Seismic performance evaluation of steel frame-steel plate shear walls system based on the capacity spectrum method

This paper presents some methods that the standard acceleration design response spectra derived from the present China code for seismic design of buildings are transformed into the seismic demand spectra, and that the base shear force-roof displacement curve of structure is converted to the capacity spectrum of an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom （SDOF） system. The capacity spectrum method （CSM） is programmed by means of MATLABT.0 computer language. A dual lateral force resisting system of 10-story steel frame-steel plate shear walls （SPSW） is designed according to the corresponding China design codes. The base shear force-roof displacement curve of structure subjected to the monotonic increasing lateral inverse triangular load is obtained by applying the equivalent strip model to stimulate SPSW and by using the finite element analysis software SAP2000 to make Pushover analysis. The seismic performance of this dual system subjected to three different conditions, i.e. the 8-intensity frequently occurred earthquake, fortification earthquake and seldom occurred earthquake, is evaluated by CSM program. The excessive safety of steel frame-SPSW system designed according to the present China design codes is pointed out and a new design method is suggested.

Simplified stiffness-based approach for seismic performance evaluation of moment-resisting frame

Based on the concept of stiffness degradation, a damage index of the whole frame and the storey is proposed for the frame seismic performance evaluation. The index is compatible with the non-linear static analysis （e. g. the pushover analysis）, and the structural damage is considered via plastic hinges. Simultaneously, a practical approach is developed to obtain the relationships between the proposed index and earthquake intensities based on the capacity spectrum method. The proposed index is then illustrated through two low-rise reinforced concrete frames, and it is also compared with some other indices. The results indicate that the proposed index is on the safe side and not sensitive to the lateral load pattern. The storey index is helpful to reflect the storey damage and to uncover the position of the weak storey. Finally, the relationship between performance levels and damage index values is also proposed through statistical analysis for the performance-based seismic evaluation.

Dynamical analysis and performance evaluation of a biped robot under multi-source random disturbances

During bipedal walking,it is critical to detect and adjust the robot postures by feedback control to maintain its normal state amidst multi-source random disturbances arising from some unavoidable uncertain factors.The radical basis function（RBF）neural network model of a five-link biped robot is established,and two certain disturbances and a randomly uncertain disturbance are then mixed with the optimal torques in the network model to study the performance of the biped robot by several evaluation indices and a specific Poincar′e map.In contrast with the simulations,the response varies as desired under optimal inputting while the output is fluctuating in the situation of disturbance driving.Simulation results from noise inputting also show that the dynamics of the robot is less sensitive to the disturbance of knee joint input of the swing leg than those of the other three joints,the response errors of the biped will be increasing with higher disturbance levels,and especially there are larger output fluctuations in the knee and hip joints of the swing leg.

Eco-city Planning and Practices from the Perspective of Environmental Performance Evaluation

By reviewing researches on environmental performance evaluation of current eco-city construction, this paper analyzed characteristics and deficiencies of the evaluation methods and index systems, and took Haizhu Eco-city for example to assess the environmental performance of eco-city construction from the perspectives of land, water environment, regional weather, and biodiversity. On this basis, a scientific, objective and feasible evaluation method and index system was basically formed so as to demonstrate the efficiency of eco-city construction, and to provide scientific support for the dynamic adjustment and optimization of eco-city construction.

Study on Air-Purifying Performance of Semi-Flexible Asphalt Samples Coated with Titanium Dioxide Using Different Methods

Titanium dioxide(TiO_(2))was recently employed to apply onto road surfaces to degrade the harmful compounds from vehicle emissions.However,it remains a challenging task to find a highly compatible pavement type for TiO_(2)application to achieve durable and efficient air-purifying performance.This study proposed to coat TiO_(2)particles onto semi-flexible pavement surface and tried to investigate an optimum coating method.Three coating methods,including direct mixing TiO_(2)(MT)with asphalt mixture,spraying dry TiO_(2)(ST)coating and watersolution-based TiO_(2)(WT)coating on semi-flexible pavement surface.To achieve this objective,semi-flexible samples were prepared to evaluate and compare the performances of three coating methods by employing resistance to wearing,NO removal efficiency tests and residual texture depth tests.It was found that the ST method not only provided better NO degrading efficiency but also improved the resistance to wearing than the other two methods.

Toughness improvement mechanism and evaluation of cement concrete for road pavement:A review

Traditional cement concrete has the disadvantages of low tensile strength,poor toughness,and rapid development of cracks while cracking,which causes a significantly negative influence on the safety and durability of concrete road pavement.This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of toughness improvement mechanisms and evaluation methods of cement concrete for road pavement.The review indicates that(i)The performance of concrete material depends on its material composition and internal structure.Aggregate size,cement properties and admixtures are the main factors of concrete toughness.(ii)The incorporation of rubber or fiber in pavement concrete improves the toughness of concrete materials.However,these additions must be maintained within a reasonable range.The amount of rubber and fiber are encouraged not more than 30%of the volume of fine aggregate and 2%of the volume of concrete,respectively.(iii)The toughness of pavement concrete material includes the toughness regarding bending,impact and fracture.The toughness of cement concrete for highway and municipal pavement is generally evaluated by bending and fracture toughness,while the toughness of airfield pavement concrete is more focused on impact toughness.(iv)The toughening measures of cement concrete for road pavement are mainly mixed with rubber or fiber,while these two materials have their defects,and the application of hightoughness cement concrete in the actual road still faces many challenges.For example,the synergistic effect of rubber and fiber,the development and application of new flexible admixtures,and the formulation of the toughness index of pavement cement concrete materials need further research.

An Overview Study of Performance Evaluation of Intellectual Property Administrative and Judicial Protection in China

Whether IP Administrative and judicial Protection in China is good or bad depends on the evaluation of protection effects of administrative and judicial organs. In China the evaluation system of IP protection performance consists of evaluation principles, evaluation elements and evaluation methods, evaluation principles includes the principle of designing two sets of indicators, the principle of closely linking with China＇ s national intellectual property strategy, the principle of openness and flexibility of performance evaluation indicators,the principle of standardability of the determination of performance evaluation indicators; evaluation elements consist of evaluator, evaluation tools and objects evaluated; evaluation methods here refers to the Delphi method and the method of network questionary survey.

Efficient structural seismic performance evaluation method using improved endurance time analysis

Evaluation of structural performance under seismic excitations from low intensity to high intensity is essential to verify the seismic resistant capacity of a structure, and usually carried out by the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method or pushover method. The recently developed endurance time (ET) method is another method that uses dynamic pushover excitations, i.e., endurance time acceleration function, to obtain results similar to those obtained by IDA or pushover methods with low computational cost and acceptable accuracy. This study proposes an improvement on the ET method by considering more restrictions for both the elastic and inelastic response spectra in the generation procedure, and by specifying a target duration. Four reinforced concrete frame structures with 4, 8, 12, and 16 stories are adopted to verify the accuracy of the improved method. Comparison of the results obtained by the proposed method, the ET method and the IDA method shows that the improved method has a higher accuracy than the ET method. For evaluation of structural responses under specifi c ground motion intensity, which is typically required in seismic design codes, the results obtained by the proposed method are compared with fi ve commonly used ground motion selection methods, and shows the proposed method provides acceptable accuracy for engineering applications.

Coupling methods of global climate models and regional climate models

The future climate dynamical downscaling method is that output of general circulation models( GCMs) is employed to provide initial conditions,lateral boundary conditions,sea surface temperatures,and initial land surface conditions to regional climate models( RCMs). There are two methods of downscaling: offline coupling and online coupling. The two kinds of coupling methods are described in detail by coupling the Weather Research and Forecasting model( WRF) with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences Atmospheric General Circulation Model Version 4. 0( IAP AGCM4. 0) in the study. And the extreme precipitation event over Beijing on July 212012 is simulated by using the two coupling methods. Results show that online coupling method is of great value in improving the model simulation. Furthermore,the data exchange frequency of online coupling has some effect on simulation result.

Comparative evaluation of concrete sand-control fences used for railway protection in strong wind areas

Concrete-plate fences have been widely adopted for windblown sand control and mitigation along railways.However,the inclination angles of inserting the concrete plate with respect to the vertical direction,i.e.,straight or obliquely inserted concrete plates(SIP or OIP),significantly influence the efficiency of sand-control.This study performs a comparative evaluation of the SIP and OIP sand-control fences using wind tunnel testing and field monitoring data collected from the Lanzhou–Wulumuqi High-Speed Railway Project.The results show that the fence’s ability to reduce the wind speed and the sand-retaining efficiency gradually weakens with the increasing wind speed.Compared with the SIP fence,the OIP fence has a better wind speed reduction capability,stronger ability to capture fine particles below the top of the fence;it is more efficient for sand-retaining and induces stronger eddy intensity.Generally,the wind tunnel test and field monitoring results are consistent,whereas wind tunnel tests incline to overestimate wind speed reduction and sand-control efficiency.The study also finds that the aeolian sand accumulated around the fence can weaken the protection efficiency,and hence cleaning the aeolian sand accumulated around the fence should be done periodically to ensure the designed functions.

A Two-stage Tuning Method of Servo Parameters for Feed Drives in Machine Tools

Based on the evaluation of dynamic performance for feed drives in machine tools, this paper presents a two-stage tuning method of servo parameters. In the first stage, the evaluation of dynamic performance, parameter tuning and optimization on a mechatronic integrated system simulation platform of feed drives are performed. As a result, a servo parameter combination is acquired. In the second stage, the servo parameter combination from the first stage is set and tuned further in a real machine tool whose dynamic performance is measured and evaluated using the cross grid encoder developed by Heidenhain GmbH. A case study shows that this method simplifies the test process effectively and results in a good dynamic performance in a real machine tool.

Performance Comparisons of Programs in Different Programming Languages Converted from Legacy Finite Element Codes

The FORTRAN programming language was used in early days of writing finite element field computation to write programs Much of those codes were developed in an ad hoc way. Today, modem software developers face problems in understanding, modifying and utilizing those codes. As modem software engineers are very concerned with object oriented design, if those codes are converted into an object oriented language, they could be redesigned and deployed in an object oriented system. Those legacy codes often need to be converted not only into an object oriented programming language such as Java but also into functional oriented languages such as C. Conversion of those legacy codes into modem languages gives many advantages. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performances of such converted legacy finite element codes originally written in FORTRAN, the relevant converted C program and Java program. Sample finite element programs written in FORTRAN are converted for purposes of comparison into modem languages such as C and Java. Performances are compared based on the execution time. In addition to that, the memory sizes of the execution file of FORTRAN and C programs are also compared. Java being interpretive there is no execution file to compare.

Assessing green management performance of industrial enterprise:A case study of BH Petrochemical Co.,Ltd at the high-efficiency ecological economic zone of the Yellow River Delta

This paper puts forward the connotation of enterprise green management and green management performance evaluation,analyzes the characteristics of enterprise green management performance evaluation and decomposes its content.Using the triple performance method,the paper constructs the performance evaluation index system of enterprise green management.Taking BH Petrochemical Co.,Ltd.at the high-efficiency ecological economic zone of the Yellow River Delta as an example,by using analytic hierarchy process(AHP)and Matlab programming,this paper determines the weight of each index in the enterprise green management performance evaluation index system,the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate the green management performance evaluation of industrial enterprises.The results show that the performance evaluation index system of enterprise green management constructed by"triple performance method"has important theoretical significance and application value for evaluating and guiding enterprises to strengthen their green management.

Determination of Physiological Biochemical Parameters and Reproductive Performance in Transgenic sFat-1 Gene Pigs

[Objective] The aim was to evaluate the health of transgenic sFat-1 gene pigs in order to provide a reference for the breeding selection of pig excellent individuals. [Method] 15 physiological biochemical parameters and reproductive performances of 21 negative control pigs and 20 transgenic sFat-1 gene pigs were determined. [Result] The liver functions of some transgenic sFat-1 gene pigs were hurted lightly,and the reproductive performance also decreased lightly. [Conclusion] The determination of physiological biochemical parameters and reproductive performance in transgenic pigs could be taken as one of effective methods in environmental safety evaluation of transgenic pigs.

Design of dense gap-graded friction course mixture

The design procedure of a dense gap-graded friction course（DGGFC） with coarse aggregate void filling method is presented. Testing results show that a DGGFC mixture possesses a dense stone-matrix structure, good stability and almost the same texture depth as stone matrix asphalt （SMA）. It also has a coarse and even surface after paving and has no separation during construction. It is durable and impermeable. It balances and improves the inherent inconsistency of asphalt mixture between the large texture depth for skid resistance and the impermeability for durability. The actual application in the Nanning-Liuzhou Expressway also shows that the performance of the DGGFC is as excellent as that of SMA, while the DGGFC mixture is cheaper than SMA. The DGGFC mixture is good for wearing course of pavement. Further research on DGGFC can be helpful for improving the surface skid resistance, prolonging the life-span period and reducing the construction costs of asphalt pavement.

Investigation of indoor and field tests on asphalt pavement with inverted asphalt layers based on the vertical vibration compaction method

An inverted asphalt pavement is created by reversing the sequence of the lower and middle layers in a conventional asphalt pavement. The lower layer is composed of material with larger particle size and lower asphalt content, which improves its ability to withstand deformation caused by rutting. On the other hand, the middle surface has a higher asphalt content, specifically designed to resist fatigue cracking. This paper examines the mechanical response of two pavement structures and investigates the potential of two measures, inverted asphalt pavement and asphalt mixture design by vertical vibration compaction method(VVCM), in reducing stresses and stress levels in asphalt pavements. Additionally, a large thickness rutting and fatigue test method was developed to study the rutting resistance and fatigue life of the pavement structures, and to construct rutting deformation and fatigue life prediction models. Finally, test sections were paved to verify the feasibility of the inverted pavement and VVCM materials. The findings show that inverted pavement and VVCM materials have a minimal impact on pavement stress, but can reduce pavement shear and tensile stress levels by up to 18%–25%.Furthermore, inverted pavement and VVCM materials have positive effects on improving the rutting resistance and fatigue life of asphalt pavements.

Blade Shape Optimization of Liquid Turbine Flow Sensor

Based on the characteristic curve analysis, the method using D(K^2) square difference of meter factor at different flow rates was developed to evaluate the performance of turbine flow sensor in this study. Then according to the distribution of entrance velocity, it was supposed that reducing the blade area near the tip could decrease the linearity error of a sensor. Therefore, the influence of different blade shape parameters on the performance of the sensor was investigated by combining computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation with experimental test. The experimental results showed that, for the liquid turbine flow sensor with a diameter of 10 mm, the linearity error was smallest, and the performance of sensor was optimal when blade shape parameter equaled 0.25.

A Comparative Study of Ionospheric Correction on SAR Interferometry—A Case Study of L’Aquila Earthquake

Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry(InSAR)has shown its potential on seismic deformation monitoring since it can achieve the accuracy of centimeter level or even the millimeter level.However,the irregular varieties of ionosphere can induce the additional phase delay on SAR interferometry,restricting its further application in high-precision deformation monitoring.Although several methods have been proposed to correct the ionospheric phase delay on SAR interferometry,the performances of them haven't been evaluated and compared.In this study,three commonly used methods,including polynomial fitting,azimuth offset and split-spectrum are applied to L'Aquila Earthquake to correct the ionospheric phase delay on two Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar(PALSAR)onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-1(ALOS-1)images.The result indicates that these three methods can effectively correct the ionospheric phase delay error for SAR interferometry,where the standard deviations of the ionosphere-corrected results have decreased by almost a factor of 1.8 times for polynomial fitting method,4.2 times for azimuth offset method and 2.5 times for split-spectrum method,compared to those of the original phase.Furthermore,the result of the sliding distribution inversion of the seismic fault shows the best performance for split-spectrum method.

Low temperature cracking behavior of asphalt binders and mixtures: A review

Low temperature cracking(LTC)distress on pavement seriously affects road life.This paper finished a literature review of the research on the mechanism of LTC of asphalt composites(asphalt composites refers to asphalt binder and asphalt mixture in this article),test methods,factors contributing to LTC,measures to prevent and control the distress,and prediction of LTC in asphalt pavements.The following conclusions were obtained:the cracking mechanism of asphalt mixtures needs to be further revealed by means of simulation at the micro level,the BBR and 4 mm plate test(by DSR)methods are currently optimal,and a correlation between asphalt and asphalt mixture evaluation indexes needs to be established.Sensitivity analyses are needed for the factors affecting LTC of asphalt mixtures.It is necessary to calculate the contribution of each factor to the LTC of asphalt mixtures.The aim is to propose targeted improvement measures for the most unfavourable factors,as well as to carry out research and development of key materials for anti-cracking.Measures for the prevention and control of LTC of asphalt pavement are analyzed and discussed.Existing researches on the prediction of LTC of asphalt pavements is discussed.It is necessary to analyse the mechanical response of asphalt pavement,the damage process and the sensitivity of anti-cracking parameters on the basis of considering the complex geometrical characteristics and material properties of asphalt pavement materials.Finally,the mechanism of LTC,evaluation methods,factors influencing LTC,and remedial measures for asphalt composites were summarized,and future research prospects were suggested.This paper provides theoretical support for the further solution of LTC distress of asphalt pavement,which is effective on the improvement of pavement life.

Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation: A Review

With the rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves, it is feared that the world will soon run out of its energy resources. This is a matter of concern for developing countries whose economy heavily leans on its use of energy. Under the circums-tances it is highly desirable that renewable energy resources should be utilized with maximum conversion efficiency to cope with the ever increasing energy demand. Furthermore, the global economic and political conditions that tend to make countries more dependent on their own energy resources have caused growing interest in the development and use of renewable energy based technologies. In terms of its environmental advantages, renewable energy sources generate electricity with insignificant contribution of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere and they produce no pollutant discharge on water or soil and hence power generation from renewable becomes very important. Major types of renewable energy sources include solar, wind, hydro and biomass, all of which have huge potential to meet future energy challenges. Solar photovoltaic technology in one of the first among several renewable energy technologies that have been adopted worldwide for meeting the basic needs of electricity particularly in remote areas. In this paper literature review pertaining to techno-economic feasibility analysis of solar photovoltaic power generation is discussed. The literature is basically classified into the following three main category design methods, techno-economic feasibility of solar photovoltaic power generation, performance evaluations of various systems.