Recent contributions of geotechnical centrifuge modelling to the understanding of jack-up spudcan behaviour     

Christophe Gaudin  Britta Bienen 《Ocean Engineering》2011,38(7):900-48

The paper presents an overview of the recent contributions of centrifuge modelling to the understanding of soil-structure interaction and the development of design and predictive methods in the field of mobile jack-up drilling rig foundations. Both advantages and limitations of the centrifuge methods are detailed and key examples are presented. The benefits provided by centrifuge modelling to the development of analysis methods that are now being used within the jack-up industry are highlighted. To conclude, industry trends and research opportunities are discussed, as is the possible role of the geotechnical centrifuge in finding solutions to these new needs.  相似文献   

Transport of Snow by the Wind: A Comparison Between Observations in Ad��lie Land, Antarctica, and Simulations Made with the Regional Climate Model MAR     

Hubert Gall��e  Alexandre Trouvilliez  C��cile Agosta  Christophe Genthon  Vincent Favier  Florence Naaim-Bouvet 《Boundary-Layer Meteorology》2013,146(1):133-147

For the first time a simulation of blowing snow events was validated in detail using one-month long observations (January 2010) made in Adélie Land, Antarctica. A regional climate model featuring a coupled atmosphere/blowing snow/snowpack model is forced laterally by meteorological re-analyses. The vertical grid spacing was 2 m from 2 to 20 m above the surface and the horizontal grid spacing was 5?km. The simulation was validated by comparing the occurrence of blowing snow events and other meteorological parameters at two automatic weather stations. The Nash test allowed us to compute efficiencies of the simulation. The regional climate model simulated the observed wind speed with a positive efficiency (0.69). Wind speeds higher than 12 m s ^?1 were underestimated. Positive efficiency of the simulated wind speed was a prerequisite for validating the blowing snow model. Temperatures were simulated with a slightly negative efficiency (?0.16) due to overestimation of the amplitude of the diurnal cycle during one week, probably because the cloud cover was underestimated at that location during the period concerned. Snowfall events were correctly simulated by our model, as confirmed by field reports. Because observations suggested that our instrument (an acoustic sounder) tends to overestimate the blowing snow flux, data were not sufficiently accurate to allow the complete validation of snow drift values. However, the simulation of blowing snow occurrence was in good agreement with the observations made during the first 20 days of January 2010, despite the fact that the blowing snow flux may be underestimated by the regional climate model during pure blowing snow events. We found that blowing snow occurs in Adélie Land only when the 30-min wind speed value at 2 m a.g.l. is >10 m s ^?1. The validation for the last 10 days of January 2010 was less satisfactory because of complications introduced by surface melting and refreezing.  相似文献   

Projected changes in the tropical Pacific Ocean of importance to tuna fisheries     

Alexandre Ganachaud  Alexander Sen Gupta  Jaclyn N. Brown  Karen Evans  Christophe Maes  Les C. Muir  Felicity S. Graham 《Climatic change》2013,119(1):163-179

Future physical and chemical changes to the ocean are likely to significantly affect the distribution and productivity of many marine species. Tuna are of particular importance in the tropical Pacific, as they contribute significantly to the livelihoods, food and economic security of island states. Changes in water properties and circulation will impact on tuna larval dispersal, preferred habitat distributions and the trophic systems that support tuna populations throughout the region. Using recent observations and ocean projections from the CMIP3 and preliminary results from CMIP5 climate models, we document the projected changes to ocean temperature, salinity, stratification and circulation most relevant to distributions of tuna. Under a business-as-usual emission scenario, projections indicate a surface intensified warming in the upper 400 m and a large expansion of the western Pacific Warm Pool, with most surface waters of the central and western equatorial Pacific reaching temperatures warmer than 29 °C by 2100. These changes are likely to alter the preferred habitat of tuna, based on present-day thermal tolerances, and in turn the distribution of spawning and foraging grounds. Large-scale shoaling of the mixed layer and increases in stratification are expected to impact nutrient provision to the biologically active layer, with flow-on trophic effects on the micronekton. Several oceanic currents are projected to change, including a strengthened upper equatorial undercurrent, which could modify the supply of bioavailable iron to the eastern Pacific.  相似文献   

The Séchilienne (France) Landslide:a Non-typical Progressive Failure Implying Major Risks     

Jean-Louis DURVILLE  Christophe BONNARD  Pierre POTHERAT 《山地科学学报》2011,8(2):117-123

The National Road RN 91 has been threatened for about twenty-five years by a huge landslide, located 25 km south-east to the town of Grenoble (France). If several million cubic meters of rock fall down, the debris will dam the valley. Then the failure of the dam by overtopping and rapid erosion might result in a catastrophic flood and dramatic consequences for human life, environment and economy throughout the valley. The paper presents the hazard assessment based on geological and hydrological surveys, including small scale hydraulic tests, as well as the risk evaluation that has been performed. The risk management relies first upon a high level monitoring and an emergency plan; various mitigation strategies have been considered.  相似文献   

Rotational excitation of protonated hydrogen cyanide (HCNH+) by He atom at low temperature     

Christophe Nkem  Kamel Hammami  Idriss Yacoub Halalaw  Luc Calvin Owono Owono  Nejm-Eddine Jaidane 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2014,349(1):171-179

We report on ab initio coupled-cluster calculations of the interaction potential energy surface for the HCNH⁺–He complex. The aug-cc-pVTZ Gaussian basis, to which is added a set of bond functions placed at mid-distance between HCNH⁺ center of mass and He atom is used. The HCNH⁺ bonds length are set to their values at the equilibrium geometry, i.e., r _e [HC]=1.0780 Å, r _e [CN]=1.1339 Å and r _e [NH]=1.0126 Å. The interaction energy presents a global minimum located $266.9~\mathrm{cm^{-1}}$ below the HCNH⁺–He dissociation limit. Using the interaction potential obtained, we have computed rotational excitation cross sections in the close-coupling approach and downward rate coefficients at low temperature (T≤120 K). It is expected that the data worked out in this study may be beneficial for further astrophysical investigations as well as laboratory experiments.  相似文献   

Scale-dependent habitat use by a large free-ranging predator,the Mediterranean fin whale     

Cédric Cotté  Christophe Guinet  Isabelle Taupier-Letage  Bruce Mate  Estelle Petiau 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2009,56(5):801-811

Since the heterogeneity of oceanographic conditions drives abundance, distribution, and availability of prey, it is essential to understand how foraging predators interact with their dynamic environment at various spatial and temporal scales. We examined the spatio-temporal relationships between oceanographic features and abundance of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), the largest free-ranging predator in the Western Mediterranean Sea (WM), through two independent approaches. First, spatial modeling was used to estimate whale density, using waiting distance (the distance between detections) for fin whales along ferry routes across the WM, in relation to remotely sensed oceanographic parameters. At a large scale (basin and year), fin whales exhibited fidelity to the northern WM with a summer-aggregated and winter-dispersed pattern. At mesoscale (20–100 km), whales were found in colder, saltier (from an on-board system) and dynamic areas defined by steep altimetric and temperature gradients. Second, using an independent fin whale satellite tracking dataset, we showed that tracked whales were effectively preferentially located in favorable habitats, i.e. in areas of high predicted densities as identified by our previous model using oceanographic data contemporaneous to the tracking period. We suggest that the large-scale fidelity corresponds to temporally and spatially predictable habitat of whale favorite prey, the northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica), while mesoscale relationships are likely to identify areas of high prey concentration and availability.  相似文献   

High resolution spectra of galaxies     

Pierre Ocvirk  Ariane Lançon  Christophe Pichon  Philippe Prugniel  Damien Le Borgne  Brigitte Rocca-Volmerange  Michel Fioc  Caroline Soubiran  Eric Thiébaut 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2003,284(2):933-936

We present inversion techniques which aim at recovering the composite nature and the kinematics of a stellar population from its high resolution absorption line spectrum. The originality of the combined inversion is its potential to recover both the stellar content and the kinematics simultaneously. These techniques use new synthetic high resolution spectra produced by PéGASE and minimization algorithms. We apply them to mock data representing the bulge and disk population of the inner region of spiral galaxies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

Statistical detection and no-detection of rainfall change trends and breaks in semiarid Tunisia—50+ years over the Merguellil agro-hydro-climatic reference basin     

Sameh Chargui  Asma Jaberi  Christophe Cudennec  Fethi Lachaal  Rogez Calvez  Mohamed Slimani 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2018,11(21):675

Rainfall variability is an important feature of semiarid climates with major effects on hydrology, and beyond on key water-dependent societal aspects. Eventual changes in rainfall variability are a strong driver of change of hydrological processes, resources, and hazards, up to catchment signatures and spatial arrangements. We deal with observed precipitations and subsequent statistical coefficients available from a network of 15 rainfall gauges over and around the Merguellil catchment (1175 km²), with series ranging up to the 1961–2013 period. We look for eventual annual trends and breakpoints with a set of methods: Mann Kendall test, Pettitt test, Hubert segmentation procedure, Buishand U statistic, and Lee Heghinian Bayesian procedure. The results underline oscillation of dry and wet periods; several studied rain gauges (Tella, Oueslatia forêt, Majbar, Kesra forêt, Henchir Bhima, and Haffouz DGRE) denote significant trends in annual precipitation. Some breaks are detected but they are not synchronous. These methods reveal the variability of rainfall regimes in the semiarid region and provide a synoptic view of detection and no-detection of symptoms of change. This work gives opportunities to water stakeholders and climate experts in understanding the relationships between climate variability and water availability.  相似文献   

Late Pleistocene (MIS 3–4) climate inferred from micromammal communities and δO of rodents from Les Pradelles,France     

Aurélien Royer  Christophe Lécuyer  Sophie Montuire  Gilles Escarguel  François Fourel  Alan Mann  Bruno Maureille 《Quaternary Research》2013

The middle Paleolithic stratigraphic sequence of Les Pradelles (Charente, France) spans from the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 until the middle of MIS 3. Micromammal remains are present in all the stratigraphic levels, offering a rare opportunity to address the questions of both environmental and climatic fluctuations throughout this period. Climate modes were studied through the taphonomy, biodiversity and oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate (δ¹⁸O_p) from 66 samples of rodent tooth enamel. The δ¹⁸O_p values from the lower sedimentary levels provide summer mean air temperatures of 19 ± 2°C (level 2/1) and of 16 ± 2°C (levels 2A, 2B and 4A). Within the middle of sequence (level 4B), a paleobiodiversity change can be identified with an increase of Dicrostonyx torquatus, which is associated with the largest amplitude in δ¹⁸O_p values and the highest maximal δ¹⁸O_p values. At the top of the sequence (level 5-2), a biodiversity change is observed with the increase of Microtus arvalis, but without any change in δ¹⁸O_p values. The association of cold rodent species with unexpected high and large amplitudes in the δ¹⁸O_p values of their teeth, possibly indicative of aridity, suggests their deposition during a Heinrich event.  相似文献   

Incorporating elevation in rainfall interpolation in Tunisia using geostatistical methods     

Haifa Feki  Mohamed Slimani  Christophe Cudennec 《水文科学杂志》2013,58(7):1294-1314

Abstract

This paper compares the performance of three geostatistical algorithms, which integrate elevation as an auxiliary variable: kriging with external drift (KED); kriging combined with regression, called regression kriging (RK) or kriging after detrending; and co-kriging (CK). These three methods differ by the way by in which the secondary information is introduced into the prediction procedure. They are applied to improve the prediction of the monthly average rainfall observations measured at 106 climatic stations in Tunisia over an area of 164 150 km² using the elevation as the auxiliary variable. The experimental sample semivariograms, residual semivariograms and cross-variograms are constructed and fitted to estimate the rainfall levels and the estimation variance at the nodes of a square grid of 20 km?×?20 km resolution and to develop corresponding contour maps. Contour diagrams for KED and RK were similar and exhibited a pattern corresponding more closely to local topographic features when (a) the network is sparse and (b) the rainfall–elevation correlation is poor, while CK showed a smooth zonal pattern. Smaller prediction variances are obtained for the RK algorithm. The cross-validation showed that the RMSE obtained for CK gave better results than for KED or RK.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor C. Onof

Citation Feki, H., Slimani, M., and Cudennec, C., 2012. Incorporating elevation in rainfall interpolation in Tunisia using geostatistical methods. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (7), 1294–1314.  相似文献