Dynamic collapse analysis for a reinforced concrete frame sustaining shear and axial failures

Shaking table test results from a one‐story, two‐bay reinforced concrete frame sustaining shear and axial failures are compared with nonlinear dynamic analyses using models developed for the collapse assessment of older reinforced concrete buildings. The models provided reasonable estimates of the overall frame response and lateral strength degradation; however, the measured drifts were underestimated by the models. Selected model parameters were varied to investigate the sensitivity of the calculated response to changes in the drift at shear failure, rate of shear strength degradation, and drift at axial failure. For the selected ground motion, the drift at shear failure and rate of shear strength degradation did not have a significant impact on the calculated peak drift. By incorporating shear and axial‐load failure models, the analytical model is shown to be capable of predicting the axial‐load failure for a hypothetical frame with three nonductile columns. Improvements are needed in drift demand estimates from nonlinear dynamic analysis if such analyses are to be used in displacement‐based performance assessments. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New insights on measured and calculated vitrinite reflectance

Measurement of dispersed vitrinite reflectance in organic sediments is one of the few regional data sets used for placing bounds on the thermal history of a sedimentary basin. Reflectance data are important when access to complementary information such as high‐quality seismic data is unavailable to place bounds on subsidence history and in locations where uplift is an important part of the basin history. Attributes which make vitrinite reflectance measurements a useful data set are the relative ease of making the measurement, and the availability of archived well cores and cuttings in state, provincial, and federal facilities. In order to fully utilize vitrinite data for estimating the temperature history in a basin, physically based methods are required to calibrate an equivalent reflectance from a modelled temperature history with measured data. The most common method for calculating a numerical vitrinite reflectance from temperature history is the EASY%R_o method which we show systematically underestimates measured data. We present a new calculated reflectance model and an adjustment to EASY%R_o which makes the correlation between measured vitrinite values and calculated vitrinite values a physical relationship and more useful for constraining thermal models. We then show that calibrating the thermal history to vitrinite on a constant age date surface (e.g., top Cretaceous) instead of calibrating the thermal history in depth removes the heating rate component from the reflectance calculation and makes thermal history calibration easier to understand and more directly related to heat flow. Finally, we use bounds on the vitrinite–temperature relationships on a constant age date surface to show that significant uncertainty exists in the vitrinite data reported in most data sets.     

Meteorite transport—Revisited

Meteorites are delivered from the asteroid belt by way of chaotic zones (Wisdom 1985a). The dominant sources are believed to be the chaotic zones associated with the ν₆ secular resonance, the 3:1 mean motion resonance, and the 5:2 mean motion resonance. Though the meteorite transport process has been previously studied, those studies have limitations. Here I reassess the meteorite transport process with fewer limitations. Prior studies have not been able to reproduce the afternoon excess (the fact that approximately twice as many meteorites fall in the afternoon as in the morning) and suggested that the afternoon excess is an observational artifact; here it is shown that the afternoon excess is in fact consistent with the transport of meteorites by way of chaotic zones in the asteroid belt. By studying models with and without the inner planets it is found that the inner planets significantly speed up the transport of meteorites.     

Dynamic response of a tanker moored to an articulated loading platform

An analytical model was developed for the dynamic analysis of an articulated loading platform in an operation condition, while remaining in a head seas position. The environmental excitation considered, resulting from groups of regular waves, included first- and second-order force contributions. The nylon hawser connecting the tanker to the ALP was modeled as a nonlinear spring. The hydrodynamic load on the tower was evaluated using Morison's equation, which was modified to account for the relative motion of the tower and the fluid particles. The hydrodynamic load on the tanker was calculated using linear diffraction theory based on the 2-D Helmholtz equation. The “near field” approach of Pinkster was used to evaluate the drift force.     

Rates, timing, and mechanisms of rainfall interception loss in a coastal redwood forest

Rainfall, throughfall, and stemflow were monitored at 5-min intervals for 3 years in a 120-year-old forest dominated by redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) at the Caspar Creek Experimental Watersheds, located in northwest California, USA. About 2.5% of annual rainfall reaches the ground as stemflow at the site, while 22.4% is stored on foliage and stems and evaporates before reaching the ground. Comparison of the timing of rainfall and throughfall indicates that about 46% of the interception loss occurs through post-storm evaporation from foliage and 54% is either evaporated during the storm or enters long-term storage in bark. Until bark storage capacity is saturated, the proportion of rainfall diverted to bark storage would be relatively constant across the range of rainfall intensities encountered, reflecting primarily the proportional incidence of rainfall on surfaces contributing to bark storage. In any case, loss rates remain high—over 15%—even during the highest-intensity storms monitored. Clearcut logging in the area would increase effective annual rainfall by 20–30% due to reduction of interception loss, and most of the increase would occur during large storms, thus potentially influencing peakflows and hillslope pore-pressures during geomorphically significant events.     

Collapse of a nonductile concrete frame: Shaking table tests

Post‐earthquake reconnaissance has reported the vulnerability of older reinforced concrete (RC) columns lacking details for ductile response. Research was undertaken to investigate the full‐range structural hysteretic behavior of older RC columns. A two‐dimensional specimen frame, composed of nonductile and ductile columns to allow for load redistribution, was subjected to a unidirectional base motion on a shaking table until global collapse was observed. The test demonstrates two types of column failure, including flexure‐shear and pure flexural failure. Test data are compared with various simplified assessment models commonly used by practicing engineers and researchers to identify older buildings that are at high risk of structural collapse during severe earthquake events. Comparison suggests that ASCE/SEI 41‐06 produces very conservative estimates on load–deformation relations of flexure‐shear columns, while the recently proposed ASCE/SEI 41‐06 update imposes significant modifications on the predictive curve, so that improved accuracy has been achieved. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remote sensing analysis of physical complexity of North Pacific Rim rivers to assist wild salmon conservation

Salmon populations are highly variable in both space and time. Accurate forecasting of the productivity of salmon stocks makes effective management and conservation of the resource extremely challenging. Furthermore, widespread and consistent data on the productivity of species‐specific and total salmon stocks in a river are almost nonexistent. Ranking rivers based on physical complexity derived from remote sensing allows rivers to be objectively compared. Our approach considered rivers with great geomorphic complexity (e.g. having expansive, multichanneled floodplains and/or on‐channel lakes) as likely to have greater productivity of salmon than rivers flowing in constrained or canyon‐bound channels. Our objective was to develop a database of landscape metrics that could be used to rank the rivers in relation to potential salmon productivity. We then examined the rankings in relation to existing empirical (monitoring) data describing productivity of salmon stocks. To extract the metrics for each river basin we used a digital elevation model and multispectral satellite imagery. We developed procedures to extract channel networks, floodplains, on‐channel lakes and other catchment features; variables such as catchment area, channel elevation, main channel length, floodplain area, and density of hydrojunctions (nodes) were measured. We processed 1509 catchments in the North Pacific Rim including the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and western North America. Overall, catchments were most physically complex in western Kamchatka and western Alaska, and particularly on the Arctic North Slope of Alaska. We could not directly examine coherence between potential and measured productivity except for a few rivers, but the expected relationship generally held. The resulting database and systematic ranking are objective tools that can be used to address questions about landscape structure and biological productivity at regional to continental extents, and provide a way to begin to efficiently prioritize the allocation of funding and resources towards salmon management and conservation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distance separated simultaneous sweeping, for fast, clean, vibroseis acquisition

Distance separated simultaneous sweeping DS³ is a new vibroseis technique that produces independent records, uncontaminated by simultaneous source interference, for a range of offsets and depths that span all target zones of interest. Use of DS³ on a recent seismic survey in Oman, resulted in a peak acquisition rate of 1024 records per hour. This survey employed 15 vibrators, with a distance separation of 12 km between simultaneous active sources, recorded by 8000 active channels across 22 live lines in an 18.5 km × 11 km receiver patch. Broad distribution of simultaneous sources, across an adequately sized recording patch, effectively partitions the sensors so that each trace records only one of the simultaneous sources. With proper source separation, on a scale similar to twice the maximum usable source receiver offset, wavefield overlap occurs below the zone of interest. This yields records that are indistinguishable from non-simultaneous source data, within temporal and spatial limits. This DS³ technique may be implemented using a wide variety of acquisition geometries, optimally with spatially large recording patches that enable appropriate source separation distances. DS³ improves acquisition efficiency without data quality degradation, eliminating the requirement for special data processing or noise attenuation.