Elastic response of catamaran wetdeck to liquid impact

The impact of an elastic plate onto the compressible fluid without free surface deformation is considered. The ability of the liquid volume to be deformed is geometrically limited which leads to severe impact conditions. The present analysis is focused on the stresses in the plate and the hydrodynamic loads under the impact. The motivation for this research comes from ship hydrodynamics, where the hulls of a catamaran restrict the liquid outflow and the water impacts onto the wetdeck. The influence of the air on the impact process is investigated. The analysis did not reveal any great advantage of utilizing the air-cushion effect or ejection of air into the water near the impact region to prevent high stresses in the elastic plate. It was found that in the problem considered, the stress peaks far from the plate centre and the one-mode approximation does not provide correct information about the stress level.     

卫星遥感结合地面观测估算非均匀地表区域能量通量

卫星遥感在研究非均匀陆面上地－气间能量和水循环过程时有其独到的作用。文中介绍了一种利用ＬＡＮＤＳＡＴＴＭ资料进行非均匀陆面上区域能量平衡研究的参数化方案。并以夏季和深秋两个景的ＴＭ资料为个例,结合“黑河实验”（ＨＥＩＦＥ）期间的地面观测资料分析了实验区非均匀陆面上地表特征参数及能量平衡各分量的区域分布及季节差异,同时将所得的结果与地面观测的“真值”作了比较,所得的这些结果是基本可信的。这种方法仍然处于发展的初始阶段,对此也进行了讨论。     

联系参数函数不独立扩建网极大验后估计的方差分量估计公式

扩建网极大验后估计模型蕴含联系参数X2和扩建网观测量L2两个方差分量。将联系参数分解成函数不独立部分和函数独立部分,根据限制条件求出函数不独立部分代入扩建网观测方程消去不独立部分联系参数,推导了联系参数函数不独立扩建网极大验后估计的Helmert型、Welsch型和Forstner型方差分量估计。     

云南暴雨涡散场动能转换函数的动态分析

对1996年云南主汛期（6－8月）逐日散度风动能和旋转风动能之间的转换函数C（KD,KR）特征进行深入研究,同时分析了C（KD,KR）各项Af、Az、B、C在动能转换函数中所起的作用。研究结果表明,对流层内C（KD,KR）＞0,同时对流层低层的C（K,KR）＞中高层的C（KD,KR）之和．极易出现暴雨过程;Af项在整个动能转换中起主要作用,71％的Af与C（KD,KR）具有相同的符号,Az项和B项在动能转换中起振荡作用,Az＋B控制着29％的动能转换方向。     

Comparison of two rainfall–runoff models: effects of conceptualization on water budget components

Rainfall–runoff models with different conceptual structures for the hydrological processes can be calibrated to effectively reproduce the hydrographs of the total runoff, while resulting in water budget components that are essentially different. This finding poses an open question on the reliability of rainfall–runoff models in reproducing hydrological components other than those used for calibration. In an effort to address this question, we use data from the Glafkos catchment in western Greece to calibrate and compare the ENNS model, a research-oriented lumped model developed for the river Enns in Austria developed for the river Enns in Austria, with the operational MIKE SHE model. Model performance is assessed in the light of the conceptual/structural differences of the modelled hydrological processes, using indices calculated independently for each year, rather than for the whole calibration period, since the former are stricter. We show that even small differences in the representation of hydrological processes may impact considerably on the water budget components that are not measured (i.e. not used for model calibration). From all water budget components, direct runoff exhibits the highest sensitivity to structural differences and related model parameters.

EDITOR M.C. Acreman

ASSOCIATE EDITOR S. Huang     

Shake table investigation on the seismic performance of hospital equipment supported on wheels/casters

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the seismic response of medical equipment supported on wheels and/or casters. Two pieces of equipment were tested: a large ultrasound machine and a cart carrying smaller medical equipment. In the first phase, the resistance of the wheels and casters of the equipment was characterized through a controlled‐displacement procedure on the shake table. In the second phase, an extensive shake table test program was carried out to investigate the seismic response of the equipment. The input signals for the shake table tests included floor motions of a four‐story steel braced‐frame hospital designed to satisfy seismic requirements of a site in the Los Angeles area. The results of 96 shake table tests reported in this study include the seismic performance of the equipment under both unlocked and locked conditions, located on various floor levels of the building. It was observed that engaging the casters' locking mechanism does not necessarily decrease the relative displacement. The displacement response was sensitive to the excitation intensity and the orientation of the equipment with respect to the input excitation. Based on the experimental observations, appropriate structural engineering demand parameters associated with the relative displacement and relative velocity demands of the equipment are proposed and used to develop conditional probability curves. Finally, in an effort to extend the results of this experimental study to similar equipment on wheels/casters, the performance of a simple numerical model in predicting the peak seismic demands is evaluated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of ASCE 7 equations for designing acceleration‐sensitive nonstructural components using data from instrumented buildings

This study uses instrumented buildings and models of code‐based designed buildings to validate the results of previous studies that highlighted the need to revise the ASCE 7 F_p equation for designing nonstructural components (NSCs) through utilizing oversimplified linear and nonlinear models. The evaluation of floor response spectra of a large number of instrumented buildings illustrates that, unlike the ASCE 7 approach, the in‐structure and the component amplification factors are a function of the ratio of NSC period to the supporting building modal periods, the ground motion intensity, and the NSC location. It is also shown that the recorded ground motions at the base of instrumented buildings in most cases are significantly lower than design earthquake (DE) ground motions. Because ASCE 7 is meant to provide demands at a DE level, for a more reliable evaluation of the F_p equation, 2 representative archetype buildings are designed based on the ASCE 7‐16 seismic provisions and exposed to various ground motion intensity levels (including those consistent with the ones experienced by instrumented buildings and the DE). Simulation results of the archetype buildings, consistent with previous numerical studies, illustrate the tendency of the ASCE 7 in‐structure amplification factor, [1 + 2(z/h)] , to significantly overestimate demands at all floor levels and the ASCE 7 limit of to in many cases underestimate the calculated NSC amplification factors. Furthermore, the product of these 2 amplification factors (that represents the normalized peak NSC acceleration) in some cases exceeds the ASCE 7 equation by a factor up to 1.50.     

Spatio‐temporal tracer variability in the glacier melt end‐member — How does it affect hydrograph separation results?

Geochemical and isotopic tracers were often used in mixing models to estimate glacier melt contributions to streamflow, whereas the spatio‐temporal variability in the glacier melt tracer signature and its influence on tracer‐based hydrograph separation results received less attention. We present novel tracer data from a high‐elevation catchment (17 km², glacierized area: 34%) in the Oetztal Alps (Austria) and investigated the spatial, as well as the subdaily to monthly tracer variability of supraglacial meltwater and the temporal tracer variability of winter baseflow to infer groundwater dynamics. The streamflow tracer variability during winter baseflow conditions was small, and the glacier melt tracer variation was higher, especially at the end of the ablation period. We applied a three‐component mixing model with electrical conductivity and oxygen‐18. Hydrograph separation (groundwater, glacier melt, and rain) was performed for 6 single glacier melt‐induced days (i.e., 6 events) during the ablation period 2016 (July to September). Median fractions (±uncertainty) of groundwater, glacier melt, and rain for the events were estimated at 49±2%, 35±11%, and 16±11%, respectively. Minimum and maximum glacier melt fractions at the subdaily scale ranged between 2±5% and 76±11%, respectively. A sensitivity analysis showed that the intraseasonal glacier melt tracer variability had a marked effect on the estimated glacier melt contribution during events with large glacier melt fractions of streamflow. Intra‐daily and spatial variation of the glacier melt tracer signature played a negligible role in applying the mixing model. The results of this study (a) show the necessity to apply a multiple sampling approach in order to characterize the glacier melt end‐member and (b) reveal the importance of groundwater and rainfall–runoff dynamics in catchments with a glacial flow regime.     

Effect of irregular structural configuration on floor acceleration demand in hill‐side buildings

A suite of reinforced‐concrete frame buildings located on hill sides, with 2 different structural configurations, viz step‐back and split‐foundation, are analyzed to study their floor response. Both step‐back and split‐foundation structural configurations lead to torsional effects in the direction across the slope due to the presence of shorter columns on the uphill side. Peak floor acceleration and floor response spectra are obtained at each storey's center of rigidity and at both its stiff and flexible edges. As reported in previous studies as well, it is observed that the floor response spectra are better correlated with the ground response spectrum. Therefore, the floor spectral amplification functions are obtained as the ratio of spectral ordinates at different floor levels to the one at the ground level. Peaks are observed in the spectral amplification functions corresponding to the first 2 modes in the upper portion of the hill‐side buildings, whereas a single peak corresponding to a specific kth mode of vibration is observed on the floors below the uppermost foundation level. Based on the numerical study for the step‐back and split‐foundation hill‐side buildings, simple floor spectral amplification functions are proposed and validated. The proposed spectral amplification functions take into account both the buildings' plan and elevation irregularities and can be used for seismic design of acceleration‐sensitive nonstructural components, given that the supporting structure's dynamic characteristics, torsional rotation, ground‐motion response spectrum, and location of the nonstructural components within the supporting structure are known, because current code models are actually not applicable to hill‐side buildings.     

Improvement of user’s accuracy through classification of principal component images and stacked temporal images

The classification accuracy of the various categories on the classified remotely sensed images are usually evaluated by two different measures of accuracy, namely, producer’s accuracy (PA) and user’s accuracy (UA). The PA of a category indicates to what extent the reference pixels of the category are correctly classified, whereas the UA of a category represents to what extent the other categories are less misclassified into the category in question. Therefore, the UA of the various categories determines the reliability of their interpretation on the classified image and is more important to the analyst than the PA. The present investigation has been performed in order to determine if there occurs improvement in the UA of the various categories on the classified image of the principal components of the original bands and on the classified image of the stacked image of two different years. We performed the analyses using the IRS LISS III images of two different years, i.e., 1996 and 2009, that represent the different magnitude of urbanization and the stacked image of these two years pertaining to Ranchi area, Jharkhand, India, with a view to assessing the impacts of urbanization on the UA of the different categories. The results of the investigation demonstrated that there occurs significant improvement in the UA of the impervious categories in the classified image of the stacked image, which is attributable to the aggregation of the spectral information from twice the number of bands from two different years. On the other hand, the classified image of the principal components did not show any improvement in the UA as compared to the original images.