Coral sandy soils widely exist in coral island reefs and seashores in tropical and subtropical regions.Due to the unique marine depositional environment of coral sandy soils,the engineering characteristics and respons...Coral sandy soils widely exist in coral island reefs and seashores in tropical and subtropical regions.Due to the unique marine depositional environment of coral sandy soils,the engineering characteristics and responses of these soils subjected to monotonic and cyclic loadings have been a subject of intense interest among the geotechnical and earthquake engineering communities.This paper critically reviews the progress of experimental investigations on the undrained behavior of coral sandy soils under monotonic and cyclic loadings over the last three decades.The focus of coverage includes the contractive-dilative behavior,the pattern of excess pore-water pressure(EPWP)generation and the liquefaction mechanism and liquefaction resistance,the small-strain shear modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus and damping,the cyclic softening feature,and the anisotropic characteristics of undrained responses of saturated coral sandy soils.In particular,the advances made in the past decades are reviewed from the following aspects:(1)the characterization of factors that impact the mechanism and patterns of EPWP build-up;(2)the identification of liquefaction triggering in terms of the apparent viscosity and the average flow coefficient;(3)the establishment of the invariable form of strain-based,stress-based,or energy-based EPWP ratio formulas and the unique relationship between the new proxy of liquefaction resistance and the number of cycles required to reach liquefaction;(4)the establishment of the invariable form of the predictive formulas of small strain modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus;and(5)the investigation on the effects of stress-induced anisotropy on liquefaction susceptibility and dynamic deformation characteristics.Insights gained through the critical review of these advances in the past decades offer a perspective for future research to further resolve the fundamental issues concerning the liquefaction mechanism and responses of coral sandy sites subjected to cyclic loadings associated with seismic events in marine environments.展开更多
This study focuses on the analytical prediction of subsurface settlement induced by shield tunnelling in sandy cobble stratum considering the volumetric deformation modes of the soil above the tunnel crown.A series of...This study focuses on the analytical prediction of subsurface settlement induced by shield tunnelling in sandy cobble stratum considering the volumetric deformation modes of the soil above the tunnel crown.A series of numerical analyses is performed to examine the effects of cover depth ratio(C/D),tunnel volume loss rate(h t)and volumetric block proportion(VBP)on the characteristics of subsurface settle-ment trough and soil volume loss.Considering the ground loss variation with depth,three modes are deduced from the volumetric deformation responses of the soil above the tunnel crown.Then,analytical solutions to predict subsurface settlement for each mode are presented using stochastic medium theory.The influences of C/D,h t and VBP on the key parameters(i.e.B and N)in the analytical expressions are discussed to determine the fitting formulae of B and N.Finally,the proposed analytical solutions are validated by the comparisons with the results of model test and numerical simulation.Results show that the fitting formulae provide a convenient and reliable way to evaluate the key parameters.Besides,the analytical solutions are reasonable and available in predicting the subsurface settlement induced by shield tunnelling in sandy cobble stratum.展开更多
The NATO agreement STANAG 4569 defines the protection levels for the occupants of logistic and light armored vehicle.The Allied Engineering Publication,AEP-55,Volume 2 document outlines the test conditions for underbe...The NATO agreement STANAG 4569 defines the protection levels for the occupants of logistic and light armored vehicle.The Allied Engineering Publication,AEP-55,Volume 2 document outlines the test conditions for underbelly improvised explosive device(IEDs),which must be buried in water-saturated sandy gravel.The use of sandy gravel has some drawbacks,for instance reproducibility,time consumption,and cost.This paper focuses on the investigation of four alternatives to sandy gravel,which could produce similar specific and cumulative impulses:a concrete pot filled with water,a concrete pot filled with quartz sand,a steel pot without filling and a concrete pot filled with glass spheres(diameter 200μm—300μm)and different water contents.The impulses are measured with a ring technology developed at the Fraunhofer EMI.A numerical soil model based on the work of Marrs,2014 and Fi serov a,2006 and considering the soil moisture was used to simulate the experiments with glass spheres at different water contents,showing much better agreement with the experiments than the classical Laine&Sandvik model,even for high saturation levels.These results can be used to create new test conditions at original scale that are more cost-effective,more reproducible and simpler to manage in comparison to the current tests carried out with STANAG sandy gravel.展开更多
Vegetation restoration through artificial plantation is an effective method to combat desertification,especially in arid and semi-arid areas.This study aimed to explore the ecological effect of the plantation of Sabin...Vegetation restoration through artificial plantation is an effective method to combat desertification,especially in arid and semi-arid areas.This study aimed to explore the ecological effect of the plantation of Sabina vulgaris on soil physical and chemical properties on the southeastern fringe of the Mu Us Sandy Land,China.We collected soil samples from five depth layers(0-20,20-40,40-60,60-80,and 80-100 cm)in the S.vulgaris plantation plots across four plantation ages(4,7,10,and 16 years)in November 2019,and assessed soil physical(soil bulk density,soil porosity,and soil particle size)and chemical(soil organic carbon(SOC),total nitrogen(TN),available nitrogen(AN),available phosphorus(AP),available potassium(AK),cation-exchange capacity(CEC),salinity,p H,and C/N ratio)properties.The results indicated that the soil predominantly consisted of sand particles(94.27%-99.67%),with the remainder being silt and clay.As plantation age increased,silt and very fine sand contents progressively rose.After 16 years of planting,there was a marked reduction in the mean soil particle size.The initial soil fertility was low and declined from 4 to 10 years of planting before witnessing an improvement.Significant positive correlations were observed for the clay,silt,and very fine sand(mean diameter of 0.000-0.100 mm)with SOC,AK,and p H.In contrast,fine sand and medium sand(mean diameter of 0.100-0.500 mm)showed significant negative correlations with these indicators.Our findings ascertain that the plantation of S.vulgaris requires 10 years to effectively act as a windbreak and contribute to sand fixation,and needs 16 years to improve soil physical and chemical properties.Importantly,these improvements were found to be highly beneficial for vegetation restoration in arid and semi-arid areas.This research can offer valuable insights for the protection and restoration of the vegetation ecosystem in the sandy lands in China.展开更多
Free living marine nematodes were sampled from two sandy beaches in Dalian City,in December of 2015,and April,July,and October of 2016.The spatial and seasonal variations of marine nematode species diversity(based on ...Free living marine nematodes were sampled from two sandy beaches in Dalian City,in December of 2015,and April,July,and October of 2016.The spatial and seasonal variations of marine nematode species diversity(based on species abundance dataset)and functional diversity(based on functional traits dataset:feeding types and life history strategies)were investigated to understand the environmental drivers and how they respond to specific environmental variations.Sediment granularity was revealed to be the main environmental factor causing spatial differences in nematode diversity indices between the two beaches.Species diversity indices,namely species number,Margalef index,Shannon-Wiener diversity index(H’),were higher in fine-grained sediments,while the functional diversity indices,including functional evenness,functional dispersion,and Rao’s quadratic entropy index(RaoQ),were higher in coarse-grained sediments.Nematode species diversity indices also fluctuated with seasonal variations of temperature,dissolved oxygen,pH,salinity,and sediment chlorophyll-a within the study beaches.However,functional diversity indices did not show significant seasonal variations and exhibited weak correlation with the studied environmental variables.Overall,the functional diversity indices were negatively correlated with the species diversity indices,suggesting an inconsistent response to environmental changes.A decrease in nematode species diversity in coarse sands,accompanied by an increase in functional diversity,can be regarded as an early warning signal of environment disturbance.If more biological traits are involved in calculating functional diversity indices,it will be helpful for the future study of the internal connections of species diversity and functional diversity.展开更多
Otindag Sandy Land in China is an important ecological barrier to Beijing;the changes in its ecological quality are major concerns for sustainable development and planning of this area.Based on principal component ana...Otindag Sandy Land in China is an important ecological barrier to Beijing;the changes in its ecological quality are major concerns for sustainable development and planning of this area.Based on principal component analysis and path analysis,we first generated a modified remote sensing ecological index(MRSEI)coupled with satellite and ground observational data during 2001–2020 that integrated four local indicators(greenness,wetness,and heatness that reflect vegetation status,water,and heat conditions,respectively,as well as soil erosion).Then,we assessed the ecological quality in Otindag Sandy Land during 2001–2020 based on the MRSEI at different time scales(i.e.,the whole year,growing season,and non-growing season).MRSEI generally increased with an upward rate of 0.006/a during 2001–2020,with clear seasonal and spatial variations.Ecological quality was significantly improved in most regions of Otindag Sandy Land but degraded in the southern part.Regions with ecological degradation expanded to 18.64%of the total area in the non-growing season.The area with the worst grade of MRSEI shrunk by 15.83%of the total area from 2001 to 2020,while the area with the best grade of MRSEI increased by 9.77%of the total area.The temporal heterogeneity of ecological conditions indicated that the improvement process of ecological quality in the growing season may be interrupted or deteriorated in the following non-growing season.The implementation of ecological restoration measures in Otindag Sandy Land should not ignore the seasonal characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of local ecological quality.The results can explore the effectiveness of ecological restoration and provide scientific guides on sustainable development measures for drylands.展开更多
Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging(dMRI)is a noninvasive method to capture the anisotropic pattern of water displacement in the neuronal tissue.The soma and neurite density imaging(SANDI)model introduced soma size a...Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging(dMRI)is a noninvasive method to capture the anisotropic pattern of water displacement in the neuronal tissue.The soma and neurite density imaging(SANDI)model introduced soma size and density to biophysical model for the first time.In addition to neurite density,it can achieve their joint estimation non-invasively using dMRI.In the traditional method,parameters of the SANDI are estimated in a maximum likelihood frame-work,where the nonlinear model fitting is computationally intensive.Also,the present methods require a large number of diffusion gradients.Efficient and accurate algorithms for tissue microstructure estimation of SANDI is still a challenge currently.Consequently,we introduce deep learning method for tissue microstructure estimation of the SANDI model.The model comprises two functional components.The first component produces the sparse representation of diffusion sig-nals of input patches.The second component computes tissue microstructure from the sparse repre-sentation given by the first component.The deep network can produce not only tissue microstruc-ture estimates but also the uncertainty of the estimates with a reduced number of diffusion gradi-ents.Then,multiple deep networks are trained and their results are fused for the final prediction of tissue microstructure and uncertainty quantification.The deep network was evaluated on the MGH Connectome Diffusion Microstructure Dataset.Results indicate that our approach outperforms the traditional methods in terms of estimation accuracy.展开更多
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.52278503。
文摘Coral sandy soils widely exist in coral island reefs and seashores in tropical and subtropical regions.Due to the unique marine depositional environment of coral sandy soils,the engineering characteristics and responses of these soils subjected to monotonic and cyclic loadings have been a subject of intense interest among the geotechnical and earthquake engineering communities.This paper critically reviews the progress of experimental investigations on the undrained behavior of coral sandy soils under monotonic and cyclic loadings over the last three decades.The focus of coverage includes the contractive-dilative behavior,the pattern of excess pore-water pressure(EPWP)generation and the liquefaction mechanism and liquefaction resistance,the small-strain shear modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus and damping,the cyclic softening feature,and the anisotropic characteristics of undrained responses of saturated coral sandy soils.In particular,the advances made in the past decades are reviewed from the following aspects:(1)the characterization of factors that impact the mechanism and patterns of EPWP build-up;(2)the identification of liquefaction triggering in terms of the apparent viscosity and the average flow coefficient;(3)the establishment of the invariable form of strain-based,stress-based,or energy-based EPWP ratio formulas and the unique relationship between the new proxy of liquefaction resistance and the number of cycles required to reach liquefaction;(4)the establishment of the invariable form of the predictive formulas of small strain modulus and strain-dependent shear modulus;and(5)the investigation on the effects of stress-induced anisotropy on liquefaction susceptibility and dynamic deformation characteristics.Insights gained through the critical review of these advances in the past decades offer a perspective for future research to further resolve the fundamental issues concerning the liquefaction mechanism and responses of coral sandy sites subjected to cyclic loadings associated with seismic events in marine environments.
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51538001 and 51978019).
文摘This study focuses on the analytical prediction of subsurface settlement induced by shield tunnelling in sandy cobble stratum considering the volumetric deformation modes of the soil above the tunnel crown.A series of numerical analyses is performed to examine the effects of cover depth ratio(C/D),tunnel volume loss rate(h t)and volumetric block proportion(VBP)on the characteristics of subsurface settle-ment trough and soil volume loss.Considering the ground loss variation with depth,three modes are deduced from the volumetric deformation responses of the soil above the tunnel crown.Then,analytical solutions to predict subsurface settlement for each mode are presented using stochastic medium theory.The influences of C/D,h t and VBP on the key parameters(i.e.B and N)in the analytical expressions are discussed to determine the fitting formulae of B and N.Finally,the proposed analytical solutions are validated by the comparisons with the results of model test and numerical simulation.Results show that the fitting formulae provide a convenient and reliable way to evaluate the key parameters.Besides,the analytical solutions are reasonable and available in predicting the subsurface settlement induced by shield tunnelling in sandy cobble stratum.
基金Bundeswehr Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition WTD-91 GF-440 in Meppen,Germany for funding this work。
文摘The NATO agreement STANAG 4569 defines the protection levels for the occupants of logistic and light armored vehicle.The Allied Engineering Publication,AEP-55,Volume 2 document outlines the test conditions for underbelly improvised explosive device(IEDs),which must be buried in water-saturated sandy gravel.The use of sandy gravel has some drawbacks,for instance reproducibility,time consumption,and cost.This paper focuses on the investigation of four alternatives to sandy gravel,which could produce similar specific and cumulative impulses:a concrete pot filled with water,a concrete pot filled with quartz sand,a steel pot without filling and a concrete pot filled with glass spheres(diameter 200μm—300μm)and different water contents.The impulses are measured with a ring technology developed at the Fraunhofer EMI.A numerical soil model based on the work of Marrs,2014 and Fi serov a,2006 and considering the soil moisture was used to simulate the experiments with glass spheres at different water contents,showing much better agreement with the experiments than the classical Laine&Sandvik model,even for high saturation levels.These results can be used to create new test conditions at original scale that are more cost-effective,more reproducible and simpler to manage in comparison to the current tests carried out with STANAG sandy gravel.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(42171004)the Key Research and Development Program in Shaanxi Province,China(2021ZDLSF05-02)the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(2019QZKK0403)。
文摘Vegetation restoration through artificial plantation is an effective method to combat desertification,especially in arid and semi-arid areas.This study aimed to explore the ecological effect of the plantation of Sabina vulgaris on soil physical and chemical properties on the southeastern fringe of the Mu Us Sandy Land,China.We collected soil samples from five depth layers(0-20,20-40,40-60,60-80,and 80-100 cm)in the S.vulgaris plantation plots across four plantation ages(4,7,10,and 16 years)in November 2019,and assessed soil physical(soil bulk density,soil porosity,and soil particle size)and chemical(soil organic carbon(SOC),total nitrogen(TN),available nitrogen(AN),available phosphorus(AP),available potassium(AK),cation-exchange capacity(CEC),salinity,p H,and C/N ratio)properties.The results indicated that the soil predominantly consisted of sand particles(94.27%-99.67%),with the remainder being silt and clay.As plantation age increased,silt and very fine sand contents progressively rose.After 16 years of planting,there was a marked reduction in the mean soil particle size.The initial soil fertility was low and declined from 4 to 10 years of planting before witnessing an improvement.Significant positive correlations were observed for the clay,silt,and very fine sand(mean diameter of 0.000-0.100 mm)with SOC,AK,and p H.In contrast,fine sand and medium sand(mean diameter of 0.100-0.500 mm)showed significant negative correlations with these indicators.Our findings ascertain that the plantation of S.vulgaris requires 10 years to effectively act as a windbreak and contribute to sand fixation,and needs 16 years to improve soil physical and chemical properties.Importantly,these improvements were found to be highly beneficial for vegetation restoration in arid and semi-arid areas.This research can offer valuable insights for the protection and restoration of the vegetation ecosystem in the sandy lands in China.
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.41976100,41576153).
文摘Free living marine nematodes were sampled from two sandy beaches in Dalian City,in December of 2015,and April,July,and October of 2016.The spatial and seasonal variations of marine nematode species diversity(based on species abundance dataset)and functional diversity(based on functional traits dataset:feeding types and life history strategies)were investigated to understand the environmental drivers and how they respond to specific environmental variations.Sediment granularity was revealed to be the main environmental factor causing spatial differences in nematode diversity indices between the two beaches.Species diversity indices,namely species number,Margalef index,Shannon-Wiener diversity index(H’),were higher in fine-grained sediments,while the functional diversity indices,including functional evenness,functional dispersion,and Rao’s quadratic entropy index(RaoQ),were higher in coarse-grained sediments.Nematode species diversity indices also fluctuated with seasonal variations of temperature,dissolved oxygen,pH,salinity,and sediment chlorophyll-a within the study beaches.However,functional diversity indices did not show significant seasonal variations and exhibited weak correlation with the studied environmental variables.Overall,the functional diversity indices were negatively correlated with the species diversity indices,suggesting an inconsistent response to environmental changes.A decrease in nematode species diversity in coarse sands,accompanied by an increase in functional diversity,can be regarded as an early warning signal of environment disturbance.If more biological traits are involved in calculating functional diversity indices,it will be helpful for the future study of the internal connections of species diversity and functional diversity.
基金the financial support given by the Special Funds for Science and Technology Innovation on Carbon Peak Carbon Neutral of Jiangsu Province,China(BK20220017)the Innovation Development Project of China Meteorological Administration(CXFZ2023J073)the National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFC1506606).
文摘Otindag Sandy Land in China is an important ecological barrier to Beijing;the changes in its ecological quality are major concerns for sustainable development and planning of this area.Based on principal component analysis and path analysis,we first generated a modified remote sensing ecological index(MRSEI)coupled with satellite and ground observational data during 2001–2020 that integrated four local indicators(greenness,wetness,and heatness that reflect vegetation status,water,and heat conditions,respectively,as well as soil erosion).Then,we assessed the ecological quality in Otindag Sandy Land during 2001–2020 based on the MRSEI at different time scales(i.e.,the whole year,growing season,and non-growing season).MRSEI generally increased with an upward rate of 0.006/a during 2001–2020,with clear seasonal and spatial variations.Ecological quality was significantly improved in most regions of Otindag Sandy Land but degraded in the southern part.Regions with ecological degradation expanded to 18.64%of the total area in the non-growing season.The area with the worst grade of MRSEI shrunk by 15.83%of the total area from 2001 to 2020,while the area with the best grade of MRSEI increased by 9.77%of the total area.The temporal heterogeneity of ecological conditions indicated that the improvement process of ecological quality in the growing season may be interrupted or deteriorated in the following non-growing season.The implementation of ecological restoration measures in Otindag Sandy Land should not ignore the seasonal characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of local ecological quality.The results can explore the effectiveness of ecological restoration and provide scientific guides on sustainable development measures for drylands.
文摘Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging(dMRI)is a noninvasive method to capture the anisotropic pattern of water displacement in the neuronal tissue.The soma and neurite density imaging(SANDI)model introduced soma size and density to biophysical model for the first time.In addition to neurite density,it can achieve their joint estimation non-invasively using dMRI.In the traditional method,parameters of the SANDI are estimated in a maximum likelihood frame-work,where the nonlinear model fitting is computationally intensive.Also,the present methods require a large number of diffusion gradients.Efficient and accurate algorithms for tissue microstructure estimation of SANDI is still a challenge currently.Consequently,we introduce deep learning method for tissue microstructure estimation of the SANDI model.The model comprises two functional components.The first component produces the sparse representation of diffusion sig-nals of input patches.The second component computes tissue microstructure from the sparse repre-sentation given by the first component.The deep network can produce not only tissue microstruc-ture estimates but also the uncertainty of the estimates with a reduced number of diffusion gradi-ents.Then,multiple deep networks are trained and their results are fused for the final prediction of tissue microstructure and uncertainty quantification.The deep network was evaluated on the MGH Connectome Diffusion Microstructure Dataset.Results indicate that our approach outperforms the traditional methods in terms of estimation accuracy.