Seismic response of masonry-infilled steel frames via multi-scale finite-element analyses

Effects of masonry infills on the seismic vulnerability of steel frames is studied through multi-scale numerical modelling. First, a micro-modelling approach is utilized to define a homogenized masonry material, calibrated on experimental tests, which is used for modelling the nonlinear response of a one-story, single span, masonry-infilled portal under horizontal loads. Based on results of the micro-model, the constitutive behavior of a diagonal strut macro-element equivalent to the infill panel is calibrated. Then, the diagonal strut is used to model infill panels in the macro-scale analysis of a multi-span multi-story infilled moment-resisting (MR) steel frame. The seismic vulnerability of the MR frame is evaluated through a nonlinear static procedure. Numerical analyses highlight that infills may radically modify the seismic response and the failure mechanism of the frame, hence the importance of the infill correct modelling.     

Displacement capacity of masonry piers: parametric numerical analyses versus international building codes

The nonlinear behaviour of masonry piers loaded in their plane is investigated by parametric numerical simulations. Each pier has a cantilever scheme, is loaded by a constant axial load and is subjected to an increasing horizontal displacement at the top. The macro-modelling approach is used to perform numerical analyses, adopting two different constitutive laws: a total strain crack model and a plastic model. The numerical model is calibrated on a block-masonry type for which experimental tests are available in literature. Parametric numerical simulations are performed by varying the aspect-ratio and the compression level, in order to assess the influence of such parameters on both shear strength and displacement capacity. By comparing numerical results with formulas of international codes, a good agreement for the shear strength is obtained, while significant differences are observed for the displacement capacity, which is influenced by both parameters. The authors propose a simple empirical formula for the displacement capacity, obtained by fitting the numerical results. The expression can be useful in the practical design for considering the influence of aspect-ratio and compression level, currently neglected by building codes.     

Thorough wetting and drainage of a peat lysimeter in a climate change scenario

A peat deposit (Zennare basin, Venice coastland, Italy) was monitored in previous field studies to investigate the hydrological response of organic soil to meteorological dynamics. Field tests and modelling predictions highlighted the risk of the complete loss of this peat layer during the next 50 years, due to oxidation enhanced by the increased frequency of warmer periods. Unfortunately, despite the considerable impacts that are expected to affect peat bogs (in this area and worldwide), only a few experimental studies have been carried out to assess the hydrologic response of peat to severe water scarcity. Because of that, an undisturbed 0.7 m³ peat monolith was collected, transferred to the laboratory and instrumented. The total weight (representative of the water content dynamics of the peat monolith as a whole), and two vertical profiles of matric potentials and water content were monitored in controlled water-scarce conditions. After an extended air-drying period, the monolith was used as an undisturbed peat lysimeter and a complete cycle of wetting and drainage was performed. Supplementary measurements of matric potential ψ and water content θ were collected by testing peat subsamples on a suction table apparatus. A set of water retention curves was determined in a range of matric potentials broader (ψ down to −7 m) than the current natural conditions in the field (minimum ψ = −1 m). While water content at saturation showed values similar to those in the original natural conditions (θ ≅ 0.8), a remarkable loss of water holding capacity (even for low potentials) has been highlighted, especially in deep layers that are now permanently below the water table. The retention curves changed shape and values, with a more pronounced hysteresis visible in an increasing distance between wetting and drying data. Hydraulic non-equilibrium between the water content and water potential could be a possible cause and it is worth modelling in future studies. The parameters of the van Genuchten retention curves were obtained for the wetting and the drying phases.     

Variability of the health effects of crystalline silica: Fe speciation in industrial quartz reagents and suspended dusts—insights from XAS spectroscopy

We investigated the speciation of Fe in bulk and in suspended respirable quartz dusts coming from ceramic and iron-casting industrial processes via X-ray absorption spectroscopy, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the variability of crystalline silica toxicity. Four different bulk industrial quartz powders, nominally pure quartz samples with Fe contents below 200 ppm, and three respirable dusts filters were selected. Fe speciation was determined in all samples through a coupled study of the X-ray absorption near-edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure regions, operating at the Fe–K edge. Fe speciation revealed common features at the beginning of the different production processes, whereas significant differences were observed on both respirable dusts and bulk dusts exiting from the production process. Namely, a common pollution of the raw quartz dusts by elemental Fe was evidenced and attributed to residuals of the industrial production of quartz materials. Moreover, the respirable samples indicated that reactivity occurs after the suspension of the powders in air. The gravitational selection during the particle suspension consistently allowed us to clearly discriminate between suspended and bulk dusts. On the basis of the obtained results, we provide an apparent spectroscopic discrimination between the raw materials used in the considered industrial processes, and those that are effectively inhaled by workers. In particular, an amorphous Fe^III oxide, with an unsaturated coordination sphere, can be related to silica reactivity (and health consequences).     

Inheritance of Jurassic rifted margin architecture into the Apennines Neogene mountain building: a case history from the Lucretili Mts. (Latium, Central Italy)

The western Lucretili Mts. in the central Apennines (Latium, Italy) have been recently re-mapped in great detail and are the subject of combined stratigraphic, sedimentological and structural investigations. In this paper, we present a new stratigraphic interpretation of the Jurassic paleogeography of western Lucretili Mts., where a rift-derived intrabasinal paleo-high of the Alpine Tethys has been identified for the first time by means of facies analysis and biostratigraphic dating. Recognised facies associations, combined with dated stratigraphic sections, allow to define the morphology of the structural paleo-high and to identify the associated gravity-driven deposits (olistoliths) accumulated in the surrounding basin. Furthermore, we investigated the modes of interaction between Jurassic extensional structures and the subsequent contractional patterns developed during the Tertiary mountain building. In detail, the role played during Apennines tectonics by the paleo-escarpments bounding the paleo-high and by the surrounding olistoliths has been analysed. The paleo-escarpments either acted as focussing features for ENE-directed frontal thrust ramp localisation and were offset with small shortening amounts or reactivated as NNE striking high angle transpressional faults or preserved the original geometries as a result of variable orientation of paleo-escarpments with respect to the Neogene compressive stress field (with ENE oriented sigma1). Newly formed ENE striking tear faults connect these either inherited or neo-formed discontinuities. This complex stratigraphic and structural pattern is substantially different from the previous interpretations of this portion of the central Apennines based on a hypothesised layer-cake stratigraphy deformed by neo-formed Neogene thrusts. This contribution strengthens the importance of integrating facies analyses and structural investigations to detect the influence of pre-orogenic structures on compressive structural patterns, in an area where commercial seismic lines are not available and cannot help in reconstructing the subsurface geometries.     

Wavelet analysis for the regional-residual and local separation of potential field anomalies

A method based on the discrete wavelet transform was applied to the regional-residual separation of potential fields and to the filtering of local anomalies. A specific space-scale wavelet analysis, called multiresolution analysis, allowed decomposition of the signal with respect to a vast range of scales. Different analysing wavelets were applied to anomalies in both synthetic and real cases, but the more appropriate basis needed to be chosen by requiring the maximum compactness for the multiresolution analysis. Moreover, since such analysis was found not to be shift-invariant, the same criterion was applied to choosing the best signal shift. Application of the technique to both synthetic and real cases produced an optimal space-scale representation of the fields and a consistent regional-residual separation. Furthermore, the space localization allowed a variety of filtered signals to be obtained, each one with a specific scale and local area content. Fourier and wavelet analyses were both applied to the filtering out of the intense Etna anomaly from the aeromagnetic field of Sicily. The wavelet method was more powerful, suppressing only the Etna volcano anomaly and leaving the rest of the map practically unchanged.     

Envisat ASAR的区域森林-非森林制图

Envisat卫星ASAR传感器的双极化数据对区域森林监测十分有效。通过分别采用SRTM DEM和Landsat TM图像对地形起伏区域和平坦区域的SAR图像进行地理编码,发展了一种SAR图像自动预处理方法。基于冬季单时相ASAR数据的HH(水平发射,水平接收)、HV(水平发射,垂直接收)极化比值和HV极化图像,提出了一种面向对象的森林-非森林分类方法。将之应用于中国东北森林/非森林制图,分类总体精度、森林用户精度和生产者精度分别为83.7%,85.6%和75.7%。结果表明,本文提出的方法十分适合区域森林-非森林制图的业务化运行。     

The effect of organic compounds in the oxidation kinetics of Cr(III) by H2O2

The oxidation of Cr(III) has been studied in NaCl solutions in the presence of two siderophore models, acetohydroxamic acid (Aha) and benzohydroxamic acid (Bha), the natural siderophore Desferal (DFOB) and the synthetic aminocarboxilate (ethylenedinitrilo)-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) as a function of pH (8-9), ionic strength (0.01-2 M) and temperature (10-50 °C), at different Cr(III)-organic compound ratios. The addition of Aha and Bha caused the rates to increase at low ligand/Cr(III) ratios and decrease at high ratios. The variation of the pseudo first order rate constant (k₁) as a function of the ligand concentration has been attributed to the formation of three Cr(III)-organo species (1:1, 1:2, 1:3), which can form in the presence of monohydroxamic acids. A kinetic model has been developed that gives a value of 600 (min⁻¹) for the pseudo first order rate constant k_1CrAha²⁺ and values approaching zero for and k_1CrAha3. These kinetic results demonstrate that these monohydroxamic acids are able to bind with Cr(III) under experimental conditions that may occur in natural waters and can increase the oxidation rates of Cr(III) with H₂O₂ by a factor of 3.5 at an Aha/Cr(III) ratio of about 50-100.The monohydroxamic acids also affect the rates on aged products of Cr(III), suggesting that these ligands are able to affect the oxidation rates by releasing reactive Cr(III). DFOB and EDTA do not have a great effect on the oxidation of Cr(III) with H₂O₂. This is thought to be due to the much longer times they need to form complexes with Cr(III) compared to Aha and Bha. The rates for the formation of DFOB and EDTA complexes with Cr(III) are not competitive with the rates of the formation of aged Cr(III). After allowing Cr(III) and DFOB to react for 5 days to form the complex, reaction rates of Cr(III) with H₂O₂ appear to be lowered probably because of steric hindrance of the chelated Cr(III).