Expected loss‐based alarm threshold set for earthquake early warning systems

Earthquake early warning systems (EEWS) seem to have potential as tools for real‐time seismic risk management and mitigation. In fact, although the evacuation of buildings requires warning time not available in many urbanized areas threatened by seismic hazard, they may still be used for the real‐time protection of critical facilities using automatic systems in order to reduce the losses subsequent to a catastrophic event. This is possible due to the real‐time seismology, which consists of methods and procedures for the rapid estimation of earthquake features, as magnitude and location, based on measurements made on the first seconds of the P‐waves. An earthquake engineering application of earthquake early warning (EEW) may be intended as a system able to issue the alarm, if some recorded parameter exceeds a given threshold, to activate risk mitigation actions before the quake strikes at a site of interest. Feasibility analysis and design of such EEWS require the assessment of the expected loss reduction due to the security action and set of the alarm threshold. In this paper a procedure to carry out these tasks in the performance‐based earthquake engineering probabilistic framework is proposed. A merely illustrative example refers to a simple structure assumed to be a classroom. Structural damage and non‐structural collapses are considered; the security action is to shelter occupants below the desks. The cost due to a false alarm is assumed to be related to the interruption of didactic activities. Results show how the comparison of the expected losses, for the alarm‐issuance and non‐issuance cases, allows setting the alarm threshold on a quantitative and consistent basis, and how it may be a tool for the design of engineering applications of EEW. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved seismic hazard model with application to probabilistic seismic demand analysis

An improved seismic hazard model for use in performance‐based earthquake engineering is presented. The model is an improved approximation from the so‐called ‘power law’ model, which is linear in log–log space. The mathematics of the model and uncertainty incorporation is briefly discussed. Various means of fitting the approximation to hazard data derived from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis are discussed, including the limitations of the model. Based on these ‘exact’ hazard data for major centres in New Zealand, the parameters for the proposed model are calibrated. To illustrate the significance of the proposed model, a performance‐based assessment is conducted on a typical bridge, via probabilistic seismic demand analysis. The new hazard model is compared to the current power law relationship to illustrate its effects on the risk assessment. The propagation of epistemic uncertainty in the seismic hazard is also considered. To allow further use of the model in conceptual calculations, a semi‐analytical method is proposed to calculate the demand hazard in closed form. For the case study shown, the resulting semi‐analytical closed form solution is shown to be significantly more accurate than the analytical closed‐form solution using the power law hazard model, capturing the ‘exact’ numerical integration solution to within 7% accuracy over the entire range of exceedance rate. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prediction of the median IDA curve by employing a limited number of ground motion records

A methodology has been proposed which can be used to reduce the number of ground motion records needed for the reliable prediction of the median seismic response of structures by means of incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). This methodology is presently limited to predictions of the median IDA curve only. The reduction in the number of ground motion records needed to predict the median IDA curve is achieved by introducing a precedence list of ground motion records. The determination of such a list is an optimization problem, which is solved in the paper by means of (1) a genetic algorithm and (2) a proposed simple procedure. The seismic response of a simple, computationally non‐demanding structural model has been used as input data for the optimization problem. The presented example is a three‐storey‐reinforced concrete building, subjected to two sets of ground motion records, one a free‐field set and the other a near‐field set. It is shown that the median IDA curves can be predicted with acceptable accuracy by employing only four ground motion records instead of the 24 or 30 records, which are the total number of ground motion records for the free‐field and near‐field sets, respectively. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地下工程测量时仪器采用的激光对点给向装置

介绍了一种用于隧洞、矿山井下等地下工程的测量设备的结构特点和技术特点以及仪器的使用方法。说明使用该设备，无需专人特灯照明和锤球对点，就能实现点下对点，测量过程中，仪器及觇牌的对点、整平、照准、读数、给向全过程单人操作、省工、省时并能提高精度。     

分区统计地图上符号的视觉搜寻和认知工效研究

根据某地区的分区统计数据和有关图集，总结设计出4种方案的分区统计地图，在自行编制的认知测试软件上进行了目标搜寻测试，结果表明，在分区统计地图上搜寻目标时，视觉系统运用了平行加工策略和序列加工策略，4个方案的目标搜寻平均反应时间和正确率受到这两种策略的影响。     

地形引起的雷达辐射畸变及其校正

合成孔径雷达影像由于其侧视特点 ,存在着严重的地形引起的几何畸变及辐射畸变。辐射畸变不仅对 SAR辐射标定造成困难 ,而且严重影响了影像分类、土壤湿度信息提取、森林蓄积量信息提取等应用。本文将辐射畸变归结为面积效应和局部入射角效应 ,推导了散射面积归一化因子 ,以消除辐射畸变的面积效应。提出了一种以局部入射角的线性函数表达的后向散射模型 ,在此基础上 ,给出了消除局部入射角效应的校正函数。最后 ,以RADARSAT SAR影像进行地形辐射畸变校正的试验与分析     

造山带构造研究中几个重要学术概念问题的讨论

简要分析和评述了造山带构造研究中的几个重要学术概念问题：造山带，造山带类型、造山作用和造山过程、造山带构造格局、造山作用模式。指出不宜将造山带定义直接与板块边缘构造位置和板块间相互作用联系在一起；造山作用和造山带不仅出现在板块之间相互作用的地带，而且可以出现在远离板边界的地方－－即所谓板内造山带。强调了板内造山带研究的重要性，提出了确定板内造山的主要依据，指出在造山带分类、造山带构造山带。强调了板内造山带研究的重要性，提出了确定内造山带的主要依据，指出在造山带分类、造山带构造格局和造山作用过程中应充分注意内造山带的客观存在，以及板内造山带成因动力机制研究中需要着重考虑的重要方面。     

断裂构造研究进展对工程地质学的启示

在长期地质作用下形成的岩体和岩体结构是工程地质学研究的基本内容，它们的形成和演化主要受控于构造作用，而系统地解析体所经历的构造作用是认知岩体结构，抽象和概括岩体工程地质模型的突破口，因此，重视和应用现代构造地质学研究的新理论，新方法必将会对岩体工程地质学研究起着重要的指导意义。本文系统总结了与工程地质研究相关的现代构造地质学理论和思维观的研究进展，在此基础上分析了这些理论方法对工程地质工作的启示和指导意义，希望起到抛砖引玉的作用。     

基于GIS的地热资源与环境管理信息系统的研制

如何实现地热资源的可持续开发与利用，保证资源与环境协同发展，已经成为一个亟待解决的问题。将GIS与地热工程分析相结合，借助信息技术，建立了地热资源与环境管理信息系统，这一系统的特点就是以长观数据与地热工程分析结果作为数据源，将信息化管理和科学决策结合在一起，实现集信息管理，资源评价与科学决策为一体的信息系统。     

福建三明盆地工程地质特征

福建三明盆地工程地质条件对三明市工程建设和城市规划起决定性作用。三明盆地是个构造断陷盆地，地质构造复杂，岩土体工程地质条件复杂，应根据不同建筑场地合理规划工程建设，确定工程勘察手段及工作量，确保工程建设经济、合理及安全。