An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

SIMULATIONS OF SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN THE CORINTH GULF, GREECE, FAULT SYSTEM

The characteristic earthquake hypothesis is not strongly supported by observational data because of the relatively short duration of historical and even paleoseismological records. For instance, for the Corinth Gulf Fault System (CGFS), historical information on strong earthquakes exist for at least two thousand years, but they can be considered complete for M > 6.0 only for the latest 300 years, and therefore only few characteristic earthquakes are reported for individual fault segments. The use of a physics-based earthquake simulator has allowed the production of catalogues lasting 100,000 years and containing more than 500,000 events of magnitudes > 4.0. Our simulation algorithm is based on several physical elements, such as an average slip rate due to tectonic loading for every single segment in the investigated fault system, the process of rupture growth and termination, and interaction between earthquake sources, including small magnitude events. The application of our simulation algorithm to the CGFS provided realistic features in time, space and magnitude behaviour of the seismicity. These features include longterm periodicity of strong earthquakes, short-term clustering of both strong and smaller events, and a realistic earthquake magnitude distribution departing from the Gutenberg-Richter distribution in the moderate and higher magnitude range

SIMULATIONS OF SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN THE CORINTH GULF, GREECE, FAULT SYSTEM

The characteristic earthquake hypothesis is not strongly supported by observational data because of the relatively short duration of historical and even paleoseismological records. For instance, for the Corinth Gulf Fault System (CGFS), historical information on strong earthquakes exist for at least two thousand years, but they can be considered complete for M > 6.0 only for the latest 300 years, and therefore only few characteristic earthquakes are reported for individual fault segments. The use of a physics-based earthquake simulator has allowed the production of catalogues lasting 100,000 years and containing more than 500,000 events of magnitudes > 4.0. Our simulation algorithm is based on several physical elements, such as an average slip rate due to tectonic loading for every single segment in the investigated fault system, the process of rupture growth and termination, and interaction between earthquake sources, including small magnitude events. The application of our simulation algorithm to the CGFS provided realistic features in time, space and magnitude behaviour of the seismicity. These features include longterm periodicity of strong earthquakes, short-term clustering of both strong and smaller events, and a realistic earthquake magnitude distribution departing from the Gutenberg-Richter distribution in the moderate and higher magnitude range

International Conference on Building Resilience 2011: Book of Abstract

Building Resilience brings together contributions from the 2011 Conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction, held at Kandalama, Sri Lanka, 19th – 21st July 2011. It includes 109 abstracts by scholars and practioners around the world. The full papers are available on an accompanying USB drive. With growing population and infrastructures, the world’s exposure to hazards – of natural and man-made origin – is inevitably increasing. This reality reinforces the need to proactively consider disaster risk as a part of the sustainable development agenda. The International Conference on Building Resilience will encourage debate on individual, institutional and societal coping strategies to address the challenges associated with disaster risk. Central to these strategies is the concept of resilience, which is becoming a core concept in the social and physical sciences, and also in matters of public policy. Resilience refers to the capability and capacity of systems to withstand change. By encouraging participation from researchers in the social and physical sciences, the conference will explore inter-disciplinary strategies that develop the capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed to disaster related hazards, to adapt, by resisting or changing, in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure. The conference outcomes will be used to support the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign ‘Making Cities Resilient’, which addresses issues of local governance and urban risk while drawing upon previous ISDR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals, as well as on the sustainable urbanizations principles developed in the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign 2009-2013. Mayors and their local governments are both the key targets and drivers of the campaign. The overall target of the Campaign is to get as many local governments ready as possible, to span a global network of fully engaged cities of different sizes, characteristics, risk profiles and locations. The campaign is focusing on raising political commitment to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation among local governments and mayors; including through high profile media and public awareness activities

Technical Workshop: Advanced Helicopter Cockpit Design

Information processing demands on both civilian and military aircrews have increased enormously as rotorcraft have come to be used for adverse weather, day/night, and remote area missions. Applied psychology, engineering, or operational research for future helicopter cockpit design criteria were identified. Three areas were addressed: (1) operational requirements, (2) advanced avionics, and (3) man-system integration

Earthquake Cycle Modelling of Multi-segmented Faults: Dynamic Rupture and Ground Motion Simulation of the 1992 M_w 7.3 Landers Earthquake

We perform earthquake cycle simulations with the goal of studying the characteristics of source scaling relations and strong ground motions in multi-segmented fault ruptures. The 1992 M_w 7.3 Landers earthquake is chosen as a target earthquake to validate our methodology. The model includes the fault geometry for the three-segmented Landers rupture from the SCEC community fault model, extended at both ends to a total length of 200 km, and limited to a depth to 15 km. We assume the faults are governed by rate-and-state (RS) friction, with a heterogeneous, correlated spatial distribution of characteristic weakening distance Dc. Multiple earthquake cycles on this non-planar fault system are modeled with a quasi-dynamic solver based on the boundary element method, substantially accelerated by implementing a hierarchical-matrix method. The resulting seismic ruptures are recomputed using a fully-dynamic solver based on the spectral element method, with the same RS friction law. The simulated earthquakes nucleate on different sections of the fault, and include events similar to the M_w 7.3 Landers earthquake. We obtain slip velocity functions, rupture times and magnitudes that can be compared to seismological observations. The simulated ground motions are validated by comparison of simulated and recorded response spectra

A review on experimental research using scale models for buildings: Application and methodologies

A complete review on scale model testing for buildings, considering a wide range of methodologies and new manufacturing techniques, in areas such as statics and dynamics, acoustics, lighting, aerodynamics and thermodynamics for energy efficiency is presented. On the one hand, scale model testing for buildings require different considerations and techniques and are usually focused on one specific physical field contributing to the information scattering. On the other hand, they are sometimes too general, theoretical or unpractical. Although commercial computer simulations are first option among professionals, they necessarily simplify complex phenomena and ignore, among other aspects, size effects and latest findings in fractals. The potential of complementary experiments using new manufactured scale models for buildings is raising, however, it is still missing a practical overview through different physical fields specifically for buildings with these considerations. This review gives a wide perspective and unified scope on uses and possibilities of scale model testing for buildings, from the traditional configurations of Leon Battiste Alberti to new possibilities applying complex physics and new techniques of 3D-modelling

Earthquake Cycle Modelling of Multi-segmented Faults: Dynamic Rupture and Ground Motion Simulation of the 1992 M_w 7.3 Landers Earthquake

We perform earthquake cycle simulations with the goal of studying the characteristics of source scaling relations and strong ground motions in multi-segmented fault ruptures. The 1992 M_w 7.3 Landers earthquake is chosen as a target earthquake to validate our methodology. The model includes the fault geometry for the three-segmented Landers rupture from the SCEC community fault model, extended at both ends to a total length of 200 km, and limited to a depth to 15 km. We assume the faults are governed by rate-and-state (RS) friction, with a heterogeneous, correlated spatial distribution of characteristic weakening distance Dc. Multiple earthquake cycles on this non-planar fault system are modeled with a quasi-dynamic solver based on the boundary element method, substantially accelerated by implementing a hierarchical-matrix method. The resulting seismic ruptures are recomputed using a fully-dynamic solver based on the spectral element method, with the same RS friction law. The simulated earthquakes nucleate on different sections of the fault, and include events similar to the M_w 7.3 Landers earthquake. We obtain slip velocity functions, rupture times and magnitudes that can be compared to seismological observations. The simulated ground motions are validated by comparison of simulated and recorded response spectra

Large Earthquakes Recurrence Time in the Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone (KTFZ), Greece: Results from a physics-based simulator approach

Large earthquakes mean recurrence time (Tr) on specific fault segments is one of the primary input parameters for developing long-term Earthquake Rupture Forecast (ERF) models in a specific time span considering either a time-independent or an elastic rebound motivated renewal assumption. An attempt is made to define Tr on the major fault segments comprised in Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone (KTFZ), which is an active boundary demarcating from the west the area of central Ionian Islands, namely Lefkada and Kefalonia, and is associated with remarkably high seismic activity. Frequent large (Mw ≥ 6.0) earthquakes are reported to have caused severe damage during the last six centuries. Although the number of large earthquakes (including both historical and instrumental) is satisfactory enough for regional hazard studies, their number become very limited when they are subdivided into subsets assigned to specific fault segments. Physics-based earthquake simulators are approaches to overcome recurrence intervals shortage, due to their ability to generate long lasting earthquake catalogs. The application of a physics-based simulatorn the KTFZ, is attemped upon a detailed fault network model and implemented multiple times and with a wide range of input parameters, aiming at the definition of the most representative simulated catalog in respect to the observed regional seismicity. The most representative simulated catalog is finally used for investigating the recurrence behavior of large (Mw ≥ 6.0) earthquakes and assessing whether the renewal model performs better that the Poisson model, after considering both individual and multiple ruptured segments scenarios

Research reports: The 1980 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

The Summer Faculty Fellowship Research Program objectives are: to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants and institutions; and to contribute to the research objectives at the NASA centers. The Faculty Fellows engaged in research projects commensurate with their interests and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague