Effectiveness of Fiber Bragg Grating monitoring in the centrifugal model test of soil slope under rainfall conditions

Centrifugal model testsare playing an increasingly importantrolein investigating slope characteristics under rainfall conditions. However, conventional electronic transducers usually fail during centrifugal model tests because of the impacts of limitedtest space, high centrifugal force, and presence of water, with the result that limited valid data is obtained. In this study, Fiber Bragg Grating(FBG) sensing technology is employed in the design and development of displacement gauge, an anchor force gauge and an anti-slide pile moment gauge for use on centrifugal model slopes with and without a retaining structure. The two model slopes were installed and monitored at a centrifugal acceleration of 100 g. The test results show that the sensors developed succeed in capturing the deformation and retaining structure mechanical response of the model slopes during and after rainfall. The deformation curvefor the slope without retaining structure shows a steepresponse that turns gradualfor the slope with retaining structure. Importantly, for the slope with the retaining structure, results suggest that more attention be paid to increase of anchor force and antislide pile moment during rainfall. This study verifies the effectiveness of FBG sensing technology in centrifuge research and presents a new and innovative method for slope model testing under rainfall conditions.

Model Test of Deformation Evolution and Multi Factor Prediction of Anchorage Slope Stability under Rainfall Condition

The stability of the anchorage slope on the Baiyang Yangtze River Highway Bridge in Yichang,China,was investigated under different rainfall conditions using model test,numerical simulation,and factor analysis.The results of the study are as follows:(1)with the increase of rainfall intensity,the change of earth pressure can be divided into three stages.However,when the rainfall intensity was larger than a certain value,the change of earth pressure of cut slope became two stages;with the increase of rainfall intensity,pore water pressure increased with the increase of rainfall time,while at a certain stage after the rainfall,the pore water pressure in the cut slope did not decrease immediately,but increased for a period of time.(2)When the rainfall stopped,the stability coefficient of the anchorage slope continued to decrease,then slowly increased,and finally tended to be gentle.Meanwhile,when the rainstorm reached a certain intensity,the main factor that restricted the rainfall infiltration rate became the geotechnical permeability coefficient of the cut slope,which was no longer the rainfall intensity.(3)Factor analysis shows that the rainfall intensity and rainfall duration were the most important factors for anchorage slope stability,while earth pressure,pore water pressure and slope displacement were much less significant.

A STUDY OF PARTITIONING Q VECTOR ON BACKGROUND CONDITIONS OF A TORRENTIAL RAINFALL OVER SHANGHAI,CHINA ON 25 AUGUST 2008

A rainfall that occurred during 0200–1400 Beijing Standard Time(BST)25 August 2008 shows the rapid development of a convective system,a short life span,and a record rate of 117.5 mm h-1for Xujiahui station since 1872.To study this torrential rainfall process,the partitioning method of Q vector is developed,in which a moist Q vector is first separated into a dry ageostrophic Q vector(DQ)and a diabatic-heating component.The dry ageostrophic Q vector is further partitioned along isothermal lines in the natural coordinate to identify different scale forcing in adiabatic atmosphere,and the large-scale and convective condensational heating in non-uniform saturated atmosphere,convective condensational heating, and Laplace of diabatic heating that includes radiative heating and other heating and cooling processes,are calculated to study the forcing from diabatic heating.The effects of the environmental conditions on the development of the rainfall processes are diagnosed by performing the partitioning of Q vector based on 6-hourly NCEP/NCAR Final Analysis(FNL)data with the horizontal resolution of 1°×1°.The results include the following:(1)a low-pressure inverted trough associated with the landfall of Typhoon Nuri (2008),a strong southwesterly jet along the western side of the subtropical high,and an eastward-propagating westerly low-pressure trough provide favorable synoptic conditions for the development of torrential rainfall;(2)the analysis of DQ vector showed that the upward motions forced by the convergence of DQ vector in the lower troposphere(1000–600 hPa)favor the development of torrential rainfall.When DQ vector converges in the upper troposphere(500–100 hPa),upward motions in the whole air column intensify significantly to accelerate the development of torrential rainfall;(3)the partitioning analysis of DQ vector reveals that large-scale forcing persistently favors the development of torrential rainfall whereas the mesoscale forcing speeds up the torrential rainfall;(4)the calculations of large-scale condensational heating in non-uniform saturated atmosphere,convective condensational heating, and Laplace of diabatic heating showed that the forcing related to diabatic heating has the positive feedback on the convective development,and such positive feedback decays and dissipates when the convective system propagates eastward and weakens.

Potential of rooftop rainwater harvesting to meet outdoor water demand in arid regions

The feasibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting （RRWH） as an alternative source of water to meet the outdoor water demand in nine states of the U.S. was evaluated using a system dynamics model developed in Systems Thinking, Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation. The state of Arizona was selected to evaluate the effects of the selected model parameters on the efficacy of RRWH since among the nine states the arid region of Arizona showed the least potential of meeting the outdoor water demand with rain harvested water. The analyses were conducted on a monthly basis across a 10-year projected period from 2015 to 2024. The results showed that RRWH as a potential source of water was highly sensitive to certain model parameters such as the outdoor water demand, the use of desert landscaping, and the percentage of existing houses with RRWH. A significant difference （as high as 37.5%） in rainwater potential was observed between the projected wet and dry climate conditions in Arizona. The analysis of the dynamics of the storage tanks suggested that a 1.0-2.0 m3 rainwater barrel, on an average, can store approximately 80% of the monthly rainwater generated from the rooftops in Arizona, even across the high seasonal variation. This interactive model can be used as a quick estimator of the amount of water that could be generated, stored, and utilized through RRWH systems in the U.S. under different climate conditions. The findings of such comprehensive analyses may help regional policymakers, especially in arid regions, to develop a sustainable water management infrastructure.

Potential of roots and shoots of Napier grass for arresting soil erosion and runoff of mollisols soils of Himalayas

In this study, a soil filled Hydraulic Tilting Flume (HTF) was used as a test plot under simulated rainfallconditions. This flume was flled with mollisols soils (sandy loam in texture) collected from tarai regionof Himalayas. The effects of root and shoot characteristics of Napier grass in terms of leaf area index (LAI),shoot length (SL), number of leaves (NL), number of tillers (NT), shoot biomass (SB), root density (RD),root length (RL), root biomass (RB), and total biomass (TB) were investigated on runoff and sedimentoutflow at 90, 120 and 150 days after planting (DAP). Four simulated rainfall intensities namely 4.0, 6.5,8.3 and 9.4 cm/h over three land slopes of 1, 2 and 3% were selected. Runoff samples collected fromwhole plant plot and only root plot were analyzed for runoff and sediment outflow. Findings revealedthat Napier grasses were very effective to reduce runoff and sediment outflow and its efficacy increasedwith the extended growth stages. The reduction in runoff and sediment outflow at 90, 120 and 150 DAPwas obtained as 56% and 85%, 68% and 90%, and 74% and 96%, respectively, as compared to bare plotconditions. It was observed that the comparative contribution of shoots in runoff rate reduction washigher than the roots. On the contrary, the root part of the plant showed more contribution in sedimentrate reduction as compared to the shoot part. Step wise regression was attempted for the selection ofeffective input parameters to establish authentic runoff and sediment outflow models. Power form ofmultiple non-linear regression (MNLR) showed very satisfactory results for predicting runoff and sedimentoutflow with coefficient of determination (R^(2)) as 97.4% and 99.0%, respectively, root mean squareerror (RMSE) as 38.8 cc/m^(2)/min and 0.126 g/m^(2)/min, respectively, and coefficient of efficiency (CE) as93.9% and 96.7%, respectively, during testing period.