Beaches and barrier islands are vulnerable to extreme storm events, such as hurricanes, that can cause severe erosion and overwash to the system. Having dunes and a wide beach in front of coastal infrastructure can provide protection during a storm, but the influence that nearshore bathymetric features have in protecting the beach and barrier island system is not completely understood. The spatial variation in nearshore features, such as sand bars and beach cusps, can alter nearshore hydrodynamics, including wave setup and runup. The influence of bathymetric features on long-wave runup can be used in evaluating the vulnerability of coastal regions to erosion and dune overtopping, evaluating the changing morphology, and implementing plans to protect infrastructure. In this thesis, long-wave runup variation due to changing bathymetric features as determined with the numerical model XBeach is quantified (eXtreme Beach behavior model). Wave heights are analyzed to determine the energy through the surfzone. XBeach assumes that coastal erosion at the land-sea interface is dominated by bound long-wave processes. Several hydrodynamic conditions are used to force the numerical model. The XBeach simulation results suggest that bathymetric irregularity induces significant changes in the extreme long-wave runup at the beach and the energy indicator through the surfzone.

Modeling of wave energy transformation and breaking on fringing reefs is inherently difficult due to the unique topography of reefs. Prior methods of determining dissipation are based on empirical data from gently sloping beaches and offer only bulk energy dissipation estimates over the entire spectrum. Methods for deducing a frequency-dependent dissipation have been limited to hypothesized linkages between dissipation and wave shape in the surf zone, and have used bulk dissipation models as a constraint on the overall dissipation for mild sloping beaches. However, there is no clear indication that the constraint on the overall level of dissipation is suitable for the entire reef structure. Using these constraints the frequency-dependent dissipation rate can be deduced from laboratory data of wave transformation over reefs, taken at the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory. The frequency-dependent dissipation rate can then be integrated over the spectrum to derive an empirically-based counterpart to energy flux dissipation. Comparing the bulk energy dissipation estimates for the reef system to the frequency based method allows for the modification of wave breaking parameters in the frequency based estimation. Since this method is based on the Fourier transform of the time series data, it allows the dissipation to be found as a function of the frequency. This analysis shows that there is a correlation between the amount of energy in the low frequencies of the wave spectrum and certain characteristics of the frequency-dependent dissipation coefficient.

An analytical and experimental study of boundary gravity currents propagating through a two-layer stratified ambient of finite vertical extent is presented. The theoretical discussion considers slumping, supercritical gravity currents, i.e. those that generate an interfacial disturbance whose speed of propagation matches the front speed, U and follows from the classical analysis of Benjamin [J. Fluid Mech. 31, pp. 209-248, 1968]. In contrast to previous investigations, the amplitude of the interfacial disturbance is parameterized so that it can be determined straightforwardly from ambient layer depths. The theoretical model, which is applicable to the special case where the depth, D, of the gravity current fluid at the initial instant spans the channel depth, H, shows good agreement with experimental measurements and also analogue numerical simulations performed in conjunction with the present investigation. Unfortunately, it is difficult to extend our theoretical results to the more general case where D < H. Reasons for this difficulty will be discussed. From experimental and numerical observations, the interface thickness is observed to negligibly affect the speed of supercritical gravity currents even in the limit where the interface spans the channel depth so that the ambient fluid is linearly stratified over the whole of its depth. Conversely, subcritical gravity currents show a mild upward trend of U on the interface thickness. Finally, the effects of densities, ambient depths, interface thickness and D on the horizontal position, X where deceleration first begins are considered. In contrast to the uniform ambient configuration, the gravity current can propagate without decelerating beyond 12 lock lengths and decelerate as early as 1 lock length. / Thermo Fluids

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2002-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:04:09Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lunardi_ma_dr_botfca.pdf: 2616577 bytes, checksum: 3ce9de8aa359098429c03603153b828c (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Este experimento foi conduzido, dentro e fora de ambiente protegido, durante o período de 21/04 a 03/11/2000, na área experimental do Departamento de Recursos Naturais da Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, Campus de Botucatu, São Paulo (latitude 22° 51’ S, longitude 48° 26’ W e altitude de 786 m). O objetivo foi avaliar o efeito do Polietileno de Baixa Densidade com 150 mm de espessura, difusor de luz (PEBD150d), no saldo de energia de ondas longas, assim como no desenvolvimento do pimentão vermelho (Capsicum annuum L.) híbrido Elisa e indicadores de produção da cultura. Os modelos de estimativa do saldo de ondas longas foram obtidos por meio de regressão linear entre os valores medidos deste parâmetro climático, pressão de vapor e temperatura do ar e solo. Os resultados mostraram que em condições de ambiente protegido houve aumento de produção da cultura, em relação ao ocorrido no campo, e significante diferença na transmissividade da energia líquida pela cobertura. Houve redução do fluxo de calor no solo, velocidade do vento, número de horas de insolação, consumo de água, radiação direta e refletida. Contrariamente, a radiação solar difusa teve aumento de 158 %, confirmando o alto efeito difusor do PEBD150d. Os testes dos modelos de estimativa obtidos mostraram alto coeficiente de determinação (r2 > 0,90), tanto para o ambiente protegido como no campo. / This experiment was carried out under field and protected environment conditions in the experimental area of the Natural Resources Department of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences – UNESP, Campus of Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil, from April 21st to November 3rd, 2000. The objective was to assess the effect of the light diffuser polyethylene with 150 μm thickness (PEBD150d), on the long wave radiation estimate, as well as on growth and yield index of the hybrid Elisa of red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). The long wave radiation models was obtained by linear regression of measured values of this climatic parameter and water vapor pressure, air and soil temperature. The results showed that the protected environmental condition provided gains of yield in relation to field and significant difference in the long wave transmission though the coverage. There was reduction of the heat flux from soil, wind speed, number of hours of sunshine, water consumption, reflected and direct radiation. The diffuse solar radiation had an increment of 158 %, confirming the higher diffuse effect of PEBD150d. The tests of the estimating models obtained for long wave presented high determination coefficient for both environmental conditions (r2 > 0.90).

Orientador: João Francisco Escobedo / Este experimento foi conduzido, dentro e fora de ambiente protegido, durante o período de 21/04 a 03/11/2000, na área experimental do Departamento de Recursos Naturais da Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas, UNESP, Campus de Botucatu, São Paulo (latitude 22° 51' S, longitude 48° 26' W e altitude de 786 m). O objetivo foi avaliar o efeito do Polietileno de Baixa Densidade com 150 mm de espessura, difusor de luz (PEBD150d), no saldo de energia de ondas longas, assim como no desenvolvimento do pimentão vermelho (Capsicum annuum L.) híbrido Elisa e indicadores de produção da cultura. Os modelos de estimativa do saldo de ondas longas foram obtidos por meio de regressão linear entre os valores medidos deste parâmetro climático, pressão de vapor e temperatura do ar e solo. Os resultados mostraram que em condições de ambiente protegido houve aumento de produção da cultura, em relação ao ocorrido no campo, e significante diferença na transmissividade da energia líquida pela cobertura. Houve redução do fluxo de calor no solo, velocidade do vento, número de horas de insolação, consumo de água, radiação direta e refletida. Contrariamente, a radiação solar difusa teve aumento de 158 %, confirmando o alto efeito difusor do PEBD150d. Os testes dos modelos de estimativa obtidos mostraram alto coeficiente de determinação (r2 > 0,90), tanto para o ambiente protegido como no campo. / Resumo: This experiment was carried out under field and protected environment conditions in the experimental area of the Natural Resources Department of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences - UNESP, Campus of Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil, from April 21st to November 3rd, 2000. The objective was to assess the effect of the light diffuser polyethylene with 150 μm thickness (PEBD150d), on the long wave radiation estimate, as well as on growth and yield index of the hybrid Elisa of red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). The long wave radiation models was obtained by linear regression of measured values of this climatic parameter and water vapor pressure, air and soil temperature. The results showed that the protected environmental condition provided gains of yield in relation to field and significant difference in the long wave transmission though the coverage. There was reduction of the heat flux from soil, wind speed, number of hours of sunshine, water consumption, reflected and direct radiation. The diffuse solar radiation had an increment of 158 %, confirming the higher diffuse effect of PEBD150d. The tests of the estimating models obtained for long wave presented high determination coefficient for both environmental conditions (r2 > 0.90). / Doutor

In this study, a three-dimensional two-phase (air and water) numerical solver is applied to investigate free surface flows. The first component aims to improve the overall understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms that occur during the interaction between turbulent hydraulic bores and simple structures. Data collected during large-scale physical experiments based on generating dam-break waves in a horizontal rectangular channel is used for comparing to the numerical results. An extensive sensitivity analysis on numerical parameters including spatial discretization and turbulence models is presented. Quantitative comparisons of numerical and experimental time series of water surface elevations, pressure, and net streamwise force exerted on the structure are used to validate the model. In the in-depth analysis, it is demonstrated that the model is able to simulate the pertinent aspects of the flow behaviour that occur during the interaction with good agreement. The numerical impulsive force generated at initial impact shows excellent agreement with the experimental results, particularly for the larger magnitudes bores considered. Since the numerical model treats the air as an incompressible media, the level of agreement observed between the experimental and numerical results suggests that the compressibility of the air in the leading edge of the bore during the physical testing had no significant effect on the measured impulsive force. The two-phase model was also able to capture the occurrence of a second transient spike in the force exerted on the structure when the initial runup collapsed back onto the incoming flow, trapping a pocket of air in the process. The model was further applied to investigate the effect of an initially quiescent layer of water in the downstream channel section on bore propagation characteristics and the subsequent interaction with the structure. It is demonstrated that for small nonzero values of initial downstream depth a substantial increase in bore depth occurs. However, further increases in the downstream depth did not appear have any significant effects. For the greatest downstream depth simulated, a considerable reduction in the hydrodynamic force is observed as a result of a more rapid closing of the wake that develops on the leeside of the structure. The second component of the study applies the same numerical solver to investigate a novel long wave generation technique for producing laboratory-scale tsunami waves. The concept is based on removing the air from the inside of a tank with a submerged outlet at the upstream end of the basin and releasing the water in a controlled manner. A similar procedure as described above was used to calibrate the numerical parameters to experimentally-measured wave heights and periods. To model the influence of the pneumatic valves mounted on top of the upstream chamber, time-varying pressure boundary conditions are developed to regulate and control the pressure inside the tank. Quantitative and qualitative comparisons of the numerical and experimental results show good agreement and a high potential for the solver to be used for similar investigations. An analysis is performed to improve the existing understanding of the wave formation process. The model is also applied to modify test configurations that influence the waveform for which the results may be used to aid in making operating decisions for future tests or in the design of similar wave generating devices.

This research paper investigates the causality issue between economic growth rate (GDP) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment in Sweden by applying modern time series techniques. It mainly covers time series analyses of 30 years of Sweden data (1980-2009). During that period, development in Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure of Sweden was an evolutionary process based on innovation and technological knowledge. Telecommunication revolution which occurred and developed on the basic idea that economic change can be explained as co-evolution of technologies, institutions and development blocks (such as investment). The other way of describing it as an analysis of a long wave based on telecommunication technological revolution and key factor involved the share of investment in it. Standard tests of Unit roots, Cointegration and Granger Causality tests are presented. The main reason of such study is the assessment of ICT investment influence directly on economic growth. The results provide an interesting aspect that ICT investment share can possibly be a contributing factor to telecommunications infrastructure development but it cannot be as a whole sufficient enough for stimulating economic growth (GDP).It is found that one way causality running from ICT investment to economic growth (GDP) but only at one year lagged values not at other higher lagged values. The lack of long run relationship may be due to the inadequacy in reflecting the full effect of ICT investment in other complementary segments. The other complementary factors of ICT 's infrastructure are quite essential as well in describing economic growth and development level.

New laboratory data are presented on the influence of long waves on sediment transport in the surf zone. Due to the very significant difficulties in isolating the morphodynamic processes induced by long waves in field conditions, the laboratory study was designed practically to measure the net sediment transport rates, and gradients in sediment transport, arising from the interaction between long waves and short waves in the surf zone. The bathymetric evolution of model sand beaches, with dB50B = 0.2 mm, was observed under monochromatic short waves, long-wave short-wave combinations (free long waves), and bichromatic wave groups (forced long waves). The beach profile change and net cross-shore transport rates, Q(x), were extracted and compared for conditions with and without long waves. The experiments include a range of wave conditions, e.g. high-energy, moderate-energy, low-energy waves, and the beaches evolve to form accretionary, erosive, and intermediate beach states. Hydrodynamic measurements were made to identify the influence of long waves on short waves and to determine the correlation between surf zone bars and standing long waves. A shallow water wave model was modified for this application to surf zone morphodynamics and compared to both hydrodynamics and measured sediment transport. This data clearly demonstrate that free large-amplitude long waves influence surf zone morphodynamics not only under accretive conditions, by promoting onshore sediment transport, but also under erosive conditions, by decreasing offshore transport. For the dominant berm-bar feature, the strong surf beat induces offshore transport in the inner surf zone and onshore transport around the outer surf zone and throughout the shoaling zone. In contrast, forced (bound) long waves and wave groups correlated with bichromatic short wave groups play a pronounced role under erosive conditions, increasing offshore sediment transport across the whole beach profile. For accretionary conditions, only a very narrowbanded wave group promotes onshore sediment transport across the whole beach profile, while broader banded wave groups again promote offshore transport. The modified numerical model of Li et al. (2002) provides good predictions of the standing long wave pattern for the long-wave short-wave combinations, but generally poor agreement for the bichromatic wave groups. Similarly, this model performs poorly in terms of predicting the net sediment transport for all waves, even after optimising the sediment transport coefficients. This is because the model cannot predict the correct hydrodynamics around the breakpoint position and does not correctly represent net sediment transport mechanics. Overall, the model does not correctly predict the trends in beach profile evolution induced by the long waves and wave groups. Further, there is little evidence that the long wave nodal structure plays a dominant role. The influence of the free long waves and wave groups is consistent with the concept of the Gourlay parameter, H/wBsBT, as a dominant parameter controlling net erosion or accretion. Free long waves tend to reduce H/wBsBT, promoting accretion, while wave groups tend to increase H/wBsBT, promoting erosion.

It is difficult to capture the early signs of a forest fire at night using current visible-spectrum sensor technology. Infrared (IR) light sensors, on the other hand, can detect heat plumes expelled at the initial stages of a forest fire around the clock. Long-wave IR (LWIR) is commonly referred to as the “thermal infrared” region where thermal emissions are captured without the need of, or reflections from, external radiation sources. Mid‑wave IR (MWIR) bands lie between the “thermal infrared” and “reflected infrared” (i.e. short-wave IR) regions. Both LWIR and MWIR spectral regions are able to detect thermal radiation; however, they differ significantly in regards to their detection sensitivity of forest-fire heat plumes. Fires fueled by organic material (i.e. wood, leaves, etc.) primarily emit hot carbon dioxide (CO2) gas at combustion. Consequently, because CO2 is also present in the atmosphere, re-emission restricts the spectral transmittance and hence spectral radiance over a wide range of frequencies in the MWIR region. Moreover, as the distance between the detector and fire’s heat plume becomes greater, the additional CO2 introduced into the detection path leads to further attenuation of photon emittance. Since these absorption frequencies also lie within the response bandwidth of the MWIR sensor material, captured heat plume radiation manifests itself as a group of “flooded” or saturated pixels that exhibit very little dynamic behavior. Meanwhile, since the LWIR spectral region is not significantly affected by atmospheric gas absorption, its sensor is able to capture the forest fire’s heat plume thermal signature at far range without such complications. By exploiting the underlying spectral differences between LWIR and MWIR regions, this study aims to achieve early forest fire heat plume detection via direct identification of its dynamic characteristics whist concurrent attenuation of detected non-fire-related radiation. A land‑based, co‑located, cooled-LWIR/cooled-MWIR (CLWIR/CMWIR) detector camera is used to capture and normalize synchronized video from which sequential spatial-domain difference frames are generated. Processed frames allow for effective extraction of the heat plume’s “flickering” features, which are characteristic to the early stages of a forest fire. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network classifier is trained with feature points generated from known target samples (i.e. supervised learning). Resulting detection performance is assessed via detection time, error metrics, computation time, and parameter variation. Results indicate that heat plumes expelled at the early stages of a forest fire can be identified with high sensitivity, low false alarm, and at a farther range than commercial detectors.