Optimal design of passive energy dissipation systems based on H∞ and H2 performances

Passive energy dissipation devices (EDDs), such as viscous dampers, viscoelastic dampers, etc., have been used to effectively reduce the dynamic response of civil infrastructures, such as buildings and bridges, subject to earthquakes and strong winds. The design of these passive energy dissipation devices (EDDs) involves the determination of the optimal locations and the corresponding capacities. In this paper, we present two optimal design methodologies for passive EDDs based on active control theories, including H_∞ and H₂ performances, respectively. The optimal design methodologies presented are capable of determining the optimal locations and the corresponding capacities of EDDs. Emphasis is placed on the application of linear matrix inequality (LMI) for the effective design of passive EDDs using the popular MATLAB toolboxes. One important advantage of the proposed approaches is that the computation of the structural response is not needed in the design process. The proposed optimal design methodologies have been applied to: (i) a 10‐storey building and a 24‐storey building both subject to earthquake excitations, and (ii) a 76‐storey wind‐excited benchmark building, to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed design methodologies over the conventional equal capacity design. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical evaluation of the damping‐solvent extraction method in the frequency domain

The damping‐solvent extraction method for the analysis of unbounded visco‐elastic media is evaluated numerically in the frequency domain in order to investigate the influence of the computational parameters—domain size, amount of artificial damping, and mesh density—on the accuracy of results. An analytical estimate of this influence is presented, and specific questions regarding the influence of the parameters on the results are answered using the analytical estimate and numerical results for two classical problems: the rigid strip and rigid disc footings on a visco‐elastic half‐space with constant hysteretic material damping. As the domain size is increased, the results become more accurate only at lower frequencies, but are essentially unaffected at higher frequencies. Choosing the domain size to ensure that the static stiffness is computed accurately leads to an unnecessarily large domain for analysis at higher frequencies. The results improve by increasing artificial damping but at a slower rate as the total (material plus artificial) damping ratio ζ_t gets closer to 0.866. However, the results do not deteriorate significantly for the larger amounts of artificial damping, suggesting that ζ_t≈0.6 is appropriate; a larger value is not likely to influence the accuracy of results. Presented results do not support the earlier suggestion that similar accuracy can be achieved by a large bounded domain with small damping or by a small domain with larger damping. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A response‐based decoupling criterion for multiply‐supported secondary systems

It is often infeasible to carry out coupled analyses of multiply‐supported secondary systems for earthquake excitations. ‘Approximate’ decoupled analyses are then resorted to, unless the response errors due to those are significantly high. This study proposes a decoupling criterion to identify such cases where these errors are likely to be larger than an acceptable level. The proposed criterion is based on the errors in the primary system response due to decoupling and has been obtained by assuming (i) the input excitation to be an ideal white noise process, (ii) cross‐modal correlation to be negligible, and (iii) the combined system to be classically damped. It uses the modal properties of the undamped combined system, and therefore, a perturbation approach has been formulated to determine the combined system properties in case of light to moderately heavy secondary systems. A numerical study has been carried out to illustrate the accuracy achieved with the proposed perturbation formulation. The proposed decoupling criterion has been validated with the help of two example primary‐secondary systems and four example excitation processes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Approximate analysis methods for asymmetric plan base‐isolated buildings

An approximate method for linear analysis of asymmetric‐plan, multistorey buildings is specialized for a single‐storey, base‐isolated structure. To find the mode shapes of the torsionally coupled system, the Rayleigh–Ritz procedure is applied using the torsionally uncoupled modes as Ritz vectors. This approach reduces to analysis of two single‐storey systems, each with vibration properties and eccentricities (labelled ‘effective eccentricities’) similar to corresponding properties of the isolation system or the fixed‐base structure. With certain assumptions, the vibration properties of the coupled system can be expressed explicitly in terms of these single‐storey system properties. Three different methods are developed: the first is a direct application of the Rayleigh–Ritz procedure; the second and third use simplifications for the effective eccentricities, assuming a relatively stiff superstructure. The accuracy of these proposed methods and the rigid structure method in determining responses are assessed for a range of system parameters including eccentricity and structure flexibility. For a subset of systems with equal isolation and structural eccentricities, two of the methods are exact and the third is sufficiently accurate; all three are preferred to the rigid structure method. For systems with zero isolation eccentricity, however, all approximate methods considered are inconsistent and should be applied with caution, only to systems with small structural eccentricities or stiff structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling evaporation using an artificial neural network algorithm

This paper investigates the prediction of Class A pan evaporation using the artificial neural network (ANN) technique. The ANN back propagation algorithm has been evaluated for its applicability for predicting evaporation from minimum climatic data. Four combinations of input data were considered and the resulting values of evaporation were analysed and compared with those of existing models. The results from this study suggest that the neural computing technique could be employed successfully in modelling the evaporation process from the available climatic data set. However, an analysis of the residuals from the ANN models developed revealed that the models showed significant error in predictions during the validation, implying loss of generalization properties of ANN models unless trained carefully. The study indicated that evaporation values could be reasonably estimated using temperature data only through the ANN technique. This would be of much use in instances where data availability is limited. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contested terrains: Cities and hinterlands in post-apartheid boundary delimitations

In South Africa attempts are being made to address the socio-spatial distortions of the apartheid era through a more equitable distribution of resources, and the re-drawing of municipal geographical boundaries. However, boundaries are not neutral geographic lines. Boundary changes are often associated with a redistribution of political power and resources. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the contemporary territorial and administrative restructuring on urban dynamics in South Africa. More specifically, the focus is on how the process of territorial restructuring impacted on metropolitan areas as well as on secondary cities and their hinterlands. Examining and elucidating the manner in which various social, economic and political forces have manifested themselves in the process of boundary delimitation in a major metropolitan centre as well as adjacent rural areas is a central theme of this paper. There were considerable contestations over the delimitation of new local government boundaries. Affluent metro authorities like that in Durban were opposed to the spatial extension of their boundaries because of the costs of the providing services and infrastructure in the deprived margins. Similarly, there was concern that incorporation of rural areas will result in increased municipal service charges being imposed on these communities. Tensions were heightened between urban and rural regions because traditional leaders believed that their territorial jurisdiction and authority were being undermined. In other parts of the country, the merger of traditionally white and black fragments of secondary cities often resulted in many black locations continuing to be marginalized. There appears to be neither the political will nor the economic capacity to upgrade these zones of marginalized urban communities. While the Municipal Demarcation Board was largely successful in eliminating the political geography of apartheid at a macro- scale, this paper suggests that the greater challenge for government and policy makers is to reduce the socio-spatial and economic inequalities which appears to be still very high and perhaps increasing. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A double-head photon-counting photometer for fast timing observations

The structure of the electronics of the two-head, high-speed photometer operating on the 152-cm G.D. Cassini telescope of Bologna University has been fully redesigned for high-time-resolution observations of fast variable sources, in particular, of the optical counterparts of X-ray binary systems. The fast photometer now permits sampling times from 0.1 ms to 100 s. The handling of the system clock and I/O configuration have been modified to provide rigorous synchronization of the sampling time with an external high-stability clock and the continuous acquisition of an uninterrupted data stream. The continuous data-acquisition process, which is driven by an external clock, is limited only by the capacity of the hard disk and is supported by a double-buffer SRAM memory designed to overcome any discontinuity in the asynchronous communication with the computer. Real-time monitoring of the data enables continuous evaluation of the weather conditions, and the directly displayed light curve can be used to determine the optimal management of the observations.     

Simultaneous use of geochemical and geophysical methods to characterise abandoned landfills

. Groundwater sampling and geophysical methods determined a serious contamination problem associated with refilled exploitation sites at the Cal Dimoni area, Llobregat delta, Barcelona, Spain. To characterise this process, hydrogeochemical analyses were performed and showed the following modifications to groundwater chemical composition: increasing pH values, changing redox conditions, significant increases in total organic carbon (TOC) and certain trace elements, and high groundwater conductivity values. Major ion content accumulations were found under the refilled area. In contrast, elements involved in the oxidation–reduction processes, such as iron, manganese and nitrates, clearly diminished. Electromagnetic prospecting methods were also performed and delineated the contamination plume extent. These methods also showed separate sources of contamination, one clearly related to the groundwater–refilled zone leachate interaction, another as a consequence of the manure–accumulation surface site. Geochemical and geophysical methods have shown similar results for locating groundwater contamination sources, and for determining leachate generation mechanisms and flow paths.     

Chlorophyll modulation of mixed layer thermodynamics in a mixed-layer isopycnal General Circulation Model — An example from Arabian Sea and equatorial Pacific

Western tropical Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and the equatorial Pacific are known as regions of intense bio-chemical-physical interactions: the Arabian Sea has the largest phytoplankton bloom with seasonal signal, while the equatorial Pacific bloom is perennial with quasi-permanent upwelling. Here, we studied three dimensional ocean thermodynamics comparing recent ocean observation with ocean general circulation model (OPYC) experiment combined with remotely sensed chlorophyll pigment concentrations from the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS). Using solar radiation parameterization representing observations that a higher abundance of chlorophyll increases absorption of solar irradiance and heating rate in the upper ocean, we showed that the mixed layer thickness decreases more than they would be under clear water conditions. These changes in the model mixed layer were consistent with Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) observations during the 1994-1995 Arabian Sea experiment and epi-fluorescence microscopy (EFM) on samples collected during Equatorial Pacific Ocean Climate Study (EPOCS) in November, 1988. In the Arabian Sea, as the chlorophyll concentrations peak in October (3 mg/m³) after the summer plankton bloom induced by coastal upwelling, the chlorophyll induced biological heating enhanced the sea surface temperature (SST) by as much as 0.6‡C and sub-layer temperature decreases and sub-layer thickness increases. In the equatorial Pacific, modest concentrations of chlorophyll less than 0.3 mg/m³ is enough to introduce a meridional differential heating, which results in reducing the equatorial mixed layer thickness to more than 20 m. The anomalous meridional tilting of the mixed layer bottom enhances off equatorial westward geostrophic currents. Consequently, the equatorial undercurrent transports more water from west to east. We proposed that these numerical model experiments with use of satellite andin situ ocean observations are consistent under three dimensional ocean circulation theory combined with solar radiation transfer process.