Restrain of a seismically isolated bridge by external stoppers

The current design of seismically isolated bridges usually combines the use of bearings and stoppers, as a second line of defence. The stoppers allow the development of the in-service movements of the bridge deck, without transmitting significant loads to the piers and their foundations, while during earthquake they transmit the entire seismic action. Despite the fact that stoppers, which restrain the transverse seismic movements of the deck, are used frequently in seismically isolated bridges, the use of longitudinal stoppers is relatively rare, mainly due to the large in-service constraint movements of bridges. The present paper proposes a new type of external longitudinal stoppers, which are installed in stiff sub-structures-boundaries, aiming at limiting the bridge seismic movements. The parametric investigation, which was conducted in order to identify the seismic efficiency of the external stoppers, showed that the interaction of the bridge with the stiff boundaries can lead to significant reductions in the seismic movements of the bridge. Serviceability is appropriately arranged in the paper by expansion joints and approach slabs.     

Investigating dynamic coupling in geospace through the combined use of modeling,simulations and data analysis

Comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system is of utmost interest, both from the perspective of solar system astrophysics and geophysics research and from the perspective of space applications. The physical processes involved in the dynamical evolution of this complex coupled system are pertinent not only for the Sun-Earth connection, but also for major phenomena in other astrophysical systems. Furthermore, the conditions in geospace collectively termed space weather affect the ever increasing technological assets of mankind in space and therefore need to be understood, quantified and efficiently forecasted. The present collaborative paper communicates recent advances in geospace dynamic coupling research through modeling, simulations and data analysis and discusses future directions.     

Statistical biases and errors inherent in photoclinometric surface slope estimation with natural light

Photoclinometry is the most common method used to obtain high-resolution topographic maps of planetary terrain. We derive the likelihood function of photoclinometric surface slope from (1) the probability distribution of the measured photon count of natural sunlight through a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) including uncertainty due to camera shot noise, camera read noise, small-scale albedo fluctuation and atmospheric haze, and (2) a photometric model relating photocount to surface orientation. We then use classical estimation theory to determine the theoretically exact biases and errors inherent in photoclinometric surface slope and show when they may be approximated by asymptotic expressions for sufficiently high sample size. We show how small-scale albedo variability often dominates biases and errors, which may become an order of magnitude larger than surface slopes when surface reflectance has a weak dependence on surface tilt. We provide bounds on the minimum possible error of any unbiased photoclinometric surface slope estimate, and compute the sample sizes necessary to constrain errors within desired design thresholds.     

Recent past and future patterns of the Etesian winds based on regional scale climate model simulations

The aim of this work is to investigate the recent past and future patterns of the Etesian winds, one of the most persistent localized wind systems in the world, which dominates the wind regime during warm period over the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean. An objective classification method, the Two Step Cluster Analysis (TSCA), is applied on daily data from regional climate model simulations carried out with RegCM3 for the recent past (1961–1990) and future periods (2021–2050 and 2071–2100) constrained at lateral boundaries either by ERA-40 reanalysis fields or the global circulation model (GCM) ECHAM5. Three distinct Etesian patterns are identified by TSCA with the location and strength of the anticyclonic action center dominating the differences among the patterns. In case of the first Etesian pattern there is a ridge located over western and central Europe while for the other two Etesian patterns the location of the ridge moves eastward indicating a strong anticyclonic center over the Balkans. The horizontal and vertical spatial structure of geopotential height and the vertical velocity indicates that in all three Etesian patterns the anticyclonic action center over central Europe or Balkan Peninsula cannot be considered as an extension of the Azores high. The future projections for the late 21st century under SRES A1B scenario indicate a strengthening of the Etesian winds associated with the strengthening of the anticyclonic action center, and the deepening of Asian thermal Low over eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore the future projections indicate a weakening of the subsidence over eastern Mediterranean which is rather controlled by the deepening of the south Asian thermal Low in line with the projected in future weakening of South Asian monsoon and Hadley cell circulations.     

Petrographic Investigation of Microcrack Initiation in Mafic Ophiolitic Rocks Under Uniaxial Compression

This paper investigates the influence of the petrographic characteristics of mafic ophiolitic rocks on the initiation and propagation of microcracks during uniaxial compression. The microcrack patterns of a troctolite and a diorite, collected from the Pindos and Othrys ophiolites (Greece), respectively, were analysed. Thorough observation and quantification of microcracks before and after the uniaxial compression test were conducted. Combined fluorescent and polarised microscopy of polished thin sections, together with digital image analysis, indicated that the intragranular microcracks are the dominating crack type in both loaded and unloaded specimens, only in terms of their total number and length. On the other hand, the intergranular and transgranular cracks seem to grow more readily compared to the intragranular cracks, implying that the longer microcracks grow more extensively under stress. The orientation of most of the newly formed intragranular and transgranular microcracks is nearly parallel to the loading direction; however, some of the randomly oriented transgranular cracks have probably been formed during the propagation of intergranular cracks. In the troctolite, the frequency of the intragranular microcracks decreases in the olivine crystals after the uniaxial compression test due to their partial serpentinisation, which increases their resistance to brittle deformation. In the plagioclase crystals of the troctolite, microcracks are often oriented parallel to the cleavage planes, implying that such crystallographic orientations act as planes of weakness. On the contrary, the plagioclase crystals of the diorite are mainly crossed by randomly oriented microcracks, presumably due to their high degree of alteration. In the diorite, the evolution of microcracks is substantially controlled by the two perfect cleavages of amphibole. The failure of a rock occurs as a result of the growth, interaction and coalescence of a great number of pre-existing and newly formed intragranular and transgranular microcracks. The petrographic and microcrack analysis may assist in the selection of the most suitable rock type for various construction applications.     

Comparison of bootstrap confidence intervals for an ANN model of a karstic aquifer response

Following many applications artificial neural networks (ANNs) have found in hydrology, a question has been rising for quantification of the output uncertainty. A pre‐optimized ANN simulated the hydraulic head change at two observation wells, having as input hydrological and meteorological parameters. In order to calculate confidence intervals (CI) for the ANN output two bootstrap methods were examined namely bootstrap percentile and BCa (Bias‐Corrected and accelerated). The actual coverage of the CI was compared to the theoretical coverage for different certainty levels as a means of examining the method's reliability. The results of this work support the idea that the bootstrap methods provide a simple tool for confidence interval computation of ANNs. Comparing the two methods, the percentile requires fewer calculations and yields narrower intervals with similar actual coverage to that of BCa. Overall, the actual coverage was proved lower than desired when not modeled points were present in the data subset. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Slip rates on the Helike Fault, Gulf of Corinth, Greece: new evidence from geoarchaeology

Palaeoseismological and archaeological analysis of a trench enabled us to estimate the Holocene slip rates on the East Helike Fault, flanking the south-western Gulf of Corinth. We recognized two major fault strands within the trench: the ‘north fault’ controls a succession of three colluvial wedges and the deposition of a 2.7 m thick sedimentary sequence. The ‘south fault’ controls the deposition of a 2.9-m thick brownish-red colluvium. Based on colluvial stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating of the sediments suggests that the slip rate was c. 0.3 mm yr⁻¹ from 10 250 to c. 1400 bp , when it increased dramatically to c. 2.0 mm yr⁻¹ after a strong earthquake event near 1400 bp . The faster slip rate evidently increased the sedimentation rate.     

Efficient strong motion duration of pulse-like records for nonlinear structural analyses

The special interest produced by near-field directivity records and their effect on structural response has given a new significance in the velocity time history, its pulse-like content, and relevant parameters and indices. Recent research has shown that directivity pulses inherent in these records govern the linear and the nonlinear response of a wide range of structures. Based on this observation, it is suggested in this paper that a truncated ground motion, limited to the duration of the predominant velocity pulse, can be efficiently used to predict the structural response, instead of the base motion with the total duration, reducing significantly the required runtimes. The proposed methodology is verified for a series of medium to high rise reinforced concrete buildings, for which nonlinear time-history analyses are performed for a vast suite of pulse-like near-field records applied as base excitations with their total duration and the proposed truncated one. Comparison of the results for the response displacements and forces shows very good agreement, permitting the acceptance of the pulse duration as the efficient strong motion time interval of the original record, which determines the response and, thus, it can be used for nonlinear structural analyses.     

Behaviour of deep immersed tunnel under combined normal fault rupture deformation and subsequent seismic shaking

Immersed tunnels are particularly sensitive to tensile and compressive deformations such as those imposed by a normal seismogenic fault rupturing underneath, and those generated by the dynamic response due to seismic waves. The paper investigates the response of a future 70 m deep immersed tunnel to the consecutive action of a major normal fault rupturing in an earthquake occurring in the basement rock underneath the tunnel, and a subsequent strong excitation from a different large-magnitude seismic event that may occur years later. Non-linear finite elements model the quasi-static fault rupture propagation through the thick soil deposit overlying the bedrock and the ensuing interaction of the rupture with the immersed tunnel. It is shown that despite imposed bedrock offset of 2 m, net tension or excessive compression between tunnel segments could be avoided with a suitable design of the joint gaskets. Then, the already deformed (“injured”) structure is subjected to strong asynchronous seismic shaking. The thick-walled tunnel is modelled as a 3-D massive flexural beam connected to the soil through properly-calibrated nonlinear interaction springs and dashpots, the supports of which are subjected to the free-field acceleration time histories. The latter, obtained with 1-D wave propagation analysis, are then modified to account for wave passage effects. The joints between tunnel segments are modeled with special non-linear hyper-elastic elements, properly accounting for their 7-bar longitudinal hydrostatic pre-stressing. Sliding is captured with special gap elements. The effect of segment length and joint properties is explored parametrically. A fascinating conclusion emerges in all analysed cases for the joints between segments that were differentially deformed after the quasi-static fault rupture: upon subsequent very strong seismic shaking, overstressed joints de-compress and understressed joints re-compress—a “healing” process that leads to a more uniform deformation profile along the tunnel. This is particularly beneficial for the precariously de-compressed joint gaskets. Hence, the safety of the immersed tunnel improves with “subsequent” strong seismic shaking!     

A finite differences formulation for the linear and nonlinear dynamics of 2D catenary risers

A finite differences (FD) solution method is proposed for the numerical treatment of the dynamic equilibrium problem of 2D catenary risers. The method is based on the so-called Box approximation, which in the scope of the present contribution is applied to the complete nonlinear model as well as to the reduced linearized formulation. The application of the Box method transforms the original governing systems into convenient sets of algebraic equations, which in turn are solved efficiently by the relaxation method. Extensive numerical calculations are presented that describe the dynamic behaviour of the structure and evaluate the amplification in loading due to the dynamic components. The effect of the geometric nonlinearities is assessed through comparative calculations that concern both mathematical formulations examined in the present, i.e. the complete nonlinear, and the reduced linearized model. Special attention is paid to the heave excitations as they amplify significantly the magnitudes of the loading components.