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Abstract-Renewable energy generation in the All-Island of 5 Ireland (AII) is set to increase by 2020 due to binding renew-6 able energy targets. To achieve these targets, there will be periods 7 of time when 75% of electricity will be generated mainly from 8 onshore wind. Currently, the AII system can accommodate a 50%

Publication informationCanadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 32 (1) ABSTRACT: Design and assessment of highway bridge structures requires accurate prediction of the maximum load effects, i.e. shear forces and bending moments etc., which may be expected during the proposed or remaining life of the structure. Traditionally these effects are calculated using conservative deterministic loading models prescribed by codes of practice. The inherent conservatism of these models lies in their need to be widely applicable. While this conservatism is relatively insignificant in design, it may be critical in assessment. In recent years advances in Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) technology have led to the increased availability of accurate and unbiased site-specific traffic records. These records have been successfully employed in the derivation of site-specific loading models and in calculation of load effects in assessment of bridge structures. The results of these assessments are accepted to be less conservative than those performed using generalised codified loading models. Given this reduction in the conservatism of the calculation it is important to quantify the implication of factors such as data inaccuracy or traffic growth on the calculated maximum load effects. This paper briefly describes the mathematical modelling involved in traffic simulation using WIM statistics. The results of direct simulations performed using WIM data are compared with those obtained through the statistical simulation technique termed Monte Carlo simulation, which is regularly employed where insufficient measured data exists. The implications of the accuracy of the recorded WIM data and the duration of recording on the predicted load effect are assessed along with the sensitivity of the extreme to the method of prediction. The effect of traffic evolution with time in terms of increased volumes of flow and weight limits are also explored.

Inspection-based maintenance strategies can provide an efficient tool for the management of ageing infrastructure subjected to deterioration. Many of these methods rely on quantitative data from inspections, rather than qualitative and subjective data. The focus of this paper is on the development of an inspection-based decision scheme, incorporating analysis on the effect of the cost and quality of NDT tools to assess the condition of infrastructure elements/networks during their lifetime. For the first time the two aspects of an inspection are considered, i.e. detection and sizing. Since each stage of an inspection is carried out for a distinct purpose, different parameters are used to represent each procedure and both have been incorporated into a maintenance management model. The separation of these procedures allows the interaction between the two inspection techniques to be studied. The inspection for detection process acts as a screening exercise to determine which defects require further inspection for sizing. A decision tool is developed that allows the owner/manager of the infrastructural element/network to choose the most cost-efficient maintenance management plan based on his/her specific requirements.

r s i o n o f a w o r k t h a t w a s a c c e p t e d f o r p u b l i c a t i o n i n J o u r n a l o f S o u n d and Vibration. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was

:  Damage detection and calibration in beams by wavelet analysis involve some key factors such as the damage model, the choice of the wavelet function, the effects of windowing, and the effects of masking due to the presence of noise during measurement. A numerical study has been performed in this article addressing these issues for single and multispan beams with an open crack. The first natural modeshapes of single and multispan beams with an open crack have been simulated considering damage models of different levels of complexity and analyzed for different crack depth ratios and crack positions. Gaussian white noise has been synthetically introduced to the simulated modeshape and the effects of varying signal‐to‐noise ratio have been studied. A wavelet‐based damage identification technique has been found to be simple, efficient, and independent of damage models and wavelet basis functions, once certain conditions regarding the modeshape and the wavelet bases are satisfied. The wavelet‐based damage calibration is found to be dependent on a number of factors including damage models and the basis function used in the analysis. A curvature‐based calibration is more sensitive than a modeshape‐based calibration of the extent of damage.

Against theories of cultural hybridity and disembodied flows of recorded media, this article argues for the continued relevance of the concept of regional musical scenes. It takes as examples contemporary punk as it exists in four cities and shows that there are different local accents in Washington D.C., Austin, Texas, Toronto and Mexico City. The conclusion describes some aspects of the social organisation of cultural contacts between these scenes. The article is part of a larger project of multi-site ethnography of youth subculture and resistance to globalisation.

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