The aim of this work is to investigate the recent past and future patterns of the Etesian winds, one of the most persistent localized wind systems in the world, which dominates the wind regime during warm period over the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean. An objective classification method, the Two Step Cluster Analysis (TSCA), is applied on daily data from regional climate model simulations carried out with RegCM3 for the recent past (1961–1990) and future periods (2021–2050 and 2071–2100) constrained at lateral boundaries either by ERA-40 reanalysis fields or the global circulation model (GCM) ECHAM5. Three distinct Etesian patterns are identified by TSCA with the location and strength of the anticyclonic action center dominating the differences among the patterns. In case of the first Etesian pattern there is a ridge located over western and central Europe while for the other two Etesian patterns the location of the ridge moves eastward indicating a strong anticyclonic center over the Balkans. The horizontal and vertical spatial structure of geopotential height and the vertical velocity indicates that in all three Etesian patterns the anticyclonic action center over central Europe or Balkan Peninsula cannot be considered as an extension of the Azores high. The future projections for the late 21st century under SRES A1B scenario indicate a strengthening of the Etesian winds associated with the strengthening of the anticyclonic action center, and the deepening of Asian thermal Low over eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore the future projections indicate a weakening of the subsidence over eastern Mediterranean which is rather controlled by the deepening of the south Asian thermal Low in line with the projected in future weakening of South Asian monsoon and Hadley cell circulations. 相似文献
Self‐localization is the process of identifying one's current position on a map, and it is a crucial part of any wayfinding process. During self‐localization the wayfinder matches visually perceptible features of the environment, such as landmarks, with map symbols to constrain potential locations on the map. The success of this visual matching process constitutes an important factor for the success of self‐localization. In this research we aim at observing the visual matching process between environment and map during self‐localization with real‐world mobile eye tracking. We report on one orientation and one self‐localization experiment, both in an outdoor urban environment. The gaze data collected during the experiments show that successful participants put significantly more visual attention to those symbols on the map that were helpful in the given situation than unsuccessful participants. A sequence analysis revealed that they also had significantly more switches of visual attention between map symbols and their corresponding landmarks in the environment, which suggests they were following a more effective self‐localization strategy. 相似文献
A finite differences (FD) solution method is proposed for the numerical treatment of the dynamic equilibrium problem of 2D catenary risers. The method is based on the so-called Box approximation, which in the scope of the present contribution is applied to the complete nonlinear model as well as to the reduced linearized formulation. The application of the Box method transforms the original governing systems into convenient sets of algebraic equations, which in turn are solved efficiently by the relaxation method. Extensive numerical calculations are presented that describe the dynamic behaviour of the structure and evaluate the amplification in loading due to the dynamic components. The effect of the geometric nonlinearities is assessed through comparative calculations that concern both mathematical formulations examined in the present, i.e. the complete nonlinear, and the reduced linearized model. Special attention is paid to the heave excitations as they amplify significantly the magnitudes of the loading components. 相似文献
Foundation scour can have a detrimental effect on the performance of bridge piers, inducing a significant reduction of the lateral capacity of the footing and accumulation of permanent settlement and rotation. Although the hydraulic processes responsible for foundation scour are nowadays well known, predicting their mechanical consequences is still challenging. Indeed, its impact on the failure mechanisms developing around the foundation has not been fully investigated. In this paper, numerical simulations are performed to study the vertical and lateral response of a scoured bridge pier founded on a cylindrical caisson foundation embedded in a layer of dense sand. The sand stress–strain behaviour is reproduced by employing the Severn-Trent model. The constitutive model is firstly calibrated on a set of soil element tests, including drained and undrained monotonic triaxial tests and resonant column tests. The calibration procedure is implemented considering the stress and strain nonuniformities within the samples, by simulating the laboratory tests as boundary value problems. The numerical model is then validated against the results of centrifuge tests. The results of the simulations are in good agreement with the experimental results in terms of foundation capacity and settlement accumulation. Moreover, the model can predict the effects of local and general scour. The numerical analyses also highlight the impact of scouring on the failure mechanisms, revealing that the soil resistance depends on the hydraulic scenario.
Palaeoseismological and archaeological analysis of a trench enabled us to estimate the Holocene slip rates on the East Helike Fault, flanking the south-western Gulf of Corinth. We recognized two major fault strands within the trench: the ‘north fault’ controls a succession of three colluvial wedges and the deposition of a 2.7 m thick sedimentary sequence. The ‘south fault’ controls the deposition of a 2.9-m thick brownish-red colluvium. Based on colluvial stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating of the sediments suggests that the slip rate was c. 0.3 mm yr−1 from 10 250 to c. 1400 bp , when it increased dramatically to c. 2.0 mm yr−1 after a strong earthquake event near 1400 bp . The faster slip rate evidently increased the sedimentation rate. 相似文献
In the present work, a model combination is developed in order to provide the public, in north-western Greece, with the next day air quality forecast. Generally, the development and deployment of a real-time numerical air quality prediction system is technically challenging while even more in complex terrain. The Air Pollution Model (TAPM) (http://www.cmar.csiro.au/research/tapm) is a hydrostatic prognostic mesoscale model. It has been calibrated for the area in recent studies and used in air quality assessments. In 2007, TAPM has started operating in a real-time operational mode for the prediction of next day’s weather forecast, particulate matter (PM10 with an aerodynamic diameter <10 μm) daily average concentration and Air Pollution Indexes. The model setup is a link up between TAPM and SKIRON modeling system (http://forecast.uoa.gr). 相似文献
Capacity based design of pile foundations limits the soil-structure interaction mechanism to group bearing capacity estimation, neglecting, in most cases, the contribution of the raft. On the other hand, a straightforward, nonlinear, 3-D analysis, accounting for soil and structural nonlinearities and the effects arising from pile–soil–pile interaction, would be extremely high CPU-time demanding and will necessitate the use of exceptionally powerful numerical tools. With the aim of investigating the most efficient, precise, and economical design for a bridge foundation, a hybrid method, compatible with the notion of sub-structuring is proposed. It is based on both experimental data and nonlinear 3-D analysis. The first step to achieve these targets is a back-analysis of a static pile load test, fitting values for soil shear strength, deformation modulus, and shear strength mobilization at the soil–pile interface. Subsequently, the response of 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 pile group configurations is numerically established and the distribution of the applied load to the raft and the characteristic piles is discussed. Finally, a design strategy for an optimized design of pile raft foundations subjected to non-uniform vertical loading is proposed. 相似文献
Hot and cold deserts have been thoroughly searched for meteorites in the past decades, which has led to a large inventory of classified meteorites. H‐ and L‐chondrites are the most abundant meteorites in all collections, and many authors used the H/L ratio as a characteristic parameter in comparing meteorite populations. H/L ratios (after pairing) vary from 0.90 in observed falls up to 1.74 in El Médano (Atacama Desert). In this study, we investigate the H/L ratio of 965 unpaired H‐ and L‐chondrites collected in Oman and compare this population with observed falls and other hot desert collections. We find a mass dependence of the H/L ratio among hot desert finds and identify mechanisms such as fragmentation during weathering and fall that have an impact on the H/L ratio. We employ the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Mann–Whitney U statistical tests to compare the mass distributions of H‐ and L‐chondrites and to test the relationship between the similarity of mass distributions and the H/L ratio. We conclude that the variations of the H/L ratios observed in various populations are a sampling artifact resulting from secondary effects and observational bias, expressed in differences of the H and L mass distributions which are not observed in falls, and not due to variations in H/L of the meteorite flux. The H/L ratio of 0.90 observed among recent falls is considered as most representative for the overall meteorite flux, at least since the Late Pleistocene. 相似文献
Temperature changes are known to induce specific couplings in clay, in particular, an anomalously high thermal pressurization in undrained conditions or a thermal compaction in drained conditions, both of which are potential threats for the mechanical stability and sealing capacity of the geomaterials. Thermodynamical analysis of those peculiar thermomechanical couplings points to a potentially important latent energy, which in turn could limit the temperature change upon heating or cooling. The direct measurement of latent energy developed during a laboratory geomechanical test is challenging. Instead, proper identification of thermal hardening in conventional experiments with temperature changes provides an alternative route to estimate latent energy. In this work, existing laboratory thermomechanical tests of clays are analyzed with a rigorous thermodynamic framework to quantify the magnitude of latent energy in thermomechanically loaded clays. A thermodynamically consistent constitutive model for fully saturated clays that combines two key features, (a) the temperature dependence of the blocked energy and (b) the framework of bounding plasticity, is proposed. The performance of the model is validated by reproducing results obtained in laboratory tests for Boom and Opalinus clays. The thermomechanical loads considered to validate the model performance were then used to estimate the percentage of work that remains latent in the clayey material during plastic yielding. We find that the magnitude of latent energy is quite significant, typically a few tens of percent of the total dissipated energy, and increases significantly with temperature. Accordingly, it is expected to play an important role in the thermomechanical response of clays. 相似文献