deformation response of land subsidence has been established.The dynamic variation of groundwater funnels and the land subsidence response process were analyzed systematically in Beijing.Study results indicate that current groundwater funnel areas are distributed mainly in the southwest of Shunyi District,the northeast of Chaoyang District and the northwest of Tongzhou District,with an average decline rate of groundwa-ter level of 2.66 m/yr and a maximum of 3.82 m/yr in the center of the funnels.Seasonal and interannual differences exist in the response model of land subsidence to groundwater funnels with uneven spatial and temporal distribution,where the maximum land subsidence rate was about-41.08 mm/yr and the area with a subsidence rate greater than 30 mm/yr was about 1637.29 km2.Although a consistency was revealed to exist between a groundwater funnel and the spatial distribution characteristics of the corresponding land subsidence funnel,this consistency was not perfect.The results showed that the response model of land subsidence to the dynamic variation of groundwater was more revealing when combining conventional technologies with InSAR,GIS,GPS,providing a new strategy for environmental and hydrogeological research and a scientific basis for regional land subsidence control.

The monitoring and analysis of the coastal lowland subsidence in the southern Hangzhou Bay with an advanced time-series InSAR method

Time-series InSAR analysis（e.g., permanent scatterers（PSInSAR）） has been proven as an effective technology in monitoring ground deformation over urban areas. However, it is a big challenge to apply this technology in coastal regions due to the lack of man-made targets. An distributed scatterers interferometric synthetic aperture radar（DSInSAR） is developed to solve the problem of insufficient samples and low reliability in monitoring coastal lowland subsidence, by applying a spatially adaptive filter and an eigendecomposition algorithm to estimating the optimal phase of statistically homogeneous distributed scatterers（DSs）. Twenty-four scenes of COSMO-Sky Med images acquired between 2013 and 2015 are used to retrieve the land subsidence over the Shangyu District on south coast of the Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang Province, China. The spatial pattern of the land subsidence obtained by the PS-InSAR and the DSInSAR coincides with each other, but the density of the DSs is three point five times higher than the permanent scatterers（PSs）. Validated by precise levelling data over the same period, the DSInSAR method achieves an accuracy of ±5.0 mm/a which is superior to the PS-InSAR with±5.5 mm/a. The land subsidence in the Shangyu District is mainly distributed in the urban areas, industrial towns and land reclamation zones, with a maximum subsidence rate -30.2 mm/a. The analysis of geological data, field investigation and historical reclamation data indicates that human activities and natural compaction of reclamation material are major causes of the detected land subsidence. The results demonstrate that the DSInSAR method has a great potential in monitoring the coastal lowland subsidence and can be used to further investigate subsidence-related environmental issues in coastal regions.

Zonation and Prediction of Land Subsidence (Case Study-Kerman, Iran)

Drought and Immethodical ground water withdrawal in recent years has caused numerous problems such as subsidence due to falling of subsurface water table, the reduction of water quality, etc. in cities across the world. This research as a case study deals with harmful effects of subsurface water withdrawal in the city of Kerman and practical monitoring of the subsidence and makes prediction of land subsidence. The artificial neural network has been used for modeling the monitored results and prediction of future subsidence. A surveying network with more than 500 installed benchmarks in an area of 334 square kilometer has been used to measure the subsidence of the city area. Benchmarks were installed in the beginning of 2004 and were monitored at the end of 2004, 2006, and 2007. For modeling, extra data were obtained from Iranian Surveying Organization for the years before 2004. The resulting model showed that, the subsidence varies between zero and 15cm per year in different parts of the City, which depends on the subsurface-layered soils, their compressibility, and the manner of subsurface water withdrawal.

Finite-difference model of land subsidence caused by cluster loads in Zhengzhou,China

Groundwater exploitation has been regarded as the main reason for land subsidence in China and thus receives considerable attention from the government and the academic community.Recently,building loads have been identified as another important factor of land subsidence,but researches in this sector have lagged.The effect of a single building load on land subsidence was neglected in many cases owing to the narrow scope and the limited depth of the additional stress in stratum.However,due to the superposition of stresses between buildings,the additional stress of cluster loads is greater than that of a single building load under the same condition,so that the land subsidence caused by cluster loads cannot be neglected.Taking Shamen village in the north of Zhengzhou,China,as an example,a finite-difference model based on the Biot consolidation theory to calculate the land subsidence caused by cluster loads was established in this paper.Cluster loads present the characteristics of large-area loads,and the land subsidence caused by cluster loads can have multiple primary consolidation processes due to the stress superposition of different buildings was shown by the simulation results.Pore water migration distances are longer when the cluster loads with high plot ratio are imposed,so that consolidation takes longer time.The higher the plot ratio is,the deeper the effective deformation is,and thus the greater the land subsidence is.A higher plot ratio also increases the contribution that the deeper stratigraphic layers make to land subsidence.Contrary to the calculated results of land subsidence caused by cluster loads and groundwater recession,the percentage of settlement caused by cluster loads in the total settlement was 49.43%and 55.06%at two simulated monitoring points,respectively.These data suggest that the cluster loads can be one of the main causes of land subsidence.

Evaluating geological and geotechnical data for the study of land subsidence phenomena at the perimeter of the Amyntaio coalmine,Greece

Land subsidence phenomena caused by the overexploitation of the aquifers require the holistic knowledge of the geological, tectonic, hydrogeological and especially the geotechnical conditions of the affected sites in order to be mitigated. The current paper focuses on the study of the phenomena taking place at the Amyntaio sub-basin, northern Greece, hosting the homonymous open pit coal mine,operating there the last two decades. The mining as well as the rising agriculture activities have led to a significant drawdown of the ground water level triggering extensive ground subsidence phenomena,causing damages at the nearby villages, infrastructure and farmlands. The production and evaluation of engineering geological–geotechnical maps as well as of thematic tectonic and hydrogeological maps proved that the knowledge of this data is crucial for the interpretation of the land subsidence mechanism and the spatial distribution of its effects.