Non-stationary random vibrations of a shear beam under high frequency seismic effects

Band-limited, non-stationary random vibrations of a shear beam are studied in order to investigate high frequency seismic effects on building structures. A solution for the evolutionary spectral density of the shear beam response to a time segment of band-limited white noise is given in a closed form. The root mean square (rms) and peak response of the shear beam are studied for two characteristic frequency bands: the conventional 1–4 Hz and higher frequency 4–16 Hz, characteristic for rockburst ground motion. Applying the criterion of equal excitation intensity with constant rms velocity, both responses are analyzed in detail and compared. The “switching off” fundamental mode for high frequency excitations results in characteristic overshoot of the stationary response level by the non-stationary rms response and an amplification of the response in the upper part of the shear beam.     

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。     

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。     

微机在土工试验中的应用

采用质量管理体系是企业的一项战略决策,它亦是企业实施管理标准化、规范化的最佳途径。如何将其融入微机化管理,构建一个集管理、专业及系统分析软件为一体的信息化模式,以提高试验模拟与实际工程相关参数的准确度,在当今信息及网络高速发达的市场经济时代,是一个值得关注和研究的课题。     

河南朱庄金矿区化探规则测网的布设方法

运用导线分层次逐步布设控制点，测距与视距测量相结合布设基测点的方法，解决通视困难的金矿区布设土壤地球化学测量规则测网效率不高，精度低的问题，使用该方法，数据大大减少，便于计算机随机运算，检查，平差，也便于随时发现问题随时纠正，在河南朱庄金矿区1：1万土壤地球化学测量工作中，各项技术指标均符合规范要求，与传统方法相比，节约一半以上工期，返工率低，该方法建立在有先进的测量仪器和先进的计算工具基础上，仪器越先进，方法的优势越明显。