Forest cover change assessment in conflict-affected areas of northwest Pakistan: the case of swat and shangla districts

This study examines the spatial and temporal forest cover changes in Swat and Shangla districts to understand the deforestation pattern in context of the recent security conflict in these districts. We used multi-resolution satellite images to assess the long term deforestation from 2001 to 2009 and also to identify episodic forest cutting areas appeared during the conflict period of Oct. 2007 - Oct. 2008. There are only 58 ha of deforestation identified during the conflict period while 1268 ha of gross annual deforestation were assessed during last eight years. Most of the deforestation patches persist around the administrative boundaries at sub-district levels (tehsils) which can be attributed to ambiguity in unclear jurisdiction between the forest official. The results highlight that the forest cutting appeared in Swat and Shangla during the conflict period is not as significant when compared with the long term deforestation pattern in the area. On the one side the results of the study are supportive to the picture that emerges from international studies which report high rate of deforestation in the country and on the other side it negates any relation between the security situation and the increasing deforestation in the north western Pakistan. The study concludes that deforestation assessments require verification by independent sources of data, such as satellite imagery to improve our understanding of deforestation processes.     

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of A Ducted Propeller Designed by A Fully Automated Optimization Process Under Open Water Condition

A fully automated optimization process is provided for the design of ducted propellers under open water conditions, including 3D geometry modeling, meshing, optimization algorithm and CFD analysis techniques. The developed process allows the direct integration of a RANSE solver in the design stage. A practical ducted propeller design case study is carried out for validation. Numerical simulations and open water tests are fulfilled and proved that the optimum ducted propeller improves hydrodynamic performance as predicted.     

Transient seepage analysis in zoned anisotropic soils based on the scaled boundary finite‐element method

The scaled boundary finite‐element method, a semi‐analytical computational scheme primarily developed for dynamic stiffness of unbounded domains, is applied to the analysis of unsteady seepage flow problems. This method is based on the finite‐element technology and gains the advantages of the boundary element method as well. Only boundary of the domain is discretized, no fundamental solution is required and singularity problems can be modeled rigorously. Anisotropic and non‐homogeneous materials satisfying similarity are modeled with no additional efforts. In this study, firstly, formulation of the method for the transient seepage flow problems is derived followed by its solution procedures. The accuracy, simplicity and applicability of the method are demonstrated via four numerical examples of transient seepage flow – three of them are available in the literature. Homogenous, non‐homogenous, isotropic and anisotropic material properties are considered to show the versatility of the technique. Excellent agreement with the finite‐element method is observed. The method out‐performs the finite‐element method in modeling singularity points. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analytical solution for deforming twin‐parallel tunnels in an elastic half plane

The interaction between twin‐parallel tunnels affects the tunnelling‐induced ground deformation, which may endanger the nearby structures. In this paper, an analytical solution is presented for problems in determining displacements and stresses around deforming twin‐parallel tunnels in an elastic half plane, on the basis of complex variable theory. As an example, a uniform radial displacement was assumed as the boundary condition for each of the two tunnels. Special attention was paid to the effects of tunnel depth and spacing between the two tunnels on the surface movement to gain deep insight into the effect of the interaction between twin‐parallel tunnels using the proposed analytical approach. It is revealed that the influence of twin tunnel interaction on surface movements diminishes with both the increase of the tunnel depth and the spacing between the two tunnels. The presented analytical solution manifests that, similar to most of the existing numerical results, the principle of superposition can be applied to determine ground deformation of twin‐parallel tunnels with a certain large depth and spacing; otherwise, the interaction effect between the two tunnels should be taken into account for predicting reliable ground movement. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A proposed geotechnical-based method for evaluation of liquefaction potential analysis subjected to earthquake provocations (case study: Korzan earth dam, Hamedan province, Iran)

During the earthquakes, a number of earth dams have had severe damages or suffered major displacements as a result of liquefaction, thus modeling by computer codes can provide a reliable tool to predict the response of the dam foundation against earthquakes. These modeling can be used in the design of new dams or safety assessments of existing ones. In this paper, on the basis of the field and laboratory tests and by combination of several software packages a seismic geotechnical-based analysis procedure is proposed and verified by comparison with computer model tests and field and laboratory experiences. Verification or validation of the analyses relies to the ability of the applied computer codes. By using the Silakhor earthquake (2006, M _s 6.1) as a basis in order to check the efficiency of the proposed framework, the procedure is applied to the Korzan earth dam of Iran which is located in Hamedan Province to analyze and estimate the liquefaction and safety factor. Design and development of a computer code by the authors which was named as the ??Abbas Converter?? with graphical user interface which operates as logic connecter function that can compute and model the soil profiles is the critical point of this study. The results confirmed and proved the ability of the generated computer code on the evaluation of soil behavior during earthquake excitations. Also, this code was able to facilitate this study better than previous ones have, taking over the encountered problem.     

Empirical assessment of rockfall and debris flow risk along the Karakoram Highway,Pakistan

Natural Hazards - The Karakoram Highway links north Pakistan with southwest China. It passes through unique geomorphological, geological and tectonic setting. This study focused 200-km-long section...     

Investigation of Failed Slopes Based on a New Method of Back Analysis in Rock Masses: A Case Study

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Small variation in shear strength parameters results in remarkable changes in the safety factor (SF) of a rock slope. In this regard, rock mass strength of...