Application of consequence-based design criteria in regions of moderate seismicity

Current design criteria and principles of earthquake engineering design are reviewed, including safety factors, probabilistic approach, and two-level and multi-level functional design ideas. The modern multi-functional idea is discussed in greater details. When designing a structure, its resistance to and the intensity of the earthquake action are considered. The consequence of failure of the structure is considered only through a rough and empirical factor of importance, ranging usually from 1.0 to 1.5. This paper suggests a method of “consequence-based design,” which considers the consequences of malfunctioning instead of simply an importance factor. The main argument for this method is that damage to a structure located in different types of societies may have very different consequences, which are dependant on its value and usefulness to the society and the seismicity in the region.     

Dynamic stress concentration and scattering of SH-wave by interface elliptic cylindrical cavity

In this paper, the dynamic stress concentration and scattering of SH-waves by bi-naterial structures that possess an interface elliptic cavity are investigated. First, by using the complex function method, the Green‘s function is constructed. This yields the solution of the displacement field for an elastic half space with a semi-elliptic canyon impacted by an anti-plane harmonic line source loading on the horizontal surface. Then, the problem is divided into an upper and lower half space along the horizontal interface, regarded as a harmony model. In order to satisfythe integral continuity condition,the unknown anti-plane forces are applied to the interface. The integral equations with unknown forces can be established through the continuity condition, and after transformation, the algebraic equations are solved numerically. Finally, the distribution of the dynamic stress concentration factor (DSCF) around the elliptic cavity is given and the effect of different parameters on DSCF is discussed.     

Remote structural health monitoring with serially multiplexed fiber optic acoustic emission sensors

Development and testing of a serially multiplexed fiber optic sensor system is described. The sensor differs from conventional fiber optic acoustic systems, as it is capable of sensing AE emissions at several points along the length of a single fiber. Multiplexing provides for single channel detection of cracks and their locations in large structural systems. An algorithm was developed for signal recognition and tagging of the AE waveforms for detection of crack locations. Laboratory experiments on plain concrete beams and post-tensioned FRP tendons were performed to evaluate the crack detection capability of the sensor system. The acoustic emission sensor was able to detect initiation, growth and location of the cracks in concrete as well as in the FRP tendons. The AE system is potentially suitable for applications involving health monitoring of structures following an earthquake Supported by: National Science Foundation, Grant number CMS-9900338     

A technique to improve the empirical mode decomposition in the Hilbert-Huang transform

The Hilbert-based time-frequency analysis has promising capacity to reveal the time-variant behaviors of a system. To admit well-behaved Hilbert transforms, component decomposition of signals must be performed beforehand. This was first systematically implemented by the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in the Hilbert-Huang transform, which can provide a time-frequency representation of the signals. The EMD, however, has limitations in distinguishing different components in narrowband signals commonly found in free-decay vibration signals. In this study, a technique for decomposing components in narrowband signals based on waves’ beating phenomena is proposed to improve the EMD, in which the time scale structure of the signal is unveiled by the Hilbert transform as a result of wave beating, the order of component extraction is reversed from that in the EMD and the end effect is confined. The proposed technique is verified by performing the component decomposition of a simulated signal and a free decay signal actually measured in an instrumented bridge structure. In addition, the adaptability of the technique to time-variant dynamic systems is demonstrated with a simulated time-variant MDOF system.     

Relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters: theoretical and semi-empirical relationships

Fault parameters are important in earthquake hazard analysis. In this paper, theoretical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters including subsurface rupture length, downdip rupture width, rupture area, and average slip over the fault surface are deduced based on seismological theory. These theoretical relationships are further simplified by applying similarity conditions and an unique form is established. Then, combining thc simplified theoretical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters with seismic source data selected in this study, a practical semi-empirical relationship is established. The seismic source data selected is also to used to derive empirical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters by the ordinary least square regression method. Comparisons between semi-empirical relationships and empirical relationships show that the former depict distribution trends of data better than the latter. It is also observed that downdip rupture widths of strike slip faults are saturated when moment magnitude is more than 7.0, but downdip rupture widths of dip slip faults are not saturated in the moment magnitude ranges of this study.     

Lateral load pattern in pushover analysis

The seismic capacity curves of three types of buildings including frame, frame-shear wall and shear wall obtained by pushover analysis under different lateral load patterns are compared with those from nonlinear time history analysis. Based on the numerical results obtained a two-phase load pattern; an inverted triangle (first mode) load pattern until the base shear force reachesβ times its maximum value, V_max, followed by a (x/H)^α form, hereβ and α being some coefficients depending on the type of the structures considered, is proposed in the paper, which can provide excellent approximation of the seismic capacity curve for low-to-mid-rise shear type buildings. Furthermore, it is shown both the two-phase load pattern proposed and the invariant uniform pattern can be used for low-to-mid-rise shear-bending type and low-rise bending type of buildings. No suitable load patterns have been found for high-rise buildings.     

Structural physical parameter identification based on evolutionary-simplex algorithm and structural dynamic response

Evolutionary computation based on the idea of biologic evolution is one type of global optimization algorithm that uses self-adaptation, self-organization and random searching to solve optimization problems. The evolutionary-simplex algorithm is introduced in this paper. It contains floating encoding which combines the evolutionary computation and the simplex algorithm to ovcrcomc the problems encountered in the genetic algorithm and evolutionary strategy methods.Numerical cxpcrimcnts arc performed using seven typical functions to verify the algorithm. An inverse analysis method to identify structural physical parameters based on incomplete dynamic responses obtained from the analysis in the time domain is prcscntcd by using the evolutionary-simplex algorithm. The modal evolutionary-simplex algorithm converted from the time domain to the modal domain is proposed to improve the inverse efficiency. Numerical calculations for a 50-DOF system show that whcn compared with other methods, the evolutionary-simplex algorithm offers advantages of high precision,cfficient searching ability, strong ability to resist noise, independence of initial value, and good adaptation to incomplete information conditions.     

An evaluation of the role played by remote sensing technology following the World Trade Center attack

Remote sensing technology has been widely recognized for contributing to emergency response efforts after the World Trade Center attack on September 11th, 2001. The need to coordinate activities in the midst of a dense, yet relatively small area, made the combination of imagery and mapped data strategically useful. This paper reviews the role played by aerial photography, satellite imagery, and LIDAR data at Ground Zero. It examines how emergency managers utilized these datasets, and identifies significant problems that were encountered. It goes on to explore additional ways in which imagery could have been used, while presenting recommendations for more effective use in future disasters and Homeland Security applications. To plan adequately for future events, it was important to capture knowledge from individuals who responded to the World Trade Center attack. In recognition, interviews with key emergency management and geographic information system (GIS) personnel provide the basis of this paper. Successful techniques should not be forgotten, or serious problems dismissed. Although widely used after September 11th, it is important to recognize that with better planning, remote sensing and GIS could have played an even greater role. Together with a data acquisition timeline, an expanded discussion of these issues is available in the MCEER/NSF report “Emergency Response in the Wake of the World Trade Center Attack; The Remote Sensing Perspective” (Huyck and Adams, 2002)     

Studies on seismic waves

The development of seismic wave study in China in the past four years is reviewed. The discussion is divided into several aspects, including seismic wave propagation in laterally homogeneous media, laterally heterogeneous media, anisotropic and porous media, surface wave and seismic wave inversion, and seismic wave study in prospecting and logging problems. Important projects in the current studies on seismic wave is suggested as the development of high efficient numerical methods, and applying them to the studies of excitation and propagation of seismic waves in complex media and strong ground motion, which will form a foundation for refined earthquake hazard analysis and prediction.     

Differences in grain growth of calcite: a field-based modeling approach

Normal grain growth of calcite was investigated by combining grain size analysis of calcite across the contact aureole of the Adamello pluton, and grain growth modeling based on a thermal model of the surroundings of the pluton. In an unbiased model system, i.e., location dependent variations in temperature-time path, 2/3 and 1/3 of grain growth occurs during pro- and retrograde metamorphism at all locations, respectively. In contrast to this idealized situation, in the field example three groups can be distinguished, which are characterized by variations in their grain size versus temperature relationships: Group I occurs at low temperatures and the grain size remains constant because nano-scale second phase particles of organic origin inhibit grain growth in the calcite aggregates under these conditions. In the presence of an aqueous fluid, these second phases decay at a temperature of about 350 °C enabling the onset of grain growth in calcite. In the following growth period, fluid-enhanced group II and slower group III growth occurs. For group II a continuous and intense grain size increase with T is typical while the grain growth decreases with T for group III. None of the observed trends correlate with experimentally based grain growth kinetics, probably due to differences between nature and experiment which have not yet been investigated (e.g., porosity, second phases). Therefore, grain growth modeling was used to iteratively improve the correlation between measured and modeled grain sizes by optimizing activation energy (Q), pre-exponential factor (k₀) and grain size exponent (n). For n=2, Q of 350 kJ/mol, k₀ of 1.7×10²¹ mⁿs^–1 and Q of 35 kJ/mol, k₀ of 2.5×10^-5 mⁿs^–1 were obtained for group II and III, respectively. With respect to future work, field-data based grain growth modeling might be a promising tool for investigating the influences of secondary effects like porosity and second phases on grain growth in nature, and to unravel differences between nature and experiment.Editorial responsibility: J. Hoefs