Reliability assessment of granular filters in embankment dams

Empirical criteria have been used successfully to design filters of most embankment large dam projects throughout the world. However, these empirical rules are only applicable to a particular range of soils tested in laboratory and do not take into account the variability of the base material and filter particle sizes. In addition, it is widely accepted that the safety of fill dams is mainly dependent on the reliability of their filter performance. The work herein presented consists in a new general method for assessing the probability of fulfilling any empirical filter design criteria accounting for base and filter heterogeneity by means of first‐order reliability methods (FORM), so that reliability indexes and probabilities of fulfilling any particular criteria are obtained. This method will allow engineers to estimate the safety of existing filters in terms of probability of fulfilling their design criteria and might also be used as a decision tool on sampling needs and material size tolerances during construction. In addition, sensitivity analysis makes possible to analyse how reliabilities are influenced by different sources of input data. Finally, in case of a portfolio risk assessment, this method will allow engineers to compare the safety of several existing dams in order to prioritize safety investments and it is expected to be a very useful tool to evaluate probabilities of failure due to internal erosion. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

山东省区域地质构造演化探讨

山东省区域地质构造演化分为5个阶段.①陆核形成阶段形成太古宙高级区,地壳分异成稳定的花岗岩穹窿和活动的绿岩带,第一次克拉通化完成.②陆块发生形成阶段地壳向刚性发展,在华北陆核硅铝壳的基础上先后有3次张开、闭合裂谷作用,第二次克拉通化完成.这一阶段演化在鲁西地区主要表现为挤压作用,形成大量造山花岗岩;鲁东地区则以拉张作用为主,形成海槽,产生沉积.③秦昆洋形成演化阶段四堡期沿鲁东南部地壳拉张,在华北板块与扬子板块间形成秦昆洋.晋宁期秦昆洋关闭,华北板块与扬子板块对接碰撞,沿胶南造山带产生大量同碰撞花岗岩,同时产生超高压变质作用及形成丰富多彩的碰撞构造.晋宁运动最终形成统一的原始中国古陆,第三次克拉通化完成.④陆块发展阶段鲁西地区地壳频繁升降,形成广泛的海相及海陆交互相沉积;鲁东地区则以造山抬升为主,地层沉积较少.⑤滨太平洋发展阶段该阶段的主要特征是断块构造发育,形成盆岭构造格局,产生大陆边缘花岗岩,构造体系由古亚洲构造域转向滨太平洋构造域.     

基于可靠度理论的黄土高边坡优化设计

对黄土高边坡进行可靠性分析，应用数学原理和优化原理，建立了黄土高边坡的优化模型，对铜黄一级公路黄土高边坡进行分析验证。结果表明，该方法计算的结果与实际较接近．应用中易操作。     

Reliability assessment of serviceability performance of braced retaining walls using a neural network approach

In urban environments, one major concern with deep excavations in soft clay is the potentially large ground deformations in and around the excavation. Excessive movements can damage adjacent buildings and utilities. There are many uncertainties associated with the calculation of the ultimate or serviceability performance of a braced excavation system. These include the variabilities of the loadings, geotechnical soil properties, and engineering and geometrical properties of the wall. A risk‐based approach to serviceability performance failure is necessary to incorporate systematically the uncertainties associated with the various design parameters. This paper demonstrates the use of an integrated neural network–reliability method to assess the risk of serviceability failure through the calculation of the reliability index. By first performing a series of parametric studies using the finite element method and then approximating the non‐linear limit state surface (the boundary separating the safe and ‘failure’ domains) through a neural network model, the reliability index can be determined with the aid of a spreadsheet. Two illustrative examples are presented to show how the serviceability performance for braced excavation problems can be assessed using the reliability index. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

渭河盆地北缘断裂带活动特征的初步研究

本文从渭河盆地北缘断裂的形成和活动时代,活动特征等资料出发,结合北缘断裂带及整个盆地历史地震活动和新生界地层发育特征的综合分析,对北缘断裂带的活动期次,主要断层的运动幅度和滑动速率及其时空演变规律和机制等问题进行了探讨。文章指出,北缘断裂带的形成是一个由盆地中心向北逐渐扩展的过程,自上新世起,断层活动明显有东强西弱的变化特征,而且扩展方向也发生了偏转。这一转变及活动强度的东西差异与山西剪切带对渭河盆地的影响密切相关     

U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronology and T–t–d history of the Kampa Dome, southern Tibet

Structural, petrographic and geochronologic studies of the Kampa Dome provide insights into the tectonothermal evolution of orogenic crust exposed in the North Himalayan gneiss domes of southern Tibet. U–Pb ion microprobe dating of zircons from granite gneiss exposed at the deepest levels within the dome yields concordia ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age populations of 506 ± 3 Ma and 527 ± 6 Ma, with no evidence of new zircon growth during Himalayan orogenesis. However, the granite contains penetrative deformation fabrics that are also preserved in the overlying Paleozoic strata, implying that the Kampa granite is a Cambrian pluton that was strongly deformed and metamorphosed during Himalayan orogenesis. Zircons from deformed leucogranite sills that cross-cut Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks yield concordant Cambrian ages from oscillatory zoned cores and discordant ages ranging from ca. 491–32 Ma in metamict grains. Since these leucogranites clearly post-date the metasedimentary rocks they intrude, the zircons are interpreted as xenocrysts that are probably derived from the Kampa granite. The Kampa Dome formed via a series of progressive orogenic events including regional ~ N–S contraction and related crustal thickening (D₁), predominately top-to-N ductile shearing and crustal extension (D₂), top-to-N brittle–ductile faulting and related folding on the north limb of the dome, localized top-to-S faulting on the southern limb of the dome, and crustal doming (D₃), and continued N–S contraction, E–W extension and doming (D₄). Structural and geochronologic variability amongst adjacent North Himalayan gneiss domes may reflect changes in the magnitude of crustal exhumation along the North Himalayan antiform, possibly relating to differences in the mid-crustal geometry of the exhuming fault systems.     

空间刚架结构极限强度分析

本文用理想结构单元法对空间刚架结构进行了极限强度分析，理想结构单元法在于将结构分成最大可能的单元。以简单的形式归并几何非线性与材料非线性。按增量形式加载，直到达到极限强度。本文根据Ｒａｓｈｅｄ理论导出了对称的切向方程组，节省了存贮单元、改善了破坏准则的描述。算例结果与非线性有限单元法结果十分吻合。     

Reliability-Based Optimal Design for Very Large Floating Structure

1 .ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅａｐｐｒａｉｓａｌｏｆａｇｏｏｄｄｅｓｉｇｎｆｏｒａｖｅｒｙｌａｒｇｅｆｌｏａｔｉｎｇｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒｅ(ＶＬＦＳ)ｔｈａｔｗｉｌｌｓｅｒｖｅｉｎａｓｐｅｃｉ ｆｉｅｄｏｃｅａｎａｒｅａｒｅｑｕｉｒｅｓｔｈａｔｔｈｅｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒａｌｓｙｓｔｅｍｂｅｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃａｌｌｙｄｅｓｉｇｎｅｄ ,ｔｈｅｒｅｑｕｉｒｅｍｅｎｔｓｆｏｒｉｔｓｆｕｎｃｔｉｏｎｂｅｓａｔｉｓｆｉｅｄａｎｄｔｈｅｓｔｒｕｃｔｕｒｅｋｅｅｐｓｓｔａｂｌｅｉｎｉｔｓｗｈｏｌｅｓｅｒｖｉｃｅｐｅｒｉｏ…     

Fuzzy Fatigue Reliability Analysis of Offshore Platforms in Ice-Infested Waters

1 .IntroductionTheBohaiGulfisinfestedbyiceinthewholewinter,andoffshorestructuresthereexperiencenotonlywind ,waves ,currentsandearthquake ,butalsoiceloadswhicharecomplicatedbecauseofthedynamicinteractionbetweenicesheetsandstructures.Duanetal.( 2 0 0 0 )hadacomprehensivere viewofthelatestadvancesonice inducedvibration ,fatigueandfractureofoffshorestructures ,payingmuchattentiontothedifferencesinicebreakingmodeanddynamicsofstructuresindifferentice in festedwaters .Theypresentedcriticallythelates…     

Semi-Probabilistic Evaluation of System Redundancy for Existing Offshore Structures

In this paper, a new definition of structure system redundancy is proposed in view of the various measures for structure redundancy. By introducing the terms of structure system failure at the mechanism level and equivalent reliability index, the safety for existing offshore platforms can be evaluated by the semi-probabilistic method presented in this paper. Some numerical examples are given and satisfactory results have been obtained.