• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.435-445
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• 2019

A series of element tests with different drainage conditions and strain rates were performed on compacted unsaturated non-plastic silt in unconfined conditions. Soil samples were compacted at water contents from dry to wet of optimum with the degree of saturation varying from 24 to 59.5% while maintaining the degree of compaction at 80%. The tests performed were shear infiltration tests in which specimens had constant net confining pressure, pore air pressure was kept drained and constant, just before the shear process pore water pressure was increased (and kept constant afterwards) to decrease matric suction and to start water infiltration. In constant water content tests, specimens had constant net confining pressure, pore air pressure was kept drained and constant whereas pore water pressure was kept undrained. As a result, the matric suction varied with increase in axial strain throughout the shearing process. In both cases, maximum shear strength was obtained for specimens prepared on dry side of optimum moisture content. Moreover, the gradient of stress path was not affected under different strain rates whereas the intercept of failure was changed due to the drainage conditions implied in this study.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.437-448
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• 2020

In high rise buildings that utilize precast large panel system for construction, the shear wall provides strength and stiffness during earthquakes. The performance of a wall panel system depends mainly on the type of connection used to transfer the forces from one wall element to another wall element. This paper presents an experimental investigation on different types of construction detailing of the precast wall to wall vertical connections under reverse cyclic loading. One of the commonly used connections in India to connect wall to wall panel is the loop bar connection. Hence for this study, three types of wet connections and one type of dry connection namely: Staggered loop bar connection, Equally spaced loop bar connection, U-Hook connection, and Channel connection respectively were used to connect the precast walls. One third scale model of the wall was used for this study. The main objective of the experimental work is to evaluate the performance of the wall to wall connections in terms of hysteretic behaviour, ultimate load carrying capacity, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, ductility, viscous damping ratio, and crack pattern. All the connections exhibited similar load carrying capacity. The U-Hook connection exhibited higher ductility and energy dissipation when compared to the other three connections.

• Advances in materials Research
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.189-202
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• 2020

The objective of the present work is to investigate the effect of cutting parameters (Vc, fz and ap) on tool life and the level of vibrations velocity in the machined part during face milling operation of hardened AISI 52100 steel. Dry-face milling has been achieved in the annealed (28 HRc) and quenched (55 HRc) conditions using multi-layer coating micro-grain carbide inserts. Statistical analysis based on the Response surface methodology (RSM) and ANOVA analysis have been conducted through a plan of experiments methodology using a reduced Taguchi table (L9) in order to obtain engineering models for tool life and vibration velocity in the workpiece for both heat treatment conditions. The results show that the cutting speed has a dominant influence on tool life for both soft and hard part. Cutting speed and feed per tooth is the most significant parameters for vibration levels. Comparing the experimental values with those predicted by the developed engineering models of tool life and levels of vibrations velocity, a good correlation has been obtained (between 97% and 99%) in annealed and hard conditions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.399-406
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• 2018

The influences of mineral content and porosity on ultrasonic wave velocity were assessed for ten hornfelsic rocks collected from southern and western parts of the city of Hamedan, western Iran. Selected rock samples were subjected to mineralogical, physical, and index laboratory tests. The tested rocks contain quartz, feldspar, biotite, muscovite, garnet, sillimanite, kyanite, staurolite, graphite and other fine grained cryptocrystalline matrix materials. The values of dry unit weight of the rocks were high, but the values of porosity and water absorption were low. In the rocks, the values of dry unit weight are related to the presence of dense minerals such as garnet so not affected by porosity. The statistical relationships between mineral content, porosity and ultrasonic wave velocity indicated that the porosity is the most important factor influencing ultrasonic wave velocity of the studied rocks. The values of P-wave velocity of the rocks range from moderate to very high. Empirical equations, relevant to different parameters of the rocks, were proposed to determine the rocks' essential characteristics such as primary and secondary wave velocities. Quality indexes (IQ) of the studied samples were determined based on P-wave velocities of them and their composing minerals and the samples were classified as non-fissured to moderately fissured rocks. Also, all tested samples are classified as slightly fissured rocks according to the ratio of S-wave to P-wave velocities.

• Advances in environmental research
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.1-15
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• 2015

A pot experiment was conducted to assess the effects of red pepper (Capsicum annuum) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum) on seedling growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum). The aqueous extracts treatment of red pepper and coriander showed a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in root, shoot and seedling length, number of leaves and seedling dry weight of wheat (T. aestivum) as compared to control. The inhibitory different effect on growth of wheat (T. aestivum) was directly proportional to the increasing concentration (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%) of aqueous extracts of red pepper and coriander as compared to control treatment (0%). The root, shoot, seedling length and number of leaves of T. aestivum significantly p < 0.05 decreased at 5% concentration of red pepper as compared to control. The root, shoot and seedling growth of T. aestivum was also significantly reduced at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% concentration of coriander as compared to control. The root, shoot and leaves dry weight of T. aestivum at 5% coriander extract treatment concentration decreased as compared to control. The tolerance in seedlings of T. aestivum to red pepper and coriander extract treatment was dose dependent as compared to control. The seedlings of T. aestivum showed low percentage of tolerance to pepper extract treatment than coriander extract treatment.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제6권7호
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• pp.851-866
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• 2010

This paper presents a new concept of using PZT (lead zircornate titanate) transducers as a non-destructive testing (NDT) tool for evaluating quality of concrete. Detection of defects in concrete is very important in order to check the integrity of concrete structures. The electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) response of PZT transducers bonded onto a concrete specimen can be used for evaluating local condition of the specimen. Measurements are carried out by electrically exciting the bonded PZT transducers at high frequency range and taking response measurements of the transducers. In this study, the compression test results showed that concrete specimens without sufficient compaction are likely to fall below the desired strength. In addition, the strength of concrete was greatly reduced as the voids in concrete were increased. It was found that the root mean square deviation (RMSD) values yielded between the EMI signatures for concrete specimens in dry and saturated states showed good agreement with the specimens' compressive strength and permeable voids. A quality metric was introduced for predicting the quality of concrete based on the dry-saturated state of concrete specimens. The simplicity of the method and the current development towards low cost and portable impedance measuring system, offer an advantage over other NDE methods for evaluating concrete quality.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.315-326
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• 2020

The long-term behavior of rockfill material used in the construction of infrastructures such as dams is of great significance. Because of concerns about the application of weak rockfill material in dam construction, further experimental studies on the behavior of these materials are required. In this study, laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the one-dimensional deformation and particle breakage of the weak rockfill material under stress. A one-dimensional compression apparatus was designed and developed for testing of rockfill materials of different maximum particle sizes (MPSs). The compression tests were performed under dry, wet and saturated conditions on samples of rockfill material obtained from a dam construction site in Iran. The results of the experiments conducted at the specimen preparation stage and the 1D compression tests are presented. In weak rockfill, the effect of the addition of water on the behavior of the material was uncertain as there were both an increases and decreases observed in particle breakage. Increasing the MPS of the weak rockfill materials increased particle breakage, which was similar to the behavior of strong rockfill material. In all of the MPSs examined, the settlement of specimens under wet conditions was higher than that observed under dry conditions. Also, the greatest deformation occurred during the first hour of loading.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.307-314
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• 2019

Light construction waste (LCW) particles are pieces of light concrete or insulation wall with light quality and certain strength, containing rich isolated and disconnected pores. Mixing LCW particles with soil can be one of the alternative lightweight soils. It can lighten and stabilize the deep-thick soft soil in-situ. In this study, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and its mechanism of Construction Waste Stabilized Lightweight Soil (CWSLS) are investigated. According to the prescription design, totally 35 sets of specimens are tested for the index of dry density (DD) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The results show that the DD of CWSLS is mainly affected by LCW content, and it decreases obviously with the increase of LCW content, while increases slightly with the increase of cement content. The UCS of CWSLS first increases and then decreases with the increase of LCW content, existing a peak value. The UCS increases linearly with the increase of cement content, while the strength growth rate is dramatically affected by the different LCW contents. The UCS of CWSLS mainly comes from the skeleton impaction of LCW particles and the gelation of soil-cement composite slurry. According to the distribution of LCW particles and soil-cement composite slurry, CWSLS specimens are divided into three structures: "suspend-dense" structure, "framework-dense" structure and "framework-pore" structure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.573-582
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• 2021

From the effect of bound water, this study aims to seek the potential reasons for difference of mechanical experiment results of subgrades soils. To attain the comparatively test condition of bound water, dry forming (DF) and wet forming (WF) were used in the specimen forming process before testing, series of laboratory tests, i.e., CBR tests, direct shear tests and compaction tests. The measured optimal moisture contents, maximum dry densities, CBR, cohesion c, and internal friction angle 𝜑 were given contrastive analysis. Then to detect the adsorptive bound water in the subgrade soils, the thermal gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) test were employed under different heating rates. The free water, loosely bound water and tightly bound water in soils were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. It was found that due to the different dehydration mechanics, the lost bound water in DF and WF process show their own characteristics. This may lead to the different mechanical properties of tested soils. The clayey particles have a great influence on the bound water adsorbed ability of subgrade soils. The more the clay content, the greater the difference of mechanical properties tested between the two forming methods. Moreover, in highway construction of southern China, the wet forming method is recommended for its higher authenticity in simulating the subgrade filed humidity.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.461-469
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• 2022

One of the most important factors that should be considered for using any ground improvement technique is the stability of stabilized soil and the durability of the provided solution for getting the required engineering properties. Generally, most of the earth structures that are constructed on clayey soils are exposing movements due to the long periods of drying or wetting cycles. Over time, environmental changes may result in swells or settlements for these structures. In order to mitigate this problem, this research has been performed on mixtures of high plasticity clay with traditional additives such as lime, cement and non-traditional additives such as polypropylene fiber. The purpose of the research is to assess the most appropriate ground improvement technique by using commercially available additives for resisting the developed desiccation cracks during the drying process and resisting the volume changes that may result during wet/dry cycles as an attempt to simulate the changes of environmental conditions. The results show that the fiber-reinforced samples have the lowest volumetric deformation in comparision with cement and lime stabilized samples, and the optimum fiber content is identified as 0.38%. In addition, the desiccation cracks were not visible on the samples' surface for both unreinforced and chemically stabilized samples. Regarding cracks resistance resulting from the desiccation process, it is observed, that the resistance is connected with the fiber content and increases with the increase of the fiber inclusion, and the optimum content is between 1% and 1.5%.