• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.179-194
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• 2021

In this paper, to study the stability of surrounding rock during roadway excavation in different rock mass structures, the physical model test for roadway excavation process in three types of intact rock mass, layered rock mass and massive rock mass were carried out by using the self-developed two-dimensional simulation testing system of complex underground engineering. Firstly, based on the engineering background of a deep mine in eastern China, the similar materials of the most appropriate ratio in line with the similarity theory were tested, compared and determined. Then, the physical models of four different schemes with 1000 mm (height) × 1000 mm (length) × 250 mm (width) were constructed. Finally, the roadway excavation was carried out after applying boundary conditions to the physical model by the simulation testing system. The results indicate that the supporting effect of rockbolts has a great influence on the shallow surrounding rock, and the rock mass structure can affect the overall stability of the surrounding rock. Furthermore, the failure mechanism and bearing capacity of surrounding rock were further discussed from the comparison of stress evolution characteristics, distribution of stress arch, and failure modes in different schemes.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2020

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock is a basic parameter in underground engineering design. The disadvantages of this commonly employed laboratory testing method are untimely testing, difficulty in performing core testing of broken rock mass and long and complicated onsite testing processes. Therefore, the development of a fast and simple in situ rock UCS testing method for field use is urgent. In this study, a multi-function digital rock drilling and testing system and a digital core bit dedicated to the system are independently developed and employed in digital drilling tests on rock specimens with different strengths. The energy analysis is performed during rock cutting to estimate the energy consumed by the drill bit to remove a unit volume of rock. Two quantitative relationship models of energy analysis-based core drilling parameters (ECD) and rock UCS (ECD-UCS models) are established in this manuscript by the methods of regression analysis and support vector machine (SVM). The predictive abilities of the two models are comparatively analysed. The results show that the mean value of relative difference between the predicted rock UCS values and the UCS values measured by the laboratory uniaxial compression test in the prediction set are 3.76 MPa and 4.30 MPa, respectively, and the standard deviations are 2.08 MPa and 4.14 MPa, respectively. The regression analysis-based ECD-UCS model has a more stable predictive ability. The energy analysis-based rock drilling method for the prediction of UCS is proposed. This method realized the quick and convenient in situ test of rock UCS.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.303-316
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• 2023

With the development and utilization of urban underground space, the artificial ground freezing technology has been widely used in the construction of underground engineering in soft soil areas. The mechanical properties of soft clay changed greatly after freezing and thawing, which affected the seismic performance of underground structures. In this paper, a series of triaxial tests were carried out to study the dynamic response of the freezing-thawing clay under the seismic load considering different dynamic stress amplitudes and different confining pressures. The reduction factor of dynamic shear stress was determined to correct the amplitude of the seismic load. The deformation development mode, the stress-strain relationship and the energy dissipation behavior of the soft clay under the seismic load were analyzed. An empirical model for predicting accumulative plastic strain was proposed and validated considering the loading times, the confining pressures and the dynamic stress amplitudes. The relevant research results can provide a theoretical reference to the seismic design of underground structures in soft clay areas.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2024

This study presents an energy analysis for large-strain cavity expansion problem based on the general strength criterion and energy theory. This study focuses on the energy dissipation problem during the cavity expansion process, dividing the soil mass around the cavity into an elastic region and a plastic region. Assuming compliance with the small deformation theory in the elastic region and the large deformation theory in the plastic region, combined with the general strength criterion of soil mass and energy theory, the energy dissipation solution for cavity expansion problem is derived. Firstly, from an energy perspective, the process of cavity expansion in soil mass is described as an energy conversion process. The energy dissipation mechanism is introduced into the traditional analysis of cavity expansion, and a general analytical solution for cavity expansion related to energy is derived. Subsequently, based on this general analytical solution of cavity expansion, the influence of different strength criterion, large-strain, expansion radius, cavity shape and characteristics of soil mass on the stress distribution, displacement field and energy evolution around the cavity is studied. Finally, the effectiveness and reliability of theoretical solution is verified by comparing the results of typical pressure-expansion curves with existing literature algorithms. The results indicate that different strength criterion have a relatively small impact on the displacement and strain field around the cavity, but a significant impact on the stress distribution and energy evolution around the cavity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.421-434
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• 2019

It is of great significance to study the mechanical properties and failure mechanism of the defected rock for geological engineering. The defected sandstone modeling with power-law distribution of pre-cracks was built in this paper by Particle Flow Code software. Then the mechanical properties of sandstone and the corresponding failure process were meticulously analyzed by changing the power-law index (PLI) and the number of pre-cracks (NPC). The results show that (1) With the increase of the PLI, the proportion of prefabricated long cracks gradually decreases. (2) When the NPC is the same, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of sandstone increases with the PLI; while when the PLI is the same, the UCS decreases with the NPC. (3) The damage model of rock strength is established based on the Mori-Tanaka method, which can be used to better describe the strength evolution of damaged rock. (4) The failure mode of the specimen is closely related to the total length of the pre-crack. As the total length of the pre-crack increases, the failure intensity of the specimen gradually becomes weaker. In addition, for the specimens with the total pre-crack length between 0.2-0.55 m, significant lateral expansion occurred during their failure process. (5) For the specimens with smaller PLI in the pre-peak loading process, the concentration of the force field inside is more serious than that of the specimens with larger PLI.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.267-279
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• 2023

Data modelling and interpretation for structural health monitoring (SHM) field data are critical for evaluating structural performance and quantifying the vulnerability of infrastructure systems. In order to improve the data modelling accuracy, and extend the application range from data regression analysis to out-of-sample forecasting analysis, an improved most likely heteroscedastic Gaussian process (iMLHGP) methodology is proposed in this study by the incorporation of the outof-sample forecasting algorithm. The proposed iMLHGP method overcomes this limitation of constant variance of Gaussian process (GP), and can be used for estimating non-stationary typhoon-induced response statistics with high volatility. The first attempt at performing data regression and forecasting analysis on structural responses using the proposed iMLHGP method has been presented by applying it to real-world filed SHM data from an instrumented cable-stay bridge during typhoon events. Uncertainty quantification and correlation analysis were also carried out to investigate the influence of typhoons on bridge strain data. Results show that the iMLHGP method has high accuracy in both regression and out-of-sample forecasting. The iMLHGP framework takes both data heteroscedasticity and accurate analytical processing of noise variance (replace with a point estimation on the most likely value) into account to avoid the intensive computational effort. According to uncertainty quantification and correlation analysis results, the uncertainties of strain measurements are affected by both traffic and wind speed. The overall change of bridge strain is affected by temperature, and the local fluctuation is greatly affected by wind speed in typhoon conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.589-600
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• 2018

For foundations in permafrost regions, the displacement characteristics are uncertain because of the randomness of temperature characteristics and mechanical parameters, which make the structural system have an unexpected deviation and unpredictability. It will affect the safety of design and construction. In this paper, we consider the randomness of temperature characteristics and mechanical parameters. A stochastic analysis model for the uncertain displacement characteristic of foundations is presented, and the stochastic coupling program is compiled by Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) software. The stochastic displacement fields of an embankment in a permafrost region are obtained and analyzed by Neumann stochastic finite element method (NSFEM). The results provide a new way to predict the deformation characteristics of foundations in permafrost regions, and it shows that the stochastic temperature has a different influence on the stochastic lateral displacement and vertical displacement. Construction disturbance and climate warming lead to three different stages for the mean settlement of characteristic points. For the stochastic settlement characteristic, the standard deviation increases with time, which imply that the results of conventional deterministic analysis may be far from the true value. These results can improve our understanding of the stochastic deformation fields of embankments and provide a theoretical basis for engineering reliability analysis and design in permafrost regions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.583-594
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• 2021

The gas permeability behavior of unsaturated bentonite-based materials is of major importance for ensuring effective sealing of high-level radwaste repositories. This study investigated this by taking a sample of Granular Bentonite Material (GBM) at the end of the Engineered Barrier Emplacement (EB) experiment in the Opalinus Clay, placing it under different humidity conditions until it achieved equilibration, and testing the change in the gas permeability under loading and unloading. Environmental humidity is shown to have a significant effect on the water content, saturation, porosity and dry density of GBM and to affect its gas permeability. Higher sensitivity to confining pressure is exhibited by samples equilibrated at higher relative humidity (RH). It should be noted that for the sample at RH=98%, when the confining pressure is raised from 1 MPa to 6 MPa, gas permeability can be reduced from 10^-16 m² to 10^-19 m², which is close to the requirements of gas tightness. Due to higher water content and easier compressibility, samples equilibrated under higher RH show greater irreversibility during the loading and unloading process. The effective gas permeability of highly saturated samples can be increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude after 105℃ drying. In addition, cracks possibly occurred during the dehydration and drying process will become the main channel for gas migration, which will greatly affect the sealing performance of GBM.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.205-217
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• 2022

The thermodynamic properties of shaft lining concrete (SLC) are important evidence for the design and construction, and the spatial variability of concrete materials can directly affect the stochastic thermal analysis of the concrete structures. In this work, an array of field experiments of the concrete materials are carried out, and the statistical characteristics of thermophysical parameters of SLC are obtained. The coefficient of variation (COV) and scale of fluctuation (SOF) of uncertain thermophysical parameters are estimated. A three-dimensional (3-D) stochastic thermal model of concrete materials with heat conduction and hydration heat is proposed, and the uncertain thermodynamic properties of SLC are computed by the self-compiled program. Model validation with the experimental and numerical temperatures is also presented. According to the relationship between autocorrelation functions distance (ACD) and SOF for the five theoretical autocorrelation functions (ACFs), the effects of the ACF, COV and ACD of concrete materials on the uncertain thermodynamic properties of SLC are analyzed. The results show that the spatial variability of concrete materials is subsistent. The average temperatures and standard deviation (SD) of inner SLC are the lowest while the outer SLC is the highest. The effects of five 3-D ACFs of concrete materials on uncertain thermodynamic properties of SLC are insignificant. The larger the COV of concrete materials is, the larger the SD of SLC will be. On the contrary, the longer the ACD of concrete materials is, the smaller the SD of SLC will be. The SD of temperature of SLC increases first and then decreases. This study can provide a reliable reference for the thermodynamic properties of SLC considering spatial variability of concrete materials.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.551-564
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• 2020

High-stress and complex geological conditions impose great challenges to maintain excavation stability during deep underground mining. In this research, large anisotropic deformation and its management by support system at a deep underground mine in Western Australia were simulated through three-dimensional finite-difference model. The ubiquitous-joint model was used and calibrated in FLAC3D to reproduce the deformation and failure characteristics of the excavation based on the field monitoring results. After modeling verification, the roles of mining depth also the intercept angle between excavation axis and foliation orientation on the deformation and damage were studied. Based on the results, quantitative relationships between key factors and damage classifications were presented, which can be used as an engineering tool. Subsequently, the performance of support system installation sequences was simulated and compared at four different scenarios. The results show that, first surface support and then reinforcement installation can obtain a better controlling effect. Finally, the influence of bolt spacing and ring spacing were also discussed. The outcomes obtained in this research may play a meaningful reference for facing the challenges in thin-bedded or foliated ground conditions.