Stiffened steel box columns. Part 1: Cyclic behaviour

This paper aims to study the cyclic inelastic behaviour of stiffened steel box columns failed by local and overall interaction instability under a constant compressive axial force and cyclic lateral loading. Such columns find broad application in steel bridge piers. The columns are of box sections with longitudinal stiffeners. In the analysis, a modified two‐surface plasticity model developed at Nagoya University is employed to model material non‐linearity. For comparison, analyses using classical isotropic‐ and kinematic‐hardening models are also carried out. Hysteretic curves and buckling modes obtained from analysis using the two‐surface model and classical models are compared with experimental results. Moreover, the progression of deformation from occurrence of local buckling to structural failure is discussed in detail. The comparisons show that the use of an accurate plasticity model is quite important in the prediction of both the cyclic inelastic behaviour and failure characteristic of steel box columns failed by coupled local and overall instability. It is found that the modified two‐surface model is a satisfactory model in predicting the cyclic hysteretic behaviour of both the thin‐ and thick‐walled steel box columns. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal properties of the solar wind plasma

In the solar wind, electrostatic ion cyclotron waves can be excited by electrons when the flow velocity becomes supersonic. The waves reduce the proton temperature anisotropy and heat the protons effectively. Temperature equations for T _e ,T _p and T _p are solved numerically in the region from 1 AU to the Sun, with the non-thermal proton heating rate included as a parameter. Distributions of T _e ,T _p , T _p and the proton heating rate are determined and found to be in good agreement with the proton heating rate expected from the linear growth rate of electrostatic ion cyclotron waves. The electron thermal conductivity is reduced approximately 2–3 times smaller than the usual collisional one due to the plasma wave instabilities. Effective energy exchange rates from proton-proton and electron-proton interactions are 1–10 and 10–100 times larger than the Coulomb collision rates v ppand v ep,respectively.     

Empirical analysis of path effects on prediction equations of pseudo‐velocity response spectra in northern Japan

We study path effects on prediction equations of pseudo‐velocity response spectra (natural period of 0.1–5.0 s) in northern Japan, where heterogeneous attenuation structure exists. The path effects have been examined by comparing the regression analysis results for two different prediction equations. The first equation consists of a single term of anelastic attenuation conventionally. The second equation consists of two terms of anelastic attenuation in consideration of the heterogeneous attenuation structure. In the second equation, we divide a source‐to‐site distance into two distances at the attenuation boundary beneath the volcanic front. The boundary is considered to separate the relatively high Q fore‐arc side mantle wedge (FAMW) from the low Q back‐arc side mantle wedge (BAMW). Strong motion records (hypocentral distances less than 300 km) from interplate and intraslab events with Mw 5.1–7.3 are used. Regression analysis results show that the standard errors are significantly reduced by the second prediction equation at short periods (0.1–0.5 s), whereas the difference in standard errors from both prediction equations is negligible at intermediate and long periods. The Qs values (quality factor for S‐wave) converted from two anelastic attenuation coefficients for the second prediction equation are remarkably similar to the path‐averaged Qs values for the FAMW and BAMW by other studies using spectral inversion method. From these findings, we conclude that the path effects on the prediction equation of pseudo‐velocity response spectra are satisfactorily accomplished by the second prediction equation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of surface characteristics on diffuse reflection radiation at λ=0.40 μm

The diffuse radiation in the upward direction at the top and at an internal level of an inhomogeneous atmosphere is computed at =0.40 m. The surface is assumed to reflect light in accordance with a hybrid mode of a diffuse and specular reflector. The objective is to estimate the effect of underlying surface characteristics in terms of the diffuse radiation field. By making use of these results, accuracy in monitoring the atmospheric aerosols would be increased for the use of remote sensing satellite techniques. Junge power lawv ^*=3 is adopted for the size distribution of aerosols (1963), while the data given by McClatchyet al. (1971) is used for the number density of aerosols with height distribution. It is noted from the computations that the diffuse reflection radiation is affected by the surface characteristics, even if the albedo of the surface is a fixed constant and very small.On leave from the Meterological Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.bl]References     

Evaluation of the internal radiation field in a composite planetary atmosphere with the lambert surface calculated by matrix method

If the atmosphere is simulated by a number of homogeneous sublayers, it was shown (Takashima, 1973a) that the intensity and polarization parameters emerging from any boundary of internal sublayer's field can be determined, provided that the diffuse reflection and transmission matrices of radiation of sublayers are known. Furthermore, if the surface (ground) is assumed to reflect light in accordance with the Lambert law, it is shown in this paper that the internal radiation field at boundary of any sublayer can be also computed in terms of the diffuse radiation matrices of sublayers rather than in terms of that of the entire atmosphere (Sekera, unpublished). The effect of polarization is included.     

Heat-Mitigation Effects of Irrigated Rice-Paddy Fields Under Changing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Based on a Coupled Atmosphere and Crop Energy-Balance Model

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Known as the heat-mitigation effect, irrigated rice-paddy fields distribute a large fraction of their received energy to the latent heat during the growing season. The...     

Rapid subsidence of the Kikai Seamount inferred from drowned Pleistocene coral limestone: Implication for subduction of the Amami Plateau,northern Philippine Sea

Carbonate rock cores drilled on the Kikai Seamount, northern Philippine Sea are examined for better understanding of tectonic history of the northern Philippine Sea. The Kikai Seamount, the summit of which is at 1960 m water depth, is an isolated high on the northwestern part of the Amami Plateau formed by subduction-related arc volcanism, and is situated close to the axis of the Ryukyu Trench in front of the Ryukyu Arc, SW Japan. The seamount is capped with shallow-water carbonates such as coral rudstone. Detailed examinations of lithology, larger foraminiferal assemblages, and Sr isotope composition reveal that the core material comprises Miocene carbonates unconformably overlain by Early Pleistocene carbonates. It indicates rapid subsidence of the Kikai Seamount since the Early Pleistocene. The most probable cause of rapid subsidence is collision and subduction of the Amami Plateau laden with the Kikai Seamount. The rapid subsidence may have started when the western corner of the plateau reached the Ryukyu Trench and began subduction beneath the Ryukyu Arc. The onset of the subsidence is likely to be controlled by a motion change in the Philippine Sea Plate. The latest change in subduction direction from north to northwestward into northwestward to west has been believed to have occurred at 1-2 Ma during latest Pliocene to Early Pleistocene time. The change of direction resulted in the shift from oblique into right-angle subduction of the plate beneath the Ryukyu Arc and also the onset of the collision and subduction of the Amami Plateau.     

Gzhelian-Asselian Palaeoaplysina reef in atoll carbonates of the Akiyoshi Terrane, SW Japan: A peculiar community in the Panthalassan reef evolution

A Palaeoaplysina reef occurs in the Gzhelian-Asselian interval of the Panthalassan atoll carbonates, Akiyoshi Terrane, SW Japan. An alga, Palaeoaplysina was paleogeographically distributed mainly along the northern margin of Pangea and is regarded as a boreal element. Its distribution extended to the tropical or subtropical area of the Panthalassa Ocean caused by global cooling during an icehouse period. The Palaeoaplysina community was succeeded by a calcisponge community in the late Early Permian. This biotic turnover almost corresponds to the climatic change from icehouse to greenhouse conditions and coincides with the timing of a superplume activity in the mid-Panthalassa Ocean.