Damping coefficients for soil–structure systems and evaluation of FEMA 440 subjected to pulse-like near-fault earthquakes

In this study, attempts are made to investigate the effects of inertial soil–structure interaction (SSI) on damping coefficients subjected to pulse-like near-fault ground motions. To this end, a suit of 91 pulse-like near-fault ground motions is adopted. The soil and superstructure are idealized employing cone model and single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) oscillator, respectively. The results demonstrate that soil flexibility reduces and amplifies the damping coefficients for structural viscous damping levels higher and lower than 5%, respectively. The coefficients reach one for both acceleration and displacement responses in cases of dominant SSI effects. The effect of structure dimensions on damping confidents are found insignificant. Moreover, damping coefficients of displacement responses are higher than those of acceleration responses for both fixed-base and flexible-base systems. Evaluation of damping correction factor introduced by FEMA 440 shows its inefficiency to predict acceleration response of soil–structure systems under pulse-like near-fault ground motions. Soil flexibility makes the damping correction factor of moderate earthquakes more pronounced and a distinctive peak value is reported for cases with dominant SSI effects.     

Site-specific and spatially-distributed ground-motion intensity estimation in the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes

This paper presents site-specific and spatially-distributed ground-motion intensity estimates which have been utilized in the aftermath of the 2010–2011 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquakes. The methodology underpinning the ground motion intensity estimation makes use of both prediction models for ground motion intensity and its within-event spatial correlation. A key benefit of the methodology is that the estimated ground motion intensity at a given location is not a single value but a distribution of values. The distribution is comprised of both a mean and standard deviation, with the standard deviation being a function of the distance to nearby observations at strong motion stations.The methodology is illustrated for two applications. Firstly, maps of conditional peak ground acceleration (PGA) have been developed for the major events in the Canterbury earthquake sequence, which among other things, have been utilized for assessing liquefaction triggering susceptibility of land in residential areas. Secondly, the conditional distribution of response spectral ordinates is obtained at the location of the Canterbury Television building (CTV), which catastrophically collapsed in the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The conditional response spectra provide insight for the selection of ground motion records for use in forensic seismic response analyses of important structures at locations where direct recordings are absent.     

Prediction of ground motion due to the collapse of a large-scale cooling tower under strong earthquakes

The ground motion owing to the collapse of a large-scale cooling tower under strong earthquakes was appropriately predicted using a comprehensive approach. The predicted results can be used for the safety evaluation of nuclear-related facilities adjacent to the cooling tower as well as in the planning of nuclear power plant construction in China. In this study, a cooling tower–soil model was first developed based on a falling weight–soil model, which the authors verified by falling weight tests. Then the collapse process of a cooling tower was simulated, and the collapse-induced ground vibrations were assessed by using the proposed model. Finally, the ground motion, which was a combination of the earthquake-induced ground motion and the collapse-induced ground vibrations, was estimated based on the superposition principle of waves. It was found that the cooling tower may collapse under strong earthquakes with the peak ground accelerations (PGAs) in the range of 0.35–0.45 g in x (EW) and y (NS) directions, respectively. These PGAs are far beyond the PGA range of major earthquakes in the common seismic design in China. The types of the site geologies of towers can significantly affect the collapse-induced ground vibrations. For a typical hard soil consisting of strongly weathered sandy slate, moderate ground vibrations may occur in the considered region. The collapse-induced PGAs were in the range of 0.017–0.046 g for the observed points at distances of 350 m in radial direction. For a rock-like foundation, the collapse-induced radial PGAs may be as high as 0.08 g at distances of 350 m, indicating that the effect of the collapse-induced ground vibrations on the nuclear-related facilities should be seriously assessed in certain scenarios.     

Quantifying the epistemic uncertainty in ground motion models and prediction

The aim of this paper is to compute the ground-motion prediction equation (GMPE)-specific components of epistemic uncertainty, so that they may be better understood and the model standard deviation potentially reduced. The reduced estimate of the model standard deviation may also be more representative of the true aleatory uncertainty in the ground-motion predictions.The epistemic uncertainty due to input variable uncertainty and uncertainty in the estimation of the GMPE coefficients are examined. An enhanced methodology is presented that may be used to analyse their impacts on GMPEs and GMPE predictions. The impacts of accounting for the input variable uncertainty in GMPEs are demonstrated using example values from the literature and by applying the methodology to the GMPE for Arias Intensity. This uncertainty is found to have a significant effect on the estimated coefficients of the model and a small effect on the value of the model standard deviation.The impacts of uncertainty in the GMPE coefficients are demonstrated by quantifying the uncertainty in hazard maps. This paper provides a consistent approach to quantifying the epistemic uncertainty in hazard maps using Monte Carlo simulations and a logic tree framework. The ability to quantify this component of epistemic uncertainty offers significant enhancements over methods currently used in the creation of hazard maps as it is both theoretically consistent and can be used for any magnitude–distance scenario.     

吉林通化地震台四分量钻孔应变在日本9.0级地震前后的变化特征

基于通化地震台四分量应变观测,通过K-L最佳直线拟合及傅立叶滑动去年周期对数据进行处理,进一步分析日本9.0级地震前后应变变化特征。结果表明,K-L最佳直线拟合和傅立叶滑动去年周期,可以较好地消除通化台应变观测中的长趋势变化项和年变成分,使应力应变的微动态变化更加显著地表现出来;通化台四分量应变在日本9.0级地震前的压性变化与同一构造带的另外两个台站分量应变观测的大幅压性变化一致;日本9.0级地震使通化台面应变出现持续约8个月左右的扩张变化,变化性质与由GPS计算得到的同震位移结果较为一致。     

浙江长兴深井地电台建设

随着人类的活动,地电阻率和地电场观测受到更多干扰。介绍浙江省长兴深井地电台建设过程,并讨论建设中存在的问题,初步分析地电观测资料,证明井下地电阻率和地电场观测在一定程度上可以屏蔽干扰,由此可见建设深井地电台的重要性。     

Extended consecutive modal pushover procedure for estimating seismic responses of one-way asymmetric plan tall buildings considering soil-structure interaction

Performance based design becomes an effective method for estimating seismic demands of buildings. In asymmetric plan tall building the effects of higher modes and torsion are crucial. The consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure is one of the procedures that consider these effects. Also in previous studies the influence of soil-structure interaction (SSI) in pushover analysis is ignored. In this paper the CMP procedure is modified for one-way asymmetric plan mid and high-rise buildings considering SSI. The extended CMP (ECMP) procedure is proposed in order to overcome some limitations of the CMP procedure. In this regard, 10, 15 and 20 story buildings with asymmetric plan are studied considering SSI assuming three different soil conditions. Using nonlinear response history analysis under a set of bidirectional ground motion; the exact responses of these buildings are calculated. Then the ECMP procedure is evaluated by comparing the results of this procedure with nonlinear time history results as an exact solution as well as the modal pushover analysis procedure and FEMA 356 load patterns. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the ECMP procedure.     

玉溪市自建民居的抗震性能分析

由于施工、材料、改建等因素的影响,自建民居往往达不到抗震设防的目标.本文以玉溪市某社区房屋为例,利用砖混结构的震害预测计算方法,探讨了加层及底层改建的做法对自建民居抗震性能的影响.计算分析结果表明：加层会减低民居的抗震性能,层数越多,抗震性能越弱,而底层改建更明显地降低了民居的抗震性能.     

A climatic dataset of ocean vertical turbulent mixing coefficient based on real energy sources

Using data on wind stress, significant height of combined wind waves and swell, potential temperature, salinity and seawater velocity, as well as objectively-analyzed in situ temperature and salinity, we established a global ocean dataset of calculated wind- and tide-induced vertical turbulent mixing coefficients. We then examined energy conservation of ocean vertical mixing from the point of view of ocean wind energy inputs, gravitational potential energy change due to mixing (with and without artificially limiting themixing coefficient), and K-theory vertical turbulent parameterization schemes regardless of energy inputs. Our research showed that calculating the mixing coefficient with average data and artificial limiting the mixing coefficient can cause a remarkable lack of energy conservation, with energy losses of up to 90% and changes in the energy oscillation period. The data also show that wind can introduce a huge amount of energy into the upper layers of the Southern Ocean, and that tidesdo so in regions around underwater mountains. We argue that it is necessary to take wind and tidal energy inputs into account forlong-term ocean climate numerical simulations. We believe that using this ocean vertical turbulent mixing coefficient climatic dataset is a fast and efficient method to maintain the ocean energy balance in ocean modeling research.     

新疆喀什西部新一代天气雷达产品的冰雹预警指标研究

2010年以来喀什地区冰雹频繁,严重危害当地农业生产. 通过整理分析2009-2012年喀什新一代天气雷达监测资料,结合我国中东部地区基于雷达监测的冰雹预警指标,经过对喀什西部的18次冰雹天气过程中新一代天气雷达监测预警指标的分析,归纳出了喀什西部新一代雷达产品的冰雹预警指标：（1）组合反射率≥50 dBz;（2）回波顶高≥9 km;（3）云体垂直液态水含量≥20 kg·m^-2. 根据该预警指标对喀什西部2011-2012年冰雹过程进行回报预警,准确率达到84.6%. 以有详细降雹时间记录的14次冰雹过程为例,分析喀什西部基于雷达监测产品的冰雹预警时效,14次个例中冰雹预警时效平均为27 min. 选取2012年5月13日、5月23日和2013年6月18日3次强冰雹过程个例,分析冰雹出现前后喀什新一代天气雷达的连续监测资料表明：3次过程中降雹开始时间对应雷达监测值达到最大（高）值时刻;组合反射率与回波顶高首先达到预警指标,垂直液态含水量达到预警指标的时间滞后11~19 min;3项雷达产品均达到冰雹预警指标的时间比实际发布冰雹预警时间早7~17 min,喀什西部冰雹预警时效潜力可以增加到30 min以上. 在喀什西部,应用新一代天气雷达监测产品开展冰雹实时预警业务是可行的,对提高当地冰雹灾害防御能力提供了有力的技术支持.