Numerical modeling of rainstorm-induced shallow landslides in saturated and unsaturated soils

For the assessment of shallow landslides triggered by rainfall, the physically based model coupling the infinite slope stability analysis with the hydrological modeling in nearly saturated soil has commonly been used due to its simplicity. However, in that model the rainfall infiltration in unsaturated soil could not be reliably simulated because a linear diffusion-type Richards’ equation rather than the complete Richards’ equation was used. In addition, the effect of matric suction on the shear strength of soil was not actually considered. Therefore, except the shallow landslide in saturated soil due to groundwater table rise, the shallow landslide induced by the loss in unsaturated shear strength due to the dissipation of matric suction could not be reliably assessed. In this study, a physically based model capable of assessing shallow landslides in variably saturated soils is developed by adopting the complete Richards’ equation with the effect of slope angle in the rainfall infiltration modeling and using the extended Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion to describe the unsaturated shear strength in the soil failure modeling. The influence of rainfall intensity and duration on shallow landslide is investigated using the developed model. The result shows that the rainfall intensity and duration seem to have similar influence on shallow landslides respectively triggered by the increase of positive pore water pressure in saturated soil and induced by the dissipation of matric suction in unsaturated soil. The rainfall duration threshold decreases with the increase in rainfall intensity, but remains constant for large rainfall intensity.     

Seismic design and testing of the bottom vertical boundary elements in steel plate shear walls. Part 1: design methodology

This research investigates the seismic design method and the cyclic inelastic behavior of the bottom column, also called the vertical boundary element (VBE), in steel plate shear walls (SPSWs). This study consists of two parts. This Part 1 paper discusses the anticipated pushover responses for properly designed SPSWs and the possible inelastic responses of the bottom VBE at various levels of inter‐story drift. Considering both the tension field action of the infill panel and the sway action of the boundary frame, this study develops a simplified method to compute the flexural and shear demands in the bottom VBE. Based on the superposition method, this approach considers various plastic hinge forming locations at different levels of inter‐story drift. One of the key performance‐based design objectives is to ensure that the top ends of the bottom VBEs remain elastic when the SPSWs are subjected to the maximum considered earthquake. This paper presents the comprehensive design procedures for the bottom VBE. Furthermore, this study conducted cyclic performance evaluation tests of three full‐scale two‐story SPSWs at the Taiwan National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in 2011 to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design methods. The experimental program, cyclic inelastic responses of the SPSWs and bottom VBEs, and numerical simulations are presented in Part 2. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bi‐directional coupled tuned mass dampers for the seismic response control of two‐way asymmetric‐plan buildings

This paper proposes bi‐directional coupled tuned mass dampers (BiCTMDs) for the seismic response control of two‐way asymmetric‐plan buildings subjected to bi‐directional ground motions. The proposed BiCTMD was developed from the three‐degree‐of‐freedom modal system, which represents the vibration mode of a two‐way asymmetric‐plan building. The performance of the proposed BiCTMD for the seismic response control of elastic two‐way asymmetric‐plan buildings was verified by investigating the reductions of the amplitudes of the associated frequency response functions. In addition, the investigation showed that the proposed BiCTMD is effective in reducing the seismic damage of inelastic asymmetric‐plan buildings. Therefore, the BiCTMD is an effective approach for the seismic response control of both elastic and inelastic two‐way asymmetric‐plan buildings. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crustal Thinning of the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea

Magnetic data suggest that the distribution of the oceanic crust in the northern South China Sea (SCS) may extend to about 21 °N and 118.5 °E. To examine the crustal features of the corresponding continent–ocean transition zone, we have studied the crustal structures of the northern continental margin of the SCS. We have also performed gravity modeling by using a simple four-layer crustal model to understand the geometry of the Moho surface and the crustal thicknesses beneath this transition zone. In general, we can distinguish the crustal structures of the study area into the continental crust, the thinned continental crust, and the oceanic crust. However, some volcanic intrusions or extrusions exist. Our results indicate the existence of oceanic crust in the northernmost SCS as observed by magnetic data. Accordingly, we have moved the continent–ocean boundary (COB) in the northeastern SCS from about 19 °N and 119.5 °E to 21 °N and 118.5 °E. Morphologically, the new COB is located along the base of the continental slope. The southeastward thinning of the continental crust in the study area is prominent. The average value of crustal thinning factor of the thinned continental crust zone is about 1.3–1.5. In the study region, the Moho depths generally vary from ca. 28 km to ca. 12 km and the crustal thicknesses vary from ca. 24 km to ca. 6 km; a regional maximum exists around the Dongsha Island. Our gravity modeling has shown that the oceanic crust in the northern SCS is slightly thicker than normal oceanic crust. This situation could be ascribed to the post-spreading volcanism or underplating in this region.     

Short-crested wave-induced soil response in a porous seabed of infinite thickness

Waves reflecting obliquely from structures establish short-crested waves which are conducive to scour of the bed adjacent to them. The pore pressures and effective stresses induced by this wave system are derived analytically for an unsaturated, anisotropic soil matrix of infinite depth in a three-dimensional domain. Verification is available by the solutions being readily reduced to the two-dimensional cases of the progressive and standing wave, for which some closed-form solutions are available. It is shown that wave obliquity is coupled with soil permeability. The effects of wave obliquity, relative water depth, soil stiffness and soil permeability on wave-induced pore pressure are discussed in detail.     

Global morphology of ionospheric F-layer scintillations using FS3/COSMIC GPS radio occultation data

We report on the FormoSat-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FS3/COSMIC) limb-viewing observations of GPS L-band scintillations since mid-2006 and propose to study global F-layer irregularity morphology. The FS3/COSMIC has generally performed more than 1000 ionospheric radio occultation (RO) observations per day. We reprocess 1-Hz amplitude data and obtain complete limb-viewing profiles of the undersampling (sampling frequency lower than Fresnel frequency) S4 scintillation index from about 80% of the RO observations. There are a few percent of FS3/COSMIC RO observations having greater than 0.09 undersampling S4max values on average. However, seven identified areas, Central Pacific Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 160°E–130°W), South American Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 100°W–30°W), African Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 30°W–50°E), European Area (30°–55°N, 0°–55°E), Japan Sea Area (35°–55°N, 120°–150°E), Arctic Area (>65° dip latitude), and Antarctic Area (<?65° dip latitude), have been designated to have a much higher percentage of strong limb-viewing L-band scintillations. During the years in most of the last sunspot cycle from mid-2006 to the end 2014, the scintillation climatology, namely, its variations with each identified area, season, local time, magnetic activity, and solar activity, have been documented.     

Seven-Day Intensity and Intensity Spread Predictions in Bifurcation Situations with Guidance-On-Guidance for Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones

An objective technique to detect and predict intensity bifurcation situations in a five-day Weighted Analog Intensity forecast technique for the western North Pacific (WAIP) has been extended to seven days. A hierarchical cluster analysis is applied to the N analog intensities to separate them into two clusters, which are considered to represent a substantial intensity bifurcation if a threshold maximum velocity difference of 15 kt is satisfied. Two important modifications have been made to develop the bifurcation version for seven-day WAIP forecasts. First, the number of track analogs has been increased from 10 analogs to 16 analogs, which results in larger sample sizes and better performance. Second, separate intensity bias corrections are calculated for the two cluster WAIP forecasts rather than using the same 16-analog intensity bias correction. If an always perfect selection of the correct cluster WAIP forecast of each bifurcation situation is made, a substantial improvement in the intensity mean absolute errors is achieved relative to the original WAIP forecasts based on all 16 of the best analogs. These perfect-cluster selection WAIP forecasts have smaller bias errors and are more highly correlated with the verifying intensities at all forecast intervals through 168 h. Furthermore, the Probability of Detection is improved for the perfect-cluster selection and more realistic intensity spreads are specified. A simple guidance-on-guidance technique is demonstrated to assist the forecasters in selecting the correct WAIP cluster forecast in bifurcation situations.     

Was the M<Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.5 1952 Kern County,California, earthquake induced (or triggered)?

Several recent studies have presented evidence that significant induced earthquakes occurred in a number of oil-producing regions during the early and mid-twentieth century related to either production or wastewater injection. We consider whether the 21 July 1952 M_w 7.5 Kern County earthquake might have been induced by production in the Wheeler Ridge oil field. The mainshock, which was not preceded by any significant foreshocks, occurred 98 days after the initial production of oil in Eocene strata at depths reaching 3 km, within ~1 km of the White Wolf fault (WWF). Based on this spatial and temporal proximity, we explore a potential causal relationship between the earthquake and oil production. While production would have normally be expected to have reduced pore pressure, inhibiting failure on the WWF, we present an analytical model based on industry stratigraphic data and best estimates of parameters whereby an impermeable splay fault adjacent to the main WWF could plausibly have blocked direct pore pressure effects, allowing the poroelastic stress change associated with production to destabilize the WWF, promoting initial failure. This proof-of-concept model can also account for the 98-day delay between the onset of production and the earthquake. While the earthquake clearly released stored tectonic stress, any initial perturbation on or near a major fault system can trigger a larger rupture. Our proposed mechanism provides an explanation for why significant earthquakes are not commonly induced by production in proximity to major faults.     

Seismic fracture evaluation of diaphragm joints in welded beam-to-box column moment connections

Steel box columns are widely used in steel building structures in Taiwan due to their dual strong axes. To transfer the beam-end moment to the column, diaphragm plates of the same thickness and elevations as the beam flanges are usually welded inside the box column. The electro-slag welding (ESW) process is widely used to connect the diaphragms to the column flanges in Taiwan because of its convenience and efficiency. However, ESW may increase the hardness of the welds and heat-affected zones (HAZs), while reducing the Charpy-V notch strength in the HAZ. This situation can cause premature fracture of the diaphragm-to-column flange welds before a large plastic rotation is developed in the beam-to-box column joints. To quantify the critical eccentricity and the effectiveness of fracture prediction, this study uses fracture prediction models and finite element model (FEM) analysis to correlate the test results. In this study, two beam-to-box column connection subassembly tests are conducted with different loading protocols and ESW chamber shapes. To implement a fracture prediction model, the material parameters are established from circumferential notched tensile tests and FEM analysis. Test results indicate that the fracture instances can be predicted on the basis of the cumulative plastic deformation in the HAZs. Analytical results indicate that fracture instances and locations are sensitive to the relative locations of the ESW joints and beam flange. Tests also confirm that the possible fracture of the diaphragm-to-column flange joints can be mitigated by enlarging the chamber of the ESW joint.