Modeling and cyclic behavior of segmental bridge column connected with shape memory alloy bars

This paper examines the quasi-static cyclic behavior,lateral strength and equivalent damping capacities of a system of post-tensioned segmental bridge columns tied with large diameter martensitic Shape Memory Alloy(SMA) link-bars.Moment-curvature constitutive relationships are formulated and analysis tools are developed for the PT column,including a modified four-spring model prepared for the SMA bars.The suggested system is exemplified using a column with an aspect ratio of 7.5 and twelve 36.5 mm diameter NiTi martensitic SMA bars.A post-tensioning force of 40% to 60% of the tendon yield strength is applied in order to obtain a self re-centering system,considering the residual stress of the martensitic SMA bars.The cyclic response results show that the lateral strength remains consistently around 10% of the total vertical load and the equivalent viscous damping ratios reach 10%-12% of critical.When large diameter NiTi superelastic SMA bars are incorporated into the column system,the cyclic response varies substantially.The creep behavior of the superelastic SMA bar is accounted for since it affects the re-centering capability of the column.Two examples are presented to emphasize the modeling sensitivities for these special bars and quantify their cyclic behavior effects within the column assembly.     

Flood hazard mapping in Southern Brazil: a combination of flow frequency analysis and the HAND model

The Itajaí River basin is one of the areas most affected by flood-related disasters in Brazil. Flood hazard maps based on digital elevation models (DEM) are an important alternative in the absence of detailed hydrological data and for application in large areas. We developed a flood hazard mapping methodology by combining flow frequency analysis with the Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND) model – f2HAND – and applied it in three municipalities in the Itajaí River basin. The f2HAND performance was evaluated through comparison with observed 2011 flood extent maps. Model performance and sensitivity were tested for different DEM resolutions, return periods and streamflow data from stations located upstream and downstream on the main river. The flood hazard mapping with our combined approach matched 92% of the 2011 flood event. We found that the f2HAND model has low sensitivity to DEM resolution and high sensitivity to area threshold of channel initiation.     

The electromagnetic response of a horizontal electric dipole buried in a multi‐layered earth

The electromagnetic response of a horizontal electric dipole transmitter in the presence of a conductive, layered earth is important in a number of geophysical applications, ranging from controlled‐source audio‐frequency magnetotellurics to borehole geophysics to marine electromagnetics. The problem has been thoroughly studied for more than a century, starting from a dipole resting on the surface of a half‐space and subsequently advancing all the way to a transmitter buried within a stack of anisotropic layers. The solution is still relevant today. For example, it is useful for one‐dimensional modelling and interpretation, as well as to provide background fields for two‐ and three‐dimensional modelling methods such as integral equation or primary–secondary field formulations. This tutorial borrows elements from the many texts and papers on the topic and combines them into what we believe is a helpful guide to performing layered earth electromagnetic field calculations. It is not intended to replace any of the existing work on the subject. However, we have found that this combination of elements is particularly effective in teaching electromagnetic theory and providing a basis for algorithmic development. Readers will be able to calculate electric and magnetic fields at any point in or above the earth, produced by a transmitter at any location. As an illustrative example, we calculate the fields of a dipole buried in a multi‐layered anisotropic earth to demonstrate how the theory that developed in this tutorial can be implemented in practice; we then use the example to examine the diffusion of volume charge density within anisotropic media—a rarely visualised process. The algorithm is internally validated by comparing the response of many thin layers with alternating high and low conductivity values to the theoretically equivalent (yet algorithmically simpler) anisotropic solution, as well as externally validated against an independent algorithm.     

A first application of a marine inductive source electromagnetic configuration with remote electric dipole receivers: Palinuro Seamount,Tyrrhenian Sea

We study a new marine electromagnetic configuration that consists of a ship‐towed inductive source transmitter and a series of remote electric dipole receivers placed on the seafloor. The approach was tested at the Palinuro Seamount in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, at a site where massive sulphide mineralization has been previously identified by shallow drilling. A 3D model of the Palinuro study area was created using bathymetry data, and forward modelling of the electric field diffusion was carried out using a finite volume method. These numerical results suggest that the remote receivers can theoretically detect a block of shallowly buried conductive material at up to ～100 m away when the transmitter is located directly above the target. We also compared the sensitivity of the method using either a horizontal loop transmitter or a vertical loop transmitter and found that when either transmitter is located directly above the mineralized zone, the vertical loop transmitter has sensitivity to the target at a farther distance than the horizontal loop transmitter in the broadside direction by a few tens of metres. Furthermore, the vertical loop transmitter is more effective at distinguishing the seafloor conductivity structure when the vertical separation between transmitter and receiver is large due to the bathymetry. As a horizontal transmitter is logistically easier to deploy, we conducted a first test of the method with a horizontal transmitter. Apparent conductivities are calculated from the electric field transients recorded at the remote receivers. The analysis indicates higher apparent seafloor conductivities when the transmitter is located near the mineralized zone. Forward modelling suggests that the best match to the apparent conductivity data is obtained when the mineralized zone is extended southward by 40 m beyond the zone of previous drilling. Our results demonstrate that the method adds value to the exploration and characterization of seafloor massive sulphide deposits.     

Seasonal and interannual variability of vertical turbulent exchange coefficient in the Black Sea pycnocline in 2013–2016 and its relation to variability of mean kinetic energy of surface currents

Ocean Dynamics - In this paper, we analyze seasonal and interannual variability of vertical turbulent diffusion coefficient (Kt). Our calculations are based on the time series from 2013 to 2016,...     

Break of temporal symmetry in a stationary Markovian setting: evidencing an arrow of time,and parameterizing linear dependencies using fractional low-order joint moments

Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment - We demonstrate that “an arrow of time” that is being determined by the joint distributions of successive process variables, or...     

俄罗斯Chukchi半岛新生代碱性岩的形成和演化：熔体和流体包裹体证据

Melt and fluid inclusions were studied in the minerals of Cenozoic olivine melanephelinites from the Chukchi Peninsula, Russia.The rock contain several generations of olivine phenocrysts varying in composition at mg=0.88～0.77.The phenocrysts bear fluid and melt inclusions recording various stages of melt crystallization in volcanic conduits and shallow magma chambers.Primary fluid inclusions are CO_2-dominated with a density of up to O.93 g/cm~3.All fluid inclusions are partially leaked,which is indicated by haloes of tiny fluid bubbles around large fluid inclusions in minerals.Melt inclusions contain various daughter crystals,which were completely resorbed in thermometric experiments at about 1230℃.Assuming that this temperature corresponds to the entrapment conditions of the CO_2 fluid inclusions,the minimum pressure of the beginning of magma degassing is estimated as 800MPa.Variations in the compositions of homogenized silicate melt inclusions indicate that olivine was the earliest crystalline phase followed by clinopyroxene,nepheline and orthoclase.This sequence is in agreement with the mineralogy of the rocks.The melts are strongly enriched in incompatible trace elements and volatiles(in addition to CO_2,high C1,F,and S contents were detected).There are some differences between the compositions of melts trapped in minerals from different samples.Variations in SiO_2,FeO,and incompatible element contents are probably related to melt generations at various levels in a homogeneous mantle reservoir.     

New data on accounts of the 1908 Tunguska event

There has been a longstanding debate about the nature of the 1908 Tunguska event. Many eyewitness accounts were collected more than half of a century after the event. Among these are many second‐hand oral accounts after the generation of eyewitnesses faded away. However, several years ago, two valuable publications appeared containing first‐hand eyewitness accounts collected by a Russian ethnographer, Sev'yan Vainshtein, during an expedition to the settlement of Sulomay in 1948. This paper presents additional details of these accounts, based on the author's discussions with Vainshtein before he died in 2008, and demonstrates how these accounts shed new light on what happened in Tunguska in June 1908.     

Middle to Late Pleistocene lake‐level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn,far‐east Russian Arctic

Lake El'gygytgyn, located in central Chukotka, Russian Arctic, was the subject of an international drilling project that resulted in the recovery of the longest continuous palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental record for the terrestrial Arctic covering the last 3.6 million years. Here, we present the reconstruction of the lake‐level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn since Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 based on lithological and palynological as well as chronological studies of shallow‐water sediment cores and subaerial lake terraces. Reconstructed lake levels show an abrupt rise during glacial–interglacial terminations (MIS 6/5 and MIS 2/1) and during the MIS 4/3 stadial–interstadial transition. The most prominent lowstands occurred during glacial periods associated with a permanent lake‐ice cover (namely MIS 6, MIS 4 and MIS 2). Major triggering mechanisms of the lake‐level fluctuations at Lake El'gygytgyn are predominantly changes in air temperature and precipitation. Regional summer temperatures control the volume of meltwater supply as well as the duration of the lake‐ice cover (permanent or seasonal). The duration of the lake‐ice cover, in turn, enables or hampers near‐shore sediment transport, thus leading to long‐term lake‐level oscillations on glacial–interglacial time scales by blocking or opening the lake outflow, respectively. During periods of seasonal ice cover the lake level was additionally influenced by changes in precipitation. The discovered mechanism of climatologically driven level fluctuations of Lake El'gygytgyn are probably valid for large hydrologically open lakes in the Arctic in general, thus helping to understand arctic palaeohydrology and providing missing information for climate modelling.