Low cyclic fatigue and hysteretic behavior of U‐shaped steel dampers for seismically isolated buildings under dynamic cyclic loadings

Energy dissipation devices are necessary for base‐isolated buildings to control the deformation in the isolation system and to dissipate the earthquake‐induced energy. U‐shaped steel dampers (also known as U‐dampers) dissipate energy through plastic deformation of specially designed U‐shaped steel elements. This type of device can be installed at several locations in the isolation system. U‐dampers have been widely used in Japan for different types of isolated structures, such as hospitals, plants and residential buildings, since the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Previous research has used static tests to estimate the performance of U‐dampers. However, the ultimate plastic deformation capacities and hysteretic behaviors of full‐scale U‐dampers under dynamic excitations still remain unclear. In addition, it is unclear whether the initial temperature has an effect on the hysteretic behavior and plastic deformation capacity of U‐dampers. In this paper, two series of dynamic loading tests of U‐dampers were conducted to evaluate the issues described earlier. The major findings of the study are (i) the loading speed has little effect on the plastic deformation capacity of U‐dampers; (ii) method to evaluate the ultimate plastic deformation capacities of U‐shaped steel dampers of different sizes is established using a Manson–Coffin relation‐based equation that is based on the peak‐to‐peak horizontal shear angle γ_t, which is defined as the lateral deformation amplitude (peak‐to‐peak amplitude) divided by the height of the dampers; (iii) the loading rate and the initial temperature have a minimal effect on the hysteretic behavior of the U‐dampers; and (iv) a bilinear model is proposed to simulate the force‐deformation relationships of the U‐dampers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does suspended matter drained from the Isahaya freshwater reservoir cause organic enrichment in the northern Ariake Bay?

The inner part of Isahaya Bay was converted to a freshwater reservoir following the closure of the land claim dike in 1997. Turbid water drains into Isahaya Bay when water levels increase. We investigated whether particulate organic matter (POM) from the reservoir in Isahaya Bay has caused bottom organic enrichment in the northern part of Ariake Bay. Using potential end-members from before to after the rainy seasons, during which a frequent discharge from the reservoir was expected, stable isotope analyses were performed on sediments collected from Isahaya Bay and northern Ariake Bay. Each end-member was isotopically differentiated by δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N (riverine POM: ?28.5 to ?27.2‰ and 3.3–4.6‰; reservoir POM: ?25.7 to ?25.3‰ and 7.4–8.4‰; marine POM: ?21.8 to ?19.7‰ and 6.7–7.6‰; microphytobenthos estimated from consumers: ?16.1 to ?15.9‰ and 5.2–6.1‰, respectively). Sediment isotopic signatures fell within the mixing space defined by the signatures of the end-members. Marine POM contributed greatly to bottom sediments in both seasons in Isahaya Bay and Ariake Bay, ranging from ca. 60–70 and 40–60%, respectively. Reservoir POM contributed around 10% to bottom sediments. This percentage slightly increased in the sediment of Isahaya Bay after the rainy season, but decreased in the sediment of Ariake Bay. Thus, most of the POM discharged from the reservoir would not reach the northern part of Ariake Bay and would not be a major contributor to organic enrichment. This study is the first to quantitatively describe the contribution of drained reservoir POM outside Isahaya Bay.     

Seasonal Variations of Plankton Food Web Structure in the Coastal Water off Usujiri Southwestern Hokkaido,Japan

The planktonic food web structure in the subarctic coastal water off Usujiri south-western Hokkaido, Japan was investigated from June 1997 to June 1999, based on seasonal biomass data of pico- (<2 µm), nano- (2–10 µm), micro- (10–200 µm) and mesoplankton (>200 µm), and path analysis using the structural equation model (SEM). In spring, microphytoplankton predominated due to diatom bloom, while pico- and nanophytoplankton predominated in the other seasons, except November and December 1997. The seasonal change in size distribution of heterotrophic plankton was almost similar to that of phytoplankton, and mesozooplankton biomass was high in spring. The path analyses suggest that the main channel in the microbial food web could vary according to phytoplankton size composition, indicating not only the classical food chain (microphytoplankton - copepods) but also the indirect route (microphytoplankton - naked dinoflagellates - copepods).     

Estimation of water requirement per unit carbon fixed by<Emphasis Type="Italic">Eucalyptus camaldulensis</Emphasis> in semi-arid land of Western Australia

Afforestation in arid land is a promising method for carbon fixation, but the effective utilization of water is highly important and required. Thus, the evaluation of the amount of water per unit carbon fixed with the tree growth is required to minimize the amount of water supplied to the plants. In this research, a tree is regarded as a carbon fixation reactor with inflows of water and nutrients from roots, and CO₂ as the carbon source from leaves with outflow of water vapor from leaves and accumulation in the tree itself. In the process of photosynthesis and respiration nutritional elements are dissolved in water flow in trees. They do not flow out by these reactions, but are accumulated in trees. Thus, we have treated the behaviour of nutrients as a marker to evaluate the water/carbon ratio.Assuming that nutrient concentration is constant in sap, and the differences in the ratios of nutrient to carbon in living trees and dead (i.e. litter fall, etc.) are neglected, the ratio of the used water to fixed carbon is given as the ratio of nutrient to carbon in the tree body divided by the ratio of nutrient to water in sap. However, some nutrients are translocated and concentrated within the tree and some may be discarded through litter fall. Thus it is important to examine which nutrient element is the most suitable as the tracer.In this paper, the results of the above method applied toEucalyptus camaldulensis in semiarid land of Western Australia are shown. The value of water requirement per unit carbon fixation determined from potassium balance is between 421 kg-H₂O/kg-C for mature trees and 285 kg-H₂O/kg-C for young trees, while the values from calcium balance are much larger than these. The cause of the discrepancy between these values is discussed based on the measured element concentrations in sap and trees and the plant physiology. Finally, the actual average value through the life of a tree is suggested to fall between the two values.     

Rediscovering wood-laden debris flow studies: A perspective from Japan

Debris flow is one of the dominant processes distributing large wood (LW) within mountainous catchments. However, little has been reviewed on wood-laden debris flow (WLDF), presumably owing to limited reviewable works. This article, therefore, navigates the international readers through 40 years of WLDF studies, most of which have been published only in Japanese. Firstly, we reviewed the historical development of Japanese WLDF particularly focusing on the 1980s and the 1990s. A series of post-disaster fieldworks from the July 1982 Nagasaki flood to the July 1990 Kumamoto flood provided 32 catchment-scale wood budgeting data; empirical relationships among drainage area, dominant tree species, sediment yield, and wood loads associated with single debris flow disasters were illustrated. Secondly, the characteristics of WLDF were summarized based on relevant previous studies on the recruitment, transport, and deposition processes of LW during debris flows. Thirdly, we discussed the connectivity between those Japanese WLDF studies and international LW studies by relating/contrasting their research approaches and spatiotemporal scales. In contrast to global LW research trends, Japanese WLDF studies have almost exclusively regarded LW as hazardous materials (i.e., “driftwood” or “woody debris”) that need to be retained upstream of the inhabited areas. Those practice-oriented WLDF studies were concentrated on drainage areas of 10⁻² to 10⁰ km², representing 1–6 orders of magnitude smaller spatial scales than those generally covered by existing international LW studies. Strongly motivated by engineering requirements, “dynamic” interactions between debris flows and LW during floods have also been physically presented, mainly based on unique laboratory experiments involving steep flume (> 0.05) and mobile bed conditions. Finally, some future works for WLDF were briefly stated from practical and scientific perspectives. By “rediscovering” those WLDF studies domestically developed in Japanese debris flow channels since the 1980s, a more comprehensive understanding of LW dynamics in the river system may be achieved.     

Reliability of U‐shaped steel dampers used in base‐isolated structures subjected to biaxial excitation

A reliable performance of anti‐seismic devices when the upper‐structure is subjected to strong biaxial seismic excitation is of vital importance to ensure the latter doesn't reach critical behavior. U‐shaped steel dampers are hysteretic devices used to dissipate the earthquake‐induced energy of base‐isolated structures. In the framework of performance‐based design, which is gaining more and more recognition, it is of particular importance to assess the performance of base‐isolated structures with such dampers under different intensity levels of bidirectional ground motion. To achieve this goal, an analytical model able to simulate the bidirectional displacement response of an isolation system is adopted. Incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is used to obtain the relation between the earthquake‐induced bidirectional damage of U‐shaped steel dampers and different intensity levels of the considered records. The performance of the dampers is categorized into 5 levels delimited by 4 limit states for which fragility curves are derived. The results obtained using the bidirectional approach are quantitatively compared to those given by employing an in‐plane model (widely used in current design practices in Japan) with the purpose of assessing whether the latter provides unconservative estimates of the performance of the dampers. The main conclusion is that, for large seismic intensities, the safety margin against fracture of the dampers is significantly overestimated when an in‐plane model is adopted. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uranium in coastal sediments of Tokyo Bay and Funka Bay

The sediment cores from Tokyo Bay and Funka Bay were analyzed for U and its isotopic ratio,²³⁴U/²³⁸U, after dissolving them in 0.1 M HCl, and 30% H₂O₂ in 0.05 M HCl. A small fraction of U in the anoxic sediments was dissolved in 0.1M HCl and even the added yield tracer,²³²U, was lost. The isotopic ratio of H₂O₂ soluble U in the sediments was equal to that of seawater, suggesting that the H₂O₂ soluble U in the sediments is authigenic. The 6M HCl solution dissolved part of the lithogenic U besides the authigenic U. The depth profiles of U from the two bays resembled each other. The authigenic U comprised more than half of the total U even at the surface and increased with depth down to 70 cm, showing small maxima at about 20 cm. The concentration of refractory U was nearly constant with depth and similar to that of the pelagic sediments. The highest U concentration, 6 µg g^–1 which was about 5 times that of the pelagic sediments, was observed in the layer between 70 and 160 cm depth in Tokyo Bay. The annual sedimentation rates of U in the Tokyo Bay sediments were 2.6 tons at the surface and 7.0 tons at the 70–160 cm depth. The increase in U with depth should be due to the deposition of interstitial U either diffusing downward from the surface indicating the trapping of seawater U, or otherwise diffusing upward from the deeper layer indicating the internal cycling of U within the sediments.     

Notes on extended–range atmospheric prediction in the Northern Hemisphere winter

We examined the characteristic feature and predictability of low frequency variability (LFV) of the atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere winter (January and February) by using the empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) of the geopotential height at 500 hPa. In the discussion, we used the EOFs for geostrophic zonal wind (Uznl) and the height deviation from the zonal mean (Zeddy). The set of EOFs for Uznl and Zeddy was denoted as Uznl-1. Uznl-2, …, Zeddy-1, Zeddy-2…, respectively. We used the data samples of 396 pentads derived from 33 years of NMC, ECMWF and JMA analyses, from January 1963 to 1995. From the calculated scores for Uznl-1, Uznl-2, Zeddy-1, Zeddy-2 and so on we found that Uznl-1 and Zeddy-1 were statistically stable and their scores were more persistent than those of the other EOFs. A close relationship existed between the scores of Uznl-1 and those of Zeddy-1 30-day forecast experiments were carried out with the medium resolution version of JMA global spectral model for 20 cases in January and February for the period of 1984-1992. Results showed that Zeddy-1 was more predicta?ble than the other EOFs for Zeddy Considering these results, we argued that prediction of the Zeddy-1 was to be one of the main target of extended range forecasting