Analysis of RC slab–beam–column sub‐assemblages subjected to bidirectional lateral cyclic loading using a new 3D macroelement

An existing two‐dimensional macroelement for reinforced concrete beam–column joints is extended to a three‐dimensional macroelement. The three‐dimensional macroelement for beam–column joints consists of six rigid interface plates and uniaxial springs for concrete, steel, and bond–slip, which model the inside of a beam–column joint. The mechanical models for the materials and the stiffness equation for the springs are also presented. To validate the model, we used test results from three slab–beam–column sub‐assemblages subjected to bi‐lateral cyclic load. It is revealed that the new joint model is capable of capturing the strength of beam–column joints and the bidirectional interaction in joint shear response, including the concentration of damage in the beam–column joint, the pinching nature in hysteretic behavior, the stiffness degradation, and strength deterioration resulting from cyclic and bidirectional loading. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depositional ages and characteristics of Middle–Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits in southeastern Mongolia

Lower Cretaceous lacustrine oil shales are widely distributed in southeastern Mongolia. Due to the high organic carbon content of oil shale, many geochemical studies and petroleum exploration have been conducted. Although most of the oil shales are considered to be Early Cretaceous in age, a recent study reveals that some were deposited in the Middle Jurassic. The present study aims at establishing depositional ages and characteristics of the Jurassic and Cretaceous lacustrine deposits in Mongolia. The Lower Cretaceous Shinekhudag Formation is about 250 m thick and composed of alternating beds of shale and dolomite. The Middle Jurassic Eedemt Formation is about 150 m thick and composed of alternating beds of shale, dolomitic marl, and siltstone. The alternations of shale and dolomite in both formations were formed by lake level changes, reflecting precipitation changes. Shales were deposited in the center of a deep lake during highstand, while dolomites were formed by primary precipitation during lowstand. Based on the radiometric age dating, the Shinekhudag Formation was deposited between 123.8 ±2.0 Ma and 118.5 ±0.9 Ma of the early Aptian. The Eedemt Formation was deposited at around 165–158 Ma of Callovian–Oxfordian. The calculated sedimentation rate of the Shinekhudag Formation is between 4.7 ±2.6 cm/ky and 10.0 ±7.6 cm/ky. Shales in the Shinekhudag Formation show micrometer‐scale lamination, consisting of algal organic matter and detrital clay mineral couplets. Given the average thickness of micro‐laminae and calculated sedimentation rate, the micro‐lamination is most likely of varve origin. Both Middle–Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous lacustrine oil shales were deposited in intracontinental basins in the paleo‐Asian continent. Tectonic processes and basin evolution basically controlled the deposition of these oil shales. In addition, enhanced precipitation under humid climate during the early Aptian and the Callovian–Oxfordian was another key factor inducing the widespread oil shale deposition in Mongolia.     

Modification of the damping function in the k–ε model to analyse oscillatory boundary layers

A simple relationship has been developed between the wall coordinate y⁺ and Kolmogorov's length scale using direct numerical simulation (DNS) data for a steady boundary layer. This relationship is then utilized to modify two popular versions of low Reynolds number k–ε model. The modified models are used to analyse a transitional oscillatory boundary layer. A detailed comparison has been made by virtue of velocity profile, turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds stress and wall shear stress with the available DNS data. It is observed that the low Reynolds number models used in the present study can predict the boundary layer properties in an excellent manner.     

Free-surface implementation in a mesh-free finite-difference method for elastic wave propagation in the frequency domain

We present an original implementation of the free-surface boundary condition in a mesh-free finite-difference method for simulating elastic wave propagation in the frequency domain. For elastic wave modelling in the frequency domain, the treatment of free surfaces is a key issue which requires special consideration. In the present study, the free-surface boundary condition is directly implemented at node positions located on the free-surface. Flexible nature of the mesh-free method for nodal distribution enables us to introduce topography into numerical models in an efficient manner. We investigate the accuracy of the proposed implementation by comparing numerical results with an analytical solution. The results show that the proposed method can calculate surface wave propagation even for an inclined free surface with substantial accuracy. Next, we calculate surface wave propagation in a model with a topographic surface using our method, and compare the numerical result with that using the finite-element method. The comparison shows the excellent agreement with each other. Finally, we apply our method to the SEG foothill model to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Since the mesh-free method has high flexibility of nodal distribution, the proposed implementation would deal with models of topographic surface with sufficient accuracy and efficiency.     

Summary of taxa and distribution of Sirenia in the North Pacific Ocean

Abstract North Pacific fossil sirenians comprise representatives of three subfamilies of the Dugongidae: Halitheriinae ( Metaxytherium arctodites , Middle Miocene, North America), Hy-drodamalinae ( Dusisiren spp., Early-Late Miocene, and Hydrodamalis spp., Late Miocene-Pleistocene, North America and Japan), and Dugonginae ( Dioplotherium allisoni , Early-Middle Miocene, North America). Indeterminate dugongid remains are also known from the Late Oligocene of Japan, and the discovery of additional taxa in the western Pacific, especially in Paleogene rocks, can be anticipated. The known North Pacific Neogene taxa apparently dispersed into the Pacific from the Caribbean. Metaxytherium gave rise in the Pacific to Dusisiren ; a series of chronospecies of the latter genus eventually culminated in Hydrodamalis , which was exterminated by humans circa AD 1768. Dioplotherium left no known descendants in the Pacific. The Recent Dugong probably entered the Pacific from the Indian Ocean. The presence in the North Pacific Miocene of at least three sympatric dugongid lineages, together with desmostylians, is evidence for a diversity of marine plants that was reduced by subsequent climatic cooling.     

Diverse mineralogical and oxygen isotopic signatures recorded in CV3 carbonaceous chondrites

We describe the petrography and mineralogy of six CV3 carbonaceous chondrites. LAP02206, LAP02228, LAP04843, and GRA06101 are classified as oxidized Allende-like chondrites (CV3_oxA). RBT04143 and QUE97186 are classified as members of the reduced subtype (CV3_red). Chondrules in the CV3_oxA chondrites show extensive Fe–Mg zoning. Fe-rich olivine in the rims of the CV3_oxA chondrules are ¹⁶O-poor relative to Mg-rich olivine in the cores, suggesting that in addition to Fe and Mg, oxygen was exchanged between chondrules and matrix during weak thermal metamorphism. The CV3_red chondrites appear to have formed through various processes. QUE97186 shows chondrule flattening with a preferred orientation, which is interpreted to have resulted from shock impact at a pressure of ～20 GPa. The post-shock residual heat (～1000 °C) is likely to be responsible for the restricted Fe/Mg ratios of matrix olivine. Based on the degree of Fe–Mg homogenization of matrix olivines, we estimate the spatial scale of the shock-heated region to be ～1 m. RBT04143 is a breccia containing many clasts of two types of lithologies: reduced-type material and very weakly altered material.     

Upwelling of oxygen-depleted water (Sumishio) in Omura Bay,Japan

Wind-induced circulation and the distribution of hypoxia corresponding to the upwelling of oxygen-depleted water (called “Aoshio” in Japan and “Sumishio” locally in Omura Bay) in Omura Bay, Japan, was examined field observations and by three-dimensional modeling. During the calm weather in summer, well-mixed strait water, in rich oxygen at the mouth of the bay intruded into the middle layer of the bay, southward and northward along the west and east coast, respectively, forming basin-scale cyclonic circulation. A stagnant water mass was formed below the center of this cyclonic circulation, and it became hypoxic water. As a result of the prevailing strong southeast (northeast) wind, the bottom hypoxia moved in a southeasterly (northeasterly) direction. This induces the upwelling of hypoxic water, accompanied by mass mortality of marine organisms.     

Analyzing rainfall-induced mass movements in Taiwan using the soil water index

This study applied the soil water index (SWI), which can represent the conceptual soil water contents as influenced by present and antecedent rainfall, for analyzing rainfall-induced mass movements in Taiwan. The SWI has been used in Japan for nationwide mass movement warnings. This study examined whether the SWI can be also applied to Taiwan, which has a climatic condition and high-relief topography similar to Japan. We used data for mass movements for 2006–2012 (n = 263) for the main analyses and those for 2013 (n = 19) for verification. The SWI values before the rainfall events that triggered mass movements were used as the indicator of the antecedent rainfall condition. We found that when SWI values before rainfall events increased from <17.5 to >35, the upper threshold of rainfall conditions needed for triggering mass movements significantly decreased. The mass movements in 2013 support this finding. We classified rainfall conditions for triggering mass movements into two types, short duration–high intensity (SH) and long duration–low intensity (LL), based on a principal component analysis (PCA). The SH type is associated with a rapid increase in SWI, and the LL type is associated with a gradual rise and subsequent constancy of SWI except in some extremely long rainfall events. Based on this result, we modeled the general trend of the time series changes in SWI for the two types, which was verified using the mass movements in 2013.     

Aeolian dust experiment on climate impact: An overview of Japan–China joint project ADEC

The Aeolian Dust Experiment on Climate Impact (ADEC) was initiated in April 2000 as a joint five-year Japan–China project. The goal was to understand the impact of aeolian dust on climate via radiative forcing (RF). Field experiments and numerical simulations were conducted from the source regions in northwestern China to the downwind region in Japan in order to understand wind erosion processes temporal and spatial distribution of dust during their long-range transportation chemical, physical, and optical properties of dust and the direct effect of radiative forcing due to dust. For this, three intensive observation periods (IOP) were conducted from April 2002 to April 2004.The in situ and network observation results are summarized as follows: (1) In situ observations of the wind erosion process revealed that the vertical profile of moving sand has a clear size dependency with height and saltation flux and that threshold wind velocity is dependent on soil moisture. Results also demonstrated that saltation flux is strongly dependent on the parent soil size distribution of the desert surface. (2) Both lidar observations and model simulations revealed a multiple dust layer in East Asia. A numerical simulation of a chemical transport model, CFORS, illustrated the elevated dust layer from the Taklimakan Desert and the lower dust layer from the Gobi Desert. The global-scale dust model, MASINGAR, also simulated the dust layer in the middle to upper free troposphere in East Asia, which originated from North Africa and the Middle East during a dust storm in March 2003. Raman lidar observations at Tsukuba, Japan, found the ice cloud associated with the dust layer at an altitude of 6 to 9 km. Analysis from lidar and the radio-sonde observation suggested that the Asian dust acted as ice nuclei at the ice-saturated region. These results suggest the importance of dust's climate impact via the indirect effect of radiative forcing due to the activation of dust into ice nuclei. (3) Studies on the aerosol concentration indicated that size distributions of aerosols in downwind regions have bimodal peaks. One peak was in the submicron range and the other in the supermicron range. The main soluble components of the supermicron peak were Na⁺, Ca²⁺, NO₃⁻, and Cl⁻. In the downwind region in Japan, the dust, sea salt, and a mixture of the two were found to be dominant in coarse particles in the mixed boundary layer. (4) Observation of the optical properties of dust by sky-radiometer, particle shoot absorption photometer (PSAP), and Nephelometer indicated that unpolluted dust at source region has a weaker absorption than originally believed.A sensitivity experiment of direct RF by dust indicated that single scattering albedo is the most important of the optical properties of dust and that the sensitivity of instantaneous RF in the shortwave region at the top of the atmosphere to the refractive index strongly depends on surface albedo. A global scale dust model, MASINGAR, was used for evaluation of direct RF due to dust. The results indicated the global mean RF at the top and the bottom of the atmosphere were − 0.46 and − 2.13 W m^− 2 with cloud and were almost half of the RF with cloud-free condition.     

Mesoscale eddy effects on temporal variability of surface chlorophyll a in the Kuroshio Extension

We investigated the relationship between chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentrations estimated from satellite observations and the activity of eddies in the Kuroshio Extension region. High (low) area-averaged Chl-a concentrations were frequently observed in the core of cyclonic (anticyclonic) eddies. Such relationships between Chl-a concentrations and eddy cores were not frequently observed in the southern part of the recirculation gyre, and advection of background meridional gradient of Chl-a by eddy-edge currents accounted for Chl-a spatial variability. Decadal-scale changes of Chl-a concentrations around the Kuroshio Extension were strongly affected by eddy activity and transport but not by large-scale near-surface isopycnal heaving. We also found that decadal changes of nutrient concentrations near the main stream could affect Chl-a concentrations in the southern part of the recirculation gyre via southward transport of eddies and mean flow.