Seismic performance of wood‐frame houses in south‐western British Columbia     

Katsuichiro Goda  Gail M. Atkinson 《地震工程与结构动力学》2011,40(8):903-924

The seismic performance of conventional wood‐frame structures in south‐western British Columbia is analytically investigated through incremental dynamic analysis by utilizing available UBC‐SAWS models, which were calibrated based on experimental test results. To define an adequate target response spectrum that is consistent with information from national seismic hazard maps, record selection/scaling based on the conditional mean spectrum (CMS) is implemented. Furthermore, to reflect complex seismic hazard contributions from different earthquake sources (i.e. crustal events, interface events, and inslab events), we construct CMS for three earthquake types, and use them to select and scale an adequate set of ground motion records for the seismic performance evaluation. We focus on the impacts of adopting different record selection criteria and of using different shear‐wall types (Houses 1–4; in terms of seismic resistance, House 1>House 2>House 3>House 4) on the nonlinear structural response. The results indicate that the record selection procedures have significant influence on the probabilistic relationship between spectral acceleration at the fundamental vibration period and maximum inter‐story drift ratio, highlighting the importance of taking into account response spectral shapes in selecting and scaling ground motion records. Subjected to ground motions corresponding to the return period of 2500 years, House 1 is expected to experience very limited extent of damage; Houses 2 and 3 may be disturbed by minor damage; whereas House 4 may suffer from major damage occasionally. Finally, we develop statistical models of the maximum inter‐story drift ratio conditioned on a seismic intensity level for wood‐frame houses, which is useful for seismic vulnerability assessment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

Geochemistry analysis and evolution of a bolson aquifer,basin and range province in the southwestern united states     

Jon C. Atkinson 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2011,64(1):37-46

This paper expands significantly on the major-ion geochemical characterization, evolution, and differentiation of groundwater in the Presidio-Redford Bolson (PRB) Aquifer of Texas as presented in Chowdhury et al. (2008). For 19 groundwater samples from the PRB Aquifer, the author calculated major cation–anion balance errors, equilibrium carbon dioxide partial pressure values and saturation indices for selected minerals. Comparison of major-ion analyses for groundwater from basin margin wells with those for basin center wells is documented and illustrated with ion-concentration maps and Piper and Stiff diagrams and reveals significant increases in concentrations of chloride, sulfate and sodium coupled with notable decrease of calcium in bolson-center well samples. These geochemical changes suggest dissolution of aquifer minerals and cation exchange as groundwater migrates downgradient to the bolson center. The US Geological Survey (USGS) computer code, NETPATH, was used to interpret probable net geochemical mass-balance reactions that potentially have occurred within the PRB Aquifer along groundwater flowpaths from bolson margin to bolson center. For all four upgradient–downgradient well pairs studied, at least three NETPATH models contain cation exchange values; calcium is being exchanged for sodium. The Rio Grande Alluvium Aquifer and Rio Grande River are notably minor sources of recharge to the PRB Aquifer, based on Chowdhury et al. (2008) and geochemical evaluations of this study.  相似文献   

New data on speleothem deposition and palaeoclimate in Britain over the last forty thousand years     

T. C. Atkinson  T. J. Lawson  P. L. Smart  R. S. Harmon  J. W. Hess 《第四纪科学杂志》1986,1(1):67-72

²³⁰Th/²³⁴U dates are presented for 26 speleothems from three areas in Britain: Assynt, N.W. Scotland; N.W. Yorkshire; Mendip Hills, Somerset. These dates suggest that speleothem growth was widespread but rare in the period from 40 to 26 Ka, absent from 26 to 15 Ka, and abundant from 15 Ka to the present. The absence of speleothems between 26 and 15 Ka is attributed to glaciation in Yorkshire and Assynt and, tentatively, to continuous permafrost development in the Mendip Hills. The occurrence of speleothems before 26 Ka places restrictions on the extent of any ice sheet which may have been present in Scotland, and indicates that N.W. Scotland was not subjected to continuous permafrost at that time.  相似文献   

Synoptic forcing of wave states in the southeast Chukchi Sea, Alaska, at nearshore locations     

Oceana P. Francis  David E. Atkinson 《Natural Hazards》2012,62(3):1273-1300

Two bottom-mounted recording Doppler current profilers (RDCP) were deployed at nearshore locations (approximately 3 and 8 km offshore, in about 18 m water depth) in the southeast Chukchi Sea, Alaska, from October 2009 to September 2010 (UTC) with the goal of linking observed wave activity—wind-sea and swells—to their synoptic drivers. The northerly RDCP recorded a total of 16 events of elevated wave states: 15 exceeding 1 m significant wave height (SWH), and 1 exceeding 2 m SWH. The southerly RDCP recorded a total of 25 events of elevated wave states: 23 exceeding 1 m SWH, 2 m exceeded on two occasions and a SWH of 3 m was observed. Detailed analysis of the three large events (i.e., SWH events ≥2 m), including comparison with high-resolution reanalysis wind data (North America regional reanalysis), strongly suggested the wave energy evolved from a distant storm and would be defined as swell. Due to the close proximity of the shoreline to the east of the instruments, wind speeds based on reanalysis were constrained so fetch was westerly. Wave direction was also westerly, varying about 25° to the north (clockwise) or the south (counterclockwise) from the wind direction which is believed to be influenced by fetch and the strong current flow located where the nearshore RDCPs were deployed. Shore-fast sea ice is also believed to play a role but shown to only dampen wave activity for 3 months (January–April 2010), thus implying early ice breakup in this nearshore region. Two events appeared to be driven by southwesterly winds associated with cyclonic systems that moved into the eastern Chukchi Sea and then stalled. However, the second storm event appeared to be driven by northwesterly winds associated with a cyclonic system over the Brooks Range, a less common occurrence. Given that the typical storm activity in the region occurs as storms move into the Bering Sea in fall, this represents another potential source for wave conditions posing danger to people on the water or to coastal infrastructure.  相似文献   

Evaluating the utility of the ensemble transform Kalman filter for adaptive sampling when updating a hydrodynamic model   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jeffrey C. Neal  Peter M. Atkinson  Craig W. Hutton 《Journal of Hydrology》2009,375(3-4):589-600

This paper compares two Monte Carlo sequential data assimilation methods based on the Kalman filter, for estimating the effect of measurements on simulations of state error variance made by a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The first method used an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) to update state estimates, which were then used as initial conditions for further simulations. The second method used an ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) to quickly estimate the effect of measurement error covariance on forecast error covariance without the need to re-run the simulation model. The ETKF gave an unbiased estimate of EnKF analysed error variance, although differences in the treatment of measurement errors meant the results were not identical. Estimates of forecast error variance could also be made, but their accuracy deteriorated as the time from measurements increased due in part to model non-linearity and the decreasing signal variance. The motivation behind the study was to assess the ability of the ETKF to target possible measurements, as part of an adaptive sampling framework, before they are assimilated by an EnKF-based forecasting model on the River Crouch, Essex, UK. The ETKF was found to be a useful tool for quickly estimating the error covariance expected after assimilating measurements into the hydrodynamic model. It, thus, provided a means of quantifying the ‘usefulness’ (in terms of error variance) of possible sampling schemes.  相似文献   

Imputing censored data with desirable spatial covariance function properties using simulated annealing     

L. Sedda  P. M. Atkinson  E. Barca  G. Passarella 《Journal of Geographical Systems》2012,14(3):265-282

When measurements of values that are less than the limit of detection are reported as not detected, the data are referred to as censored. The non-recording of values below the limit of detection is common in soil science research although modelling data affected by censoring can be problematic. This paper develops and tests a modified version of Spatial Simulated Annealing, called Simulated Annealing by Variogram and Histogram form, for drawing values for censored points given a mixed set of observed and censored data. The algorithm aims to maximise the goodness of fitting between the experimental and theoretical variograms (by allowing variation in its parameters) while the imputed values are constrained to a target histogram form. In practice, the experimental histogram is estimated by transforming the available data (interval and exact observations) to quantiles and fitting a plausible distribution. The theoretical distribution of the data is used to constrain the variogram fitting. The proposed simulated annealing method is designed to find the optimal spatial arrangement of values, given by the lowest errors in variogram and histogram fitting and kriging prediction. The accuracy of the method proposed is assessed on a simulated data set in which the censored point values are known and compared with the Spatial Simulated Annealing algorithm. According to the results obtained, the Simulated Annealing by Variogram and Histogram form (SAVH) approach can be recommended as a useful tool for the analysis of spatially distributed data with censoring.  相似文献   

Macroscopic and spectroscopic analysis of lanthanide adsorption to bacterial cells     

Bryne T. Ngwenya  J. Fred W. Mosselmans  Kirk D. Atkinson  Janette Tourney  Valerie Olive 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》2009,73(11):3134-6719

This study was designed to combine surface complexation modelling of macroscopic adsorption data with X-ray Absorption Spectroscopic (XAS) measurements to identify lanthanide sorption sites on the bacterial surface. The adsorption of selected representatives for light (La and Nd), middle (Sm and Gd) and heavy (Er and Yb) lanthanides was measured as a function of pH, and biomass samples exposed to 4 mg/L lanthanide at pH 3.5 and 6 were analysed using XAS. Surface complexation modelling was consistent with the light lanthanides adsorbing to phosphate sites, whereas the adsorption of middle and heavy lanthanides could be modelled equally well by carboxyl and phosphate sites. The existence of such mixed mode coordination was confirmed by Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis, which was also consistent with adsorption to phosphate sites at low pH, with secondary involvement of carboxyl sites at high adsorption density (high pH). Thus, the two approaches yield broadly consistent information with regard to surface site identity and lanthanide coordination environment. Furthermore, spectroscopic analysis suggests that coordination to phosphate sites is monodentate at the metal/biomass ratios used. Based on the best-fitting pK_a site, we infer that the phosphate sites are located on N-acetylglucosamine phosphate, the most likely polymer on gram-negative cells with potential phosphate sites that deprotonate around neutral pH.  相似文献   

Coseismic stress parameter of three California Earthquakes derived from the stochastic finite fault technique   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Karen Assatourians  Gail M. Atkinson 《Journal of Seismology》2010,14(3):431-443

Stochastic finite fault modeling is used to derive the coseismic stress parameter distribution on the fault surface of three well-recorded California earthquakes: M7.0, 1989, Loma Prieta; M7.3, 1992, Landers; and M6.7, 1994, Northridge. Classical waveform inversion techniques are inherently more powerful than stochastic modeling as a means of deriving detailed source parameters. However, the application of stochastic methods to the source modeling problem is useful to: (1) explore and calibrate the limitations and boundaries of stochastic modeling, (2) understand its relationship to more deterministically based techniques, and (3) provide a view of the source radiation not available from deterministic modeling. The stress parameter distribution for the M7.0 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake fault shows a concentration of stress in the lower part of the northwest side of the fault and another concentration in the upper southeast side of the fault, with an average stress parameter of 80 bars over the fault surface. The stress parameter distribution for the M7.3 1992 Landers earthquake fault shows a gradual increase of stress starting from the southeast side of the fault, close to the hypocenter, towards the center. The maximum stress occurs in the lower central part of the modeled fault surface. The average stress parameter is 70 bars for the Landers earthquake. The stress parameter distribution of the M6.7 1994 Northridge earthquake shows a concentration at the lower southeast end of the fault surface, extending toward the center of the fault surface and stretching to the northwest end. The average stress parameter is 80 bars for Northridge earthquake. The stress parameter distributions derived in this study by stochastic finite-fault modeling of high-frequency motions show considerable similarity to many of the slip distributions provided by different research groups for the same earthquakes, suggesting that the derivation of stress parameter distribution on a fault surface by the method applied in this study is reliable and closely tied to slip on the fault.  相似文献   

Constraining the uncertainty in fracture geometry using tracer tests     

Peter B. Johnston  Tim Atkinson  John Barker  Noelle Odling 《Hydrogeology Journal》2009,17(3):527-539

In fractured-rock aquifers, the geometric and hydraulic properties of the fractures commonly have a dominant influence on transport. Tracer tests are often used to estimate directly the gross transport properties of a fractured rock mass. The prospects for understanding characteristics of the heterogeneities in a fractured porous medium were explored from evidence provided by tracer experiments. The approach was to simulate flow and transport on a large set of prescribed fracture networks in a two-dimensional homogeneous permeable medium, thus generating synthetic tracer test data. The fracture orientation, aperture, spacing and network geometry were systematically altered from one case to the next. A classification scheme was devised for the tracer breakthrough curves using principal component analysis and this classification was linked to the fracture pattern properties. Even under highly simplified and controlled conditions, quite different fracture patterns can produce very similar breakthrough curves. The classification scheme thus demonstrates that a single breakthrough curve cannot reveal the fracture geometry with any precision. However, the scheme provided a methodology for rejecting geometric properties that do not belong to the fracture pattern under investigation, thus reducing the uncertainty in fracture geometry.  相似文献   

U-series dating of Hoxnian interglacial deposits at Marks Tey,Essex, England     

P. J. Rowe  T. C. Atkinson  C. Turner 《第四纪科学杂志》1999,14(7):693-702

A U–Th dating study was carried out on the authigenic carbonate component of interglacial lake sediments at Marks Tey, Essex, England. Isochron methods were necessary because of the presence of non-carbonate detritus. Calculated dates around the limit of the U–Th method were obtained for two horizons. Error limits were determined by Monte Carlo sampling from the normal distributions of errors in the isotope ratios. Comparison of the resulting empirical distribution functions with the marine oxygen isotope time-scale indicates with 87% confidence that the Marks Tey sediments correlate with OIS 11 or some older stage. As the Marks Tey deposits rest without stratigraphical break on Anglian till, and can be firmly correlated with the Hoxnian interglacial type site at Hoxne, Suffolk, England, this result implies that the Anglian glaciation took place in OIS 12 and the Hoxnian Stage of the British chronostratigraphy commenced in OIS 11. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献