Impact model for simulation of base isolated buildings impacting flexible moat walls

Base isolated buildings subjected to extreme earthquakes can exceed their design displacements and impact against the surrounding moat wall. To better understand the consequences of impact on the superstructure, an impact element considering moat wall flexibility is proposed based on impact theory and observations during experimental simulations. It is demonstrated that numerical simulations using the proposed impact element can capture the dominant characteristics of the contact force observed in experiments of base isolated buildings impacting various moat wall configurations including concrete walls with soil backfill and rigid steel walls. The contact force is dependent on impact velocity, geometry, and material properties at the contact surface, and the global dynamic characteristic of the moat wall. Properties of the moat wall impact element are derived based on mechanics‐based models considering material properties and geometric measurements of the experimental setup. For this purpose, the moat wall is modeled as a flexural column with a concentrated nonlinear hinge at its base and soil backfill considered through a damped elastic foundation then generalized into a single degree of freedom system. The resulting impact element is shown to accurately capture both local deformation and the vibration aspects of impact observed in experiments and the effects of impact on superstructure response. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conditional spectrum‐based ground motion selection. Part II: Intensity‐based assessments and evaluation of alternative target spectra

In a companion paper, an overview and problem definition was presented for ground motion selection on the basis of the conditional spectrum (CS), to perform risk‐based assessments (which estimate the annual rate of exceeding a specified structural response amplitude) for a 20‐story reinforced concrete frame structure. Here, the methodology is repeated for intensity‐based assessments (which estimate structural response for ground motions with a specified intensity level) to determine the effect of conditioning period. Additionally, intensity‐based and risk‐based assessments are evaluated for two other possible target spectra, specifically the uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) and the conditional mean spectrum (CMS, without variability).It is demonstrated for the structure considered that the choice of conditioning period in the CS can substantially impact structural response estimates in an intensity‐based assessment. When used for intensity‐based assessments, the UHS typically results in equal or higher median estimates of structural response than the CS; the CMS results in similar median estimates of structural response compared with the CS but exhibits lower dispersion because of the omission of variability. The choice of target spectrum is then evaluated for risk‐based assessments, showing that the UHS results in overestimation of structural response hazard, whereas the CMS results in underestimation. Additional analyses are completed for other structures to confirm the generality of the conclusions here. These findings have potentially important implications both for the intensity‐based seismic assessments using the CS in future building codes and the risk‐based seismic assessments typically used in performance‐based earthquake engineering applications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural pounding between adjacent buildings subjected to strong ground motions. Part I: The effect of different structures arrangement

The effect of different structures configurations on the collision between adjacent planar RC building frames subjected to strong earthquakes is examined in this paper. Two 5‐storey and two 8‐storey frames, regular or with setbacks, are combined together to produce nine different pairs of adjacent RC structures. These pairs of buildings are subjected to six strong ground motions that are absolutely compatible with the design process. Various parameters are investigated such as maximum displacements, permanent displacements, members' ductility and internal forces and interstorey drift ratios. It is concluded that the effect of collision of adjacent frames seems to be unfavourable for most of the cases and, therefore, the structural pounding phenomenon is rather detrimental than beneficial. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Possible climate change/variability and human impacts,vulnerability of drought-prone regions,water resources and capacity building for Africa

ABSTRACT

This review article discusses the climate, water resources and historical droughts of Africa, drought indices, vulnerability, impact of global warming and land use for drought-prone regions in West, southern and the Greater Horn of Africa, which have suffered recurrent severe droughts in the past. Recent studies detected warming and drying trends in Africa since the mid 20th century. Based on the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), both northern and southern Africa are projected to experience drying, such as decreasing precipitation, runoff and soil moisture in the 21st century and could become more vulnerable to the impact of droughts. The daily maximum temperature is projected to increase by up to 8°C (RCP8.5 of CMIP5), precipitation indices such as total wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT) and heavy precipitation days (R10 mm) could decrease, while warm spell duration (WSDI) and consecutive dry days (CDD) could increase. Uncertainties of the above long-term projections, teleconnections to climate anomalies such as ENSO and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which could also affect the water resources of Africa, and capacity building in terms of physical infrastructure and non-structural solutions are also discussed. Given that traditional climate and hydrological data observed in Africa are generally limited, satellite data should also be exploited to fill the data gap for Africa in the future.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor N. Ilich     

云南震害损失评估与恢复重建规划主要技术指标

以2011年3月10日云南盈江5.8级等4组5次地震为主要对象,深入分析灾害损失评估和恢复重建规划编制涉及的地震烈度调查与恢复重建范围,失去住所人数与灾后过渡性安置人数,以及民房、教育、卫生、市政、电力、通信、水利等破坏与恢复重建的规模,探讨了相互间的关系,并提出建议,对科学客观合理评估地震直接灾害损失和恢复重建规划具有一定的参考价值。     

农村住宅砌体结构地震破坏数值模拟研究

国内震害调查表明我国农村房屋在地震中破坏严重,主要原因是农村自建房屋大都缺乏基本抗震措施.近年来有关部门针对农村房屋的抗震性能提出一些改进措施,但这些措施实际抗震效果如何,除了极少数通过模型试验验证外,很少得到验证.本文建立了砌体结构非线性有限元分析模型,以一幢农宅为研究对象,通过地震时程反应来再现其在地震作用下的破坏状况.研究表明本文提出数值模型能够较好的模拟砌体结构在地震中破坏过程,发现结构抗震薄弱部位.通过对三种模型对比分析表明圈梁和构造柱可以有效提高砌体结构整体抗震性能,但对局部破坏影响不大,需要在以后抗震设计中加以考虑.     

基于房屋普查数据的房屋增长规律研究

以辽宁省县级以上城镇房屋普查数据、辽宁农村民居房屋普查数据、统计年鉴及抽样调查等房屋数据为基础,对房屋普查数据统计单元进行重新划分及统计计算,实现了房屋普查数据与应急基础数据库房屋数据单元的统一。通过对统计单元各种房屋结构增长率的计算,结合统计分析方法,给出了辽宁省1134个乡镇级统计单元的房屋增长率分类情况。     

面向对象的泰安市高分辨率影像住宅建筑物提取

基于eCognition Developer平台,以泰安市QuickBird影像为数据,采用面向对象多尺度分割、最邻近和隶属度分类,充分利用高分辨率QuickBird影像具有的丰富光谱、形状、纹理和结构等地物信息,对实验区进行分类并提取住宅建筑物信息。实验表明,与传统逐像元分类法相比,面向对象分类法有效地避免了分割区域的离散破碎,地类信息的提取更加完整、精确、高效。     

Web-based visualization of large 3D urban building models

Adaptive rendering of large urban building models has become an important research issue in three-dimensional (3D) geographic information system (GIS) applications. This study explores a way for rendering web-based 3D urban building models. A client–server hybrid rendering approach is presented for large 3D city models, stored on a remote server through a network. The approach combines an efficient multi-hierarchical building representation with a novel image-based method, 3D image impostor generated on demand by a remote server. This approach allows transferring complex scenes progressively while keeping high visualization quality. We also evaluated the rendering and data transferring performance of the proposed approach.     

Building extraction from LIDAR based semantic analysis

Extraction of buildings from LIDAR data has been an active research field in recent years. A scheme for building detection and reconstruction from LIDAR data is presented with an object-oriented method which is based on the buildings' semantic rules. Two key steps are discussed: how to group the discrete LIDAR points into single objects and how to establish the buildings' semantic rules. In the end, the buildings are reconstructed in 3D form and three common parametric building models (flat, gabled, hipped) are implemented.