A full moon in another land: The Moon Bridge in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Library

In 1913, a so-called Moon Bridge was built in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, USA as a fruit of the Japonism in the Western world at that time. The master carpenter was Toichiro Kawai, a Japanese immigrant from Yokohama who was originally a ship carpenter.The bridge is made of wood and shaped in the exaggerated arch form, which classifies the bridge as a “drum bridge” (Taiko-bashi) in Japanese culture. However, the unique structural form of this bridge, the “woven arch,” is rare in building history.This paper aims to explore why and how such a bridge appeared in such a place and time. For this purpose, we go from the historical background to its construction history, from the concept of the designer to the detailed design methods. Data come partly from the author's first-hand investigation and the limited local archive. The most interesting discoveries were made during the detailed on-site investigation, including the fact that the bridge is designed to express the metaphor of “perfection” (full moon) through its geometrical features, and the design is based according to traditional Japanese methods.     

Case history on failure of a 67 M tall reinforced soil slope

Construction of this 67 m high RSS was completed in December 2006. After seven years in-service, a tension crack was observed at the top of the slope. In March 2015 this RSS structure catastrophically collapsed. This RSS structure collapsed in a compound failure mode; as the failure plane passed beneath, partially behind, and partially through the reinforced soil mass. The failure plane beneath the RSS was along a shale-claystone interface. The failure surface partially behind the RSS was along sandstone bedrock with water-seeping bedding planes dipping out of the rock mass. The failure surface through the upper portion of the RSS is where the geogrid reinforcement was overwhelmed by stresses originating from underlying deformation. The RSS collapse occurred after 8.3 years in-service as the shear strength along the shale-claystone interface decreased and approached the fully softened strength. The primary causative factors of this failure are: (i) an insufficient subsurface investigation program and interpretation of data for design and detailing; (ii) insufficient specifications and construction plan details for both foundation preparation and rock backcut benching; (iii) insufficient foundation preparation and rock backcut benching during construction; and (iv) adaptations to the design made during construction.     

Report on inaugural workshop RSA ReHi-Network ‘Interdisciplinary connections between history & regional studies’*

The RSA Research Network on Regional Economic and Policy History (ReHi) aims to investigate the role of the historic perspective on regional studies through a series of events. During the inaugural two-day workshop, held in London in April 2017, the participants highlighted historical methodologies and approaches that establish a common thread in the various regional disciplines. They defined interdisciplinary connections that need to be addressed to overcome the discontinuous dialogue among researchers of regional studies and history. The research papers that were presented at the conference focused on improving methodologies, analysing economic strategies, developing techniques, and understanding policy development. The workshop aimed at establishing the foundation for a common research framework to improve the scientific debate and provide impact on regional policy regulations.     

圆形截面柱的振动台试验及分析

进行了圆柱振动台试验,对模型的加速度反应数据进行获取。试验表明,随着地震的加速度峰值的不断增加,圆柱顶部加速度极值不断增加。柱顶的加速度响应有着增大的趋势,且极值比输入的加速度的极值有一定的放大。     

Thermal history and its implications: A case study for ion exchange

Glasses containing monovalent species can be chemically strengthened by the replacement of smaller ions in the glass with larger external ions in the near glass surface. This type of ion exchange puts glass surface under high compressive stress (CS). Glass mainly fails from tension with the presence of surface flaws. Chemical strengthening can change the stress at the flaw tip from tension to compression and further stop the flaw from propagating. Glass damage resistance is therefore significantly improved. For the same glass composition, glass thermal histories can affect the magnitude and depth of the CS generated during ion exchange. In this study, the impact of thermal history on glass physical properties and ion exchange attributes in one alkali-containing glass formed by fusion draw process was investigated. Multiple thermal treatments were done to rewrite the glass thermal histories. Glass density, refractive index, and ion-exchange properties as a function of the thermal treatment were studied. It is concluded that ion exchange-related properties change dramatically with the glass thermal history.     

Itinerarium Wittichi ex Calendarium Sculteti: New biographical evidence on the Breslau mathematician Paul Wittich (ca. 1546–ca. 1587)

In the present paper, I present and discuss some new information about the life of Paul Wittich from Wrocław, Poland (formerly Breslau, Germany), an elusive mathematician and astronomer of the late 16th century. Wittich seems to have played a significant role in the emergence of two important, though short-lived, developments of late 16th-century science: the so-called prosthaphaeresis calculating method, and the geoheliocentric model of the universe usually attributed to Tycho Brahe. His role in both achievements, however, has not been sufficiently explained so far, and it is my belief that one of the main obstacles to that endeavor has been our scarce knowledge about the details of Wittich's life. Thus, I attempt to reconstruct his life with aim of being able to evaluate, eventually, his involvement in the development of mathematics and astronomy towards the end of the 16th century, primarily with the use of whatever scant sources can be found concerning Wittich. The source that I present here—a notebook of Bartholomäus Scultetus, an astronomer from Görlitz—is known and has already been used, but only to a limited extent by the community of historians of science, or by those of astronomy and mathematics. By presenting the information about Wittich from Scultetus's notebook, I aim to bring this source to the attention of those communities, clarify some hitherto unclear details from Wittich's life, and set out new paths for further investigation into his biography.     

Study of a new type of self‐centering beam‐column joint in steel frame structures

A new type of self‐centering beam‐column joint with installed steel arc plates is proposed in this study. First, mechanical behavior of the self‐centering joint using prestressed steel strands to provide the centering force is theoretically analyzed in detail, followed by experimental validation. New joints with different arc plate parameters are designed and tested under cyclic loading. Test results show that the hysteretic curve of the new joint exhibits typical characteristic of self‐centering capacity. By parametric analysis of five design parameters of the arc plate, it is found that vector height has the greatest influence on the joint's moment‐rotation skeleton curve, which is consistent with experimental findings. A simplified model of the joint is built in OpenSees to simulate its hysteretic behavior, which agrees well with the tested results. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new joint to improve the seismic performance of the overall structure, a series of nonlinear time history analysis on a steel frame structure with the new joint under earthquakes are conducted, which show that the joint is particularly effective in reducing the residual interstory drift response.     

历史的当下:遗产保护实践下近代史研究反思

历史的书写，从来都逃避不了时代的主观性；而所谓历史的真实，亦无法摆脱客体的相对性，因而呈现出错综交杂的表象，难以一窥全貌。本文重拾中国营造学社开启的，以实物和史料相互印证的研究方法；基于多个真实的遗产保护案例，通过建筑本体勘查、历史影像的三维数字化还原、特殊节点构造的拆解分析、实物湮灭后的类型化推测等工作，试图破解特殊的建筑结构体系及做法，揭示建筑物背后隐藏的历史和文化。一切历史都是当代史，遗产保护实践中的探索与反思，不仅可以更好地叙述一段贴近真实的历史，同时，也构筑起一个深具历 史感的当下。