Further results on the heating of single and multi-core lead-rubber bearings and dampers

Single-core and to a certain extent multi-core lead-rubber bearings have been extensively used in seismic isolation. Yet their behavior is not well understood and experimentation is required to obtain their mechanical properties. A recently developed and validated theory contributed to the understanding of the effects of heating of the lead core on the characteristic strength and ability to dissipate energy of these bearings. Additional results on the theory of heating of lead-rubber bearings are presented in this paper, including readily useable data on the rise of temperature in the steel shim and end plates of these bearings. The results may be used in the assessment of the validity of the theory of lead core heating in single and multi-core lead-rubber bearings and in recently developed multi-core lead-rubber dampers. Examples are presented (including some experimental data) to illustrate the application of the theory. The utility of the presented theory is to reduce the requirements for physical testing of lead-rubber bearings and dampers.     

Dynamic behavior of buildings with non-uniform stiffness along their height assessed through coupled flexural and shear beams

A novel model for assessing building behavior has been developed by coupling a Bernoulli beam with a quartic stiffness variation and a shear beam with a parabolic stiffness variation, trends that are expected in buildings designed for earthquake actions. Then the partial differential equation of motion governing the behavior of the model has been solved, obtaining analytic expressions (Closed form solutions) for mode shapes in terms of Legendre functions. These closed form solutions were validated with finite element model analyses and effects of non-uniformity of stiffness were assessed in a generalized manner. It was found that period lengthening is mild for the first mode, but for higher modes can be far more noticeable if shear stiffness at beam top is <20 % of its base value. Mode shapes also change notoriously for reductions beyond the same limit, potentially inducing large floor acceleration demands at unexpected locations. Also it was found that drift demands can be noticeably enhanced even if shear stiffness at top is 75 % of the base value, in what would be considered uniform buildings. This model has several applications for assessing the response or large stocks of buildings, calibrate complex models, assess damage on building contents, establishing in short time damage scenarios for large cities, and could be helpful for education, as emphasis is brought back on fundamental concepts.     

Receiver function study in northern Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula

In this receiver function study, we investigate the structure of the crust beneath six seismic broadband stations close to the Sunda Arc formed by subduction of the Indo-Australian under the Sunda plate. We apply three different methods to analyse receiver functions at single stations. A recently developed algorithm determines absolute shear-wave velocities from observed frequency-dependent apparent incidence angles of P waves. Using waveform inversion of receiver functions and a modified Zhu and Kanamori algorithm, properties of discontinuities such as depth, velocity contrast, and sharpness are determined. The combination of the methods leads to robust results. The approach is validated by synthetic tests. Stations located on Malaysia show high-shear-wave velocities (V _S) near the surface in the range of 3.4–3.6 km s^− 1 attributed to crystalline rocks and 3.6–4.0 km s^− 1 in the lower crust. Upper and lower crust are clearly separated, the Moho is found at normal depths of 30–34 km where it forms a sharp discontinuity at station KUM or a gradient at stations IPM and KOM. For stations close to the subduction zone (BSI, GSI and PSI) complexity within the crust is high. Near the surface low V _S of 2.6–2.9 km s^− 1 indicate sediment layers. High V _S of 4.2 km s^− 1 are found at depth greater than 6 and 2 km at BSI and PSI, respectively. There, the Moho is located at 37 and 40 km depth. At station GSI, situated closest to the trench, the subducting slab is imaged as a north-east dipping structure separated from the sediment layer by a 10 km wide gradient in V _S between 10 and 20 km depth. Within the subducting slab V _S ≈ 4.7 km s^− 1. At station BSI, the subducting slab is found at depth between 90 and 110 km dipping 20° ± 8° in approximately N 60° E. A velocity increase in similar depth is indicated at station PSI, however no evidence for a dipping layer is found.     

Estimating the Shapes of Gravity Sources through Optimized Support Vector Classifier (SVC)

In gravity interpretation methods, an initial guess for the approximate shape of the gravity source is necessary. In this paper, the support vector classifier (SVC) is applied for this duty by using gravity data. It is shown that using SVC leads us to estimate the approximate shapes of gravity sources more objectively. The procedure of selecting correct features is called feature selection (FS).In this research, the proper features are selected using inter/intra class distance algorithm and also FS is optimized by increasing and decreasing the number of dimensions of features space. Then, by using the proper features, SVC is used to estimate approximate shapes of sources from the six possible shapes, including: sphere, horizontal cylinder, vertical cylinder, rectangular prism, syncline, and anticline. SVC is trained using 300 synthetic gravity profiles and tested by 60 other synthetic and some real gravity profiles (related to a well and two ore bodies), and shapes of their sources estimated properly.     

Angular Distributions of Discrete Mesoscale Mapping Functions

The paper presents the results of analyses of numerical experiments concerning GPS signal propagation delays in the atmosphere and the discrete mapping functions defined on their basis. The delays were determined using data from the mesoscale non-hydrostatic weather model operated in the Centre of Applied Geomatics, Military University of Technology. A special attention was paid to investigating angular characteristics of GPS slant delays for low angles of elevation. The investigation proved that the temporal and spatial variability of the slant delays depends to a large extent on current weather conditions.     

Ionospheric Response to the Acoustic Gravity Wave Singularity

An original model of atmospheric wave propagation from ground sources to the ionosphere in the atmosphere with a realistic high-altitude temperature profile is analyzed. Shaping of a narrow domain with elevated pressure in the resonance region where the horizontal phase wave velocity is equal to the sound velocity is examined theoretically within the framework of linearized Eq.s. Numerical simulations for the model profiles of atmospheric temperature and viscosity confirm analytical result for the special feature of wave fields. The formation of the narrow domain with plasma irregularities in the D and low E ionospheric layers caused by the acoustic gravity wave singularity is discussed.     

Heat budget of the surface mixed layer south of Africa

ARGO hydrographic profiles, two hydrographic transects and satellite measurements of air–sea exchange parameters were used to characterize the properties and seasonal heat budget variations of the Surface Mixed Layer (SML) south of Africa. The analysis distinguishes the Subtropical domain (STZ) and the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ), Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ) and Antarctic Zone (AZ) of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. While no Subantarctic Mode Water forms in that region, occurrences of deep SML (up to ∼450 m) are observed in the SAZ in anticyclones detached from the Agulhas Current retroflection or Agulhas Return Current. These are present latitudinally throughout the SAZ, but preferentially at longitudes 10–20° E where, according to previous results, the Subtropical Front is interrupted. Likely owing to this exchange window and to transfers at the Subantarctic Front also enhanced by the anticyclones, the SAZ shows a wide range of properties largely encroaching upon those of the neighbouring domains. Heat budget computations in each zone reveal significant meridional changes of regime. While air–sea heat fluxes dictate the heat budget seasonal variability everywhere, heat is mostly brought through lateral geostrophic advection by the Agulhas Current in the STZ, through lateral diffusion in the SAZ and through air–sea fluxes in the PFZ and AZ. The cooling contributions are by Ekman advection everywhere, lateral diffusion in the STZ (also favoured by the ∼10° breach in the Subtropical Front) and geostrophic advection in the SAZ. The latter likely reflects an eastward draining of water warmed through mixing of the subtropical eddies.     

Total least-squares adjustment of condition equations

The usual least-squares adjustment within an Errors-in-Variables (EIV) model is often described as Total Least-Squares Solution (TLSS), just as the usual least-squares adjustment within a Random Effects Model (REM) has become popular under the name of Least-Squares Collocation (without trend). In comparison to the standard Gauss-Markov Model (GMM), the EIV-Model is less informative whereas the REM is more informative. It is known under which conditions exactly the GMM or the REM can be equivalently replaced by a model of condition equations or, more generally, by a Gauss-Helmert Model. Similar equivalency conditions are, however, still unknown for the EIV-Model once it is transformed into such a model of condition equations. In a first step, it is shown in this contribution how the respective residual vector and residual matrix look like if the TLSS is applied to condition equations with a random coefficient matrix to describe the transformation of the random error vector. The results are demonstrated using a numeric example which shows that this approach may be valuable in its own right.