Post-earthquake Prioritization of Bridge Inspections

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Ranf ◽  
M. O. Eberhard ◽  
S. Malone
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Epicentral Distance ◽  
Fragility Curves ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Bridge Damage ◽  
Washington State Department ◽  
Prioritization Strategy

Bridge damage reports from the 2001 Nisqually earthquake were correlated with estimates of ground-motion intensity at each bridge site (obtained from ShakeMaps) and with bridge properties listed in the Washington State Bridge Inventory. Of the ground-motion parameters considered, the percentage of bridges damaged correlated best with the spectral acceleration at a period of 0.3 s. Bridges constructed before the 1940s, movable bridges, and older trusses were particularly vulnerable. These bridge types were underestimated by the HAZUS procedure, which categorizes movable bridges and older trusses as “other” bridges. An inspection prioritization strategy was developed that combines ShakeMaps, the bridge inventory and newly developed fragility curves. For the Nisqually earthquake, this prioritization strategy would have made it possible to identify 80% of the moderately damaged bridges by inspecting only 481 (14%) of the 3,407 bridges within the boundaries of the ShakeMap. To identify these bridges using a prioritization strategy based solely on epicentral distance, it would have been necessary to inspect 1,447 (42%) bridges. To help the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) rapidly identify damaged bridges, the prioritization procedure has been incorporated within the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) ground-motion processing and notification software.

scholarly journals Tilting Trains Shorten Transit Time

1998 ◽  
Vol 120 (06) ◽  
pp. 78-81
Author(s):  
Michael Valenti
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Electromechanical Actuators ◽  
Fast Speed ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Washington State Department ◽  
Work Done

This article explains the research work done to study and implement tilling trains. Tilting trains while negotiating curves reduce centrifugal force on passengers yet maintain fast speed on the ride. London-based Virgin Rail has signed one of the largest international railroad contracts ever for a fleet of tilting trains from Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. in Savigliano, Italy, to run on Great Britain's high-speed West Coast Main Line. Fiat engineers house the hydraulic or electromechanical actuators of the Pendolino trains in the bogies completely under the cars to preserve space in the passenger compartments. The latest generation of Pendolino train, the ETR 460, was introduced in 1993. This train carries up to 478 passengers at a top speed of 250 kilometers per hour. Each ETR 460 is made up of three traction units, each consisting of two motor cars and one trailer. The Washington State Department of Transportation uses Talgo pendular trains, to cut the travel times of passengers traveling in the Pacific Northwest.

scholarly journals Identification of a Kulshan caldera correlative tephra in the Palouse loess of Washington State, northwest USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina E. King ◽  
Nicholas J.G. Pearce ◽  
Helen M. Roberts ◽  
Victoria C. Smith ◽  
John A. Westgate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Fractional Crystallisation ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
East Central ◽  
Trace Element Chemistry ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Eruptive Volume ◽  
Reversed Polarity

AbstractThe Kulshan caldera formed at ∼1.15 Ma on the present-day site of Mt. Baker, Washington State, northwest USA and erupted a compositionally zoned (dacite-rhyolite) magma and a correlative eruptive, the Lake Tapps tephra. This tephra has previously been described, but only from the Puget Lowland of NW Washington. Here an occurrence of a Kulshan caldera correlative tephra is described from the Quaternary Palouse loess at the Washtucna site (WA-3). Site WA-3 is located in east-central Washington, ∼340 km southeast of the Kulshan caldera and ∼300 km east-southeast of the Lake Tapps occurrence in the Puget Lowland. Major- and trace element chemistry and location of the deposit at Washtucna within reversed polarity sediments indicates that it is not correlative with the Mesa Falls, Rockland, Bishop Ash, Lava Creek B or Huckleberry Ridge tephras. Instead the Washtucna deposit is related to the Lake Tapps tephra by fractional crystallisation, but is chemically distinct, a consequence of its eruption from a compositionally zoned magma chamber. The correlation of the Washtucna occurrence to the Kulshan caldera-forming eruption indicates that it had an eruptive volume exceeding 100 km3, and that its tephra could provide a valuable early-Pleistocene chronostratigraphic marker in the Pacific Northwest.

scholarly journals Effects of projected climate change on energy supply and demand in the Pacific Northwest and Washington State

2010 ◽  
Vol 102 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 103-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan F. Hamlet ◽  
Se-Yeun Lee ◽  
Kristian E. B. Mickelson ◽  
Marketa M. Elsner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Washington State ◽  
The Pacific

First Report of Downy Mildew of Chives Caused by Peronospora destructor in the Pacific Northwest

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Dean A. Glawe
Keyword(s):  
Downy Mildew ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Washington State ◽  
King County ◽  
Specialty Crops ◽  
First Report ◽  
Peronospora Destructor ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Allium Schoenoprasum

Chive (Allium schoenoprasum L.) is one of the specialty crops grown by farmers in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. In September, 2002, downy mildew symptoms were observed in a 0.2 hectare field planting of chive near Fall City, King County, WA. Downy mildew had not been reported previously on chive in the Pacific Northwest. Accepted for publication 15 April 2003. Published 12 May 2003.

First Report of Powdery Mildew of Myosotis sylvatica (Wood Forget-me-not) Caused by Golovinomyces cynoglossi (Erysiphe cynoglossi) in Washington State

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Dean A. Glawe
Keyword(s):  
Powdery Mildew ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Causal Organism ◽  
First Report ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Western Washington ◽  
Symptoms And Signs

Wood forget-me-not cultivars are popular ornamentals in the Pacific Northwest. In western Washington, this species frequently displays symptoms and signs of powdery mildew after anthesis. This report records the disease from King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Skagit counties and describes and illustrates symptoms of the disease as well as taxonomically important features of the causal organism. Accepted for publication 29 October 2004. Published 24 November 2004.

A Personal Journey toward Teaching Success

1994 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-72
Author(s):  
Margaret Pressley ◽  
Rebecca Henry
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Violin Pedagogy ◽  
Music Festival ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The University ◽  
Washington University

Margaret Pressley is well known in the Pacific Northwest as a teacher of gifted pre-college violinists and as an enabler of conservatory-level music education in Seattle. Attending the University of Washington, with a major in violin performance, she chose a career in violin pedagogy, which has spanned 30 years. Pressley has built a highly successful class of continuously prize-winning students, who are eagerly sought by conservatories. She is the founder and director of the Pressley Conservatory of Music in Seattle. Pressley is a lecturer at Western Washington University and is also on the faculty of the Indiana University Summer String Academy, a member of the advisory board of the Seattle Young Artist Music Festival and the National Music Teachers Association Competition String Repertoire Committee, and string chair for the Washington State Music Teachers Association. She was named ASTA's 1994 Washington State Studio Teacher of the Year.

Survey of Fragile Geologic Features and Their Quasi-Static Earthquake Ground-Motion Constraints, Southern Oregon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin McPhillips ◽  
Katherine M. Scharer
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Earthquake Ground Motion ◽  
Ground Shaking ◽  
Motion Constraints ◽  
Megathrust Earthquakes ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Rock Pillars

ABSTRACT Fragile geologic features (FGFs), which are extant on the landscape but vulnerable to earthquake ground shaking, may provide geological constraints on the intensity of prior shaking. These empirical constraints are particularly important in regions such as the Pacific Northwest that have not experienced a megathrust earthquake in written history. Here, we describe our field survey of FGFs in southern Oregon. We documented 58 features with fragile geometric characteristics, as determined from field measurements of size and strength, historical photographs, and light detection and ranging point clouds. Among the surveyed FGFs, sea stacks have particular advantages for use as ground-motion constraints: (1) they are frequently tall and thin; (2) they are widely distributed parallel to the coast, proximal to the trench and the likely megathrust rupture surface; and (3) they are formed by sea cliff retreat, meaning that their ages may be coarsely estimated as a function of distance from the coast. About 40% of the surveyed sea stacks appear to have survived multiple Cascadia megathrust earthquakes. Using a quasi-static analysis, we estimate the minimum horizontal ground accelerations that could fracture the rock pillars. We provide context for the quasi-static results by comparing them with predictions from kinematic simulations and ground-motion prediction equations. Among the sea stacks old enough to have survived multiple megathrust earthquakes (n = 16), eight yield breaking accelerations lower than the predictions, although they generally overlap within uncertainty. FGFs with the lowest breaking accelerations are distributed uniformly over 130 km of coastline. Results for inland features, such as speleothems, are in close agreement with the predictions. We conclude that FGFs show promise for investigating both past earthquake shaking and its spatial variability along the coasts of Oregon and Washington, where sea stacks are often prevalent. Future work can refine our understanding of FGF age and evolution.

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