This study aims to better understand the characteristics of the tidal- current profiles and the near-bed boundary layer structures off the southwestern coast of Taiwan. The velocity profile is measured by a bottom-mounted ADCP. Six experiments were conducted, each lasted 10~20 days and the water depth ranging 12~18 m. Twenty-minute averaged velocity profiles have been fitted to a logarithmic form with 4% accuracy. The friction velocity (u*) and roughness length (z0) are then derived from the slope and intercept of the best-fitted straight lines. Our results show that the profile shape and friction velocity vary tidally, the latter reaches O(0.06)ms-1 during peak current flow. The magnitude of z0 is large and scattered, but it shows a general trend of decrease with increasing flow speed. The observed log-layer height increases, and the bottom drag coefficient (CD) decrease, respectively with increasing flow speed. Measurements also show that water turbidity increases with rainfall, as a result the z0 and CD also increase. Finally, harmonic analysis of the tidal currents indicate significant changes between winter (homogeneous) and summer (stratified) conditions. In winter the vertical variation of orientation and phase is small, whereas in summer there was a 150 orientation and 250 phase difference (the bottom currents lead the surface currents) between the near surface and near bed regions.

As wind industry is developing steadily oshore, the wind turbine spacing remainsa key element for maximizing revenues and reducing loading from turbineswake interaction. In the case of relatively close to shore oshore wind farms, orlarge arrays onshore, the turbulence intensity coming from dierent sectors canhave an eect on wake growth and decay. In an attempt to obtain wind featuresat site, some boundary conditions for micro-siting simulation are found, using acommercial RANS ow solver CFD software was used. The approach in this workcould be described more practical than theoretical and could be more useful fordevelopers than pure CFD specialists.By simulating with three dierent roughness length for open sea, with theappropriate and contextual assumptions, for the oshore Lillgrund wind farm,vertical proles and turbulence intensity were extracted from the WindSim softwareat the meteorological mast position and enabled measurement comparison.In a second attempt to compare the eect of the wind and turbulence prolespreviously obtained, a sector of interest is simulated with the actuator disc model.In general, the site conditions over the large-scale domain evaluated by thecommercial software are satisfactory after adjusting the roughness length for theopen sea. The turbulence intensity trend for various in ow angle is capturedby the simulations and computed wind proles are for the most part adequately.A comparison of spring and winter ltered measurements enable discussion uponsome sectors disagreement. As for the small-scale actuator disc model using thedeveloped site conditions, the result is over-estimated by the simulations, especiallyfor the second row downstream.

Hurricanes are one of the deadliest and costliest natural hazards affecting the Gulf coast and Atlantic coast areas of the United States. An effective way to minimize hurricane damage is to strengthen structures and buildings. The investigation of surface level hurricane wind behavior and the resultant wind loads on structures is aimed at providing structural engineers with information on hurricane wind characteristics required for the design of safe structures. Information on mean wind profiles, gust factors, turbulence intensity, integral scale, and turbulence spectra and co-spectra is essential for developing realistic models of wind pressure and wind loads on structures. The research performed for this study was motivated by the fact that considerably fewer data and validated models are available for tropical than for extratropical storms. Using the surface wind measurements collected by the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program (FCMP) during hurricane passages over coastal areas, this study presents comparisons of surface roughness length estimates obtained by using several estimation methods, and estimates of the mean wind and turbulence structure of hurricane winds over coastal areas under neutral stratification conditions. In addition, a program has been developed and tested to systematically analyze Wall of Wind (WoW) data, that will make it possible to perform analyses of baseline characteristics of flow obtained in the WoW. This program can be used in future research to compare WoW data with FCMP data, as gust and turbulence generator systems and other flow management devices will be used to create WoW flows that match as closely as possible real hurricane wind conditions. Hurricanes are defined as tropical cyclones for which the maximum 1-minute sustained surface wind speeds exceed 74 mph. FCMP data include data for tropical cyclones with lower sustained speeds. However, for the winds analyzed in this study the speeds were sufficiently high to assure that neutral stratification prevailed. This assures that the characteristics of those winds are similar to those prevailing in hurricanes. For this reason in this study the terms tropical cyclones and hurricanes are used interchangeably.

Successful wind power projects start with a realistic representation of the surface, more specifically the surface roughness of the site. This thesis investigates the use of airborne laser scans to model the surface roughness around a new wind farm. Estimations are made to find out how forest management and tree growth affects roughness length and displacement height. Data from scans two years apart for a specific site is provided by the Swedish governmental land registration authority. Next, tree height and plant area index methods are applied and analyzed using MATLAB. The results shows a difference of roughness length between 10.34% and 36.21% during an eight year period. WindPRO/WAsP is used to import roughness lengths for four specific cases. Height contour lines and meteorological data is taken from a long term corrected MESO data set. The results indicate a reduction in uncertainty in annual energy production between 0.79% and 2.89% across four different cases. This effect becomes significantly larger (12.76%) when comparing with classical land cover maps. Further on, effects of turbulence intensity are simulated.Finally, the results of a survey, sent to three large forest land owners in Sweden, show there is an interest in adapting forest management plans in favor of wind energy production if benefits can be shared.

This thesis investigates the effect of scale on themorphology, mechanics and transmissivity of single rockfractures using both laboratory and in-situ experiments, aswell as numerical simulations. Using a laboratory 3D laserscanner, the surface topography of a large silicon-rubberfracture replica of size 1m x 1m, as well as the topography ofboth surfaces of several high-strength concrete fracturereplicas varying in size from 50mmx50mm to 200mm x 200mm, werescanned. A geodetic Total Station and an in-situ 3D laser radarwere also utilized to scan the surface topography of a largenatural road-cut rock face of size 20m x 15m in the field. Thisdigital characterization of the fracture samples was then usedto investigate the scale dependency of the three dimensionalmorphology of the fractures using a fractal approach. Thefractal parameters of the surface roughness of all fracturesamples, including the geometrical aperture of the concretefracture samples, were obtained using the Roughness-Lengthmethod. The results obtained from the fractal characterization ofthe surface roughness of the fracture samples show that bothfractal dimension, D, and amplitude parameter, A, for aself-affine surface are scale-dependent, heterogeneous andanisotropic, and their values generally decrease withincreasing size of the sample. However, this scale-dependencyis limited to a certain size—defined as the stationaritythreshold, where the surface roughness parameters of thefracture samples remain essentially constant beyond thisstationarity threshold. The surface roughness and thegeometrical aperture of the tested concrete fracture replicasin this study did not reach stationarity due to the structuralnon-stationarity of their surface at small scales. Although theaperture histogram of the fractures was almost independent ofthe sample size, below their stationarity threshold both theHurst exponent, Hb, and aperture proportionality constant, Gb,decrease on increasing the sample sizes. To investigate the scale effect on the mechanical propertiesof single rock fractures, several normal loading and directshear tests were performed on the concrete fracture replicassubjected to different normal stresses under Constant NormalLoad (CNL) conditions. The results showed that both normal andshear stiffnesses, as well as the shear strength parameters ofthe fracture samples, decrease on increasing the sample size.It was observed that the structural non-stationarity of surfaceroughness largely controls the contact areas and damage zoneson the fracture surfaces as related to the direction of theshearing. The aperture maps of the concrete fracture replicas ofvarying size and at different shear displacements, obtainedfrom numerical simulation of the aperture evolution duringshearing using their digitized surfaces, were used toinvestigate the effect of scale on the transmissivity of thesingle rock fractures. A FEM code was utilized to numericallysimulate the fluid flow though the single rock fractures ofvarying size. The results showed that flow rate not onlyincreases on increasing the sample size, but also significantlyincreases in the direction perpendicular to the shearing, dueto the anisotropic roughness of the fractures. <b>Key words:</b>Anisotropy, Aperture, Asperity degradation,Contact area, Finite Element Method (FEM), Flow analysis,Fractals, Fracture morphology, Heterogeneity,Stress-deformation, Surface roughness, Roughness-Length method,Scale dependency, Stationarity, Transmissivity, 3D laserscanner.

<p>This thesis investigates the effect of scale on themorphology, mechanics and transmissivity of single rockfractures using both laboratory and in-situ experiments, aswell as numerical simulations. Using a laboratory 3D laserscanner, the surface topography of a large silicon-rubberfracture replica of size 1m x 1m, as well as the topography ofboth surfaces of several high-strength concrete fracturereplicas varying in size from 50mmx50mm to 200mm x 200mm, werescanned. A geodetic Total Station and an in-situ 3D laser radarwere also utilized to scan the surface topography of a largenatural road-cut rock face of size 20m x 15m in the field. Thisdigital characterization of the fracture samples was then usedto investigate the scale dependency of the three dimensionalmorphology of the fractures using a fractal approach. Thefractal parameters of the surface roughness of all fracturesamples, including the geometrical aperture of the concretefracture samples, were obtained using the Roughness-Lengthmethod.</p><p>The results obtained from the fractal characterization ofthe surface roughness of the fracture samples show that bothfractal dimension, D, and amplitude parameter, A, for aself-affine surface are scale-dependent, heterogeneous andanisotropic, and their values generally decrease withincreasing size of the sample. However, this scale-dependencyis limited to a certain size—defined as the stationaritythreshold, where the surface roughness parameters of thefracture samples remain essentially constant beyond thisstationarity threshold. The surface roughness and thegeometrical aperture of the tested concrete fracture replicasin this study did not reach stationarity due to the structuralnon-stationarity of their surface at small scales. Although theaperture histogram of the fractures was almost independent ofthe sample size, below their stationarity threshold both theHurst exponent, Hb, and aperture proportionality constant, Gb,decrease on increasing the sample sizes.</p><p>To investigate the scale effect on the mechanical propertiesof single rock fractures, several normal loading and directshear tests were performed on the concrete fracture replicassubjected to different normal stresses under Constant NormalLoad (CNL) conditions. The results showed that both normal andshear stiffnesses, as well as the shear strength parameters ofthe fracture samples, decrease on increasing the sample size.It was observed that the structural non-stationarity of surfaceroughness largely controls the contact areas and damage zoneson the fracture surfaces as related to the direction of theshearing.</p><p>The aperture maps of the concrete fracture replicas ofvarying size and at different shear displacements, obtainedfrom numerical simulation of the aperture evolution duringshearing using their digitized surfaces, were used toinvestigate the effect of scale on the transmissivity of thesingle rock fractures. A FEM code was utilized to numericallysimulate the fluid flow though the single rock fractures ofvarying size. The results showed that flow rate not onlyincreases on increasing the sample size, but also significantlyincreases in the direction perpendicular to the shearing, dueto the anisotropic roughness of the fractures.</p><p><b>Key words:</b>Anisotropy, Aperture, Asperity degradation,Contact area, Finite Element Method (FEM), Flow analysis,Fractals, Fracture morphology, Heterogeneity,Stress-deformation, Surface roughness, Roughness-Length method,Scale dependency, Stationarity, Transmissivity, 3D laserscanner.</p>

This dissertation investigates the use of remotely sensed data in coastal tide and inundation models, specifically how these data could be more effectively integrated into model construction and performance assessment techniques. It includes a review of numerical wetting and drying algorithms, a method for constructing a seamless digital terrain model including the handling of tidal datums, an investigation into the accuracy of land use / land cover (LULC) based surface roughness parameterization schemes, an application of a cutting edge remotely sensed inundation detection method to assess the performance of a tidal model, and a preliminary investigation into using 3-dimensional airborne laser scanning data to parameterize surface roughness. A thorough academic review of wetting and drying algorithms employed by contemporary numerical tidal models was conducted. Since nearly all population centers and valuable property are located in the overland regions of the model domain, the coastal models must adequately describe the inundation physics here. This is accomplished by techniques that generally fall into four categories: Thin film, Element removal, Depth extrapolation, and Negative depth. While nearly all wetting and drying algorithms can be classified as one of the four types, each model is distinct and unique in its actual implementation. The use of spatial elevation data is essential to accurate coastal modeling. Remotely sensed LiDAR is the standard data source for constructing topographic digital terrain models (DTM). Hydrographic soundings provide bathymetric elevation information. These data are combined to form a seamless topobathy surface that is the foundation for distributed coastal models. A three-point inverse distance weighting method was developed in order to account for the spatial variability of bathymetry data referenced to tidal datums. This method was applied to the Tampa Bay region of Florida in order to produce a seamless topobathy DTM. Remotely sensed data also contribute to the parameterization of surface roughness. It is used to develop land use / land cover (LULC) data that is in turn used to specify spatially distributed bottom friction and aerodynamic roughness parameters across the model domain. However, these parameters are continuous variables that are a function of the size, shape and density of the terrain and above-ground obstacles. By using LULC data, much of the variation specific to local areas is generalized due to the categorical nature of the data. This was tested by comparing surface roughness parameters computed based on field measurements to those assigned by LULC data at 24 sites across Florida. Using a t-test to quantify the comparison, it was proven that the parameterizations are significantly different. Taking the field measured parameters as ground truth, it is evident that parameterizing surface roughness based on LULC data is deficient. In addition to providing input parameters, remotely sensed data can also be used to assess the performance of coastal models. Traditional methods of model performance testing include harmonic resynthesis of tidal constituents, water level time series analysis, and comparison to measured high water marks. A new performance assessment that measures a model's ability to predict the extent of inundation was applied to a northern Gulf of Mexico tidal model. The new method, termed the synergetic method, is based on detecting inundation area at specific points in time using satellite imagery. This detected inundation area is compared to that predicted by a time-synchronized tidal model to assess the performance of model in this respect. It was shown that the synergetic method produces performance metrics that corroborate the results of traditional methods and is useful in assessing the performance of tidal and storm surge models. It was also shown that the subject tidal model is capable of correctly classifying pixels as wet or dry on over 85% of the sample areas. Lastly, since it has been shown that parameterizing surface roughness using LULC data is deficient, progress toward a new parameterization scheme based on 3-dimensional LiDAR point cloud data is presented. By computing statistics for the entire point cloud along with the implementation of moving window and polynomial fit approaches, empirical relationships were determined that allow the point cloud to estimate surface roughness parameters. A multi-variate regression approach was chosen to investigate the relationship(s) between the predictor variables (LiDAR statistics) and the response variables (surface roughness parameters). It was shown that the empirical fit is weak when comparing the surface roughness parameters to the LiDAR data. The fit was improved by comparing the LiDAR to the more directly measured source terms of the equations used to compute the surface roughness parameters. Future work will involve using these empirical relationships to parameterize a model in the northern Gulf of Mexico and comparing the hydrodynamic results to those of the same model parameterized using contemporary methods. In conclusion, through the work presented herein, it was demonstrated that incorporating remotely sensed data into coastal models provides many benefits including more accurate topobathy descriptions, the potential to provide more accurate surface roughness parameterizations, and more insightful performance assessments. All of these conclusions were achieved using data that is readily available to the scientific community and, with the exception of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from the Radarsat-1 project used in the inundation detection method, are available free of charge. Airborne LiDAR data are extremely rich sources of information about the terrain that can be exploited in the context of coastal modeling. The data can be used to construct digital terrain models (DTMs), assist in the analysis of satellite remote sensing data, and describe the roughness of the landscape thereby maximizing the cost effectiveness of the data acquisition.

La paramétrisation du transfert de chaleur par télédétection, basée sur le schéma SEBS, s'est déjà avérée très adaptée pour l'estimation de l'évapotranspiration (ET) sur des surfaces naturelles homogènes. Cependant, l'utilisation d'une telle méthode pour des paysages hétérogènes (e.g. régions semi-arides ou surfaces agricoles) est plus délicate, puisque le principe de la théorie de la similarité est compromis par la présence de différentes sources de chaleur et de hauteurs variées. Dans un premier temps, cette thèse a pour objectif de proposer et d'évaluer différents modèles basés sur la géométrie de la végétation qui permettent d'estimer la longueur de rugosité pour le transfert de quantité de mouvement à la surface (z0m), cette dernière étant un paramètre clé dans la caractérisation du transfert de chaleur. En revanche, une telle investigation ne peut être menée qu'à une petite échelle et à l'aide de données de télédétection très haute résolution permettant ainsi une description très détaillée de la surface. Ensuite, le second aspect de ce travail est de caractériser le transfert de chaleur dans le cas d'études régionales. Puis, la capacité de SEBS à estimer les flux de chaleur turbulents à de grandes échelles spatiales et temporelles sera évaluée. Pour ce faire, l’approche multi-échelle de SEBS (MSSEBS) a été implémentée afin de traiter une zone de 2,4 millions km2, incluant le Plateau du Tibet et l’amont des principaux fleuves d’Asie du sud-est. La combinaison de données horaires de température de surface FY-2 avec un rayonnement net journalier et des paramètres de surface avancés, permet de produire une série temporelle d’ET sur le Plateau du Tibet pour la période 2008-2010, et à une fréquence journalière. / The parameterization of heat transfer by remote sensing, and based on SEBS scheme for turbulent heat fluxes retrieval, already proved to be very convenient for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) over homogeneous land surfaces. However, the use of such a method over heterogeneous landscapes (e.g. semi-arid regions or agricultural land) becomes more difficult, since the principle of similarity theory is compromised by the presence of different heat sources with various heights. This thesis aims at first to propose and evaluate some models based on vegetation geometry for retrieving the surface roughness length for momentum transfer (z0m), which is a key parameter in the characterization of heat transfer. Such an investigation can only be led at a small scale with very-high resolution remote sensing data, for a precise description of the land surface. Therefore, the second aspect of this work is to determine how to address the characterization of heat transfer for regional studies. Then, the reliability of SEBS for estimating turbulent heat fluxes at large spatial and temporal scales has been evaluated. To do so, the Multi-Scale SEBS approach (MSSEBS) has been implemented for a 2.4 million km2 area including the Tibetan Plateau and the headwaters of the major rivers of East and South Asia. The addition of gap-filled hourly FY-2 LST data to advanced daily averaged net radiation and land surface parameters, allows to compute time-series of land surface ET over the Tibetan Plateau during the period 2008-2010, and on a daily basis.