Composite Impulse Waves Triggered by a Combined Earthquake and Landslide

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 2050002
Author(s):  
Baoliang Wang ◽  
Lingkan Yao ◽  
Haixin Zhao ◽  
Cong Zhang

Impulse waves caused by a combination of earthquakes and landslides are a neglected problem in seismic research. In the Tibetan Plateau of China, where earthquakes and landslides are frequent and glacial lakes are widely distributed, even a small lake outburst could be catastrophic. However, minimal attention has been paid to the mechanism of impulse wave formation under the joint action of earthquakes and landslides. In this study, 120 large-scale shaking table experiments were conducted to reveal the formation regularity and characteristics of an impulse wave triggered by a combined earthquake and landslide. Several effective parameters were considered: still water depth, peak ground acceleration, impact velocity, and slide volume. Based on the experimental data, an empirical formula is proposed for the superposed height of an impulse wave triggered by a combined earthquake and landslide.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxian He ◽  
Zhifa Zhan ◽  
Shengwen Qi ◽  
Chunlei Li ◽  
Bowen Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of input earthquake characteristics on the seismic response of a homogenous step-like rock slope. A sequence of shaking table tests was performed in a large-scale physical model with a size of 3.50 m, 0.68 m and 1.20 m in length, width and height, respectively. Results showed that the absolute peak ground acceleration motion amplification factor in horizontal direction (AAF-X) of upper part of the slope was amplified comparison with that at the slope toe while the absolute peak ground acceleration motion amplification factor (AAF-Z) acquired maximum value at the lower position of the slope. With the increasing of the excitation frequencies, the AAF-X around the slope crest increased firstly and then deceased, while the AAF-Z increased continuously. Seismic response of the slope showed strongest amplification when the normalized height of the slope H/λ (ratio of slope height to wavelength) was around 0.2 and AAF-X exhibited a decrease trend when H/λ was larger than 0.2. The AAF showed nonlinear tendency with the increases of the input amplitudes, especially near the shoulder of the slope. This phenomenon can be revealed by the relationship between the calculated resonance frequency or damping ratio of the slope and the amplitude of the input motion. The excitation amplitude has a “double-effect” on the seismic response of a step-like homogeneous rock slope. That is on the one hand, the larger the excitation amplitude, the stronger the acceleration intensity, the greater deterioration of rock slope structure or material and the larger damping ratio of the slope; on the other hand, more energy will be dissipated due to plastic deformation or particle friction of high damping ratio and weaker slope structure. These results could attribute to reveal the dynamic instability mechanism of the homogeneous slope.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (21) ◽  
pp. 8378-8391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Rucong Yu ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Weihua Yuan ◽  
Minghua Zhang

Abstract Given the large discrepancies that exist in climate models for shortwave cloud forcing over eastern China (EC), the dynamic (vertical motion and horizontal circulation) and thermodynamic (stability) relations of stratus clouds and the associated cloud radiative forcing in the cold season are examined. Unlike the stratus clouds over the southeastern Pacific Ocean (as a representative of marine boundary stratus), where thermodynamic forcing plays a primary role, the stratus clouds over EC are affected by both dynamic and thermodynamic factors. The Tibetan Plateau (TP)-forced low-level large-scale lifting and high stability over EC favor the accumulation of abundant saturated moist air, which contributes to the formation of stratus clouds. The TP slows down the westerly overflow through a frictional effect, resulting in midlevel divergence, and forces the low-level surrounding flows, resulting in convergence. Both midlevel divergence and low-level convergence sustain a rising motion and vertical water vapor transport over EC. The surface cold air is advected from the Siberian high by the surrounding northerly flow, causing low-level cooling. The cooling effect is enhanced by the blocking of the YunGui Plateau. The southwesterly wind carrying warm, moist air from the east Bay of Bengal is uplifted by the HengDuan Mountains via topographical forcing; the midtropospheric westerly flow further advects the warm air downstream of the TP, moistening and warming the middle troposphere on the lee side of the TP. The low-level cooling and midlevel warming together increase the stability. The favorable dynamic and thermodynamic large-scale environment allows for the formation of stratus clouds over EC during the cold season.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (15) ◽  
pp. 5791-5803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunying Li ◽  
Minghua Zhang

Cumulus (Cu) from shallow convection is one of the dominant cloud types over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in the summer according to CloudSat– CALIPSO observations. Its thermodynamic effects on the atmospheric environment and impacts on the large-scale atmospheric circulation are studied in this paper using the Community Atmospheric Model, version 5.3 (CAM5.3). It is found that the model can reasonably simulate the unique distribution of diabatic heating and Cu over the TP. Shallow convection provides the dominant diabatic heating and drying to the lower and middle atmosphere over the TP. A sensitivity experiment indicates that without Cu over the TP, large-scale condensation and stratiform clouds would increase dramatically, which induces enhanced low-level wind and moisture convergence toward the TP, resulting in significantly enhanced monsoon circulation with remote impact on the areas far beyond the TP. Cu therefore acts as a safety valve to modulate the atmospheric environment that prevents the formation of superclusters of stratiform clouds and precipitation over the TP.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 828
Author(s):  
Deli Meng ◽  
Qing Dong ◽  
Fanping Kong ◽  
Zi Yin ◽  
Yanyan Li ◽  
...  

The water vapor budget (WVB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is closely related to the large-scale atmospheric moisture transportation of the surrounding mainland and oceans, especially for the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). However, the procession linkage between the WVBs over the TP and its inner basins and IPWP has not been sufficiently elucidated. In this study, the relationship between the summer WVB over the TP and the IPWP was quantitatively investigated using reanalysis datasets and satellite-observed sea surface temperature (SST). The results show that: (1) the mean total summer vapor budget (WVBt) over the TP in the period of 1979–2018 was 72.5 × 106 kg s−1. Additionally, for the 13 basins within the TP, the summer WVB has decreased from southeast to northwest; the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin had the highest WVB (33.7%), followed by the Upper Yangtze River Basin, Ganges River Basin and Qiangtang Plateau. (2) For the past several decades, the WVBt over the TP has experienced an increasing trend (3.81 × 106 kg s−1 decade−1), although the southern boundary budget (WVBs) contributed the most and is most closely related with the WVBt, while the eastern boundary budget (WVBe) experienced a decreasing trend (4.21 × 106 kg s−1 decade−1) which was almost equal to the interdecadal variations of the WVBt. (3) For the IPWP, we defined a new warm pool index of surface latent heat flux (WPI-slhf), and found that an increasing WPI-slhf would cause an anticyclone anomaly in the equatorial western Indian Ocean (near 70° E), resulting in the increased advent of water vapor to the TP. (4) On the interdecadal scale, the correlation coefficients of the variation of the summer WVBt over the TP with the WPI-slhf and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) signal were 0.86 and 0.85, respectively (significant at the 0.05% level). Therefore, the warming and the increasing slhf of the IPWP would significantly contribute to the increasing WVB of the TP in recent decades.


2021 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 105332
Author(s):  
Qianrong Ma ◽  
Qinglong You ◽  
Yujun Ma ◽  
Yu Cao ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqi Xu ◽  
Chunsong Lu ◽  
Yangang Liu ◽  
Wenhua Gao ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Overprediction of precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau is often found in numerical simulations, which is thought to be related to coarse grid sizes or inaccurate large-scale forcing. In addition to confirming the important role of model grid sizes, this study shows that liquid-phase precipitation parameterization is another key culprit, and underlying physical mechanisms are revealed. A typical summer plateau precipitation event is simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model by introducing different parameterizations of liquid-phase microphysical processes into the commonly used Morrison scheme, including autoconversion, accretion, and entrainment-mixing mechanisms. All simulations can reproduce the general spatial distribution and temporal variation of precipitation. The precipitation in the high-resolution domain is less overpredicted than in the low-resolution domain. The accretion process plays more important roles than other liquid-phase processes in simulating precipitation. Employing the accretion parameterization considering raindrop size makes the total surface precipitation closest to the observation which is supported by the Heidke skill scores. The physical reason is that this accretion parameterization can suppress fake accretion and liquid-phase precipitation when cloud droplets are too small to initiate precipitation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 435-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Keith Allen ◽  
Guoqing Zhang ◽  
Weicai Wang ◽  
Tandong Yao ◽  
Tobias Bolch

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