Verhalten von Mauerwerksbauten unter Erdbebeneinwirkung: Auswertung der Schäden des Albstadt‐Erdbebens vom 3. September 1978

Numerische Untersuchungen zum Verhalten von Mauerwerksbauten unter Erdbebeneinwirkung führen oft zu pessimistischen Schadensprognosen, welche im Gegensatz zu den Beobachtungen stehen. Um diesen Widerspruch aufzulösen, werden erfahrungsbasierte Verletzbarkeitsfunktionen für typische Mauerwerksgebäude auf der Grundlage der durch das Erdbeben vom 3. September 1978 bei Albstadt (mit einer Lokalmagnitude M_L von 5,7 und Epizentralintensität I₀ = VII—VIII) verursachten Schäden entwickelt. Anhand des Bauwerksbestandes von 1978 erfolgt die Einordnung der beobachteten Schäden in Schadensgrade auf Basis der European Macroseismic Scale EMS‐98 [1]. Die für den Bauwerksbestand repräsentativen Bauweisen werden herausgearbeitet; für die vorherrschenden Gebäude aus unbewehrtem Mauerwerk ist eine weitere Unterscheidung nach Baualter, Geschosszahl und phänomenologischen Gesichtspunkten möglich. Vulnerability of masonry structures under seismic action: Damage analysis of the September 3, 1978 Albstadt earthquake. Numerical studies of the earthquake behavior of masonry buildings in Central Europe based on national building codes acc. to the Eurocode 8 lead to pessimistic damage prognoses, which are in contradiction to the observed behavior. In order to eliminate this discrepancy realistic experience‐based vulnerability and displacement functions for typical masonry constructions are developed. Because of the rather limited number of earthquake damage observations, the Magnitude M_L 5.7 Albstadt earthquake from September 3, 1978 (intensity VII—VIII) in South Germany also based on its excellent documentation is reconstructed with the building stock existing at that time. The prevailing building types and for these the characteristic damage cases are investigated in close cooperation with the local authorities. The presented unreinforced masonry structures are divided by year of construction, number of storeys and phenomenological aspects.     

Reconfigurable handling system

The demand for more versatile assembly and handling systems to facilitate customized production is gaining in importance, especially with regard to the constantly-increasing cost pressure, to expansion of the range of product versions and the shortening of innovation cycles. As a cost-effective approach for frequently changing assembly tasks, a novel manipulation concept has been developed by combining given robot technologies. This new handling system has a modular and adaptable layout, which consists of several mobile arms to manipulate the object in six-dimensional Cartesian space. After grasping, when the arms are attached to the object, the mechanical architecture is similar to parallel manipulators or cooperating robots. As the mounting and gripping points of the arms can easily be changed, the manipulator can be reconfigured so as to match the user’s preferences and needs. In addition to the kinematic adaption the regarding task, the hardware and new functions can be reconfigured as well. Contact elements, measurement and assembly devices as well as testing modules can easily be in integrated in the concept. A modular automatic control concept combined with a self-optimizing planning tool helps the user to find the optimal configuration and realize it in an economic way.     

New wood-polymer composites containing ethyl α-hydroxymethyl acrylate polymers

Ethyl α-hydroxymethyl acrylate (EHMA) was synthesized and evaluated as a candidate for wood impregnation and in-situ polymerization. Southern Pine softwood was impregnated under a variety of conditions with EHMA alone and with various comonomers plus free radical initiator. Following thermal polymerization, the wood-polymer composites were tested for increased dimensional stability (water soaking swell resistance) and mechanical properties over untreated wood. The greatest increase in dimensional stability was attained using EHMA alone, while the maximum compression modulus was achieved by impregnating with 1:1 EHMA-styrene and styrene alone. The composites were further characterized by ¹³C CP/MAS solid state NMR and scanning electron microscopy.     

Low‐loss TCP/IP header compression for wireless networks

Wireless is becoming a popular way to connect mobile computers to the Internet and other networks. The bandwidth of wireless links will probably always be limited due to properties of the physical medium and regulatory limits on the use of frequencies for radio communication. Therefore, it is necessary for network protocols to utilize the available bandwidth efficiently. Headers of IP packets are growing and the bandwidth required for transmitting headers is increasing. With the coming of IPv6 the address size increases from 4 to 16 bytes and the basic IP header increases from 20 to 40 bytes. Moreover, most mobility schemes tunnel packets addressed to mobile hosts by adding an extra IP header or extra routing information, typically increasing the size of TCP/IPv4 headers to 60 bytes and TCP/IPv6 headers to 100 bytes. In this paper, we provide new header compression schemes for UDP/IP and TCP/IP protocols. We show how to reduce the size of UDP/IP headers by an order of magnitude, down to four to five bytes. Our method works over simplex links, lossy links, multi‐access links, and supports multicast communication. We also show how to generalize the most commonly used method for header compression for TCP/IPv4, developed by Jacobson, to IPv6 and multiple IP headers. The resulting scheme unfortunately reduces TCP throughput over lossy links due to unfavorable interaction with TCP's congestion control mechanisms. However, by adding two simple mechanisms the potential gain from header compression can be realized over lossy wireless networks as well as point‐to‐point modem links. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Command hallucinations and the prediction of dangerousness

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have supported the belief that command hallucinations can induce dangerous behavior. This study tried to replicate previous findings that compliance with the command was associated with delusions related to hallucinations and the ability to identify the hallucinated voice. This study also assessed the association between compliance and the dangerousness of the command, chronicity of illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and past compliance with hallucinated commands. METHODS: The most recent command hallucination reported by 93 psychiatric inpatients was rated for level of dangerousness and level of compliance with the command. RESULTS: Subjects who experienced less dangerous commands or who could identify the hallucinated voice reported higher levels of compliance, although reported compliance with more dangerous commands was not uncommon. Commands experienced in the hospital were less dangerous than those experienced elsewhere and tended to be specific to the hospital environment. Subjects were less likely to comply with commands experienced in the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Based on their self-reports, psychiatric patients who experience command hallucinations are at risk for dangerous behavior. Ability to identify the hallucinated voice is a fairly reliable predictor of reported compliance. Level of dangerousness resulting from compliance with command hallucinations may be a function of the patient's environment.     

Detection and Localization of Delaminations in Thin Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites with the Ultrasonic Polar Scan

In this paper, the hybrid compliance-stiffness matrix method for simulating wave propagation in (delaminated) multilayered media with viscoelastic anisotropy has been confronted with high-quality amplitude and phase experiments on delaminated composites, obtained using the ultrasonic polar scan setup (UPS) in transmission by considering harmonic as well as pulsed ultrasound. Results are presented for multiple thin carbon/epoxy laminates with an artificial edge delamination induced by a foil insert, showing a good agreement between experimental recording and numerical modeling. The obtained results further reveal the feasibility of the harmonic UPS to detect and even locate the depth-position of multiple delaminations in fiber reinforced composites. Considering that the harmonic UPS method does not rely on the detection of different echoes like the classical C-scan, but rather expounds the conditions for efficient stimulation of guided waves in the solid, the method is found to be highly suited for inspecting thin composite materials for the presence of delaminations.     

Technological learning in bioenergy systems

The main goal of this article is to determine whether cost reductions in different bioenergy systems can be quantified using the experience curve approach, and how specific issues (arising from the complexity of biomass energy systems) can be addressed. This is pursued by case studies on biofuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plants in Sweden, global development of fluidized bed boilers and Danish biogas plants. As secondary goal, the aim is to identify learning mechanisms behind technology development and cost reduction for the biomass energy systems investigated. The case studies reveal large difficulties to devise empirical experience curves for investment costs of biomass-fuelled power plants. To some extent, this is due to lack of (detailed) data. The main reason, however, are varying plant costs due to differences in scale, fuel type, plant layout, region etc. For fluidized bed boiler plants built on a global level, progress ratios (PRs) for the price of entire plants lies approximately between 90–93% (which is typical for large plant-like technologies). The costs for the boiler section alone was found to decline much faster. The experience curve approach delivers better results, when the production costs of the final energy carrier are analyzed. Electricity from biofuelled CHP-plants yields PRs of 91–92%, i.e. an 8–9% reduction of electricity production costs with each cumulative doubling of electricity production. The experience curve for biogas production displays a PR of 85% from 1984 to the beginning of 1990, and then levels to approximately 100% until 2002. For technologies developed on a local level (e.g. biogas plants), learning-by-using and learning-by-interacting are important learning mechanism, while for CHP plants utilizing fluidized bed boilers, upscaling is probably one of the main mechanisms behind cost reductions.     

A three-compartment electrolytic cell for anodic oxidation of sulfur dioxide and cathodic production of hydrogen

A three-compartment electrolytic cell with a minimized ohmic resistance avoiding the cathodic reduction of sulfur dioxide was constructed. Since sulfur dioxide penetrates all separators studied, sulfur dioxide migration from anode to cathode compartment is prevented by an additional electrolyte flow through an intermediate compartment. The intermediate compartment is limited by two cation exchanger membranes in order to avoid electrolyte interchange by pressure variations. NEOSEPTA membranes turned out to be stable at sulfuric acid concentrations up to 55 w/o and 90°C. Resistivity is sufficiently low. Graphite felt flow-through electrodes fitted onto the membranes and additional catalysts were used. Other cell materials were impregnated graphite, PVDF and copper. The cell voltage was 455, 565, 665, 770, 880 mV at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 mA cm^?2, respectively, with 50 w/o sulfuric acid at 88°C.