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The purpose of this study is to understand the basics of interactions of groundwater and surface water, which is needed for effective management of water resources.

The experimental setup was framed using curved flume and the straight flume, which simulates the model of river and groundwater storage, respectively. The model set up further consists, downstream, central and upstream sections where 14 observation wells, which are arranged at a measured distance from the canal side.

Exit gradient is higher at downstream when the average head differences between canal and river are 31.9 cm and 35.7 cm. Free seepage height is more in the downstream wells than upstream and central wells. At the downstream section, there is a greater chance of instability of the riverbank.

Results will be used for better planning of hydraulic structural design.

Results will help in storing the large water and better irrigation planning for the water acute states and locations.

The originality is own developed physical model and its own first type to understand the basic of interaction and effects.

A new coupled finite element model has been developed for the joint resolution of both the shallow water equations, that governs the free surface flow, and the groundwater flow equation that governs the motion of water through a porous media. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The model is based upon two different modules (surface and ground water) previously developed by the authors, that have been validated separately.

The newly developed software allows for the assessment of the fluid flow in natural watersheds taking into account both the surface and the underground flow in the way it really takes place in nature.

The main achievement of this work has dealt with the coupling of both models, allowing for a proper moving interface treatment that simulates the actual interaction that takes place between surface and groundwater in natural watersheds.

This study is an attempt to estimate the influence of the presence of cavities on the stability of slopes in earth dams under rapid drawdown conditions. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of different factors, such as the diameter and location of cavities, in addition to their existence effects.

A series of finite element simulation models were developed using PLAXIS 2D finite element software to analyse the stability of slopes in earth dams while considering various effects from cavities in the subsoil under rapid drawdown conditions.

The results indicated that the presence of cavities and an increase in the diameter of cavities decreased the stability of the upstream face dramatically for all examined locations in a horizontal direction; however, this effect was less on the downstream side. The results also showed that variations in the location of cavities in the horizontal direction have a greater effect on the stability than those in the vertical direction. The results revealed that increasing shear strength parameters of embankment does not reduce the influence of cavities on stability when those cavities are in critical locations.

A numerical model has been developed to simulate the effects of cavities on the stability of slopes in water-retaining structures/earth dams. The stability of earth dam slopes on upstream and downstream sides under rapid drawdown conditions considering various cavity effects, including their existence, diameter and location, were numerically analysed.

Urban groundwater is an important and valuable resource for Shijadran City, China. With the impact of rapid urban growth Shijadran is at risk of severe aquifer depletion, regional water table decline and supply facilities refurbishment. This paper presents a multi‐plan management of urban groundwater with two optimisation scenarios in order to alleviate and improve the environmental, social and economic situations caused by over‐exploitation of groundwater. It was developed based on the analysis of regional hydrogeology, water use and land use. A calibrated groundwater flow model was incorporated into the optimisation models through a water head response matrix of the Quaternary aquifer. The current supply optimisation not only met the increasingly growing need of water demand but also controlled and eliminated the various hazards caused by groundwater over‐pumping. Artificial recharge management, with conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater, provided a practical solution to the overall groundwater exhaustion and led to a solution for water table recovery, aquifer protection and sustainable water use. A comprehensive water management strategy for decision making was developed to reduce the negative impacts of urban growth on water use.

A numerical solution to the free boundary problem of three‐dimensional transient seepage through an earth dam with accretion is presented. The numerical model uses a Baiocchi type transformation to extend the unknown solution region to a fixed known region. The initial value problem is then solved by an iterative method of successive over‐relaxation type. A seepage situation of sudden rise of water level on one side of a dam is presented as an example problem. The effects of variation of accretion, effective porosity and hydraulic conductivity are studied.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard evaluation and mitigation actions.

WOVOdat is a centralized database that hosts multi-parameter monitoring data sets from unrest and eruption episodes of volcanoes worldwide. Its online interface (https://wovodat.org/) allows interactive data analysis and comparison between volcanoes and eruption styles, which is needed during volcanic crises, as well as to perform basic research on pre-eruption processes, teaching and outreach.

WOVOdat aims to standardize and organize the myriad of monitoring data types at the global scale. Users can compare changes during a crisis to past unrest episodes, and estimate probabilities of outcomes using evidence-based statistics. WOVOdat will be to volcanology as an epidemiological database is to medicine.

The success of eruption forecast relies on data completeness, and thus requires the willingness of observatories, governments and researchers to share data across the volcano community.

WOVOdat is a unique resource that can be studied to understand the causes of volcanic unrest and to improve eruption forecasting.

WOVOdat is the only compilation of standardized and multi-parameter volcano unrest data from around the world, and it is freely and easily accessible through an online interface.

Presents a fully coupled numerical model to simulate the slow transient phenomena involving heat and mass transfer in deforming partially saturated porous materials. Makes use of the modified effective stress concept together with the capillary pressure relationship. Examines phase changes (evaporation‐condensation(, heat transfer through conduction and convection, as well as latent heat transfer. The governing equations in terms of gas pressure, capillary pressure, temperature and displacements are coupled non‐linear differential equations and are discretized by the finite element method in space and by finite differences in the time domain. The model is further validated with respect to a documented experiment on partially saturated soil behaviour, and the effects of two‐phase flow, as compared to the one‐phase flow solution, are analysed. Two other examples involving drying of a concrete wall and thermoelastic consolidation of partially saturated clay demonstrate the importance of proper physical modelling and of appropriate choice of the boundary conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to trigger the preparation of an international development plan, which will aim to settle the deserts, which form a third of the area of the continents of the world.

This plan will enhance projects aimed to provide food to the present and future starving populations.

Warnings that starvation on a global scale is approaching were heard at the meeting of the World Summit on Food Security, held at the Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarters in Rome (16‐18 November 2009) and at the UN Copenhagen Conference (7‐18 December 2009). The warnings were based on the observations that global temperatures are increasing due to the ongoing and forecasted increase in green house gases, and because of the increase in the population in the developing countries.

The settling of the deserts will be based on the conceptual model of Progressive Development, which will bring about the greening of the deserts by the utilizing the existing soil reserves and water reserves below and adjacent to the thus far empty and desolate regions. The development will proceed stage by stage from the utilization of shallow groundwater resources to the deeper aquifers and later to diversion of rivers flowing into the sea adjacent to the borders of the deserts.

Development of renewable energy resources and technical education of local population and new settlers will progress simultaneously.

The plan revealed in the following paper is the original initiative of its writer.

From recent laboratory research monofilament and fibrillated polypropylene fibres were used in structural concrete and have been tested against 150 freeze/thaw cycles. The findings show monofilament fibres to play a significant role in protecting the concrete matrix against the forces encountered. External cube integrity was shown to be a poor indicator of structural condition. A significant aspect of the work is the range of tests applied to the freeze/thaw concrete cubes against the control sample. Strong evidence of condition was obtained from ultrasonic, compressive strength and weight loss. Surface scaling was not a satisfactory indication of the structural condition of the concrete.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the potentialities offered by a historical approach by addressing its scientific and societal issues as well as its opportunities at the scale of different continents and cultural areas. The authors then show the major role played by traditional societies and indigenous peoples in preserving and transmitting a culture of risk which today is threatened by an unprecedented memory break resulting from the process of globalization. Finally, the authors present two concrete examples of projects aiming to use historical lessons learned to reduce the vulnerability of local communities.

Historical documentation provides a series of very varied archives, voluminous and geographically scattered. Several types of series will be studied. Besides the written archives, the authors shall also realize an inventory of all the elements of the cultural heritage and the memory evoking the risks and the vulnerabilities.

This study shows how forgetting past disasters has contributed to increasing the vulnerability of the modern societies and building a “society of risk.” Paradoxically, industrialization and the era of the engineer opposed “pre-modern” societies to so-called “modern” societies. In this way, ancestral knowledge and strategies have often been despised in favor of hard defense works whose limits are now being measured after the recent disasters. On the other hand, the paper promotes a different model combining both engineering and local historical/cultural knowledge in order to design a more sustainable and applicable strategy.

The authors show the major role played by traditional societies and indigenous peoples in preserving and transmitting a culture of risk which today is threatened by an unprecedented memory break resulting from the process of globalization.