Three-dimensional analysis of spatially varying ground motions around a uniform canyon in a homogeneous half-space

Department of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A. A direct boundary element method to determine the three-dimensional seismic response of an infinitely-long canyon of arbitrary but uniform cross-section cut in a homogeneous viscoelastic half-space is presented. The seismic excitation is represented by P, SV, SH or Rayleigh waves at arbitrary angles with respect to the axis of the canyon. The accuracy of the procedure and implementing computer program is demonstrated by comparison with previous solutions for the limiting case of two-dimensional response, recently obtained three-dimensional response results for infinitely-long canyons, and three-dimensional boundary method solutions presented in this paper for finite canyons.     

Photogeomorphological mapping of southern parts of Jadukata-Umngi river valleys,Meghalaya

Photogeomorphological mapping was carried out in parts of the lower reaches of the Jadukata-Umngi river valleys in the southern fringes of Meghalaya. The area has been divided into five geomorphic units. Topography in the area is controlled both by structure and lithology and the geomorphic features greatly facilitate in structural and lithological interpretation. This becomes quite evident from the photogeological map of the corresponding area.     

Understanding the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings

Studied in this paper is the inelastic seismic behaviour of asymmetric-plan buildings using the histories of base shear and torque. The first step in understanding this behaviour is to construct the base shear and torque surface (BST) for the building, which represents all combinations of shear and torque that applied statically lead to collapse of the structure. Several factors controlling the shape of this surface, such as strength eccentricity and bidirectional ground motion, are identified. Also, their effects on the building responses are studied considering several structural configurations. The results obtained show that the BST surface, in conjunction with the base-shear and torque histories, provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the behaviour of asymmetric systems. Furthermore, using these surfaces, relevant aspects of the behaviour and design of such buildings become apparent even before dynamic analysis of the structure.     

Approximate incremental dynamic analysis using the modal pushover analysis procedure

Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA)—a procedure developed for accurate estimation of seismic demand and capacity of structures—requires non‐linear response history analysis of the structure for an ensemble of ground motions, each scaled to many intensity levels, selected to cover the entire range of structural response—all the way from elastic behaviour to global dynamic instability. Recognizing that IDA of practical structures is computationally extremely demanding, an approximate procedure based on the modal pushover analysis procedure is developed. Presented are the IDA curves and limit state capacities for the SAC‐Los Angeles 3‐, 9‐, and 20‐storey buildings computed by the exact and approximate procedures for an ensemble of 20 ground motions. These results demonstrate that the MPA‐based approximate procedure reduces the computational effort by a factor of 30 (for the 9‐storey building), at the same time providing results to a useful degree of accuracy over the entire range of responses—all the way from elastic behaviour to global dynamic instability—provided a proper hysteretic model is selected for modal SDF systems. The accuracy of the approximate procedure does not deteriorate for 9‐ and 20‐storey buildings, although their dynamics is more complex, involving several ‘modes’ of vibration. For all three buildings, the accuracy of the MPA‐based approximate procedure is also satisfactory for estimating the structural capacities for the limit states of immediate occupancy, collapse prevention, and global dynamic instability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Earthquake analysis of axisymmetric towers partially submerged in water

A method for analysis of response of axisymmetric towers partly submerged in water to earthquake ground motion is presented. The tower is idealized as a finite element system. The hydrodynamic terms are determined by solving the Laplace equation, governing the dynamics of incompressible fluids, subject to appropriate boundary conditions. For cylindrical towers, these solutions are obtained as explicit mathematical solutions of the boundary value problems; whereas they are obtained by the finite element method in case of towers with non-cylindrical outside surface. The response to earthquake ground motion is determined by step-by-step integration of the equations of motion. Analyses of two actual intake towers are presented to illustrate results obtained by this method. The small computation times required for these analyses demonstrate that the method is very efficient. The effectiveness of this formulation lies in avoiding the analysis of a large system by using a substructure approach and in exploiting the important feature that structural response to earthquake ground motion is essentially contained in the first few modes of vibration of the tower with no surrounding water.     

Boundary element analysis of stresses in an axisymmetric soil mass undergoing consolidation

A time domain boundary element method (BEM) for evaluating stresses in an axisymmetric soil mass undergoing consolidation has been developed. Previous BEM work on axisymmetric poroelasticity for boundary displacements and pore pressures is extended to permit the computation of stresses at both boundary and interior points. The stress formulation preserves the surface-only discretization. The boundary displacement integral equation is progressively differentiated to obtain the related stress and strain integral equations. Explicit expressions for the steady-state axisymmetric fundamental solutions are derived in this process. The transient components of the integrands are obtained directly from the transformation of the three-dimensional kernels into a cylindrical system. Numerical implementation of these integral equations is carried out within a general purpose BEM computer code and several illustrative examples are presented to validate the method.     

A framework for the evaluation of ground motion selection and modification procedures

This study develops a framework to evaluate ground motion selection and modification (GMSM) procedures. The context is probabilistic seismic demand analysis, where response history analyses of a given structure, using ground motions determined by a GMSM procedure, are performed in order to estimate the seismic demand hazard curve (SDHC) for the structure at a given site. Currently, a GMSM procedure is evaluated in this context by comparing several resulting estimates of the SDHC, each derived from a different definition of the conditioning intensity measure (IM). Using a simple case study, we demonstrate that conclusions from such an approach are not always definitive; therefore, an alternative approach is desirable. In the alternative proposed herein, all estimates of the SDHC from GMSM procedures are compared against a benchmark SDHC, under a common set of ground motion information. This benchmark SDHC is determined by incorporating a prediction model for the seismic demand into the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis calculations. To develop an understanding of why one GMSM procedure may provide more accurate estimates of the SDHC than another procedure, we identify the role of ‘IM sufficiency’ in the relationship between (i) bias in the SDHC estimate and (ii) ‘hazard consistency’ of the corresponding ground motions obtained from a GMSM procedure. Finally, we provide examples of how misleading conclusions may potentially be obtained from erroneous implementations of the proposed framework. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.