No abstract

Rainfall data from 18 stations in the vicinity of Tokyo city, measured to a precision of 1 mm, were analysed for multifractal properties. A multifractal model based on the scaling properties of temporal distribution of rainfall intensities was formulated to investigate the intensity distribution relationships in the available scaling regime. Although conventional analysis did not provide encouraging results with these measurements, an alternative approach that could be applied to rainfall data of widely variable quality and duration was used to establish a scaling relationship between daily and hourly rainfall intensities. Using a discrete cascade algorithm based on the log-Lèvy generator, synthetic hourly rainfall series were generated from the multifractal statistics of daily-accumulated rainfall. Several properties of rainfall time series that are relevant to the use of rainfall data in surface hydrological studies were used to determine, statistically, the degree of agreement between the synthetic hourly series and observed hourly rainfall.

Downscaling of climate projections is the most adapted method to assess the impacts of climate change at regional and local scale. This study utilized both spatial and temporal downscaling approaches to develop Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) relations for sub-daily rainfall extremes in Perth airport area. Multiple regression based SDSM tool was used to spatial downscaling of daily rainfalls using GCMs' (HadCM3 and CGCM3) climate variables. Simple scaling regime was identified for 30 minutes to 24 hours duration of observed Annual Maximum (AM) rainfalls. Therefore, statistical properties of sub daily AM rainfalls were estimated by scaling invariant model based on the GEV distribution. RMSE, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient and Percentage bias values were estimated to check the accuracy of downscaled sub daily rainfalls. They proved the capability of proposed approach in developing linkage between large scale GCM's daily variables and extreme sub daily rainfall events at a given location. Finally IDF curves were developed for future periods and it show similar extreme rainfall decreasing trend for 2020s, 2050s and 2080s for both GCMs.

Abstract-Collection and analysis of pavement distress data is a significant component for effective long-term pavement performance. Accurate, consistent, and repeatable pavement distress type's evaluation can reduce a tremendous amount of time and money that has been spending each year on maintenance and rehabilitation of existing pavement distress. The main objective of this study is to identify and quantify of surface distress in a given segment of pavement, to perform details distress rating, to predict pavement temperature and cost analysis of individual pavement distress on heavily urban roads in Western Australia (WA). Field survey were conducted from three regions in WA and two approached were used to evaluate and analysis the pavement distress. First, the probabilistic network Marov-Chain Process method was used to predict the cost analysis for individual asphalt concrete surfaced pavement distress. Second, Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) was used to predict pavement temperature for asphalt concrete surface pavement. Meteorological data were collected from Perth, Kalgoorlie, and Albany region in WA, and data were used to develop and validation of the model. Different types of pavement distress level were identified and color photograph illustrated the asphalt concrete surfaced pavement. Results were performed and analysis. Results from this study will be useful resource to Main Roads Western Australia, Western Australia State Highways (WASH), and other pavement related users including to the National Highway System (NHS). In addition, results can be used for pavement management systems (PMSs) purpose.

The ventilation rates of different types of ridge vents in combination with insect-screened side vents were assessed in single greenhouses in terms of the difference in temperature and humidity inside and outside under tropical conditions. The A-frame (slanted roof) was comparatively advantageous over the conventional arch frame (curved roof) for keeping daytime temperature lower in single span greenhouse with insect-screened side vents (mesh size: 1 by 1 mm) and without roof vents. The inclusion of ridge vents further reduced the internal temperature and relative humidity (RH) in the A-frame greenhouse during the daytime. The opening area of the ridge vent within the range between 9.3% and 14% (of the floor area) did not significantly change the ventilation based internal temperature and RH when operated under low wind speeds (0.5 ± 0.5 m s -1 ). Meanwhile the effect of ridge orientation, with respect to wind direction, on greenhouse ventilation was not obvious in terms of temperature or RH under inconsistent wind directions and low wind speeds. Greenhouse ventilation positively responded to low winds (0.25 m s -1 ) by reducing internal temperature as well as RH. However, the response to a further increase in wind speed from 0.25 to 0.5 m s -1 was not significant. Based on climate control characteristics an A-frame single-span greenhouse design with double sided alternate ridge vents and insect-screened side vents could be appropriate for tropical climates under low wind speeds and inconsistent wind directions as a cost effective and user-friendly greenhouse design. Particularly, it is highly applicable for the small-scale controlled environment vegetable production in mid and low elevations in the wet zone of Sri Lanka.