Thesis (M.Eng. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2008. / A thesis submitted towards the degree of Master of Engineering (Honours) in the University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, School of Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Nuclear Science and Engineering)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. / "May 2006." Description based on title screen as viewed on June 1, 2010. DTIC Descriptor(s): Boreholes, Radioactive Wastes, Disposal, Canisters, Thermal Properties, USSR, Diameters, Thickness, Stability, Permeability, Environments, Corrosion, Drilling, Flooding, Storage, Reactor Fuels, Nuclear Energy, Barriers, Emplacement, Internal, Fuels, Igneous Rock, Geothermy, Drills, Hazards, Performance (Engineering), Water, Theses, Granite, Steel, Containment (General). Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-125). Also available in print.

Thesis supervisor: Witold F. Krajewski. Includes bibliographic references (p. 187-202).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Geography, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 53 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-53).

Submitted by ROGÉRIO GEROLINETO FONSECA null (rogeriogfonseca@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-01-03T14:27:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RISCO_HIDROLOGICO_PRECIPITACOES_EXTREMAS_ENCHENTES_E_ALAGAMENTOS_NA_CIDADE_DE_ITUIUTABA_MG.pdf: 10330534 bytes, checksum: b95ceb5e240dacedaa2b614729085529 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Aparecida Puerta null (dripuerta@rc.unesp.br) on 2018-01-05T10:43:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 fonseca_rg_me_rcla.pdf: 9246593 bytes, checksum: cbd5879270cf75f0e834161707e18c48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-05T10:43:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 fonseca_rg_me_rcla.pdf: 9246593 bytes, checksum: cbd5879270cf75f0e834161707e18c48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-10 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / As inundações constituem um dos impactos ambientais mais observados nas áreas urbanas. A incidência destes eventos varia conforme as características climáticas e socioambientais das cidades. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal avaliar o risco a enchentes, a alagamentos e ao escoamento superficial concentrado na área urbana de Ituiutaba (MG), a partir de suas condicionantes físicas e de suas características socioespaciais, inerentes ao processo de urbanização. Para isto, realizaram-se análises do geossistema urbano; da variabilidade pluvial com enfoque na recorrência das precipitações extremas; das ocorrências de transtornos associados ao impacto pluvial e da percepção do problema por parte da população atingida e do poder público municipal. Verificou-se que os impactos hidrometeóricos concentram-se durante os meses da primavera e do verão, quando as chuvas são mais abundantes. Em média, treze episódios chuvosos com volume a partir de 30mm/24h acontecem a cada ano, representando, assim, um potencial de danos ao ambiente urbano. De forma mais esporádica, acontecem ainda precipitações mais intensas, por volta de 90mm/24h, com potencial de impacto muito maior. Os arquivos das ocorrências do Corpo de Bombeiros e as reportagens publicadas pela imprensa local constituíram importantes fontes para o mapeamento e análise dos impactos. Como consequência desses eventos, tem-se na área central da cidade e bairros adjacentes, que são mais impermeabilizados, as ocorrências de escoamento superficial concentrado e os alagamentos. Além disso, a rede de galerias pluviais é insuficiente para drenar os locais onde os problemas são mais evidentes, principalmente em quatro áreas, sendo estas as avenidas José João Dib, Minas Gerais, Dezessete e Prof. José Vieira de Mendonça. Na primeira, observam-se alagamentos devido à deficiência na drenagem do escoamento superficial, que não consegue direcionar as águas para dentro da canalização do Córrego São José. Nos demais locais o problema é o escoamento superficial concentrado, que forma um fluxo ao longo das vertentes, suficiente para arrastar pessoas e veículos, além de provocar danos na pavimentação de ruas e calçadas. No tocante à população afetada pelas inundações, a maior parcela é formada por pessoas de baixa renda, cujas residências são mais vulneráveis ao acúmulo/escoamento de água em superfície. Este cenário demanda a atuação efetiva da administração pública no sentido de elaborar planos estratégicos para a gestão das águas pluviais. / Floods are one of the most observed environmental impacts in urban areas. The incidence of these events varies according to the climatic and socio-environmental characteristics of the cities. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the risk to the overflows, the floods and the concentrated surface runoff in the urban area of Ituiutaba (MG), based on its physical conditioning aspects and its socio-spatial characteristic, which are inherent in the urbanization process. For that purpose, some analyzes of the urban geosystem, the rainfall variability with focus on the recurrence of the extreme precipitations, the occurrences of disturbances associated with the rainfall impact and the perception of the problem by the affected population and the municipal public power were carried out. It was found that the hydrometeoric impacts are concentrated in the spring and summer months, when the rains are more abundant. On average, thirteen rainy episodes with a volume from 30mm/24h happen each year, which represents a potential for damages to the urban environment. More sporadically, there are some intense precipitations, around 90mm/24h, with a much greater potential impact. The Fire Department's archives and the news published in the local press were important sources for the mapping and analysis of the impacts. As a consequence of these events, there are in the city centre area and adjacent neighborhoods, which are more waterproofed spaces, the occurrences of concentrated surface runoff and flooding. In addition, the rain gutter network is insufficient to drain the places where the problems are more evident, mainly in four areas, which are the avenues José João Dib, Minas Gerais, Dezessete and Prof. José Vieira de Mendonça. At the José João Dib Avenue, floods are observed due to the deficiency in drainage of the surface runoff, that cannot direct the water into the canalization of the São José stream. In the other avenues, the problem is the concentrated runoff which forms a flow along the slopes that is enough to drag people and vehicles as well as cause damage to the paving of streets and sidewalks. With regard to the population affected by the floods, the majority is made up of low-income people, whose homes are most vulnerable to surface water accumulation / runoff. This scenario demands an effective action from the public administration in an effort to elaborate strategic plans for the management of the rainwater. / CNPq: 134118/2015-4

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:54:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranklinRC_1-40_DISSERT.pdf: 4778584 bytes, checksum: 833dd7351e4035de91c5156cea21d97d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-11 / Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Norte / The Apodi river basin, particularly within the snippet that crosses Pau dos Ferros - RN city, place anthropogenic actions that interfere in the dynamic environment by modifying the local landscape. The reflection of these actions can be seen in the floods that occur in rainy periods (February to may) virtually every year in the city. It is important to stress that the project of integration of the waters of the San Francisco basin with the northern basin of Northeastern will perennial the main channel of the river basin, and generate greater impacts in the region. This work sought to define a methodology able to delimit areas susceptible to flooding in cities of semiarid Northeast based on the Pau dos Ferros RN city. The dissertation is divided into two chapters and introduction. The introduction presents a theoretical frame based on discussion of the concept of risk, their main characteristics and subdivisions; floods; geotecnologies; Apodi River basin; municipal data Pau dos Ferros RN and design integration of Francisco basin with the northern basins Northeast. The first chapter evaluates the urban expansion process between 1987 and 2008, delimiting the flood areas and analyzes the relationship between urban growth and retention areas. The second chapter identifies the flood risk areas in the Pau dos Ferros city. The methodology used was based on tools of geographic information system GIS from software SPRING/INPE 5.1, as well as bibliographical, satellite images, aerial photographs and field activities. The results obtained enabled view the rapid expansion of the urban area of Pau dos Ferros, which has doubled in a period of 22 years. The population density checks with greater intensity in South-central portion of the city, in flood areas and not flood (Cap. 01). It was noted also that some neighborhoods along the River Apodi are susceptible to more instances of flooding ranging from minimum to maximum, while in neighborhoods near the Riacho Cajazeiras floods occur to a lesser extent because of altimetry higher and lower water volume. (Cap. 02). It is expected that this work will help in the preparation of flood risk municipal map subsidising managers in implementing public policies targeted to the softening of urban flood-related issues in Pau dos Ferros RN and serve as a model for mapping of other cities with similar characteristics analyzed in this work / A Bacia Hidrogr?fica do Rio Apodi, particularmente no trecho que atravessa a cidade de Pau dos Ferros RN, vem sofrendo a??es antr?picas que interferem na din?mica ambiental, modificando a paisagem local. O reflexo destas a??es pode ser visto nas inunda??es que ocorrem nos per?odos chuvosos (fevereiro a maio) praticamente todos os anos na cidade. ? importante destacar que o Projeto de Integra??o das ?guas da Bacia do S?o Francisco com as bacias do Nordeste Setentrional perenizar? o canal principal da Bacia do Rio Apodi, podendo gerar impactos ainda maiores na regi?o. O presente trabalho buscou definir uma metodologia capaz de delimitar ?reas suscept?veis a inunda??o em cidades do semiarido nordestino tendo como base a cidade de Pau dos Ferros RN. A disserta??o est? dividida em introdu??o e dois cap?tulos. A introdu??o apresenta um referencial te?rico baseado na discuss?o a respeito do conceito de risco, suas principais caracter?sticas e subdivis?es; inunda??es; geotecnologias; a bacia hidrogr?fica do Rio Apodi; dados municipais de Pau dos Ferros RN e o Projeto de Integra??o da Bacia do S?o Francisco com as Bacias do Nordeste Setentrional. O primeiro cap?tulo avalia o processo de expans?o urbana entre 1987 e 2008, delimita as ?reas de inunda??o e analisa a rela??o entre ?reas inund?veis e crescimento urbano. O segundo cap?tulo identifica as ?reas de risco de inunda??o na cidade de Pau dos Ferros. A metodologia utilizada baseou-se nas ferramentas do Sistema de Informa??es Geogr?ficas SIG a partir do software SPRING/INPE 5.1, al?m de pesquisa bibliogr?fica, imagens de sat?lite, fotografias a?reas e atividades em campo. Os resultados obtidos permitiram visualizar a r?pida expans?o da ?rea urbana de Pau dos Ferros, que duplicou em um per?odo de 22 anos. O adensamento populacional verifica-se com maior intensidade na por??o centro-sul da cidade, em ?reas inund?veis e n?o inund?veis (cap.01). Observou-se tamb?m que alguns bairros ao longo do Rio Apodi s?o suscept?veis a maiores ocorr?ncias de inunda??es variando do grau m?nimo ao m?ximo, enquanto que nos bairros pr?ximos ao Riacho Cajazeiras as inunda??es ocorrer?o em menor grau devido altimetria mais elevada e menor volume d ?gua. (cap.02). Espera-se que este trabalho contribua na elabora??o da carta de risco de inunda??o municipal, subsidiando os gestores na implementa??o de pol?ticas p?blicas voltadas para a ameniza??o dos problemas relacionados a inunda??o urbana em Pau dos Ferros RN e sirva como modelo para mapeamento de outras cidades com caracter?sticas semelhantes a analisada neste trabalho

Flood events have caused detrimental impacts to humans' lives and anthropogenic climate change is anticipated to exacerbate the impact. It has been recognized that a long-term planning through risk-based optimization of flood defence will lead to a cost-effective solution for managing flood risk, but the prevailing assumption of stationarity may lead to an erroneous solution. In attempt to investigate the potential impact of the uncertain underlying statistical characteristics of extreme flow series to flood protection decisions, this research explores risk-based flood protection decisions in the context of climatic variability and change. In particular, the implications of persistence series and nonstationarity were investigated through hypothetical and real case studies. Monte Carlo simulation approach was adopted to capture the uncertainty due to the natural variability. For persistence model, AR(1) was integrated with the GEV model to simulate extreme flow series with persistence. To test the effects of nonstationary, GEV models with a linear location parameter and time as covariate were adopted. Rational decision makers' behaviours were simulated through a designed decision analysis framework. One of the main findings from the research is that the traditional stationary assumption should remain the basic assumption due to insignificant difference of the decisions' economic performance. However, exploration of the nonstationarity assumption enabled identification of options that are robust to climate uncertainties. It is also found that optimized protection of combined measures of flood defence and property-level protection may provide a cost-effective solution for local flood protection. Overall, the simulation and case studies enlighten practitioners and decision makers with new evidence, and may guide to practical enhancement of long term flood risk management decision making.

abstract: Environmental change and natural hazards represent a challenge for sustainable development. By disrupting livelihoods and causing billions of dollars in damages, disasters can undo many decades of development. Development, on the other hand, can actually increase vulnerability to disasters by depleting environmental resources and marginalizing the poorest. Big disasters and big cities get the most attention from the media and academia. The vulnerabilities and capabilities of small cities have not been explored adequately in academic research, and while some cities in developed countries have begun to initiate mitigation and adaptation responses to environmental change, most cities in developing countries have not. In this thesis I explore the vulnerability to flooding of the US-Mexico border by using the cities of Nogales, Arizona, USA and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico as a case study. I ask the following questions: What is the spatial distribution of vulnerability, and what is the role of the border in increasing or decreasing vulnerability? What kind of coordination should occur among local institutions to address flooding in the cities? I use a Geographic Information System to analyze the spatial distribution of flood events and the socio-economic characteristics of both cities. The result is an index that estimates flood vulnerability using a set of indicators that are comparable between cities on both sides of the border. I interviewed planners and local government officials to validate the vulnerability model and to assess collaboration efforts between the cities. This research contributes to our understanding of vulnerability and sustainability in two ways: (1) it provides a framework for assessing and comparing vulnerabilities at the city level between nations, overcoming issues of data incompatibility, and (2) it highlights the institutional arrangements of border cities and how they affect vulnerability. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2010

Ce travail de thèse concerne la caractérisation de la structure spatio-temporelle des fortes précipitations dans la région Cévennes-Vivarais. La région est soumise à des événements de pluie catastrophiques dont la magnitude gouverne les conséquences à différentes échelles de temps et d'espace. La détermination de la probabilité d'occurrence des orages est problématique à cause du caractère extrême des ces événements, de leur dimension spatio-temporelle et du manque de données pluviométriques aux échelles d'intérêt. Nous proposons d'adopter des approches d'invariance d'échelles afin d'estimer la fréquence d'occurrence de ces événements. Ces approches permettent d'extrapoler la distribution de la pluie à haute résolution à partir de données d'intensité pluvieuse à plus faible résolution. La paramétrisation de ces modèles étant fortement dépendante de l'incertitude de la mesure, nous avons d'abord caractérisé l'erreur commise dans la mesure de la pluie par un réseau de pluviomètres à augets. Nous avons ensuite exploré le comportement des pluies extrêmes dans la région d'étude, identifiant les gammes d'invariance d'échelles des extrêmes. Dans cette gamme d'échelles, nous présentons un modèle régional Intensité-Durée-Fréquence qui prend en considération l'hétérogénéité spatiale des extrêmes dans la région. Étant donné que le réseau pluviométrique ne permet pas de détecter les propriétés d'invariance d'échelle spatiale des champs de pluie, nous avons adopté une méthode semi-empirique pour modéliser des intensités de pluie intégrés sur des surfaces données (pluie surfacique) sur la base du concept de la mise en échelle dynamique (« dynamic scaling »). Cette modélisation permet la construction d'un modèle régional Intensité-Durée-Fréquence-Surface. Enfin, nous avons appliqué ce modèle à la construction des diagrammes de sévérité pour trois événements marquants en région Cévennes-Vivarais, afin d'identifier les échelles spatio-temporelles critiques pour chaque événement. Grâce aux diagrammes de sévérité, nous avons pu évaluer, pour ces mêmes événements, la performance d'un modèle météorologique de méso-échelle. / The thesis is devoted to the characterization of the space-time structure of heavy rainfall events in the Cévennes-Vivarais area (France). The region is prone to catastrophic storms whose magnitude governs social and economic consequences at different space and time scales. The magnitude of an event cannot be univocally related to a probability of occurrence. The determination of the occurrence probability of storms is problematic because of their extreme character, of their complex space-time development and of the lack of rainfall data at the spatial and temporal scales of interest. We propose to adopt scale-invariant approaches in order to estimate the heavy rainfall frequency assessment. These approaches allow to extrapolate the high resolution rainfall distribution based on low resolution rainfall intensity data. The model estimation being heavily dependent of the data accuracy, the first step consists in the characterization of the error committed in the point and spatial rainfall estimated by tipping-bucket raingage networks. We then explore the extreme rainfall behavior in the region, detecting the range where extremes are scale-invariant. In this range, we present a regional Intensity-Duration-Frequency model for point rainfall maxima taking into account the heterogeneity of extremes in the region. We demonstrate that the rainfall network does not allow to detect scale-invariant properties of extreme rainfall fields, and then we adopt a semi-empirical method based on the concept of « dynamic scaling » to build regional Intensity-Duration-Area-Frequency curves. Finally, we apply this model for the determination of the severity diagrams for three significant storms in the Cévennes-Vivarais region, with the aim to identify the critical space-time scales of each event. Based on severity diagrams, we then evaluate, for the same events, the performances of a mesoscale meteorological model.

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo elaborar modelos em diferentes escalas para previsão, espacialização e análise das áreas inundáveis na bacia hidrográfica do rio Caí, RS. Este trabalho está estruturado em três módulos, de acordo com o grau de detalhamento dos modelos. O Módulo I está relacionado aos modelos de escala média (1:100.000) para o mapeamento e a análise das inundações na bacia hidrográfica do rio Caí. O Módulo II compreende um modelo aplicado à previsão, à espacialização e à análise das inundações na área urbana de São Sebastião do Caí, em escala grande (1:10.000). O Módulo III é semelhante ao segundo, no entanto, em escala maior (1:5.000), na área urbana e entornos de Montenegro. No Módulo I foram utilizados dados de três estações fluviométricas para analisar as características hidrológicas da bacia (tempo de retorno das cheias, distribuição sazonal dos eventos, etc.), e dados SRTM e da DSG para modelar a superfície do terreno e espacializar as áreas inundáveis. No Módulo II foram utilizados dados de duas estações fluviométricas para elaborar um modelo matemático de previsão das inundações. Para a espacialização e a análise das áreas inundáveis, utilizaram-se dados altimétricos de razoável precisão (nivelamento municipal) e uma imagem de satélite de alta resolução espacial. O modelo matemático de previsão de inundações do Módulo III é semelhante ao do Módulo II, alterando apenas as estações utilizadas. A modelagem da superfície foi realizada com curvas de nível com equidistância de 1m e pontos cotados, compatíveis com escala de 1:2.000. O modelo aplicado à espacialização das inundações em Montenegro considerou o desnível existente na lâmina d’água durante os eventos, diferentemente do Módulo II, o que aumentou a precisão e a qualidade da modelagem. Verificou-se que mais de 75% dos eventos de grande magnitude ocorreram entre os meses de junho e outubro. De modo geral, os dados SRTM e da DSG superestimaram as áreas atingidas, mas representaram satisfatoriamente os locais de maior avanço das águas. Os modelos matemáticos de previsão de inundações, em São Sebastião do Caí e Montenegro, apresentaram, em geral, precisão submétrica para a estimativa de cotas, obtendo resíduo médio de 0,68m e 0,25m, respectivamente. Quanto aos modelos de espacialização das inundações dos Módulos II e III, os erros planimétricos verificados foram de 19m (São Sebastião do Caí) e 9m (Montenegro). O erro altimétrico médio (diferença entre as lâminas d’água medida e modelada), nos pontos avaliados, foi de apenas 0,30m em São Sebastião do Caí e de 0,15m em Montenegro. / This dissertation aims to develop models at different scales for prediction, spatialization and analysis of the floods in the Caí River Basin, RS. This work is structured in three modules, according to the level of detail of the models. The Module I is related to models of medium scale (1:100,000) for mapping and analysis of floods in the Caí River Basin. The Module II includes a model applied to prediction, to spatialization and to analysis of floods in the urban area of São Sebastião do Caí, in large scale (1:10,000). The Module III is similar to the second, however, on a larger scale (1:5,000), in the urban area and surroundings of Montenegro. In Module I we used data from three gauging stations to analyze the hydrological characteristics of the basin (recurrence interval of floods; seasonal distribution of events), and the SRTM and DSG data’s to model the terrain surface and spatialize flooded areas. In Module II used data from two gauging stations to develop a mathematical model for flood prediction. For the spatialization and the analysis of the wetlands were used altimetry data of reasonable accuracy (town topography leveling) and a satellite image of high spatial resolution. The mathematical model for flood prediction of the Module III is similar to Module II, changing only the gauged stations used. The modeling of the surface was performed with contour lines in intervals of 1 meters and measured points, consistent with scale of 1:2,000. The model applied to the spatialization of flooding in Montenegro found the gap in water depth during the events, unlike the Module II, which increased the accuracy and quality of modeling. It was found that over 75% of events of great magnitude occurred between June and October. In general, the SRTM and DSG data’s overestimated the affected areas, but accounted satisfactorily the locals of the biggest advance for water. The mathematical models for flood prediction in São Sebastião do Caí and Montenegro, were, in general, sub-meter accuracy for the estimation of quotas, obtaining average residual of 0.68 m and 0.25 m, respectively. As for the models of flood spatialization of Modules II and III, the errors planimetric were 19m (São Sebastião do Caí) and 9m (Montenegro). The average altimetric error (difference between the water depths measured and modeled), in the measured points, was only 0.30 m in São Sebastião do Caí and 0.15 m in Montenegro.