Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Super cially realistic worlds can easily be created using fractal landscapes. Such landscapes are limited in that real-world geological features such as caves and overhangs are impossible using a standard height eld representation. Interactive, realistic simulation of terrain evolution on such landscapes has proved elusive and does not generally provide direct control over the placement of landscape features. This thesis presents an interactive terrain design system, which enables the user to generate localised, speci c terrain features, as well as generalised global characteristics. A fully volumetric terrain representation is used to allow varied three dimensional terrain features. A hybrid rendering algorithm is employed to e ciently render the volumetric data set, while allowing interactive terrain deformation. Small terrain deformation is enabled using voxel carving, while larger terrain features is generated using an adoption of the Wires algorithm. A fractal river network generation technique is presented and adopted for voxel terrain. These tools provide the user with interactive feedback to allow for more dynamic terrain design.

Human Terrain System has been describes as: “Not since World War II has a military consulting been endorsed so publicly; not since Vietnam had it been condemned so fiercely.” The purpose of this essay is to describe what the controversy and the critique presented against HTS consists off and to see if there is a beginning to a solution in some way. HTS is embedding socials scientists within military deployed units and it is argued to violate the ethic codes of research. Pauline Kusiak has presented a solution to the conflict. By analysing the arguments in the public debate between the anthropologists against and HTS’s advocates the purpose is to answer if the U.S. Military recognise the tensions between anthropology methods and their embedding in HTS? To measure ‘recognition’ the model of ‘The Feedback Stair’ is used. The answer is that the tension is not recognised and it supports the hypothesis that the U.S. Military are not at the first step one the solution presented by Kusiak to diminish ‘the civilian-military gap.

La détermination des modèles du géoïde avec une précision centimètrique est parmi les objectifs principaux de différents groupes de recherche. Une des méthodes les plus utilisées afin de calculer un modèle de géoïde est le Retrait-Restauration en utilisant le terrain résiduel. Cette méthode combine les informations à des courtes, moyennes et grandes longueurs d’onde via trois étapes principales en appliquant la formule de Stokes. À chaque étape nous citons les sources d’erreurs et leur influence sur la précision du calcul du géoïde. Nous intéressons surtout à la correction du terrain dans la première étape (le retrait) et l’estimation de la précision de l’intégrale de Stokes dans la deuxième étape (l’intégration). La correction du terrain consiste à enlever les hautes fréquences du signal gravimétrique via un processus de calcul donné par le contexte de la méthode de Retrait-Restauration. Nous faisons des tests sur les différents paramètres pour choisir ses valeurs correspondant à une précision d’un centimètre notamment le choix des petit et grand rayons et l’influence de la résolution du MNT. Nous étudions aussi la phase d’intégrale de Stokes en limitant à la fonction standard de Stokes, sans modifications. Les paramètres de cette étape sont étudiés en générant des données synthétiques à partir du EGM2008 (Earth Gravity Model). Nous estimons la précision de l’intégration de Stokes dans différentes zones / The determination of a geoid model with a centemetric precision is one of the main interests of several research groups. One of the most used methods in use to calculate a geoid model is the Remove-Compute-Restor procedure using the residual terrain model. This threestep method combine the information at different wavelength frequency using the integration of Stokes. At each step, we mention the error sources and its influence over the precision of calculated geoid. We are mainly interested in the terrain correction at the first step (the remove) and in the estimation of the precision of the Stokes’ integration at the second step (the compute). The terrain correction removes the high frequencies of the gravimetric signal by using a calculation procedure in the frame of the Remove-Restore procedure. We perform our tests on the different parameters to choose its values corresponding to a precision of 1 cm especially the small and large radii and the influence of the DTM resolution. We study also the step of Stokes’ integration using the standard Srokes’ function. The parameters of this phase are studied by generating synthetic data from EGM2008. We estimate the precision of Stokes’s integral at different landscapes.

A laser radar can be used to generate 3D data about the terrain in a very high resolution. The development of new support technologies to analyze these data is critical to the effective and efficient use of these data in decision support systems, due to the large amounts of data that are generated. Adequate technology in this regard is currently not available and development of new methods and algorithms to this end are important goals of this work. A semi-qualitative data structure for terrain surface modelling has been developed. A categorization and triangulation process has also been developed to substitute the high resolution 3D model for this data structure. The qualitative part of the structure can be used for detection and recognition of terrain features. The quantitative part of the structure is, together with the qualitative part, used for visualization of the terrain surface. Substituting the 3D model for the semi-qualitative structures means that a data reduction is performed. A number of algorithms for detection and recognition of different terrain objects have been developed. The algorithms use the qualitative part of the previously developed semi-qualitative data structure as input. The taken approach is based on matching of symbols and syntactic pattern recognition. Results regarding the accuracy of the implemented algorithms for detection and recognition of terrain objects are visualized. A further important goal has been to develop a methodology for determining driveability using 3D-data and other geographic data. These data must be fused with vehicle data to determine the properties of the terrain context of our operations with respect to driveability. This fusion process is therefore called context fusion. The recognized terrain objects are used together with map data in this method. The uncertainty associated with the imprecision of the data has been taken into account as well. / <p>Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic-2008:29.</p>

A procedural method is proposed to generate volumetric data for terrain using a surface height map and information about materials as input. In contrast to previous explored methods this approach takes advantage of the extensive research on surface terrain generation by adapting the material layers to the topology of the input terrain. The method allows the user to specify materials as stratified or eroded, which are generated differently: stratified materials are stacked to generate material layers while eroded materials accumulate on even terrain. We compare a thermal erosion method and an original approach that uses information about the slope of the terrain as a shortcut to generate eroded layers and performs significantly better. The advantages and drawbacks of each technique are explored and discussed. / En proceduell metod har framställts för att generera volymdata för terränger med hjälp av en höjdkarta samt information om terrängens material. Till skillnad från tidigare metoder har följande nyttjat den omfattande forskningen kring genererad terräng. Det här genom att anpassa materialens lager till terrängens topologi. Metoden tillåter användaren att specifiera materialen som stratifierade eller eroderade, vilket genereras olika: stratifierat material staplas och generar på så vis materialen i lager, medan eroderat material samlas på jämn terräng. Vi jämför en termisk erosionsmetod med originellt tillvägagångssätt som nyttjar användarinformation om terrängens lutning som en genväg till att generera eroderade lager samt presterar signifikant bättre. Fördelar samt nackdelar med båda teknikerna utforskas och diskuteras.

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A drawbar pull (DP) test procedure was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) for testing and developing designs for off-road vehicles. The motivation was to develop a procedure that would produce repeatable results and could be replicated by other researchers. While developing the test methodology, it became apparent that there was a certain degree of scatter in the results among identical tests. In order to characterize the disparities, an experimental study was conducted consisting of systematically varying specific test parameters. The selected performance metric was the DP-TR (travel reduction) relation. The selected parameters were: 1) the starting terrain condition, 2) the distance traveled by the vehicle under an applied, constant DP force, and 3) the density of the prepared terrain. Respectively, these parameters were selected to observe: 1) how differences in the starting area, or "launch pad," would affect the resulting performance of a test, 2) if a steady-state region of performance exists and how does performance change with the distance traveled, and 3) the relationship between prepared terrain density and performance. These experiments were conducted in a dry, granular, cohesionless, silica based soil called the GRC-1 Lunar Soil Simulant. The results of these studies were that the variations in both the starting terrain condition and the distance traveled did not significantly affect performance. The relationship between performance and terrain density was that only in a region of low density was the TR constant; subsequently, the TR decreased steadily with increasing density. / Master of Science

Terrain surface measurement is an important tool in vehicle design work as well as pavement classification and health monitoring. �Non-deformable terrains are the primary excitation to vehicles traveling over it, and therefore it is important to be able to quantify these terrain surfaces. Knowledge of the terrain can be used in combination with vehicle models in order to predict force loads the vehicles would experience while driving over the terrain surface. �This is useful in vehicle design, as it can speed the design process through the use of simulation as opposed to prototype construction and durability testing. �Additionally, accurate terrain maps can be used by highway engineers and maintenance personnel to identify deterioration in road surface conditions for immediate correction. �Repeated measurements of terrain surfaces over an extended length of time can also allow for long term pavement health monitoring. Many systems have been designed to measure terrain surfaces, most of them historically single line profiles, with more modern equipment capable of capturing three dimensional measurements of the terrain surface. �These more modern systems are often constructed using a combination of various sensors which allow the system to measure the relative height of the terrain with respect to the terrain measurement system. �Additionally, these terrain measurement systems are also equipped with sensors which allow the system to be located in some global coordinate space, as well as the angular attitude of that system to be estimated. �Since all sensors return estimated values, with some uncertainty, the combination of a group of sensors serves to also combine their uncertainties, resulting in a system which is less precise than any of its individual components. �In order to predict the precision of the system, the individual probability densities of the components must be quantified, in some cases transformed, and finally combined in order to predict the system precision. �This thesis provides a proof-of-concept as to how such an evaluation of final precision can be performed. / Master of Science

Un glissement de terrain actif menace l’intégrité de l’unique chemin de fer qui relie la ville de Gaspé au reste du Québec. Il est impératif de comprendre les mécanismes qui contrôlent cette instabilité afin d’augmenter la sécurité de ce tronçon de la voie ferrée. Un système d’instrumentation du massif fût mis en place en 2009 pour caractériser le glissement, décrire son comportement cinétique, proposer des scénarios de rupture et évaluer le risque. Cette thèse de doctorat rassemble trois articles portant sur ces aspects. Ce document se veut aussi un moyen de partager les connaissances acquises sur l’instrumentation d’un massif rocheux, ainsi que la contribution de ces instruments à un système de prédiction d'un événement potentiellement dangereux. Le glissement de Gascons est une rupture dièdre asymétrique de 410 000 m³. Il glisse sur le litage de la formation sédimentaire de l’Anse-à-Pierre-Loiselle, une unité de transition composée majoritairement de calcilutite à nodules. Le glissement est divisé en blocs par l’étude des linéaments et des fractures. De plus, des surfaces de rupture intermédiaires sont reconnues. Le suivi in-situ couplé au suivi satellitaire mesure des déplacements variant de 6 à 111 mm/an selon les secteurs. L’interaction entre le glissement et les facteurs environnementaux, comme la présence d’eau, est complexe, mais bien présente. La nappe phréatique se situe généralement tout juste sous la surface de rupture dans la majorité du glissement, mais les précipitations et la fonte des neiges augmentent les pressions d’eau et le niveau équivalent de l’eau sous-terraine augmente au-dessus de la surface de rupture dans le secteur amont du glissement. Une analyse quantitative du risque est effectuée en adaptant la méthodologie proposée par Fell et al. (2005). Des scénarios de ruptures sont déterminés et l’effet domino d’une rupture partielle est étudiée avec un arbre d’évènements qui permet d’associer des probabilités relatives. La probabilité spatio-temporelle minimale sans prédiction est définie afin de caractériser le risque associé à un glissement actif sans prédire la rupture. Enfin, cette recherche contribue à améliorer la compréhension théorique des mécanismes associés au domaine de la post-rupture, par exemple le rôle de l’eau dans la progression d’une instabilité active. / An active rockslide threatens the integrity of the single railway connecting the town of Gaspé to the rest of Quebec. A better understanding of the mechanisms controlling this instability is needed to increase the safety of this section of the track. An instrumentation system was set up in 2009 to characterize the rockslide, describe its kinematic behaviour, propose failure scenarios and assess the risk. This thesis presents three papers covering these aspects. This document is also meant to share knowledge on the instrumentation of a very slow rockslide, and the contribution of these instruments to an early warning system of a potentially dangerous event. The Gascons slide is a 410 000 m³ asymmetrical wedge failure. It slides on the bedding of the sedimentary Formation of Anse-à-Pierre Loiselle, which is a transition unit mostly made up of nodulous calcilutite. The slide is divided into blocks by the study of lineaments and fractures and intermediate sliding surfaces are identified. In-situ monitoring, coupled with satellite monitoring, shows displacements varying from 6 to 111 mm/yr across different sectors. The slide is sensitive to environmental forces, such as groundwater level variations, but the interactions are complex. The water table is generally right below the sliding surface, but rainfall and snowmelt increase groundwater pressure, and the equivalent water level is then above the sliding surface in the uphill part of the slide. A quantitative risk analysis is carried out by adapting a methodology proposed by Fell et al. (2005). Failure scenarios are determined and the domino effect of a partial collapse event is evaluated by constructing an event tree, which enables the determination of relative probabilities. The concept of minimum temporal spatial probability without forecasting is defined to characterize the minimal risk associated with an active slide without predicting the rupture. Finally, this work contributes to improving the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms associated with the post-failure stage, for example the role of water in the progression of an active instability.