Seismic analysis of nailed vertical excavation using pseudo-dynamic approach

An attempt has been made to study the behavior of nailed vertical excavations in medium dense to dense cohesionless soil under seismic conditions using a pseudo-dynamic approach. The effect of several parameters such as angle of internal friction of soil(Φ), horizontal(k_h) and vertical(k_v) earthquake acceleration coefficients, amplification factor(f_a), length of nails(L), angle of nail inclination(α) and vertical spacing of nails(S_v) on the stability of nailed vertical excavations has been explored. The limit equilibrium method along with a planar failure surface is used to derive the formulation involved with the pseudo-dynamic approach, considering axial pullout of the installed nails. A comparison of the pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic approaches has been established in order to explore the effectiveness of the pseudo-dynamic approach over pseudo-static analysis, since most of the seismic stability studies on nailed vertical excavations are based on the latter. The results are expressed in terms of the global factor of safety(FOS). Seismic stability, i.e., the FOS of nailed vertical excavations is found to decrease with increase in the horizontal and vertical earthquake forces. The present values of FOS are compared with those available in the literature.     

Borehole Tilt Observations of Xiangshan Station, Beijing, and Effects of Tilt Due to Fault Creeping

An ASKANIA borehole tiltmeter which consists of a vertical pendulum with two degrees of freedom was installed in Xiangshan station,Beijing,in May 1989 in order to monitor the earthquake-reiated crustal deformations.The preliminary results indicate that the resolution of the instrument is better than 0.05 msec for tidal amplitudes.The daily total tidal amplitude is about 20 msec.The spectral analysis of the first four months data provides a signal-to-noise ratio of > 100 for the main semi-diurnal waves.The non-tidal tilts for one year data are dominated by a long term drift with the rate of 0.9 msec/day for X-component and 1.1 msec/day for Y-component.In addition,the tilt observations are affected by meteorological factors,especially by rainfall.The results of modelings of the fault-creep related tilts and responses of tilts to earthquakes suggest that the tilt measurements are very sensitive to the change in tectonic strain and stress fields near the site where the tiltmeter is installed.The fault-creep     

Preliminary assessment of the navigation and positioning performance of BeiDou regional navigation satellite system

BeiDou regional navigation satellite system(BDS)also called BeiDou-2 has been in full operation since December 27,2012.It consists of 14 satellites,including 5 satellites in Geostationary Orbit(GEO),5 satellites in Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit(IGSO),and 4 satellites in Medium Earth Orbit(MEO).In this paper,its basic navigation and positioning performance are evaluated preliminarily by the real data collected in Beijing,including satellite visibility,Position Dilution of Precision(PDOP)value,the precision of code and carrier phase measurements,the accuracy of single point positioning and differential positioning and ambiguity resolution(AR)performance,which are also compared with those of GPS.It is shown that the precision of BDS code and carrier phase measurements are about 33 cm and 2 mm,respectively,which are comparable to those of GPS,and the accuracy of BDS single point positioning has satisfied the design requirement.The real-time kinematic positioning is also feasible by BDS alone in the opening condition,since its fixed rate and reliability of single-epoch dual-frequency AR is comparable to those of GPS.The accuracy of BDS carrier phase differential positioning is better than 1 cm for a very short baseline of 4.2 m and 3 cm for a short baseline of 8.2 km,which is on the same level with that of GPS.For the combined BDS and GPS,the fixed rate and reliability of single-epoch AR and the positioning accuracy are improved significantly.The accuracy of BDS/GPS carrier phase differential positioning is about 35 and 20%better than that of GPS for two short baseline tests in this study.The accuracy of BDS code differential positioning is better than 2.5 m.However it is worse than that of GPS,which may result from large code multipath errors of BDS GEO satellite measurements.     

Nonlinear numerical assessment of the seismic response of hillside RC buildings

Major damage has been reported in hilly areas after major earthquakes,primarily because of two special conditions:the variation in the seismic ground motion due to the inclined ground surface and the irregularities caused by a stepped base level in the structure.The aim of this study is to evaluate possible differences in the responses of Chilean hillside buildings through numerical linear-elastic and nonlinear analyses.In the first step,a set of response-spectrum analyses were performed on four simplified 2D structures with mean base inclination angles of 0°,15°,30°,and 45°.The structures were designed to comply with Chilean seismic codes and standards,and the primary response parameters were compared.To assess the seismic performance of the buildings,nonlinear static(pushover)and dynamic(time-history)analyses were performed with SeismoStruct software.Pushover analyses were used to compare the nonlinear response at the maximum roof displacement and the damage patterns.Time-history analyses were performed to assess the nonlinear dynamic response of the structures subjected to seismic ground motions modified by topographic effects.To consider the topographic modification,acceleration records were obtained from numerical models of soil,which were calculated using the rock acceleration record of the Mw 8.01985 Chilean earthquake.Minor differences in the structure responses(roof displacements and maximum element forces and moments)were caused by the topographic effects in the seismic input motion,with the highly predominant ones being the differences caused by the step-back configuration at the base of the structures.High concentrations of shear forces in short walls were observed,corresponding to the walls located in the upper zone of the foundation system.The response of the structures with higher angles was observed to be more prone to fragile failures due to the accumulation of shear forces.Even though hillside buildings gain stiffness in the lower stories,resulting in lower design roof displacement,maximum roof displacements for nonlinear time-history analyses remained very close for all the models that were primarily affected by the drifts of the lower stories.Additionally,vertical parasitic accelerations were considered for half the time-history analyses performed here.The vertical component seems to considerably modify the axial load levels in the shear walls on all stories.     

Road vehicle-induced vibration control of microelectronics facilities

A hybrid control platform is investigated in this paper to mitigate microvibrations to a group of vibration-sensitive equipment installed in a microelectronics facility subject to nearby road vehicle-induced horizontal and vertical ground motions. The hybrid control platform, on which microelectronics equipment is installed, is mounted on a building floor through a series of passive mounts and controlled by hydraulic actuators in both horizontal and vertical directions. The control platform is an elastic body with significant bending modes of vibration, and a sub-optimal control algorithm is used to manipulate the hydraulic actuators with actuator dynamics included. The finite element model and the equations of motion of the coupled platform-building system are then established in the absolute coordinate to facilitate the feedback control and performance evaluation of the platform. The horizontal and vertical ground vibrations at the base of the building induced by nearby moving road vehicles are assumed to be stationary random processes. A typical three-story microelectronics building is selected as a case study. The case study shows that the vertical vibration of the microelectronics building is higher than the horizontal. The use of a hybrid control platform can effectively reduce both horizontal and vertical microvibrations of the microelectronics equipment to the level which satisfies the stringent microscale velocity requirement specified in the Bolt Beranek & Newman (BBN) criteria.     

Study on Fine Crustal Structure of the Sanhe-Pinggu Earthquake （M8.0） Region by Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling

Two near-vertical deep seismic reflection profiles (140km-long, 24-fold) were completed in the 1679 Sanhe-Pinggu earthquake (M8.0) region. The profiles ran through the Xiadian fault and the Ershilichangshan fault. The profiling result shows that the crust in this region is divided into the upper crust, the lower crust and the crust-mantle transitional zone by two powerful laminated reflectors: one at the two-way travel-time of about 7.0s (21 km), the other at about11.0～12.5s (33～37km). Crustal structure varies significantly in vertical direction. The shallow part is characterized by obvious stratification, multilayers and complexity. The upper crust on the whole features reflection “transparency“, while the lower crust features distinct reflectivity. Crustal structure also varies a lot in the lateral direction. The main fracture in this region is the deep fault under the Xiadian fault. This deep fault is steeply inclined (nearly vertical), and is supposed to be the causative fault of the Sanhe-Pinggu MS.0 earthquake. The two profiles respectively reveal the existence of local strong reflectivity in the lower crust and the lower part of the upper crust, which is assumed to be a dike or rock mass formed by the upwelling and cooling down of materials from the upper mantle. Magmatic activity in this part brought about differences in regional stress distribution, which then gave rise to the formation of the deep fault. That is supposed to be the deep structural setting for the Sanhe-Pinggu M8.0 earthquake.     

Nonlinear interactions between gravity waves and tides

In this study, we present the nonlinear interactions between gravity waves (GWs) and tides by using the 2D numerical model for the nonlinear propagation of GWs in the compressible atmosphere. During the propagation in the tidal background, GWs become instable in three regions, that is z = 75―85 km, z = 90―110 km and z = 115―130 km. The vertical wavelength firstly varies gradually from the initial 12 km to 27 km. Then the newly generated longer waves are gradually compressed. The longer and shorter waves occur in the regions where GWs propagate in the reverse and the same direction of the hori-zontal mean wind respectively. In addition, GWs can propagate above the main breaking region (90—110 km). During GWs propagation, not only the mean wind is accelerated, but also the amplitude of tide is amplified. Especially, after GWs become instable, this amplified effect to the tidal amplitude is much obvious.     

Effect of seawater on incident plane P and SV waves at ocean bottom and engineering characteristics of offshore ground motion records off the coast of southern California,USA

The effect of seawater on vertical ground motions is studied via a theoretical method and then actual offshore ground motion records are analyzed using a statistical method. A theoretical analysis of the effect of seawater on incident plane P and SV waves at ocean bottom indicate that on one hand, the affected frequency range of vertical ground motions is prominent due to P wave resonance in the water layer if the impedance ratio between the seawater and the underlying medium is large, but it is greatly suppressed if the impedance ratio is small; on the other hand, for the ocean bottom interface model selected herein, vertical ground motions consisting of mostly P waves are more easily affected by seawater than those dominated by SV waves. The statistical analysis of engineering parameters of offshore ground motion records indicate that:(1) Under the infl uence of softer surface soil at the seafl oor, both horizontal and vertical spectral accelerations of offshore motions are exaggerated at long period components, which leads to the peak spectral values moving to a longer period.(2) The spectral ratios(V/H) of offshore ground motions are much smaller than onshore ground motions near the P wave resonant frequencies in the water layer; and as the period becomes larger, the effect of seawater becomes smaller, which leads to a similar V/H at intermediate periods(near 2 s). These results are consistent with the conclusions of Boore and Smith(1999), but the V/H of offshore motion may be smaller than the onshore ground motions at longer periods(more than 5 s).     

Inertial gravity wave parameters for the lower stratosphere from radiosonde data over China

Characterization of gravity wave(GW)parameters for the stratosphere is critical for global atmospheric circulation models.These parameters are mainly determined from measurements.Here,we investigate variation in inertial GW activity with season and latitude in the lower stratosphere(18-25 km)over China,using radiosonde data with a high vertical resolution over a 2-year period.Eight radiosonde stations were selected across China,with a latitudinal range of 22°-49°N.Analyses show that the GW energy in the lower stratosphere over China has obvious seasonal variation and a meridional distribution,similar to other regions of the globe.The GW energy is highest in winter,and lowest in summer;it decreases with increasing latitude.Velocity perturbations with longitude and latitude are almost the same,indicating that GW energy is horizontally isotropic.Typically,85%of the vertical wavelength distribution is concentrated between elevations of 1 and 3 km,with a mean value of 2 km;it is almost constant with latitude.Over 80%of all the horizontal wavelengths occur in the range 100-800 km,with a mean value of 450km;they show a weak decrease with increasing latitude,yielding a difference of about 40 km over the 22°-49°N range.The ratio of horizontal wavelength over vertical wavelength is about 200:1,which implies that inertial GWs in the lower stratosphere propagate along nearly horizontal planes.Ratios of their intrinsic frequency to the Coriolis parameter decrease with increasing latitude;most values are between 1 and 2,with a mean value of 1.5.Study of the propagation directions of GW energy shows that upward fractions account for over 60%at all stations.In contrast,the horizontal propagation direction is significantly anisotropic,and is mainly along prevailing wind directions;this anisotropy weakens with increasing latitude.     

Analysis of Sacks Body Strain Interference at Beida No.200 Station in Changping and Earthquake Case Study

The relationship between Sacks body strain deformation at Beida No. 200 station in Changping and tidal solids,atmospheric pressure and water level is analyzed in this paper. Sacks body strain deformation data before the M_S8. 0 Wenchuan earthquake is studied based on the analysis of the interference. The short-impending anomaly of the body strain deformation is considered to be reliable. The anomaly characteristics conclude:( 1) The trend anomaly as extensional change of the body strain deformations on a quasi 1 year time scale before the Wenchuan earthquake was recorded, and the accumulative amount was about 4000 × 10~(-9). Correspondingly,the short-term precursor of earthquake was manifested as an extensional abrupt change.( 2) The extensional intermittent anomalous abrupt change was recorded by body strainmeters between March1 and May 7 in 2008.( 3) Four compressional abrupt changes were recorded in the intermittent distortions recorded between April 13 and May 11.( 4) High frequency components were increased in the distortion process in May 1 to 3,5,7,and 9 to 12,caused by slow earthquakes before the Wenchuan earthquake according to wavelet analysis. The abnormal phenomena are summarized and the mechanics discussed in this paper. Strain solid tide distortions in body strain observations,the continuous repeated extensional and compressional abrupt changes accompanying these distortions,and the increase of high frequency components can be regarded as the index of short term and impending earthquake prediction,based on analysis of interference factors such as air pressure and water level.     

利用华北地区承压井水位动态反演含水层体应变

The change of the confined aquifer level reflects the pore pressure change, and the pore pressure change of the aquifer is closely related to the aquifer pressure. This paper uses the tidal response of the well water level data in the North China region to calculate the tidal factor of each well and extract the effective water trend information. Then, the volumetric strain of an existing confined aquifer well in the North China region is inverted, and the contour maps are plotted on a half-year scale from 2009 to 2012. Results show that it can reflect the state of stress and strain in deep crust to a certain extent in the North China region.     

On time-step in structural seismic response analysis under ground displacement/acceleration

There are two models in use today to analyze structural responses when subjected to earthquake ground motions,the Displacement Input Model(DIM)and the Acceleration Input Model(AIM).The time steps used in direct integration methods for these models are analyzed to examine the suitability of DIM.Numerical results are presented and show that the time-step for DIM is about the same as for AIM,and achieves the same accuracy.This is contrary to previous research that reported that there are several sources of ...     

An altimetric transport index for Kuroshio inflow northeast of Taiwan Island

The Kuroshio inflow northeast of Taiwan Island plays an important role in the heat and nutrient balances over the East China Sea(ECS). Based on merged satellite altimeter data and the PCM-1 mooring observation at the East Taiwan Channel(ETC), the study employs a correlation iteration scheme to find the optimal transport index for the Kuroshio inflow. The sea level difference with the highest correlation to the ETC transport is across the ECS shelf break rather than along the PCM-1 line. The counter-intuitive result is caused by large signal noise and poor track coverage of altimeters near the Taiwan coast. The optimal altimetric index is highly correlated with the two-year in-situ measurements as well as the ten-year output of the global assimilation model. It serves as a better estimator of Kuroshio inflow than those using tidal gauge data, and helps pinpoint a 5 cm mismatch of mean sea level in the Keelung tidal record. The mean transport of Kuroshio inflow based on the twenty-year altimetric index is 20.55 Sv with a standard deviation of 3.05 Sv. Wavelet spectrum of the index reveals that semi-annual period dominates the Kuroshio variation northeast of Taiwan Island.     

Effect of seismic super-shear rupture on the directivity of ground motion acceleration

The effect of seismic super-shear rupture on the directivity of ground motions using simulated accelerations of a vertical strike-slip fault model is the topic of this study. The discrete wave number/finite element method was adopted to calculate the ground motion in the horizontal layered half space. An analysis of peak ground acceleration （PGA） indicates that similar to the sub-shear situation, directivity also exists in the super-shear situation. However, there are some differences as tbllows： （1） The PGA of the fault-normal component decreases with super-shear velocity, and the areas that were significantly affected by directivity in the PGA field changed from a cone-shaped region in the forward direction in a sub-shear situation to a limited near-fault region in a super-shear situation. （2） The PGA of the fault-parallel and vertical component is not as sensitive as the fault-normal component to the increasing super-shear velocity. （3） The PGA of the fault-normal component is not always greater than the fault-parallel component when the rupture velocity exceeds the shear wave velocity.     

汶川地震余震活动固体潮调制的统计分析

A statistical analysis on the Wenchuan aftershock activity triggered by tidal forces is systematically studied based on Schusters test, including earthquakes triggered by tidal force, tidal stress and tidal coulomb failure stress. The results show that a group of strong aftershocks which occurred at the end of July to early August in 2008 at the north of Wenchuan were obviously triggered by earth tide, the same conclusion is drawn by Schusters smooth test of the tidal force, tidal stress and tidal coulomb failure stress. In addition, the Wenchuan aftershock activity is obviously triggered by fortnight tide. In the north, the aftershocks happened more frequently in the first and last quarters of the moon, and in the south, the aftershocks happened more frequently in the first and last quarters of the moon and during the full moon.     

Nonlinear advection,Coriolis force,and frictional influence in the South Channel of the Yangtze Estuary,China

Observation data of along-estuary and lateral current velocities over a transect located at the South Channel of the Yangtze estuary was obtained during a spring tide in August 2011.Harmonic analysis was done on the current velocities to get a mean component and a semi-diurnal component.Based on these two components,the driving mechanisms of mean lateral flow and M2 lateral tidal flow are shown and analyzed respectively.The dominant driving force of mean lateral flow is nonlinear advection and that of lateral M2 tidal flow is Coriolis force.The friction plays an important role near the bottom and surface for both lateral mean flow and M2 tidal flow.     

Vertical seismic absorber utilizing inertance and negative stiffness implemented with gas springs

A novel implementation of negative stiffness elements(NSEs) is proposed, utilizing industrial grade nitrogen gas springs as pre-stressed stiffness elements in a configuration with lever arms. This NSE is combined with an inerter to form a stiff dynamic absorber(SDA) for vertical seismic protection of structures with base isolation. The SDA is optimized to minimize vertical accelerations while ensuring static structural integrity, excellent damping performance and containment of relative displace...     

A simplified multisupport response spectrum method

A simplified multisupport response spectrum method is presented.The structural response is a sum of two components of a structure with a first natural period less than 2 s.The first component is the pseudostatic response caused by the inconsistent motions of the structural supports,and the second is the structural dynamic response to ground motion accelerations.This method is formally consistent with the classical response spectrum method,and the effects of multisupport excitation are considered for any modal response spectrum or modal superposition.If the seismic inputs at each support are the same,the support displacements caused by the pseudostatic response become rigid body displacements.The response spectrum in the case of multisupport excitations then reduces to that for uniform excitations.In other words,this multisupport response spectrum method is a modification and extension of the existing response spectrum method under uniform excitation.Moreover,most of the coherency coefficients in this formulation are simplified by approximating the ground motion excitation as white noise.The results indicate that this simplification can reduce the calculation time while maintaining accuracy.Furthermore,the internal forces obtained by the multisupport response spectrum method are compared with those produced by the traditional response spectrum method in two case studies of existing long-span structures.Because the effects of inconsistent support displacements are not considered in the traditional response spectrum method,the values of internal forces near the supports are underestimated.These regions are important potential failure points and deserve special attention in the seismic design of reticulated structures.     

Analysis of the tidal gravity observations in Three Gorges reservoir area

The comparative observations of the tidal gravity in Three Gorges reservoir area, recorded with the LCR-ET20 gravimeter from Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the DZW-9 gravimeter from Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration, are introduced. High-accuracy tidal gravity pa-rameters in this area are obtained, and the scale factor of the DZW-9 gravimeter is also estimated at a value of ?(756.06±0.05)×10?8 m?s?2V?1. The observed residuals of the corresponding instruments are investigated. Nu-merical results indicate that the long-term drift of the DZW-9 gravimeter appears a linear characteristic, and the observed accuracy is of the same order comparing with that of the LCR-ET20 gravimeter. The results given in the paper can provide with an effective reference model of the tidal gravity correction to the ground based and space geodesy.