Evaluating assumptions for seismic assessment of existing buildings

This paper evaluates the American FEMA 356 and the Greek GRECO (EC 8 based) procedural assumptions for the assessment of the seismic capacity of existing buildings via pushover analyses. Available experimental results from a four-storeyed building are used to compare the two different sets of assumptions. If the comparison is performed in terms of initial stiffness or plastic deformation capacities, the different partial assumptions of the procedures lead to large discrepancies, while the opposite occurs when the comparison is performed in terms of structural performance levels at target displacements. According to FEMA 356 assumptions, effective yield point rigidities are approximately four times greater than those of EC 8. Both procedures predicted that the structure would behave elastically during low-level excitation and that the structural performance level at target displacement for a high-level excitation would be between the Immediate Occupancy and Life Safety performance levels.     

Fhe application of electromagnetic-induction on the measurement of sea ice thickness in the Antarctic

As an important component of the cryosphere, sea ice is very sensitive to climate change. The study of sea ice physics needs accurate sea ice thickness. This paper presents an electromagnetic induction （EM） technique which can be used to measure the sea ice thickness distribution efficiently and its successful application in the Antarctic Neila Fjord. Based on the electrical properties of sea ice and seawater and the application of electromagnetic field theory, this technique can accurately detect the distance between the EM instrument and the ice/water interface to measure the sea ice thickness. Analyzing the apparent conductivity data obtained by the electromagnetic induction technique and drill-hole measurements at same location allows the construction of a transform equation for the apparent conductivity and sea ice thickness. The verification of the calculated sea ice thickness using this equation indicates that the electromagnetic induction technique is able to determine reliable sea ice thickness with an average relative error of only 5.5%. The ice thickness profiles show the sea ice distribution in Neila Fjord is basically level with a thickness of 0.8 - 1.4 m.     

Climatically relevant periodicities in the thickness of biogenic carbonate varves in Spooensee, Switzerland (9740-6870 calendar yr BP)

Accurate determination of the thicknesses of 2717 biogenic carbonate varves from a Swiss lake (Soppensee), spanning the period from about 9740 to 6870 calendar yr BP, allowed the computation of a power spectrum using classical FFT methods. The presence of pronounced peaks at 40-50 and 20-25 yr agrees with the results of other studies on varve thickness and D¹⁴C which have been interpreted as indicating an association between solar forcing and varve thickness. The presence in the Soppensee varve series of an additional peak at 10.9 yr, corresponding to the Schwabe sunspot cycle, lends further support to this hypothesis. Because the Soppensee varves are of biogenic rather than clastic origin, any influence fluctuations in solar irradiance may have had on sedimentation rates is likely to have been exerted via primary production.     

农业资源高效利用评价指标体系初步研究

本文从农业自然再生产和经济再生产统一体和整体性的角度出发 ,在阐述构建农业资源高效利用评价指标体系宜遵循的基本原则的基础上 ,通过对农业资源的农业生产行为特征及高效利用途径进行系统分析 ,筛选、构建和设计出了农业资源高效利用评价指标体系 ,并对其中的重要指标进行了讨论。     

EFFECTIVE DISCHARGE CALCULATION GUIDE

1 mTRonvcnox: moareS Aun CoxcmSAJluvial rivers have the pOtenhal to adjust their shaPe and dimensions to all flows that tranSPOrtsediment, but Inglis (l94l) suggested that, for rivers that are in regime, a single steady flow could beidenhfied which would Produce the same bankfll dimensions as the natural sequence of events. Hereferrd to this now as the dondnan discharge.Wolman and Mller (l960) idenhfied that the flow doing most bed material transPort over a period ofyears may be taken tO…     

湖州台的近震监测能力

本文根据湖州地震台DD-1地震仪记录的1980—1990年期间Δ<500km的近震资料和仪器放大倍率,利用理论计算Δ—Mmin曲线,b值检验3种方法,对湖州台的近震监测能力进行了估算和评价,得出了该台对目标监测区域内的有效监测震级。最后对区域地震台站的近震监测能力进行了讨论。     

On the Parameterisation of the Effective Roughness Length for Momentum Transfer over Heterogeneous Terrain

We develop a parameterisation for the effective roughness length of terrain that consists of a repeating sequence of patches, in which each patch is composed of strips of two roughness types. A numerical model with second-order closure in the turbulent stress is developed and used to show that: (i) the normalised Reynolds stress develops as a self-similar profile; (ii) the mixing-length parameterisation is a good first-order approximation to the Reynolds stress. These findings are used to characterise the blending layer, where the stress adjusts smoothly from its local surface value to its effective value aloft. Previous studies have assumed that this adjustment occurs abruptly at a single level, often called the blending height. The blending layer is shown to be characterised by height scales that arise naturally in linear models of surface layer flow over roughness changes, and calculations with the numerical model show that these height scales remain appropriate in the nonlinear regime. This concept of the blending layer allows the development of a new parameterisation of the effective roughness length, which gives values for the effective roughness length that are shown to compare well with both atmospheric measurements and values determined from the second-order model.     

The relationship between formation structure and thickness in the Permo-Triassic succession of the Southern Coalfield, Sydney Basin, New South Wales, Australia

Using trend-surface analysis, the patterns of formation structure and thickness variation in the Permo-Triassic succession of the Southern Coalfield, Sydney Basin, are resolved into geologically meaningful large- and small-scale features. The structural trends correspond to the regional syncline of the southern Sydney Basin and the negative and positive residual domains to smaller-scale structures including the South Bulli and Douglas Park Synclines and the Bulli and Kemira Anticlines. The results of trend-surface analysis and simple linear regression reveal an inverse relationship between structural elevation (relative to sea level) and formation thickness on both a regional and a local scale. This relationship is strongest for the Bulli Coal and the Bald Hill Claystone. In the case of the Bulli Coal, the present-day structural trends and formation thickness trends show a strong inverse correlation and the residuals show a moderate inverse correlation; the correlations between the inferred Middle Triassic structure of the Bulli Coal and formation thickness are even stronger than those involving the present-day structure. These results indicate that structures which were active during the Permo-Triassic and which influenced sedimentation have been preserved in the present-day structure. The persistence of the patterns of structure and thickness variation upward through the Permo-Triassic sequence suggests that sedimentation was controlled by contemporaneous basement subsidence, rather than by short-lived compaction-induced subsidence patterns.     

Sea ice thickness measurement and its underside morphology analysis using radar penetration in the Arctic Ocean

Sea ice, as an important component of the Arctic climate system, has drawn significant sci-entific interest. Sea ice thickness and its morphology have dramatic impacts on ocean-atmos- phere-ice interactions[1—4], which directly affect the exchange proces…