• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.355-374
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• 2014

An analytical solution of the fully coupled system of equations governing the plane strain deformation of a poroelastic medium with anisotropic permeability and compressible fluid and solid constituents is obtained. This solution is used to study the consolidation of a poroelastic clay layer with free permeable surface resting on a rough-rigid permeable or impermeable base. The stresses and the pore pressure are taken as the basic state variables. Displacements are obtained by integrating the coupled constitutive relations. The case of normal surface loading is discussed in detail. The solution is obtained in the Laplace-Fourier domain. Two integrations are required to obtain the solution in the space-time domain which are evaluated numerically for normal strip loading. Consolidation of the clay layer and diffusion of pore pressure is studied for both the bases. It is found that the time settlement is accelerated by the permeability of the base. Initially, the pore pressure is not affected by the permeability of the base, but has a significant effect, as we move towards the bottom of the layer. Also, anisotropy in permeability and compressibilities of constituents of the poroelastic medium have a significant effect on the consolidation of the clay layer.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 2020

Sand dams are formed by installing beams across rivers and filling the secured space with water and a permeable material, such as sand, which stores the water in available pore space. These structures have mainly been reported in Kenya, Africa. This study proposes a sand dam design that improves structural safety and water intake. First, to increase the stability of the concrete wall of the dam, steel barbed wire connections are proposed for construction. Second, by using geotextile fabrics, evaporation may be reduced from 45% to 8%, and horizontal permeable discharge could be reduced markedly, therefore improving water storage capabilities. In addition, the water intake increased by ~2.4 times that of the previous design. Third, filtration efficiency is improved by selecting a sedimentary site for improved water quality. Finally, the installation of a tensiometer is suggested for monitoring the sand dam.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.165-174
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• 2013

Portland cement concrete exposed to high temperatures during mixing, transporting, casting, finishing, and curing can develop undesirable characteristics. Applicable requirements for such the hot weather concrete differ from country to country and government agencies. The current study is an attempt at evaluating the hardened properties of the concrete exposed to hot weather in fresh state. First of all, this study reviews the current state of understanding and practice for hot weather concrete placement in US and then roadway sites with suspected hot weather concrete problems were investigated. Core samples were obtained from the field locations and were analyzed by standard resonance frequency analysis and the boil test. Based on the results, there does not appear to be systematic evidence of frequent cracking problems related to high temperature placement. Thus, the suspicious deteriorations which are referable to hot weather concreting would be due to other factors.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.433-452
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• 2018

The shield tunneling method can minimize surface settlements by preventing the deformation of tunnel face and tunnel intrados due to tunnel excavation. For this purpose, it is very important to control the operating conditions of shield TBM. The face pressure and backfill pressure for tail void grouting should be the most important and immediate measure not only to restrain surface settlement, but also to influence the effective stress and pore water pressure around the circumstance of tunnel during excavation. The reaction of the ground to the application of face pressure and backfill pressure relies on the stiffness and permeability of ground. Especially, the reaction of saturated clayey ground formations, which shows the time-dependent deformation, is different from the permeable ground. Hence, in this paper it was investigated how the TBM operating conditions, ground stiffness, and permeability impact on the surface settlement of saturated clayey ground. For this purpose, a series of parametric studies were carried out by means of the stress-pore water pressure coupled FE analysis. The results show that the settlement of soft clayey ground is divided into the immediate settlement and consolidation settlement. Especially, the consolidation settlement depends on the ground stiffness and permeability. In addition, the existence of critical face pressure and backfill pressure was identified. The face pressure and backfill pressure above the critical value may cause an unexpected increase in the ground settlement.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.651-658
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• 2012

This paper concentrates on the evaluation of microcracks in thermal damaged concrete on the basis of the nonlinear ultrasonic modulation technique. Since concrete structure exposed to high temperature accompanies the development of microcracks due to the physical and chemical changes from temperature and exposed time, the adoption of nonlinear approach is required. Instead of using the conventional ultrasonic nondestructive methods which have the limitation in evaluating excessive microcracks, accordingly, a nonlinear ultrasonic modulation method which shows better sensitivity in quantifying microcracks is introduced. Upon the analysis for the modulation of ultrasonic wave and low frequency impact to measure the nonlinearity parameter, which can be used as an indicator of thermal damage, the verification processes for the introduced technique are followed: SEM investigation and permeable pore space test are performed to characterize thermally induced microcracks in concrete, and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests are performed to confirm the outstanding sensitivity of nonlinear ultrasonic modulation technique. In advance, compressive strength of thermal damaged concrete is measured to represent the effect of microcracks on performance degradation. Correlation studies between experimental data and measured data show that nonlinear ultrasonic modulation technique can effectively be used to quantify thermally induced microcracks, and to estimate the compressive strength of thermally damaged concrete.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.320-334
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• 2020

This study presents an application of hydro-mechanical coupled Particle Flow Code 3D (PFC3D) to simulation of fluid injection induced fault slip experiment conducted in Mont Terri Switzerland as a part of a task in an international research project DECOVALEX-2019. We also aimed as identifying the current limitations of the modelling method and issues for further development. A fluid flow algorithm was developed and implemented in a 3D pore-pipe network model in a 3D bonded particle assembly using PFC3D v5, and was applied to Mont Terri Step 2 minor fault activation experiment. The simulated results showed that the injected fluid migrates through the permeable fault zone and induces fault deformation, demonstrating a full hydro-mechanical coupled behavior. The simulated results were, however, partially matching with the field measurement. The simulated pressure build-up at the monitoring location showed linear and progressive increase, whereas the field measurement showed an abrupt increase associated with the fault slip We conclude that such difference between the modelling and the field test is due to the structure of the fault in the model which was represented as a combination of damage zone and core fractures. The modelled fault is likely larger in size than the real fault in Mont Terri site. Therefore, the modelled fault allows several path ways of fluid flow from the injection location to the pressure monitoring location, leading to smooth pressure build-up at the monitoring location while the injection pressure increases, and an early start of pressure decay even before the injection pressure reaches the maximum. We also conclude that the clay filling in the real fault could have acted as a fluid barrier which may have resulted in formation of fluid over-pressurization locally in the fault. Unlike the pressure result, the simulated fault deformations were matching with the field measurements. A better way of modelling a heterogeneous clay-filled fault structure with a narrow zone should be studied further to improve the applicability of the modelling method to fluid injection induced fault activation.