Anisotropic stress accumulation in cooling lava flows and resulting fracture patterns: Insights from starch-water desiccation experiments

Desiccation of starch-water slurries is a useful analog for the production of polygonal fractures/columnar joints in cooling lava flows. When left to dry completely, a simple mixture of 1:1 starch and water will produce columns that appear remarkably similar to natural columnar joints formed in cooled lava flows. Columns form when the accumulation of isotropic stress exceeds the tensile strength of a material, at which point a fracture forms and advances through the material perpendicular to the desiccating surface. Individual fractures will initially form orthogonal to the desiccation surface but will quickly evolve into a hexagonal fracture network that advances incrementally through the material. However, some fracture patterns found within natural lava flows are not hexagonal (Lodge and Lescinsky, 2009-this issue), but rather have fracture lengths that are much longer than the distance to adjacent fractures. These fractures are commonly found at lava flows that have interacted with glacial ice during emplacement. The purpose of this study is to utilize starch analog experiments to better understand the formation of these fractures and the stress regimes responsible for their non-hexagonal patterns.To simulate anisotropic conditions during cooling, the starch slurry was poured into a container with a movable wall that was attached to a screw-type jack. The jack was then set to slowly extend or retract while the slurry desiccated. This resulted in either a decrease or increase in the chamber cross-sectional area thus creating compressional or extensional regimes. Decreasing chamber area (DCA) experiments resulted in fractures with larger lengths parallel to the direction of wall movement (also direction of compression). It also caused localized thrust faulting and curved column development. Increasing chamber area (ICA) experiments produced a zone of horizontal column development along the expanding margin (produced when the wall detached from the sample). Within this zone vertical fracture traces were observed that extended beyond individual columns.The viscoelastic rheology of both starch-water slurries and cooling lava flows aid in the production of these long and continuous fractures. During desiccation/cooling, the total strain in the material is divided into elastic strain (stress accumulating) and viscous strain (stress relaxing). During isotropic conditions, the viscous component is also isotropic therefore stress is relaxed equally in all directions. However, if there is an existing viscous strain, such as in the DCA and ICA experiments, stress can be preferentially relaxed in a single direction resulting in fracture development with preferred orientations.     

In situ experiment on retrofit of school buildings by adding sandwich columns to partition brick walls

Many significantly strong earthquakes have occurred over the years in Taiwan, which have caused tremendous damage to primary and middle school buildings; the 921 Chi‐Chi earthquake was particularly devastating. According to statistics, 786 schools (1,958 classrooms) were damaged on September 21, 1999 during this earthquake event. The devastation showed that a lack of seismic performance is a common problem for existing school buildings in Taiwan. Therefore, the retrofit of existing school buildings has become an urgent issue in the prevention of possible damage in the future. The retrofit technique of adding sandwich columns to partition brick walls is proposed in this paper, and the feasibility of the proposed method was verified by in situ pushover tests of two real school buildings, one without and one with retrofit. The experimental and analytical results show that the sandwich column itself contributes significantly to the seismic capacity of the examined school building. Moreover, the analytical results yielded conservative capacity curves when compared with the experimental results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

钢管高强混凝土柱抗震性能的试验研究

本文对钢管高强混凝土柱进行低周反复水平荷载作用的试验,得到了不同轴压比情况下的滞回曲线及骨架曲线,讨论了钢管高强混凝土柱压弯承载力计算公式的适用性。结果表明,钢管高强混凝土柱具有很高的承载力及良好的抗震性能。     

Numerical modelling of the effect of curing time on the creep behaviour of a chemically stabilised soft soil

This work studies the effect of the curing time on the creep behaviour of a stabilised soft soil, using volumetric and deviatoric creep laws associated with constitutive models. Results of unconfined compressive strength tests for several curing times are used to define the time evolution of the mechanical and creep properties. The models/creep laws are validated by oedometer and triaxial creep tests, for 28 and 90 days of curing. The long-term behaviour of an embankment built on a soft soil reinforced with deep mixing columns shows that the effect of curing time decreases the settlement and increases the improvement factor.     

GIS在矿区岩溶陷落柱位置圈定中的应用

区域构造、可溶性岩层和地下水动力条件是岩溶陷落柱形成的３个必备条件。选取刘桥二矿作为研究区,从现有数据中分类提取出区域构造、可溶性岩层和煤层顶底板强富水异常区３个因素,根据底板等高线生成煤层底板坡度图及研究区邻近区域内已探明陷落柱的特征,结合这３个因素,运用GIS叠置分析圈定出4个可能的陷落柱发育区,再经与实际生产情况资料对比,得出巷道揭露的Ⅱ617风巷陷落柱位于第Ⅱ区内。     

Reduction of structural response to near fault earthquakes by seismic isolation columns and variable friction dampers

<正>This paper focuses on the investigation of a hybrid seismic isolation system with passive variable friction dampers for protection of structures against near fault earthquakes.The seismic isolation can be implemented by replacing the conventional columns fixed to the foundations by seismic isolating ones.These columns allow horizontal displacement between the superstructure and the foundations and decouple the building from the damaging earthquake motion.As a result, the forces in the structural elements decrease and damage that may be caused to the building by the earthquake significantly decreases.However,this positive effect is achieved on account of displacements occurring in the isolating columns.These displacements become very large when the structure is subjected to a strong earthquake.In this case,impact may occur between the parts of the isolating column yielding their damage or collapse.In order to limit the displacements in the isolating columns,it is proposed to add variable friction dampers.A method for selecting the dampers' properties is proposed.It is carried out using an artificial ground motion record and optimal active control algorithm.Numerical simulation of a seven-story structure shows that the proposed method allows efficient reduction in structural response and limits the displacements at the seismic isolating columns.     

Starch grains from dental calculus reveal ancient plant foodstuffs at Chenqimogou site, Gansu Province

Chenqimogou site, located at the south bank of Tao River, is comprised of a large group of graves dated to ~4000 a BP. For its large scale, unique mortuary system, and abundant of typical artifacts, the site was named one of Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of 2008 in China. Many intact human skeletons have been excavated from the graves. Three teeth from two adult skeletons excavated from graves M187 and M194 were examined. Forty-eight starch grains were retrieved from dental calculus of three teeth. Six...     

Cyclic Displacement Model for Reinforced Concrete Columns

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures in low to moderate seismic regions and many older RC structures in high seismic regions include columns with steel reinforcement details not meeting the requirements of modern seismic design codes. These columns typically fail in shear or in a brittle manner and their behavior must be accurately captured when RC structures are modeled and analyzed. The total lateral displacement of a low ductility or shear critical RC column can be represented as the sum of three displacement components: (1) flexural displacement, (2) displacement due to slippage of the reinforcing bars at column ends, and (3) shear displacement. In this study, these three displacement components are separately modeled and then combined together following a proposed procedure based on the expected overall behavior of the column and its failure mechanism. A simplified slip model is proposed. The main objective of this research is to develop an easy-to-apply method to model and capture the cyclic behavior of RC columns considering the shear failure mechanism. The proposed model is validated using the available data from RC column and frame experiments.     

Parametric investigation of the stability of classical columns under harmonic and earthquake excitations

The seismic response of free‐standing classical columns is analysed numerically through implementation of the distinct element method. Typical sections of two ancient temples are modelled and studied parametrically, in order to identify the main factors affecting the stability and to improve our understanding of the earthquake behaviour of such structures. The models were first subjected to harmonic base motions. The analysis showed that, for frequencies usually encountered in earthquake motions, intact multi‐drum free‐standing columns can withstand large amplitude harmonic excitations without collapse. The dynamic resistance decreases rapidly as the period of the harmonic excitation increases. Imperfections, such as initial tilt of the column or loss of contact area due to edge damage, also reduce the stability of the system significantly. The effects of such imperfections could be additive and the cumulative effect of many imperfections may render deteriorating abandoned monuments vulnerable to earthquakes. The response of more complete sections of the temple, such as two columns coupled with an architrave, did not deviate systematically from that of the single multi‐drum column or indeed of the equivalent single block. Therefore, a much simpler single block analysis can be used to size‐up the seismic threat to the monument. The model of the column of the Temple of Apollo at Bassae was also tested under recorded earthquake motions by scaling‐up the acceleration amplitude progressively until collapse of the column. It was found that the columns are particularly vulnerable to long‐period impulsive earthquake motions. A comparison of the instability thresholds associated with harmonic excitations and earthquake motions throws more light onto the dynamic response: it appears that around three cycles of monochromatic excitation at the predominant period of the expected earthquake motions lead to a gross prediction of the stability of a classical column during an earthquake. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

钢筋混凝土柱对应于各地震损伤状态的侧向变形计算

采用半经验半理论的方法对以受弯为主的钢筋混凝土柱对应于各主要损伤状态的侧向变形进行了研究。本文研究的主要损伤状态包括屈服、混凝土保护层压碎、剥落、纵向受力钢筋屈曲、极限状态五个状态。首先建立了各损伤状态下柱截面受压区高度的计算方法。接着,利用对美国太平洋地震工程研究中心(PEER)建立的钢筋混凝土柱的试验数据库的统计分析,采用平截面假定和钢筋混凝土受弯构件的塑性铰理论推出了混凝土保护层压碎时压区边缘混凝土的应变大小,混凝土保护层剥落、纵筋屈曲和进入极限状态时核心区混凝土边缘的压应变大小,进而建立了钢筋混凝土柱对应于各损伤状态的变形计算方法。利用本文提出的方法得到的变形计算值与PEER提供的试验数据在统计意义上有较好的一致性。该方法可为钢筋混凝土柱基于位移的抗震设计和抗震性能评价提供依据。