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Reviews and describes both the fundamental and practical design procedures for the ultimate limit state design of ductile steel plated structures The new edition of this well-established reference reviews and describes both fundamentals and practical design procedures for steel plated structures. The derivation of the basic mathematical expressions is presented together with a thorough discussion of the assumptions and the validity of the underlying expressions and solution methods. Furthermore, this book is also an easily accessed design tool, which facilitates learning by applying the concepts of the limit states for practice using a set of computer programs, which can be downloaded. Ultimate Limit State Design of Steel Plated Structures provides expert guidance on mechanical model test results as well as nonlinear finite element solutions, sophisticated design methodologies useful for practitioners in industries or research institutions, and selected methods for accurate and efficient analyses of nonlinear behavior of steel plated structures both up to and after the ultimate strength is reached. * Covers recent advances and developments in the field * Includes new topics on constitutive equations of steels, test database associated with low/elevated temperature, and strain rates * Includes a new chapter on a semi-analytical method * Supported by a companion website with illustrative example data sheets * Provides results for existing mechanical model tests * Offers a thorough discussion of assumptions and the validity of underlying expressions and solution methods Designed as both a textbook and a handy reference, Ultimate Limit State Design of Steel Plated Structures, Second Edition is well suited to teachers and university students who are approaching the limit state design technology of steel plated structures for the first time. It also meets the needs of structural designers or researchers who are involved in civil, marine, and mechanical engineering as well as offshore engineering and naval architecture.

Craton destruction is a dynamic event that plays an important role in Earth’s evolution. Based on comprehensive observations of many studies on the North China Craton (NCC) and correlations with the evolution histories of other cratons around the world, craton destruction has be defined as a geological process that results in the total loss of craton stability due to changes in the physical and chemical properties of the involved craton. The mechanisms responsible for craton destruction would be as the follows: (1) oceanic plate subduction; (2) rollback and retreat of a subducting oceanic plate; (3) stagnation and dehydration of a subducting plate in the mantle transition zone; (4) melting of the mantle above the mantle transition zone caused by dehydration of a stagnant slab; (5) non-steady flow in the upper mantle induced by melting, and/or (6) changes in the nature of the lithospheric mantle and consequent craton destruction caused by non-steady flow. Oceanic plate subduction itself does not result in craton destruction. For the NCC, it is documented that westward subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate should have initiated at the transition from the Middle-to-Late Jurassic, and resulted in the change of tectonic regime of eastern China. We propose that subduction, rollback and retreat of oceanic plates and dehydration of stagnant slabs are the main dynamic factors responsible for both craton destruction and concentration of mineral deposits, such as gold, in the overriding continental plate. Based on global distribution of gold deposits, we suggest that convergent plate margins are the most important setting for large gold concentrations. Therefore, decratonic gold deposits appear to occur preferentially in regions with oceanic subduction and overlying continental lithospheric destruction/modification/growth.

Thirty-six artists from the Arab world experiment with the ceramic medium. Born as an initiative of the Kinda Foundation for Contemporary Arab Art, 'Objects of Imagination' is a unique collaboration of 36 artists from across the Arab World, in which both traditional and innovative techniques were used to create a body of ceramic artworks.

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) provides constraints on lithospheric kinematics at high spatial resolution. Interpreting InSAR‐derived deformation maps at continental scales is challenged by long‐wavelength correlated noise and the inherent limitation of measuring relative displacements within the data footprint. We address these issues by applying corrections to InSAR time series to estimate ground velocity fields with millimeter‐per‐year precision over hundreds of kilometers. We use these velocity fields to determine the angular velocity of the local tectonic plate, assuming negligible long‐wavelength vertical and intra‐plate deformation. The uncertainty of the angular velocity is primarily influenced by observational errors and the limited imaging geometries available. Using the Arabian plate as an example, this work demonstrates the potential to improve plate motion models and evaluate intra‐plate deformation in regions with sparse ground‐based instrumentation.

Oceanic lithosphere is generated at divergent plate boundaries and disappears at convergent plate boundaries. Seafloor spreading and plate subduction together constitute the physical coupling and mass conservation relationships to the movement of lithospheres on Earth. Subduction zones are a key site for the transfer of both matter and energy at converging plate boundaries, and their study has been the hot spot and frontier of Earth system science since the development of plate tectonics theory. As far as the dynamic regime and geothermal gradient of convergent plate margins are concerned, they have different properties in different stages of the subduction zone evolution. In general, the early low-angle subduction leads to compressional tectonism dominated by low geothermal gradients at the plate interface, and the late high-angle subduction results in extensional tectonism dominated by high geothermal gradients at the plate interface and its hanging wall. Active rifts are produced along suture zones through not only slab rollback or slab breakoff in the terminal stage of oceanic subduction but also foundering and thinning of the lithosphere in the post-subduction stage. Due to the differences and changes in the geometric and thermobaric structures of convergent plate margins, a series of changes in the type of metamorphism and magmatism can occur in active and fossil subduction zones. Dehydration and melting of the subducting oceanic crust are prominent at subarc depths, giving rise to fluids that dissolve different concentrations of fluid-mobile incompatible elements. The subduction zone fluids at subarc depths would chemically react with the overlying mantle wedge peridotite, generating metasomatites as the mantle sources of mafic magmas in oceanic and continental arcs. However, these metasomatites did not partially melt immediately upon the fluid metasomatism to trigger arc magmatism, and they did not melt until they were heated by asthenospheric convection due to rollback of the subducting slab. Therefore, recognition of the changes in the dynamic regime and geothermal gradient of subduction zones in different stages of plate convergence not only provides insights into geodynamic mechanisms of the tectonic evolution from subduction zones to orogenic belts, but also places constraints on the formation and evolution of different types of metamorphic and magmatic rocks within the advanced framework of plate tectonics.

This study investigated the compressive behavior of 30 vol.% boron carbide (B[sub.4]C)/2024 aluminum (Al) composites under quasi-static and dynamic loading at different temperatures. Building on the experimental findings, the Johnson–Cook (JC) model was modified, and a complete failure criterion was proposed. These were validated in Abaqus employing the user subroutine for hardening (VUHARD), which incorporated both the modified JC (MJC) model and the complete failure criterion. Experimental results revealed that strain softening was an important feature of the stress–strain curve. The analysis of mechanisms contributing to yield strength revealed that Taylor and load transfer mechanisms dominated, accounting for 89.6% of the total enhancement. Microstructural analysis identified particle fracture and matrix damage were the primary mechanisms driving material failure. Microcracks mainly propagated through the matrix and interface or directly through the ceramic particles and the matrix. The MJC model demonstrated high accuracy in describing the plastic deformation behavior of the composite, with a mean absolute error (MAE) below 15% under dynamic loading. Further simulation confirmed that finite element analyses using the VUHARD subroutine accurately captured the plastic deformation and crack propagation behaviors of the composite under dynamic loading. This study offers a novel approach to describe the plastic deformation and failure behaviors of ceramic-reinforced aluminum matrix composites under dynamic loading conditions.

A tectonic Plate Motion Model (PMM) is essential for geodetic applications, while contributing to the understanding of geodynamic processes affecting the Earth's surface. We introduce a PMM derived from the horizontal velocities of 518 sites extracted from the ITRF2020 solution. These sites were chosen away from plate boundaries, Glacial Isostatic Adjustment regions, and other deforming zones. Unlike the ITRF2014‐PMM, which showed no significant Origin Rate Bias (ORB), velocities used to determine the ITRF2020‐PMM exhibit a statistically significant ORB (0.74 ± 0.09 mm/yr along the Z‐component). Users are advised to add the estimated ORB to the horizontal velocities predicted by the ITRF2020‐PMM rotation poles for full consistency with the ITRF2020. However, the predicted vertical velocities resulting from the addition of the ORB should be discarded. The overall precision with which the ITRF2020 velocity field is represented by the rigid ITRF2020‐PMM is at the level of 0.25 mm/yr WRMS. Plain Language Summary The Earth's surface is divided in large and small tectonic plates, which evolve and move slowly over time, resulting in lateral displacements of the ground surface typically of the order of a few cm/yr. Because of the relative motion between tectonic plates, plate boundaries can be either divergent (when two plates move away from each other), convergent (when two plates collide) or transform (when two plates slide past each other). Plate motion models are used to quantify the relative motions of the plates with respect to each other, and are determined using geological data or observations collected by space geodesy instruments distributed over different plates at the Earth's surface. In the latter case, space geodesy observations from the four space geodetic techniques covering more than 40 years of data are analyzed to estimate the long‐term displacements (or velocities) of each instrument in a well defined and self‐consistent global reference frame. The derived velocity field is then used to estimate a comprehensive plate motion model (PMM). This article presents a PMM for 13 tectonic plates based on a subset of the velocity field from the recently released International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2020 (ITRF2020); see https://itrf.ign.fr/en/solutions/ITRF2020. Key Points We derive a plate motion model for 13 tectonic plates from the ITRF2020 horizontal velocity field Built under the rigid‐plate motion hypothesis, the model represents the ITRF2020 velocity field with a precision of 0.25 mm/yr WRMS The residual velocities would show a global northward motion if a translation rate was not included in the inversion model

The paradigm of plate tectonics holds that ocean plates are rigid during drift and only experience tectonic deformation at subduction zones, but new findings from the Pacific challenge this idea. Geological and geophysical evidence from the Ontong Java, Shatsky, Hess, and Manihiki oceanic plateaux indicates that extensional deformation during plate drift is a widespread phenomenon across the Pacific plate. These anomalously thick oceanic plateaux are weaker regions of the ocean lithosphere and more prone to tectonic deformation. Numerical geodynamic models demonstrate that a slab pull force from distant subduction plate boundaries can be effectively transmitted to oceanic plateaux through strong ocean lithosphere and cause substantial extension during plate drift. Our findings reveal that a wide expanse of the Pacific has experienced syn‐drift plate tectonics linked to pull from the western Pacific subduction factory. Plain Language Summary New findings from the Pacific Ocean challenge the conventional understanding of plate tectonics. It was previously believed that oceanic plates remained rigid during plate drift and only experienced deformation at subduction zones. However, geological and geophysical evidence from the Ontong Java, Shatsky, Hess, and Manihiki oceanic plateaux suggests that extensional deformation is a common occurrence during plate drift. These plateaux, which are weaker regions of the ocean lithosphere, are more susceptible to tectonic deformation. Through numerical geodynamic models, we have demonstrated that the slab pull force exerted by distant subduction plate boundaries can effectively cause substantial extension in these oceanic plateaux. This study reveals a significant presence of intra ocean plate deformation associated with the Western Pacific subduction factory. Key Points Seismic and petrologic data indicate that oceanic plateaux on the Pacific Plate are undergoing extensional deformation during plate drift Numerical modeling finds a slab pull force may be causing the extension as the force is transmitted far away from the subduction zone Oceanic plates can experience substantial tectonic deformation during their drift to subduction