Search results for: soil improvement.

Authors: D. A. S. Gamage, B. F. A. Basnayake, W.A.J.M. De Costa

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Rice is the staple food of Sri Lankans thus; rice cultivation is the major agricultural activity of the country. The application of inorganic fertilizer has become a burden to the country. The excessive application of organic and inorganic fertilizers can potentially lead to deterioration of the quality of water. In mixing both urea and rice husk charcoal and rice straw compost in soils causes a slow release of nitrogen fertilizer, thus reducing the cost of importations of nitrogen based fertilizers per unit area of cultivation. Objective of this study was to evaluate rice husk charcoal coated urea as a slow releasing fertilizer and compare the total N,P, K, organic matter in soil and yield of rice production. Five treatments were used for twenty pots (pot size 30 cm diameter and 45 cm height) each replicated four times as: inorganic fertilizer only (Urea, TSP and MOP) (Treatment 1); rice husk charcoal coated urea, TSP and MOP (Treatment 2); inorganic fertilizer (Urea, TSP and MOP) with rice straw compost only (Treatment 3); rice husk charcoal urea, TSP and MOP with rice straw compost (Treatment 4); and no fertilizer as the control (Treatment 5). Rice grain yield was significantly higher in treatment 4 where rice husk charcoal coated urea, TSP and MOP with rice straw compost. The lowest yield was observed in control (treatment 5). The lower the value of the nitrogen to phosphorous ratio in soil, it indicates higher uptake of phosphorous. Charcoal can be used as a soil amendment and organic fertilizer, but adjustment of pH was required at high application rates. K content of soil of treatment 3 and 4 were the highest with compared to the treatment 1. Rice husk charcoal coated urea can potentially be used as a slow releasing nitrogen fertilizer.

Keywords: charcoal, rice husk, nitrogen to phosphorous ratio, soil amendment

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Authors: Adinew Gebremeskel Tizazu

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The effect of soil-structure interaction on the dynamic response of reinforced concrete buildings of regular and symmetrical geometry are considered in this study. The structures are presumed to be generally embedded in a homogenous soil formation underlain by very stiff material or bedrock. The structure-foundation–soil system is excited at the base by an earthquake ground motion. The superstructure is idealized as a system with lumped masses concentrated at the floor levels, and coupled with the substructure. The substructure system, which comprises of the foundation and soil, is represented, and replaced by springs and dashpots. Frequency-dependent impedances of the foundation system are incorporated in the discrete model in terms of the springs and dashpots coefficients. The excitation applied to the model is field ground motions of actual earthquake records. Modal superposition principle is employed to transform the equations of motion in geometrical coordinates to modal coordinates. However, the modal equations remain coupled with respect to damping terms due to the difference in damping mechanisms of the superstructure and the soil. Hence, proportional damping for the coupled structural system may not be assumed. An iterative approach is adopted and programmed to solve the system of coupled equations of motion in modal coordinates to obtain the displacement responses of the system. Parametric studies for responses of building structures with regular and symmetric plans of different structural properties and heights are made for fixed and flexible base conditions, for different soil conditions encountered in Addis Ababa. The displacement, base shear and base overturning moments are used in the comparison of different types of structures for various foundation embedment depths, site conditions and height of structures. These values are compared against those of fixed base structure. The study shows that the flexible base structures, generally exhibit different responses from those structures with fixed base. Basically, the natural circular frequencies, the base shears and the inter-story displacements for the flexible base are less than those of the fixed base structures. This trend is particularly evident when the flexible soil has large thickness. In contrast, the trend becomes less predictable, when the thickness of the flexible soil decreases. Moreover, in the latter case, the iteration undulates significantly making the prediction difficult. This is attributed to the highly jagged nature of the impedance functions of frequencies for such formations. In this case, it is difficult to conclude whether the conventional fixed-base approach yields conservative design forces, as is the case for soil formations of large thickness.

Keywords: effect of soil structure, dynamic response corroborated, the modal superposition principle, parametric studies

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Authors: G. Disciglio, G. Gatta, A. Libutti, A. Tarantino, L. Frabboni, E. Tarantino

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Results of a field study carried out at Trinitapoli (Puglia region, southern Italy) on the irrigation of an artichoke crop with three types of water (secondary-treated wastewater, SW; tertiary-treated wastewater, TW; and freshwater, FW) are reported. Physical, chemical and microbiological analyses were performed on the irrigation water, and on soil and yield samples. The levels of most of the chemical parameters, such as electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, Na+, Ca2+, Mg+2, K+, sodium adsorption ratio, chemical oxygen demand, biological oxygen demand over 5 days, NO3 –N, total N, CO32, HCO3, phenols and chlorides of the applied irrigation water were significantly higher in SW compared to GW and TW. No differences were found for Mg2+, PO4-P, K+ only between SW and TW. Although the chemical parameters of the three irrigation water sources were different, few effects on the soil were observed. Even though monitoring of Escherichia coli showed high SW levels, which were above the limits allowed under Italian law (DM 152/2006), contamination of the soil and the marketable yield were never observed. Moreover, no Salmonella spp. were detected in these irrigation waters; consequently, they were absent in the plants. Finally, the data on the quantitative-qualitative parameters of the artichoke yield with the various treatments show no significant differences between the three irrigation water sources. Therefore, if adequately treated, municipal wastewater can be used for irrigation and represents a sound alternative to conventional water resources.

Keywords: artichoke, soil chemical characteristics, fecal indicators, treated municipal wastewater, water recycling

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Authors: Grace O. Akinlade, Danjuma D. Maza, Oluwakemi O. Olawolu, Delight O. Babalola, John A. O. Oyekunle, Joshua O. Ojo

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The Mokuro area of Ile-Ife, South West Nigeria, was well known for gold mining in the past (about twenty years ago). However, the place has since been reclaimed and converted to residential area without any environmental risk assessment of the impact of the mining tailings on the environment. Soil, water, and plant samples were collected from 4 different locations around the mine-turned-residential area. Soil samples were pulverized and sieved into finer particles, while the plant samples were dried and pulverized. All the samples were digested and analyzed for As, Pb, Cd, and Zn using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). From the analysis results, the hazard index (HI) was then calculated for the metals. The soil and plant samples were air dried and pulverized, then weighed, after which the samples were packed into special and properly sealed containers to prevent radon gas leakage. After the sealing, the samples were kept for 28 days to attain secular equilibrium. The concentrations of 40K, 238U, and 232Th in the samples were measured using a cesium iodide (CsI) spectrometer and URSA software. The AAS analysis showed that As, Pb, Cd (Toxic metals), and Zn (essential trace metals) are in concentrations lower than permissible limits in plants and soil samples, while the water samples had concentrations higher than permissible limits. The calculated health indices (HI) show that HI for water is >1 and that of plants and soil is <1. Gamma spectrometry result shows high levels of activity concentrations above the recommended limits for all the soil and plant samples collected from the area. Only the water samples have activity concentrations below the recommended limit. Consequently, the absorbed dose, annual effective dose, and excess lifetime cancer risk are all above the recommended safe limit for all the samples except for water samples. In conclusion, all the samples collected from the area are either contaminated with toxic metals or they pose radiological hazards to the consumers. Further detailed study is therefore recommended in order to be able to advise the residents appropriately.

Keywords: toxic metals, gamma spectrometry, Ile-Ife, radiological hazards, gold mining

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Authors: Juliana C. Alencar, Monica Ferreira do Amaral Porto

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The blue-green infrastructure in recent years has been pointed out as a possibility to increase the environmental quality of watersheds. The regulation ecosystem services brought by these areas are many, such as the improvement of the air quality of the air, water, soil, microclimate, besides helping to control the peak flows and to promote the quality of life of the population. This study proposes a blue-green infrastructure scenario for the Jaguaré watershed, located in the western zone of the São Paulo city in Brazil. Based on the proposed scenario, it was verified the impact of the adoption of the blue and green infrastructure in the control of the peak flow of the basin, the benefits for the avifauna that are also reflected in the flora and finally, the quantification of the regulation ecosystem services brought by the adoption of the scenario proposed. A survey of existing green areas and potential areas for expansion and connection of these areas to form a network in the watershed was carried out. Based on this proposed new network of green areas, the peak flow for the proposed scenario was calculated with the help of software, ABC6. Finally, a survey of the ecosystem services contemplated in the proposed scenario was made. It was possible to conclude that the blue and green infrastructure would provide several regulation ecosystem services for the watershed, such as the control of the peak flow, the connection frame between the forest fragments that promoted the environmental enrichment of these fragments, improvement of the microclimate and the provision of leisure areas for the population.

Keywords: green and blue infrastructure, sustainable drainage, urban waters, ecosystem services

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Authors: Aydın Kavak, Özkan Coruk, Adnan Aydıner

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Long-term performance of pavement structures is significantly impacted by the stability of the underlying soils. In situ subgrades often do not provide enough support required to achieve acceptable performance under traffic loading and environmental demands. NovoCrete® is a powder binder-mineral for cement stabilized road pavements soils. NovoCrete® combined with Portland cement at optimum water content increases the crystallize formations during the hydration process, resulting in higher strengths, neutralizes pH levels, and provides water impermeability. These changes in soil properties may lead to transforming existing unsuitable in-situ materials into suitable fill materials. The main features of NovoCrete® are: They are applicable to all types of soil, reduce premature cracking and improve soil properties, creating base and subbase course layers with high bearing capacity by reducing hazardous materials. It can be used also for stabilization of recyclable aggregates and old asphalt pavement aggregate, etc. There are many applications in Germany, Turkey, India etc. In this paper, a few field application in Turkey will be discussed. In the road construction works, this binder material is used for cement stabilization works. In the applications 120-180 kg cement is used for 1 m3 of soil with a 2 % of binder NovoCrete® material for the stabilization. The results of a plate loading test in a road construction site show 1 mm deformation which is very small under 7 kg/cm2 loading. The modulus of subgrade reaction increase from 611 MN/m3 to 3673 MN/m3.The soaked CBR values for stabilized soils increase from 10-20 % to 150-200 %. According to these data weak subgrade soil can be used as a base or sub base after the modification. The potential reduction in the need for quarried materials will help conserve natural resources. The use of on-site or nearby materials in fills, will significantly reduce transportation costs and provide both economic and environmental benefits.

Keywords: soil, stabilization, cement, binder, Novocrete, additive

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Authors: Can Huang, Xiaoliang Wang, Qingquan Liu

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Soil‒water coupling is an important process in landslide-generated impulse waves (LGIW) problems, accompanied by large deformation of soil, strong interface coupling and three-dimensional effect. A meshless particle method, smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) has great advantages in dealing with complex interface and multiphase coupling problems. This study presents an improved soil‒water coupled model to simulate LGIW problems based on an open source code DualSPHysics (v4.0). Aiming to solve the low efficiency problem in modeling real large-scale LGIW problems, graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration technology is implemented into this code. An experimental example, subaerial landslide-generated water waves, is simulated to demonstrate the accuracy of this model. Then, the Huangtian LGIW, a real large-scale LGIW problem is modeled to reproduce the entire disaster chain, including landslide dynamics, fluid‒solid interaction, and surge wave generation. The convergence analysis shows that a particle distance of 5.0 m can provide a converged landslide deposit and surge wave for this example. Numerical simulation results are in good agreement with the limited field survey data. The application example of the Huangtian LGIW provides a typical reference for large-scale LGIW assessments, which can provide reliable information on landslide dynamics, interface coupling behavior, and surge wave characteristics.

Keywords: soil‒water coupling, landslide-generated impulse wave, large-scale, SPH

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Authors: Rabia Chaudhry, Andrew Dawson

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Identification of steady/critical state of coarse granular soil is challenging at conventional pressures. This study examines the drained and undrained triaxial tests for large strains on loose to dense, uniformly graded, Leighton Buzzard Fraction A sand. The triaxial tests are conducted under controlled test conditions. The comparison of soil behavior on shear strength characteristics at different effective stresses has been studied at the medium to large strains levels and the uniqueness of the critical state was discussed. The test results showed that there were two steady/critical state lines for drained and undrained conditions at confining pressures less than 1000 kPa. A critical state friction angle is not constant and the overall scatter in the steady/critical state line for the tested sand is ±0.01 in terms of void ratio at stress levels less than 1000 kPa.

Keywords: critical state, stress strain behavior, fabric/structure, triaxial tests

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Authors: Supriya Majumder, Pabitra Banik

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Fates of Arsenic (As) on the soil-plant environment belong to the critical emerging issue, which in turn to appraises the threatening implications of a human health risk — assessing the dynamics of As in soil solid components are likely to impose its potential availability towards plant uptake. In the present context, we introduced an improved Sequential Extraction Procedure (SEP) questioning to identify solid-phase speciation of As in paddy soil under variable soil environmental conditions during two consecutive seasons of rice cultivation practices. We coupled gradients of water management practices with the addition of fertilizer amendments to assess the changes in a partition of As through a field experimental study during monsoon and post-monsoon season using two rice cultivars. Water management regimes were varied based on the methods of cultivation of rice by Conventional (waterlogged) vis-a-vis System of Rice Intensification-SRI (saturated). Fertilizer amendment through the nutrient treatment of absolute control, NPK-RD, NPK-RD + Calcium silicate, NPK-RD + Ferrous sulfate, Farmyard manure (FYM), FYM + Calcium silicate, FYM + Ferrous sulfate, Vermicompost (VC), VC + Calcium silicate, VC + Ferrous sulfate were selected to construct the study. After harvest, soil samples were sequentially extracted to estimate partition of As among the different fractions such as: exchangeable (F1), specifically sorbed (F2), As bound to amorphous Fe oxides (F3), crystalline Fe oxides (F4), organic matter (F5) and residual phase (F6). Results showed that the major proportions of As were found in F3, F4 and F6, whereas F1 exhibited the lowest proportion of total soil As. Among the nutrient treatment mediated changes on As fractions, the application of organic manure and ferrous sulfate were significantly found to restrict the release of As from exchangeable phase. Meanwhile, conventional practice produced much higher release of As from F1 as compared to SRI, which may substantially increase the environmental risk. In contrast, SRI practice was found to retain a significantly higher proportion of As in F2, F3, and F4 phase resulting restricted mobilization of As. This was critically reflected towards rice grain As bioavailability where the reduction in grain As concentration of 33% and 55% in SRI concerning conventional treatment (p <0.05) during monsoon and post-monsoon season respectively. Also, prediction assay for rice grain As bioavailability based on the linear regression model was performed. Results demonstrated that rice grain As concentration was positively correlated with As concentration in F1 and negatively correlated with F2, F3, and F4 with a satisfactory level of variation being explained (p <0.001). Finally, we conclude that F1, F2, F3 and F4 are the major soil. As fractions critically may govern the potential availability of As in soil and suggest that rice cultivation with the SRI treatment is particularly at less risk of As availability in soil. Such exhaustive information may be useful for adopting certain management practices for rice grown in contaminated soil concerning to the environmental issues in particular.

Keywords: arsenic, fractionation, paddy soil, potential availability

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Authors: N. Sefiani, C. Fikri Benbrahim, A. Boumane, K. Reklaoui

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Nowadays, the reflection on competence management is the basic for new competitive strategies. It is considered as the core of the problems of the global supply chain. It interacts a variety of actors: information, physical and activities flows, etc. Even though competence management is seen as the key factor for any business success, the existing approaches demonstrate the deficiencies and limitations of the competence concept. This research has two objectives: The first is to make a contribution by focusing on the development of a competence approach, based on continuous improvement. It allows the enterprise to spot key competencies, mobilize them in order to serve its strategic objectives and to develop future competencies. The second is to propose a method to evaluate the level of Collective Competence. The approach was confirmed through an application carried out at an automotive company.

Keywords: competence, competencies’ approach, competence management, continuous improvement, collective competence level, performance indicator

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Authors: N. Ullah, A. Haddad, F. Van Der Linde

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This paper investigates the effects of breaks in bonds, breaks in the earthing system and breaks in earth wire on the rise of the earth potential (EPR) in a substation and at the transmission tower bases using various models of an L6 tower. Different approaches were adopted to examine the integrity of the earthing system and the terminal towers. These effects were investigated to see the associated difference in the EPR magnitudes with respect to a healthy system at various locations. Comparisons of the computed EPR magnitudes were then made between the healthy and unhealthy system to detect any difference. The studies were conducted at power frequency for a uniform soil with different soil resistivities. It was found that full breaks in the double bond of the terminal towers increase the EPR significantly at the fault location, while they reduce EPR at the terminal tower bases. A fault on the isolated section of the grid can result in EPR values up to 8 times of those on a healthy system at higher soil resistivities, provided that the extended earthing system stays connected to the grid.

Keywords: bonding, earthing, EPR, integrity, system

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Authors: Md. Kausar Alam, Mohammad Yazdi, Peiman Zogh, Ramin Motamed

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The liquefaction-induced ground settlement has caused severe damage to structures in the past decades. However, the amount of building settlement caused by liquefaction is directly proportional to the intensity of the ground shaking. To reduce this soil liquefaction effect, it is essential to examine the influence of peak ground acceleration (PGA). Unfortunately, limited studies have been carried out on this issue. In this study, a series of moderate scale 1g shake table experiments were conducted at the University of Nevada Reno to evaluate the influence of PGA with the same duration in liquefiable soil layers. The model is prepared based on a large-scale shake table with a scaling factor of N = 5, which has been conducted at the University of California, San Diego. The model ground has three soil layers with relative densities of 50% for crust, 30% for liquefiable, and 90% for dense layer, respectively. In addition, a shallow foundation is seated over an unsaturated crust layer. After preparing the model, the input motions having various peak ground accelerations (i.e., 0.16g, 0.25g, and 0.37g) for the same duration (10 sec) were applied. Based on the experimental results, when the PGA increased from 0.16g to 0.37g, the foundation increased from 20 mm to 100 mm. In addition, the expected foundation settlement based on the scaling factor was 25 mm, while the actual settlement for PGA 0.25g for 10 seconds was 50 mm.

Keywords: foundation settlement, liquefaction, peak ground acceleration, shake table test

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Authors: Sean Taylor, Sayantani Neogi, Julia Budka

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The important Egyptian New Kingdom settlement at Sai Island Sudan presents a complex stratigraphic archaeological record. This study takes the theoretic stance that it, not just the archaeological material being retrieved from the deposits but the sediments themselves that reflect human agency. These anthropogenic sediments reflect the use life of the buildings and spaces between and the post-depositional processes which operate to complicate the archaeological record. The application of soil micromorphology is a technique that takes intact block samples of sediment and analyses them in thin section under a petrological microscope. A detailed understanding of site formation processes and a contextualized knowledge of the material culture can be understood through careful and systematic observation of the changing facies. The major findings of the study are that soil and sedimentary information can provide valuable insights to the use of space during the New Kingdom and elucidate the complexities of site formation processes.

Keywords: anthropogenic sediment, New Kingdom, site formation processes, soil micromorphology

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Authors: S. Rida, O. Saadani Hassani, Q. R’zina, N. Saadaoui, K. Fares

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Wastewater treatment stations create large quantities of sludge, whose treatment is poorly underestimated in the draft installation. However, chemical analysis of sludge reveals their important concentration in fertilizer elements including nitrogen and phosphorus. The direct application of sludge can reveal contamination of the food chain because of their chemical and organic micropollutants load. Therefore, there is a need of treatment process before use. The treatment by composting of this sludge mixed with three different proportions of sugar beet lime sludge (0%, 20%,30%) and green waste permits to obtain a stable compost rich in mineral elements, having a pleasant smell and relatively hygienic. In addition, the use of compost in agriculture positively affects the plant-soil system. Thus, this study shows that the supply of compost improves the physical properties of the soil and its agronomic quality, which results in an increase in the biomass of cultivated radish plants and a larger crop.

Keywords: agriculture, composting, soil, sugar beet lime, wastewater

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Authors: Gan Lu, Xu Lei

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This is an era when urban village is disappearing in China. A series of social phenomenon presented in post-urban village era is forcing rethinking of the future of urban village. Existing monotonous urban renewal mode based on gentrification is questioned, and the social values of urban village has been gaining increasing attention while the daily life and spatial power of underclass is being focused on. Based on the consensus on the positive meaning of urban village phenomenon, social sectors have taken amount of improvement experiments to explore the possibility of modern transition of urban village on the premise of existence. These experiments revealed that urban tremendous changes impact a lot on social daily life, and pointed out that it is necessary to bring up the responsibility of architects and the definition of urban for discussion again.

Keywords: post-urban village era, gentrification, social value, daily life, improvement experiment.

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Authors: Jongwan Kim

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Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a subject covering the study, plan, and design of interactions between humans and computers. The prevalent use of digital mobile devices is increasing the need for education and research on HCI. This work is focused on a new education method geared towards reducing errors while developing application programs that incorporate role-changing brainstorming techniques during HCI design process. The proposed method has been applied to a capstone design course in the last spring semester. Students discovered some examples about UI design improvement and their error discovering and reducing capability was promoted. An UI design improvement, PC voice control for people with disabilities as an assistive technology examplar, will be presented. The improvement of these students' design ability will be helpful to the real field work.

Keywords: HCI, design process, error reducing education, role-changing brainstorming, assistive technology

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Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayed, Javad Shamsi Soosahab

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Helical piles are being used extensively in engineering applications all over the world. There are insufficient studies on the helical piles' behavior in anisotropic soils. In this paper, numerical modeling was adopted to investigate the effect of elastic modulus anisotropy on helical pile behavior resting on anisotropic sand by using a finite element limit analysis. The load-displacement behavior of helical piles under compression and tension loads is investigated in different relative densities of soils, and the effect of the ratio of horizontal elastic modulus with respect to vertical elastic modulus (EH/EV) is evaluated. The obtained results illustrate that in sandy soils, the anisotropic ratio of elastic modulus (EH/EV) has notable effect on bearing capacity of helical piles in different relative density. Therefore, it may be recommended that the effect of anisotropic condition of soil elastic modulus should be considered in helical piles behavior.

Keywords: helical piles, bearing capacity, numerical modeling, soil anisotropy

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Authors: Luciano Roberto Fernandez-Sola, Cesar Augusto Arredondo-Velez, Miguel Angel Jaimes-Tellez

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This paper explores the modifications on peak acceleration, velocity and displacement profiles over the structure due to dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI). A shear beam model is used for the structure. Soil-foundation flexibility (inertial interaction) is considered by a set of springs and dashpots at the structure base. Kinematic interaction is considered using transfer functions. Impedance functions are computed using simplified expressions for rigid foundations. The research studies the influence of the slenderness ratio on the value of the peak floor response. It is shown that the modifications of peak floor responses are not the same for acceleration, velocity and displacement. This is opposite to the hypothesis used by methods included in several building codes. Results show that modifications produced by DSSI on different response quantities are not equal.

Keywords: peak floor intensities, dynamic soil-structure interaction, buildings with flexible base, kinematic and inertial interaction

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Authors: Farhan Ali

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Use of wastewater for growing vegetables has become a common practice around big cities. Wastewater contains organic material and inorganic elements essential for plant growth but also contain heavy metals, which may be lethal for animals and humans if their concentration increases than permissible limit. To monitor this situation, a survey was conducted to ascertain the addition of heavy metals into agricultural fields through wastewater irrigation and their translocation in to the edible parts of the vegetables. The study highlighted that there is a large accumulation of heavy metals in the soil, which is irrigated with industrial wastewater Laden and people consume vegetables grown in soil irrigated with sewage water to absorb a large amount of these metals. This accumulation of heavy metals in food cause possible health risks for the consumer. Regular monitoring of the levels of pathogens and heavy metals from the waste water drain which effluent are used for growing vegetables and other foodstuffs is essential to monitor excessive accumulation of these metals in the food chain.

Keywords: pathogens, wastewater, concentration, effluent

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Authors: Abbas Ahmadi, Nasser Aliasgharzad, Ali Asghar Jafarzadeh

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Nowadays, drying of the Urmia Lake as a largest saline lake in the world and emerging its saline bed from water has caused the risk of salty dune storms, which threats the health of human society and also plants and animal communities living in the region. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) as a dust stabilizer attracted the attention of Soil conservation experts in recent years. Although the presence of water by the impenetrable lake bed and endorheic basin can be an advantage to create BSCs, but the extraordinary of the lake bed salinity is a factor for prevention of its establishment in the region. Therefore, the present research work has been carried out to investigate the effects of inoculating the Cyanobacteria, algae and their combination to create BSCs for dust control. In this study, an algae attributed to Chlamydomonas sp and a cyanobacteria attributed to Anabaena sp isolated from the soils of Urmia Lake margin were used to create BSC in four soil samples which collected from 0-10 cm of the current margin (A), the previous bed (B), affected lands by lake (C) and Quomtappe sand dune (D). The main characteristics of the A, B and C soil samples are their highly salinity (their ECe are 108, 140 and 118 dS/m, respectively) and sodicity. Also, texture class of the soil A was loamy sand, and other two soils had clay textures. Soil D was Non-saline, but it was sodic with a sandy texture class. This study was conducted separately in each soil in a completely randomized design under four inoculation treatments of non-inoculated (T0), Algae (T1), cyanobacteria (T2) and equal mixture of algae and cyanobacteria (T3) with three replications. In the experiment, the soil was placed into wind tunnel trays, and a suspension containing microorganisms mixed with the trays surface soil. During the experiment, water was sprayed to the trays at the morning and evening of every day. After passing the incubation period (30 days), some characteristics of samples such as pH, EC, cold water extractable carbohydrate (CWEC), hot water extractable carbohydrate (HWEC), sulfuric acid extractable carbohydrate (SAEC), organic matter, crust thickness, penetration resistance, wind erosion threshold velocity and soil loss in the wind tunnel were measured, and Correlation between the measured characteristics was obtained through the SPSS software. Analysis of variance and so comparison between the means of treatments were analyzed with MSTATC software. In this research, Chlorophyll, an amount, was used as an indicator of the microorganism's population in the samples. Based on obtained results, the amount of Chlorophyll a in the T2 treatment of soil A and all treatments of soil D was significantly increased in comparison to the control and crust thickness showed increase in all treatments by microorganism’s inoculation. But effect of the treatments was significant in soils A and D. At all treatment’s inoculation of microorganisms in soil A caused to increase %46, %34 and %55 of the wind erosion threshold velocity in T1, T2 and T3 treatments in comparison to the control, respectively, and in soil D all treatments caused wind erosion threshold velocity became two times more than control. However, soil loss in the wind tunnel experiments was significant in T2 and T3 treatments of these soils and T1 treatment had no effect in reducing soil loss. Correlation between Chlorophyll a and salinity shows the important role of salinity in microbial growth prevention and formation of BSCs in the studied samples. In general, according to the obtained results, it can be concluded that salinity reduces the growth of microorganisms in saline soils of the region, and in soils with fine textures, salinity role in prevention of the microbial growth is clear. Also, using the mix of algae and cyanobacteria together caused the synergistic growth of them and consequently, better protection of the soil against wind erosion was provided.

Keywords: wind erosion, algae, cyanobacteria, carbohydrate

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Authors: Alaa H. J. Al-Rkaby, A. Chegenizadeh, H. R. Nikraz

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The technique of reinforcing soil is an efficient, reliable and cost-effective alternative way for improving the performance of soil in civil engineering applications. Despite the anisotropic states of stresses induced within soil elements by many geotechnical structures such as footings, highways and offshore, most of the previous studies have been carried out under isotropic conditions. The anisotropic stress state in term of the inclined principal stress and the inequality of the intermediate and minor principal stresses cannot be investigated using conventional devices. Therefore, the advanced hollow cylinder apparatus, used in this work, provides a great opportunity to simulate such anisotropic stress states. To date, very little consideration has been given to how the direction of principal stress α and intermediate principal stress ratio b can affect the performance of the reinforced sand. This study presented that the anisotropic conditions of α and b resulted in significant variations in the deviator stress and volumetric strain of sand reinforced with geosynthetics. Anisotropic effect has been decreased by adding clay content.

Keywords: anisotropy, reinforced sand, direction of principal stress, intermediate principal stress ratio

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Authors: Masood Abdollahi, Seyed Naser Moghaddas Tafreshi

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Expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam is a cellular geosynthetic material that can be used to protect lifelines (e.g. pipelines, electricity cables, etc.) below ground. Post and beam system is the most recent configuration of EPS blocks which can be implemented for this purpose. It provides a void space atop lifelines which allows settlement of the loading surface with imposing no pressure on the lifelines system. This paper investigates the efficiency of the configuration of post-beam system subjected to static loading. To evaluate the soil surface settlement, beam deformation and transferred pressure over the beam, laboratory tests using two different densities for EPS blocks are conducted. The effect of geogrid-reinforcing the cover soil on system response is also investigated. The experimental results show favorable performance of EPS post and beam configuration in protecting underground lifelines. 

Keywords: beam deformation, EPS block, laboratory test, post-Beam system, soil surface settlement

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Authors: Irina Mikajlo, Jakub Elbl, Helena Dvořáčková, Antonín Kintl, Jindřich Kynický, Martin Brtnický, Jaroslav Záhora

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Present work deals with the possible use of fertigation in agriculture and its impact on the availability of mineral nitrogen (Nmin) in topsoil and subsoil horizons. The aim of the present study is to demonstrate the effect of the organic matter presence in fertigation on microbial transformation and availability of mineral nitrogen forms. The main investigation reason is the potential use of pre-treated waste water, as a source of organic carbon (Corg) and residual nutrients (Nmin) for fertigation. Laboratory experiment has been conducted to demonstrate the effect of the arable land fertilization method on the Nmin availability in different depths of the soil with the usage of model experimental containers filled with soil from topsoil and podsoil horizons that were taken from the precise area. Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa) has been chosen as a model plant. The water source protection zone Brezova nad Svitavou has been a research area where significant underground reservoirs of drinking water of the highest quality are located. From the second half of the last century local sources of drinking water show nitrogenous compounds increase that get here almost only from arable lands. Therefore, an attention of the following text focuses on the fate of mineral nitrogen in the complex plant-soil. Research results show that the fertigation application with Corg in a combination with mineral fertilizer can reduce the amount of Nmin leached from topsoil horizon of agricultural soils. In addition, some plants biomass production reduce may occur.

Keywords: fertigation, fertilizers, mineral nitrogen, soil microorganisms

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Authors: Mostafa M. Rady, Majed M. Howladar, Saad M. Howladar

Abstract:

A field trial was conducted during two successive seasons (2013 and 2014) in Southeast Fayoum, Egypt (29º 17'N; 30º 53'E) to investigate the improving effect of ascorbic acid (Vit C) foliar spray at the rates of 0, 1, 2 or 3 mM on the growth, seed and oil yields, and some chemical constituents of sunflower plants grown on a reclaimed saline soil (EC = 7.98–7.83). Vit C application at all rates (1, 2 and 3 mM) was significantly increased growth traits, seed and oil yields, and the concentrations of endogenous Vit C, leaf photosynthetic pigments, total soluble sugars, free proline and nutrient elements as well as K/Na ratio. In contrast, Na concentration was significantly reduced with the application of all Vit C levels. Vit C foliar spray at the rate of 2 mM was found to be the best treatment, alleviating the inhibitory effects of salinity on sunflower plants grown on a reclaimed saline soil.

Keywords: Helianthus annuus L., Vit C, salinity, growth, seed and oil yields, osmoprotectants

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Authors: Olalekan Sunday Alabi, Titus Adeyemi Alonge, Olumuyiwa Idowu Ojo

Abstract:

Agricultural land suitability analysis and mapping play an imperative role for sustainable utilization of scarce physical land resources. The objective of this study was to prepare spatial database of physical land resources for irrigated agriculture and to assess land suitability for irrigation and developing suitable area map of the study area. The study was conducted at Kampe-Omi irrigation scheme located at Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. Temperature and rainfall data of the study area were collected for 10 consecutive years (2005-2014). Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were used to develop irrigation land suitability map of the study area. Attribute parameters such as the slope, soil properties, topography of the study area were used for the analysis. The available data were arranged, proximity analysis of Arc-GIS was made, and this resulted into five mapping units. The final agricultural land suitability map of the study area was derived after overlay analysis. Based on soil composition, slope, soil properties and topography, it was concluded that; Kampe-Omi has rich sandy loam soil, which is viable for agricultural purpose, the soil composition is made up of 60% sand and 40% loam. The land-use pattern map of Kampe-Omi has vegetal area and water-bodies covering 55.6% and 19.3% of the total assessed area respectively. The landform of Kampe-Omi is made up of 41.2% lowlands, 37.5% normal lands and 21.3% highlands. Kampe-Omi is adequately suitable for agricultural purpose while an extra of 20.2% of the area is highly suitable for agricultural purpose making 72.6% while 18.7% of the area is slightly suitable.

Keywords: remote sensing, GIS, Kampe–Omi, land suitability, mapping

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Authors: Mahmoud F. Awad-Allah, Mohammed Rabeih, Eman Abdel Baseer

Abstract:

Soft to very soft soil deposits are widely speared in some areas of Egypt such as East Port Said, Damietta, Kafr El-Sheik, Alexandria, etc. The construction projects in these areas have faced the challenge of the presence of extended deep layers of soft and very soft clays which reach to depths of 40 to 60 m from the ground level. Stone columns are commonly used to support structures overlying soft ground soils and surcharged by embankment type loading. Therefore, this paper introduces a wide comparison numerical study between the ordinary stone columns (OSC) versus the geosynthetic encased stone columns (ESC) installed in soft clay soil deposit using finite element method (FEM). Parametric study of an embankment on soft soils reinforced with stone columns is performed using commercial computer program based on the finite element technique (PLAXIS 2D). The investigation will present the influence of the following parameters: diameter of stone columns, stiffness of geosynthetic encasement, embedded depth of stone column from ground level, and the length encasement of the stone column on the consolidation time, vertical settlement, and lateral displacement of soft clay soil formations.

Keywords: finite element method, geosynthetic, lateral displacement, settlement, soft clay

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Authors: Stefania Arguelles Reyes, Octavio José Salcedo Parra, Alberto Acosta López

Abstract:

This paper presents a web application for the improvement of images through recognition. The web application is based on the analysis of picture-based recognition methods that allow an improvement on the physical appearance of people posting in social networks. The basis relies on the study of tools that can correct or improve some features of the face, with the help of a wide collection of user images taken as reference to build a facial profile. Automatic facial profiling can be achieved with a deeper study of the Object Detection Library. It was possible to improve the initial images with the help of MATLAB and its filtering functions. The user can have a direct interaction with the program and manually adjust his preferences.

Keywords: Matlab, make up, recognition methods, web application

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: G. Vishnu, T. V. Bharat

Abstract:

Rainfall plays a major role in the stability of natural slopes in tropical and subtropical regions. These slopes usually have high slope angles and are stable during the dry season. The critical rainfall intensity that might trigger a landslide may not be the highest rainfall. In addition to geological discontinuities and anthropogenic factors, water content, suction, and hydraulic conductivity also play a role. A thorough geotechnical investigation with the principles of unsaturated soil mechanics is required to predict the failures in these cases. The study discusses three landslide events that had occurred in residual hills of Guwahati, India. Rainfall data analysis, history image analysis, land use, and slope maps of the region were analyzed and discussed. The landslide occurred on June (24, 26, and 28) 2020, on the respective sites, but the highest rainfall was on June (6 and 17) 2020. The factors that lead to the landslide occurrence is the combination of critical events initiated with rainfall, causing a reduction in suction. The sites consist of a mixture of rocks and soil. The slope failure occurs due to the saturation of the soil layer leading to loss of soil strength resulting in the flow of the entire soil rock mass. The land-use change, construction activities, other human and natural activities that lead to faster disintegration of rock mass may accelerate the landslide events. Landslides in these slopes are inevitable, and the development of an early warning system (EWS) to save human lives and resources is a feasible way. The actual time of failure of a slope can be better predicted by considering all these factors rather than depending solely on the rainfall intensities. An effective EWS is required with less false alarms in these regions by proper instrumentation of slope and appropriate climatic downscaling.

Keywords: early warning system, historic image analysis, slope instrumentation, unsaturated soil mechanics

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: G. O. Avwiri, E. O. Agbalagba, C. P. Ononugbo

Abstract:

Activity concentrations of natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in the soil, sediment and water of oil producing communities in Delta and Rivers States were determined using γ-ray spectrometry. The mean soil/sediment activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in onshore west in Delta state is 40.2±5.1Bqkg-1, 29.9±4.2Bqkg-1 and 361.5±20.0Bqkg-1 respectively, the corresponding values obtained in onshore east1 of Rivers state is 20.9±2.8Bqkg-1, 19.4±2.5Bqkg-1and 260.0±14.1Bqkg-1 respectively. While the mean activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in onshore east2 of Rivers state is 29.3±3.5Bqkg-1, 21.6±2.6Bqkg-1 and 262.1±14.6Bqkg-1 respectively. These values obtained show enhanced NORMs but are well within the world range. All the radiation hazard indices examined in soil have mean values lower than their maximum permissible limits. In drinking water, the obtained average values of226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 8.4±0.9, 7.3±0.7 and 29.9±2.2Bql-1 respectively for well water, 4.5±0.6, 5.1±0.4 and 20.9±2.0Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 11.3±1.2, 8.5±0.7 and 32.4±3.7Bql-1 respectively for river water in onshore west. For onshore east1, average activity concentration of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 8.3±1.0, 8.6±1.1 and 39.6±3.3Bql-1 respectively for well water, 3.8±0.8, 4.9±0.6 and 35.7±4.1Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 5.5±0.8, 5.4±0.7 and 36.9±3.8Bql-1 respectively for river water. While in onshore east2 average value of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 10.1±1.1, 8.3±1.0 and 50.0±3.9Bql-1 respectively for well water, 4.7±0.9, 4.0±0.4 and 28.8±3.0Bql-1 respectively for borehole water and 7.7±0.9, 6.1±0.8 and 27.1±2.9Bql-1 respectively for river water and the average activity concentrations in the produced water226Ra, 228Ra and 40K is 5.182.14Bql-1, 6.042.48Bql-1 and 48.7813.67Bql-1 respectively. These values obtained are well above world average values of 1.0, 0.1 and 10Bql-1 for 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K respectively, those of the control site values and most reported values around the world. Though the hazard indices (Raeq, Hex, Hin) examined in water is still within the tolerable level, the committed effective dose estimated are above ICPR 0.1 mSvy-1 permissible limits. The overall results show that soil and sediment in the area are safe radiologically, but the result indicates some level of water pollution in the studied area.

Keywords: radioactivity, soil, sediment and water, Niger Delta, gamma detector

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Dongxue Li, Zhonghua Ning, Yi’na Li, Baoshan Cui, Wasner Daniel, Sebastian Dötterl

Abstract:

Most of the world's coastal alluvial plains can be significant carbon (C) eservoirs in which upland sediments are deposited and bury former topsoil, thereby contributing to soil C preservation, especially in river-controlled deltas like the Yellow River Delta, China. These deltas are affected by the continuous large amount of sediment transport and strong river dynamics from the upper reaches, which makes the river course in the deltas change frequently. However, the impact of varying river course changes on C stocks in these estuary wetlands is unclear. To investigate this, we drilled five 2 m cores along a sediment deposition sequence of the Yellow River Delta, which shifted its main course flow in the delta several times throughout the 20th century. Covering 80 years of sediment deposition, we explored both soil C stocks and their potential sources, and identified key soil physicochemical and hydrometeorological variables that correlate to C density and deposition rate. Further, the spatiotemporal C distribution and its relationship with these variables was examined. Our results showed that sediments at a soil depth of 200 cm in the main courses of the Yellow River corresponded to deposition ages ranging from 1942 to 1989. The oldest course has the lowest C stocks and showed C-enriched compared with younger courses. Contributions of soil C stemming from fresh particulate organic carbon from deposited upstream sources were significantly higher than local, in-situ vegetation. In addition, the carbon of the oldest and relatively young courses tends to be affected by interaction effects of hydrometeorological and physiochemical varibales, and that of the middle courses tends to be affected by independent variables. Our findings can help prioritize conservation efforts across different river courses and provide quantitative support for global carbon emission reduction by assessing sediment carbon reservoirs.

Keywords: alluvial plains, coastal wetland, core drilling, course diversion, organic carbon, sediment deposition rate, soil deposition

Procedia PDF Downloads 27