Résumé : Tout comme l’aéronautique, l’industrie aérospatiale s’est tournée progressivement vers l’emploi des coques à base des matériaux composites. Cette transition a permis d’alléger considérablement les structures aéronautiques et aérospatiales, et par conséquent, a réduit la consommation de carburants ainsi que l’impact écologique des aéronefs et des lanceurs. Toutefois, la loi de masse stipule que cela ne peut être sans conséquence sur la perte par transmission acoustique des panneaux, surtout sur les basses fréquences. Que ce soit pour la conformité aux exigences des normes aéronautiques en terme de niveau de pression acoustique à l’intérieur des cabines ou la protection des charges utiles dans les coiffes des lanceurs, les traitements acoustiques ciblant les basses fréquences s’avèrent un défi d’envergure. En effet, avec des contraintes très strictes de minimum de masse et de volume ajoutés, il est difficile de traiter les problèmes d’absorption acoustique basses-fréquences, avec les traitements phoniques classiques. Afin de tirer avantage des effets résonants pour améliorer l’absorption sur les basses fréquences, ce projet se propose d’étudier l’intégration d’écrans résistifs à très faibles épaisseurs dans les revêtements acoustiques, tout en minimisant le poids. Il a été proposé dans le cadre de la chaire industrielle de recherche en aéroacoustique dont les principaux bailleurs de fonds sont Bombardier aerospace, Pratt & whitney et Bell helicopter. Aussi, des travaux de recherche connexes se sont déroulés en partenariat avec ULA (United Launch Alliance). Ce travail de maîtrise comporte une partie bibliographique qui présente une étude exhaustive des traitements basses-fréquences existants, tout en y portant un regard critique. La partie théorique met particulièrement l’emphase sur les différents modèles de propagation d’onde et les phénomènes de dissipations dans les milieux poreux. Dans cette partie, on dénombre également les différents types d’écrans ainsi que les modèles de propagation correspondants. Des critères permettant une étude comparative objective du point de vue masse/performance ont été proposés. En plus des paramètres non acoustiques, les conditions de montage et d’agencement des couches ont été étudiées avec des simulations numériques appuyées par des mesures expérimentales. Dans l’avant dernier chapitre, un modèle SEA (Statical Energy Analysis) d’une coiffe de lanceur a été construit avec tous ses détails à partir d’un exemple concret. Les simulations se sont terminées avec une étude comparative de la réduction de niveau de pression acoustique dans la coiffe. Le dernier chapitre résume les principaux résultats et conclusions de cette étude. / Abstract : Over the last few decades, the aerospace industry has witnessed a significant emergence of the use of composite shells. The latter are continuously replacing the metallic ones. This transition allowed a significant weight reduction of flying structures. Consequently, it substantially lessened the fuel consumption and mitigated the environmental footprint of aircrafts and space launch vehicles. However, evoking the mass law, this transition clearly cannot be without consequences on the acoustic transmission loss of fuselage panels. Neither can it be on payload fairings, especially over the low frequencies. Whether to meet with the standards and regulations in terms of acoustic pressure levels inside the pressurized cabins or to protect the payloads inside the launchers fairings, acoustic treatments design targeting the low frequencies seems to be a challenging issue. Indeed, with very stringent constraints in terms of added weight and volume, it is difficult to deal with the low frequencies noise and vibration, using passive monolayers. In order to take advantage of the resonant effects in enhancing low frequencies absorption, this work intends to investigate the integration of heavy treatments of very low thicknesses in acoustic coatings while minimizing weight. It was conducted within the frame work of the industrial research chair in aeroacoustics, whose main funders are : Bombardier Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Bell Helicopter. Also, other related researches were jointly carried out in partnership with ULA (United Launch Alliance). This master thesis includes a bibliographical section which consists of an overview of the existing low-frequencies solutions while keeping a critical eye on most of them. The following theoretical part focuses on the different models describing wave s’ propagation and dissipation phenomena in porous media. In the same section, we also list the different types of screens and the corresponding propagation models. Criteria for an objective comparative study in terms of weight versus performance were suggested. In addition to non-acoustic parameters, the layout and the mounting conditions of the acoustic packages were also investigated by means of numerical simulations, seconded by experimental measurements. In the penultimate chapter, an SEA detailed model of a launcher fairing was built based on data taken from a concrete example. The simulations ended with a comparative study of the sound pressure level reduction in the inner fairing cavity. The final chapter summarizes the main findings, conclusions and perspectives of this study.

Urbanisation is characterised by mass migration of people to urban areas and conversion of land from rural to urban land uses. Changes in population dynamics have led to half the world’s population living in urban areas; in developed countries, urban dwellers account for three-quarters of the total population. Though populations have shifted from rural to urban areas, people continue to rely on their environment, and trees in particular, for tangible and intangible benefits alike. A great deal of factual and anecdotal knowledge supports the role of trees for ecological, social, and economic well-being. In spite of this, during urbanisation, previously vegetated land is converted to housing, roads, or utility corridors, all of which are necessary to support growing populations. This thesis investigates tree growth in these modified urban landscapes, in particular, the effects of pavements on urban trees. Pavements are truly pervasive, covering more than half of all land in highly developed urban areas. Their durability and strength are of great importance to transportation, but large-scale soil sealing is not without consequence. Pavements affect the hydrologic cycle, soil and air temperature, and nutrient cycling. Because of their effect on the surrounding environment, pavements inherently affect remnant or planted trees. They are believed to negatively affect tree growth and survival, thereby compromising the ecological, social, and economic benefits otherwise derived from the urban forest. In recent times, porous pavements have been increasingly installed in favour of impervious pavements. Porous pavements are perceived to be an environmentally-sound alternative to standard impervious pavements. This thesis begins by reviewing the literature concerning porous pavement’s effect on underlying soil and urban vegetation, thus illustrating the scarcity of empirical data describing the effect of porous pavement on tree growth. A greater understanding of porous pavement’s impact on the surrounding environment is needed, if its installation is to continue. With this aim in mind, this thesis describes an experiment in Christchurch, New Zealand, which monitored the impacts of porous and impervious pavement on underlying soil conditions, and subsequent tree growth. The experiment comprised 50 Platanus orientalis trees planted in an augmented factorial design, which consisted of controls and four treatments. Trees were split evenly amongst plots, such that ten replicates existed per treatment. The pavement treatments measured 2.3m by 2.3m, and were based on the combination of pavement type (2 levels: porous, impervious) and pavement profile design (2 levels: +/- subbase compaction and gravel base). The resulting four treatments were impervious concrete pavement (IP), impervious concrete pavement with compacted subbase and gravel base (IP+), porous concrete pavement (PP), and porous concrete pavement with compacted subbase and gravel base (PP+). From December 2007 to March 2009, data were collected to determine the effect of these treatments on soil moisture, aeration, pH, and nutrient concentration. Final tree height, stem diameter, shoot and root biomass, and root distribution were also measured at the conclusion of the experiment. Results of this experiment indicated that the effects of pavement porosity on soil moisture and aeration were dynamic, varying with season and soil depth. Increased soil moisture beneath porous pavements resulted from rapid infiltration following precipitation. This decreased the duration of plant stress resulting from drought. Relative to bare soil, paved plots had consistently greater soil moisture, likely because pavements reduced evaporation. The inclusion of a gravel base in the profile design limited capillary upflow, which resulted in lower soil moisture under pavements designed with a gravel base. Soil aeration was significantly lower beneath pavements relative to unpaved plots. This is likely related to greater soil moisture beneath pavements. Finally, soil pH increased beneath pavements, in particular beneath porous pavements. Though all growth parameters increased for trees surrounded by porous, rather than impervious pavement, this occurred only in the absence of a compacted subgrade and gravel base. Evidently, the impact of the compacted subgrade superseded the impact of pavement porosity. Furthermore, root growth was relatively shallow beneath pavements, likely due to favourable soil moisture directly beneath pavements. This research highlights (i) the dramatic effect of pavements on underlying soil conditions; (ii) that pavements do not inherently limit tree growth; (iii) that porous pavements can conditionally improve tree growth; and (iv) that soil compaction limits potential benefits resulting from porous pavements.

Durch den Prozess der Urbanisierung verändert die Menschheit die Erdoberfläche in großem Ausmaß und auf unwiederbringliche Weise. Die optische Fernerkundung ist eine Art der Erdbeobachtung, die das Verständnis dieses dynamischen Prozesses und seiner Auswirkungen erweitern kann. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht, inwiefern hyperspektrale Daten Informationen über Versiegelung liefern können, die der integrierten Analyse urbaner Mensch-Umwelt-Beziehungen dienen. Hierzu wird die Verarbeitungskette von Vorverarbeitung der Rohdaten bis zur Erstellung referenzierter Karten zu Landbedeckung und Versiegelung am Beispiel von Hyperspectral Mapper Daten von Berlin ganzheitlich untersucht. Die traditionelle Verarbeitungskette wird mehrmals erweitert bzw. abgewandelt. So wird die radiometrische Vorverarbeitung um die Normalisierung von Helligkeitsgradienten erweitert, welche durch die direktionellen Reflexionseigenschaften urbaner Oberflächen entstehen. Die Klassifikation in fünf spektral komplexe Landnutzungsklassen wird mit Support Vector Maschinen ohne zusätzliche Merkmalsextraktion oder Differenzierung von Subklassen durchgeführt. Eine detaillierte Ergebnisvalidierung erfolgt mittels vielfältiger Referenzdaten. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Kartengenauigkeit von allen Verarbeitungsschritten abhängt: Support Vector Maschinen klassifizieren Hyperspektraldaten akkurat aber die Kartengenauigkeit wird durch die Georeferenzierung deutlich gemindert; die Versiegelungskartierung stellt die Situation am Boden gut dar, aber die Überdeckung versiegelter Flächen durch Bäume bedingt systematische Fehlschätzungen; eine Bildsegmentierung führt zu keiner Verbesserung der Klassifikationsergebnisse, bietet jedoch eine sinnvolle Möglichkeit zur effektiveren Prozessierung durch Datenkomprimierung. Auf diesem Weg ermöglicht die vorliegende Arbeit Rückschlüsse zur Verlässlichkeit von Datenprodukten, die eine Ausweitung fernerkundlicher Analysen in weniger gut dokumentierte urbane Räume voranbringt. / Urbanization is one of the most powerful and irreversible processes by which humans modify the Earth''s surface. Optical remote sensing is a main source of Earth observation products which help to better understand this dynamic process and its consequences. This work investigates the potential of airborne hyperspectral data to provide information on urban imperviousness that is needed for an integrated analysis of the coupled natural and human systems therein. For this purpose the complete processing workflow from preprocessing of the raw image to the generation of geocoded maps on land cover and impervious surface coverage is performed using Hyperspectral Mapper data acquired over Berlin, Germany. The traditional workflow for hyperspectral data is extended or modified at several points: a normalization of brightness gradients that are caused by directional reflectance properties of urban surfaces is included into radiometric preprocessing; support vector machines are used to classify five spectrally complex land cover classes without previous feature extraction or the definition of sub-classes. A detailed assessment of such maps is performed based on various reference products. Results show that the accuracy of derived maps depends on several steps within the processing workflow. For example, the support vector machine classification of hyperspectral data itself is accurate but geocoding without detailed terrain information introduces critical errors; impervious surface estimates correlate well with ground data but trees covering impervious surface below generally causes offsets; image segmentation does not enhance spectral classification accuracy of the spatially heterogeneous area but offers an interesting way of data compression and more time effective processing. Findings from this work help judging the reliability of data products and in doing so advance a possible extension of urban remote sensing approaches to areas where only little additional data exists.

The purpose of this study is to determine if Low Impact Development (LID) can effectively mitigate flooding under projected climate scenarios. LID relies on runoff management measures that seek to control rainwater volume at the source by reducing imperviousness and retaining, infiltrating and reusing rainwater. An event-driven hydrologic/hydraulic model was developed to simulate how climate change, land use and LID scenarios may affect runoff response in the Bowker Creek watershed, a 10km2 urbanized catchment located in the area of greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The first part of the study examined flood impacts for the 2050s (2040-2069) following the A2 emissions scenario. For the 24-hour, 25-year local design storm, results show that projected changes in rainfall intensity may increase flood extents by 21% to 50%. When combined with continued urbanization flood extents may increase by 50% to 72%. The second part of the study identified potential locations for three LID treatments (green roofs, rain gardens and top soil amendments) and simulated their effect on peak in-stream flow rates and flood volumes. Results indicate that full implementation of modeled LID treatments can alleviate the additional flooding that is associated with the median climate change projection for the 5-year, 10-year and 25-year rainfall events. For the projected 100-year event, the volume of overland flood flows is expected to increase by 1%. This compares favourably to the estimated 29% increase without LID. In term of individual performance, rain gardens had the greatest hydrologic effect during more frequent rainfall events; green roofs had minimal effect on runoff for all modelled events; and top soil amendments had the greatest effect during the heaviest rainfall events. The cumulative performance of LID practices depends on several variables including design specifications, level of implementation, location and site conditions. Antecedent soil moisture has a considerable influence on LID performance. The dynamic nature of soil moisture means that at times LID could meet the mitigation target and at other times it may only partially satisfy it. Future research should run continuous simulations using an appropriately long rainfall record to establish the probabilities of meeting performance requirements. In general, simulations suggest that if future heavy rainfall events follow the median climate change projection, then LID can be used to maintain or reduce flood hazard for rainfall events up to the 25-year return period. This study demonstrates that in a smaller urban watershed, LID can play an important role in reducing the flood impacts associated with climate change. / Graduate

This diploma thesis deals with possibility of the use of alternative soils into the Vlachovice dam body. In the introductory part, a brief description of the site of the Vlachovice dam is presented. Following section includes a research of the possibility of the use of alternative soils into the dam body. The research includes a description of the individual waterworks, along with the specifics of their construction process. Based on this research, a variant design of the typical profile for the Vlachovice dam is developed. There is also an estimation of cubaturs of materials needed to construct the selected design profile, as well as an estimation of cubaturs of available materials in the flood.

From the Proceedings of the 1973 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - May 4-5, 1973, Tucson, Arizona / All groundwater in fort valley is presently found in perched aquifers. The regional water table in the area is estimated to lie at a depth of approximately 1750 feet. Groundwater reservoirs are perched on impermeable clay zones located at the base of alluvial units. Groundwater is also found in highly fractured volcanic zones overlaying impermeable clay zones. Perched aquifers also occur in interflow zones above either impermeable clays or unfractured volcanics. Groundwater in fort valley is the result of infiltration or runoff and from precipitation. This recharge water infiltrates the alluvium or fractured volcanic rocks until an impermeable zone is reached where it becomes perched groundwater. Greatest well yields come from these recharge aquifers; their reliability is largely dependent on precipitation and runoff. Most wells in the fort valley area supply adequate amounts of water for domestic use.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Underground septic systems thrive or fail based on the relationship with their local environment. This paper explores ways environmental variables such as soil type, tree roots, degree of slope, and impervious surfaces affect on-site wastewater treatment systems. It also discusses the effects each of these variables may have on a septic system, and the resulting impact a compromised system may have on the surrounding environment. This research focuses on an approximately 20 square mile area of central Washington Township in Marion County, Indiana. This area of central Indiana contains a large septic system owning population in a sampling of different environments such as wooded areas, hilly areas, and a variety of different soil types.