A study on the seismic performance of steel‐reinforced concrete frame‐concrete core wall high‐rise mixed structure by large‐scale shaking table tests and numerical simulations

This paper reports a study for the seismic performance of one large‐scaled (1/15) model of 30‐story steel‐reinforced concrete frame‐concrete core wall mixed structure. The study was implemented by both shaking table tests, in which the similarity ratio for lateral and gravitational accelerations was kept to 1:1, and numerical nonlinear dynamic analysis. The test observations presented herein include story displacement, interstory drift, natural vibration periods, and final failure mode. The numerical analysis was performed to simulate the shaking table test procedure, and the numerically obtained responses were verified by the test results. On the basis of the numerical results, the progressions of structural stiffness, base shear, and overturning moment were investigated, and the distributions of base shear and overturning moment between frame and core wall were also discussed. The test demonstrates the seismic performance of the steel‐reinforced concrete frame‐core wall mixed structure and reveals the potential overturning failure mode for high rise structures. The nonlinear analysis results indicate that the peripheral frames could take more shear forces after core wall damaged under severe earthquakes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A direct analysis of flood interval probability using approximately 100-year streamflow datasets

ABSTRACT

Series of observed flood intervals, defined as the time intervals between successive flood peaks over a threshold, were extracted directly from 11 approximately 100-year streamflow datasets from Queensland, Australia. A range of discharge thresholds were analysed that correspond to return periods of approximately 3.7 months to 6.3 years. Flood interval histograms at South East Queensland gauges were consistently unimodal whereas those of the North and Central Queensland sites were often multimodal. The exponential probability distribution (pd) is often used to describe interval exceedence probabilities, but fitting utilizing the Anderson-Darling statistic found little evidence that it is the most suitable. The fatigue life pd dominated sub-year return periods (<1 year), often transitioning to a log Pearson 3 pd at above-year return periods. Fatigue life pd is used in analysis of the lifetime to structural failure when a threshold is exceeded, and this paper demonstrates its relevance also to the elapsed time between above-threshold floods. At most sites, the interval medians were substantially less than the means for sub-year return periods. Statistically the median is a better measure of the central tendency of skewed distributions but the mean is generally used in practice to describe the classical concept of flood return period.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor I. Nalbantis     

Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity modelling of hydrologic time series

The existence of time‐dependent variance or conditional variance, commonly called heteroscedasticity, in hydrologic time series has not been thoroughly investigated. This paper deals with modelling the heteroscedasticity in the residuals of the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model using a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model. The model is applied to two monthly rainfall time series from humid and arid regions. The effect of Box–Cox transformation and seasonal differencing on the remaining seasonal heteroscedasticity in the residuals of the SARIMA model is also investigated. It is shown that the seasonal heteroscedasticity in the residuals of the SARIMA model can be removed using Box–Cox transformation along with seasonal differencing for the humid region rainfall. On the other hand, transformation and seasonal differencing could not remove heteroscedasticity from the residuals of the SARIMA model fitted to rainfall data in the arid region. Therefore, the GARCH modelling approach is necessary to capture the heteroscedasticity remaining in the residuals of a SARIMA model. However, the evaluation criteria do not necessarily show that the GARCH model improves the performance of the SARIMA model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of ten notable meteorological drought indices on tracking the effect of drought on streamflow

ABSTRACT

Ten notable meteorological drought indices were compared on tracking the effect of drought on streamflow. A 730-month dataset of precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration for 88 catchments in Oregon, USA, representing pristine conditions, was used to compute the drought indices. These indices were correlated with the monthly streamflow datasets of the minimum, maximum and mean discharge, and the discharge monthly fluctuation; it was revealed that the 3-month Z-score drought index (Z3) has the best association with the four streamflow variables. The Mann-Kendall trend detection test applied to the latter index time series mainly highlighted a downward trend in the autumn and winter drought magnitude (DM) and an upward trend in the spring and summer DM (p = 0.05). Finally, the Pettitt test indicated an abrupt decline in the annual and autumn DM, which began in 1984 and 1986, respectively.     

Point dilution tests to calculate groundwater velocity: an example in a porous aquifer in northeast Italy

ABSTRACT

The point dilution test is a single-well technique for estimating horizontal flow velocity in the aquifer surrounding a well. The test is conducted by introducing a tracer into a well section and monitoring its decreasing concentration over time. When using a salt tracer, the method is easy and inexpensive. Traditionally, the horizontal Darcy velocity is calculated as a function of the rate of dilution and is based on the simple assumption that the decreasing tracer concentration is proportional both to the apparent velocity into the test section and to the Darcy velocity in the aquifer. In this article, an alternative approach to analyse the results of point dilution tests is proposed and verified using data acquired at a test site in the middle Venetian plain, northeast Italy. In this approach, the one-dimensional equilibrium advection–dispersion equation is inverted using the CXTFIT model to estimate the apparent velocity inside the test section. Analysis of the field data obtained by the two approaches shows good agreement between the methods and suggests that it is possible to use the equilibrium advection–dispersion equation to estimate apparent velocity over a wide range of velocities.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor K. Heal     

Two-dimensional imaging of soil–bedrock interface by short-array beamforming technique

The depth to soil–bedrock interface, which is one of the major parameters in the site response analysis, has been often investigated by surface-wave tests. The round-robin tests for a surface-wave method in Korea revealed that a long measurement array in surface-wave tests is not appropriate in locating soil–bedrock interface. In this paper, for the improved profiling of depth to soil–bedrock interface in 2-D image, short measurement array was introduced for the beamforming technique, which is a robust array processing technique adopted in a long-array format for stiffness profiling. Numerical simulation and field applications of the short-array beamforming technique indicate that the method is valid even for surface wave propagation with mode-related complexity. Depth to soil–bedrock interface and shear-wave velocity profiles determined by the short-array beamforming technique were in good agreement with layer stratifications of boring logs, resistivity map, shear-wave velocity profiles of downhole tests and CAP-SASW tests.     

地震台JCZ-1与JCZ-1T甚宽频带地震仪对比观测分析

采用成都基准地震台JCZ-1型和JCZ-1T甚宽频带数字地震仪同一时间段记录的地方震、近震和远震的地脉动噪声做功率谱分析.结果表明,JCZ-1和JCZ-1T型甚宽频带地震仪在主要频带内对地噪声的响应程度是一致的.在高频端和低频端JCZ-1T型地震计分辨率更高,且信噪比更高,高出10 ～ 20 dB.JCZ-1型地震计由于长期使用导致材料老化以及受环境温度或气流微量变化的影响,地震计的噪声较高,可能对地震波记录的幅值产生5％左右的影响.JCZ-1T型地震计在安装过程中所采取的保温、防气流扰动等各种防护措施是可靠的.     

地电井下观测装置技术指标的测试与认定讨论——井下观测设施构建与测试技术

观测技术系统的设施构建技术指标认定是观测技术的核心所在,本文结合地电井下观测设施构建工程^[1],着重讨论针对观测装置测试的需求、技术指标测试的方法以及认定的过程。文中以具体工程参数为例,给出4项测试结果,讨论了认定依据和认定过程,希望本讨论能对地电井下观测设施建设、指标的认定起到参考作用。     

不同厚度层状边坡动力响应的模型试验研究

采用振动台物理模拟试验方法,以4种不同覆土厚度的层状边坡模型为研究对象,水平输入振幅逐渐增大的正弦波加速度,分析了结构面上覆不同厚度土层对动力作用下边坡的稳定影响.研究了在动力作用下边坡的破坏位置和性质、破坏形式及最危险覆土厚度,验证了坡面放大效应与高程的关系,采用MIDAS/GTS软件对模型试验进行振型分析,分析了模型边坡的自振频率与覆土厚度的变化关系.试验结果表明：①模型破坏时最先出现的裂缝在边坡的中上部,且6 cm覆土厚度的模型对振动的响应最大,对应到实际工程中时12m厚度土层覆盖的边坡是最应该注意防护的.②不同厚度的土层破坏的形式不同：当土层厚度较薄时模型破坏较迅速,基本沿结构面发生整体滑动破坏,且滑动呈现一定的流体特性;当覆土较厚时裂缝先在模型中上部出现,随着振动的持续裂缝继续发展,最后发生整体性崩塌.③随着高程的增加峰值加速度总体呈放大趋势,但最大值出现在边坡中上部而非坡顶,说明不仅均质边坡有加速度的高程放大效应,层状边坡也具有加速度的高程放大效应.     

不同结构性黄土的强度规律及传统强度准则适应性分析

在真三轴试验基础上揭示了多种不同结构性原状黄土的强度变化规律,分析了在岩土工程实践中常用的Mohr-Coulomb准则和Matsuoka-Nakai准则对不同结构性原状黄土的适应性。结果表明:当结构性黄土的强度越大时,其在π平面上的破坏线越接近于抹圆曲边三角形,反之其在π平面上的破坏线越接近于抹圆角三角形;结构性黄土随着结构性的增大在π平面上的强度破坏线从抹圆角三角形逐渐向抹圆曲边三角形发展,最终趋近于Mises圆;两个强度准则所描述的强度都比结构性原状黄土的实际强度值小,Mohr-Coulomb准则的误差比Matsuoka-Nakai准则的误差大,并且随着结构性的增强其误差也逐渐增大。