Granular behaviour under bi-directional shear with constant vertical stress and constant volume

This paper aims to investigate the role of bi-directional shear in the mechanical behaviour of granular materials and macro-micro relations by conducting experiments and discrete element method(DEM)modelling.The bi-directional shear consists of a static shear consolidation and subsequent shear under constant vertical stress and constant volume conditions.A side wall node loading method is used to exert bi-directional shear of various angles.The results show that bi-directional shear can significantly influence the mechanical behaviour of granular materials.However,the relationship between bidirectional shear and mechanical responses relies on loading conditions,i.e.constant vertical stress or constant volume conditions.The stress states induced by static shear consolidation are affected by loading angles,which are enlarged by subsequent shear,consistent with the relationship between bidirectional shear and principal stresses.It provides evidence for the dissipation of stresses accompanying static liquefaction of granular materials.The presence of bi-directional principal stress rotation(PSR)is demonstrated,which evidences why the bi-directional shear of loading angles with components in two directions results in faster dissipations of stresses with static liquefaction.Contant volume shearing leads to cross-anisotropic stress and fabric at micro-contacts,but constant vertical stress shearing leads to complete anisotropic stress and fabric at micro-contacts.It explains the differentiating relationship between stress-strain responses and fabric anisotropy under these two conditions.Micromechanical signatures such as the slip state of micro-contacts and coordination number are also examined,providing further insights into understanding granular behaviour under bi-directional shear.

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear on Intensity and Rainfall Asymmetries of Strong Tropical Storm Bilis (2006)

The effects of environmental vertical wind shear （VWS） on the intensity and rainfall asymmetries in Tropical Storm （TS） Bilis （2006） have been analyzed based on TRMM/TMI-estimated surface rainfall data, QuikSCAT wind fields, 850- and 200-hPa winds of the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, precipitation data at 5-min intervals from automatic weather stations over China's Mainland, and the best track data of TS Bilis （2006）. The results show that the simultaneous and 6-hour-lagged correlation coefficients between VWS and storm intensity （the minimum central sea level pressure） are 0.59145 and 0.57438 （P 〈0.01）, respectively. The averaged VWS was found to be about 11 m s-1 and thus suppressed the intensification of Bilis （2006）. Distribution of precipitation in Bilis （2006） was highly asymmetric. The azimuthally-averaged rainfall rate in the partial eyewall, however, was smaller than that in a major outer rainband. As the storm intensified, the major rainband showed an unusual outward propagation. The VWS had a great impact on the asymmetric distribution of precipitation. Consistent with previous modeling studies, heavy rainfall generally occurred downshear to downshear-left of the VWS vector both near and outside the eyewall, showing a strong wavenumber-one asymmetry, which was amplified as the VWS increased.

EFFECTS OF VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ON INTENSITY AND STRUCTURE OF TROPICAL CYCLONE

In this study,the effect of vertical wind shear(VWS)on the intensification of tropical cyclone(TC)is investigated via the numerical simulations.Results indicate that weak shear tends to facilitate the development of TC while strong shear appears to inhibit the intensification of TC.As the VWS is imposed on the TC,the vortex of the cyclone tends to tilt vertically and significantly in the upper troposphere.Consequently,the upward motion is considerably enhanced in the downshear side of the storm center and correspondingly,the low-to mid-level potential temperature decreases under the effect of adiabatic cooling,which leads to the increase of the low-to mid-level static instability and relative humidity and then facilitates the burst of convection.In the case of weak shear,the vertical tilting of the vortex is weak and the increase of ascent,static instability and relative humidity occur in the area close to the TC center.Therefore,active convection happens in the TC center region and facilitates the enhancement of vorticity in the inner core region and then the intensification of TC.In contrast,due to strong VWS,the increase of the ascent,static instability and relative humidity induced by the vertical tilting mainly appear in the outer region of TC in the case with stronger shear,and the convection in the inner-core area of TC is rather weak and convective activity mainly happens in the outer-region of the TC.Therefore,the development of a warm core is inhibited and then the intensification of TC is delayed.Different from previous numerical results obtained by imposing VWS suddenly to a strong TC,the simulation performed in this work shows that,even when the VWS is as strong as 12 m s-1,the tropical storm can still experience rapid intensification and finally develop into a strong tropical cyclone after a relatively long period of adjustment.It is found that the convection plays an important role in the adjusting period.On one hand,the convection leads to the horizontal convergence of the low-level vorticity flux and therefore leads to the enhancement of the low-level vorticity in the inner-core area of the cyclone.On the other hand,the active ascent accompanying the convection tends to transport the low-level vorticity to the middle levels.The enhanced vorticity in the lower to middle troposphere strengths the interaction between the low-and mid-level cyclonical circulation and the upper-level circulation deviated from the storm center under the effect of VWS.As a result,the vertical tilting of the vortex is considerably decreased,and then the cyclone starts to develop rapidly.

Characteristics for wind energy and wind turbines by considering vertical wind shear

The probability distributions of wind speeds and the availability of wind turbines were investigated by considering the vertical wind shear. Based on the wind speed data at the standard height observed at a wind farm, the power-law process was used to simulate the wind speeds at a hub height of 60 m. The Weibull and Rayleigh distributions were chosen to express the wind speeds at two different heights. The parameters in the model were estimated via the least square(LS) method and the maximum likelihood estimation(MLE) method, respectively. An adjusted MLE approach was also presented for parameter estimation. The main indices of wind energy characteristics were calculated based on observational wind speed data. A case study based on the data of Hexi area, Gansu Province of China was given. The results show that MLE method generally outperforms LS method for parameter estimation, and Weibull distribution is more appropriate to describe the wind speed at the hub height.

Seismic control of multi-degrees-of-freedom structures by vertical mass isolation method using MR dampers

Vertical mass isolation(VMI)is one of the novel methods for the seismic control of structures.In this method,the entire structure is assumed to consist of two mass and stiffness subsystems,and an isolated layer is located among them.In this study,the magnetorheological damper in three modes:passive-off,passive-on,and semi-active mode with variable voltage between zero and 9 volts was used as an isolated layer between two subsystems.Multi-degrees-of-freedom structures with 5,10,and 15 floors in two dimensions were examined under 11 pairs of near field earthquakes.On each level,the displacement of MR dampers was taken into account.The responses of maximum displacement,maximum inter-story drift,and maximum base shear in controlled and uncontrolled buildings were compared to assess the suggested approach for seismic control of the structures.According to the results,the semi-active control method can reduce the response by more than 12%compared to the uncontrolled mode in terms of maximum displacement of the mass subsystem of the structures.This method can reduce more than 16%and 20%of the responses compared to the uncontrolled mode in terms of maximum inter-story drift and base shear of the structure,respectively.

EFFECTS OF VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ON TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSITY CHANGE

The effects of vertical wind shear on tropical cyclone(TC) intensity change are examined based on the TC data from the China Meteorological Administration and the NCEP reanalysis daily data from 2001 to 2006.First,the influence of wind shear between different vertical levels and averages in different horizontal areas are compared.The results indicate that the effect of wind shear between 200 and 850 hPa averaged within a 200-800 km annulus on TC intensity change is larger than any other calculated vertical wind shear.High-latitude and intense TCs tend to be less sensitive to the effects of VWS than low-latitude and weak TCs.TCs experience time lags between the imposition of the shear and the weakening in TC intensity.A vertical shear of 8-9 m/s(9-10 m/s) would weaken TC intensity within 60 h(48 h).A vertical shear greater than 10 m/s would weaken TC intensity within 6 h.Finally,a statistical TC intensity prediction scheme is developed by using partial least squares regression,which produces skillful intensity forecasts when potential predictors include factors related to the vertical wind shear.Analysis of the standardized regression coefficients further confirms the obtained statistical results.

Seismic behavior and mechanism analysis of innovative precast shear wall involving vertical joints

To study the seismic performance and load-transferring mechanism of an innovative precast shear wall(IPSW) involving vertical joints, an experimental investigation and theoretical analysis were successively conducted on two test walls. The test results confirm the feasibility of the novel joints as well as the favorable seismic performance of the walls, even though certain optimization measures should be taken to improve the ductility. The load-transferring mechanism subsequently is theoretically investigated based on the experimental study. The theoretical results show the load-transferring route of the novel joints is concise and definite. During the elastic stage, the vertical shear stress in the connecting steel frame(CSF) distributes uniformly; and each high-strength bolt(HSB)primarily delivers vertical shear force. However, the stress in the CSF redistributes when the walls develop into the elastic-plastic stage. At the ultimate state, the vertical shear stress and horizontal normal stress in the CSF distribute linearly; and the HSBs at both ends of the CSF transfer the maximum shear forces.

Ultrasonic beam focusing characteristics of shear-vertical waves for contact-type linear phased array in solid

We investigate the beam focusing technology of shear-vertical(SV) waves for a contact-type linear phased array to overcome the shortcomings of conventional wedge transducer arrays. The numerical simulation reveals the transient excitation and propagation characteristics of SV waves. It is found that the element size plays an important role in determining the transient radiation directivity of SV waves. The transient beam focusing characteristics of SV waves for various array parameters are deeply studied. It is particularly interesting to see that smaller element width will provide the focused beam of SV waves with higher quality, while larger element width may result in erratic fluctuation of focusing energy around the focal point. There exists a specific range of inter-element spacing for optimum focusing performance. Moreover, good beam focusing performance of SV waves can be achieved only at high steering angles.

Efects of Vertical Wind Shear, Radiation and Ice Microphysics on Precipitation Efciency during a Torrential Rainfall Event in China

The effects of vertical wind shear, radiation and ice microphysics on precipitation efficiency （PE） were investigated through analysis of modeling data of a torrential rainfall event over Jinan, China during July 2007. Vertical wind shear affected PE by changing the kinetic energy conversion between the mean and perturbation circulations. Clou^radiation interaction impacted upon PE, but the relationship related to cloud radiative effects on PE was not statistically significant. The reduction in deposition processes as- sociated with the removal of ice microphysics suppressed efficiency. The relationships related to effects of vertical wind shear, radiation and ice clouds on PEs defined in cloud and surface rainfall budgets were more statistically significant than that defined in the rain microphysical budget.

Revisiting the response of western North Pacific tropical cyclone intensity change to vertical wind shear in different directions

The effect of vertical wind shear(VWS)directions on the change in western North Pacific tropical cyclone(TC)intensity is revisited in this study.Results show that the differences in the correlations between VWS in different orientations and the change in TC nondimensional intensity highly diminish,although slight differences are still present.The subtle differences in the correlations are likely associated with different synoptic-scale patterns at upper and lower levels.This result suggests that,in addition to thermodynamic effects,dynamic roles of the synoptic-scale patterns associated with the VWS should also be taken into account when the authors examine how VWS in different directions affects TC intensity change.

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear on the Pre-Summer Heavy Rainfall Budget:A Cloud-Resolving Modeling Study

This study investigates the effects of vertical wind shear on the torrential rainfall response to the large-scale forcing using a rainfall separation analysis of a pair of two-dimensional cloud-resolving model sensitivity experiments for a pre-summer heavy rainfall event over southern China from 3-8 June 2008 coupled with National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)/Global Data Assimilation System(GDAS) data.The rainfall partitioning analysis based on the surface rainfall budget indicates that the exclusion of vertical wind shear decreases the contribution to total rainfall from the largest contributor,which is the rainfall associated with local atmospheric drying,water vapor divergence,and hydrometeor loss/convergence,through the reduction of the rainfall area and reduced rainfall during the rainfall event.The removal of vertical wind shear increases the contribution to total rainfall from the rainfall associated with local atmospheric drying,water vapor convergence,and hydrometeor loss/convergence through the expansion of the rainfall area and enhanced rainfall.The elimination of vertical wind shear enhances heavy rainfall and expands its area,whereas it reduces moderate rainfall and its area.

THE WAVE GROUPING EFFECT ON WAVE FORCES ON A VERTICAL BREAKWATER

Linear wave theory and Longuet-Higgins and Steward’s (1964) group-induced second-order longweve (GSLW) theory ware used in this study on the grouping effect on wave forces acting on a verticalbreakwater. The calculated variance of total wave pressure on the vertical breakwater was closer tothe measured value if the wave grouping effect was considered.

A NOVEL METHOD FOR CALCULATING VERTICAL VELOCITY:A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HORIZONTAL VORTICITY AND VERTICAL MOVEMENT

The present work provides a novel method for calculating vertical velocity based on continuity equations in a pressure coordinate system.The method overcomes the disadvantage of accumulation of calculating errors of horizontal divergence in current kinematics methods during the integration for calculating vertical velocity,and consequently avoids its subsequent correction.In addition,through modifications of the continuity equations,it shows that the vorticity of the vertical shear vector(VVSV) is proportional to-ω,the vertical velocity in p coordinates.Furthermore,if the change of ω in the horizontal direction is neglected,the vorticity of the horizontal vorticity vector is proportional to-ω.When ω is under a fluctuating state in the vertical direction,the updraft occurs when the vector of horizontal vorticity rotates counterclockwise;the downdraft occurs when rotating clockwise.The validation result indicates that the present method is generally better than the vertical velocity calculated by the ω equation using the wet Q-vector divergence as a forcing term,and the vertical velocity calculated by utilizing the kinematics method is followed by the O'Brien method for correction.The plus-minus sign of the vertical velocity obtained with this method is not correlated with the intensity of d BZ,but the absolute error increases when d BZ is >=40.This method demonstrates that it is a good reflection of the direction of the vertical velocity.

Influence of Vertical Motion on Initiation of Sediment Movement

This paper makes an attempt to answer why the observed critical Shields stress for incipient sediment motion deviates from the Shields curve. The measured dataset collected from literature show that the critical Shields stress widely deviates from the Shields diagram’s prediction. This paper has re-examined the possible mechanisms responsible for the validity of Shields’ diagram and found that, among many factors, the vertical velocity in the sediment layer plays a leading role for the invalidity of Shield’s prediction. A closer look of the positive/negative deviation reveals that they correspond to the up/downward vertical velocity, and the Shields diagram is valid only when flow is uniform. Therefore, this diagram needs to be modified to account for hydraulic environments when near bed vertical velocities are significant. A new theory for critical shear stress has been developed and a unified critical Shields stress for sediment transport has been established, which is valid to predict the critical shear stress of sediment in both uniform and nonuniform flows.

Tropical Cyclone Tilts Under Vertically Varying Background Flows:Preliminary Results Based upon TCM4 Simulations

The characteristics of tropical cyclone(TC) tilts under vertically varying background flows were preliminarily examined in this study based on numerical simulations with the Tropical Cyclone Model version 4(TCM4).The tilt magnitudes presented a linearly decreasing tendency in the simulation with the environmental wind speed vertically varying throughout the troposphere and in the simulation with the vertical wind shear concentrated in the lower troposphere,while the vortex tilt showed a linearly increasing tendency in magnitude in the simulation where the vertical shear was concentrated in the upper troposphere.The change in tilt magnitude was found to be related to the evolution of the penetration depth near the eyewall.When the shear was concentrated in the lower troposphere,the vortex tended to tilt downshear right during the early integration and underwent more precession processes.When the shear was concentrated in the upper troposphere,the vortex rapidly tilted downshear left during the early simulation and vortex precession was less frequently observed.The storms simulated in all experiments were finally in downshear-left tilt equilibrium.

Development of Asymmetric Convection in a Tropical Cyclone under Environmental Uniform Flow and Vertical Wind Shear

Idealized numerical simulations have been carried out to reveal the complexity in the development of asymmetric convection in a tropical cyclone(TC)under the influence of an environment with either uniform flow,vertical wind shear(VWS),or both.Results show that rainwater is enhanced to the right of the motion in the outer rainband,but such enhancement occurs in the upshear-left area of the inner-core region.Additionally,due to the asymmetries introduced by environmental flow,wavenumber-1 temperature and height anomalies develop at a radius of~1000 km in the upper levels.A sub-vortex aside from the TC center encompassing the wavenumber-1 warm center appears,and asymmetric horizontal winds emerge,which,in turn,changes the storm-scale(within 400 km)VWS.Deep convection in the inner core closely follows the changing storm-scale VWS when its magnitude is larger than 2 m s^(-1) and is located downshear of the storm-scale VWS in all the experiments with environmental flow.In the outer rainbands,the maximum boundary layer convergence is mainly controlled by the direction of motion and is located in the rear-right quadrant.These results extend upon the findings of previous studies in three aspects:(1)The discovery of the roughly linear combination effect from the uniform flow and large-scale VWS;(2)The development of upper-level asymmetric winds on a 1000-km scale through the interaction between the TC vortex and environmental flow,resulting in changes in the storm-scale VWS pattern within the TC area;(3)The revelation that TC asymmetric convection closely aligns with the direction-varying storm-scale VWS instead of the initially designated VWS.

Characteristics of the Outer Rainband Stratiform Sector in Numerically Simulated Tropical Cyclones:Lower-Layer Shear versus Upper-Layer Shear

Idealized numerical simulations are conducted in this study to comparatively investigate the characteristics of the stratiform sector in the outer rainbands of tropical cyclones(TCs)in lower-and upper-layer vertical wind shear(VWS)with moderate magnitude.Consistent with the results in previous studies,the outer rainband stratiform sector of the TCs simulated in both experiments is generally located downshear left.Upper-layer VWS tends to produce stronger asymmetric outflow at upper levels in the downshear-left quadrant than lower-layer shear.This stronger asymmetric outflow transports more water vapor radially outward from the inner core to the outer core at upper levels in the downshear-left quadrant in the upper-layer shear experiment.More depositional growth of both graupel and cloud ice thus occurs downshear left in upper layers in the outer core,yielding more diabatic heating and stronger upward motions,particularly in the stratiformdominated part of the stratiform sector in the upper-layer shear experiment.Resultingly,a better-organized stratiform sector in the outer rainbands is found in the upper-layer VWS experiment than in the lower-layer VWS experiment.The diabatic heating associated with the stratiform sector produces strong midlevel outflow on the radially inward side of,and weak midlevel inflow on the radially outward side of,the heating core,with lower-level inflow beneath the midlevel outflow and upper-level inflow above.The upper-layer VWS tends to produce a deeper asymmetric inflow layer in the outer rainband stratiform sector,with more significant lower-level inflow and tangential jets in the upper-layer VWS experiment.

Utilization of soil nailing technique to increase shear strength of cohesive soil and reduce settlement

This article deals with the assessment of the soil nailing technique with a vertical inclusion to improve the geotechnical parameters of cohesive soil. A series of unconfined compression tests and direct shear tests were carried out to establish the stressestrain relationship and strength characteristics of the reinforced clay sample by vertical steel nails. The shear strength performance of the new composite material was tested by varying the number of vertical inclusions, the embedment depth and the alignment radius. The results confirmed that the vertical bars/inclusions shared the vertical applied load with clay. Increase in the number of vertical inclusions significantly increases the shear strength and the stiffness with a remarkable reduction in settlement. When the clay samples were reinforced with six inclusions along the perimeter, the shear strength was increased to 231% for the embedment depth ratio equal to 0.85. To obtain the optimum effect in eliminating shear failure, the vertical inclusions should be extended to a deeper zone with sufficient numbers. It has been found that the vertical inclusions significantly influence the shear strength, and the brittle or general shear failure of the unreinforced sample can be diverted to partial/plastic shear failure.

Adiabatic Shear Localization for Steels Based on Johnson-Cook Model and Second-and Fourth-Order Gradient Plasticity Models

To consider the effects of the interactions and interplay among microstructures, gradient-dependent models of second- and fourth-order are included in the widely used phenomenological Johnson-Cook model where the effects of strain-hardening, strain rate sensitivity, and thermal-softening are successfully described. The various parameters for 1006 steel, 4340 steel and S-7 tool steel are assigned. The distributions and evolutions of the local plastic shear strain and deformation in adiabatic shear band （ASB） are predicted. The calculated results of the second- and fourth- order gradient plasticity models are compared. S-7 tool steel possesses the steepest profile of local plastic shear strain in ASB, whereas 1006 steel has the least profile. The peak local plastic shear strain in ASB for S-7 tool steel is slightly higher than that for 4340 steel and is higher than that for 1006 steel. The extent of the nonlinear distribution of the local plastic shear deformation in ASB is more apparent for the S-7 tool steel, whereas it is the least apparent for 1006 steel. In fourth-order gradient plasticity model, the profile of the local plastic shear strain in the middle of ASB has a pronounced plateau whose width decreases with increasing average plastic shear strain, leading to a shrink of the portion of linear distribution of the profile of the local plastic shear deformation. When compared with the sec- ond-order gradient plasticity model, the fourth-order gradient plasticity model shows a lower peak local plastic shear strain in ASB and a higher magnitude of plastic shear deformation at the top or base of ASB, which is due to wider ASB. The present numerical results of the second- and fourth-order gradient plasticity models are consistent with the previous numerical and experimental results at least qualitatively.

Climatology of Shear Line and Related Rainstorm over the Southern Yangtze River Valley Based on an Improved Intelligent Identification Method

Based on four reanalysis datasets including CMA-RA,ERA5,ERA-Interim,and FNL,this paper proposes an improved intelligent method for shear line identification by introducing a second-order zonal-wind shear.Climatic characteristics of shear lines and related rainstorms over the Southern Yangtze River Valley(SYRV)during the summers(June-August)from 2008 to 2018 are then analyzed by using two types of unsupervised machine learning algorithm,namely the t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding method(t-SNE)and the k-means clustering method.The results are as follows:(1)The reproducibility of the 850 hPa wind fields over the SYRV using China’s reanalysis product CMARA is superior to that of European and American products including ERA5,ERA-Interim,and FNL.(2)Theory and observations indicate that the introduction of a second-order zonal-wind shear criterion can effectively eliminate the continuous cyclonic curvature of the wind field and identify shear lines with significant discontinuities.(3)The occurrence frequency of shear lines appearing in the daytime and nighttime is almost equal,but the intensity and the accompanying rainstorm have a clear diurnal variation:they are significantly stronger during daytime than those at nighttime.(4)Half(47%)of the shear lines can cause short-duration rainstorms(≥20 mm(3h)^(-1)),and shear line rainstorms account for one-sixth(16%)of the total summer short-duration rainstorms.Rainstorms caused by shear lines are significantly stronger than that caused by other synoptic forcing.(5)Under the influence of stronger water vapor transport and barotropic instability,shear lines and related rainstorms in the north and middle of the SYRV are stronger than those in the south.