1. Using synthetic climate datasets for geotechnical and geoenvironmental design problems
- Author
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Bashir, Rashid, Sahi, Muhammad A.N., and Sharma, Jitendra
- Subjects
Numerical analysis -- Usage ,Soil moisture -- Models -- Environmental aspects ,Civil engineering -- Environmental aspects ,Climate models -- Usage ,Soil mechanics -- Environmental aspects -- Models ,Earth sciences - Abstract
Location-specific climate datasets are required for the design and evaluation of a number of civil engineering projects. It requires huge effort to compile a multi-year quality-controlled climate dataset. In this paper, a method of generating simulated daily climate variables of interest from readily available climate normal using the general-purpose weather generator SIMETAW is presented. The accuracy of this method is assessed by comparing the climate datasets generated using SIMETAW with the recorded historical climate datasets for nine different sites across Canada with climates ranging from semi-arid to pre- humid. This comparison was done using visual presentations as well as statistical analyses of the two datasets. It was found that the multi-year daily climate datasets generated by SIMETAW using just 12 monthly climate normal values are fairly similar to the recorded historical climate datasets. The usefulness of SIMETAW-generated climate datasets was demonstrated by using them in numerical simulations of three different design problems, namely, infiltration into soils, swelling potential of an expansive soil, and soil cover design. From the results of these numerical simulations, it is concluded that the SIMETAW- generated multi-year daily climate datasets are satisfactory for use in the geotechnical and geoenvironmental problems of the kind simulated herein. Key words: climate generators, climate normals, unsaturated flow, numerical modelling, infiltration, expansive soils, moisture movement, soil cover design. La conception et l'evaluation d'un certain nombre de projets de genie civil necessitent des ensembles de donnees climatiques specifiques a un lieu. La compilation d'un ensemble de donnees climatiques pluriannuelles de qualite controlee demande un effort considerable. Le present article propose une methode permettant de generer des variables climatiques quotidiennes simulees a partir de donnees climatiques normales facilement disponibles, en recourant a un generateur meteorologique universel, SIMETAW. La precision avec laquelle cette methode est utilisee est evaluee en comparant les ensembles de donnees climatiques generes a l'aide de SIMETAW a ceux des donnees climatiques historiques pour neuf sites differents au Canada, avec des climats allant de semi-aride a pre-humide. On a procede a cette comparaison par des presentations visuelles de meme que par des analyses statistiques des deux ensembles de donnees. On a decouvert que les donnees climatiques quotidiennes pluriannuelles generees par SIMETAW avec seulement 12 valeurs normales climatiques mensuelles sont assez similaires aux donnees climatiques historiques enregistrees. L'utilite des donnees climatiques generees par SIMETAW a ete demontree grace a leur utilisation dans des simulations numeriques de trois problemes de conception differents, a savoir l'infiltration dans les sols, le potentiel de gonflement d'un sol expansif et la conception de la couverture du sol. Les resultats obtenus lors de ces simulations numeriques demontrent que les donnees climatiques quotidiennes pluriannuelles generees par SIMETAW sont satisfaisantes pour les problemes geotechniques et geoenvironnementaux du type de ceux simules ici. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : generateurs climatiques, normales climatiques, ecoulement non sature, modelisation numerique, infiltration, sols expansifs, mouvement de l'humidite, conception de la couverture du solm., Introduction Multi-year climate datasets are used in analysis and design of various geotechnical and geoenvironmental projects. These projects include, but are not limited to soil cover systems for waste management [...]
- Published
- 2022
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