Volume changes of soils induced by inorganic acids cause severe foundation and superstructure failures in industrial buildings. This study aimed to assess the potential of fly ash to control volume changes in soils under acidic environment. Two soils such as black cotton soil predominant with montmorillonite and kaolin clay predominant with kaolinite were used for the present investigation. Both soils exhibited an increase in swelling subjected to phosphoric acid contamination. Ion exchange reactions and mineralogical transformations lead to an increase in swelling and a decrease in compressibility in black cotton soil, whereas phosphate adsorption and mineral dissolution lead to an increase in swelling and compressibility in case of kaolin clay. Different percentages of Class F fly ash obtained from Ramagundam national thermal power station were used for soil treatment. Fly ash treatment leads to significant reduction in swelling and compressibility, which is attributed to the formation of aluminum phosphate cements in the presence of phosphoric acid.

Loess often causes problems when used as a filling material in the construction of foundations. Therefore, the compaction technique, shear behavior, and bearing capacity of a filled foundation should be carefully considered. A series of tests was performed in this study to obtain effective compaction techniques and construction parameters. The results indicated that loess is strongly sensitive to water. Thus, the soil moisture content should be kept within 12%-14% when it is used as a filling material. The vibrating-dynamic combination compaction technique is effective and has fewer limitations than other methods. In addition, the shear strength of the compacted loess was found to increase linearly with the degree of compaction, and the soil's compressibility decreased rapidly with an increase in the degree of compaction when the degree of compaction was less than 95%. Finally, the characteristic value of the bearing capacity increased with an increase in the degree of compaction in a ladder-type way when the degree of compaction was within 92%-95%. Based on the test data, this paper could be used as a reference in the selection of construction designs in similar engineering projects.

Rockbursts, catastrophic events involving the violent release of elastic energy stored in rock features, remain a worldwide challenge for geoengineering. Especially at deep-mining sites, rockbursts can occur in hard, high-stress, brittle rock zones, and the associated risk depends on such factors as mining activity and the stress on surrounding rocks. Rockbursts are often sudden and destructive, but there is still no unified standard for predicting them. Based on previous studies, a new Bayesian multi-index model was introduced to predict and evaluate rockbursts. In this method, the rock strength index, energy release index, and surrounding rock stress are the basic factors. Values from 18 rock samples were obtained, and the potential rockburst risks were evaluated. The rockburst tendencies of the samples were modelled using three existing methods. The results were compared with those obtained by the new Bayesian model, which was observed to predict rockbursts more effectively than the current methods.

The interaction between particles and fluid was investigated by IB-SEM numerical method which is a combination of combing the spectral/hp element method and the rigid immersed boundary method. The accuracy of this numerical method was verified based on the computed results with the traditional body-fitted mesh in numerical simulation of the flow through the cylinder. Then the governing equations of particles motion and contact in fluid are constructed. The movement of the particles and the interaction between the fluid and the particles are investigated. This method avoided the problem of low computational efficiency and error caused by the re-division of the grid when the solids moved. Finally, the movement simulation of multi particles in the fluid was carried out, which can provide a completely new numerical simulation method.

The coal wall, gob-side backfill, and gangues in goaf, constitute the support system for Gob-side entry retaining (GER) in coal mines. Reasonably allocating and utilizing their bearing capacities are key scientific and technical issues for the safety and economic benefits of the GER technology. At first, a mechanical model of GER was established and a governing equation for coordinated bearing of the coal-backfill-gangue support system was derived to reveal the coordinated bearing mechanism. Then, considering the bearing characteristics of the coal wall, gob-side backfill and gangues in goaf, their quantitative design methods were proposed, respectively. Next, taking the No. 2201 haulage roadway serving the No. 7 coal seam in Jiangjiawan Mine, China, as an example, the design calculations showed that the strains of both the coal wall and gob-side backfill were larger than their allowable strains and the rotational angle of the lateral main roof was larger than its allowable rotational angle. Finally, flexible-rigid composite supporting technology and roof cutting technology were designed and used. In situ investigations showed that the deformation and failure of surrounding rocks were well controlled and both the coal wall and gob-side backfill remained stable. Taking the coal wall, gob-side backfill and gangues in goaf as a whole system, this research takes full consideration of their bearing properties and provides a quantitative basis for design of the support system.

Reliability analysis is generally regarded as the most appropriate method when uncertainties are taken into account in slope designs. With the help of limit analysis, probability evaluation for three-dimensional rock slope stability was conducted based upon the Mote Carlo method. The nonlinear Hoek-Brown failure criterion was employed to reflect the practical strength characteristics of rock mass. A form of stability factor is used to perform reliability analysis for rock slopes. Results show that the variation of strength uncertainties has significant influence on probability of failure for rock slopes, as well as strength constants. It is found that the relationship between probability of failure and mean safety factor is independent of the magnitudes of input parameters but relative to the variability of variables. Due to the phenomenon, curves displaying this relationship can provide guidance for designers to obtain factor of safety according to required failure probability.

A footing located on slopes possess relatively lower bearing capacity as compared to the footing located on the level ground. The bearing capacity further reduces under seismic loading. The adverse effect of slope inclination and seismic loading on bearing capacity can be minimized by proving sufficient setback distance. Though few earlier studies considered setback distance in their analysis, the range of considered setback distance was very narrow. No study has explored the critical setback distance. An attempt has been made in the present study to comprehensively investigate the effect of setback distance on footing under seismic loading conditions. The pseudo-static method has been incorporated to study the influence of seismic loading. The rate of decrease in seismic bearing capacity with slope inclination become more evident with the increase in embedment depth of footing and angle of shearing resistance of soil. The increase in bearing capacity with setback distance relative to level ground reduces with slope inclination, soil density, embedment depth of footing and seismic acceleration. The critical value of setback distance is found to increase with slope inclination, embedment depth of footing and density of soil. The critical setback distance in seismic case is found to be more than those observed in the static case. The failure mechanisms of footing under seismic loading is presented in detail. The statistical analysis was also performed to develop three equations to predict the critical setback distance, seismic bearing capacity factor ($N_{{\gamma}qs}$) and change in seismic bearing capacity (BCR) with slope geometry, footing depth and seismic loading.

Geomechanics parameters are critical to numerical simulation, stability analysis, design and construction of geotechnical engineering. Due to the limitations of laboratory and in situ experiments, back analysis is widely used in geomechancis and geotechnical engineering. In this study, a hybrid back analysis method, that coupling numerical simulation, response surface (RS) and relevance vector machine (RVM), was proposed and applied to identify geomechanics parameters from hydraulic fracturing. RVM was adapted to approximate complex functional relationships between geomechanics parameters and borehole pressure through coupling with response surface method and numerical method. Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm was used to search the geomechanics parameters as optimal method in back analysis. The proposed method was verified by a numerical example. Based on the geomechanics parameters identified by hybrid back analysis, the computed borehole pressure agreed closely with the monitored borehole pressure. It showed that RVM presented well the relationship between geomechanics parameters and borehole pressure, and the proposed method can characterized the geomechanics parameters reasonably. Further, the parameters of hybrid back analysis were analyzed and discussed. It showed that the hybrid back analysis is feasible, effective, robust and has a good global searching performance. The proposed method provides a significant way to identify geomechanics parameters from hydraulic fracturing.

In this study, a comprehensive laboratory experimental programme was conducted on expansive soil with a high swelling potential to study the influence of different additive materials on swelling pressure and index properties. Lime, sand, multifilament fiber and fibrillated fiber were used for stabilization of expansive soil. Lime, sand and fibers were respectively added to the expansive soil at 0-7%, 0-80%, 0-0.5%. On each mixture that was prepared by the proportions mentioned above, Atterberg limits, compaction, and swelling pressure tests were conducted. From the result of these experiments, the swelling pressure-time relation could be replaced by a rectangular hyperbola established to facilitate the prediction of ultimate percent swelling with a few initial data points. The best type of additive and its optimum ratio for engineering purposes could be estimated rapidly by this approach.

From all of the environmental problems, blast-induced vibrations often cause concern to surrounding residents. It is often claimed that damage to building superstructures is due to blasting, and sometimes the building owner files a lawsuit against the company that perform blasting operations. The blast-vibration problem has been thoroughly investigated in the past and continues to be the subject of ongoing research. In this study, a tunnel construction has been performed by a construction company, according to their contract they must have used drilling & blasting method for excavation in tunnel inlet and outlet portal. The population is very condensed with almost tunnel below in the vicinity houses of one or two floors, typically built with stone masonry and concrete. This situation forces the company to take extreme precautions when they are designing blasts so that the blast effects, which are mainly vibration and aerial waves, do not disturb their surrounding neighbors. For this purpose, the vibration measurement and analysis have been carried out and a new methodology in minimizing the blast induced ground vibrations at the target location, was also applied. Peak particle velocity and dominant frequencies were taken into consideration in analyzing the blast-induced ground vibration. The methodology aims to employ the most suitable time delays among blast-hole groupings to render destructive interference of surface waves at the target location.