Impact of Seasonal Changes of Precipitation and Air Temperature on Clay Excavation

Abstract

Excavation of clay soil is one of the most important economic branches in the northern part of Croatia. The impact of clay soil in Croatia compared to the global exploitation fields of clay soil is negligible. Modern methods of clay excavation during winter months due to negligible amounts are not profitable. Therefore, it is important to optimize clay soil excavation throughout the year to increase the efficiency of exploitation and increase profits. In the case of large amounts of precipitation (rain), clay absorbs water and becomes grain. For this reason, access to the exploitation field and excavation itself becomes impossible. Air temperature also plays an important role in excavation. Long-lasting low air temperatures below 0 °C during the winter months result in clay frost. As a result, excavation cannot occur at that time. The paper describes a new method of modeling the precipitation and air temperature on the exploitation fields of clay in Northwest Croatia on the exploitation fields of Cukavec and Cukavec II. The method involves the calculation of the drought index and use of the rescaled adjusted partial sums (RAPS) statistical method and its application on a time series of total daily precipitation and average daily temperatures as a climatic indicator of any observed area. Using this process, it is possible to determine the time period of the year when clay soil can be excavated.

Identifying the Dynamics of the Sea-Level Fluctuations in Croatia Using the RAPS Method

“…It is statistical method which can deal with a large set of data in order to detect and describe periodic and/or aperiodic behavior. This method was chosen due to the fact of its applicability in detecting variational trends apart from the main trend in a time series of a monitored occurrence; it can be used for hydrological analysis of river flows [16] (as well as in most hydrological research [16]), precipitation [17], water temperatures [18], meteorological parameters for the purpose of the clay excavation [19], waste water quality analysis [20], etc.…”

Hydro Energy Suitability of Rivers Regarding Their Hydrological and Hydrogeological Properties

“…RAPS method was mostly used for hydrological analysis of the river flow [6], but it also has a wide range of an application in all research areas. For example, in analysis of the precipitation [7], water temperatures [8], meteorological parameters for the purpose of irrigation [9] and clay excavation, as well as for the waste water quality analysis [10].…”

Influence of Meteorological Parameters on Explosive Charge and Stemming Length Predictions in Clay Soil during Blasting Using Artificial Neural Networks

“…Since the clay is hydroalumosilicate, which means that it absorbs water and therefore becomes brittle, the blasting in the clay can only be carried out in dry months and when the air temperature is between 15 and 25 • C. The data obtained also showed that there is a dependence of air temperature and precipitation on the time period in the year in which clay exploitation is possible, and guidelines for successful clay exploitation are presented [7,8]. The amount of precipitation has a direct impact on the success of blasting in clay, because when the precipitation in the clay soil during detonation of explosive charge increases, the pressure wave of the explosion has a stronger impact and larger spherical expansions volume occur [9][10][11].…”