Site effect on vulnerability of high-rise shear wall buildings under near and far field earthquakes

Worldwide experience repeatedly shows that damages in structures caused by earthquakes are highly dependent on site condition and epicentral distance. In this paper, a 21-storey shear wall-structure built in the 1960s in Hong Kong is selected as an example to investigate these two effects. Under various design earthquake intensities and for various site conditions, the fragility curves or damage probability matrix of such building is quantified in terms of the ductility factor, which is estimated from the ratio of storey yield shear to the inter-storey seismic shear. For high-rise buildings, a higher probability of damage is obtained for a softer site condition, and damage is more severe for far field earthquakes than for near field earthquakes. For earthquake intensity of VIII, the probability of complete collapse (P) increases from 1 to 24% for near field earthquakes and from 1 to 41% for far field earthquakes if the building is moved form a rock site to a site consisting a 80 m thick soft clay. For intensity IX, P increases from 6 to 69% for near field earthquake and from 14 to 79% for far field earthquake if the building is again moved form rock site to soft soil site. Therefore, site effect is very important and not to be neglected. Similar site and epicentral effects should also be expected for other types of high-rise structures.     

低周反复荷载下Q460钢材框架柱抗震性能分析

为了进一步完善Q460钢材在抗震设计规范中相关限值的要求,本文利用有限元软件ABAQUS,以轴压比、翼缘宽厚比、腹板高厚比和壁板宽厚比为变量,建立了共48根“工”字型框架柱和“箱”型框架柱,分析了其抗震性能。结果表明:翼缘宽厚比对框架柱的能量耗散系数影响较小;能量耗散系数随轴压比、腹板高厚比（“工”字型）和壁板宽厚比（“箱”型）增大而明显减小;框架柱的极限承载力随轴压比的减小及壁板宽厚比和翼缘宽厚比的增大而逐渐增大,当腹板高厚比接近规范限值时,承载力下降趋势明显增大。与采用Q235钢材的框架柱相比,Q460钢材框架柱的延性较小,仅为2左右;当采用Q460钢材时,“工”字型框架柱的极限位移角限值建议取为0.03,“箱”型框架柱的极限位移角限值建议取为0.032。规范中对翼缘宽厚比限值的规定偏于保守,其值最大可取至9。无论是“工”字型框架柱还是“箱”型框架柱,其腹板高厚比均不宜过大。Q460钢材框架柱的刚度退化率随轴压比的增大而增强,且翼缘宽厚比越大,腹板高厚比越小,柱的初始刚度越大,刚度退化程度越明显。     

Observational estimation of heat budgets on drifting ice and open water over the Arctic Ocean

It is of major scientific interests to determine the parameters of momentum, heat and vapor exchange in the planetary boundary layer in order to study the effects of ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions and their feedback mechanisms on global climate[1]. Lin…     

Gamma-ray bursts: optical afterglows in the deep Newtonian phase

Gamma-ray burst remnants become trans-relativistic typically in days to tens of days, and they enter the deep Newtonian phase in tens of days to months, during which the majority of shock-accelerated electrons will no longer be highly relativistic. However, a small portion of electrons are still accelerated to ultra-relativistic speeds and are capable of emitting synchrotron radiation. The distribution function for electrons is re-derived here so that synchrotron emission from these relativistic electrons can be calculated. Based on the revised model, optical afterglows from both isotropic fireballs and highly collimated jets are studied numerically, and compared to analytical results. In the beamed cases, it is found that, in addition to the steepening due to the edge effect and the lateral expansion effect, the light curves are universally characterized by a flattening during the deep Newtonian phase.     

Horizontal and vertical components of earthquake ground motions at liquefiable sites

Field observations on ground motions from recent earthquakes imply that current knowledge is limited with regard to relating vertical and horizontal motions at liquefiable sites. This paper describes a study with the purpose of clarifying this emerging issue to some extent. A series of numerical analyses is carried out on a liquefiable soil deposit with a verified, fully coupled, nonlinear procedure. It is shown that the transformation of vertical motions in the deposit differs considerably from the transformation of horizontal motions. Both the amplitude and frequency content of the horizontal motions are strongly dependent on the shaking level or the associated nonlinear soil behavior. The transfer function for vertical motions is however likely to be independent of the intensity of input motions; no reduction in the amplitude occurs even in the case of strong shaking. The results are shown to be in consistence with the laboratory observations on shaking table tests and recent field observations that less nonlinearity exists for vertical motions. It is also shown that the possibility exists for using information on spectral ratios between the horizontal and vertical surface motions to quickly identify in situ soil behavior and liquefaction that are not readily covered by conventional field or laboratory experimentation procedures.     

海南省大广坝水电站集水区降水特征及人工增雨潜力分析

本文分析了海南省大广坝水电站集水区降水分布特征并研究了人工增雨的潜力。结果表明,大广坝水电站集水区降水年际差异较大,常年无法满负荷发电,影响了水电站效益的正常发挥。4～7月集水区实施人工增雨的潜力和成云致雨的条件较好,通过人工增雨的手段可以有效提高水电站的发电效益。     

长江三角洲DY03孔沉积物元素地球化学及其物源示踪意义

长江三角洲地区是寻找长江历史演化信息的关键地区之一。本文通过DY03孔长时间序列元素地球化学的研究,利用元素地球化学特征示踪物源变化,初步揭示长江三角洲地区物源变化的总体情况,分析讨论长江三角洲地区沉积记录对长江贯通的指示意义。研究发现,在晚上新世31Ma左右时期,钻孔中指示物源变化的 K₂O/Al₂O₃, SiO₂/Al₂O₃, Zr/Ti,Th/Sc,Th/Co,Th/Cr,Nb/Co等元素比值都发生由高到低的显著变化,而3.1Ma之后元素比值变化不大。化学风化A-CN-K图解也进一步说明在3.1Ma前后,沉积物具有不同的化学风化趋势。以上特征说明,在晚上新世时期本区物源曾发生重大变化,表现为沉积物来源由近源转变为远源,源岩由酸性长英质矿物为主转变为基性矿物为主。这次物源变化很可能说明最早在晚上新世长江上游物质已经通过长江三峡输送到现代长江三角洲地区。     

Holocene environmental change inferred from the loess–palaeosol sequences adjacent to the floodplain of the Yellow River, China

Chinese loess deposits are generally considered to be the product of dust storms and dust falls from the central Asia arid zones that were transported across China by the northwesterly continental monsoon. In contrast, the Zhengzhou Loess found southeast of the Loess Plateau, adjacent to the floodplain of the Yellow River, records a different eolian regime and dust source. The Zhengzhou Loess was investigated by field observations, measurements of magnetic susceptibility, particle-size distribution, loss-on-ignition, CaCO₃ and chemical contents. Both field observations and the laboratory results indicate that, during the last glacial, the Zhengzhou Loess was supplied by two different eolian regimes and dust sources, one was from the fresh flood deposits of the Yellow River driven by the northeast winds from the low-lying floodplain, and the other was from the dust storms and dust falls that traveled across the Loess Plateau driven by the northwesterly continental monsoon from the central Asian arid lands. The early Holocene, 11,500–8500 a BP, was a transition during the change in eolian regime and dust source because of the weakened northwesterly monsoon along with the global climatic amelioration. Following the retreat of the northwesterly monsoon from the onset of the mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum at 8500 a BP, dust supply from the drifting sand zone on the Yellow River floodplain became dominant because of the intensified strength of the northeast winds from the Bohai Sea. From 3100 a BP onwards, climatic aridity and extensive human disturbance have resulted in intensive eolian processes causing the incursion of the drifting sand into the Zhengzhou Loess zone. These results show that loess accumulation is more complex than traditionally assumed. The origin of loess deposits elsewhere outside the Loess Plateau may be related to dust sources derived from alluvial sediments of major river systems.     

Modeling the temperature of the polar mesopause region: Part II—Intra-seasonal monthly oscillations

Measurements show that the polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) can vary, in the zonal mean, with periods around 1 month [Bailey et al., 2005. Observations of polar mesospheric clouds by the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer. J. Geophys. Res. 110, D13203, doi:10.1029/2004JD005422]. This observation has been the impetus for the present paper, where we describe corresponding temperature oscillations generated by the Numerical Spectral Model (NSM). Our numerical results are taken from the 3D and 2D versions of the NSM, which produce inter-annual and long-term variations in the polar mesopause region, as discussed in the accompanying paper (Part I). In the NSM, the intra-seasonal temperature variations with periods around 2 months are generated by the meridional winds that in turn are accelerated by the momentum deposition from small-scale gravity waves (GW) propagating north/south. The wave-driven dynamical process underlying the oscillations is intrinsically non-linear like that generating the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). Our analysis demonstrates that the seasonal annual and semi-annual variations excite the oscillation frequencies through non-linear cascading.     

江淮气旋发生发展和暴雨过程及有关预报问题的研究

本文就一次典型过程作为例子,分析了江淮气旋发生发展和暴雨过程的特点,指出有利于江淮气旋发生发展的高空天气形势,地面一些中尺度低压和暴雨核的演变与气旋发展的互相联系。发现气旋区内可存在若干个中尺度低压,这些中尺度低压可先于或后于暴雨核生成而出现,并可增强、减弱或合并。文中计算了潜热释放的加热对涡度制造的贡献,指出潜热加热对气旋发展起着极为重要的作用。作者对于影响气旋发展的因子进行了讨论,并对如何根据湿度场、流场和降水分布(或卫星云图)特征来预报江淮气旋提出建议。