Identification of acceleration pulses in near-fault ground motion using the EMD method

In this paper, response spectral characteristics of one-, two-, and three-lobe sinusoidal acceleration pulses are investigated, and some of their basic properties are derived. Furthermore, the empirical mode decomposition （EMD） method is utilized as an adaptive filter to decompose the near-fault pulse-like ground motions, which were recorded during the September 20, 1999, Chi-Chi earthquake. These ground motions contain distinct velocity pulses, and were decomposed into high-frequency （HF） and low-frequency （LF） components, from which the corresponding HF acceleration pulse （if existing） and LF acceleration pulse could be easily identified and detected. Finally, the identified acceleration pulses are modeled by simplified sinusoidal approximations, whose dynamic behaviors are compared to those of the original acceleration pulses as well as to those of the original HF and LF acceleration components in the context of elastic response spectra. It was demonstrated that it is just the acceleration pulses contained in the near-fault pulse-like ground motion that fundamentally dominate the special impulsive dynamic behaviors of such motion in an engineering sense. The motion thus has a greater potential to cause severe damage than the far-field ground motions, i.e. they impose high base shear demands on engineering structures as well as placing very high deformation demands on long-period structures.

Near-fault ground motions with prominent acceleration pulses:pulse characteristics and ductility demand

Major earthquakes of last 15 years （e.g., Northridge 1994, Kobe 1995 and Chi-Chi 1999） have shown that many near-fault ground motions possess prominent acceleration pulses. Some of the prominent ground acceleration pulses are related to large ground velocity pulses, others are caused by mechanisms that are totally different from those causing the velocity pulses or fling steps. Various efforts to model acceleration pulses have been reported in the literature. In this paper, research results from a recent study of acceleration pulse prominent ground motions and an analysis of structural damage induced by acceleration pulses are summarized. The main results of the study include： （1） temporal characteristics of acceleration pulses; （2） ductility demand spectrum of simple acceleration pulses with respect to equivalent classes of dynamic systems and pulse characteristic parameters; and （3） estimation of fundamental period change under the excitation of strong acceleration pulses. By using the acceleration pulse induced linear acceleration spectrum and the ductility demand spectrum, a simple procedure has been developed to estimate the ductility demand and the fundamental period change of a reinforced concrete （RC） structure under the impact of a strong acceleration pulse.

Laser Wakefield Acceleration Using Mid-Infrared Laser Pulses

We study a laser wakefield acceleration driven by mid-infrared （mid-IR） laser pulses through two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Since a mid-IR laser pulse can deliver a larger ponderomotive force as compared with the usual 0.8 μm wavelength laser pulse, it is found that electron self-injection into the wake wave occurs at an earlier time, the plasma density threshold for injection becomes lower, and the electron beam charge is substantially enhanced. Meanwhile, our study also shows that quasimonoenergetic electron beams with a narrow energy-spread can be generated by using mid-IR laser pulses. Such a mid-IR laser pulse can provide a feasible method for obtaining a high quality and high charge electron beam. Therefore, the current efforts on constructing mid-IR terawatt laser systems can greatly benefit the laser wakefield acceleration research.

Effects of Three Typical Resistivity Models on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Acceleration Modeling

The effects of three different typical resistivity models（Spitzer, Z＆L and M＆G） on the performance of pulsed inductive acceleration plasma are studied. Numerical results show that their influences decrease with the increase of the plasma temperature. The significant discriminations among them appear at the plasma temperature lower than 2.5 eV, and the maximum gap of the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is approximately 2.5%.Moreover, the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is absolutely related to the dynamic impedance parameters, such as voltage, inductance, capacitance and flow rate. However, the distribution of the efficiency as a function of plasma temperature with three resistivity models has nothing to do with the dynamic impedance parameter.

Acceleration and radiation of externally injected electrons in laser plasma wakefield driven by a Laguerre-Gaussian pulse

By using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, externally injected electron beam acceleration and radiation in donut-like wake fields driven by a Laguerre-Gaussian pulse are investigated. Studies show that in the acceleration process the total charge and azimuthal momenta of electrons can be stably maintained at a distance of a few hundreds of micrometers. Electrons experience low-frequency spiral rotation and high-frequency betatron oscillation, which leads to a synchrotron-like radiation. The radiation spectrum is mainly determined by the betatron motion of electrons. The far field distribution of radiation intensity shows axial symmetry due to the uniform transverse injection and spiral rotation of electrons. Our studies suggest a new way to simultaneously generate hollow electron beam and radiation source from a compact laser plasma accelerator.

Conceptual design of a 15-TW pulsed-power accelerator for high-energy-densityephysics experiments

We have developed a conceptual design of a 15-TW pulsed-power accelerator based on the linear-transformer-driver(LTD)architecture described by Stygar[W.A.Stygar et al.,Phys.Rev.ST Accel.Beams 18,110401(2015)].The driver will allow multiple,high-energy-density experiments per day in a university environment and,at the same time,will enable both fundamental and integrated experiments that are scalable to larger facilities.In this design,many individual energy storage units(bricks),each composed of two capacitors and one switch,directly drive the target load without additional pulse compression.Ten LTD modules in parallel drive the load.Each module consists of 16 LTD cavities connected in series,where each cavity is powered by 22 bricks connected in parallel.This design stores up to 2.75 MJ and delivers up to 15 TW in 100 ns to the constant-impedance,water-insulated radial transmission lines.The transmission lines in turn deliver a peak current as high as 12.5 MA to the physics load.To maximize its experimental value and flexibility,the accelerator is coupled to a modern,multibeam laser facility(four beams with up to 5 kJ in 10 ns and one beam with up to 2.6 kJ in 100 ps or less)that can provide auxiliary heating of the physics load.The lasers also enable advanced diagnostic techniques such as X-ray Thomson scattering and multiframe and three-dimensional radiography.The coupled accelerator-laser facility will be the first of its kind and be capable of conducting unprecedented high-energy-densityephysics experiments.

Characteristics of an Accelerated Transverse Mechanical Pulse and Its Implications

In this report, two nontraditional mechanical wave-related issues are addressed. 1) Customary, for practical reasons the characteristics of the sinusoidal pulses progressing at a constant speed only is considered. And 2) the literature search shows that there has been no interest in exploring the characteristics of the pulses in a curvilinear two-dimensional space. By relaxing the first restriction we consider a scenario that which a mechanical pulse progresses with variable speed, specifically at a constant acceleration. We develop its equation of motion conducive to a homogenous linear partial differential equation with variable coefficients then we apply it to a practical problem. To address the 2nd point we depict a circular orbital embodying two Gaussian pulses circulating in opposite directions. Utilizing a Computer Algebra System (CAS), Mathematica, we develop animations visually easing the comprehension of the issues on hand.

E-field measurement of a pulse line ion accelerator

The E-field of pulse line ion accelerator （PLIA） is unique with high frequency （~MHz）, large magni- tude （~MV/m）, and limited measuring space （~cm）. The integrated optical E-field sensor （IOES） has remarkable advantages and has been used for PLIA E-field measurement. Firstly, the transfer function of the IOES has been calibrated to ensure measurement accuracy. The time-domain response illustrates that the sensor has a fast dynamic performance to effectively follow a 4 ns rising edge. Then, the E-field distribution along the axis and near the insula- tor surface of the PLIA was measured, showing that propagation of the E-field is almost lossless and the E-field near the insulation surface is about 1.1 times larger than that along the axis, which is in accordance with the simulation result.