CALCULATING THE DYNAMIC STIFFNESS MATRIX OF 2-D FOUNDATIONS BY DISCRETE WAVE NUMBER INDIRECT BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHODS

Apart from some special cases, calculating the dynamic stiffness matrix of foundations on a layered half-space, especially for embedded foundations, is computationally expensive. An efficient method for two-dimensional foundations in a horizontally layered soil media is presented in this paper. This method is based on indirect boundary element methods and uses discrete wave number solution methods for calculating Green's functions for displacements and analytical methods for the integrations over the boundary. For surface foundations, the present method applies at all frequencies. For embedded foundations or for constructing energy transmitting boundaries, because the free-field part is modelled by boundary elements and the excavated part is modelled by finite elements, the present method applies only at low frequencies for the spring coefficients (the real parts of the dynamic stiffness matrix) but applies at all frequencies for the damping coefficients (the imaginary part of the dynamic stiffness matrix) for undamped sites. The novelty of the method can be used for three-dimensional foundations. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Joint probability density function of the stochastic responses of nonlinear structures

The joint probability density fimction （PDF） of different structural responses is a very important topic in the stochastic response analysis of nonlinear structures. In this paper, the probability density evolution method, which is successfully developed to capture the instantaneous PDF of an arbitrary single response of interest, is extended to evaluate the joint PDF of any two responses. A two-dimensional partial differential equation in terms of the joint PDF is established. The strategy of selecting representative points via the number theoretical method and sieved by a hyper-ellipsoid is outlined. A two-dimensional difference scheme is developed. The free vibration of an SDOF system is examined to verify the proposed method, and a flame structure exhibiting hysteresis subjected to stochastic ground motion is investigated. It is pointed out that the correlation of different responses results from the fact that randomness of different responses comes from the same set of basic random parameters involved. In other words, the essence of the probabilistic correlation is a physical correlation.     

Strong earthquake activity all over the world and strong-moderate earthquake activity within and near China (October 2007～November 2007)

Illustration All the data in this catalog are chosen from the ″Preliminary Seismological Report of Chi-nese Seismic Stations″ (Its abbreviation is ″Monthly Report″). The catalog includes the events of M≥4.7 in and near China and M≥6 all over the world. The ″Monthly Report″ is monthly compiled     

Strong earthquake activity all over the world and strong-moderate earthquake activity within and near China (December 2007~January 2008)

Illustration All the data in this catalog are chosen from the ″Preliminary Seismological Report of Chi-nese Seismic Stations″ (Its abbreviation is ″Monthly Report″). The catalog includes the events of M≥4.7 in and near China and M≥6 all over the world. The ″Monthly Report″ is monthly compiled     

Developing environmental indices using fuzzy numbers ordered weighted averaging (FN-OWA) operators

Environmental indices (EI) constitute a common communication tool that is often used to describe the overall status of environmental systems (air, water and soil). EI development entails the use of mathematical operators to aggregate various non-commensurate input parameters in a logical manner. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator is a general mean type operator that provides flexibility in the aggregation process such that the aggregated value is bounded between minimum and maximum values of the input parameters. This flexibility of the OWA operator is realized through the concept of orness, which is a surrogate for decision maker’s attitude. The type of input parameters also affects the choice of aggregation operators. If the input parameters are linguistic or fuzzy, the aggregation through OWA operators is not possible, and the use of fuzzy arithmetic is warranted. The concept of fuzzy number OWA (FN-OWA) operators is explored to handle situations in which one or more input parameter has fuzzy (or linguistic) values. The proposed approach is demonstrated using data provided in an earlier study by Swamee and Tyagi (ASCE J Environ Eng 126(5):451–455, 2000) for establishing water quality indices. Multiple hypothetical scenarios are also generated to highlight the utility and sensitivity of the proposed approach.     

应急演练中基于G-R关系的主余型地震余震震级模拟

在现有的日常地震演练过程中,与应急救援密切相关的地震余震信息产品较为缺乏,直接影响发震构造的判断以及影响场修正等关键环节。本文从计算机系统提供的均匀分布随机数出发,运用反函数法模拟生成余震序列,并进行系统检验,证实该方法产生的余震序列满足G-R频次关系。模拟生成的余震震级数据既有助于增强地震应急救援演练的现实性,也有助于丰富地震应急宣传产品,提升地震部门的履职能力。     

DATABASE OF LANDSLIDES TRIGGERED BY 2015 GORKHA(NEPAL) MW7.8 EARTHQUAKE

In this study, a detailed database of landslides triggered by the 25 April 2015 Gorkha (Nepal)M_W7.8 earthquake is constructed based on visual interpretation of pre- and post-earthquake high-resolution satellite images and field reconnaissance. Results show the earthquake triggered at least 47 200 landslides, which have a NWW direction spatial distribution, similar with the location and strike of the seismogenic fault. The landslides are of a total area about 110km² and an oval distribution area about 35 700km². On the basis of a scale relationship between landslide area (A)and volume (V), V=1.314 7×A^{1.208 5}, the total volume of the coseismic landslides is estimated to be about 9.64×10⁸m³. In the oval landslide distribution area, the landslide number density, area density, and volume density were calculated and the results are 1.32km^-2, 0.31%, and 0.027m, respectively. This study provides a detailed and objective inventory of landslides triggered by the Gorkha earthquake, which provides very important and essential basic data for study of mechanics of coseismic landslides, spatial pattern, distribution law, and hazard assessment. In addition, the landslide database related to an individual earthquake also provides an important earthquake case in a subduction zone for studying landslides related to multiple earthquakes from a global perspective.     

医用CT在三维椭球颗粒随机堆积结构研究中的应用

颗粒随机堆积问题是物理和工程领域的热门问题。椭球颗粒随机堆积体系作为球形体系的拓展,增加了旋转自由度,从而表现出更复杂的性质,由于椭球颗粒比球形颗粒更类似于自然界中普遍存在的非规则颗粒,因此其研究具有重要的实用价值。研究三维颗粒堆积结构问题一般需要CT成像技术,本文介绍了如何利用医用CT对三维椭球随机堆积体系进行成像研究的技术细节,包括如何通过图像处理的方法获取椭球颗粒的空间位置、取向和体积,如何利用接触数标度函数拟合的方法得到近邻颗粒间的接触信息等。本文的研究内容和方法为利用各种X射线CT成像方法研究三维颗粒体系提供了技术参考。     

Applying local Green's functions to study the influence of the crustal structure on hydrological loading displacements

The influence of the elastic Earth properties on seasonal or shorter periodic surface deformations due to atmospheric surface pressure and terrestrial water storage variations is usually modeled by applying a local half-space model or an one dimensional spherical Earth model like PREM from which a unique set of elastic load Love numbers, or alternatively, elastic Green's functions are derived. The first model is valid only if load and observer almost coincide, the second model considers only the response of an average Earth structure. However, for surface loads with horizontal scales less than 2500 km², as for instance, for strong localized hydrological signals associated with heavy precipitation events and river floods, the Earth elastic response becomes very sensitive to inhomogeneities in the Earth crustal structure.We derive a set of local Green's functions defined globally on a 1° × 1° grid for the 3-layer crustal structure TEA12. Local Green's functions show standard deviations of ±12% in the vertical and ±21% in the horizontal directions for distances in the range from 0.1° to 0.5°. By means of Green's function scatter plots, we analyze the dependence of the load response to various crustal rocks and layer thicknesses. The application of local Green's functions instead of a mean global Green's function introduces a variability of 0.5–1.0 mm into the hydrological loading displacements, both in vertical and in horizontal directions. Maximum changes due to the local crustal structures are from −25% to +26% in the vertical and −91% to +55% in the horizontal displacements. In addition, the horizontal displacement can change its direction significantly. The lateral deviations in surface deformation due to local crustal elastic properties are found to be much larger than the differences between various commonly used one-dimensional Earth models.