Springer Environmental Science and Engineering – serie

This book investigates geological CO2 storage and its role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, enhanced oil recovery, and environmentally responsible use of fossil fuels. Written for energy/environmental regulators at every level of government (federal, state, etc.), scientists/academics, representatives from the power and fossil energy sectors, NGOs, and other interested parties, this book uses the characterization of the Rock Springs Uplift site in Wyoming as an integrated case study to illustrate the application of geological CO2 storage science, principles, and theory in a real-world scenario.

This book investigates geological CO2 storage and its role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, enhanced oil recovery, and environmentally responsible use of fossil fuels. Written for energy/environmental regulators at every level of government (federal, state, etc.), scientists/academics, representatives from the power and fossil energy sectors, NGOs, and other interested parties, this book uses the characterization of the Rock Springs Uplift site in Wyoming as an integrated case study to illustrate the application of geological CO2 storage science, principles, and theory in a real-world scenario.

Produced sand causes a lot of problems. From that reasons sand production must be monitored and kept within acceptable limits. Sand control problems in wells result from improper completion techniques or changes in reservoir properties. The idea is to provide support to the formation to prevent movement under stresses resulting from fluid flow from reservoir to well bore. That means that sand control often result with reduced well production. Control of sand production is achieved by: reducing drag forces (the cheapest and most effective method), mechanical sand bridging (screens, gravel packs) and increasing of formation strength (chemical consolidation). For open hole completions or with un-cemented slotted liners/screens sand failure will occur and must be predicted. Main problem is plugging. To combat well failures due to plugging and sand breakthrough Water-Packing or Shunt-Packing are used.

This book is based on the findings of a long-term (2000-2014) interdisciplinary research project of the University of Hohenheim in collaboration with several universities in Thailand and Vietnam. Titled Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountainous Areas in Southeast Asia, or the Uplands Program, the project aims to contribute through agricultural research to the conservation of natural resources and the improvement of living conditions of the rural population in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia. Having three objectives the book first aims to give an interdisciplinary account of the drivers, consequences and challenges of ongoing changes in mountainous areas of Southeast Asia. Second, the book describes how innovation processes can contribute to addressing these challenges and third, how knowledge creation to support change in policies and institutions can assist in sustainably develop mountain areas and people’s livelihoods.

With ever increasing trends in urban consumption and production practices, a call for action to mitigate Climate Change is often seen as a way to foster sustainable development. Considerable attention is now being paid to determine what urban sustainability would include. Today there is a pressing need to broaden our knowledge and apply new concepts and frameworks to development of modern cities. Building on the foregoing, this book attempts to bring together and discuss concepts, tools, frameworks and best practices to cope with the emerging challenges faced by cities today. The book will be of use to policy makers, city planners, practitioners and academics who are starting to project what modern cities would need to do in terms of energy efficiency, mobility, planning and design of habitat and infrastructure and adapting to climate change.

Involving several areas of geological engineering, geotechnical engineering and tunnel engineering, this book describes the soft soil deformation characteristics and dynamic responses induced by subway vibration load. Based on field monitoring and laboratory testing data, with both comprehensive micro-and macroanalysis, the authors present dynamic characteristics and deformation settlement of saturated soft clay surrounding subway tunnels using dynamic and static methodology. Mechanism of deformation, failure in microstructure of soft clay soil, dynamic response, macro deformation and settlement are all discussed and analyzed thoroughly and systematically. Some of the research findings in this book have been widely applied by large subway companies and will have broader application prospects in future. All the above make this book a valuable reference not only for technical engineers working in subway design or construction but also for advanced graduate students. Prof. Yiqun Tang works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

With ever increasing trends in urban consumption and production practices, a call for action to mitigate Climate Change is often seen as a way to foster sustainable development. Considerable attention is now being paid to determine what urban sustainability would include. Today there is a pressing need to broaden our knowledge and apply new concepts and frameworks to development of modern cities. Building on the foregoing, this book attempts to bring together and discuss concepts, tools, frameworks and best practices to cope with the emerging challenges faced by cities today. The book will be of use to policy makers, city planners, practitioners and academics who are starting to project what modern cities would need to do in terms of energy efficiency, mobility, planning and design of habitat and infrastructure and adapting to climate change.

This book is based on the findings of a long-term (2000-2014) interdisciplinary research project of the University of Hohenheim in collaboration with several universities in Thailand and Vietnam. Titled Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountainous Areas in Southeast Asia, or the Uplands Program, the project aims to contribute through agricultural research to the conservation of natural resources and the improvement of living conditions of the rural population in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia. Having three objectives the book first aims to give an interdisciplinary account of the drivers, consequences and challenges of ongoing changes in mountainous areas of Southeast Asia. Second, the book describes how innovation processes can contribute to addressing these challenges and third, how knowledge creation to support change in policies and institutions can assist in sustainably develop mountain areas and people’s livelihoods.

This book builds on the analyses of Eugene and Howard Odum and introduces the concept of systems ecology. Ecological emergy accounting represents a breakthrough because it allows researchers to integrate man-made capital and natural capital so that human and natural concerns can be addressed using a consistent system of units. This book develops an emergy accounting model that is suitable for describing urban systems, thereby providing a comprehensive picture of those systems. To make the theory concrete, the authors use China’s Macao Special Administrative Region as a case study, and compare the results for Macao with those of other urban ecosystems around the world in the fields of ecological economy, tourism, waste treatment, gambling industry, land reclamation and resource consumption etc.Dr. Kampeng Lei is an advisory senior technician at the Environmental Protection Bureau, Government of Macao, China; Shaoqi Zhou is a professor at the College of Environment and Energy, the South China University of Technology, and the Guizhou Academy of Sciences, China; Zhishi Wang is a professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, the University of Macau, China.

“Wetland Restoration: Shanghai Dalian Lake Project” introduces the whole Shanghai DaLian wetland restoration project, including the background investigation of the wetland, the overall planning of wetland restoration, its detailed design, engineering construction and engineering effects. This book appeals to readers especially due to its detailed data on wetland restoration. Readers can carry out a similar project step by step from the initial investigation to the last assessment by following the structure presented in this work. Through this book, we can get first-hand information on a wetland restoration, but it can also be valuable for other projects.Professor Shuqing An works at Nanjing University, China.

This book has following unique features that distinguish it from other works from the same area: 1) Investigates the influence of fissure geometry on strength failure and crack evolution behaviour of real rock material; 2) Analyzes the effect of pre-experiment high-temperature treatment on fracture mechanical behaviour of rock material with a single fissure or two parallel fissures; 3) Compares quantitatively simulated results using discrete element modelling and experimental results of fracture mechanical behaviour of rock material with two fissures; 4) Constructs the relationship between crack evolution processes and acoustic emission distribution of pre-fissured rock material under entire deformation; and 5) Discusses the crack evolution mechanism of pre-fissured rock material with respect to different confining pressures. This book can become the reference for technicians in the field of geotechnical engineering, mining engineering and geology engineering. At the same time, this book can be regarded as a good reference for scientific researchers carrying out fissured rock mechanics and correlated specialties.

Through numerous color figures and tables, this book presents the most up-to-date knowledge on climate and environmental change in China. It documents the evidence and attribution of climate and environmental changes in the past few decades and discusses the impacts of climate change on environments, economy, and society. The book further provides projections of climate change and its impacts in the future. Finally, it offers the climate change mitigation and adaption technologies with strategic options which will be of interest for policy makers, researchers and the general public as well.

“Wetland Restoration: Shanghai Dalian Lake Project” introduces the whole Shanghai DaLian wetland restoration project, including the background investigation of the wetland, the overall planning of wetland restoration, its detailed design, engineering construction and engineering effects. This book appeals to readers especially due to its detailed data on wetland restoration. Readers can carry out a similar project step by step from the initial investigation to the last assessment by following the structure presented in this work. Through this book, we can get first-hand information on a wetland restoration, but it can also be valuable for other projects.Professor Shuqing An works at Nanjing University, China.

This book builds on the analyses of Eugene and Howard Odum and introduces the concept of systems ecology. Ecological emergy accounting represents a breakthrough because it allows researchers to integrate man-made capital and natural capital so that human and natural concerns can be addressed using a consistent system of units. This book develops an emergy accounting model that is suitable for describing urban systems, thereby providing a comprehensive picture of those systems. To make the theory concrete, the authors use China’s Macao Special Administrative Region as a case study, and compare the results for Macao with those of other urban ecosystems around the world in the fields of ecological economy, tourism, waste treatment, gambling industry, land reclamation and resource consumption etc.Dr. Kampeng Lei is an advisory senior technician at the Environmental Protection Bureau, Government of Macao, China; Shaoqi Zhou is a professor at the College of Environment and Energy, the South China University of Technology, and the Guizhou Academy of Sciences, China; Zhishi Wang is a professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, the University of Macau, China.

Through numerous color figures and tables, this book presents the most up-to-date knowledge on climate and environmental change in China. It documents the evidence and attribution of climate and environmental changes in the past few decades and discusses the impacts of climate change on environments, economy, and society. The book further provides projections of climate change and its impacts in the future. Finally, it offers the climate change mitigation and adaption technologies with strategic options which will be of interest for policy makers, researchers and the general public as well.

This book has following unique features that distinguish it from other works from the same area: 1) Investigates the influence of fissure geometry on strength failure and crack evolution behaviour of real rock material; 2) Analyzes the effect of pre-experiment high-temperature treatment on fracture mechanical behaviour of rock material with a single fissure or two parallel fissures; 3) Compares quantitatively simulated results using discrete element modelling and experimental results of fracture mechanical behaviour of rock material with two fissures; 4) Constructs the relationship between crack evolution processes and acoustic emission distribution of pre-fissured rock material under entire deformation; and 5) Discusses the crack evolution mechanism of pre-fissured rock material with respect to different confining pressures. This book can become the reference for technicians in the field of geotechnical engineering, mining engineering and geology engineering. At the same time, this book can be regarded as a good reference for scientific researchers carrying out fissured rock mechanics and correlated specialties.

Produced sand causes a lot of problems. From that reasons sand production must be monitored and kept within acceptable limits. Sand control problems in wells result from improper completion techniques or changes in reservoir properties. The idea is to provide support to the formation to prevent movement under stresses resulting from fluid flow from reservoir to well bore. That means that sand control often result with reduced well production. Control of sand production is achieved by: reducing drag forces (the cheapest and most effective method), mechanical sand bridging (screens, gravel packs) and increasing of formation strength (chemical consolidation). For open hole completions or with un-cemented slotted liners/screens sand failure will occur and must be predicted. Main problem is plugging. To combat well failures due to plugging and sand breakthrough Water-Packing or Shunt-Packing are used.

This book about the Mekong Delta presents a unique collection of state-of-the-art contributions by international experts from different scientific disciplines about the characteristics and pressing water-related challenges of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta belongs to one of the areas, which are to expect the largest challenges concerning environmental change and climate change induced sea level rise . The Delta acts as the “rice bowl” of Southeast Asia and is home to over 17 Million people, who need to cope with ecologic as well as socio-economic changes linked to the rapid economic development of the country. Annual floods, severe droughts, salt water intrusion, degrading water quality, tropical cyclones, hydrologic changes due to hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong, coastal erosion, and the loss of biodiversity are some of the problems in the region. Heterogeneous resource management responsibilities, and the fact that the Mekong – and thus also the Delta – is influenced by six countries aggravate the situation. Integrated water resources management and fostered cooperation and information exchange are pressing needs for the sustainable development of the Delta.

This volume presents a state-of-the-art assessment of the Earth's climate system in Siberia and relationships between climate, ecosystems and people in that region. Changes in climatic variables and land cover in Siberia are among the earliest indicators of the Earth’s response to climate warming. The volume is a compilation of results from studies on climate, land-cover and land-use changes and their interactions with biogeochemical and water cycles, atmospheric aerosol, and human and wildlife populations in Siberia. Regional changes in Siberia are predicted to affect climate and people on a global scale. NASA, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and several European institutions have supported these studies. The primary supporter of the projects that produced the results compiled in this volume is the NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program, hence most studies use remote sensing in their research. The chapters in this volume were written by an international team of scientists from the USA, Europe and Russia under the auspices of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). This book will be of interest to those involved in studying recent and ongoing changes in Siberia, be they senior scientists, early career scientists or students.

Health monitoring of civil structures (HMS) is a new discipline, which contributes to successful and on time detection of damages to structures. This book is a collection of chapters on different topics written by leading scientists in the field. It is primarily focused on the latest achievements in  monitoring the earthquake effect upon the health of civil structures. The first chapter of the book deals with the geotechnical and structural aspects of the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes.  Further chapters are dedicated to the latest HMS techniques of identification of  damage to structures caused by earthquakes. Real time damage detection as well as sensors and acquisition systems used for that purpose are presented. The attention is focused on automated modal analysis, dynamic artificial neural networks and wavelet techniques used in HMS. Particular emphasis is put on wireless sensors and piezo-impendance transducers used for evaluation of seismically induced structural damage. The discussion is followed by presentation of case studies of application of health monitoring for buildings and other civil structures, including a super tall structure. The book ends with a presentation of shaking table tests on physical models for the purpose of monitoring their behaviour under earthquake excitation. AudienceThe book is primarily intended for engineers and scientists working in the field of application of the HMS technique in earthquake engineering. Considering that real time health monitoring of structures represents a sophisticated approach applying the latest techniques of monitoring of structures, many experts from other industries will also find this book useful.

Cities built on unconsolidated sediments consisting of clays, silt, peat, and sand, are particularly susceptible to subsidence.  Such regions are common in delta areas, where rivers empty into the oceans, along flood plains adjacent to rivers, and in coastal marsh lands.  Building cities in such areas aggravates the problem for several reasons:1.  Construction of buildings and streets adds weight to the region causing additional soil deformations. 2.  Often the regions have to be drained in order to be occupied.  This results in lowering of the water table and leads to hydro-compaction.3. Often the groundwater is used as a source of water for both human consumption and industrial use.  4. Levees and dams are often built to prevent or control flooding.Earth fissures caused by ground failure in areas of uneven or differential compaction have damaged buildings, roads and highways, railroads, flood-control structures and sewer lines. As emphasized by Barends , "in order to develop a legal framework to claims and litigation, it is essential that direct and indirect causes of land subsidence effects can be quantified with sufficient accuracy from a technical and scientific point of view." Most existing methods and software applications treat the subsidence problem by analyzing one of the causes.  This is due to the fact that the causes appear at different spatial scales. For example, over-pumping creates large scale subsidence, while building loading creates local subsidence/consolidation only. Then, maximum permissible land subsidence (or consolidation) is a constraint in different management problems such as: groundwater management, planning of town and/or laws on building construction. It is, therefore, necessary to quantify the contribution of each cause to soil subsidence of the ground surface in cities urban area. In this text book, we present an engineering approach based on the Biotsystem of equations to predict the soil settlement due to subsidence, resulting from different causes. Also we present a case study of The Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA).

This volume presents a state-of-the-art assessment of the Earth's climate system in Siberia and relationships between climate, ecosystems and people in that region. Changes in climatic variables and land cover in Siberia are among the earliest indicators of the Earth’s response to climate warming. The volume is a compilation of results from studies on climate, land-cover and land-use changes and their interactions with biogeochemical and water cycles, atmospheric aerosol, and human and wildlife populations in Siberia. Regional changes in Siberia are predicted to affect climate and people on a global scale. NASA, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and several European institutions have supported these studies. The primary supporter of the projects that produced the results compiled in this volume is the NASA Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program, hence most studies use remote sensing in their research. The chapters in this volume were written by an international team of scientists from the USA, Europe and Russia under the auspices of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). This book will be of interest to those involved in studying recent and ongoing changes in Siberia, be they senior scientists, early career scientists or students.

Cities built on unconsolidated sediments consisting of clays, silt, peat, and sand, are particularly susceptible to subsidence.  Such regions are common in delta areas, where rivers empty into the oceans, along flood plains adjacent to rivers, and in coastal marsh lands.  Building cities in such areas aggravates the problem for several reasons:1.  Construction of buildings and streets adds weight to the region causing additional soil deformations. 2.  Often the regions have to be drained in order to be occupied.  This results in lowering of the water table and leads to hydro-compaction.3. Often the groundwater is used as a source of water for both human consumption and industrial use.  4. Levees and dams are often built to prevent or control flooding.Earth fissures caused by ground failure in areas of uneven or differential compaction have damaged buildings, roads and highways, railroads, flood-control structures and sewer lines. As emphasized by Barends , "in order to develop a legal framework to claims and litigation, it is essential that direct and indirect causes of land subsidence effects can be quantified with sufficient accuracy from a technical and scientific point of view." Most existing methods and software applications treat the subsidence problem by analyzing one of the causes.  This is due to the fact that the causes appear at different spatial scales. For example, over-pumping creates large scale subsidence, while building loading creates local subsidence/consolidation only. Then, maximum permissible land subsidence (or consolidation) is a constraint in different management problems such as: groundwater management, planning of town and/or laws on building construction. It is, therefore, necessary to quantify the contribution of each cause to soil subsidence of the ground surface in cities urban area. In this text book, we present an engineering approach based on the Biotsystem of equations to predict the soil settlement due to subsidence, resulting from different causes. Also we present a case study of The Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA).

Health monitoring of civil structures (HMS) is a new discipline, which contributes to successful and on time detection of damages to structures. This book is a collection of chapters on different topics written by leading scientists in the field. It is primarily focused on the latest achievements in  monitoring the earthquake effect upon the health of civil structures. The first chapter of the book deals with the geotechnical and structural aspects of the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes.  Further chapters are dedicated to the latest HMS techniques of identification of  damage to structures caused by earthquakes. Real time damage detection as well as sensors and acquisition systems used for that purpose are presented. The attention is focused on automated modal analysis, dynamic artificial neural networks and wavelet techniques used in HMS. Particular emphasis is put on wireless sensors and piezo-impendance transducers used for evaluation of seismically induced structural damage. The discussion is followed by presentation of case studies of application of health monitoring for buildings and other civil structures, including a super tall structure. The book ends with a presentation of shaking table tests on physical models for the purpose of monitoring their behaviour under earthquake excitation. AudienceThe book is primarily intended for engineers and scientists working in the field of application of the HMS technique in earthquake engineering. Considering that real time health monitoring of structures represents a sophisticated approach applying the latest techniques of monitoring of structures, many experts from other industries will also find this book useful.

This book about the Mekong Delta presents a unique collection of state-of-the-art contributions by international experts from different scientific disciplines about the characteristics and pressing water-related challenges of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta belongs to one of the areas, which are to expect the largest challenges concerning environmental change and climate change induced sea level rise . The Delta acts as the “rice bowl” of Southeast Asia and is home to over 17 Million people, who need to cope with ecologic as well as socio-economic changes linked to the rapid economic development of the country. Annual floods, severe droughts, salt water intrusion, degrading water quality, tropical cyclones, hydrologic changes due to hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong, coastal erosion, and the loss of biodiversity are some of the problems in the region. Heterogeneous resource management responsibilities, and the fact that the Mekong – and thus also the Delta – is influenced by six countries aggravate the situation. Integrated water resources management and fostered cooperation and information exchange are pressing needs for the sustainable development of the Delta.

This book contains papers presented at the 6th Global Workshop on Digital SoilMapping, held 11-14 November 2014 at the Institute of Soil Science, ChineseAcademy of Sciences of Nanjing, China. Digital soil mapping is advancing ondifferent fronts at different paces throughout the world. The researches andapplications on DSM are moving from method development to realizations indifferent scales and regions, serving the generation of national andcontinental to global soil grids. Meanwhile, new ideas and insights on mapping complex soil-landscapes such as flat plains,anthropogenically altered agriculture and urban spaces are emerging, with the help of new paradigms and models.The goal of the sixth workshop was to review and discuss the state ofthe art in digital soil mapping, and to explore strategies for bridgingresearch, production, and environmental applications.Thisbook provides a very useful and comprehensive overview of the status of digitalsoil mapping, in which graduate students, scientists and specialists workingwithin the field of geography can find the spatial prediction approaches andrelated theory.