• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 2013

In this study, the numerical model was developed to evaluate the observational environment of sunshine duration and, for evaluating the accuracy and utility of the model, it was verified against the observational data measured at Dae-gu Automated Synoptic Observing System (ASOS) located in an urban area. Three-dimensional topography and building configuration as the surface input data of the model were constructed using a Geographic Information System (GIS) data. First, the accuracy of the computing planetary positions suggested by Paul Schlyter was verified against the data provided by Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the results showed that the numerical model predicted the Sun's position (the solar azimuth and altitude angles) quite precisely. Then, this model was applied to reproduce the sunshine duration at the Dae-gu ASOS. The observed and calculated sunshine durations were similar to each other. However, the observed and calculated sunrise (sunset) times were delayed (curtailed), compared to those provided by KASI that considered just the ASOS's position information such as latitude, longitude, and elevation height but did not consider the building and topography information. Further investigation showed that this was caused by not only the topographic characteristic (higher in the east and lower in the west) but also the buildings located in the southeast near the sunrise and the southwest near the sunset. It was found that higher building resolution increased the accuracy of the model. It was concluded that, for the accurate evaluation of the sunshine duration, detailed building and topography information around the observing sites was required and the numerical model developed in this study was successful to predict and/or the sunshine duration of the ASOS located in an urban area.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.459-468
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• 2019

The stability and safety of concrete plug structure of diversion tunnel is crucial for the impoundment of upstream reservoir in hydropower projects. The ongoing Wudongde hydropower plant in China plans to adopt straight column plugs and curved column plugs to replace the traditional expanded wedge-shaped plugs. The performance of the proposed new plug structures under high water head is then a critical issue and attracts the attentions of engineers. This paper firstly studied the joint bearing mechanism of plug and surrounding rock mass and found that the quality and mechanical properties of the interfaces among plug concrete, shotcrete, and surrounding rock mass play a key role in the performance of plug structures. By performing geophysical and mechanical experiments, the contact state and the mechanical parameters of the interfaces were analyzed in detail and provide numerical analysis with rational input parameters. The safety evaluation is carried out through numerical calculation of plug stability under both construction and operation period. The results indicate that the allowable water head acting on columnar plugs is 3.1 to 7.4 times of the designed water head. So the stability of the new plug structure meets the design code requirement. Based on above findings, it is concluded that for the studied project, it is feasible to adopt columnar plugs to replace the traditional expanded wedge-shaped plugs. It is hoped that this study can provide reference for other projects with similar engineering background and problems.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.336-344
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• 2020

The prediction and evaluation of driftwood accumulation around river-crossing structures are essential because driftwood accumulation increases during flood disasters. In this study, the driftwood accumulation and behavior around bridge piers were evaluated via a numerical model that could be employed to analyze three-dimensional turbulent flow and driftwood motion. The moving particle semi-implicit-based model for driftwood motion was sensitive to the number of spheres. The numerical results showed that the approach velocity and the ratio of driftwood length to pier width were the key factors influencing driftwood accumulation, whereas the driftwood density had only a minor influence. Overall, it is expected that this study will contribute to the development of improved risk evaluation indexes for assessing driftwood accumulation around river-crossing structures.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2018

Effect of the nonuniform grid on the two-dimensional transport equation was investigated in terms of theoretical analysis and finite difference method (FDM). The nonuniform grid having a typical structure of the numerical weather forecast model was incorporated in the vertical direction, while the uniform grid was used in the zonal direction. The staggered and non-staggered grid were placed in the vertical and zonal direction, respectively. Time stepping was performed with the third-order Runge Kutta scheme. An error analysis of the spatial discretization on the nonuniform grid was carried out, which indicated that the combined effect of the nonuniform grid and advection velocity produced either numerical diffusion or numerical adverse-diffusion. An analytic function is used for the quantitative evaluation of the errors associated with the discretized transport equation. Numerical experiments with the non-uniformity of vertical grid were found to support the analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 1993

For the numerical analysis of free oscillation characteristics in a harbor with general boundary and bottom topography, finite element method is applied. The governing Helmholtz equation is transformed into a generalized matrix eigenvalue problem using the standard finite element procedure. A computer code is developed for the numerical evaluation of natural frequencies and free oscillation modes. In the eigensolution process, a shifting strategy is devised for the treatment of numerical singularity. Scaling of coefficient matrix is also found to be effective for the alleviation of numerical ill-conditioning. For the test problems, firstly, analytical and numerical solutions are compared and validity of the code is obtained. Hence the method is successfully applicable for the real-world problems with general geometric boundaries and bottom topography.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.8-16
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• 2002

A numerical study on the use of the momentum interpolation method for flows with a large body force is presented. The inherent problems of the momentum interpolation method are discussed first. The origins of problems of the momentum interpolation methods are the validity of linear assumptions employed for the evaluation of the cell-face velocities, the enforcement of mass conservation for the cell-centered velocities and the specification of pressure and pressure correction at the boundary. Numerical experiments are performed for a typical flow involving a large body force. The numerical results are compared with those by the staggered grid method. The fact that the momentum interpolation method may result in physically unrealistic solutions is demonstrated. Numerical experiments changing the numerical grid have shown that a simple way of removing the physically unrealistic solution is a proper grid refinement where there is a large pressure gradient. An effective way of specifying the pressure and pressure correction at the boundary by a local mass conservation near the boundary is proposed, and it is shown that this method can effectively remove the inherent problem of the specification of pressure and pressure correction at the boundary when one uses the momentum interpolation method.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.471-487
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• 2013

Performance of a prototype base isolated building located at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG) has been studied here. Two numbers of three storeyed single bay RCC framed prototype buildings were constructed for experimental purpose at IITG, one supported on conventional isolated footings and the other on a seismic isolation system, consisting of lead plug bearings. Force balance accelerometers and a 12 channel strong motion recorder have been used for recording building response during seismic events. Floor responses from these buildings show amplification for the conventional building while 60 to 70% reduction has been observed for the isolated building. Numerical models of both the buildings have been created in SAP2000 Nonlinear. Infill walls have been modeled as compression struts and have been incorporated into the 3D models using Gap elements. System identification of the recorded data has been carried out using Parametric State Space Modeling (N4SID) and the numerical models have been updated accordingly. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of base isolation systems in controlling seismic response of isolated buildings thereby leading to increased levels of seismic protection. The numerical models calibrated by relatively low level of earthquake shaking provides the starting point for modeling the non-linear response of the building when subjected to strong shaking.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2018

Applicability of constructing piled raft foundations on soft clay has been given attention in recent years. Lack of sufficient stiffness for soil and thus excessive settlements to allow higher contribution of piles is the major concern in this regard. This paper presents a numerical investigation of performance of piled-raft foundations on soft clay with focusing on a case study. A 3D FEM numerical model is developed using ABAQUS. The model was calibrated by comparing physical and numerical modeling results of other researchers. Then the possibility of using piled-raft system in construction of foundation for a water storage tank in Sarbandar, Iran is assessed. Soil strength parameters in the numerical model were calibrated using the instrumentation data of a heavily instrumented preloading project at the construction site. The results indicate that choosing the proper combination of length and spacing for piles can lead to acceptable differential and total settlements while a high percentage of total bearing capacity of piles can be mobilized, which is an efficient solution for the project. Overall, the construction of piled-rafts on soft clays is promising as long as the total settlement of the structure is not imposing restrictions such as the common 25 mm allowable settlement. But instead, if higher allowable settlements are adopted, for example in the case of rigid steel tanks, the method shall be applicable with considerable cost savings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 2018

We present the accurate investigation the seismic behavior of the gravity retaining wall built near rock face based on numerical method. The retaining wall is a useful structure in geotechnical engineering, where the earthquake is a common phenomenon; therefore, the evaluation of the behavior of the retaining wall during an earthquake is essential. However, in all previous studies, the backfill behind the wall was usually approximated by a homogeneous region, while in contrast, in practice, in many cases retaining walls are used to support the soil pressure in, inhomogeneous, mountainous area. This suggests an accurate investigation of the problem, i.e., numerical analysis. The numerical results will be compared with some of recently proposed analytical methods to show the accuracy of the proposed method. We show that increasing the volume of the rock face yields decreasing the permanent horizontal displacement of the gravity retaining wall built near rock face. Besides, we see that the permanent horizontal displacement of the gravity retaining wall with homogenous backfill is more than permanent horizontal displacement of the gravity retaining wall case of the built near rock face in different frequency contents.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.383-396
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• 1997

Numerical prediction of the pollutant dispersion over a two-dimensional hilly terrain is presented. The dispersion model used in the present work is based on the gradient diffusion theory and the finite-volume method on a non-orthogonal boundary-fitted grid system. The numerical model is validated by comparing the results with the available experimental data for the flat-floor dispersion within a turbulent boundary-layer. The numerical error analysis is performed based on the guideline of Kasibhatla et al.(1988) for the elevated-source dispersion in the flat-floor boundary layer having a power-law velocity and linear eddy-diffusivity profile. The influences of the two-dimensional hilly terrain on the dispersion from a continuously released source are numerically investigated by changing the emission locations and heights. It is found that the distributions of ground-level concentration are strongly influenced by the source location and the emission height. Hence, the terrain amplification factor is greatly enhanced when the pollutant source is located within a flow separation region. Dispersion from a source of short duration is also simulated and the duration time of the pollutant is compared at several downstream locations on a hilly terrain. The results of the numerical prediction are applied to the evaluation of environmental impacts due to the automobile exhausts at the seashore highway with a parallel mountain range.