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Multilayered triangular and quadrilateral flat shell elements based on the Refined Zigzag Theory

The paper presents a class of C 0 -continuous, flat shell elements based on the Refined Zigzag Theory (RZT) for the analysis of multilayered and curved composite and sandwich structures. In this study, the use of the interdependent interpolation strategy allows eliminating the shear-locking phenomenon and introducing the drilling rotation necessary to complete the set of classical nodal degrees of freedom (three displacements and three rotations). Additional kinematic variables are present in RZT, the zigzag rotations around the in-plane axes that measure the normal distortion typical of multilayered structures. An additional “drilling” zigzag rotation is therefore included among the nodal degrees of freedom in order to properly model curved and built-up structures. A stabilization procedure is adopted to suppress spurious zero-energy modes. A three-node triangular and a four-node quadrilateral flat shell element are formulated with 9 degrees of freedom per node. Example problems involving flat and curved multilayered structures are presented and discussed in order to assess the accuracy and convergence properties of the presented elements. Both static response predictions and free vibrations analyses are considered and the comparison is made with analytic RZT solutions, high-fidelity 3D finite element models and FSDT-based flat shell elements.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Urbanization Impact on Regional Climate and Extreme Weather: Current Understanding, Uncertainties, and Future Research Directions

Abstract Urban environments lie at the confluence of social, cultural, and economic activities and have unique biophysical characteristics due to continued infrastructure development that generally replaces natural landscapes with built-up structures. The vast majority of studies on urban perturbation of local weather and climate have been centered on the urban heat island (UHI) effect, referring to the higher temperature in cities compared to their natural surroundings. Besides the UHI effect and heat waves, urbanization also impacts atmospheric moisture, wind, boundary layer structure, cloud formation, dispersion of air pollutants, precipitation, and storms. In this review article, we first introduce the datasets and methods used in studying urban areas and their impacts through both observation and modeling and then summarize the scientific insights on the impact of urbanization on various aspects of regional climate and extreme weather based on more than 500 studies. We also highlight the major research gaps and challenges in our understanding of the impacts of urbanization and provide our perspective and recommendations for future research priorities and directions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Designed asymmetric coordination helicates with bis-β-diketonate ligands

A new bis-(β-diketone) ligand featuring built-up structural asymmetry yields non-symmetric Fe(III) and Ga(III) dinuclear, triple-stranded helicates by design. Their structural properties have been studied, both in solid state and in solution, and compared with their corresponding symmetric analogues. Finally, the robustness observed shows the potential of this synthetic strategy to develop non-symmetric helicoidal motifs with specific functional groups.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Linear downscaling from MODIS to landsat: connecting landscape composition with ecosystem functions

The open and free access to Landsat and MODIS products have greatly promoted scientific investigations on spatiotemporal change in land mosaics and ecosystem functions at landscape to regional scales. Unfortunately, there is a major mismatch in spatial resolution between MODIS products at coarser resolution (≥ 250 m) and landscape structure based on classified Landsat scenes at finer resolution (30 m). Based on practical needs for downscaling popular MODIS products at 500 m resolution to match classified land cover at Landsat 30 m resolution, we proposed an innovative modelling approach so that landscape structure and ecosystem functions can be directly studied for their interconnections. As a proof-of-concept of our downscaling approach, we selected the watershed of the Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan, USA as the testbed. MODIS products for three fundamental variables of ecosystem function are downscaled to ensure the approach can be extrapolated to multiple functional measurements. They are blue-sky albedo (0–1), evapotranspiration (ET, mm), and gross primary production (GPP, Mg C ha -1 year -1 ). An object-oriented classification of Landsat images in 2011 was processed to generate a land cover map for landscape structure. The downscaling model was tested for the five Level IV ecoregions within the watershed. We achieved satisfactory downscaling models for albedo, ET, and GPP for all five ecoregions. The adjusted R2 was > 0.995 for albedo, 0.915–0.997 for ET, and 0.902–0.962 for GPP. The estimated albedo, ET, and GPP values appear different in the region. The estimated albedo was the lowest for water (0.076–0.107) and the highest for cropland (0.166–0.172). Estimated ET was the highest for the built-up cover type (525.6–687.1 mm) and the lowest for forest (209.7–459.7 mm). The estimated GPP was the highest for the build-up cover type (8.65–9.85 Mg C ha -1 year -1 ) and the lowest for forest. Estimated values for albedo, ET, and GPP appear reasonable for their ranges in the Kalamazoo River region and are consistent with values reported in the literature. Despite these promising results, the downscaling approach relies on strong assumptions and can carry substantial uncertainty. Finally, it is only valid at a spatial scale where similar climate, soil, and landforms exist (i.e., values in isolated patches of the same cover type are similar). Plausibly, the uncertainties associated with each estimation, as well as the model residuals, can be explored for other pattern-process relationships within the landscape.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗