Evaluation of displacement coefficient method for seismically retrofitted buildings with various ductility capacities

This research study is aimed at evaluating the accuracy of the displacement coefficient method (DCM) of FEMA 440 and associated nonlinear static procedure (NLSP) for actual buildings with soft story mechanism and various ductility capacities. The DCM and associated NLSP are evaluated using two existing seismically vulnerable buildings with soft story mechanism. The buildings are first retrofitted using a ductile steel‐brace‐link system to represent those with good ductility capacity and then retrofitted with RC squat infill shear panels (SISPs) to represent those with relatively poor ductility capacity. The evaluation of the DCM of FEMA 440 and associated NLSP is then performed by comparing the roof displacements (target displacements), maximum interstory drifts, and maximum plastic hinge rotations of the original and retrofitted buildings obtained from NLSP (at the target displacement level of DCM) with those obtained from nonlinear response history (NRH) analyses for three different seismic performance levels. It is observed that the DCM, and hence, the NLSP fail to accurately predict the NRH analyses results mainly due to uncertainties in the coefficient C₁ of the DCM in the short period range, the inability of the DCM to capture the failure of structural members beyond a certain lateral displacement or plastic rotation limit and associated soft story mechanism. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving the CO2 well injectivity and enhanced coalbed methane production performance in coal seams

This paper reports on the performance comparison for different CO₂-ECBM schemes in relatively thin unminable seams typical of Northern Appalachian coal basin using a horizontal well configuration. Numerical simulations based upon public-domain coalbed reservoir properties indicated that injection of pure CO₂ is likely to result in only limited incremental methane recovery if any over primary recovery, due to the low injection rates that can be achieved. On the other hand, the presence of the nitrogen component in the injected gas stream is capable of improving the efficiency of enhanced methane recovery significantly without compromising the net CO₂ injection rates, as a result of improved injectivity over pure CO₂ injection. There is, however, a trade off between incremental methane recovery and produced gas purity due to early nitrogen breakthrough.     

Investigation of automatic feature weighting methods (Fisher,Chi-square and Relief-F) for landslide susceptibility mapping

In landslide susceptibility mapping, factor weights have been usually determined by expert judgements. A novel methodology for weighting landslide causative factors by integrating statistical feature weighting algorithms was proposed. The primary focus of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of automatic feature weighting algorithms, namely Fisher, Chi-square and Relief-F algorithms. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used as a benchmark method to compare the performances of the weighting algorithms. All weighted factors were tested using factor-weighted overlay method, and quality of these maps was assessed using overall accuracy, area under the ROC curve (AUC) and success rate curve. In addition, Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test was applied to evaluate statistical differences between both estimated overall accuracies and AUCs, respectively. Results showed that the weights determined by feature weighting methods outperformed the conventional AHP method by about 6% and this level of differences was found to be statistically significant.     

Direct use of peak ground motion parameters for the estimation of inelastic displacement ratio of SDOF systems subjected to repeated far fault ground motions

This study is aimed at developing statistical equations to estimate the inelastic displacement ratio of singledegree- of-freedom systems subjected to far fault repeated earthquakes. In the study, peak ground motion parameters are used to define the scatter of the original data. The ratio of peak ground acceleration to peak ground velocity, and peak ground velocity of the ground motion records and structural parameters such as period of vibration and lateral strength ratio are used in the proposed equations. For the development of the equations, nonlinear time history analyses of single-degree-offreedom systems are conducted. Then, the results are used in a multivariate regression procedure. The equations are verified by comparing the estimated results with the calculated results. The average error and coefficient of variation of the proposed equations are presented. The analyses results revealed that the direct use of peak ground motion parameters for the estimation of inelastic displacement ratio significantly reduced the scatter in the original data and yielded accurate results. From the comparative results it is also observed that results obtained using equations specific to peak ground velocity or peak ground acceleration to peak ground velocity ratio are similar.     

Comparison of Planimetric and Thematic Accuracy of OrbView-3 and IKONOS Images

Spatial mapping from space using high-resolution satellite sensor data instead of conventional data collection techniques widely gained popularity. This study aims to analyze the planimetric and thematic accuracy of high-resolution OrbView-3 and IKONOS orthoimages. OrbView-3 and IKONOS images of a test area were acquired and these images were geometrically corrected using rational polynomial functions to conduct accuracy assessment. 40 Ground Control Points (GCPs) generated from static Global Positioning System (GPS) survey were used in the orthorectification procedure. 182 Test Points (TPs) produced from terrestrial surveying technique were used to analyze the accuracy of orthorectifications. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values obtained for GCPs and TPs were used to determine the planimetric accuracy of these images. Thematic accuracy analyses were conducted in radiometric and spatial base. Transects, lines and polygons were created to analyze the radiometric quality of data sets and to determine minimum distinguishable distance and distinguishable area. Both planimetric and thematic accuracy analyses illustrated that OrbView-3 and IKONOS images could be used to create 1:10000 scale map of the concerned region with appropriate planimetric and thematic quality.     

AP/VP specific inelastic displacement ratio for seismic response estimation of structures

In this study, two new site specific statistical equations are proposed to estimate the inelastic displacement ratio, C₁ of structures subjected to far fault (FF) and near fault (NF) ground motions. The proposed equations consider the effects of fundamental vibration period of the structure, T, lateral strength ratio, R and frequency content of the design earthquake record represented by the A_p/V_p ratio (or T₀ = 2π/A_p/V_p), which is a function of the earthquake magnitude, distance to fault, faulting mechanism and site class. It was observed that the C₁ values obtained from the proposed equations are in good agreement with the calculated results. The flare of the plotted C₁ vs. T/T₀ curves enables the proposed equations to cover nearly all the calculated C₁ data range and give satisfactory results. However, the curves obtained using the C₁ equations of several codes and those available in the literature do not cover the whole calculated C₁ data range and generally give unconservative results (smaller C₁ values) especially in the shorter period range. For the longer period range, the predictions of C₁ obtained from the proposed equation and the ones available in the literature are in good agreement with the calculated C₁ data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.