• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.110-119
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• 2013

It is generalized to measure the arch settlement and convergence during tunnel construction for monitoring its mechanical stability. The initial convergence rate a day is defined from the first convergence measurement and the final convergence defined as the convergence measured lastly. The initial and the final tunnel arch settlement are defined like the preceding convergence. In the study, the relations between the initial and final displacements of a shallow tunnel are analyzed. The measurements were performed in the tunnel of subway 906 construction site in Seoul. The overburden is 10-20 m and the tunnel goes through weathered soil/rock. The width and height of the tunnel are about 11.5 m, 10m, respectively. So this is a shallow tunnel in weak rock. The length of tunnel is about 1,820 m and the tunnel was constructed in 2 stages, dividing upper and lower half. The numbers of measurement locations of arch settlement and convergence are 184 and 258, respectively. As a result, the initial displacement rate and the final displacement are comparatively larger in the section of weathered soil.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.545-554
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• 2007

Landslides is mainly induced by a heavy rainfall, earthquake ground motion, and some other factors like soil mechanics, morphological-geological factors etc. Since the starting point of the failure seemed to be originated at a construction site in the study, it is meaningful to find out the relationship between the landslide and the construction. For this study, the slope failure factor was examined carefully to see that the original natural slope had vulnerability and that the complex ground had unstability changed by construction. A field survey was conducted on the original ground surface and filled-up ground. A laboratory test was also conducted to determine the geomechanical properties of soil samples. 2D and 3D limit equilibrium analysis with changing groundwater level were conducted at the failure depth using a seismic refraction survey. The result shows that the factor of safety is similar stability under all condition, but unstable under saturated condition.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2018

Strength of loess that experienced cyclic freeze and thaw is of great significance for evaluating stability of slopes and foundations in loess regions. This paper takes the frequently encountered loess in the Northwestern China as the study object and carried out three kinds of laboratory tests including freeze-thaw test, direct shear test and SEM test to investigate the strength behaviors of loess after cyclic freeze and thaw, and the correlation with meso-level changes in soil structure. Results show that for loess specimens at four dry densities, the cohesion decreases with freeze-thaw cycles until a residual value is reached and thus an exponential equation is proposed. Besides, little change in the angle of internal friction was observed as freeze-thaw proceeds. This may depend on the varying of soil structure, based on which a clue can be found from the surface morphology and mesoscopic scanning of loess specimens. Clearly we observed significant changes in surface morphology of loess and it tends to aggravate at higher water contents or more cycles of freeze and thaw. Moreover, freeze-thaw cycling leads to obvious changes in the meso-structure of loess including lowering the particle aggregates and increasing both the proportion of fine particles and porosity area ratio. A damage variable dependent on the ratio of porosity area is introduced based on the continuum damage mechanics and its correlation with cohesion is discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.413-434
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• 2015

The vibrations caused by metro operation propagate through surrounding soil, further induce secondary vibrations of the nearby underground structures and adjacent buildings. In order to investigate the effects of vibrations caused by metro on use performance of buildings, vibration experiment of Chengdu museum was carried out firstly. Then, the coupling tunnel-soil-structure finite element model was established with software ANSYS detailedly, providing a useful tool for investigating the vibration performances of structures. Furthermore, the dynamic responses and vibration predictions of museum building were obtained respectively by the whole process time-domain analysis and frequency-domain analysis, which were compared with the vibration reference values of museum. Quantitative analyses of the museum building performance were carried out, and the possible tendency and changing laws of vibration level with floors were proposed. Finally, the related vibration isolation measures were compared and discussed. The tests and analysis results show that: The vertical vibration responses almost increased with the increasing of building floors, while weak floors existed for the curve of horizontal vibration; The vertical vibrations were larger than the horizontal vibrations, indicating the vibration performances of building caused by metro were characterized with vertical vibrations; The frequencies of the museum corresponding to the peak vibration levels were around 6~17Hz; The damping effect of structure with 33m-span cantilever on vertical vibration was obvious, however, the damping effect of structure with foundation vibration isolators was not obvious.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-65
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• 2015

Modeling and simulation of mechanical response of infrastructure object, solids and structures, relies on the use of computational models to foretell the state of a physical system under conditions for which such computational model has not been validated. Verification and Validation (V&V) procedures are the primary means of assessing accuracy, building confidence and credibility in modeling and computational simulations of behavior of those infrastructure objects. Validation is the process of determining a degree to which a model is an accurate representation of the real world from the perspective of the intended uses of the model. It is mainly a physics issue and provides evidence that the correct model is solved (Oberkampf et al. 2002). Our primary interest is in modeling and simulating behavior of porous particulate media that is fully saturated with pore fluid, including cyclic mobility and liquefaction. Fully saturated soils undergoing dynamic shaking fall in this category. Verification modeling and simulation of fully saturated porous soils is addressed in more detail by (Tasiopoulou et al. 2014), and in this paper we address validation. A set of centrifuge experiments is used for this purpose. Discussion is provided assessing the effects of scaling laws on centrifuge experiments and their influence on the validation. Available validation test are reviewed in view of first and second order phenomena and their importance to validation. For example, dynamics behavior of the system, following the dynamic time, and dissipation of the pore fluid pressures, following diffusion time, are not happening in the same time scale and those discrepancies are discussed. Laboratory tests, performed on soil that is used in centrifuge experiments, were used to calibrate material models that are then used in a validation process. Number of physical and numerical examples are used for validation and to illustrate presented discussion. In particular, it is shown that for the most part, numerical prediction of behavior, using laboratory test data to calibrate soil material model, prior to centrifuge experiments, can be validated using scaled tests. There are, of course, discrepancies, sources of which are analyzed and discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.179-197
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• 2012

This study presents the findings of the structural health monitoring and the real time system identification of one of the first large scale building instrumentations in Turkey for earthquake safety. Within this context, a thorough review of steps in the instrumentation, monitoring is presented and seismic performance evaluation of structures using both nonlinear pushover and nonlinear dynamic time history analysis is carried out. The sensor locations are determined using the optimal sensor placement techniques used in NASA for on orbit modal identification of large space structures. System identification is carried out via the stochastic subspace technique. The results of the study show that under ambient vibrations, stocky buildings can be substantially stiffer than what is predicted by the finite element models due to the presence of a large number of partitioning walls. However, in a severe earthquake, it will not be safe to rely on this resistance due to the fact that once the partitioning walls crack, the bare frame contributes to the lateral stiffness of the building alone. Consequently, the periods obtained from system identification will be closer to those obtained from the FE analysis. A technique to control the validity of the proportional damping assumption is employed that checks the presence of phase difference in displacements of different stories obtained from band pass filtered records and it is confirmed that the "proportional damping assumption" is valid for this structure. Two different techniques are implemented for identifying the influence of the soil structure interaction. The first technique uses the transfer function between the roof and the basement in both directions. The second technique uses a pre-whitening filter on the data obtained from both the basement and the roof. Subsequently the impulse response function is computed from the scaled cross correlation between the input and the output. The overall results showed that the structure will satisfy the life safety performance level in a future earthquake but some soil structure interaction effects should be expected in the North South direction.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.95-110
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• 2010

In recent years, study of the static response of pavements to moving vehicle and aircraft loads has received significant attention because of its relevance to the design of pavements and airport runways. The static response of beams resting on an elastic foundation and subjected to moving loads was studied by several researchers in the past. However, most of these studies were limited to steady-state analytical solutions for infinitely long beams resting on Winkler-type elastic foundations. Although the modelling of subgrade as a continuum is more accurate, such an approach can hardly be incorporated in analysis due to its complexity. In contrast, the two-parameter foundation model provides a better way for simulating the underlying soil medium and is conceptually more appealing than the one-parameter (Winkler) foundation model. The finite element method is one of the most suitable mathematical tools for analysing rigid pavements under moving loads. This paper presents an improved solution algorithm based on the finite element method for the static analysis of rigid pavements under moving vehicular or aircraft loads. The concrete pavement is discretized by finite and infinite beam elements, with the latter for modelling the infinity boundary conditions. The underlying soil medium is modelled by the Pasternak model allowing the shear interaction to exist between the spring elements. This can be accomplished by connecting the spring elements to a layer of incompressible vertical elements that can deform in transverse shear only. The deformations and forces maintaining equilibrium in the shear layer are considered by assuming the shear layer to be isotropic. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of the position of moving loads on the response of pavement.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.757-774
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• 2016

Soils are usually weak in tension therefore different materials such as geosynthetics are used to address this inadequacy. Worldwide annual consumption of geosynthetics is close to $1000million\;m^2$, and the value of these materials is probably close to US$1500 million. Since the total cost of the construction is at least four or five times the cost of the geosynthetic itself, the impact of these materials on civil engineering construction is very large indeed. Nevertheless, there are several significant problems associated with geosynthetics, such as creep, low modulus of elasticity, and susceptibility to aggressive environment. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) was introduced over two decades ago in the field of structural engineering that can also be used in geotechnical engineering. CFRP has all the benefits associated with geosynthetics and it boasts higher strength, higher modulus, no significant creep and reliability in aggressive environments. In this paper, the performance of a CFRP reinforced retaining wall is investigated using the finite element method. Since the characterization of behavior of soils and interfaces are vital for reliable prediction from the numerical model, soil and interface properties are obtained from comprehensive laboratory tests. Based on the laboratory results for CFRP, backfill soil, and interface data, the finite element model is used to study the behavior of a CFRP reinforced wall. The finite element model was verified based on the results of filed measurements for a reference wall. Then the reference wall simulated by CFRP reinforcements and the results. The results of this investigations showed that the safety factor of CFRP reinforced wall is more and its deformations is less than those for a retaining wall reinforced with ordinary geosynthetics while their construction costs are in similar range.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2018

Post-construction subgrade settlement especially differential settlement, has become a key issue in construction and operation of non-ballasted track on high-speed railway soil subgrade, which may also affect the dynamic performance of passing trains. To estimate the effect of differential subgrade settlement on the mechanical behaviors of the vehicle-slab track system, a detailed model considering nonlinear subgrade support and initial track state due to track self-weight is developed. Accordingly, analysis aiming at a typical high-speed vehicle coupled with a deteriorated slab track owing to differential subgrade settlement is carried out, in terms of two aspects: (i) determination of an initial mapping relationship between subgrade settlement and track deflections as well as contact state between track and subgrade based on a semi-analytical method; (ii) simulation of dynamic performance of the coupled system by employing a time integration approach. The investigation indicates that subgrade settlement results in additional track irregularity, and locally, the contact between the concrete track and the soil subgrade is prone to failure. Moreover, wheel-rail interaction is significantly exacerbated by the track degradation and abnormal responses occur as a result of the unsupported areas. Distributions of interlaminar contact forces in track system vary dramatically due to the combined effect of track deterioration and dynamic load. These may not only intensify the dynamic responses of the coupled system, but also have impacts on the long-term behavior of the track components.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.149-163
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• 2020

This paper presents a logistic regression and GIS based urban ground sink susceptibility assessment using underground facility information considering soil particle loss. In the underground environment, the particle loss due to water flow or groundwater level change leads to the occurrence and expansion of cavities, which directly affect the ground sink. Four different contributory factors were selected according to the two underground facility domains (water pipeline area, sewer pipeline area) and subway line area. The logistic regression method was used to analyze the correlation and to derive the regression equation between the ground sink inventory and the contributory factors. Based on these results, three ground sink susceptibility maps were generated. The results obtained from this study are expected to provide basic data on the area susceptible to ground sink and needed to safety monitoring.