Effects of basin edge on the distribution of damage in 1995 Dinar, Turkey earthquake

An earthquake of magnitude M_L=5.9 occurred in Dinar, a town located at the edge of an alluvial basin in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. Inflicted structural damage throughout the town was highly concentrated in a region located on the alluvium and adjacent to the rock outcrop bounding the eastern side of the town. As an attempt to explain this discrepancy, possible effects of the edge of basin on which the town is located were investigated through 1D and 2D response analyses. Response spectra, computed at distinct locations of the town were contrasted to the building damage statistics of the three zones identified in the town. It is found that the 1D analyses considerably underpredict the spectral response in the heavily damaged area. Differences between the spectral responses obtained from the two approaches diminish with increasing distance from the rock outcrop. These results, which indicate that the 2D amplification was significant over a distance from the edge of the basin, provide a meaningful explanation for the observed distribution of damage throughout the town.     

Closed‐form solution for seismic response of adjacent buildings with linear quadratic Gaussian controllers

Closed‐form solution for seismic response of adjacent buildings connected by hydraulic actuators with linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controllers is presented in this paper. The equations of motion of actively controlled adjacent buildings against earthquake are first established. The complex modal superposition method is then used to determine dynamic characteristics, including modal damping ratio, of actively controlled adjacent buildings. The closed‐form solution for seismic response of the system is finally derived in terms of the complex dynamic characteristics, the pseudo‐excitation method and the residue theorem. By using the closed‐form solution, extensive parametric studies can be carried out for the system of many degrees of freedom. The beneficial parameters of LQG controllers for achieving the maximum response reduction of both buildings using reasonable control forces can be identified. The effectiveness of LQG controllers for this particular application is evaluated in this study. The results show that for the adjacent buildings of different dynamic properties, if the parameters of LQG controllers are selected appropriately, the modal damping ratios of the system can be significantly increased and the seismic responses of both buildings can be considerably reduced. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vertical motion and diabatic heating over the Indian monsoon region during the Bay of Bengal depression of 5–8 July, 1979

The vertical velocity, , and the diabatic heating were computed at 800, 600, 400 and 200 mb surfaces using the Omega equation. The highest contribution to is from the diabatic heating produced by condensation associated with the precipitations appearing to be the main source of diabatic heating. The net radiative cooling and the thermal advection in the upper troposphere over the warm anticyclone result in diabatic cooling over the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal and adjoining northern and eastern regions.List of Symbols Used C _p Heat capacity at constant pressure - f Coriolis parameter - g Acceleration due to gravity - P Atmospheric pressure - Q Diabatic heating rate per unit mass - R Gas constant of air - S Static stability parameter - t Time - U, V Zonal and meridional wind components - Specific volume - Relative vorticity - Absolute vorticity - Potential temperature - Geopotential - Vertical velocity (dP/dt) - ₁ Adiabatic vertical velocity - ₂ Vertical velocity due to certain forcing - ₃ Diabatic vertical velocity - Isobaric gradient operator - ² Laplacian operator - J(A, B) Jacobian operator     

非GIS专业地理信息系统课程教学思考

我国GIS教育正处于蓬勃发展时期,在社会需求的拉动下,GIS应用早已突破其专业领域,因之而推动了非GIS专业GIS教育的快速发展。作者在分析比较GIS专业与非GIS专业地理信息系统课程教学目标、学生学科背景差别等问题的基础上,对非GIS专业地理信息系统教学中教师要求、教材选择、教学内容、教学模式和考核方式等诸方面进行了分析总结,并提出了对非GIS专业地理信息系统课程教学的一些建议。     

Modelling hourly and daily open‐water evaporation rates in areas with an equatorial climate

Evaporation rate estimation is important for water resource studies. Previous studies have shown that the radiation‐based models, mass transfer models, temperature‐based models and artificial neural network (ANN) models generally perform well for areas with a temperate climate. This study evaluates the applicability of these models in estimating hourly and daily evaporation rates for an area with an equatorial climate. Unlike in temperate regions, solar radiation was found to correlate best with pan evaporation on both the hourly and daily time‐scales. Relative humidity becomes a significant factor on a daily time‐scale. Among the simplified models, only the radiation‐based models were found to be applicable for modelling the hourly and daily evaporations. ANN models are generally more accurate than the simplified models if an appropriate network architecture is selected and a sufficient number of data points are used for training the network. ANN modelling becomes more relevant when both the energy‐ and aerodynamics‐driven mechanisms dominate, as the radiation and the mass transfer models are incapable of producing reliable evaporation estimates under this circumstance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stochastic model and synthesis for near‐fault impulsive ground motions

The orientations of ground motions are paramount when the pulse‐like motions and their unfavorable seismic responses are considered. This paper addresses the stochastic modeling and synthesizing of near‐fault impulsive ground motions with forward directivity effect taking the orientation of the strongest pulses into account. First, a statistical parametric analysis of velocity time histories in the orientation of the strongest pulse with a specified magnitude and various fault distances is performed. A new stochastic model is established consisting of a velocity pulse model with random parameters and a stochastic approach to synthesize high‐frequency velocity time history. The high‐frequency velocity history is achieved by integrating a stochastic high‐frequency accelerogram, which is generated via the modified K‐T spectrum of residual acceleration histories and then modulated by the specific envelope function. Next, the associated parameters of pulse model, envelope function, and power spectral density are estimated by the least‐square fitting. Some chosen parameters in the stochastic model of near‐fault motions based on correlation analysis are regarded as random variables, which are validated to follow the normal or lognormal distribution. Moreover, the number theoretical method is suggested to select efficiently representative points, for generating artificial near‐fault impulsive ground motions with the feature of the strongest pulse, which can be used to the seismic response and reliability analysis of critical structures conveniently. Finally, the simulated ground motions demonstrate that the synthetic ground motions generated by the proposed stochastic model can represent the impulsive characteristic of near‐fault ground motions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic characteristics of a novel damped outrigger system

This paper presents exact analytical solutions for a novel damped outrigger system, in which viscous dampers are vertically installed between perimeter columns and the core of a high-rise building. An improved analytical model is developed by modeling the effect of the damped outrigger as a general rotational spring acting on a Bernoulli-Euler beam. The equivalent rotational spring stiffness incorporating the combined effects of dampers and axial stiffness of perimeter columns is derived. The dynamic stiffness method(DSM) is applied to formulate the governing equation of the damped outrigger system. The accuracy and effi ciency are verifi ed in comparison with those obtained from compatibility equations and boundary equations. Parametric analysis of three non-dimensional factors is conducted to evaluate the infl uences of various factors, such as the stiffness ratio of the core to the beam, position of the damped outrigger, and the installed damping coeffi cient. Results show that the modal damping ratio is signifi cantly infl uenced by the stiffness ratio of the core to the column, and is more sensitive to damping than the position of the damped outrigger. The proposed analytical model in combination with DSM can be extended to the study of structures with more outriggers.     

Remote sensing needs and capabilities in West Africa

The greatest advantage of remote sensing over conventional measurements lies in the opportunity to carry out detailed spatio-temporal analysis of land and ocean features on a very frequent basis. This paper analyses the contribution of satellite imagery to atmospheric, geophysical and ocean studies and management in West Africa since the early 1980s.The detailed application of data from optical sensors (e.g. Meteosat,NOAA/AVHRR, SPOT,L andsat TM, etc.) for weather prediction, hydrogeological, landuse/cover and cartographic studies has been acknowledged. However, the use of microwave (e.g. SAR) and optical data for ocean monitoring and studies in the sub-region is still very limited. Even though sufficient remote sensing expertise and infrastructure is perceived in the region, no clearly defined networking or database exists.     

中国大陆古地震研究的关键技术与案例解析(1)——走滑活动断裂的探槽地点、布设与事件识别标志

古地震研究的主要目标是识别或揭露地质地貌记录的大地震变形遗迹,确定大地震发生的时间、复发特征、同震位移量等参数。要实现这样的目标,探槽开挖地点能否完整记录晚第四纪发生的古地震事件、能否获取大量的测年样品以控制事件发生的年代、能否正确地识别这些事件等是关键,并直接关系到未来大地震危险性评价的可靠性。由于走滑断裂位移发生的特殊性,好的探槽研究地点并不普遍。文中在综合分析走滑断裂同震地表变形特征、影响因素的基础上,通过案例分析,总结出可能成为走滑断裂古地震研究和探槽开挖的候选地点,如洼地、盆地、槽谷、断塞塘、被同步位移连续错开的冲沟床、连续的坎前堆积地层和多级地貌面连续变形等。组合探槽或三维探槽应该是走滑断裂探槽布设的首选。跨断层微地貌位错、断错地层以及上覆更新地层、局部坎前堆积和裂缝充填堆积、不同地层单元沿断层面位移量的突然增加或降低、不同程度的弯曲变形、不同期次的古断塞塘(坑)堆积等,可以作为重要的事件识别依据。要降低古地震识别的不确定性,需要理顺研究程序,明确技术方案,逐一精心实施。认识和结论的得出需要反复推敲,并广泛讨论,同时需要注意细节以及各种信息的相互补充和印证。