Determining magma flow in sills,dykes and laccoliths and their implications for sill emplacement mechanisms

Three-dimensional seismic data from the Faeroe-Shetland Basin provides detailed information on the relationships between sills, dykes, laccoliths and contemporaneous volcanic activity. The data shows that sills are predominantly concave upwards, being complete or partial versions of radially or bilaterally symmetrical forms that possess flat inner saucers connected to a flat outer rim by a steeply inclined sheet. Such morphologies are only partially modified by pre-existing faults. Sills can be sourced from dykes or the steep climbing portions of deeper sills. Both sills and dykes can provide magma to overlying volcanic fissures and sills can be shown to feed shallow laccoliths. Magma flow patterns, as revealed by opacity rendering, suggest that sills propagate upwards and outwards away from the magma feeder. As an individual sill can consist of several leaves emplaced at different stratigraphic levels, and as a sill or dyke can provide magma to volcanic fissures, other sills and laccoliths, the data suggests that neutral buoyancy concepts may not provide a complete explanation for the mechanism and level of sill emplacement. Instead, the data suggests that the presence of lithological contrasts, particularly ductile horizons such as overpressured shales may permit sill formation at any level below the neutrally buoyant level. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Ken Thomson–deceased, April 2007     

气枪震源激发模式及应用

气枪震源是一种重要的人工地震震源。气枪阵列理论的提出,使得气枪阵列设计技术日趋成熟,并能够在石油勘探和地球物理探测中得到更加广泛的运用。气枪震源在不同领域中应用时,需要不同的组合和激发模式,以适应不同的探测要求。加强主脉冲和加强气泡脉冲,是目前两种主要的气枪激发模式。通过比较研究两种气枪激发模式,讨论各种激发模式在激发时间、气枪间距、频率、分辨率等方面的差异,为气枪震源的广泛运用提供依据。     

Nonlinear seismic response analysis of arch dam-foundation systems- part II opening and closing contact joints

A time-domain method for the analysis of arch dam-foundation rock dynamic interaction during earthquake was proposed, and the dynamic relaxation technique was adopted to obtain the initial static response for dynamic analysis by [Du et al. (2005). The paper has been contributed to Bulletin of earthquake engineering]. In this paper, a nonlinear explicit method in time domain considering the opening and closing effect of contact joints on arch dam during earthquake is further proposed by introducing the dynamic contact force model into the method. The simulation accuracy of dynamic contact force model is verified by comparing its calculation result and test result of scale model on shaking table. Finally, the influence of joints on the seismic response of Xiaowan arch dam is studied by the proposed method and some conclusions are given.     

Shaking‐table tests on reinforced concrete frames with different isolation systems

The effectiveness of seismic isolation in protecting structural and non‐structural elements from damage has been assessed in an extensive programme of shaking‐table tests, carried out on four identical 1/3.3‐scale, two‐dimensional, reinforced concrete (R/C) frames. Four different isolation systems were considered, namely: (i) rubber‐based, (ii) steel‐based, (iii) shape memory alloy (SMA)‐based and (iv) hybrid, i.e. based on both SMA and steel components, isolation systems. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the main results of the experimental tests on base‐isolated models, whose structural response is described through: (i) maximum base displacements; (ii) maximum interstorey drifts; (iii) maximum storey accelerations and (iv) maximum storey shear forces. The evolution of the fundamental frequency of vibration of the R/C frame during the tests is also described. The beneficial effects of using base isolation resulted in no or slight damage, under strong earthquakes, to both structural and non‐structural members, as well as to the internal content of the building. The comparison with the experimental results obtained in shaking‐table tests on similar fixed‐base models emphasizes these positive aspects. Finally, advantages and drawbacks related to the use of each isolation system are discussed in the paper. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic fragility methodology for highway bridges using a component level approach

Bridge fragility curves, which express the probability of a bridge reaching a certain damage state for a given ground motion parameter, play an important role in the overall seismic risk assessment of a transportation network. Current analytical methodologies for generating bridge fragility curves do not adequately account for all major contributing bridge components. Studies have shown that for some bridge types, neglecting to account for all of these components can lead to a misrepresentation of the bridges' overall fragilities. In this study, an expanded methodology for the generation of analytical fragility curves for highway bridges is presented. This methodology considers the contribution of the major components of the bridge, such as the columns, bearings and abutments, to its overall bridge system fragility. In particular, this methodology utilizes probability tools to directly estimate the bridge system fragility from the individual component fragilities. This is illustrated using a bridge whose construction and configuration are typical to the Central and Southeastern United States and the results are presented and discussed herein. This study shows that the bridge as a system is more fragile than any one of the individual components. Assuming that the columns represent the entire bridge system can result in errors as large as 50% at higher damage states. This provides support to the assertion that multiple bridge components should be considered in the development of bridge fragility curves. The findings also show that estimation of the bridge fragilities by their first‐order bounds could result in errors of up to 40%. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pure aluminium shear panels as dissipative devices in moment‐resisting steel frames

The use of energy dissipation systems for the seismic control of steel structures represents a valid alternative to conventional seismic design methods. The seismic devices currently employed are mostly based on the metallic yielding technology due to the large feasibility and efficiency they can provide. Within this context, in the current paper an innovative solution based on the adoption of low‐yield‐strength pure aluminium shear panels (SPs) for seismic protection of steel moment‐resisting frames is proposed and investigated. In order to prove the effectiveness of the system, a wide numerical study based on both static and dynamic non‐linear analyses has been carried out, considering a number of different frame‐to‐shear panel combinations, aiming at assessing the effect of the main influential parameters on the seismic response of the structure. The obtained results show that the contribution provided by aluminium SPs is rather significant, allowing a remarkable improvement of the seismic performance of the structure in terms of stiffness, strength and ductility, with the possibility to strongly limit the damage occurring in the members of moment‐resisting frames. In particular, it is clearly emphasized that the stiffening effect provided by SPs allows a more rational design procedure to be adopted, since the serviceability limit state check does not lead to unavoidable and uneconomical increase of the size of main structural members. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new approach of selecting real input ground motions for seismic design: The most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions

This paper presents a new way of selecting real input ground motions for seismic design and analysis of structures based on a comprehensive method for estimating the damage potential of ground motions, which takes into consideration of various ground motion parameters and structural seismic damage criteria in terms of strength, deformation, hysteretic energy and dual damage of Park & Ang damage index. The proposed comprehensive method fully involves the effects of the intensity, frequency content and duration of ground motions and the dynamic characteristics of structures. Then, the concept of the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motion is introduced. Based on the concept, the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions for rock, stiff soil, medium soil and soft soil site conditions are selected in terms of three typical period ranges of structures. The selected real strong motion records are suitable for seismic analysis of important structures whose failure or collapse will be avoided at a higher level of confidence during the strong earthquake, as they can cause the greatest damage to structures and thereby result in the highest damage potential from an extended real ground motion database for a given site. In addition, this paper also presents the real input design ground motions with medium damage potential, which can be used for the seismic analysis of structures located at the area with low and moderate seismicity. The most unfavourable real seismic design ground motions are verified by analysing the seismic response of structures. It is concluded that the most unfavourable real seismic design ground motion approach can select the real ground motions that can result in the highest damage potential for a given structure and site condition, and the real ground motions can be mainly used for structures whose failure or collapse will be avoided at a higher level of confidence during the strong earthquake. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of single‐run pushover analysis techniques for seismic assessment of bridges

Traditional pushover analysis is performed subjecting the structure to monotonically increasing lateral forces with invariant distribution until a target displacement is reached; both the force distribution and target displacement are hence based on the assumption that the response is controlled by a fundamental mode, that remains unchanged throughout. However, such invariant force distributions cannot account for the redistribution of inertia forces caused by structural yielding and the associated changes in the vibration properties, including the increase of higher‐mode participation. In order to overcome such drawbacks, but still keep the simplicity of using single‐run pushover analysis, as opposed to multiple‐analyses schemes, adaptive pushover techniques have recently been proposed. In order to investigate the effectiveness of such new pushover schemes in assessing bridges subjected to seismic action, so far object of only limited scrutiny, an analytical parametric study, conducted on a suite of continuous multi‐span bridges, is carried out. The study seems to show that, with respect to conventional pushover methods, these novel single‐run approaches can lead to the attainment of improved predictions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acceleration response modification factors for nonstructural components attached to inelastic moment‐resisting frame structures

A statistical analysis of the peak acceleration demands for nonstructural components (NSCs) supported on a variety of stiff and flexible inelastic regular moment‐resisting frame structures with periods from 0.3 to 3.0 s exposed to 40 far‐field ground motions is presented. Peak component acceleration (PCA) demands were quantified based on the floor response spectrum (FRS) method without considering dynamic interaction effects. This study evaluated the main factors that influence the amplification or decrease of FRS values caused by inelasticity in the primary structure in three distinct spectral regions namely long‐period, fundamental‐period, and short‐period region. The amplification or decrease of peak elastic acceleration demands depends on the location of the NSC in the supporting structure, periods of the component and building, damping ratio of the component, and level of inelasticity of the supporting structure. While FRS values at the initial modal periods of the supporting structure are reduced due to inelastic action in the primary structure, the region between the modal periods experiences an increase in PCA demands. A parameter denoted as acceleration response modification factor (R_acc) was proposed to quantify this reduction/increase in PCA demands. 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.