Method for Rapidly Assessing the Overtopping Risk of Bridges Due to Flooding over a Large Geographic Region

Hydraulic events are a leading cause of bridge failures. While these hydraulic events are accounted for in bridge design, changing environmental and land use conditions require continual updating of this risk. For example, after a bridge has been constructed, streamflow can change in unanticipated ways as a result of land use changes, geomorphic changes, and climate change. The objective of this research was to create a screening method able to quickly and inexpensively estimate overtopping risk across a collection of bridges based on the current streamflow conditions. The method uses a geographic information system, nationally available and standardized datasets, and recent regression equations to quantify bridge vulnerability to overtopping for flooding with varying return periods. This screening method could also be used to assist decision makers in updating the Waterway Adequacy field in the National Bridge Inventory, which indicates the overtopping risk of bridges. The method was applied to a portion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, United States that includes 475 bridges. The results of the analysis, when combined with transportation data for bridges, aid decision makers to assign further resources to complete more detailed analyses of bridges identified as being at risk for overtopping.     

飓风“桑迪＂的影响及启示研究

城市地区突发自然灾害常常会对给水排水设施造成不利影响。飓风“桑迪”于2012年10月29日登陆美国,多个东部城市出现大面积停电,缺水,交通中断以及罕见的城市内涝,造成重大人员伤亡和巨额财产损失,严重地影响了当地人们正常的生产和生活。从飓风“桑迪”对美国城市给水和排水系统造成的巨大破坏出发,并结合当地政府采取的紧急应对措施展开讨论,总结其中的经验教训及启示。     

油田聚合物驱采出污水絮凝过程研究

针对油田聚合物驱（简称聚驱）采出污水,通过对油滴粒度分布、絮凝指数、油水分离特性和Zeta电位等指标的测定,研究了聚合物、温度、药剂以及搅拌强度对絮凝过程的影响,并探讨了影响聚驱采出污水油水分离效果的主要原因.结果表明,静电排斥并不是聚驱采出污水异常稳定的主要原因. 聚驱采出污水的油水分离特性与水驱采出污水相比存在显著差别,主要因为聚合物阻碍了小油滴的碰撞絮凝. 投加250mg/L由改性聚醚类破乳剂和弱阳离子絮凝剂复合而成的CHP-03药剂,可以有效克服聚合物的阻碍作用,获得92%的含油去除率. 该药剂在絮凝过程中并不依靠电中和机理来实现油滴的脱稳. 在现场条件下,温度的提高不能明显地促进油滴絮凝的有效性. 适当的高速搅拌可以加快絮体生长. 油滴之间的聚结破乳滞后于絮凝,絮凝的后期应避免剧烈搅拌,防止尚未聚结破乳的油滴重新分散.     

三峡水库消落带土壤与优势植物淹水后对土-水系统汞形态的影响

三峡库区消落带落干期植被生长茂盛,蓄水后消落带被淹没,土壤-植物系统在长时间淹水情况下,随着体系内物理化学性质的改变,汞形态也会发生变化,从而对库区水生生态系统中汞含量以及形态带来一定的影响.为此,本研究选取三峡库区4种优势植物室内栽培,再进行室内模拟淹水试验,研究淹水后土壤、水体中甲基汞(Me Hg)以及其他形态汞的变化.结果表明,淹水过程中植物的存在有利于土壤Me Hg的生成,同时对上覆水不同形态汞浓度影响显著.狗牙根作为消落带优势种,由于其体内总汞及甲基汞含量较高,淹水后对土壤以及上覆水系统中甲基汞以及其他汞形态的影响最为明显.淹水第90 d,狗牙根+土+江水(B1)处理土壤Me Hg的含量最高,为(1 135.86±113.84)ng·kg~(-1),是不加植物的对照处理土+江水(CK2)中土壤Me Hg含量的2倍左右;上覆水总甲基汞(TMe Hg)、溶解态甲基汞(DMe Hg)、总汞(THg)、溶解态汞(DHg)和活性汞(RHg)均呈峰值偏左的抛物线状变化,在第30 d时达到峰值,其中B1处理上覆水TMe Hg、THg和DHg最高,分别为(2.88±0.06)、(40.29±2.42)和(35.51±3.77)ng·L~(-1),三者中溶解态汞是其主要存在形式.因此可以推测三峡库区消落带植物淹水后将增加水库汞污染负荷.     

Evaluating Infiltration Requirements for New Development Using Extreme Storm Transposition: A Case Study from Dane County,WI

Changes in land use and extreme rainfall trends can lead to increased flood vulnerability in many parts of the world, especially for urbanized watersheds. This study investigates the performance of existing stormwater management strategies for the Upper Yahara watershed in Dane County, WI to determine whether they are adequate to protect urban and suburban development from an extreme rainfall. Using extreme storm transposition, we model the performance of the stormwater infiltration practices required for new development under current county ordinances. We find during extreme rainfall the volume of post‐development runoff from impervious surfaces from a typical site would increase by over 55% over pre‐development conditions. We recommend the ordinance be strengthened to reduce vulnerability to flooding from future urban expansion and the likely increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme storms.     

Recent Changes in Stream Flashiness and Flooding,and Effects of Flood Management in North Carolina and Virginia

The southeastern United States has undergone anthropogenic changes in landscape structure, with the potential to increase (e.g., urbanization) and decrease (e.g., reservoir construction) stream flashiness and flooding. Assessment of the outcome of such change can provide insight into the efficacy of current strategies and policies to manage water resources. We (1) examined trends in precipitation, floods, and stream flashiness and (2) assessed the relative influence of land cover and flow‐regulating features (e.g., best management practices and artificial water bodies) on stream flashiness from 1991 to 2013. We found mean annual precipitation decreased, which coincided with decreasing trends in floods. In contrast, stream flashiness, overall, showed an increasing trend during the period of study. However, upon closer examination, 20 watersheds showed stable stream flashiness, whereas 5 increased and 6 decreased in flashiness. Urban watersheds were among those that increased or decreased in flashiness. Watersheds that increased in stream flashiness gained more urban cover, lost more forested cover and had fewer best management practices installed than urban watersheds that decreased in stream flashiness. We found best management practices are more effective than artificial water bodies in regulating flashy floods. Flashiness index is a valuable and straightforward metric to characterize changes in streamflow and help to assess the efficacy of management interventions.     

Rising recreancy: flood control and community relocation in Houston,TX, from an environmental justice perspective

This article looks at issues of recreancy, environmental justice, and relocation as they relate to a flood control infrastructure project in inner city Houston. The main research questions were “What forms would recreancy take?” and “Can a project be environmentally just if recreancy is present?” Through the structural coding of 53 semi-structured interviews, recreancy was found even in a project where the sponsors used community cohesion as a guideline. This article illuminates the difficulties flood control project engineers face when working in local communities and argues that engineering issues are also social issues. Further, the relocatees within this flood control project voice some of the same concerns experienced by people relocated in other involuntary infrastructure development projects. The case outlined in this article could be used to better help those involuntarily relocated for flood control.     

Ecologically Functional Floodplains: Connectivity,Flow Regime,and Scale1

Opperman, Jeffrey J., Ryan Luster, Bruce A. McKenney, Michael Roberts, and Amanda Wrona Meadows, 2010. Ecologically Functional Floodplains: Connectivity, Flow Regime, and Scale. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):211-226. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00426.x Abstract: This paper proposes a conceptual model that captures key attributes of ecologically functional floodplains, encompassing three basic elements: (1) hydrologic connectivity between the river and the floodplain, (2) a variable hydrograph that reflects seasonal precipitation patterns and retains a range of both high and low flow events, and (3) sufficient spatial scale to encompass dynamic processes and for floodplain benefits to accrue to a meaningful level. Although floodplains support high levels of biodiversity and some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, they are also among the most converted and threatened ecosystems and therefore have recently become the focus of conservation and restoration programs across the United States and globally. These efforts seek to conserve or restore complex, highly variable ecosystems and often must simultaneously address both land and water management. Thus, such efforts must overcome considerable scientific, technical, and socioeconomic challenges. In addition to proposing a scientific conceptual model, this paper also includes three case studies that illustrate methods for addressing these technical and socioeconomic challenges within projects that seek to promote ecologically functional floodplains through river-floodplain reconnection and/or restoration of key components of hydrological variability.     

三元复合驱采出水中悬浮固体的控制方法

采用向三元复合驱采出水中加入水质稳定剂的方法有效降低采出水中悬浮固体的质量浓度。实验结果表明,将100 g采出水依次经滤纸和孔径为0.45μm的醋酸纤维素膜过滤后,加入1.0 g WSBL-3型水质稳定剂,混合均匀后置于80℃的水浴中静置4 h,取出后再置于40℃的水浴中静置5 min,由此可将采出水中的悬浮固体质量浓度由107 mg/L降至2 mg/L。