Centro de Estudios de Técnicas Aplicadas

To strengthen its creation, CEDEX signed an agreement with the Directorate General of Railways of the Ministry of Fomento at the end of the year, that includes also the backing works and technical support given to the Agency of Railway Infrastructures (ARI) in subjects such as the signalling of high velocity lines, with special emphasis in the railway line Madrid-Barcelona-French frontier, that will be the first commercial line equipped with the European system ERTMS. CEDEX began these works in the year 2000, taking part in the tests of the rail circuits UM71/2000 that will be installed in the said line.

There was also given technical assistance to the Centro de Estudios de Carreteras in the purification of the control system for tests in the full scale test track and to the Area of Isotopic Applications in the improvements introduced in the programming of the coulometer.

The design of active filters for the fusion reactor TJII of CIEMAT, in Madrid, whose objective is to reduce the ripple of the currents feeding the reactor to values up to 4 A (in 30.000 A currents) was also finished. This project was developed under the simulation environment SABER, reasserting the capacity of the CEDEX technical equipment in the simulation of complex electromechanical systems. Besides, the development environment of dSpace for rapid prototype processes of complex control systems, that will serve in its first application to implant the control of a double three level converter for aeolic generators, was installed. In the year 2001, this development was supported by the programme for the promotion of technical research (PROFIT) included in the National Plan of Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (2000-2003).

The activities in applied superconductivity were developed within the framework of the Joint Laboratory CEDEX-CIEMAT and grouped in two large objectives:

• Conclusion of the design of a superconductor magnet that includes a quadrupole and two dipoles for the future linear accelerator TESLA 500 for DESY, in Hamburg (Germany).
• Tests of superconductor devices, including the test of a triple magnet of CERN in our installations and a quadrupole of CEDEX in the CERN, superconductor switches of a company in our installations and other minor mechanical tests.
• Participation in the project AMSII for the placement of a particle detector in the International Space Station, including the follow-up in the manufacturing of the feeding source of a superconductor magnet that is being built by a Spanish company.
• Request of a special action for the manufacture of superconducting feed intakes for DESY and equipment of dimensional metrology for the CERN.

The formal constitution of the Follow-up Committee of the Joint Laboratory of Applied Superconductivity mentioned above ought to be underlined, as well as the first opening meeting of the said Committee in March 2001.

The works for the validation of simulation methods in the physical habitat to fix ecological flows and the hydrobiological validation of the maintenance basic flow method for the calculation of flows with environmental goals also continued. In environmental evaluation, the preliminary studies for the environmental impact of road transport infrastructures were made.

In acoustic pollution the forecast of sound levels for the enlargement of the Barcelona airport was modelled with new hypothesis. As for the noise produced by road traffic, several reports were prepared for the Directorate General of Roads (DGR) in view of the demands presented by those affected by road infrastructures, among them the study on sound levels in the A-7 highway in the Valencia ring-road.

In isotopic hydrology the control of leakages in several dams of the river Júcar basin (Algar, Arquillo de San Blas, Bellús, Tous, Contreras) was under study, as well as the Giribaile dam in the river Guadalquivir basin. Studies were also made in the spillway of Medina del Campo, besides the hydrological study of the underground waters in the Medina Sidonia (Cádiz) vicinity and the valuation of the aquifer reload in Los Arenales (river Duero basin) using isotopic methods and tracers. The analysis of the results of the TRACER project on pollutant dispersion in the river Ebro also continued, in collaboration with the Complutense University of Madrid. On the other hand, within the project of the International Agency of Atomic Energy "Isotopic Composition of Precipitation in the Mediterranean Basin in Relation to Air Circulation Patterns and Climate", in collaboration with the National Institute of Meteorology, a Spanish network for the isotopic determination of rainfalls was implemented, with sixteen sampling points distributed all over the peninsula.

As for research projects and international cooperation, the following ought to be mentioned: European Network ALERT - Geomaterials; collaboration with the University of Hohai (China); collaboration with the Institute of Risks in Mountainous Zones of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chendgu; collaborations with the Universities of Swansea, Polytechnic School of Milan and Bolonia; collaboration with the University of Tetuan (Integrated Action by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation) and assistance to the Central American University José Simeón Canas to mitigate the effects of the earthquake suffered by El Salvador in January 2001.

An access link to the electronic magazines on-line has been added to the main search page in Internet for the catalogues of the libraries network, with access to the complete text and permission of consultation for all the personnel of the Organisation. It should be pointed out the significant increase in external consultations through electronic mail, fax and telephone calls.

As for documentation and databases the update of HISPAGUA (Spanish Water Information System)(http://hispagua.cedex.es), thematic web site of information on continental waters in Spain and national active focal point within the project SEMIDE (Euromediterranean System of Information in Water Matters) continued through the agreements signed with the Directorate General of Hydraulic Works and Water Quality of the Ministry of Environment. The representation of CEDEX in the Technical Unit of SEMIDE continued its active participation, from Sophia Antipolis (France), in the Coordinating Committee, marking the necessary guidelines to start off the various national focal points integrated in the project. Technical assistance was also given to the SEMIDE.

In training, four international masters, several national and international courses and some technical workshops were organised, as shown in more detail in other part of this document.

Monographic article

Analysis of the effectiveness in the road network of crossings and drainages suitable for fauna

Among the different activities developed by the Area of Environmental Engineering, a leading thread of actions was kept on environmental evaluation to reduce the impacts produced by public works. To enumerate the works carried out in the last few years could be exhaustive, although the following ought to be mentioned: a number of works related with the enlargement of the airports of Barajas, Madrid, and El Prat, Barcelona; development of methodologies for the calculation of flows with environmental aims; preparation of declaration proposals of environmental impact; collaboration in the development of the environmental aspects included in the White Paper on Water, etc. Besides, within the context of the annual activity of this Area, the experience acquired in the works to evaluate the efficiency of the fauna crossings destined to palliate the barrier effect caused by road linear infrastructures of high capacity transport should be pointed out.

The development of correcting measures to avoid those effects needs the installation of specific structures (whether upper or lower) for the crossing of fauna or the adjusting of the different cross drainage structures used in linear structures. This last option is the most economic and effective in principle, since its use only demands over-dimensioning or to make easier for the animals the access to this type of structures, although it is evident that this action does not exclude the construction of specific crossings, since the first appears to give an answer to the fauna travelling needs and the second remains spatially placed in function of the requirements determined by the hydrology.

As stated for a long time, the actors involved in this subject asked themselves on the efficiency and profitability of this type of measures, so that the intention of this Area was to answer these questions and to develop the necessary works. The objectives pursued by such actions were the following:

To develop these works, the corridor defined by the centre line of the highway Madrid-Benavente-Rías Bajas (A-VI) was selected as ambit of action, due to the existence of wolf and ungulate population along it and to the recent put into operation of the section Benavente-Rías Bajas.

Therefore, the execution of upper specific crossings was considered convenient to minimize the barrier effect produced by the A-VI, an impact that could be greater if, by different motives, these works, used nowadays by the wolves, are utilized in the future by the users for whom they were designed.

On the other hand, an intensive follow-up of diverse structures was made, including specific upper crossings, specific lower crossings, upper and lower mixed crossings and various drainage structures. The peculiarity of this work laid on the follow-up methods used. Traditionally, the follow-up of footprints or the placement of bands of marble dust on the soil, arranged across the structure under study, were used in this type of studies. However, the use of these systems raises multiple problems, from the difficulty to identify the species (it is impossible to differentiate the footprint of a large dog from that of a wolf) and their sex and age to logistic problems, such as the transport of the marble dust (used in large quantities) and the loss of footprints in periods of rain. For all those reasons, the need to design a photographic and videographic system that, on one hand, would make possible to photograph the different species using the structures and, on the other hand, would permit to know the behaviour of the individuals, was contemplated, The development of this system was complex and its use difficult, but the results can be considered highly satisfactory since they made possible to photograph for the first time wolves and other species using the structures. The works under way will make possible to know both the abundance of individuals of different species in the surroundings of the A-VI and their reactions when facing fauna crossings and the appropriate drainage works. Through the analysis of the results obtained, the final design of this type of structures can be improved, increasing its profitability and efficiency.