Influence of masonry infill panels on the vibration and stiffness characteristics of R/C frame buildings

Vibration measurements were performed on two adjacent, three-storey reinforced concrete frame buildings with hollow clay brick infill panels. The first building was a bare frame and the second one was a similar frame infilled with brick panels. The fundamental period for the infilled frame building was much smaller than that of the bare frame building. Using shear beam lumped mass models and the vibration data the actual lateral stiffness of both buildings was identified. The lateral stiffness of the infilled frame building was found to be seven times that of the bare frame building. Four numerical models of the infilled frame building were constructed. The frame and floors were represented using an experimentally validated model and the infill panels by one of three commonly used ‘equivalent diagonal truss’ models or by plane stress finite elements. Only the plane stress finite element model produced a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

海南琼海加积井水温同震效应特征和机理初探

基于海南加积井数字化水温2007年1月-2010年4月震中距小于8 000 km、Ms≥7.8大震的同震响应资料,系统分析水温年月日正常动态特征,发现远震引起的水温同震效应特征为上升脉冲,与以往的非自流井水温同震效应以下降为主的认识不一致;水温变化幅度与震中距、震级有一定关系,加积井水温同震效应成因,可用“层内混合”作...     

The influence of stiffness of the true triaxial testing machine on the rupturing and acoustic emission of rocks and its correlation with seismic activities

This paper introduces how the ratioR of the characteristic stiffness of rock samplevs. the stiffness of testing machines would influence the rupturing process and the acoustic emission (AE) on the part of the tested rock samples. Result of the experiment shows: WhenR>0.20, the rock sample would rupture abruptly; whereas whenR<0.20, the rock samples would rupture slowly. When the samples rupture abruptly, the time-dependent variation of the AE rate takes such a pattern:peak value—stable low values—rises to the maximum value (concentration)—drops back to the minimum value (quiescence)—(rises again)—ruptures. Moreover, smallerR-value tends to be associated with longer quiescence and vice versa. WhenR>1.50, no pre-failure quiescence is detected. When the rock samples rupture slowly, the variation pattern of the AE rate (after the stress has increased to more than 50% of the rupturing stress) is as the following:stable low (or high) values—rises (or drops) to its maximum (or minimum) values and then continues for some time—ruptures. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 223–233, 1991. This study is supported by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

A centrifuge study of the influence of site response,relative stiffness,and kinematic constraints on the seismic performance of buried reservoir structures

The seismic performance of underground reservoir structures depends on the properties of the structure, soil, and ground motion as well as the kinematic constraints imposed on the structure. A series of four centrifuge experiments were performed to evaluate the influence of site response, structural stiffness, base fixity, and excitation frequency on the performance of relatively stiff reservoir structures buried in dry, medium-dense sand. The magnitude of seismic thrust increased and the distribution of seismic earth pressures changed from approximately triangular to parabolic with increasing structural stiffness. Heavier and stiffer structures also experienced increased rocking and reduced flexural deflection. Fixing the base of the structure amplified the magnitude of acceleration, seismic earth pressure, and bending strain compared to tests where the structure was free to translate laterally, settle, or rotate atop a soil layer. The frequency content of transient tilt, acceleration, dynamic thrust, and bending strain measured on the structure was strongly influenced by that of the base motion and site response, but was unaffected by the fundamental frequency of the buried structure (f_structure). None of the available simplified procedures could capture the distribution and magnitude of seismic earth pressures experienced by this class of underground structures. The insight from this experimental study is aimed to help validate analytical and numerical methods used in the seismic design of reservoir structures.     

The sensitivity of simulated flow and water quality response to spatial heterogeneity on a hillslope in the Tarrawarra catchment,Australia

Models are widely used to simulate hydrological response and the generation and transport of constituents such as salt, phosphorus, and nitrogen from catchments to streams. Several models use a spatial representation with catchments divided into subcatchments. Variations in land use and other characteristics within subcatchments are represented by spatially lumped hydrologic response units (HRUs) or functional units instead of using fully distributed models. This approach disregards any spatial interaction between HRUs, including their connectivity to each other and to the stream and the influence of these interactions on water and constituent export. A spatially explicit hydrological model (Thales) was used to simulate a variety of theoretical catchments with soils dominated by combinations of infiltration excess, saturation excess, and subsurface stormflow processes and different soil constituent concentrations that were spatially interacting (i.e. located along a hillslope sequence). The modelling results show that the response of both runoff and concentration is sensitive to varying spatial arrangements due to interactions of runoff, infiltration, and chemical processes between the different soil types in many but not all situations. Results highlight the importance of considering connectivity of pathways when modelling hydrological response and constituents export. This is achieved by comparing pairs of simulations and the corresponding differences in the exported loads. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of storm characteristics and catchment conditions on extreme flood response : A case study based on the brue river basin,U.K.

Methods for estimating the magnitude of extreme floods are reviewed. A method which combines a probabilistic storm transposition technique with a physically-based distributed rainfallrunoff model is described. Synthetic storms with detailed spatial and temporal distributions are generated and applied to the calibrated model of the Brue river basin, U.K. (area 135 km²). The variability of catchment response due to storm characteristics (storm area, storm duration, storm movement, storm shape and within storm variation) and initial catchment wetness conditions is investigated. A probabilistic approach to estimating the return periods of extreme catchment responses is suggested.