Quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth in North-Central Bohai Bay,China

To study the quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth,67 surface samples were collected for diatom analysis on eight profiles with water depth variation from the muddy intertidal zone to the shallow sea area in North-Central Bohai Bay,China.The results showed that the distribution of diatoms changed significantly in response to the change in water depth.Furthermore,the quantitative relationship between the distribution of dominant diatom species,their assemblages,and the water depth was established.The water depth optima for seven dominant species such as Cyclotella striata/stylorum,Paralia sulcata,and Coscinodiscus perforatus and the water depth indication range of seven diatom assemblages were obtained in the study area above the water depth(elevation)of-10 m.The quantitative relationship between surface sedimentary diatoms and water depth provides a proxy index for diatom-paleo-water depth reconstruction in the strata in Bohai Bay,China.

Estimation of drift limits for different seismic damage states of RC frame staging in elevated water tanks using Park and Ang damage index

Damage to elevated water tanks in past earthquakes can be attributed to the poor performance of their supporting frame staging. In order to ascertain the performance of these elevated water tanks, it is crucial to categorize the damage in quantifiable damage states. Among various parameters to quantify the damage states, the top drift of frame staging can be conveniently correlated to the different damage levels. In literature, drift limits corresponding to different damage states of the frame staging of the elevated water tank are not available. In the present study, drift limits for RC frame staging in elevated water tanks corresponding to different seismic damage states have been proposed. Various damage states of the elevated water tank have been determined using the Park and Ang damage index. The Park and Ang damage index utilizes results of both pushover analysis and incremental dynamic analysis. Twelve models of elevated water tanks have been developed considering variation in staging height and tank capacity. Incremental dynamic analysis has been performed using the suite of twelve actual earthquake ground motions. Based on the regression analysis between damage indexes and drift, limiting drift values for each damage state are proposed.

Floodplain Mapping of Nashwaak River,Canada:An Assessment Based on High-Resolution Hydraulic Simulation

Recent advances in hydraulic modeling create improved methodology to accurately predict the extent of floodplain map in order to assist policy makers to develop flood hazard mitigation measures and timely inform the local communities with the flood risk alerts.However,accurate prediction of the inundation map also depends on the spatial resolution of the topographic data.In this study,we developed a novel high-resolution modeling framework for Nashwaak River watershed,New Brunswick,Canada to capture significant flooding along the banks of the river for the two historic flood events and accurately map the floodplains for both the gauged and ungauged areas of the watershed.The model is based on HEC-RAS(US Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System)hydraulic model and the topographic data were generated from high-resolution LiDAR data of~0.5 m.The model runs were driven by observed flow conditions applied at the boundary and the framework is based on different spatial resolution to determine the effect of spatial resolution on the predicted inundation.We validated the model simulated water surface elevation with the observed data and the model reproduces reasonably good skill score.Results from the numerical simulation suggest that apart from the strength of the stream velocity,design of the modeling framework plays an important role in determining the inundation depth as well as the maximum flooding extent.

A Study on the Distribution of Wave Phases

Probability distributions of wave phases in association with distributions of surface elevations are studied with wave records. Wave records of different nature are used for comparison. These are surface fluctuations acquired during wind wave flume experiments, representing wave generation under strong wind; and wave records measured in the northern part of Taiwan for waves in natural environments. Three probability models, the unifrom distribution, the beta distribution, and a model from Tayfun and Lo (1989) are adopted to study the possible distributions of wave phases. It is found that when surface elevations become skewed, wave phases deviate from the usually assumed uniform distribution and a better model would be the beta distribution.