REPORT ON DAMAGE TO INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES IN THE 1999 KOCAELI EARTHQUAKE,TURKEY

The author got a chance to visit Turkey for investigating the damage of industrial facilities in the 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake which occurred on 17 August 1999 in the Kocaeli province of Turkey.

This report provides a brief investigation obtained through the seismic damage survey, particularly, focused on the damages to industrial facilities. The epicentral area in the Kocaeli province is the most industrial region of Turkey. Severe excitation attacked this region and industrial plants and structures were more or less damaged. Since the author could only visit a few sites, the report mainly describes the damages of two plants; TÜPRA? oil refinery where big fire occurred and TOYOTA-SA car manufacturing factory where no significant damage appeared.     

INTEGRATED PASSIVE-ACTIVE SYSTEM FOR SEISMIC PROTECTION OF A CABLE-STAYED BRIDGE

This paper presents an integrated passive-active (i.e. hybrid) system for seismic response control of a cable-stayed bridge. Since multiple control devices are operating, a hybrid control system could alleviate some of the restrictions and limitations that exist when each system is acting alone. Lead rubber bearings are used as passive control devices to reduce the earthquake-induced forces in the bridge and hydraulic actuators are used as active control devices to further reduce the bridge responses, especially deck displacements. In the proposed hybrid control system, a linear quadratic Gaussian control algorithm is adopted as a primary controller. In addition, a secondary bang-bang type (i.e. on-off type) controller according to the responses of lead rubber bearings is considered to increase the controller robustness. Numerical simulation results show that control performances of the integrated passive-active control system are superior to those of the passive control system and are slightly better than those of the fully active control system. Furthermore, it is verified that the hybrid control system with a bang-bang type controller is more robust for stiffness perturbation than the active controller with a μ-synthesis method, and there are no signs of instability in the over-all system whereas the active control system with linear quadratic Gaussian algorithm shows instabilities in the perturbed system. Therefore, the proposed hybrid protective system could effectively be used for seismically excited cable-stayed bridges.     

EFFECT OF SOIL-STRUCTURE INTERACTION ON SEISMICALLY ISOLATED BRIDGES

The objective of this study is two-fold: first, to assess the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the response of seismically isolated bridge piers and, second, to develop a method that considers SSI and can be easily applied to the preliminary design of bridges. Emphasis is given on pier behaviour, because piers together with the abutments are the most critical components of a bridge with a high potential for concentration of ductility demands during earthquakes. The relative importance that several parameters of the bridge-isolators-soil system play on design is examined. Conclusions and suggestions that can lead to safer and more economical isolated pier design are also presented. Cases in which SSI needs to be incorporated in seismically isolated bridge design are identified and ways to take advantage of SSI in order to enhance safety level and reduce design costs are recommended.     

INFLUENCE OF CAPACITY DESIGN METHOD ON THE SEISMIC RESPONSE OF R/C COLUMNS

Abstract

This paper aims at assessing the influence of the design procedure followed in designing the columns of a reinforced concrete (R/C) building on the performance of the columns, aa well as of the structure as a whole, when subjected to seismic loading; to identify potential weaknesses in currently adopted procedures; and to present a new procedure which is based on currently-available, powerful analytical tools, and results in increased reliability with regard to seismic loading. Two case studies are presented, involving multistorey reinforced concrete buildings with frame and dual structural systems subjected to various appropriately-scaled input accelerograms. The results obtained indicate that capacity design of columns results in adequate safety margins against failure, even when the adopted overstrength factors are quite low, but hinging in columns is not avoided unless very high overstrength factors are used. The suggested novel technique of capacity design led to very satisfactory seismic performance, and offers the possibility of cost reduction by achieving an appropriate balance between provided flexural strength and corresponding confinement.     

ANALYTICAL MODELS FOR BRICK MASONRY INFILLED R/C FRAMES UNDER LATERAL LOADING

Proposed in this paper are two analytical models for predicting the inelastic response of unreinforced brick masonry infills in reinforced concrete frames subjected to mono-tonic and reversed cyclic loading. The first model is based on the traditional diagonal strut concept, while the second one is a simple isoparametric element with shear deformation only. All the essential characteristics of the hysteretic behaviour of the panel, including strength and stiffness degradation, pinching and slippage, are explicitly taken into account. The models are implemented in a general-purpose program for the inelastic time-history analysis of structures, and are used for studying the seismic behaviour of typical multistorey frames with various arrangements of infill panels, including structures with an open ground storey. The results of the analysis are in agreement with both experimentally observed behaviour and with experience regarding seismically damaged buildings.     

Medieval Sermon Studies since The Sermon: A Deepening and Broadening Field

Abstract

Since the publication of The Sermon in 2000, the field of medieval sermon studies has matured into a well-established and growing interdisciplinary area of medieval studies. This article seeks to illustrate how we are doing our work and where our interests are taking us. Growing numbers of print and electronic resources facilitate locating, accessing, and interpreting texts and other historical sources pertinent to preaching. Via the preparation of carefully edited texts, the exploration of specific themes, and the illumination of particular preaching traditions, increased depth of understanding is being achieved. Sermonists use an expanding range of scholarly methodologies and pursue a broadening range of topics, here exemplified by memory and visual arts. Overarching much of our work is the desire to recover medieval experiences of what was fundamentally an oral and performative genre through its largely textual remains.     

Human rights politics and scaled performances of memory: conflicts among the Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina

This paper builds on the geographies of commemoration literature extending the scope of inquiry to consider the scaled performances through which the politics of memory unfold. I focus on an analysis of conflicts over the creation of memorial landscapes that emerge from the intricate ways in which representations of the past and the everyday politics of social movements intersect. The paper analyses the competing politics of memory of two groups of Madres de Plaza de Mayo (mothers of people who ‘disappeared’ during Argentina's Dirty War). Their strategies underscore geographic dimensions of the politics of memory as the Madres clash over how to appropriately place memory in the landscape. While one group emphasizes making visible the events of the past to promote transmission of memory and to remember those who disappeared, the other group focuses on re‐interpreting symbols about the past in an attempt to encourage future activism. Such conflicting strategies manifest spatially in a variety of ways, ranging from the creation of physical markers in the built environment to the performance of collective rituals that centre on activists' bodies as sites for either commemoration of the past or future activism. The Madres' conflicts highlight how different spatialities contribute to validate or condemn competing politics of commemoration.     

Geodynamic processes in the NW Bohemian swarm earthquake region,Czech Republic,identified by continuous gas monitoring

The time series of two continuously operating gas monitoring stations at Oldřišská and Nový Kostel located along seismoactive faults in the epicentral area of the NW Bohemian swarm earthquakes (Czech Republic) are compared with water level fluctuations in two boreholes positioned along these faults and with gas flux variations of a mofette at the Soos mofette field at 9 km distance. The seasonal trend of the monitored CO₂ concentration with a maximum in November and a minimum in March/April is governed by groundwater temperatures, superimposed in spring by soil temperatures. CO₂ concentration variations identified at Oldřišská are also reflected in gas flux variations in the Soos mofette and/or water level fluctuations of two boreholes. Variations in the gas monitoring recordings of station at Nový Kostel are also linked with variations at Oldřišská. In all data sets, diurnal variations generated by earth tides occur, reflecting a daily stress – fault permeability cycle. Additional stress interferes with this cycle. Significant, abrupt changes are attributed to geodynamic processes linked with seismic events, as revealed by local seismicity or by the transient of waves of a strong remote earthquake. Simultaneous variations of the gas concentrations in the Nový Kostel area and in the gas flux in the Soos point to an interconnected hydraulic conductive fault systems present in the northern part of the Cheb Basin. Sharp falls in gas concentration, during or subsequent to, earthquake swarms may reflect fault compression associated with impeded gas migration. However, gas variations also occur in periods without seismic activity, indicating changes in fault permeability were caused by local aseismic fault movements, as revealed by events with opposite trends in the gas recordings at Oldřišská, Nový Kostel and the Soos. Therefore, a mathematical approach to establish a correlation between seismicity and gas geochemical variations is not possible.     

High‐Resolution 3D Marine Seismic Investigation of Hedeby Harbour,Germany

Offshore 3D‐seismic acquisition has been a standard for high‐precision structural imaging in the oil and gas industry for many years. Recently this technique has been adapted by only a few teams to the resolution required for archaeological marine investigation. In contrast to sonar techniques, the 3D‐seismic method produces images below the sea‐floor. We investigate the harbour of the Viking age proto‐town of Hedeby in Northern Germany with the SEAMAP‐3D system. SEAMAP‐3D allows for rapid acquisition and employs an automated data processing sequence. We observe a wealth of archaeologically relevant detail and compare our results with previous work.     

Flirtatious geographies: clubs as spaces for the performance of affective heterosexualities

This article addresses the (hetero)sexualized, sensuous and affective nature of straight club spaces in Singapore. By attending to the theoretical intersections between affect studies and feminist perspectives, I argue that straight clubs are sites for the performances of affective heterosexualities that may and may not end up re-inscribing asymmetrical gendered power relations. In so doing, I hope to contribute to the growing literature on affectual geographies by expounding on the numerous technologies of affect which are being deployed in order to incite, transmit and sustain (hetero)sexual desires between bodies. Flirtatious (hetero)sexual practices thus give rise to, and are a result of, the political manipulation of intensely felt affects. Furthermore, I suggest that we should not overlook how becoming (hetero)sexual ‘feels like’ because these ‘feelings’ work to crystallize (hetero)sexual spaces and subjectivities. Nonetheless, we must also be careful not to discount the salience of ‘heterosexuality’ as a representational device that serves to codify and categorize sexual desires between bodies.