• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.769-781
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• 2015

The skin friction of a pile foundation is important and essential for its design and analysis. More attention has been given to the softening behaviour of skin friction of a pile. In this study, to investigate the load-transfer mechanism in such a case, an analytical solution using a nonlinear softening model was derived. Subsequently, a load test on the pile was performed to verify the newly developed analytical solution. The comparison between the analytical solution and test results showed a good agreement in terms of the axial force of the pile and the stress-strain relationship of the pile-soil interface. The softening behaviour of the skin friction can be simulated well when the pile is subjected to large loads; however, such behaviour is generally ignored by most existing analytical solutions. Finally, the effects of the initial shear modulus and the ratio of the residual skin friction to peak skin friction on the load-settlement curve of a pile were investigated by a parametric analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.919-933
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• 2017

A series of Brazilian tests under diameter compression for disc specimens was carried out to investigate the strength and failure behavior by using acoustic emission (AE) and photography monitoring technique. On the basis of experimental results, load-displacement curves, AE counts, real-time crack evolution process, failure modes and strength property of granite specimens containing two pre-existing holes were analyzed in detail. Two typical types of load-displacement curves are identified, i.e., sudden instability (type I) and progressive failure (type II). In accordance with the two types of load-displacement curves, the AE events also have different responses. The present experiments on disc specimens containing two pre-existing holes under Brazilian test reveal four distinct failure modes, including diametrical splitting failure mode (mode I), one crack coalescence failure mode (mode II), two crack coalescences failure mode (mode III) and no crack coalescence failure mode (mode IV). Compared with intact granite specimen, the disc specimen containing two holes fails with lower strength, which is closely related to the bridge angle. The failure strength of pre-holed specimen first decreases and then increases with the bridge angle. Finally, a preliminary interpretation was proposed to explain the strength evolution law of granite specimen containing two holes based on the microscopic observation of fracture plane.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-74
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• 2009

In recent years, several computer-aided pattern recognition and data mining techniques have been developed for modeling of soil behavior. The main idea behind a pattern recognition system is that it learns adaptively from experience and is able to provide predictions for new cases. Artificial neural networks are the most widely used pattern recognition methods that have been utilized to model soil behavior. Recently, the authors have pioneered the application of genetic programming (GP) and evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) techniques for modeling of soils and a number of other geotechnical applications. The paper reviews applications of pattern recognition and data mining systems in geotechnical engineering with particular reference to constitutive modeling of soils. It covers applications of artificial neural network, genetic programming and evolutionary programming approaches for soil modeling. It is suggested that these systems could be developed as efficient tools for modeling of soils and analysis of geotechnical engineering problems, especially for cases where the behavior is too complex and conventional models are unable to effectively describe various aspects of the behavior. It is also recognized that these techniques are complementary to conventional soil models rather than a substitute to them.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1027-1044
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• 2017

Membrane penetration is the most important factor influencing the measurement of volume change for triaxial consolidated-drained shear test for coarse-grained soil. The effective pressure p, average particle size $d_{50}$, thickness $t_m$ and elastic modulus $E_m$ of membrane, contact area between membrane and soil $A_m$ as well as the initial void ratio e are the major factors influencing membrane penetration. According to the membrane deformation model given by Kramer and Sivaneswaran, an analytical solution of the membrane penetration considering the initial void ratio is deduced using the energy conservation law. The basic equations from theory of plates and shells and the elastic mechanics are employed during the derivation. To verify the presented solution, isotropic consolidation tests of a coarse-grained soil are performed by using the method of embedding different diameter of iron rods in the triaxial samples, and volume changes due to membrane penetration are obtained. The predictions from presented solution and previous analytical solutions are compared with the test results. It is found that the prediction from presented analytical solution agrees well with the test results.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.845-860
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• 2017

It is very important to study displacement prediction in geotechnical engineering. Nowadays, the grey system method, time series analysis method and artificial neural network method are three main methods. Based on the brief introduction, the three methods are analyzed comprehensively. Their merits and demerits, applied ranges are revealed. To solve the shortcomings of the artificial neural network method, a new prediction method based on new evolutionary neural network is proposed. Finally, through two real engineering applications, the analysis of three main methods and the new evolutionary neural network method all have been verified. The results show that, the grey system method is a kind of exponential approximation to displacement sequence, and time series analysis is linear autoregression approximation, while artificial neural network is nonlinear autoregression approximation. Thus, the grey system method can suitably analyze the sequence, which has the exponential law, the time series method can suitably analyze the random sequence and the neural network method almostly can be applied in any sequences. Moreover, the prediction results of new evolutionary neural network method is the best, and its approximation sequence and the generalization prediction sequence are all coincided with the real displacement sequence well. Thus, the new evolutionary neural network method is an acceptable method to predict the measurement displacements of geotechnical engineering.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.59-76
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• 2016

Penetration problems in geomechanics are common. Usually the soil is heavily disturbed around the penetrating bodies and large deformations and distortions can occur. The simulation of the installation of displacement piles is a good example of the interest of these types of problems for geomechanics. In this paper the Material Point Method is used to overcome the difficulties associated with the simulations of problems involving large deformation and full displacement type penetration. Recent modifications of the Material Point Method known as Generalized Interpolation Material Point and the Convected Particle Domain Interpolation are also used and evaluated in some of the examples. Herein a footing submitted to large settlements is presented and simulated, together with the processes associated to a driven pile under undrained conditions. The displacements of the soil surrounding the pile are compared with those obtained by the Small Strain Path Method. In addition, the Modified Cam Clay model is implemented in a code of MPM and used to simulate the process of driving a pile in dry sand. Good and rather encouraging agreement is found between compared data.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.71 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2019

This paper presents the numerical simulation of membrane structure under impact load. Firstly, the numerical simulation model is validated by comparing with the test in Hao's research. Then, the effects of the shape of the projectile, the membrane prestress and the initial impact speed, are investigated for studying the dynamic response and failure mechanism, based on the membrane displacement, projectile acceleration and kinetic energy. Finally, the results show that the initial speed and the punch shape are related with the loss of kinetic energy of projectiles. Meanwhile, the membrane prestress is an important factor that affects the energy dissipation capacity and the impact resistance of membrane structures.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2018

In offshore engineering, lateral cyclic loading may induce excessive lateral movement and bending strain in pile foundations. Previous studies mainly focused on deformation mechanisms of single piles due to lateral cyclic loading. In this paper, centrifuge model tests were conducted to investigate the response of a $2{\times}2$ pile group due to lateral cyclic loading in clay. After applying each loading-unloading cycle, the pile group cannot move back to its original location. It implies that residual movement and bending strain are induced in the pile group. This is because cyclic loading induces plastic deformation in the soil surrounding the piles. As the cyclic load increases from 62.5 to 375 kN, the ratio of the residual to the maximum pile head movements varies from 0.30 to 0.84. Moreover, the ratio of the residual to the maximum bending strains induced in the piles is in a range of 0.23 to 0.82. The bending strain induced in the front pile is up to 3.2 times as large as that in the rear pile. Thus, much more protection measures should be applied to the front piles to ensure the serviceability and safety of pile foundations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.587-600
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• 2020

Shear-induced instability of jointed rock mass has greatly threatened the safety of underground openings. To better understand the failure mechanism of surrounding rock mass under shear, the flawed specimens containing a circular opening and two open joints are prepared and used to conduct direct shear tests. Both experimental and numerical results show that joint inclination (β) has a significant effect on the shear strength, dilation, cracking behavior and stress distribution around flaws. The maximum shear strength, occurring at β=30°, usually corresponds to a unifrom stress state around joint and an intense energy release. However, a larger joint inclination, such as β=90°~150°, will cause a more uneven stress distribution and a stronger stress concentration, thus a lower shear strength. The stress distribution around opening changes little with joint inclination, while the magnitude varys much. Both compression and tension around opening will be greatly enhanced by the 30°-joints. In addition, a higher normal stress tends to enhance the compression and suppress the tension around flaws, resulting in an earlier generation and a larger proportion of shear cracks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.383-392
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• 2022

Although pipelines are composed of segmental tubes commonly connected by rubber gasket or push-in joints, current studies mainly simplified pipelines as continuous structures. Effects of joints on three-dimensional deformation mechanisms of existing pipelines due to tunnel excavation are not fully understood. By conducting three-dimensional numerical analyses, effects of pipeline burial depth, tunnel burial depth, volume loss, pipeline stiffness and joint stiffness on bending strain and joint rotation of existing pipelines are explored. By increasing pipeline burial depth or decreasing tunnel cover depth, tunneling-induced pipeline deformations are substantially increased. As tunnel volume loss varies from 0.5% to 3%, the maximum bending strains and joint rotation angles of discontinuous pipelines increase by 1.08 and 9.20 times, respectively. By increasing flexural stiffness of pipe segment, a dramatic increase in the maximum joint rotation angles is observed in discontinuous pipelines. Thus, the safety of existing discontinuous pipelines due to tunnel excavation is controlled by joint rotation rather than bending strain. By increasing joint stiffness ratio from 0.0 (i.e., completely flexible joints) to 1.0 (i.e., continuous pipelines), tunneling-induced maximum pipeline settlements decrease by 22.8%-34.7%. If a jointed pipeline is simplified as a continuous structure, tunneling-induced settlement is thus underestimated, but bending strain is grossly overestimated. Thus, joints should be directly simulated in the analysis of tunnel-soil-pipeline interaction.