A simplified modelling strategy for R/C walls satisfying PS92 and EC8 design

International audienceAccording to the French code PS92 lightly reinforced concrete walls subjected to earthquake ground motion are designed following the “multifuse” concept. Low percentages of reinforcement combined with an appropriate distribution at several levels lead to dissipation of energy via wide crack patterns at different heights of the wall. On the contrary, design according to Eurocode 8 (EC8) privileges dissipation at a single flexural plastic hinge at the base. The rest of the wall is over-designed in flexure to avoid development of plastic behaviour anywhere above the base region (“monofuse” concept). A simplified modelling strategy based on the principles of damage mechanics, plasticity and classical Bernoulli beam theory is used to simulate the 2D non-linear behaviour of two mock-ups satisfying the above design provisions. CAMUS I and III specimens have the same geometry and follow PS92 and EC8 design philosophies respectively. Comparison with the experimental results, obtained on a shaking table, gives an insight into the behaviour of the structures and shows the ability but also the limitations of the approach

A robust and efficient 3D constitutive law to describe the response of quasi-brittle materials subjected to reverse cyclic loading: formulation, identification and application to a RC shear wall

In this paper, a new constitutive law aiming at describing the quasi-brittle behavior when subjected to cyclic loading is presented.The proposed model is formulated with in the frame work of isotròpic contínuum damage mechanics.The cauchy stress tensor is split in to two contributions: one related to the matrix (without cracks) behavior the other related to the crack behavior.This strategy allows accounting for both the crack closure effect and the hysteretic effect in an eficient way making possible large-scale computations.In addition,a specific attention is paid to the way of identifying the material parameters, often requiring complex experimental tests not always easy to carry out. A virtual testing approach based on the use of a discrete element model is used for this purpose

Essais PIAF : Pour Identifier l'Adhérence et le Frottement

On présente dans ce travail un nouvel essai, nommé essai PIAF, en vue d'étudier le comportement de l'interface acier-béton en l'absence de confinement dû à la fois à la géométrie (séchage) et aux conditions aux limites dans l'essai d'arrachement classique. L'essai PIAF permet de mieux comprendre l'influence d'une étreinte latérale sur le comportement de l'interface. Pendant l'essai, les champs de déplacement ont été mesurés par corrélation d'images numériques à l'aide du logiciel CORRELILMT. Un modèle de comportement mécanique de l'interface a été développé et identifié. Les résultats numériques dans le code Castem 2000 sont comparés avec ceux obtenus par les expériences en vue de valider le modèle proposé

Reduced kinematic formulation based on the strong discontinuity method for reinforced concrete components

Damage models, developed in the last decades, insure a continuous description of the fracture process zone in quasi-brittle materials but fail at representing fine information of the cracking features such as openings and spacings. Recently, the concept of displacement discontinuities embedded in to a standard finite element has been proved to be efficient in modeling fracture of quasi-brittle materials. The present paper aims at capturing crack openings in a natural way by using the Strong Discontinuity Approach (SDA). This later is coupled with a continuous anisotropic damage model accounting for different crack orientations and crack closure effects. A regularized version of the Dirac distribution and the hardening parameter provides+ the establishment of anenriched model compatible with the continuous one. Numerical simulations at the integration point level and a three-point bending test carried out on a single edge notched beam show the performances of the model

A Stochastic Multi-scale Approach for Numerical Modeling of Complex Materials - Application to Uniaxial Cyclic Response of Concrete

In complex materials, numerous intertwined phenomena underlie the overall response at macroscale. These phenomena can pertain to different engineering fields (mechanical , chemical, electrical), occur at different scales, can appear as uncertain, and are nonlinear. Interacting with complex materials thus calls for developing nonlinear computational approaches where multi-scale techniques that grasp key phenomena at the relevant scale need to be mingled with stochastic methods accounting for uncertainties. In this chapter, we develop such a computational approach for modeling the mechanical response of a representative volume of concrete in uniaxial cyclic loading. A mesoscale is defined such that it represents an equivalent heterogeneous medium: nonlinear local response is modeled in the framework of Thermodynamics with Internal Variables; spatial variability of the local response is represented by correlated random vector fields generated with the Spectral Representation Method. Macroscale response is recovered through standard ho-mogenization procedure from Micromechanics and shows salient features of the uniaxial cyclic response of concrete that are not explicitly modeled at mesoscale.Comment: Computational Methods for Solids and Fluids, 41, Springer International Publishing, pp.123-160, 2016, Computational Methods in Applied Sciences, 978-3-319-27994-

Developing User Personas to Aid in the Design of a User-Centered Natural Product-Drug Interaction Information Resource for Researchers

Pharmacokinetic interactions between natural products and conventional drugs can adversely impact patient outcomes. These complex interactions present unique challenges that require clear communication to researchers. We are creating a public information portal to facilitate researchers’ access to credible evidence about these interactions. As part of a user-centered design process, three types of intended researchers were surveyed: drug-drug interaction scientists, clinical pharmacists, and drug compendium editors. Of the 23 invited researchers, 17 completed the survey. The researchers suggested a number of specific requirements for a natural product-drug interaction information resource, including specific information about a given interaction, the potential to cause adverse effects, and the clinical importance. Results were used to develop user personas that provided the development team with a concise and memorable way to represent information needs of the three main researcher types and a common basis for communicating the design’s rationale

Intermittent existence of a southern Californian upwelling cell during submillennial climate change of the last 60 kyr

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95021/1/palo1108.pd

The Congolobe project, a multidisciplinary study of Congo deep-sea fan lobe complex: Overview of methods, strategies, observations and sampling

The presently active region of the Congo deep-sea fan (around 330,000 km(2)), called the terminal lobes or lobe complex, covers an area of 2500 km(2) at 4700-5100 m water depth and 750-800 km offshore. It is a unique sedimentary area in the world ocean fed by a submarine canyon and a channel-levee system which presently deliver large amounts of organic carbon originating from the Congo River by turbidity currents. This particularity is due to the deep incision of the shelf by the Congo canyon, up to 30 km into the estuary, which funnels the Congo River sediments into the deep-sea. The connection between the river and the canyon is unique for major world rivers. In 2011, two cruises (WACS leg 2 and Congolobe) were conducted to simultaneously investigate the geology, organic and inorganic geochemistry, and micro- and macro-biology of the terminal lobes of the Congo deep-sea fan. Using this multidisciplinary approach, the morpho-sedimentary features of the lobes were characterized along with the origin and reactivity of organic matter, the recycling and burial of biogenic compounds, the diversity and function of bacterial and archaeal communities within the sediment, and the biodiversity and functioning of the faunal assemblages on the seafloor. Six different sites were selected for this study: Four distributed along the active channel from the lobe complex entrance to the outer rim of the sediment deposition zone, and two positioned cross-axis and at increasing distance from the active channel, thus providing a gradient in turbidite particle delivery and sediment age. This paper aims to provide the general context of this multidisciplinary study. It describes the general features of the site and the overall sampling strategy and provides the initial habitat observations to guide the other in-depth investigations presented in this special issue. Detailed bathymetry of each sampling site using 0.1-1 m resolution multibeam obtained with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) shows progressive widening and smoothing of the channel-levees with increasing depth and reveals a complex morphology with channel bifurcations, erosional features and massive deposits. Dense ecosystems surveyed in the study area gather high density clusters of two large-sized species of symbiotic Vesicomyidae bivalves and microbial mats. These assemblages, which are rarely observed in sedimentary zones, resemble those based on chemosynthesis at cold-seep sites, such as the active pockmarks encountered along the Congo margin, and share with these sites the dominant vesicomyid species Christineconcha regab. Sedimentation rates estimated in the lobe complex range between 0.5 and 10 cm yr(-1), which is 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than values generally encountered at abyssal depths. The bathymetry, faunal assemblages and sedimentation rates make the Congo lobe complex a highly peculiar deep-sea habitat driven by high inputs of terrigenous material delivered by the Congo channel-levee system. (c) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.ZAIANGOANR Congolobe (ANR Blanc SIMI5-6) [11 BS56 030]IFREMERCEA through LSCEU.S. National Science Foundation [OCE-0831156]info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Silica burial enhanced by iron limitation in oceanic upwelling margins

In large swaths of the ocean, primary production by diatoms may be limited by the availability of silica, which in turn limits the biological uptake of carbon dioxide. The burial of biogenic silica in the form of opal is the main sink of marine silicon. Opal burial occurs in equal parts in iron-limited open-ocean provinces and upwelling margins, especially the eastern Pacific upwelling zone. However, it is unclear why opal burial is so efficient in this margin. Here we measure fluxes of biogenic material, concentrations of diatom-bound iron and silicon isotope ratios using sediment traps and a sediment core from the Gulf of California upwelling margin. In the sediment trap material, we find that periods of intense upwelling are associated with transient iron limitation that results in a high export of silica relative to organic carbon. A similar correlation between enhanced silica burial and iron limitation is evident in the sediment core, which spans the past 26,000 years. A global compilation also indicates that hotspots of silicon burial in the ocean are all characterized by high silica to organic carbon export ratios, a diagnostic trait for diatoms growing under iron stress. We therefore propose that prevailing conditions of silica limitation in the ocean are largely caused by iron deficiency imposing an indirect constraint on oceanic carbon uptake