Effect of connecting rain barrels on the storage size reduction

In this article, the possibility of sharing rain barrels and the potential benefit of reducing storage size through physical and non‐physical connections of rain barrels in a community are investigated. Using the concepts of homogeneous/heterogeneous users in rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS), two simple cases of a community composed of four prospective users are examined. The first is performed with the users who have the same mean and variance in water demands (homogeneous users), and the second is with the users with different means and variances (heterogeneous users). To take account for the rainfall characteristics in different places, historical records from six cities in the USA are used for storage–reliability–yield analysis. The result indicates that required total storage can be reduced by connecting multiple rain barrels. In addition, a significant difference is found between homogeneous and heterogeneous user groups. Homogeneous users do not achieve a substantial benefit from connecting their rain barrels; these users may even be disadvantaged by sharing. In contrast, heterogeneous users receive benefit by reducing the total required storage. Most benefit is expected between users with maximum difference in mean water demands. The reduction in storage size was as considerable as 37% in this study. The quantity of storage reduction depends on locations and target reliabilities. Knowledge of the benefits and limitations of rain barrel connections can improve RWHS performance through ability to customize a network plan for individual users. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cost-effective network design for groundwater flow monitoring

The extensive use of groundwater resources has increased the need for developing cost-effective monitoring networks to provide an indication of the degree to which the subsurface environment has been affected by human activities. This study presents a cost-effective approach to the design of groundwater flow monitoring networks. The groundwater network design is formulated with two problem formats: maximizing the statistical monitoring power for specified budget constraint and minimizing monitoring cost for statistical power requirement. The statistical monitoring power constraint is introduced with an information reliability threshold value. A branch and bound technique is employed to select the optimal solution from a discrete set of possible network alternatives. The method is tested to the design of groundwater flow monitoring problem in the Pomona County, California.     

新型灌浆材料在已建砌体结构抗震加固中的应用

具有悠久历史的石结构是砌体结构的重要组成部分，本文作者经广泛调研和试验分析：(1)提出以石粉为集料对石砌体进行抗震加固，寓环保与防灾于一体；(2)给出新型浆体配比和复合砂浆的强度等级，阐述加固技术和方法，建立灌浆石砌体抗震抗剪强度公式；(3)阐明抗震验算方法，提出基于模糊随机可靠理论的可靠性分析方法。     

边坡稳定可靠性的随机有限元分析

随机有限元法可以处理土性参数的变异性和空间相关性。对二阶摄动随机有限元法的摄动理论和程序进行了研究，提出了偏导矩阵的组集方法，采用正态分布随机变量的正交变换法来提高计算效率。考虑土性参数随机场作用和土性指标之间的互相关性，建立边坡局部抗剪和总体稳定性可靠度的随机有限元分析模型，对某实际土坡进行了可靠度计算，计算结果较为符合实际。     

RC框架结构薄弱层的层间位移可靠度水平考察

讨论了钢筋混凝土框架结构层间极限变形角的近似概率特性,考察了大震作用下20余幢钢筋混凝土框架结构薄弱层的层间位移可靠度水平,从而为直接基于位移可靠度的抗震设计中层间目标位移可靠度的确定提供了一定依据。     

基于模糊评判的数控机床零部件制造工艺FMECA研究

以数控机床零部件的制造工艺为研究对象,对其实施改进的制造工艺FMECA,通过梯形模糊数评判的方法确定出工艺FMECA中风险优先数的排序,利用模糊综合评判方法确定出工艺系统的风险等级,有效地找出薄弱工艺环节并采取改进措施,从而提高数控机床零部件制造工艺可靠性.     

Time-dependent behaviour of the rock mass

Summary The strength of intact rock and the rock mass is time-dependent. For intact rock experimental verification is available, for the rock mass the scale of time-dependence is a matter of judgement. Rock mass classifications do however emphasize the effect of time on tunnel stability. This paper examines the source of time-dependence in rocks and the rock mass and suggests a technique for estimating the long term strength. The long term strength of the rock mass is controlled by the time-dependent weakening of intact rock. Frictional resistance, a major source of rock mass strength, increases rather than decreases with time. Lifetime estimation for rocks can be accomplished phenomenologically or mechanistically. The first is a statistical process of wide applicability, the second is more restrictive in usage as its applies only to materials that suffer time-dependent strain (creep). Although the mechanistic route is more appealing, it has a major drawback as it concentrates on steady state creep. There is no strong evidence for steady state creep in rocks. The technique for long term prediction is developed through the analysis of the failure rate under constant load. The failure rate for a given load and environment is established from the frequency distribution of time-to-failure data as measured in static fatigue tests. As expected, the failure rate is strongly affected by both the loading and the environmental condition. The influence, however, is systematic and predictable.     

Reliability analysis of the induced damage for single-hole rock blasting

Rock explosion has always been a complex problem because neither rock characteristics nor explosion waves could be accurately estimated. As such, this imposes a high uncertainty on deterministic methodologies available for damage prediction. In this paper, by defining two damage zones around the blast hole, including crushed and cracked zones, a first-order reliability analysis (FORM) was adopted to address this issue. For this purpose, FORM was used in a double-loop algorithm, where the inner loop was responsible for converging the FORM, and the outer loop was assigned to feed the inner loop with new cases. Using such nested-loop algorithm, the probability of exceedance was calculated for any desired damage zone radius. The maximum effect of the involved parameters on the failure probability induced around the blast hole was additionally studied using a parametric reliability analysis. The results showed that the radii for crushed and cracked zones are limited to 0.5 and 4.2?m, respectively, so that the probability of going beyond these limits is less than 1%. Moreover, the analyses of decoupled explosions showed that increasing the gap between the explosion charge and wall of the borehole could severely reduce the failure probability; however, the maximum effect of decoupling ratio occurs in the small range of radii between 0.3?mm and 2.35?m.     

GPS网起始数据的误差分析

应用5种GPS控制网起算点坐标误差的分析方法,分析了某地铁二号线西延伸线工程GPS控制网的起算点坐标误差,成功地剔除了误差超限的起算点。     

地下巷道弹性位移反分析各种优化方法的探讨

探讨了６种最优化方法（鲍威尔法、单纯形加速法、阻尼最小二乘法、变尺度法、模式搜索法和变量轮换法）在巷道弹性位移反分析中的应用情况。从参数初始点的选择、收敛速度、收敛精度和可靠性方面评价了这６种无约束最优化方法的优劣。