Papers by Victor Manuel Pissarra Cavaleiro
The effects of climate change and the growing demand for water for domestic, industrial, agricult... more The effects of climate change and the growing demand for water for domestic, industrial, agricultural and recreational activities have been led the use of treated wastewater (reclaimed water) for such applications. The artificial recharge of aquifers with treated wastewater can be an alternative way for restoring underground water volumes that can be used for satisfying some activities, particularly in water shortage areas or where their quality is not suitable for use. After a two-year monitoring period in the characteristics of the treated effluent suggest that it could be used for infiltration for aquifer recharge. A multicriteria analysis based on GIS was developed for site location of infiltration sites. The procedure has involved the combination of six thematic maps and environmental, technical and economic criteria, over an area of 6687.1 ha. About 6.4 ha were selected for suitable sites for infiltration and one of these sites (Quinta de Gonçalo Martins, Guarda) was selected ...
O presente trabalho aborda a gestão de ativos num ambiente crítico-o Biotério da Faculdade de Ciê... more O presente trabalho aborda a gestão de ativos num ambiente crítico-o Biotério da Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde (FCS) da Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal-uma instalação onde as condições ambientais devem ser mantidas ininterruptamente a uma temperatura de 21 ºC e com uma humidade relativa de 50%. A manutenção de tais condições exige uma constante utilização do sistema de Aquecimento, Ventilação e Ar Condicionado (AVAC), sobretudo dos chillers e caldeiras para o arrefecimento e aquecimento, respetivamente. Consequentemente, devido à significativa variação climática ao longo do ano, uma avaria no sistema pode resultar em drásticas consequências para os ativos da instalação e também, para as atividades em curso. Visto que, eventualmente, os chillers e caldeiras deverão ser encaminhados para o abate, o objetivo deste artigo é efetuar uma análise de possíveis alternativas para a substituição de tais equipamentos levando em conta os aspetos económicos e ambientais. Por esta razão, são aqui abordadas as Bombas de Calor (BC), que operam segundo o ciclo de compressão de vapor, pois são equipamentos que satisfazem ambos os aspetos ao promoverem quer o arrefecimento quer o aquecimento do ambiente de modo mais eficiente e sustentável. Deste modo, são discutidas as tecnologias de BC aerotérmicas e geotérmicas e os aspetos de operação intrínsecos às mesmas. Por fim, é realizada uma simulação, em linguagem Python, de ambos os equipamentos, para diversos cenários de aquecimento e arrefecimento do ambiente em questão, com vista a uma análise mais detalhada do tema.
Civil and environmental engineering, Jun 1, 2024
Modeling Soil Erosion Potential Using Usle and Gis Tools in the Watersheds of Covilha Region (Portugal)
International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM .., Jun 20, 2017
Scale Effect of Granitic Materials
45th U.S. Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium, 2011
CRC Press eBooks, Jun 6, 2016
Slope stability is a recurrent theme amongst all branches of civil engineering and is of major si... more Slope stability is a recurrent theme amongst all branches of civil engineering and is of major significance on large scale infrastructure projects such as highways, railways or canals, where having more cost effective designs becomes a crucial drive on any scheme. The aim of this paper is to numerically backanalyse the stability of an existing experimental embankment built under the supervision of PhD students at UBI, making use of one of the region's most abundant resource, its granitic residual soil, very commonly used in road schemes. This is part of an ongoing study of this natural resource, which has begun by undertaking a laboratory geotechnical characterisation of the granitic residual soil in question. To better understand the potential of the residual soil, this paper is primarily focused on the determination of the Margins of Safety using different calculation methods (LEM and FEM), to allow for an expedite assessment of the stability of granitic residual soil slopes, for different soil properties, geometries, applied loads and groundwater conditions. Additionally, this paper also tries to quantify the merits of some of the most common remediation techniques, drawing a comparison between their effectiveness. However, the remedial options discussed and analysed should be perceived as concept ideas as their gain in terms of MoS will likely vary from case to case. Furthermore, the benefits of combining the effects of more than one remedial options has been excluded from this study. The parametric study has made use of one LEM based software (SLOPE/W) and one FEM based software (PLAXIS 2D), which have allowed for some conclusions to be drawn for each set of conditions, in particular due to changes in groundwater levels and applied surcharges at the crest.
A road user costs model for Portuguese trunk roads
In road management several road user costs (RUC) models have been used. Some of the most importan... more In road management several road user costs (RUC) models have been used. Some of the most important ones were analysed to provide the conceptual basis for a new RUC model for application in Portuguese trunk road net. As in the great majority of the analysed models, three main components of road user costs were considered in the proposed model, namely: vehicle operating costs, accident costs and value of time. Eventually it can also be added a component related with tolling costs. This paper presents the formulation to estimate RUC components suitable to the Portuguese road network; the necessary input values to apply the model (2006 values calibrated through data obtained from transportation associations and companies' surveys); and, two applications to Portuguese road networks under private concession. The model was developed aiming at simplicity, reduced data requirements (selected data is usually available), easy calibration, easy application and trustworthy results. The main ...
Geotechnical Properties of Clayey Formations In Borderline Soils/rocks
The safeguard of the built heritage has been gaining an increased importance among the various en... more The safeguard of the built heritage has been gaining an increased importance among the various entities related to construction. Nevertheless, the shift of paradigm that needs to take place in order to achieve an overlap of new construction by rehabilitation/reuse of buildings is still far from being established in contemporary society. However, there are a few construction techniques, which have been successfully implemented for several years, that enable the execution of temporary and definitive works, namely excavations in urban areas and underpinning, in an economical, practical and, above all, safe manner. The growing number of projects of this nature was not accompanied by the development of standards and codes of practice specifically dedicated to this subject. As a result, it is often required from engineers to thoughtfully adapt the existing regulations, applied to new construction, to the project at hand. This paper, whose main objective is to review/overview some of the construction techniques associated with underpinning operations and the systematization of the needed steps applicable to two procedures in particular (micropiles and jet grouting), aims to incorporate, in a single document, the most important features and the safety requirements involved in these projects. Finally, three case studies of underpinning are presented, concerning the application of the stated techniques, design by the company JetSJ Geotecnia, Lda, between March and September of 2010. 2. Underpinning project and construction techniques The rehabilitation of an existing building, mostly 40 to 50 years old, motivated by a change of use or structural damage, which may be a consequence of insufficient soil bearing capacity, may require an underpinning project. This type of work requires skilled labour, not only constructors, but also in the planning stage, since there is not an universal solution applicable to all cases. In fact, the underpinning solution depends on many factors, among which are the mechanical properties of the support stratum of soil, the conservation conditions of the foundation elements and, above all, the restrictions imposed during this operation. The need for reinforcement of foundations is generally associated with works under an existing construction or in their immediate proximity (changes in boundary conditions of the ground foundation), or induced by the degradation with time of the foundation stratum. The first case is becoming increasingly common in urban areas, due to the need of mobility, resulting in the execution of tunnels or underpasses, but also the creation of underground car parks, associated with the construction of several levels of basements.
Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2018
Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is important for catastrophe management in the mountainous... more Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is important for catastrophe management in the mountainous regions. They focus on generating susceptibility maps beginning from landslide inventories and considering the main predisposing parameters. The aim of this study was to assess the susceptibility of the occurrence of debris flows in the Zêzere River basin and its surrounding area using logistic regression (LR) and frequency ratio (FR) models. To achieve this, a landslide inventory map was created using historical information, satellite imagery, and extensive field works. One hundred landslides were mapped, of which 75% were randomly selected as training data, while the remaining 25% were used for validating the models. The landslide influence factors considered for this study were lithology, elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), distance to roads, topographic wetness index (TWI), and stream power index (SPI). The relationships between landslide occurrence and these factors were established, and the results were then evaluated and validated. Validation results show that both methods give acceptable results [the area under curve (AUC) of success rates is 83.71 and 76.38 for LR and FR, respectively]. Furthermore, the AUC results for prediction accuracy revealed that LR model has the highest predictive performance (AUC of predicted rate = 80.26). Hence, it is concluded that the two models showed reasonably good accuracy in predicting the landslide susceptibility in the study area. These two models have the potential to aid planners in development and land-use planning and to offer tools for hazard mitigation measures.
Landslide susceptibility mapping using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in Tehri reservoir rim region, Uttarakhand
Journal of the Geological Society of India, 2016
A comprehensive use of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method in landslide susceptibility mapp... more A comprehensive use of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method in landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) has been presented for rim region of Tehri reservoir. Using remote sensing data, various landslide causative factors responsible for inducing instability in the area were derived. Ancillary data such as geological map, soil map, and topographic map were also considered along with remote sensing data. Exhaustive field checks were performed to define the credibility of the random landslide conditioning factors considered in this study. Apart from universally acceptable inherent causative factors used in the susceptibility mapping, others such as impact of reservoir impoundment on terrain, topographic wetness index and stream power index were found to be important causative factors in rim region of the Tehri reservoir. The AHP method was used to acquire weights of factors and their classes respectively. Weights achieved from AHP method matched with the existing field conditions. Acceptable consistency ratio (CR) value was achieved for each AHP matrix. Weights of each factor were integrated with weighted sum technique and a landslide susceptibility index map was generated. Jenk’s natural break classifier was used to classify LSI map into very low, low, moderate, high and very high landslide susceptible classes. Validation of the susceptibility map was performed using cumulative percentage/success rate curve technique. Area under curve value of the success rate curve was converted to percentage validation accuracy and a reasonable 78.7% validation accuracy was achieved.
Localização de áreas para infiltração de águas residuais tratadas de pequenos aglomerados urbanos
Chemical and mineralogical characterization of elbaites from the Alto Quixaba pegmatite, Seridó province, NE Brazil
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 2005
The Alto Quixaba pegmatite, Seridó region, northeastern Brazil, is a 60º/80ºSW-trending subvertic... more The Alto Quixaba pegmatite, Seridó region, northeastern Brazil, is a 60º/80ºSW-trending subvertical dike discordantly intruded into biotite schists of the Upper Neoproterozoic Seridó Formation. It has three distinct mineralogical and textural zones, besides a replacement body that cuts the pegmatite at its central portion and in which occur, among other gem minerals, colored elbaites. Elbaites usually occur as prismatic crystals, elongate according to the c-axis, with rounded faces and striations parallel to this axis. Optically, crystals are uniaxial negative with strong pleochroism; refractive index extraordinary axis = 1.619-1.622 and ordinary axis = 1.639-1.643, birefringence between 0.019 and 0.021, average relative density of 3.07, and the following unit cell parameters: ao = 15.845 Å, co = 7.085 Å and V = 1540.476 Å. There is alkali deficiency in the X site of 12-17%. The elbaites are relatively enriched in MnO (1.69 to 2.87%) and ZnO (up to 2.98%).
Environmental-chemical compatibility of granitic-mining waste for liner material
CRC Press eBooks, Aug 14, 2023
New Methodology for Rocks’ Geomechanical Characterization with Schmidt Sclerometer
Rilem bookseries, 2023
Springer eBooks, 2018
Universities are making great efforts in order to improve their rates in terms of internationaliz... more Universities are making great efforts in order to improve their rates in terms of internationalization. With the rise of international mobility, among students, new challenges are emerging on the high education system. In this sense, this paper aims to show some key strategies in terms of teaching methodologies that Universities should follow forward to a better internationalization performance. It is based on the case of University of Beira Interior in Portugal, in a multidisciplinary approach, which involves scholars from the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and from the Department of Mathematics, teaching at the Civil Engineering studies. The main research questions of this paper are the following: are the currently used teaching methodologies prepared to accommodate international students who have different standards of proficiency whether in terms of language or in basic knowledge of mathematics? Which are the challenges of high education system, in order to improve the performance of international students, engaging them as part of a collaborative learning approach? The conclusions show that there is the need of following new teaching methodologies in a more collaborative approach, in order to promote the integration of international students.
KnE Materials Science, Aug 10, 2022
The "Entre-os-Rios" thermal aquifer has a protection perimeter buffer zone for avoiding water con... more The "Entre-os-Rios" thermal aquifer has a protection perimeter buffer zone for avoiding water contamination. A vulnerability map was generated, using geographic information systems (GIS) tools and the DRASTIC index, to evaluate the risk of contamination of the perimeter area. The results showed that the protection perimeter buffer zone has an insignificant to moderate risk of pollution, with the DRASTIC index's values ranging from 47 to 127 points, and an average pollution vulnerability of 79 points. The alluvium-covered land is vulnerable to moderate contamination but is located far from the catchment point. Areas of minimal risk correspond to locations where the granitic massif has not been altered significantly.
Proceedings, Oct 18, 2018
Rendering at the European Directive 2002/49/EC, all EU members have to draw up a strategic noise ... more Rendering at the European Directive 2002/49/EC, all EU members have to draw up a strategic noise map for all agglomerations with more than 250,000 inhabitants and for all major airports, roads and railways. A study of environmental impact assessment on motorway A23 in the stretch between Castelo Branco-Alcains (Portugal), based in the impact of the environmental noise, allowed the modeling the noise variation, which can be useful for establishing mitigation measures. The results show that noise model can be a useful tool for the monitoring noise impact in surrounding of motorways.
Geotechnical Characterization of Vegetal Biomass Ashes Based Materials for Liner Production
Rilem bookseries, 2023
Physical Methods and Scanning Electron Microscopy for Evaluation of Bioclogging in Geotextiles
Rilem bookseries, 2023
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Papers by Victor Manuel Pissarra Cavaleiro