Barotropic tide in the northeast South China Sea

A moored array deployed across the shelf break in the northeast South China Sea during April-May 2001 collected sufficient current and pressure data to allow estimation of the barotropic tidal currents and energy fluxes at five sites ranging in depth from 350 to 71 m. The tidal currents in this area were mixed, with the diurnal O1 and K1 currents dominant over the upper slope and the semidiurnal M2 current dominant over the shelf. The semidiurnal S2 current also increased onshelf (northward), but was always weaker than O1 and K1. The tidal currents were elliptical at all sites, with clockwise turning with time. The O1 and K1 transports decreased monotonically northward by a factor of 2 onto the shelf, with energy fluxes directed roughly westward over the slope and eastward over the shelf. The M2 and S2 current ellipses turned clockwise and increased in amplitude northward onto the shelf. The M2 and S2 transport ellipses also exhibited clockwise veering but little change in amplitude, suggesting roughly nondivergent flow in the direction of major axis orientation. The M2 energy flux was generally aligned with the transport major axis with little phase lag between high water and maximum transport. These barotropic energy fluxes are compared with the locally generated diurnal internal tide and high-frequency internal solitary-type waves generated by the M2 flow through the Luzon Strait.     

Active tuned liquid column damper with propellers

The active control of a Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD) with two propellers is presented. A single‐degree‐of‐freedom system with a passive or active TLCD is used as an example to set up the basic equation of motion. The Optimal Control Theory is applied to establish the control law and to calculate the control force generated by these two propellers installed inside the TLCD. A simple pendulum‐like model test is carried out to study the dynamic characteristics of the passive and active TLCDs and the effectiveness of the vibrational control. Comparison of the experimental result with the analytical one shows a good agreement. Finally, the analytical results of the seismic response are also included as an example for demonstration and application. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

节理岩体三维块体系统面向对象的数据结构

节理岩体三维块体系统的数据结构直接关系到三维块体计算程序开发的难易及程序运行的效率。由于岩体三信块体的任意性、复杂性，使其数据的组织有相当的困难，采用面向对象的设计思想，在C＋＋语言环境下，对三维块体系统的数据结构进行了研究与开发，获得了满意的结果。     

Seismic performance evaluation of a 34‐story steel building retrofitted with response modification elements

The original structural design of this case study consisted of five basement floors and a 34‐story hotel tower in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The construction started in 1993, and the erection of the entire steel frame and the pouring of concrete slabs up to the 26th floor were completed before 1996. However, construction of the original hotel was subsequently suspended for 10 years. Recently, this building has been retrofitted for residential purposes. Buckling restrained braces (BRBs) and eccentrically braced frames were incorporated into the seismic design of the new residential tower. This paper presents the seismic resisting structural system, seismic design criteria, full‐scale test results of one BRB member and the as‐built welded moment connections. Test results confirm that the two side web‐plate stiffening details can effectively improve the rotational capacity of welded moment connection. The paper also discusses the analytical models for simulating the experimental responses of the BRB members and the welded moment connections. Nonlinear response history analyses (NLRHA) indicate that the inelastic deformational demands of the original and the redesigned structures induced by the maximum considered earthquakes are less than those found in the seismic building codes or laboratory tests. This paper also proposes a ground motion scaling method considering multi‐mode effects for NLRHA of the example building. It is shown that the proposed scaling method worked well in reducing the scatter in estimated peak seismic demands. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Considerations on a suction drill for lunar surface drilling and sampling: I. Feasibility study

In this paper, we consider a drilling method, which might prove useful both for applications on the Moon and for drilling on Mars, Venus, or other planetary surfaces. It is based on the use of a cold gas flow for pumping fine-grained debris particles out of the borehole, after they have been pulverized by the bore crown. We present a basic design and demonstrate by a hydrodynamic calculation that such a system should work effectively even on an airless body like the Moon, where the driver gas has to be provided from the associated lander or rover, which acts as the bore platform.