Centre for Disaster Mitigation and Management

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Soil stabilization varies with engineering characteristics of any soil, stabilizing admixtures alters the pore structure which in turns alters the hydraulic characteristics of the soil. Silica based materials and waste ashes are widely used as stabilizing agents for swelling soil such as black cotton soil. Boiler feed ash (Precipitated silica (PS)) is used as stabilizing agents in this study and the hydraulic property variations with various proportions is studied. Up to 30% addition, the hydraulic property decreased and the increasing proportions increased the hydraulic conductivity. Thus, in this study, the optimal use of feed ash is suggested to be 10 to 30% by weight for Black cotton soil. © 2015 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.

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Vellore Campus

International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering

Studies on hydraulic characteristics of black cotton soil by using precipitated silica as stabilizing agent

The Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) is a challenging parameter in the tannery effluent that cannot be treated by conventional method or by any simple treatment system. In Tamil Nadu, the tannery treatment plants are forced to find out a suitable technology that can control the Total Dissolved Solids. The pollution control boards are insisting the Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) and the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to meet out the standards for the basic parameters as well as the TDS. Many technologies were tried in the ETP and CETP to control TDS, such as dilution with sewage, relocation of the industry to sea shore, adoption of salt free raw material, leather processing, desalting of hides &amp; skins, segregation of salt laden liquor and its separate treatment, membrane technologies such as electro dialysis (ED), electro dialysis reversal (EDR) and reverse osmosis (RO). Practical viability of the technology was also considered while conducting the pilot studies. Though quite costly and technology challenging, Reverse Osmosis option is being increasingly looked into by the tanneries of India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, mainly owing to two factors: (a) it can solve the problem of salt in the effluent by avoiding the effluent discharge and (b) the recovery of good quality of process water is a big attraction to the water scarce tannery clusters. The objective of the present study is to analyze various technologies followed by the ETPs and CETPs in the country and adopt a suitable technology to remove solids from the effluent. In this connection the reject handling of the RO system was also studied. Tannery effluent contains multi-salt and purification of reject using Nano-filtration and reuse is not possible, hence evaporation of reject can be done using mechanical means and natural means. Natural evaporation can be carried out for the RO system capacity below 500 m3 per day and mechanical evaporation can be done for the RO system capacity above 500 m3 per day. Cost analysis also carried out and the economics of evaporation of reject is crucial for viability of the technology. © EM International Printed in India. All rights reserved.

Journal of Industrial Pollution Control

Removal of solids from the tannery effluent by a suitable technology: A case study - Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India

Fulltext

Arabian Journal of Geosciences

Deterministic seismic hazard assessment for Sultanate of Oman

Disaster Advances

Landslide hazard mitigation in the nilgiris district of western ghats, India

Natural Hazards

Evaluation of liquefaction potential hazard of Chennai city, India: using geological and geomorphological characteristics

International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Landslide Hazard Mitigation in the Nilgiris District, India – Environmental and Societal Issues

Abstract. Chennai city is the fourth largest metropolis in India, is the focus of economic, social and cultural development and it is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu. The city has a multi-dimensional growth in development of its infrastructures and population. The area of Chennai has experienced moderate earthquakes in the historical past. Also the Bureau of Indian Standard upgraded the seismic status of Chennai from Low Seismic Hazard (Zone II) to Moderate Seismic Hazard (Zone III)–(BIS: 1893 (2001)). In this connection, a first level seismic microzonation map of Chennai city has been produced with a GIS platform using the themes, viz, Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), Shear wave velocity at 3 m, Geology, Ground water fluctuation and bed rock depth. The near potential seismic sources were identified from the remote-sensing study and seismo-tectonic details from published literatures. The peak ground acceleration for these seismic sources were estimated based on the attenuation relationship and the maximum PGA for Chennai is 0.176 g. The groundwater fluctuation of the city varies from 0–4 m below ground level. The depth to bedrock configuration shows trough and ridges in the bedrock topography all over the city. The seismic microzonation analysis involved grid datasets (the discrete datasets from different themes were converted to grids) to compute the final seismic hazard grid through integration and weightage analysis of the source themes. The Chennai city has been classified into three broad zones, viz, High, Moderate and Low Seismic Hazard. The High seismic Hazard concentrated in a few places in the western central part of the city. The moderate hazard areas are oriented in NW-SE direction in the Western part. The southern and eastern part will have low seismic hazard. The result of the study may be used as first-hand information in selecting the appropriate earthquake resistant features in designing the forthcoming new buildings against seismic ground motion of the city.

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

First level seismic microzonation map of Chennai city – a GIS approach

Seismic risk in urban areas is the greatest and most rapidly growing hazard in developing countries. The highest seismic risk in India is concentrated in the north and northeast parts, which is home to approximately 60 percent of the population of the country. The Chennai city is one of the well urbanized and densely populated urban centre in where the majority of buildings are reinforced concrete structures containing three to four stories. The city has an area of 170 sq.km and the total population of city is 43.43 lakhs as on 2001 Census. Major part of the city is covered by Recent alluvium to the thickness maximum of 28m and these deposits can amplify in multifold generally 3.9. Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS 1893(Part 1)-2002) categorized the city under Seismic zone III (prone to moderate seismic hazard-we can expect earthquake magnitude upto 6.9 in this zone). Such being the case, safety of this city is extremely important to safeguard the human lives and infrastructures. The present paper aims to bring out seismic hazard map for Chennai city using the geotechnical parameters. The potential seismic sources for this region have been delineated based on the seismoteconic parameters for the Chennai and its vicinity. The expected ground motion in terms of Peak Ground Acceleration calculated based on attenuation relationship. The seismic hazard potential for the city estimated using the geotechnical parameters viz, SPT 'N' values, shear wave velocity, relative amplification factor and intensity increment and presented in the form of maps. The present map will be helpful in cases where the seismic hazard is assessed to be high; more detailed geophysical investigations may be required for site specific micro seismic zonation maps for further land use planning purposes. © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.

Zonation for seismic geotechnical hazard in urban areas - A case study Chennai city, India

Chennai, the capital City of Tamil Nadu covers an area of 170.98 Sq, km is the fourth largest Metropolitan City in India and is experiencing rapid growth in population. An understanding of Seismic Hazard is necessary for Chennai city where even moderate earthquakes have high hazard potential in larger areas due to the dense population and efficient transmission of wave energy. A study on Seismic Hazard Analysis for Chennai city carried out based on deterministic approach using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The seismic potential sources have been identified based on satellite remote sensing data integrated with past earthquake epicenters and limited field checks. Shortest distance from the each seismic source to the Chennai City measured by Arc-Info Measuring tool and the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) at bed rock level is calculated for the identified sources with their maximum credible earthquake events using available attenuation relationship formula applicable to Peninsular India. To calculate hazard in the area, a grid is formed dividing each degree of latitude and longitude in to three parts. Arc-GIS layout tool is used to perform the grid analysis. The seismic hazard of Chennai city is expressed in the form of iso-acceleration contours. The estimated maximum PGA from the four seismic source zones was in the range of 0.145g to 0.078g. The contour of PGA values generated by the different sources indicates the seismic source in the eastern part of the study area is to be have more attention for further research. © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA technical society. All right reserved.

Deterministic seismic hazard assessment for Chennai City, India

Disasters by definition involve widespread physical damages and /or loss of life. Establishing the extent of damage, morbidity and mortality is fundamental for relief, recovery and reconstruction planning. The State of Tamil Nadu was the most affected in terms of human tragedy, property loss in the Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26th December 2004. Also, the state faces severe crisis every year because of seasonal floods. The creation of historic database becomes necessary to know about trends, patterns and seasonality of disasters affecting the state and have a holistic approach towards long term preparedness and mitigation of Disasters. The DesInventar (herein used as IndisData) methodology is a cost effective system used in Latin American countries to systematically record time, place, and effects of disasters on their occurrence. The methodology uses Indisdata software, a web based simple tool to capture the data and analyse it to create charts, tables, graphs for decision making. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in April 2008 between United Nation Development Program (UNDP) and CDMM, VIT University to validate and analyse the database. Disaster data for the period 1975-2007 was collected from the authentic government agencies. The collected data in the prescribed format was compiled and properly scrutinized before data entry. There are several qualifications and limitations in the Historical Disaster Information System and the preliminary analysis that have to be taken into consideration. The availability of good records from 1976-2006 is considered for the present analysis. © 2010 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.