Development of an innovative seismic strengthening technique for traditional load-bearing masonry walls

Traditional non-reinforced masonry walls are particularly prone to failure when subjected to out-of-plane loads and displacements caused by earthquakes. Moreover, singularities such as openings in fa?ades may trigger local collapse, for either in-plane or out-of plane motion. Bearing in mind all the former limitations, STAP, with the scientific support of ICIST and LNEC, has been developing a reduced intrusiveness seismic strengthening methodology for traditional masonry structures. The technique consists in externally applying Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite strips to one or both faces of walls. Connection between GFRP composite strips and masonry substrate is enhanced through specifically detailed anchorages or confinement connectors. This technique has been developed and studied through an extensive series of experimental tests, which are briefly reviewed. This paper focuses more deeply on the latest experimental program, aimed at the characterization of the masonry-GFRP composite interface behaviour. This testing program comprised 29 masonry specimens, strengthened with externally bonded GFRP composite strips with anchorages. The testing variables were the number and spacing of anchorages as well as the loading history type: monotonic or repeated. Results clearly show that the use of anchorages dramatically enhances bond behaviour and that its number and spacing have a significant effect on deformation capacity and a less pronounced effect on strength. Based on experimental evidence, this paper also provides a calculation model and ULS safety assessment procedure for out-of-plane strength of reinforced masonry walls. This calculation model leads to interaction curves on strengthened masonry walls subjected to compression and out-of-plane flexure.     

Ice-rafted detritus events in the Arctic during the last glacial interval, and the timing of the Innuitian and Laurentide ice sheet calving events

Ice-rafted detritus (IRD) layers in the Arctic Ocean not only indicate the source of this detrital sediment, but give insights into the ice drift and ice sheet history. Detrital sand-sized Fe oxide mineral grains that are matched to precise sources using the microprobe chemical fingerprint of each grain, along with elevated coarse IRD abundance and radiocarbon ages, are used to define IRD peaks from the Innuitian and Arctic portions of the Laurentide ice sheets. Because grains from these two areas can be entrained by sea ice from the shelves just offshore of the calving areas, peaks in these grains must be correlated to coarse IRD to identify iceberg calving events, and to distinguish them from sea-ice rafting. The sequence of IRD peaks deposited by icebergs from these two ice sheets indicate that both ice sheets calved bergs at accelerated numbers, six or seven times, from 11 to 36 Kya. The relatively short times between most of these IRD events suggest that the ice sheets did not completely collapse with each IRD event, except the last event. Although there is some indication that one ice sheet may have begun calving bergs before the other, the resolution of the Arctic cores does not allow definitive determination of this. This emphasizes the need for higher resolution cores from the central Arctic, as well as from near the terminus of large Pleistocene ice sheets. Sea-ice rafting occurs throughout the last glacial stage, even during some glacial IRD events, as indicated by Fe grains from non-glacial sources.     

Effects of conspecifics on settling juveniles of the invasive golden mussel, Limnoperna fortunei

We conducted a field experiment to assess the influence of conspecific adults on recruitment success of the golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei. Tiles, 225 cm² surface area, were used as artificial substrates in four treatments: control (blank tiles), low (800 mussels m⁻²), medium (4,000 mussels m⁻²) and high (12,000 mussels m⁻²) density treatments. Results indicated that recruitment was strongly affected by the presence and density of conspecifics. After one and 3 months of exposure, numbers of recruits were significantly higher on tiles with conspecific adults than on blank tiles, and there was a positive and significant relationship between the number of recruits and the number of adults in the three treatments assayed. Also, after 3 months of exposure, recruits in all treatments with adults present were larger than recruits in the control treatment. Our results suggest that conspecific adults have a positive effect on recruitment success and growth of newly settled juveniles through factors that enhance larval settling or that contribute to the survival of settlers in areas colonized by adult conspecifics.     

Estuarine macrofauna responses to continuous in situ nutrient addition on a tropical mudflat

A field experiment to assess the effects of continuous nutrient addition on the macrobenthic community was carried out on an estuarine mudflat on the northeast coast of Brazil. The experiment began on 5 October 2005 and ended on 8 February 2006. Macrofauna was compared at approximately four-week intervals in triplicate plots with three levels (Control – C, Low Dose – LD and High Dose – HD) of weekly fertilizer additions for 17 weeks. Inorganic fertilizer (N–P–K) was applied on nine randomly defined quadrangular plots (4 m² each). All measurements were calculated from species abundances. Multivariate analyses as well as the univariate indices (richness, abundance and Shannon–Wiener index) showed statistically significant differences between the enriched and control areas during the period of the experiment. The expected gradual response based on the succession model of Pearson and Rosenberg was not observed. The nutrient doses used were high enough to cause severe decreases in abundance, richness and evenness, and an increase in dominance.     

Glass and Mineral Chemistry of Northern Central Indian Ridge Basalts:Compositional Diversity and Petrogenetic Significance

Abstract: The glass and mineral chemistry of basalts examined from the northern central Indian ridge (NCIR) provides an insight into magma genesis around the vicinity of two transform faults: Vityaz (VT) and Vema (VM). The studied mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) from the outer ridge flank (VT area) and a near-ridge seamount (VM area) reveal that they are moderately phyric plagioclase basalts composed of plagioclase (phenocryst [An60–90] and groundmass [An35–79]), olivine (Fo81–88), diopside (Wo45–51, En25–37, Fs14–24), and titanomagnetite (FeOt ~63.75 wt% and TiO2 ~22.69 wt%). The whole-rock composition of these basalts has similar Mg# [mole Mg/mole(Mg+Fe2+)] (VT basalt: ~0.56–0.58; VM basalt: ~0.57), but differ in their total alkali content (VT basalt: ~2.65; VM basalt: ~3.24). The bulk composition of the magma was gradually depleted in MgO and enriched in FeOt, TiO2, P2O5, and Na2O with progressive fractionation, the basalts were gradually enriched in Y and Zr and depleted in Ni and Cr. In addition, the SREE of magma also increased with fractionation, without any change in the (La/Yb)N value. Glass from the VM seamount shows more fractionated characters (Mg#: 0.56–0.57) compared to the outer ridge flank lava of the VT area (Mg#: 0.63–0.65). This study concludes that present basalts experienced low-pressure crystallization at a relatively shallow depth. The geochemical changes in the NCIR magmas resulted from fractional crystallization at a shallow depth. As a consequence, spinel was the first mineral to crystallize at a pressure >10 kbar, followed by Fe-rich olivine at <10 kbar pressure.     

Fluid source-based modeling of melt initiation within the subduction zone mantle wedge: Implications for geochemical trends in arc lavas

The GyPSM-S (Geodynamic and Petrological Synthesis Model for Subduction) scheme couples a petrological model with a 2-D thermal and variable viscosity flow model to describe and compare fundamental processes occurring within the subduction mantle wedge, including the development of a low-viscosity channel (LVC) (Hebert et al., 2009, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 278, p. 243–256). Here we supplement the basic coupled model result with more sophisticated treatments of trace element partitioning in the fluid phase and melt transport regimes. We investigate the influences of slab fluid source lithology and fluid transport mechanisms on melt geochemistry, the implications of mantle source depletion related to fluid fluxing, and potential melt migration processes. This study describes two model cases that can be compared to geochemical datasets for the Izu–Bonin intra-oceanic subduction system and the Central Costa Rican part of the Central American arc. We find that there is a progression of geochemical characteristics described in studies of cross-arc and along-arc lavas that can be approximated assuming (i) limited fluid–rock interaction within the mantle wedge and (ii) that melt migration preserves the spatial distinction among melts initiated in different areas of the wedge. Specifically, volcanic front lavas have significant contributions from shallower slab fluid sources, and rear-arc lavas have significant contributions from deeper slab fluid sources. Evidence for limited fluid–rock interaction could imply either a rapid fluid transport mechanism or a fluid-dominated trace element budget within the LVC. Although we do not include a back-arc in these models, interpretations of the results lead to several potential mechanisms to explain hydrous inputs to back-arc source regions.     

Effects of habitat complexity on cannibalism rates in European green crabs (Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758)

The habitat in which predator–prey interactions take place may have a profound influence on the outcome of those interactions. Cannibalism is an intriguing form of predation whereby foraging by predators may contribute to the regulation of their own populations.This is particularly interesting in the case of invasive species, like the widely distributed European green crab (Carcinus maenas). This study explores how habitat complexity influences cannibalism rates in green crab populations of Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada. Both laboratory and field experiments were conducted to measure feeding rates by individual adult green crabs on a standard number of smaller conspecifics. In the laboratory, experimental treatments mimicked unstructured to increasingly structured habitats: water, sandy bottom, oyster shells, mussel shells, oyster shells with sandy bottom and mussel shells with sandy bottom. In those trials, adult green crabs consumed several times more juveniles on unstructured habitats than on the most structured ones, with a gradual decrease in predation rates across increasingly complex habitats. Field inclusion experiments used the same approach and were conducted in sandy bottoms, sandy bottoms with a layer of oyster shells and sandy bottoms with a layer of mussel shells. These trials showed similar patterns of decreasing feeding rates across increasingly complex habitats, but differences among treatments were not significant. These results support the idea that complex habitats have the potential to mediate predator–prey interactions, including adult–juvenile cannibalism in green crabs.     

Thermospheric Meridional Wind Control on Equatorial Scintillations and the Role of the Evening F-Region Height Rise, E?×?B Drift Velocities and F2-Peak Density Gradients

The possible role, on L-band scintillation activity, played by the nighttime magnetic meridional component of the thermospheric horizontal neutral winds, the post-sunset F-layer base height, the electrical field pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) and the latitudinal gradients of the F2-layer peak density is analyzed, considering different cases of scintillation occurrence (and their latitudinal extent) during August and September 2002. The meridional winds were derived over low-latitudes from a modified form of the nonlinear time-dependent servo-model. A chain of two scintillation monitors and three digital ionosondes was operational in Brazil and used to collect, respectively, global positioning system signal amplitude scintillation and ionospheric height (h′F; hpF2) and frequency (foF2) parameters. From the overall behavior in the 2 months analyzed, the results suggest that high near sunset upward vertical plasma drifts are conducive for the generation of spread-F irregularities, whereas large poleward meridional winds tend to suppress the development of plasma bubble irregularities and the occurrence of their associated scintillations. Even when generated, a reduced fountain effect, due to weak electric field PRE, acts for the bubbles to be expanded less effectively to higher latitudes. The results also reveal that high F-layer base and peak heights (at equatorial and off-equatorial latitudes), and intense gradients in the F2-peak density between the dip equator and the equatorial anomaly crests, are favorable conditions for the generation of F-region irregularities and increased scintillation activity. Other distinct features of the controlling factors in the cases of occurrence and non-occurrence of equatorial scintillations are presented and discussed.