scholarly journals NUMERICAL MODELLING OF TSUNAMI INUNUNDATION CONSIDERING THE PRESENCE OF OFFSHORE ISLANDS AND BARRIER REEFS

Author(s):  
Héctor Colón-De La Cruz ◽  
Peter Rivera-Casillas ◽  
Adam Keen ◽  
Patrick J. Lynett

Advances in computer programming have permitted researchers to predict and visualize how tsunami waves affect coastline areas. Although it’s possible to use numerical model simulations to predict the inundation of tsunamis, the process has some limitations. In order to solve the Boussinesq-type equations for tsunami propagation in the near-shore, it typically requires hundreds of hours of computation time and/or multiple CPUs. (Tavakkol and Lynett, 2017). Recently the University of Southern California developed a numerical model called Celeris, which can solve the Boussinesq-type equations faster than real time. The numerical model can run with minimum preparations on an average-user laptop and is able to provide results of wave inundation in a matter of seconds (Tavakkol and Lynett, 2017). The purpose of this research is to validate the results of wave inundation provided by Celeris and to study how reefs affect the inundation in the shoreline. If Celeris is validated, it could be used to study how to reduce the impact of tsunamis in the coast, explore the possibilities of using reefs to dissipate the energy of waves, improve evacuation routes, etc.

VINE ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin de Jager

States that in 2001 the University of Cape Town (UCT) Libraries opened a new and integrated learning centre based on the “information commons” concept fairly common in the USA today and first encountered at the Leavey Library of the University of Southern California. Discusses the results of a series of interviews with student assistants working in the Knowledge Commons, in an attempt to provide an evaluation of the impact of this resource on teaching and learning at UCT. Concludes that the study has confirmed the importance of most of the unique features of the information commons as discussed in the literature.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norberto Feito ◽  
José Antonio Loya ◽  
Ana Muñoz-Sánchez ◽  
Raj Das

In this study, the effect of the impact angle of a projectile during low-velocity impact on Kevlar fabrics has been investigated using a simplified numerical model. The implementation of mesoscale models is complex and usually involves long computation time, in contrast to the practical industry needs to obtain accurate results rapidly. In addition, when the simulation includes more than one layer of composite ply, the computational time increases even in the case of hybrid models. With the goal of providing useful and rapid prediction tools to the industry, a simplified model has been developed in this work. The model offers an advantage in the reduced computational time compared to a full 3D model (around a 90% faster). The proposed model has been validated against equivalent experimental and numerical results reported in the literature with acceptable deviations and accuracies for design requirements. The proposed numerical model allows the study of the influence of the geometry on the impact response of the composite. Finally, after a parametric study related to the number of layers and angle of impact, using a response surface methodology, a mechanistic model and a surface diagram have been presented in order to help with the calculation of the ballistic limit.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (5_suppl) ◽  
pp. 300-300
Author(s):  
Adrian Stuart Fairey ◽  
Siamak Daneshmand ◽  
Anne Schuckman ◽  
Gary Leiskovsky ◽  
Hooman Djaladat ◽  
...  

300 Background: The role of micropapillary urothelial carcinoma (MUC) variant histology as an independent prognostic factor for survival after radical cystectomy has not been studied. Our aim was to examine the impact of MUC on survival. Methods: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from the University of Southern California (USC) Bladder Cancer Database was performed. Between 1985 and 2008, 1681 patients underwent radical cystectomy and extended pelvic lymph node dissection for primary bladder cancer. All surgical specimens underwent central pathologic review by dedicated genitourinary pathologists. Histologic type was categorized according to the WHO/ISUP 1998 classification as urothelial carcinoma (UC; n=1648) or MUC (n=33). The outcomes were overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional regression models were used to analyze survival data. Results: The median follow-up duration was 10 years (range, 0 to 25 years). Baseline characteristics were similar between histologic types except MUC was associated with advanced clinical (cTanyN1-3: 2% versus 9%, p=0.03) and pathologic (pTanyN1-3: 23% versus 46%, p=0.01) TNM stage, multifocality (37% versus 58%, p=0.02), and high nuclear grade (84% versus 97%, p=0.04). The predicted 5-year OS (59% and 67%, Log rank p=0.79) and RFS (67% and 58%, Log rank p=0.50) rates did not differ between patients with UC and MUC. Multivariable analysis showed that histologic type was not independently associated with OS (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.50, p=0.73) or RFS (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.63, p=0.77). Conclusions: Outcomes of radical cystectomy for patients with MUC are similar to those with UC when controlling for other clinical and pathologic factors.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Heidarzadeh ◽  
Moharram D. Pirooz ◽  
Nasser H. Zaker ◽  
Mohammad Mokhtari

The extensive death toll and sever economical damages brought by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has emphasized the urgent need for assessing the hazard of tsunami in this ocean, and determining the most vulnerable coastlines to the impact of possible tsunami. In this paper the hazard of tsunami for southern coasts of Iran bordering the Indian Ocean is discussed. At first, historical data of tsunami occurrences on the Iranian southern coasts are collected, described and analyzed. Then, numerical simulation of potential tsunamis in the Makran subduction zone is performed and the tsunami wave height distribution along the Iranian coast is calculated. The Makran subduction zone is among two main tsunamigenic zones in the Indian Ocean. In this zone the Oman oceanic plate subducts beneath the Iranian Micro-plate at an estimated rate of about 19 mm/yr. Historically, there is the potential for tsunami generation in this region and several tsunamis attacked the Makran coastlines in the past. The most recent tsunami in this region has occurred on 28 November 1945 which took the lives of more than 4000 people in the coasts of Iran, Pakistan, India, and Oman. Here we examine the seafloor uplift of the Makran zone and its potential for generating destructive tsunamis in the southern coastlines of Iran. Several earthquake scenarios with moment magnitudes ranging between 6.5 and 8.5 are used as initial conditions for analysis. For scenario of an earthquake with magnitude of 8.0, propagation of tsunami waves on coastlines and wave time histories in selected reference locations are calculated.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1779-1794 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Omira ◽  
M. A. Baptista ◽  
F. Leone ◽  
L. Matias ◽  
S. Mellas ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper seeks to investigate the effectiveness of sea-defense structures in preventing/reducing the tsunami overtopping as well as evaluating the resulting tsunami impact at El Jadida, Morocco. Different tsunami wave conditions are generated by considering various earthquake scenarios of magnitudes ranging from Mw = 8.0 to Mw = 8.6. These scenarios represent the main active earthquake faults in the SW Iberia margin and are consistent with two past events that generated tsunamis along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The behaviour of incident tsunami waves when interacting with coastal infrastructures is analysed on the basis of numerical simulations of near-shore tsunami waves' propagation. Tsunami impact at the affected site is assessed through computing inundation and current velocity using a high-resolution digital terrain model that incorporates bathymetric, topographic and coastal structures data. Results, in terms of near-shore tsunami propagation snapshots, waves' interaction with coastal barriers, and spatial distributions of flow depths and speeds, are presented and discussed in light of what was observed during the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. Predicted results show different levels of impact that different tsunami wave conditions could generate in the region. Existing coastal barriers around the El Jadida harbour succeeded in reflecting relatively small waves generated by some scenarios, but failed in preventing the overtopping caused by waves from others. Considering the scenario highly impacting the El Jadida coast, significant inundations are computed at the sandy beach and unprotected areas. The modelled dramatic tsunami impact in the region shows the need for additional tsunami standards not only for sea-defense structures but also for the coastal dwellings and houses to provide potential in-place evacuation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Fonseca ◽  
Yingyan Lou ◽  
Gary P. Moynihan ◽  
Saravanan Gurupackiam

Contraflow on major evacuation routes is one scheme that has been adopted in many Gulf and eastern coastal states for hurricane evacuation. The idea is to reverse one direction of the roadway in order to accommodate the often substantially increased travel demand moving away from the impact area. Efficient planning and operation is critical to a successful contraflow implementation. Alabama has an approximately 140-mile contraflow segment on I-65 between exit 31 and exit 167 and has carried out contraflow operations several times in past hurricane evacuations. The timing for the deployment of equipment and personnel and the initiation and termination of actual contraflow affects the effectiveness, safety, and cost of the operation. Researchers from the University of Alabama were tasked with the design of a decision support system for contraflow evacuation planning. The conceived decision support system consists of three main modules: the demand module, the network optimization module, and the incident and characterization module. This paper focuses on the design of the traffic incident generation and characterization module of the planned decision support system.


1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-151
Author(s):  
Lillian Glass ◽  
Sharon R. Garber ◽  
T. Michael Speidel ◽  
Gerald M. Siegel ◽  
Edward Miller

An omission in the Table of Contents, December JSHR, has occurred. Lillian Glass, Ph.D., at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and School of Dentistry, was a co-author of the article "The Effects of Presentation on Noise and Dental Appliances on Speech" along with Sharon R. Garber, T. Michael Speidel, Gerald M. Siegel, and Edward Miller of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.


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