Recent applications of sliding block theory to geotechnical design

The sliding block theory was proposed by Newmark for determining the permanent displacement of embankments and dams under earthquake loading. This paper highlights recent applications of sliding block theory to different geotechnical structures. The equations to determine seismic factor of safety, yield acceleration and permanent displacement are given for rock block, soil slope, landfill cover, geosynthetic-reinforced soil retaining wall, and composite breakwater. The presented equations for seismic stability degenerate to that of static stability in the absence of earthquake. The permanent displacement for various structures can be obtained from that of a horizontal sliding block through a correction factor. A simplified procedure is included for the permanent displacement under vertical acceleration. The sliding block approach is rational for design under high seismic load.     

A note on the useable dynamic range of accelerographs recording translation

Since the late 1970s, the dynamic range and resolution of strong motion digital recorders have leaped from 65 to 135 dB, opening new possibilities for advanced data processing and interpretation. One of these new possibilities is the calculation of permanent displacement of the ground or of structures, associated with faulting or with non-linear response. Proposals on how permanent displacements could be recovered from recorded strong motion have been published since 1976. The analysis in this paper concludes that permanent displacements of the ground and of structures in the near-field can be calculated provided all six components of strong motion (three translations and three rotations) have been recorded, and the records are corrected for transducer rotation, misalignment and cross-axis sensitivity.     

Evolution of accelerographs, data processing, strong motion arrays and amplitude and spatial resolution in recording strong earthquake motion

This paper presents a review of the advances in strong motion recording since the early 1930s, based mostly on the experiences in the United States. A particular emphasis is placed on the amplitude and spatial resolution of recording, which both must be ‘adequate’ to capture the nature of strong earthquake ground motion and response of structures. The first strong motion accelerographs had optical recording system, dynamic range of about 50 dB and useful life longer than 30 years. Digital strong motion accelerographs started to become available in the late 1970s. Their dynamic range has been increasing progressively, and at present is about 135 dB. Most models have had useful life shorter than 5–10 years. One benefit from a high dynamic range is early trigger and anticipated ability to compute permanent displacements. Another benefit is higher sensitivity and hence a possibility to record smaller amplitude motions (aftershocks, smaller local earthquakes and distant large earthquakes), which would augment significantly the strong motion databases. The present trend of upgrading existing and adding new stations with high dynamic range accelerographs has lead to deployment of relatively small number of new stations (the new high dynamic range digital instruments are 2–3 times more expensive than the old analog instruments or new digital instruments with dynamic range of 60 dB or less). Consequently, the spatial resolution of recording, both of ground motion and structural response, has increased only slowly during the past 20 years, by at most a factor of two. A major (and necessary) future increase in the spatial resolution of recording will require orders of magnitude larger funding, for purchase of new instruments, their maintenance, and for data retrieval, processing, management and dissemination. This will become possible only with an order of magnitude cheaper and ‘maintenance-free’ strong motion accelerographs. In view of the rapid growth of computer technology this does not seem to be (and should not be) out of our reach.     

Evolution of 3D tectonic stress field and fault movement in North China

IntroductionThe research on stress field interior the Earth is an either relative old or young branch of geoscience. Early in the 20th century, in order to learn the state of inner stress field, a few scholars had used simple ideal model to analyze big scale tectonic conformations and activities according to tide, gravity, rotation and inner thermal materials. So far, lots of problems on the state of the Earth stress field have not been solved completely yet. The origin of stress field, the d…     

General characteristics of the recent horizontal crustal movement in Chinese mainland

1 Introduction of GPS observation dataThe Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) is a major scientific project in China organized by China Seismological Bureau and paticipated by the Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of the General Staff, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping. Based on the observation data of 25 fiducial stations and 56 basic stations in CMONOC (Figure 1 and Table 1), collected from August 26 to September…     

Pull-apart Basins and the Total Lateral Displacement Along the Haiyuan Fault Zone in Cenozoic

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＩｔｉｓｄｅｂａｔｅｄａｂｏｕｔｔｈｅｔｏｔａｌｌａｔｅｒａｌｄｉｓｐｌａｃｅｍｅｎｔａｌｏｎｇｔｈｅｍａｉｎｂｏｕｎｄａｒｙｆａｕｌｔｓｏｆｉｎｔｒａｐｌａｔｅｂｌｏｃｋｓｉｎｅａｓｔｅｒｎＡｓｉａｃｏｎｔｉｎｅｎｔｉｎＣｅｎｏｚｏｉｃｅｒａ .Ｉｎｔｈｅ 1 970ｓｏｆ2 0ｔｈｃｅｎｔｕｒｙ ,ｓｏｍｅｓｃｉｅｎｔｉｓｔｓｈａｄｅｓ ｔｉｍａｔｅｄｌａｔｅｒａｌｄｉｓｐｌａｃｅｍｅｎｔｂａｓｅｄｏｎｇｅｏｍｏｒｐｈｉｃｄａｔａ .Ｔｈｅｙｐｒｏｐｏｓｅｄｔｈａｔｔｈｅｔｏｔａｌｄ…     

砂土液化诱发地面侧移分析

分析了砂土液化诱发地面侧移的机理，提出了估计砂土液化诱发地面侧颓废不久位一种新方法。该方法是用饱和砂层中水压力的发展，在每个应力循环内对土壤的抗剪强度进行修正，然后在每个应力循环内应用Ｎｅｗｍａｒｋ刚性愉模型计算地面侧向永久位移，对比计算表明，本文提出的方法在物理机制上更加合理，计算结果与宏观震害现象十分吻合。     

青藏高原南缘现今地球动力学研究

喜马拉雅构造带于新生代时期经历了两代受力条件截然不同的形变。早期造山挤压形变与造山后的引张形变、青藏高原和高喜马拉雅的大幅度抬升。大致低喜马拉雅范围即青藏高原南缘，现今构造活动与青藏高原和高喜马拉雅块断抬升相辅相成。流行的板块聚合动力学模式，即使早新生代发生过，晚新生代以来已经灯熄。东亚大陆现代形变与地震活动的驱动力不可能源于青藏高原南缘被动挤压，而是取决于与高原隆起相关的深部主动动力学过程     

Geometrical textures of faults，evolution of physical field and instability characteristics

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Deterministic sliding block methods for estimating seismic displacements of earth structures

A review and quantitative comparison of existing deterministic sliding block methods for predicting permanent displacements of earth structures subjected to seismic loading is presented. The reviewed sliding block methods are divided into two main groups based on the characteristic earthquake parameters referenced in each method. One group uses the maximum horizontal ground acceleration and velocity, and the other uses the maximum horizontal ground acceleration and the predominant period of the acceleration spectrum. Displacement functions published by previous authors are reformulated to give common non-dimensionalized displacement functions of the critical acceleration ratio which are then used to compare the different methods for the estimate of permanent seismic displacement of soil structures. The results show that despite the fact that the different methods were formulated using a wide range of earthquake records and different characteristic seismic parameters, permanent displacement values predicted using these methods fall within a reasonably narrow band. Selected acceleration data from three recent earthquakes that occurred in California are used to evaluate and compare the accuracy of the reviewed displacement methods for practical applications.