Seismic analyses of conventional and improved marginal wharves

Marginal wharves are key components in providing functionality of port facilities. Ports are central components of the US economy. Earthquake damage to a port can disrupt the economic stability. Therefore, port facilities must be able to quickly return to full operation shortly after a seismic event. Prior studies have shown that integrity of marginal wharves may be compromised by excessive soil movement and structural damage. The latter is often localized at pile‐to‐wharf connections and in the pile body buried within the soil. Recent research has resulted in an improved connection design that mitigates damage. This study was undertaken to evaluate the full seismic performance of marginal wharves including both conventional and damage‐resisting connections. A series of finite element models of a representative pile‐supported wharf facility were created. The models varied in their moment‐resisting pile‐to‐wharf connections. A total‐stress analysis approach was used to capture the soil response along with p–y, t–z, and Q–z soil–structure interaction springs. Validated connection interface elements were integrated with non‐linear frame elements to simulate the marginal wharf structure and substructure. Non‐linear static pushover and dynamic time history analyses, for three different hazard levels, were performed. The results of the numerical simulations were used to assess the performance of the marginal wharf including estimates of crane damage and port downtime. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic performance of chevron-configured special concentrically braced frames with yielding beams

Current seismic design requirements for special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) in chevron configurations require that the beams supporting the braces be designed to resist the demands resulting from the simultaneous yielding of the tension brace and degraded, post-buckling strength of the compression brace. Recent research, including large-scale experiments and detailed finite-element analyses, has demonstrated that limited beam yielding is not detrimental to chevron braced frame behavior and actually increases the story drift at which the braces fracture. These findings have resulted in new expressions for computing beam demands in chevron SCBFs that reduce the demand in the tension brace to be equal to the expected compressive capacity at buckling of the compression brace. In turn, the resultant force on the beam is reduced as is the required size of the beam. Further study was undertaken to investigate the seismic performance of buildings with SCBFs, including chevron SCBFs with and without yielding beams and X-braced frames. Prototype three- and nine-story braced frames were designed using all three framing systems, that is, chevron, chevron with yielding beams, and X SCBFs, resulting in six building frames. The nonlinear dynamic response was studied for ground motions simulating two different seismic hazard levels. The results were used to characterize the seismic performance in terms of the probability of salient damage states including brace fracture, beam vertical deformation, and collapse. The results demonstrate that the seismic performance of chevron SCBFs with limited beam yielding performs as well as or better than the conventionally designed chevron and X SCBFs.     

In a PICL: The sedimentary deposits and facies of perennially ice‐covered lakes

Perennially ice‐covered lakes can have significantly different facies than open‐water lakes because sediment is transported onto the ice, where it accumulates, and sand grains preferentially melt through to be deposited on the lake floor. To characterize the facies in these lakes, sedimentary deposits from five Antarctic perennially ice‐covered lakes were described using lake‐bottom observations, underwater video and images, and sediment cores. One lake was dominated by laminated microbial mats and mud (derived from an abutting glacier), with disseminated sand and rare gravel. The other four lakes were dominated by laminated microbial mats and moderately well to moderately sorted medium to very coarse sand with sparse granules and pebbles; they contained minor interstitial or laminated mud (derived from streams and abutting glaciers). The sand was disseminated or localized in mounds and 1 m to more than 10 m long elongate ridges. Mounds were centimetres to metres in diameter; conical, elongate or round in shape; and isolated or deposited near or on top of one another. Sand layers in the mounds had normal, inverse, or no grading. Nine mixed mud and sand facies were defined for perennially ice‐covered lakes based on the relative proportion of mud to sand and the style of sand deposition. While perennially ice‐covered lake facies overlap with other ice‐influenced lakes and glaciomarine facies, they are characterized by a paucity of grains coarser than granules, a narrow range in sand grain sizes, and inverse grading in the sand mounds. These facies can be used to infer changes in ice cover through time and to identify perennially ice‐covered lakes in the rock record. Ancient perennially ice‐covered lakes are expected on Earth and Mars, and their characterization will provide new insights into past climatic conditions and habitability.     

S saturation history of Nain Plutonic Suite mafic intrusions: origin of the Voisey’s Bay Ni–Cu–Co sulfide deposit, Labrador, Canada

The Voisey’s Bay deposit is hosted in a 1.34-Ga intrusion composed of troctolite, olivine gabbro, and ferrogabbro. The sulfide mineralization is associated with magmatic breccias that are enveloped by weakly mineralized olivine gabbros and troctolites, and also occurs as veins along structures in adjacent paragneiss. A dyke is connected to the base of the north wall of the Eastern Deeps Intrusion, and the entry point of this dyke into the chamber is the locus of the Eastern Deeps nickel sulfide deposit. A detailed exploration in the area between the Eastern Deeps and the Ovoid has shown that these intrusions and ore deposits are connected by a splayed dyke. The Eastern Deeps Deposit is surrounded by a halo of moderately to weakly mineralized variable-textured troctolite (VTT) that reaches a maximum thickness above the axis of the Eastern Deeps Deposit along the northern wall of the Eastern Deeps Intrusion. The massive sulfides and breccia sulfides are petrologically and chemically different when compared to the disseminated sulfides in the VTT, and there is a marked break in Ni tenor of sulfide between the two. Sulfides hosted in the dyke tend to have low metal tenors ([Ni]₁₀₀?=?2.5–3.5%), sulfides in Eastern Deeps massive and breccia ores have intermediate Ni tenors ([Ni]₁₀₀?=?3.5–4%), and disseminated sulfides in overlying rocks have high Ni tenors ([Ni]₁₀₀?=?4–8%). Four principal processes control the compositions of the Voisey’s Bay sulfides. Coarse-grained loop-textured ores consisting of pyrrhotite crystals separated by chalcopyrite and pentlandite exhibit a two orders of magnitude variation in the Pd/Ir ratio which is due to mineralogical variations where pentlandite is enriched in Pd and Ir is dispersed throughout the mineral assemblage. A decrease in Ir and Rh from the margin of the Ovoid toward cubanite-rich parts at the central part of the Ovoid is consistent with fractionation of the sulfide from the margins toward the center of the Ovoid. The Ovoid ores have higher Ni and Pd tenor than the Eastern Deeps massive sulfides; this is consistent with both a higher R factor and greater degree of silicate parental magma evolution in the Ovoid than the Eastern Deeps. The disseminated sulfides surrounding the Eastern Deeps deposit have some of the highest Ni and Pd tenors at Voisey’s Bay, which are indicative of not only more primitive magmas but also higher R factors than the Ovoid or the Eastern Deeps. VTT and normal-textured troctolite of the Eastern Deeps that contain trace sulfide have 0.1–3?ppb Pt and 0.1–3?ppb Pd, whereas weakly to heavily mineralized variable troctolites in the same unit have one to two orders of magnitude higher abundances of Pt and Pd. Troctolites and olivine gabbros from other parts of the Voisey’s Bay Intrusion and other Nain Plutonic Suite Intrusions, including the Kiglapait, Newark Bay, Barth Island, Mushua, and Nain Bay South Intrusion, also have low platinum group element abundances. Although it is possible that this is a signature of a widespread sulfide saturation event that pre-dated ore formation at Voisey’s Bay, it is more likely that platinum group element (PGE) depletion is a product of the source melting process where low degrees of melting resulted in the retention of PGE in the mantle source. If so, this indicates that PGE depletion should be used with caution as an exploration tool in the Nain Plutonic Suite.     

Implications for Neoarchaean ocean chemistry from primary carbonate mineralogy of the Campbellrand-Malmani Platform, South Africa

The precipitation of calcite and aragonite as encrustations directly on the seafloor was an important platform‐building process during deposition of the 2560–2520 Ma Campbellrand‐Malmani carbonate platform, South Africa. Aragonite fans and fibrous coatings are common in unrestricted, shallow subtidal to intertidal facies. They are also present in restricted facies, but are absent from deep subtidal facies. Decimetre‐thick fibrous calcite encrustations are present to abundant in all depositional environments except the deepest slope and basinal facies. The proportion of the rock composed of carbonate that precipitated as encrustations or in primary voids ranges from 0% to > 65% depending on the facies. Subtidal facies commonly contain 20–35%in situ precipitated carbonate, demonstrating that Neoarchaean sea water was supersaturated with respect to aragonite, carbonate crystal growth rates were rapid compared with sediment influx rates, and the dynamics of carbonate precipitation were different from those in younger carbonate platforms. The abundance of aragonite pseudomorphs suggests that sea‐water pH was neutral to alkaline, whereas the paucity of micrite suggests the presence of inhibitors to calcite and aragonite nucleation in the mixed zone of the oceans.