Wave profile measurement by wavelet transform

A new technique for measuring wave profiles by wavelet transform using the Mexican Hat wavelet as the mother wavelet is introduced. This technique has the potential to provide low cost, high resolution field measurements of wave profiles in the laboratory. The experiments to capture the video image of the wave profile were carried out in a wave flume. Then, the Mexican Hat wavelet was adopted to trace out the exact profiles of the waves from the captured video images. The series of tests on numerical data and video images show promise as means of detecting two-dimensional profiles of waves.     

Experimental and numerical studies on the development of a new wave absorber

This paper proposes a new wave absorber made of flexible net structures. To test the efficiency of the proposed water absorber, experiments were done on wave absorbers of various lengths of and the thicknesses of the wave absorber. To perform a numerical modeling of the proposed wave absorber, damping terms were introduced in linearized free-surface boundary conditions. The length and the thickness of the wave absorber were modeled by the length and the coefficient of the damping zones. The boundary element method was adopted to solve the system. Series of experiments were performed to obtain the data for the coefficients of the damping term needed in numerical calculations. The predicted wave heights agreed very closely with those of experiments when the lengths of the incoming waves were within the order of the length of the wave absorber.     

Wavelet transform based coherence analysis of freak wave and its impact

The present paper presents the results of a wavelet transform-based coherence analysis of freak wave and its impact. Wavelet transform has been used as a tool in analyzing signals in the time domain as well as in the frequency domain. The analysis was applied to laboratory-generated freak waves. The wavelet transform of the time history of the freak wave and its impact force revealed that a wide range of frequency components were contained in them. The coherence analysis was conducted on the wave and its impact force time histories. The coherence analysis revealed that some high-frequency components were highly correlated with the impact forces. The present study demonstrates that the wavelet transform can be an alternative tool in the analysis of strongly nonlinear freak wave and its impact.     

A parametric sensitivity study on LNG tank sloshing loads by numerical simulations

A series of parametric sensitivity studies on unmatched dimensionless scale parameters is carried out on the liquified natural gas (LNG) tank sloshing loads by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program. First, a brief dimensional analysis is conducted to identify the governing and non-matched non-dimensional parameters, assuming that Froude scaling law is adopted. Then the sensitivity of impact pressure is checked through numerical simulations against non-matched parameters, such as fluid viscosity, liquid-gas density ratio, and ullage pressure and compressibility. The CFD simulations are also verified against experimental results. It is concluded that the effects of viscosity and density ratio are insignificant, while the compressibility of ullage space plays an appreciable role, as was pointed out by Bass et al. [Bass, R.L., Bowles, E.B., Trudell, R.W., Navickas, J., Peck, J.C., Yoshimura, N., Endo, S., Pots, B.F.M., 1985. Modeling criteria for scaled LNG sloshing experiments. Transactions of the ASME 107, 272-280].     

On the computation and approximation of ultra-high-degree spherical harmonic series

Spherical harmonic series, commonly used to represent the Earth’s gravitational field, are now routinely expanded to ultra-high degree (> 2,000), where the computations of the associated Legendre functions exhibit extremely large ranges (thousands of orders) of magnitudes with varying latitude. We show that in the degree-and-order domain, (ℓ,m), of these functions (with full ortho-normalization), their rather stable oscillatory behavior is distinctly separated from a region of very strong attenuation by a simple linear relationship: , where θ is the polar angle. Derivatives and integrals of associated Legendre functions have these same characteristics. This leads to an operational approach to the computation of spherical harmonic series, including derivatives and integrals of such series, that neglects the numerically insignificant functions on the basis of the above empirical relationship and obviates any concern about their broad range of magnitudes in the recursion formulas that are used to compute them. Tests with a simulated gravitational field show that the errors in so doing can be made less than the data noise at all latitudes and up to expansion degree of at least 10,800. Neglecting numerically insignificant terms in the spherical harmonic series also offers a computational savings of at least one third.     

Deformation Mechanism of the Underground Excavations at the WIPP Site

Summary The deformational behavior of underground excavations in rock salt is difficult to predict because of the time-dependent properties of rock salt, and its response to many other parameters, which influence its behavior. To investigate the influence of important parameters such as time, temperature, geology, opening geometry, excavation sequence, and effects of the immediate roof layer on underground excavations in rock salt, deformation measurements from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) were used.     

Development of a ten-element hybrid simulation platform and an adjustable yielding brace for performance evaluation of multi-story braced frames subjected to earthquakes

This paper presents a ten-element hybrid (experimental-numerical) simulation platform, referred to as UT10, which was developed for running hybrid simulations of braced frames with up to ten large-capacity physical brace specimens. This paper presents the details of the development of different components of UT10 and an adjustable yielding brace (AYB) specimen, which was designed to perform hybrid simulations with UT10. As the first application of UT10, a five-story buckling-restrained braced frame and a special concentrically braced frame (BRBF and SCBF) were designed and tested with AYB specimens and buckling specimens representing the braces. Cyclic tests of the AYB, one- and three-element hybrid simulations of the BRBF, and four-element hybrid simulations of the SCBF inside the UT10 confirmed the functionality of UT10 for running hybrid simulations on multiple specimens. The tests also indicated that AYB was capable of producing a stable hysteretic response with characteristics similar to BRBs. Comparison of the results of the hybrid simulations of the BRBF and SCBF with their fully numerical models showed that the modeling inaccuracies of the yielding braces could potentially affect the global response of the multi-story braced frames further emphasizing the need for experimental calibration or hybrid simulation for achieving more accurate response predictions. UT10 provides a simple and reconfigurable platform that can be used to achieve a realistic understanding of the seismic response of multi-story frames with yielding braces, distinguish their modeling limitations, and improve different modeling techniques available for their seismic response prediction.     

Accuracy of nonlinear static procedures for the seismic assessment of shear critical structures

The nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) members represents a key issue in the seismic performance assessment of structures. Many structures constructed in the 1980s or earlier were designed based on force limits; thus they often exhibit brittle failure modes, strength and stiffness degradation, and severe pinching effects. Field surveys and experimental evidence have demonstrated that such inelastic responses affect the global behavior of RC structural systems. Efforts have been made to consider the degrading stiffness and strength in the simplified nonlinear static procedures commonly adopted by practitioners. This paper investigates the accuracy of such procedures for the seismic performance assessment of RC structural systems. Refined finite element models of a shear critical bridge bent and a flexure‐critical bridge pier are used as reference models. The numerical models are validated against experimental results and used to evaluate the inelastic dynamic response of the structures subjected to earthquake ground motions with increasing amplitude. The maximum response from the refined numerical models is compared against the results from the simplified static procedures, namely modified capacity spectrum method and coefficient method in FEMA‐440. The accuracy of the static procedures in estimating the displacement demand of a flexure‐critical system and shear‐critical system is discussed in detail. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic stratigraphy of the western South Korea Plateau,East Sea: implications for tectonic history and sequence development during back-arc evolution

The western South Korea Plateau in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) is occupied by rifted continental fragments formed in association with the early phase of back-arc opening. The present study focuses on the seismic stratigraphy of the sedimentary succession and the underlying acoustic basement in this region, based on closely spaced multichannel seismic reflection profiles. The sedimentary succession occurs mainly within a series of subparallel basement troughs (grabens or half grabens) bounded by faulted continental blocks (horsts) or volcanic ridges, and commonly floored by extrusive volcanic rocks showing hyperbolic reflectors. These features are strongly suggestive of continental rifting accompanied by normal faulting, volcanic activity and high rates of basin subsidence. The sedimentary succession can be subdivided into four seismic units. Unit 1 is characterized by short and irregular high-amplitude reflectors and interpreted as a syn-rift deposit consisting of a non-marine volcanics/sediment complex in topographic lows. Units 2 and 3 formed in an open marine environment during the Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene, characterized by an onlap-fill and later draping marine sedimentary succession dominantly composed of hemipelagic sediments and turbidites with frequent intercalation of mass-flow deposits. Along the western margin of the plateau, these units were deformed under a compressional regime in the Early Pliocene, associated with the back-arc closing phase. Unit 4 (deposited since the Early Pliocene) comprises hemipelagic sediments and turbidites with evidence of sporadic slides/slumps.     

Satellite-derived SST validation based on in-situ data during summer in the East China Sea and western North Pacific

Satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) is validated based on in-situ data from the East China Sea (ECS) and western North Pacific where most typhoons, which make landfall on the Korean peninsula, are formed and pass. While forecasting typhoons in terms of intensity and track, coupled ocean-typhoon models are significantly influenced by initial ocean condition. Potentially, satellite-derived SST is a very useful dataset to obtain initial ocean field because of its wide spatial coverage and high temporal resolution. In this study, satellite-derived SST from various sources such as Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) and New Generation Sea Surface Temperature for Open Ocean (NGSST-O) datasets from merged SSTs were compared with in-situ observation data using an indirect method which is using near surface temperature for validation of satellite derived SST. In-situ observation data included shipboard measurements such as Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT), and Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD), and Argo buoy data. This study shows that in-situ data can be used for microwave derived SST validation because homogeneous features of seawater prevail at water depths of 2 m to 10 m under favorable wind conditions during the summer season in the East China Sea. As a result of validation, root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) are shown to be 0.55 °C between microwave SST and XBT/CTD data mostly under weak wind conditions, and 0.7 °C between XBT/CTD measurement and NGSST-O data. Microwave SST RMSE of 0.55 °C is a potentially valuable data source for general application. Change of SST before and after typhoon passing may imply strength of ocean mixing due to upwelling and turbulent mixing driven by the typhoon. Based on SST change, ocean mixing, driven by Typhoon Nari, was examined. Satellite-derived SST reveals a significant SST drop around the track immediately following the passing of Typhoon Nari in October, 2007.