Back analysis of general slope under earthquake forces using upper bound theorem

Long time monitoring is acquired to obtain the displacement data for displacement-based geotechnical material back analysis, and these data are hard to be measured under some special condition, such as earthquake. For a simple homogeneous slope, the position of a critical failure surface is determined by value of c/tan ~b. Utilizing upper bound theorem of limit analysis, the external work rate and internal energy for normal slope under earthquake forces are given, and the formula for minimum safety factor is derived. On this basis, the equation of slip surface and the surface depth of a given position are solved. In this way, the strength parameter can be analyzed by known slip surface depth. For practical use, the surface depth for a given slope under varying strength parameter is presented. Finally, two examples are given to show its simplicity and effectiveness.

Research on the Changes of Celestial Tide-generating Force and the Outgoing Long-wave Radiation before the Lushan (China) M_S7.0 Earthquake

Calculation of tidal changes reveals that the MS 7. 0 Lushan County,Sichuan,China,earthquake of April 20,2013 occurred at the minimum phase point of tidal force. It indicates that the seismogenic fault on which the tidal force acts on is of thrust type. The outgoing long-wave radiation( OLR) is the energy radiating from the Earth as infrared radiation at low energy to space. According to the tidal cycle,abnormal OLR change is analyzed based on NOAA satellite data around the whole of China before and after the earthquake. The result shows that the OLR changed evidently with the tide force change.Temporally,the change went through the course: initial OLR rise → s trengthening →reaching abnormal peak → a ttenuation → r eturning to normal; in space,the abnormal area was distributed along the Longmenshan fault and evolved as: scattering→ c onvergent→ s cattering. The process is similar to the change process of rock breaking under stress loading. It indicates that the celestial tidal force can trigger earthquakes when the tectonic stress reaches the critical break point of an active fault and the OLR anomaly is proportional to the seismic tectonic stress change. It is of practical value to combine OLR and tidal force anomaly with earthquake precursor studies.

Evidence of earthquakes triggered by the tidal force of the sun and the moon——On the temporal characteristics of the earthquakes in Xingtai,Hejian and Tangshan

Studies by many scientists show that Hebei, China is an area with strong correlation between the tidal force and the occurrences of major earthquakes, the Xingtai earthquake of 1966, the Hejian earthquake of 1967 and the Tangshan earthquake of 1976 were triggered by the tidal force, in this paper the study on the common characteristics of their occurrence times confirms these facts. The computed times of maximum horizontal of the semi diurnal solid tide tidal force show that the occurrence times of the above mentioned earthquakes were close to the times of maximum horizontal tidal force of the semi diurnal solid tide at new moon or full moon. The Longyao earthquake of M =6.8, the Ningjin earthquake of M =7.2 and the Hejian earthquake of M =6.3 occurred tens of minutes after the maximum horizontal tidal force of the semi diurnal solid tides, and the Tangshan earthquake of M =7.8 occurred 16 minutes before the maximum horizontal tidal force. The tidal forces were directed to the west. This is their temporal characteristic. It is generally accepted that the 1969 Bohai earthquake of M =7.4 and the 1975 Haicheng earthquake were not triggered by the tidal force. These events did not show such characteristics. The temporal characteristics of the earthquakes indicate that the occurrences of these events were not random, but were controlled by the tidal force from the sun and the moon, and triggered by the tidal force. These facts agree with the triggering mechanism of the tidal force, are evidences of earthquakes triggered by tidal force.

Load history-based model for prestressed concrete beam damage evaluation

The residual capability of a damaged structure to resist further load is essential in optimal seismic design and post-earthquake strengthening. An experimental study on the hysteretic characteristics of prestressed concrete frame beams under different loading histories was performed to explore the influence of load history on energy dissipation and failure characteristics of the member. Based on the test results, the failure of the beam is defined, and the relationship between the failure moment under cyclic load and from the skeleton curve is formulated. Finally, based on displacement and energy dissipation, a model for prestressed concrete beam damage-failure evaluation is developed. In this model, the effect of deformation level, cumulative dissipated energy, and loading history on prestressed concrete beam damage-failure is incorporated, thus it is applicable to stochastic earthquake forces.

Practical seismic analysis of large underground structures: Theory and application

Due to the conceptual clarity and calculational simplicity, practical methods for seismic analysis have been widely used in seismic design and calculation of underground structures. All of the commonly adopted practical methods assume that the earthquake inertia force of the analysis model equals that of free-field. However, this assumption neglects the influence of underground structures on their surrounding soil layers, and may lead to significant errors in both conceptual and computational terms when the size of a structure increases. This article focuses on the practical seismic analysis of large underground structures.Theoretical derivation is demonstrated on the basis of the establishment of mechanical models of the soil-structure system and free-field, and consequently, the quantitative relation between the seismic acceleration response of the soil-structure system and that of free-field is obtained. This relation can be used to revise the earthquake inertia force applied to the analysis model so that the calculation accuracy is effectively improved. By doing so, a revised pushover analysis method, which combines the traditional pushover analysis and theoretical derivation, is proposed in order to be appropriate to seismic analysis of large underground structures. Moreover, an example of application of the proposed method is given, in which a selected large underground structure is analyzed. The results show that this revised method has higher efficiency than the traditional method thanks to the revision of the earthquake inertia force.