Auto-parametric resonance of a continuous-beam-bridge model under two-point periodic excitation:an experimental investigation and stability analysis

The auto-parametric resonance of a continuous-beam bridge model subjected to a two-point periodic excitation is experimentally and numerically investigated in this study.An auto-parametric resonance experiment of the test model is conducted to observe and measure the auto-parametric resonance of a continuous beam under a two-point excitation on columns.The parametric vibration equation is established for the test model using the finite-element method.The auto-parametric resonance stability of the structure is analyzed by using Newmark's method and the energy-growth exponent method.The effects of the phase difference of the two-point excitation on the stability boundaries of auto-parametric resonance are studied for the test model.Compared with the experiment,the numerical instability predictions of auto-parametric resonance are consistent with the test phenomena,and the numerical stability boundaries of auto-parametric resonance agree with the experimental ones.For a continuous beam bridge,when the ratio of multipoint excitation frequency(applied to the columns)to natural frequency of the continuous girder is approximately equal to 2,the continuous beam may undergo a strong auto-parametric resonance.Combined with the present experiment and analysis,a hypothesis of Volgograd Bridge's serpentine vibration is discussed.

Micro-destructive assessment of subgrade compaction quality using ultrasonic pulse velocity

The ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV)correlates significantly with the density and pore size of subgrade filling materials.This research conducts numerous Proctor and UPV tests to examine how moisture and rock content affect compaction quality.The study measures the changes in UPV across dry density and compaction characteristics.The compacted specimens exhibit distinct microstructures and mechanical properties along the dry and wet sides of the compaction curve,primarily influenced by internal water molecules.The maximum dry density exhibits a positive correlation with the rock content,while the optimal moisture content demonstrates an inverse relationship.As the rock content increases,the relative error of UPV measurement rises.The UPV follows a hump-shaped pattern with the initial moisture content.Three intelligent models are established to forecast dry density.The measure of UPV and PSO-BP-NN model quickly assesses compaction quality.

Effect of the sloping seabed on 3D soil-spudcan interaction using a material point-finite element(MPM-FEM)model

The sloping seabed affects the bearing capacity and failure mechanism of soil,which may compromise the stability and safety of offshore structures such as jack-up platforms.This paper employs a coupled model combining the material point method and finite element method(MPM-FEM)to analyze the impact of sloping seabeds on the three-dimensional soil-spudcan interaction.The MPM-FEM model implements the B¯approach to solve the challenge of volumetric locking due to the incompressibility constraints imposed by yield criterion.It is validated against the centrifuge results.The effects of sloping seabeds on penetration resistance,soil flow pattern,lateral response,stress distribution,and failure mechanism are discussed.The soil mainly undergoes overall failure when the ratio of penetration depth to spudcan diameter(i.e.D P/D)is between 0 and 0.25.As the slope angle increases,the soil on the side of lower slope is expelled further,resulting in an asymmetric stress distribution and a larger horizontal sliding force of soil.When D P/D increases to 0.75,the soil transitions to localized plastic flow failure,and the range of soil flow affected by the spudcan penetration decreases.The results show that,when the slope angle increases,the lateral displacement and stress distribution on the lower slope of a sloping seabed is significantly larger than that of a horizontal seabed,impacting the spudcan and surrounding soil behavior.The study suggests that the seabed slope significantly affects the range of soil flow and failure at shallow penetration,indicating that the slope angle should be taken into account in the design and installation of offshore jack-up rigs,particularly in areas with sloping seabeds.

The role of polyurethane foam compressible layer in the mechanical behaviour of multi-layer yielding supports for deep soft rock tunnels

The polyurethane foam(PU)compressible layer is a viable solution to the problem of damage to the secondary lining in squeezing tunnels.Nevertheless,the mechanical behaviour of the multi-layer yielding supports has not been thoroughly investigated.To fill this gap,large-scale model tests were conducted in this study.The synergistic load-bearing mechanics were analyzed using the convergenceconfinement method.Two types of multi-layer yielding supports with different thicknesses(2.5 cm,3.75 cm and 5 cm)of PU compressible layers were investigated respectively.Digital image correlation(DIC)analysis and acoustic emission(AE)techniques were used for detecting the deformation fields and damage evolution of the multi-layer yielding supports in real-time.Results indicated that the loaddisplacement relationship of the multi-layer yielding supports could be divided into the crack initiation,crack propagation,strain-hardening,and failure stages.Compared with those of the stiff support,the toughness,deformability and ultimate load of the yielding supports were increased by an average of 225%,61%and 32%,respectively.Additionally,the PU compressible layer is positioned between two primary linings to allow the yielding support to have greater mechanical properties.The analysis of the synergistic bearing effect suggested that the thickness of PU compressible layer and its location significantly affect the mechanical properties of the yielding supports.The use of yielding supports with a compressible layer positioned between the primary and secondary linings is recommended to mitigate the effects of high geo-stress in squeezing tunnels.

Environmental and Human Impacts of Lancang-Mekong Mainstem and Tributary Dams on China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam

The Lancang-Mekong River in China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam is the soul and heart of mainland Southeast Asia. Over 60 million people depend on the river and its tributaries for food, transportation, water, and other necessities of life. The river supports one of the world’s most diverse fisheries, second only to Brazil’s Amazon River. Lancang-Mekong and tributaries are already heavily dammed primarily in China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, with many more dams planned or under construction. Dams can worsen the impact of periodic droughts in the Lancang-Mekong basin and block the river’s “pulse effect” that spreads water and nutrients needed for fishing and farming onto the floodplains and delta. The headwaters of the Lancang are in China and its waters are considered a national resource. China regards the Lancang, Yangtze and Yellow rivers as a free resource rather than a shared resource. The primary difference between these rivers is the Lancang flows from China into and through other countries and not directly into a sea or ocean. China and Myanmar have not joined the Mekong River Commission (MRC) as full members but have been Dialogue Partners since 1996. Over the past thirty years, China’s Lancang policies and actions have reflected its national resource interests. China has actively engaged with individual transboundary countries at various levels including environmental, conservation, and economic agreements. The primary objective of this study is to assess the environmental and human impacts of all Lancang-Mekong mainstem and tributary dams and the plans by many countries for more hydropower utilizing the potential of the river as the continent’s energy lifeline. Future dams need to include fish ladders and navigation locks to reduce the environmental impacts on fish populations, natural resources, navigation, and livelihoods. Strengthening of international collaboration via the MRC or by individual or multiple country agreements to address Lancang-Mekong’s sustainable transboundary development goals is recommended. When new Lancang-Mekong and tributary dams are built within any of the transboundary watershed countries, additional communities will need to be resettled. Significant environmental and human impacts are observed. Steps will have to be taken by all the concerned countries to prevent these problems and to ensure that people’s livelihoods are restored after resettlement.

Hydraulic Modeling of A Curtain-Walled Dissipater by the Coupling of RANS and Boussinesq Equations

A hybrid numerical method for the hydraulic modeling of a curtain-walled dissipater of reflected waves from breakwaters is presented. In this method, a zonal approach that combines a nonlinear weakly dispersive wave (Boussinesq-type equation) method and a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method is used. The Boussinesq-type equation is solved in the far field to describe wave transformation in shallow water. The RANS method is used in die near field to resolve the turbulent boundary layer and vortex flows around the structure. Suitable matching conditions are enforced at the interface between the viscous and the Boussinesq region. The Coupled RANS and Boussinesq method successfully resolves the vortex characteristics of flow in the vicinity of the structure, while unexpected phenomena like wave re-reflection are effectively controlled by lengthening the Boussinesq region. Extensive results on hydraulic performance of a curtain-walled dissipater and the mechanism of dissipation of reflected waves are presented, providing a reference for minimization of die breadth of the water chamber and for determination of the submerged depth of the curtain wall.

Engineering property test of kaolin clay contaminated by diesel oil

Engineering property of kaolin clay contaminated by diesel oil was studied through a series of laboratory experiments.Oil contents(mass fraction) of 4%,8%,12%,16% and 20% were selected to represent different contamination degrees,and the soil specimens were manually prepared through mixing and static compaction method.Initial water content and dry density of the test kaolin clay were controlled at 10% and 1.58 g/cm^3,respectively.Test results indicate that since part of the diesel oil will be released from soil by evaporation,the real water content should be derived through calibration of the quasi water content obtained by traditional test method.As contamination degree of the kaolin clay increases,both liquid limit and plastic limit decrease,but there's only a slight increase for plasticity index.Swelling pressure of contaminated kaolin clay under confined condition will be lowered when oil-content gets higher.Unconfined compressive strength(UCS) of the oil-contaminated kaolin clay is influenced by not only oil content but also curing period.Increase of contamination degree will continually lower UCS of the kaolin clay specimen.In addition,electrical resistivity of the contaminated kaolin clay with given water content decreases with the increase of oil content.However,soil resistivity is in good relationship with oil content and UCS.Finally,oil content of 8% is found to be a critical value for engineering property of kaolin clay to transit from water-dominated towards oil-dominated characteristics.

Intelligent prediction of slope stability based on visual exploratory data analysis of 77 in situ cases

Slope stability prediction research is a complex non-linear system problem.In carrying out slope stability prediction work,it often encounters low accuracy of prediction models and blind data preprocessing.Based on 77 field cases,5 quantitative indicators are selected to improve the accuracy of prediction models for slope stability.These indicators include slope angle,slope height,internal friction angle,cohesion and unit weight of rock and soil.Potential data aggregation in the prediction of slope stability is analyzed and visualized based on Six-dimension reduction methods,namely principal components analysis(PCA),Kernel PCA,factor analysis(FA),independent component analysis(ICA),non-negative matrix factorization(NMF)and t-SNE(stochastic neighbor embedding).Combined with classic machine learning methods,7 prediction models for slope stability are established and their reliabilities are examined by random cross validation.Besides,the significance of each indicator in the prediction of slope stability is discussed using the coefficient of variation method.The research results show that dimension reduction is unnecessary for the data processing of prediction models established in this paper of slope stability.Random forest(RF),support vector machine(SVM)and k-nearest neighbour(KNN)achieve the best prediction accuracy,which is higher than 90%.The decision tree(DT)has better accuracy which is 86%.The most important factor influencing slope stability is slope height,while unit weight of rock and soil is the least significant.RF and SVM models have the best accuracy and superiority in slope stability prediction.The results provide a new approach toward slope stability prediction in geotechnical engineering.

Effects of anti-pull ties on the bearing behaviors of shallow tunnel-type anchorages in soft rock

Tunnel-type anchorages(TTAs)installed in human gathering areas are characterized by a shallow burial depth,and in many instances,they utilize soft rock as the bearing stratum.However,the stability control measures and the principle of shallow TTAs in soft rock have not been fully studied.Hence,a structure suitable for improving the stability of shallow TTAs in soft rock strata,named the anti-pull tie(APT),was added to the floor of the back face.Physical tests and numerical models were established to study the influence of the APT on the load transfer of TTAs,the mechanical response of the surrounding rock,the stress distribution of the interface,and the failure model.The mechanical characteristics of APTs were also studied.The results show that the ultimate bearing capacity of TTAs with an APT is increased by approximately 11.8%,as compared to the TTAs without an APT.Also,the bearing capacity of TTAs increases approximately linearly with increasing height,width,length,and quantity of APTs,and decreases approximately linearly with increasing distance from the back face and slope angle of the tie slope.The normal squeezing between the tie slope and the surrounding rock increases the shear resistance of the interface and expands the range of the surrounding rock participating in bearing sharing.Both tension and compression zones exist in the APT during loading.The tension zone extends from the tie toe to the tie bottom along the tie slope.The range of the tie body tension zone constantly expands to the deep part of the APT with an increasing load.The peak tensile stress value is located at the tie toe.The distribution of compressive stress in the tie body is the largest at the tie top,followed by the tie slope,and then the tie bottom.

Comparison of seismic fragility analysis methods for arch dams

This study focuses on the seismic fragility analysis of arch dams.The multiple stripe analysis(MSA),cloud analysis(CLA),and incremental dynamic analysis(IDA)methods are compared.A comprehensive dam-reservoir-foundation rock system,which considers the opening of contraction joints,the nonlinearity of dam concrete and foundation rock,the radiation damping effect of semi-unbounded foundation,and the compressibility of reservoir water,is used as a numerical example.225,80,and 15 earthquake records are selected for MSA,CLA,and IDA,respectively.The results show that MSA provides satisfactory fragility analysis,while both CLA and IDA have assumptions that may lead to deviations.Therefore,MSA is the most reliable method among the three methods and is recommended for the fragility analysis of arch dams.It is also shown that the choice of demand level affects the reliability of fragility curves and the effect of the material uncertainty on the fragility of the dam is not significant.

Pattern changes and early risk warning of Spartina alterniflora invasion:a study of mangrove-dominated wetlands in northeastern Fujian,China

The exotic saltmarsh cordgrass,Spartina alterniflora(Loisel)Peterson&Saarela,is one of the important causes for the extensive destruction of mangroves in China due to its invasive nature.The species has rapidly spread wildly across coastal wetlands,challenging resource managers for control of its further spread.An investigation of S.alterniflora invasion and associated ecological risk is urgent in China's coastal wetlands.In this study,an ecological risk invasive index system was developed based on the Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework.Predictions were made of'warning degrees':zero warning and light,moderate,strong,and extreme warning,by developing a back propagation(BP)artificial neural network model for coastal wetlands in eastern Fujian Province.Our results suggest that S.alterniflora mainly has invaded Kandelia candel beaches and farmlands with clustered distributions.An early warning indicator system assessed the ecological risk of the invasion and showed a ladder-like distribution from high to low extending from the urban area in the central inland region with changes spread to adjacent areas.Areas of light warning and extreme warning accounted for43%and 7%,respectively,suggesting the BP neural network model is reliable prediction of the ecological risk of S.alterniflora invasion.The model predicts that distribution pattern of this invasive species will change little in the next 10 years.However,the invaded patches will become relatively more concentrated without warning predicted.We suggest that human factors such as land use activities may partially determine changes in warning degree.Our results emphasize that an early warning system for S.alterniflora invasion in China's eastern coastal wetlands is significant,and comprehensive control measures are needed,particularly for K.candel beach.

Protection and exploration of the scientific potential of Chinese cavefish

The karst habitats of Southwest China contain the richest cavefish fauna in the world.However,many Chinese cavefish species are now at high risk of extinction.Chinese cavefish have evolved unusual traits,which are important for studying adaptive evolution and modeling human diseases.Here,we call on scientific research institutions to develop programs to conserve precious cavefish species and suggest international cooperation to promote research on cavefish in China.

Interaction Mechanisms between Natural Debris Flow and Rigid Barrier Deflectors:A New Perspective for Rational Design and Optimal Arrangement

Rigid barrier deflectors can effectively prevent overspilling landslides,and can satisfy disaster prevention requirements.However,the mechanisms of interaction between natural granular flow and rigid barrier deflectors require further investigation.To date,few studies have investigated the impact of deflectors on controlling viscous debris flows for geological disaster prevention.To investigate the effect of rigid barrier deflectors on impact mechanisms,a numerical model using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH)method with the Herschel–Bulkley model is proposed to simulate the interaction between natural viscous flow and single/dual barriers with and without deflectors.This model was validated using laboratory flume test data from the literature.Then,the model was used to investigate the influence of the deflector angle and multi-barrier arrangements.The optimal configuration of multi-barriers was analyzed with consideration to the barrier height and distance between the barriers,because these metrics have a significant impact on the viscous flow pile-up,run-up,and overflow mechanisms.The investigation considered the energy dissipation process,retention efficiency,and dead-zone formation.Compared with bare barriers with similar geometric characteristics and spatial distribution,rigid barriers with deflectors exhibit superior effectiveness in preventing the overflow and overspilling of viscous debris flow.Recommendations for the rational design of deflectors and the optimal arrangement of multi-barriers are provided to mitigate geological disasters.

堆石混凝土坝概述及下一代混凝土坝施工技术展望

Over the past few decades,one of the most significant advances in dam construction has been the inven-tion of the rock-filled concrete(RFC)dam,which is constructed by pouring high-performance self-compacting concrete(HSCC)to fill the voids in preplaced large rocks.The innovative use of large rocks in dam construction provides engineers with a material that requires less cement consumption and hydration heat while enhancing construction efficiency and environmental friendliness.However,two fundamental scientific issues related to RFC need to be addressed:namely,the pouring compactness and the effect of large rocks on the mechanical and physical properties of RFC.This article provides a timely review of fundamental research and innovations in the design,construction,and quality control of RFCdams.Prospects for next-generation concrete dams are discussed from the perspectives of envi-ronmental friendliness,intrinsic safety,and labor savings.

Analytical solutions for dynamic pressures of coupling fluid-solid-porous medium due to P wave incidence

Wave reflection and refraction in layered media is a topic closely related to seismology,acoustics,geophysics and earthquake engineering.Analytical solutions for wave reflection and refraction coefficients in multi-layered media subjected to P wave incidence from the elastic half-space are derived in terms of displacement potentials.The system is composed of ideal fluid,porous medium,and underlying elastic solid.By numerical examples,the effects of porous medium and the incident wave angle on the dynamic pressures of ideal fluid are analyzed.The results show that the existence of the porous medium,especially in the partially saturated case,may significantly affect the dynamic pressures of the overlying fluid.

The trend on runoff variations in the Lhasa River Basin

Taking the Lhasa River Basin above Lhasa hydrological station in Tibetan Plateau as a study area, the characteristics of the annual and monthly mean runoff during 1956-2003 were analyzed, based on the hydro-data of the two hydrological stations （Lhasa and Tanggya） and the meteorological data of the three meteorological stations （Damxung, Lhasa and Tanggya）. The trends and the change points of runoff and climate from 1956 to 2003 were detected using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and Pettitt-Mann-Whitney change-point statistics. The correlations between runoff and climate change were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The major results could be summarized as follows： （1） The annual mean runoff during the last 50 years is characterized by a great fluctuation and a positive trend with two change points （around 1970 and the early 1980s）, after which the runoff tended to increase and was increasing intensively in the last 20 years. Besides, the monthly mean runoff with a positive trend is centralized in winter half-year （November to April） and some other months （May, July and September）. （2） The trends of the climate change in the study area are generally consistent with the trend of the runoff, but the leading climate factors which aroused the runoff variation are distinct. Precipitation is the dominant factor influencing the annual and monthly mean runoff in summer half year, while temperature is the primary factor in winter season.

Numerical simulation of dynamic characteristics of a cable-stayed aqueduct bridge

In this paper, a full-scale 3-D finite element model of the Jundushan cable-stayed aqueduct bridge is established with ANSYS Code. The shell, fluid, tension-only spar and beam elements are used for modeling the aqueduct deck, filled water, cables and support towers, respectively. A multi-element cable formulation is introduced to simulate the cable vibration. The dry （without water） and wet （with water） modes of the aqueduct bridge are both extracted and investigated in detail. The dry modes of the aqueduct bridge are basically similar to those of highway cable-stayed bridges. A dry mode may correspond to two types of wet modes, which are called the in-phase （with lower frequency） and out-of-phase （with higher frequency） modes. When the water-structure system vibrates in the in-phase/out-of-phase modes, the aqueduct deck moves and water sloshes in the same/opposite phase-angle, and the sloshing water may take different surface-wave modes. The wet modes of the system reflect the properties of interaction among the deck, towers, cables and water. The in-phase wet frequency generally decreases as the water depth increases, and the out-of-phase wet frequency may increase or decrease as the water depth increases.

A modified method of discontinuity trace mapping using three-dimensional point clouds of rock mass surfaces

This paper presents an automated method for discontinuity trace mapping using three-dimensional point clouds of rock mass surfaces.Specifically,the method consists of five steps:(1)detection of trace feature points by normal tensor voting theory,(2)co ntraction of trace feature points,(3)connection of trace feature points,(4)linearization of trace segments,and(5)connection of trace segments.A sensitivity analysis was then conducted to identify the optimal parameters of the proposed method.Three field cases,a natural rock mass outcrop and two excavated rock tunnel surfaces,were analyzed using the proposed method to evaluate its validity and efficiency.The results show that the proposed method is more efficient and accurate than the traditional trace mapping method,and the efficiency enhancement is more robust as the number of feature points increases.

Comparison of satellite-estimated and model-forecasted rainfall data during a deadly debris-flow event in Zhouqu, Northwest China

The data of several rainfall products, including those estimated from satellite measurements and those forecasted via numerical weather modeling, for a severe debris-flow event in Zhouqu, Northwest China, are compared and analyzed in this paper. The satellite products, including CPC MORPHing technique（CMORPH）, TMPA-RT, and PERSIANN are all near-real-time retrieved with high temporal and spatial resolutions. The numerical weather model used in this paper for precipitation forecasting is WRF. The results show that all three satellite products can basically reproduce the rainfall pattern, distribution, timing, scale, and extreme values of the event, compared with gauge data. Their temporal and spatial correlation coefficients with gauge data are as high as about 0.6, which is statistically significant at 0.01 level. The performance of the forecasted results modeled with different spatial resolutions are not as good as the satellite-estimated results, although their correlation coefficients are still statistically significant at 0.05 level. From the total rainfall and extreme value time series for the domain, it is clear that, from the grid-to-grid perspective, the passive microwave-based CMORPH and TRMM products are more accurate than the infrared-based PERSIANN, while PERSIANN performs very well from the general point of view, especially when considering the whole domain or the whole convective precipitation system. The forecasted data — especially the highest resolution model domain data — are able to represent the total or mean precipitation very well in the research domain, while for extreme values the errors are large. This study suggests that satellite-retrieved and model-forecasted rainfall data are a useful complement to gauge data, especially for areas without gauge stations and areas not covered by weather radars.

Impact assessment of climate change and human activities on annual highest water level of Taihu Lake

The annual highest water level of Taihu Lake （Zm） is very significant for flood management in the Taihu Basin. This paper first describes the inter-annual and intra-annual traits of Zm from 1956 to 2000. Then, using the Mann-Kenall （MK） and Spearman （SP） nonparametric tests, the long-term change trends of area precipitation and pan evaporation in the Taihu Basin are determined. Meanwhile, using the Morlet wavelet transformation, the fluctuation patterns and change points of precipitation and pan evaporation are analyzed. Also, human activities in the Taihu Basin are described, including land use change and hydraulic project construction. Finally, the relationship between Zm, the water level of Taihu Lake 30 days prior to the day of Zm （Z0）, and the 30-day total precipitation and pan evaporation prior to the day of Zm （P and E0, respectively） is described based on multi-linear regression equations. The relative influence of climate change and human activities on the change of Zm is quantitatively ascertained. The results demonstrate that： （1） Zm was distinctly higher during the 1980-2000 period than during the 1956-1979 period, and the 30 days prior to the day of Zm are the key phase influencing Zm every year; （2） P increased significantly at a confidence level of 95% during the 1956-2000 period, while the reverse was true for E0; （3） The relationship between Zm, P and E0 distinctly changed after 1980; （4） Climate change and human activities together caused frequent occurrences of high Zm after 1980; （5） Climate change caused a substantially greater Zm difference between the 1956-1979 and 1980-2000 periods than human activities. Climate change, as represented by P and E0, was the dominant factor raising Zm, with a relative influence ratio of 83.6%, while human activities had a smaller influence ratio of 16.4%.