Evaluation of slope stability through rock mass classification and kinematic analysis of some major slopes along NH-1A from Ramban to Banihal, North Western Himalayas

The network of Himalayan roadways and highways connects some remote regions of valleys or hill slopes,which is vital for India’s socio-economic growth.Due to natural and artificial factors,frequency of slope instabilities along the networks has been increasing over last few decades.Assessment of stability of natural and artificial slopes due to construction of these connecting road networks is significant in safely executing these roads throughout the year.Several rock mass classification methods are generally used to assess the strength and deformability of rock mass.This study assesses slope stability along the NH-1A of Ramban district of North Western Himalayas.Various structurally and non-structurally controlled rock mass classification systems have been applied to assess the stability conditions of 14 slopes.For evaluating the stability of these slopes,kinematic analysis was performed along with geological strength index(GSI),rock mass rating(RMR),continuous slope mass rating(CoSMR),slope mass rating(SMR),and Q-slope in the present study.The SMR gives three slopes as completely unstable while CoSMR suggests four slopes as completely unstable.The stability of all slopes was also analyzed using a design chart under dynamic and static conditions by slope stability rating(SSR)for the factor of safety(FoS)of 1.2 and 1 respectively.Q-slope with probability of failure(PoF)1%gives two slopes as stable slopes.Stable slope angle has been determined based on the Q-slope safe angle equation and SSR design chart based on the FoS.The value ranges given by different empirical classifications were RMR(37-74),GSI(27.3-58.5),SMR(11-59),and CoSMR(3.39-74.56).Good relationship was found among RMR&SSR and RMR&GSI with correlation coefficient(R 2)value of 0.815 and 0.6866,respectively.Lastly,a comparative stability of all these slopes based on the above classification has been performed to identify the most critical slope along this road.

Periodic signal extraction of GNSS height time series based on adaptive singular spectrum analysis

Singular spectrum analysis is widely used in geodetic time series analysis.However,when extracting time-varying periodic signals from a large number of Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)time series,the selection of appropriate embedding window size and principal components makes this method cumbersome and inefficient.To improve the efficiency and accuracy of singular spectrum analysis,this paper proposes an adaptive singular spectrum analysis method by combining spectrum analysis with a new trace matrix.The running time and correlation analysis indicate that the proposed method can adaptively set the embedding window size to extract the time-varying periodic signals from GNSS time series,and the extraction efficiency of a single time series is six times that of singular spectrum analysis.The method is also accurate and more suitable for time-varying periodic signal analysis of global GNSS sites.

A reweighted damped singular spectrum analysis method for robust seismic noise suppression

(Multichannel)Singular spectrum analysis is considered as one of the most effective methods for seismic incoherent noise suppression.It utilizes the low-rank feature of seismic signal and regards the noise suppression as a low-rank reconstruction problem.However,in some cases the seismic geophones receive some erratic disturbances and the amplitudes are dramatically larger than other receivers.The presence of this kind of noise,called erratic noise,makes singular spectrum analysis(SSA)reconstruction unstable and has undesirable effects on the final results.We robustify the low-rank reconstruction of seismic data by a reweighted damped SSA(RD-SSA)method.It incorporates the damped SSA,an improved version of SSA,into a reweighted framework.The damping operator is used to weaken the artificial disturbance introduced by the low-rank projection of both erratic and random noise.The central idea of the RD-SSA method is to iteratively approximate the observed data with the quadratic norm for the first iteration and the Tukeys bisquare norm for the rest iterations.The RD-SSA method can suppress seismic incoherent noise and keep the reconstruction process robust to the erratic disturbance.The feasibility of RD-SSA is validated via both synthetic and field data examples.

Application of Argo Data in the Analysis of Water Masses in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The temperature and salinity distributions, and the water mass structures in Northwest Pacific Ocean are studied using the temperature and salinity data obtained by Argo profiling floats. The T-S relation in this region indicates there exist 8 water masses, they are the North Pacific Tropical Surface Water （NPTSW）, North P, acific Subsurface Water （NPSSW）, North Pacific Intermediate Water （NPIW）, North Pacific Subtropical Water （NPSTW）, North Pacific Deep Water （NPDW） and Equatorial Surface Water （ESW）, and the South Pacific Subsurface Water （SPSSW） and South Pacific Intermediate Water （SPIW）.

FLUORESCENCE SPECTRUM ANALYSIS OF ETHER-WATER SOLUTION BASED ON GAUSSIAN DECOMPOSITION METHOD

The fluorescence spectrum of the ether-water solution excited by the ultraviolet light with the wavelength of 245 nm is experimentally detected. Based on the second derivative analysis, the fluorescence spectrum of the ether-water solution is used as Gaussian decomposition and seven Gaussian spectral lines are obtained. The center wavelength, the peak intensity and the half peak bandwidth of each Gaussian spectral line are measured, and the multi-peak fitting is made by using Gaussian primitive parameters. The highest and the lowest oscillation energy level differences in the ground state of each Gaussian spectrum are calculated. It is found that there are seven types of luminescent association molecules formed by ether and water molecules in different configurations existed in the solution. The location of each optimum absorption wavelength and the half peak bandwidth of the Gaussian spectral line is different. The energy level difference with the central wavelength of 304 nm attains the maximum value The result can contribute to the study of the molecular association in ether-water solution.

Multiscale hierarchical analysis of rock mass and prediction of its mechanical and hydraulic properties

Engineering geological and hydro-geological characteristics of foundation rock and surrounding rock mass are the main factors that affect the stability of underground engineering. This paper presents the concept of multiscale hierarchical digital rock mass models to describe the rock mass, including its structures in different scales and corresponding scale dependence. Four scales including regional scale,engineering scale, laboratory scale and microscale are determined, and the corresponding scaledependent geological structures and their characterization methods are provided. Image analysis and processing method, geostatistics and Monte Carlo simulation technique are used to establish the multiscale hierarchical digital rock mass models, in which the main micro-and macro-structures of rock mass in different geological units and scales are reflected and connected. A computer code is developed for numerically analyzing the strength, fracture behavior and hydraulic conductivity of rock mass using the multiscale hierarchical digital models. Using the models and methods provided in this paper, the geological information of rock mass in different geological units and scales can be considered sufficiently,and the influence of downscale characteristics(such as meso-scale) on the upscale characteristics(such as engineering scale) can be calculated by considering the discrete geological structures in the downscale model as equivalent continuous media in the upscale model. Thus the mechanical and hydraulic properties of rock mass may be evaluated rationally and precisely. The multiscale hierarchical digital rock mass models and the corresponding methods proposed in this paper provide a unified and simple solution for determining the mechanical and hydraulic properties of rock mass in different scales.

Performance analysis of empirical models for predicting rock mass deformation modulus using regression and Bayesian methods

Deformation modulus of rock mass is one of the input parameters to most rock engineering designs and constructions.The field tests for determination of deformation modulus are cumbersome,expensive and time-consuming.This has prompted the development of various regression equations to estimate deformation modulus from results of rock mass classifications,with rock mass rating(RMR)being one of the frequently used classifications.The regression equations are of different types ranging from linear to nonlinear functions like power and exponential.Bayesian method has recently been developed to incorporate regression equations into a Bayesian framework to provide better estimates of geotechnical properties.The question of whether Bayesian method improves the estimation of geotechnical properties in all circumstances remains open.Therefore,a comparative study was conducted to assess the performances of regression and Bayesian methods when they are used to characterize deformation modulus from the same set of RMR data obtained from two project sites.The study also investigated the performance of different types of regression equations in estimation of the deformation modulus.Statistics,probability distributions and prediction indicators were used to assess the performances of regression and Bayesian methods and different types of regression equations.It was found that power and exponential types of regression equations provide a better estimate than linear regression equations.In addition,it was discovered that the ability of the Bayesian method to provide better estimates of deformation modulus than regression method depends on the quality and quantity of input data as well as the type of the regression equation.

Product Identification and Mass Spectrometric Analysis of n-Butane and i-Butane Pyrolysis at Low Pressure

The pyrolysis of n-butane and i-butane at low pressure was investigated from 823-1823 K in an electrically heated flow reactor using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry. More than 20 species, especially several radicals and isomers, were detected and identified from the measurements of photoionization efficiency （PIE） spectra. Based on the mass spectrometric analysis, the characteristics of n-butane and i-butane pyrolysis were discussed, which provided experimental evidences for the discussion of decomposition pathways of butane isomers. It is concluded that the isomeric structures of n-butane and i-butane have strong influence on their main decomposition pathways, and lead to dramatic differences in their mass spectra and PIE spectra such as the different dominant products and isomeric structures of butene products. Furthermore, compared with n-butane,i-butane can produce strong signals of benzene at low temperature in its pyrolysis due to the enhanced formation of benzene precursors like propargyl and C4 species, which provides experimental clues to explain the higher sooting tendencies of iso-alkanes than n-alkanes.

Volumetric analysis of rock mass instability around haulage drifts in underground mines

Haulage networks are vital to underground mining operations as they constitute the arteries through which blasted ore is transported to surface. In the sublevel stoping method and its variations, haulage drifts are excavated in advance near the ore block that will be mined out. Numerical modeling is a technique that is frequently employed to assess the redistribution of mining-induced stresses, and to compare the impact of different stope sequence scenarios on haulage network stability. In this study,typical geological settings in the Canadian Shield were replicated in a numerical model with a steeplydipping tabular orebody striking EW. All other formations trended in the same direction except for two dykes on either side of the orebody with a WNW-ESE strike. Rock mass properties and in situ stress measurements from a case study mine were used to calibrate the model. Drifts and crosscuts were excavated in the footwall and two stope sequence scenarios-a diminishing pillar and a center-out one-were implemented in 24 mining stages. A combined volumetric-numerical analysis was conducted for two active levels by comparing the extent of unstable rock mass at each stage using shear,compressive, and tensile instability criteria. Comparisons were made between the orebody and the host rock, between the footwall and hanging wall, and between the two stope sequence scenarios. It was determined that in general, the center-out option provided a larger volume of instability with the shear criterion when compared to the diminishing pillar one(625,477 m~3 compared to 586,774 m~3 in the orebody; 588 m~3 compared to 403 m~3 in the host rock). However, the reverse was true for tensile(134,298 m~3 compared to 128,834 m~3 in the orebody; 91,347 m~3 compared to 67,655 m~3 in the host rock)instability where the diminishing pillar option had the more voluminous share.

Short-range Climate Prediction Experiment of the Southern Oscillation Index Based on the Singular Spectrum Analysis

The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) time series is analyzed by means of the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method with 60-month window length. Two major oscillatory pairs are found in the series whose periods are quasi-four and quasi-two years respectively. The auto-regressive model, which is developed on the basis of the Maximum Entropy Spectrum Analysis, is fitted to each of the 9 leading components including the oscillatory pairs. The prediction of SOI with the 36-month lead is obtained from the reconstruction of these extrapolated series. Correlation coefficient between predicted series and 5 months running mean of observed series is up to 0.8. The model can successfully predict the peak and duration of the strong ENSO event from 1997 to 1998. It's also shown that the proper choice of reconstructed components is the key to improve the model prediction.

Frequency spectrum analysis on micro-seismic signal of rock bursts induced by dynamic disturbance

Blasting and breaking of hard roof are main inducing causes of rock bursts in coal mines with danger of rock burst,and it is important to find out the frequency spectrum distribution laws of these dynamic stress waves and rock burst waves for researching the mechanism of rock burst.In this paper,Fourier transform as a micro-seismic signal conversion method of amplitude-time character to amplitude-frequency character is used to analyze the frequency spectrum characters of micro-seismic signal of blasting,hard roof breaking and rock bursts induced by the dynamic disturbance in order to find out the difference and relativity of different signals.The results indicate that blasting and breaking of hard roof are high frequency signals,and the peak values of dominant frequency of the signals are single.However,the results indicate that the rock bursts induced by the dynamic disturbance are low frequency signals,and there are two obvious peak values in the amplitude-frequency curve witch shows that the signals of rock bursts are superposition of low frequency signals and high frequency signals.The research conclusions prove that dynamic disturbance is necessary condition for rock bursts,and the conclusions provide a new way to research the mechanism of rock bursts.

Geometric Covariance Modeling for Surface Variation of Compliant Parts Based on Hybrid Polynomial Approximation and Spectrum Analysis

Part variation characterization is essential to analyze the variation propagation in flexible assemblies. Aiming at two governing types of surface variation,warping and waviness,a comprehensive approach of geometric covariance modeling based on hybrid polynomial approximation and spectrum analysis is proposed,which can formulate the level and the correlation of surface variations accurately. Firstly,the form error data of compliant part is acquired by CMM. Thereafter,a Fourier-Legendre polynomial decomposition is conducted and the error data are approximated by a Legendre polynomial series. The weighting coefficient of each component is decided by least square method for extracting the warping from the surface variation. Consequently,a geometrical covariance expression for warping deformation is established. Secondly,a Fourier-sinusoidal decomposition is utilized to approximate the waviness from the residual error data. The spectrum is analyzed is to identify the frequency and the amplitude of error data. Thus,a geometrical covariance expression for the waviness is deduced. Thirdly,a comprehensive geometric covariance model for surface variation is developed by the combination the Legendre polynomials with the sinusoidal polynomials. Finally,a group of L-shape sheet metals is measured along a specific contour,and the covariance of the profile errors is modeled by the proposed method. Thereafter,the result is compared with the covariance from two other methods and the real data. The result shows that the proposed covariance model can match the real surface error effectively and represents a tighter approximation error compared with the referred methods.

Modal analysis on transverse vibration of axially moving roller chain coupled with lumped mass

The modal characteristics of the transverse vibration of an axially moving roller chain coupled with lumped mass were analyzed.The chain system was modeled by using the multi-body dynamics theory and the governing equations were derived by means of Lagrange's equations.The effects of the parameters,such as the axially moving velocity of the chain,the tension force,the weight of lumped mass and its time-variable assign position in chain span,on the modal characteristics of transverse vibration for roller chain were investigated.The numerical examples were given.It is found that the natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes of the transverse vibration for roller chain coupled with lumped mass change significantly when the variations of above parameters are considered.With the movement of the chain strand,the natural frequencies present a fluctuating phenomenon,which is different from the uniform chain.The higher the order of mode is,the greater the fluctuating magnitude and frequency are.

SAR tomography imaging via higher-order spectrum analysis

To deal with the non-Caussian noise in standard 2-D SAR images, the deramped signal in imaging plane, and the possible symmetric distribution of complex noise, the fourth-order cumulant of complex process is introduced into SAR tomography. With the estimated AR parameters of ARMA model of noise through Yule-Walker equation, the signal series of height is pre-filtered. Then, through ESPRIT, the spectrum is obtained and the aperture in height direction is synthesized. Finally, the SAR tomography imaging of scene is achieved. The results of processing on signal with non-Gaussian noise demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method. The tomography imaging of the scenes shows that the higher-order spectrum analysis is feasible in the application.

Elasto-plastic Analysis of Circular Tunnels in Jointed Rock Masses Satisfy the Hoek-Brown Failure Criterion

The relationship between the Hoek-Brown parameters and the mechanical response of circular tunnels is il-lustrated. Closed-form and approximate solutions are given for the extent of the plastic zone and the stress and dis-placement fields under axisymmetrical and asymmetric stress conditions. For the same rock masses and under axisym-metrical stress conditions,the radius of the plastic zone in terms of Hoek-Brown criterion is generally an approximation of the radius in terms of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion. The radius in terms of the Hoek-Brown criterion is larger under low stress conditions. For poor quality rock masses (GSI<25),measures (such as grouting,setting rock bolts,etc.) that improve the GSI of rock masses are effective in improving the stability of tunnels. It is not advisable to improve the sta-bility of the tunnels by providing a small support resistance p through shotcrete,except for very poor quality jointed rock masses. Without reference to the quality of the rock mass,the disturbance factor D should not less than 0.5. Meas-ures which disturb rock masses during tunnel construction should be taken carefully when the tunnel depth increases.

Simulation analysis of regional surface mass anomalies inversion based on different types of constraints

Surface mass anomalies estimated by mass concentration(mascon)approach using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment(GRACE)observations with regularization constraints generally present higher spatial resolution than the spheric harmonic(SH)solutions.To analyze the influence of different types of constraints on the estimation of mascon solutions,we carried out a closed-loop simulation experiment to estimate surface mass anomalies over South America based on simulated GRACE intersatellite geopotential differences.Tikhonov regularization with spatial constraint(SC),uniform weighting constraint(UWC),and a prior information constraint(APC)were employed to stabilize the mascon solutions,and the corresponding optimal regularization parameters were determined based on the minimum residual root-mean-square(RMS)criterion.The results show that mascon solutions estimated under different types of constraints are consistent and equivalent when the optimal regularization parameters are selected.The spatial distributions and main characteristics of regional surface mass anomalies estimated by the three types of constraints agree well,and the values of residual RMS with different constraints are very close.But due to the smoothing effect of regularization,the signal strength of mascon solutions is a bit weaker than that of original true signal,especially in the regions with strong signals.In addition,due to the ill-conditioned problem is more serious for higher grid resolution,the relative contribution of the three types of constraints to the final mascon solutions would be stronger.The results show that the averages of relative contribution percentages of these constraints for 2°×2° mascon grids are 80%-90%,while the corresponding values for 4°×4° mascon grids are 30%-60%.However,based on the minimum residual RMS criterion,the accuracy of estimation results is not affected by the type of constraints and their relative contribution to the final mascon solutions.

A comparison of IBC with 1997 UBC for modal response spectrum analysis in standard-occupancy buildings

This paper presents a comparison of the seismic forces generated from a Modal Response Spectrum Analysis （MRSA） by applying the provisions of two building codes, the 1997 Uniform Building Code （UBC） and the 2000-2009 International Building Code （IBC）, to the most common ordinary residential buildings of standard occupancy. Considering IBC as the state of the art benchmark code, the primary concern is the safety of buildings designed using the UBC as compared to those designed using the IBC. A sample of four buildings with different layouts and heights was used for this comparison. Each of these buildings was assumed to be located at four different geographical sample locations arbitrarily selected to represent various earthquake zones on a seismic map of the USA, and was subjected to code-compliant response spectrum analyses for all sample locations and for five different soil types at each location. Response spectrum analysis was performed using the ETABS software package. For all the cases investigated, the UBC was found to be significantly more conservative than the IBC. The UBC design response spectra have higher spectral accelerations, and as a result, the response spectrum analysis provided a much higher base shear and moment in the structural members as compared to the IBC. The conclusion is that ordinary office and residential buildings designed using UBC 1997 are considered to be overdesigned, and therefore they are quite safe even according to the IBC provisions.

Dynamic prediction of landslide displacement using singular spectrum analysis and stack long short-term memory network

An accurate landslide displacement prediction is an important part of landslide warning system. Aiming at the dynamic characteristics of landslide evolution and the shortcomings of traditional static prediction models, this paper proposes a dynamic prediction model of landslide displacement based on singular spectrum analysis(SSA) and stack long short-term memory(SLSTM) network. The SSA is used to decompose the landslide accumulated displacement time series data into trend term and periodic term displacement subsequences. A cubic polynomial function is used to predict the trend term displacement subsequence, and the SLSTM neural network is used to predict the periodic term displacement subsequence. At the same time, the Bayesian optimization algorithm is used to determine that the SLSTM network input sequence length is 12 and the number of hidden layer nodes is 18. The SLSTM network is updated by adding predicted values to the training set to achieve dynamic displacement prediction. Finally, the accumulated landslide displacement is obtained by superimposing the predicted value of each displacement subsequence. The proposed model was verified on the Xintan landslide in Hubei Province, China. The results show that when predicting the displacement of the periodic term, the SLSTM network has higher prediction accuracy than the support vector machine(SVM) and auto regressive integrated moving average(ARIMA). The mean relative error(MRE) is reduced by 4.099% and 3.548% respectively, while the root mean square error(RMSE) is reduced by 5.830 mm and 3.854 mm respectively. It is concluded that the SLSTM network model can better simulate the dynamic characteristics of landslides.

Slope mass rating and kinematic analysis of slopes along the national highway-58 near Jonk, Rishikesh, India

The ro ad n etw o rk in th e H im alayan terrain , connecting re m o te areas e ith e r in th e valleys o r on th e hillslopes, plays a pivotal role in socio-econom ic d e v elo p m en t ofIn d ia. The planning, d ev elo p m en t an d evenm ain ten an ce o f ro ad an d rail netw o rk s in such precarious terrain s are alw ays a challenging task becauseo f com plexities p osed by topography, geological stru ctu res, varied lithology an d neotectonics. Increasingp o p u latio n an d c o n stru ctio n o f roads have led to destab ilisatio n o f slopes, th u s leading to m ass w astingand m ovem ent, fu rth e r aggravation d u e to recen t events o f cloud bu rsts and u n p re c e d e n te d flash floods.V ulnerability analysis o f slopes is an im p o rta n t co m p o n e n t for th e ＂Landslide H azard A ssessm ent＂ and＂Slope Mass C h aracterisation＂ guide p lan n ers to p red ict an d choose suitable w ays for c o n stru ctio n ofroads and o th e r en g in eerin g stru ctu res. The pro b lem o f landslides along th e n ational highw ay-58 （NH-58） from Rishikesh to D evprayag is a co m m o n scene. The slopes along th e NH-58 b e tw e e n Jonk andRishikesh w ere investigated, w h ich experienced v ery heavy traffic especially from M arch to A ugust dueto pilgrim age to K edarnath shrine. On th e basis o f slope m ass rating （SMR） investigation, th e area falls instable class, an d landslide susceptibility score （LSS） values also indicate th a t th e slopes u n d e r investigationfall in low to m o d erate v ulnerability to landslide. More atte n tio n s should be paid to th e slopes toachieve g reater safe an d econom ic b enefits along th e highw ay.

A novel method for gamma spectrum analysis of low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste

The uncertainty of nuclide libraries in the analysis of the gamma spectra of low-and intermediate-level radioactive waste(LILW)using existing methods produces unstable results.To address this problem,a novel spectral analysis method is proposed in this study.In this method,overlapping peaks are located using a continuous wavelet transform.An improved quadratic convolution method is proposed to calculate the widths of the peaks and establish a fourth-order filter model to estimate the Compton edge baseline with the overlapping peaks.Combined with the adaptive sensitive nonlinear iterative peak,this method can effectively subtracts the background.Finally,a function describing the peak shape as a filter is used to deconvolve the energy spectrum to achieve accurate qualitative and quantitative analyses of the nuclide without the aid of a nuclide library.Gamma spectrum acquisition experiments for standard point sources of Cs-137 and Eu-152,a segmented gamma scanning experiment for a 200 L standard drum,and a Monte Carlo simulation experiment for triple overlapping peaks using the closest energy of three typical LILW nuclides(Sb-125,Sb-124,and Cs-134)are conducted.The results of the experiments indicate that(1)the novel method and gamma vision(GV)with an accurate nuclide library have the same spectral analysis capability,and the peak area calculation error is less than 4%;(2)compared with the GV,the analysis results of the novel method are more stable;(3)the novel method can be applied to the activity measurement of LILW,and the error of the activity reconstruction at the equivalent radius is 2.4%;and(4)The proposed novel method can quantitatively analyze all nuclides in LILW without a nuclide library.This novel method can improve the accuracy and precision of LILW measurements,provide key technical support for the reasonable disposal of LILW,and ensure the safety of humans and the environment.