Experimental prediction of the noncontact jet Trencher’s excavation depth in clay

Trenching depth calculation of traveling jet is a very important field in both pipeline burying and dredging engineering. The trenching ability of a noncontact control flow jet trencher was predicted by experimental method according to the geometry similarity. In the test, the jet pressure, the shear strength of clay, and the translational speed of nozzle were the same with the design parameters, while the nozzle was a reduced scale model. The trenching depth was found about seven to nine times of the nozzle’s diameter. The width of the trench was about four times of the nozzle’s diameter. Based on the test results the noncontact jet trencher was produced and succeeded in practical usage.     

黏性土淹没射流破土实验研究

海底水力喷射开沟技术在海底管道、光缆埋设等工程中得到广泛应用,然而黏土尤其是硬质黏性土中的水力开沟施工较为困难,为阐明其中的破土机制,开展了二维垂向淹没射流开沟物理模拟实验。通过观察射流破土的过程,发现:软黏土与硬质黏性土中冲坑发展的特点有所不同,破土机制也存在差异。射流对硬质黏性土的破坏中,压力导致的剪切破坏起到很大作用,在土力学原理上近似于地基土整体剪切破坏,据此建立了硬质黏性土射流破土模型,同时提出冲坑颈口直径在硬质黏性土冲坑形态中的重要性,并以此取代原有的冲坑直径作为一个预测指标。     

Study on deepwater conductor jet excavation mechanism in cohesive soil

Conductor casing jetting technique has been increasingly applied in deepwater drilling. The insight into the jetting excavation mechanisms is critical in guiding a successful conductor casing jetting operation. The real- time continuous jet excavation process is simulated with the volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase method of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) ANSYS Fluent calculation software in the current study. The cohesive soil is modelled by using a kind of viscous fluid with Herschel-Bulkley model. In addition, a laboratory half round nozzle jet excavation test is designed for verification by comparison of the observed jet excavation profile with the numerical results. The sensitivity parameters affecting the conductor jetting excavation mechanism in cohesive soil are thus investigated. It is found that the application of Herschel-Bulkley (HB) model for cohesive soil and the VOF method of Fluent can provide a good simulation of jet excavation process. The maximum excavation depth can be determined by the undrained ultimate bearing capacity of the circular foundation with a bearing capacity factor of 6.7. The nozzle position, jet velocity and soil strength have significantly influence on the depth and width of the jet excavation profile in conductor oblique jet.     

深海多金属结核水力集矿头流场结构数值模拟研究

深海蕴藏着丰富的多金属结核资源,受海水深度等限制,结核采集目前仍存在巨大挑战。水力式采矿具有结构简单、可靠性高的优势,是目前最具发展前景的采集方式之一。水力式采矿通过水流动力进行结核采集,喷射形成的复杂流场结构直接影响海床上结核颗粒剥离、起动、采集效率和海洋环境扰动强度,采集器离地高度、喷嘴射流角度和速度等具有较大优化空间。基于计算流体力学数值模拟研究了集矿头附近三维水流结构,分析了喷嘴射流速度和结核粒径对局部流场、床面剪切力以及结核采集能效的影响。结果表明：集矿头周围流场存在典型分区结构,包括淹没射流区、冲击区、壁面射流区、汇合区和上升区;随着喷射流速增大,最大床面剪切力近似线性增长,结核有效起动面积指数增长;随着结核粒径增大,有效起动面积减小,结核采集能效降低;综合考虑结核采集强度和采集能效,建议采集器喷射流速取8～9 m/s。     

Estimation of undrained shear strength for saturated clay using shear wave velocity

Undrained shear strength is a fundamental parameter for estimating the stability of soft soils. This study explores the relationship between undrained shear strength, void ratio, and shear wave velocity for saturated and normally consolidated clay specimens. The undrained shear strength void ratio-shear wave velocity relationship was correlated to empirically determined parameters of selected marine clay specimens. To verify the proposed relationship between undrained shear strength and shear wave velocity, in situ flat dilatometer tests were used for determining the undrained shear strength, and downhole tests were used to assess the shear wave velocity on a natural soil deposit at various depths. The undrained shear strength estimated from the in situ shear wave velocities was compared to the undrained shear strength obtained in the field. The results show that the inferred undrained shear strength yield similar values and follow the same trends as the in situ undrained shear strength data. This method using shear wave velocity can help to nondestructively estimate the undrained shear strength of soft soils in the field and be used in both on-shore and off-shore geotechnical engineering projects.     

深水井口导管管土界面摩擦退化试验研究

深水井口导管在黏土中的贯入阻力与导管土体界面的黏性摩擦系数密切相关。在导管安装过程中,管土界面会产生大位移剪切,使得导管-黏土界面剪切力产生退化。本文针对传统剪切试验装置小位移剪切的限制,无法正确描述井口导管贯入时导管-黏土界面大位移剪切时的退化机理,采用GDS多功能界面剪切试验仪在恒应力条件下进行大位移单调剪切试验,研究法向应力对导管管土界面摩擦退化机理的影响规律。试验结果表明,大位移单调剪切时,界面剪应力随剪切位移先增大后减小,最终趋于稳定,界面表现出剪应力退化现象,随着法向应力的增大界面峰值应力与残余应力均增大;土样法向位移随着剪切位移、法向应力的增加而增大最终趋于稳定。最后在对试验数据分析的基础上,基于剪应力随无量纲位移的退化规律,提出了界面剪应力随累积位移退化的计算方法。并结合算例对比分析了井口导管在贯入80 m深度处,由于界面摩擦退化效应导致导管贯入阻力降低了28.48%。     

Mineralogy and Geotechnical Properties of Ultrasoft Soil from a Nearshore Mine Tailings Sedimentation Pond

An engineering geological study was undertaken to determine the engineering properties, and mineralogy of ultrasoft soils (USS) obtained from a nearshore mine tailings sedimentation pond. The USS is a high plasticity clay of high water content and low shear strength. Marine bathymetric and seismic reflection surveys were undertaken in the sedimentation pond located in the foreshore of the Eastern part of the Republic of Singapore. Specimens collected from the bore holes were tested to determine the engineering and mineralogy properties of the USS. Field vane shear tests were undertaken just adjacent to the sampling bore holes to determine the shear strength properties of the USS. The mineralogical properties of the USS were determined using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope techniques. The USS is under consolidated soil where higher density and lower water content were found at deeper depth. The USS had three different compression indices under three log cycles of effective stress between 1–10, 10–100, and 100–1,000 kPa. This is the main characteristic of USS, which diverts from reconstituted soil. The outcome of this research is fundamental for understanding the compression behavior and subsequently the development of a constitutive model for USS, typical found in sedimentary pond.     

自由落体式球形贯入仪在硬-软黏土中的贯入响应

自由落体贯入仪（free falling penetrometer,简称FFP）通过自由下落贯入土层中,由于其高效便捷的特性,越来越广泛地被应用于海底浅层土体原位勘察。采用耦合欧拉-拉格朗日（Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian,简称CEL）方法,进行了球形FFP在硬-软双层黏土中贯入的大变形有限元分析,考虑了土体的应变率和应变软化效应。与离心机试验、现场试验和数值模拟结果进行了对比,验证了模型的可靠性。分析了成层土对贯入过程的影响,发现FFP在贯入过程中上部硬黏土层形成空腔,且底部会伴随着土塞。通过广泛的变参数分析结果,拟合了球形FFP最终贯入深度与总能量之间的归一化表达式,建立了土体不排水抗剪强度、FFP直径和贯入速度与FFP在硬-软黏土层中最终贯入深度的关系。     

The Effects of Microstructure on Shear Properties of Shallow Marine Sediments

This study was undertaken to investigate the implication of geoacoustic behaviors in the shallow marine sediments associated with the changes in geotechnical index properties. Two piston cores (270 cm and 400 cm in core length) used in this study were recovered from stations 1 and 2, the western continental margin, the East Sea. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to illustrate the effects of microstructure on shear properties. The direct SEM observation of sediment fabrics is inevitable to understand the correlation of the changes in geoacoustic properties to the sediment structure. The consolidation of sediments by overburden stress resulting in the clay fabric alteration appears to play an important role in changing shear properties. Water contents and porosity of sediments gradually decreases with increasing depth, whereas wet bulk density shows a reverse trend. It is interesting to note that shear wave velocities increase rapidly from 8 to 20 m/s while compressional wave velocities significantly fluctuate, ranging from 1450 to 1550 m/s with depth. The fabric changes in sediment with increasing depth for example, uniform grain size and well oriented clay fabrics may cause the shear strength increase from 1 to 12 kPa. Shear wave velocity is, therefore, shown to be very sensitive to the changes in undrained strength for unconsolidated marine sediments. This correlation allows an in-situ estimation of shear stress in the subsurface from shear wave velocity data.     

北极薄冰-煎饼冰区域中不同重力波驱动形成海流的敏感性分析

A coupled ocean-ice-wave model is used to study ice-edge jet and eddy genesis during surface gravity wave dissipation in a frazil-pancake ice zone. With observational data from the Beaufort Sea, possible wave dissipation processes are evaluated using sensitivity experiments. As wave energy dissipated, energy was transferred into ice floe through radiation stress. Later, energy was in turn transferred into current through ocean-ice interfacial stress. Since most of the wave energy is dissipated at the ice edge, ice-edge jets, which contained strong horizontal shear, appeared both in the ice zone and the ocean. Meanwhile, the wave propagation direction determines the velocity partition in the along-ice-edge and cross-ice-edge directions, which in turn determines the strength of the along-ice-edge jet and cross-ice-edge velocity. The momentum applied in the along-ice-edge(cross-ice-edge)direction increased(decreased) with larger incident angle, which is favorable condition for producing stronger mesoscale eddies, vice versa. The dissipation rate increases(decreases) with larger(smaller) wavenumber, which enhances(reduces) the jet strength and the strength of the mesoscale eddy. The strong along-ice-edge jet may extend to a deep layer(> 200 m). If the water depth is too shallow(e.g., 80 m), the jet may be largely dampened by bottom drag, and no visible mesoscale eddies are found. The results suggest that the bathymetry and incident wavenumber(magnitude and propagation direction) are important for wave-driven current and mesoscale eddy genesis.     

Current-induced scour around a vertical pile in cohesive soil

Stability of many ocean structures is affected by seabed scour induced by under-currents. The depth of scour is an important parameter for determining the minimum depth of foundations as it reduces the lateral capacity of the foundations. A review of the literature reveals that there is not much information available in the field of scour in cohesive soils. Hence, a detailed laboratory testing programme on model piles of diameters 50 mm to 110 mm embedded in soft silty clay soil was carried out in a wave flume of 30 m long, 2.0 m wide and 1.7 m deep, which has the capability of simulating steady currents. Scour around the pile due to steady streaming is monitored by using special instrumentation. A procedure has been suggested to predict the ultimate scour depths based on the observed variation in scour depth over a limited time period. The study indicates that the ultimate scour depth is controlled by diameter of obstruction, current velocity, model Reynolds number, flow Froude number, shear stress, and soil characteristics. Based on these results, a few functional relationships are suggested between scour depth and other parameters like Reynolds number, Froude number, and strength of the soil bed.     

Undrained strength behaviour of a cemented marine clay under monotonic and cyclic loading

The paper presents the results of a series of monotonic and cyclic triaxial shear tests carried out to study the influence of the strain effect and load cycles on the undrained shear strength of a cemented marine clay from the East coast of India. The undrained shear strength of Indian coastal marine clay has been established from a detailed shear testing carried out in three phases. Undisturbed soil samples taken out from the seabed were used in the test. In the first part, a comprehensive monotonic shear testing has been carried out under both stress-controlled and strain rate-controlled conditions. In the second phase on identical soil specimen, undrained cyclic shear tests were carried out at various cyclic stress ratios (CSR) and these stress levels are chosen in such a way so that no failure occurred during testing. In the final phase post cyclic monotonic shear testing was conducted to qualitatively evaluate the damage caused by cyclic loading. The monotonic shear test results bring out the influence of cementation that can be detected by the stress-controlled test. The cyclic stress results are analysed in terms of CSR. Further, the results are correlated in terms of stress path.     

Behavior of drag anchor in clay with linearly increasing shear strength under unidirectional and combined loading

Drag anchor is a widely used economical anchor option for offshore floating structures. The anchor behavior under unidirectional loading and combined loading is important for anchor selection. The anchor behavior under combined loading, characterized by the yield envelope, can also be used for the prediction of anchor installation, which is still an issue in anchor design. However, most existing studies on anchor capacity are for plate anchors which focused only on the anchor pullout capacity in soil with uniform shear strength. The behavior of drag anchor under unidirectional and combined loading in soil with linearly increasing shear strength profile is seldom investigated. The current 2D finite element studies investigate the anchor behavior for a horizontal anchor fluke in clay with linearly increasing shear strength under unidirectional vertical, horizontal and rotational loadings first. Then based on the results of anchor unidirectional loading behavior, the yield envelopes for anchor under combined loading for both shallow and deep embedded flukes are studied. The effect of anchor embedment depth, soil non- homogeneity, soil overburden pressure and the soil/anchor interface breakaway conditions are studied to provide insight for drag anchor design.     

Experimental simple shear study of composite soil with cemented soil core

Abstract

Cement soil mixing piles are an effective treatment method for marine soft clay. To investigate the static and dynamic characteristics of the composite soil with cemented soil core, a series of experiments are carried out by using the cyclic simple shear test. The result shows that, the static shear strain showed strain hardening, cemented soil core can improve static shear strength of composite soil, vertical stress can enlarge reinforcement of cemented soil core. The tendency of strain development of composite soil with different area replacement ratios under cyclic loading is the same as that of pure clay, existing critical cyclic stress ratios corresponding to different area replacement ratios. In addition, improving area replacement ratio can increase cyclic strength. At same time, adding of cemented soil core does not change shape of hysteresis curve compared with it for clay either. Moreover, cemented soil core can also obstruct stiffness softening. Through regression analysis of the experimental data, relationship between cyclic number and soil softening index is proved to be linear. The results can give a reference for the dynamic characters of the marine soft clay foundation with cement soil mixing piles.     

Numerical study of effect of fluke inclination on behavior of drag anchor in clay with linearly increasing shear strength under unidirectional and combined loading

Drag anchor is a widely used anchor type in offshore engineering for the mooring system. The prediction of the anchor trajectory installation and the final position is important for anchor selection in design. The existing method using yield envelope method for trajectory prediction ignored the shallow anchor behavior but applied the deep yield envelope from a deeply embedded horizontal fluke in uniform clay for the whole drag-in installation process. However, the anchor fluke embedment depth and inclination angle change continually during installation in clay with linearly increasing shear strength soil profile in practice. Studies on the effect of fluke inclination angle on the anchor behavior in clay with such non-uniform soil profile under unidirectional and combined loading are important and necessary for the improvement of the yield envelope method to ensure a reasonable prediction. The current 2D finite element studies investigate the anchor behavior for inclined fluke in clay with linearly increasing shear strength under unidirectional vertical, horizontal and rotational loadings first. Then the effects of the fluke inclination angle, soil non-homogeneity and embedment depth ratio on the shallow yield envelopes are investigated. It is found that the effect of fluke inclination angle on the vertical capacity factors for anchor in clay with non-uniform and uniform soil profile is largely different. The resultant large impact on the yield envelopes shown here illustrates the importance of considering the fluke inclination angle and soil non-homogeneity in the prediction of anchor trajectory using yield envelope method.     

基于流变仪测试海底浅表层软黏土不排水强度研究

鉴于海底浅表层软黏土强度测试精细化程度不足的现状,引入流体测试中的流变仪,对青岛海域海底浅表层软黏土开展多组原状和重塑试样的不排水剪切强度试验,通过对比静力触探和微型十字板测试结果,验证了流变仪测试方法的有效性。基于流变仪试验结果,揭示了海底软黏土原状和重塑状态下不排水剪切破坏模式,探讨了海底软黏土不排水剪切强度和灵敏度随埋深及液性指数的发展演变趋势,评价了软黏土的结构性特征。最后,引入含水率与液限之比对海底浅表层软黏土重塑不排水剪切强度进行了归一化分析,为近海海洋开发活动提供技术支撑。     

Bearing capacity of shallow foundations in clay with linear increase in strength and adhesion factor

In this paper, the computational lower bound (LB) limit analysis using finite element with second-order cone programming was used to investigate the LB solutions of the undrained bearing capacity of continuous footing with a linear increase in the strength profile and an adhesion factor at the soil–footing interface. A full range of parametric studies of the dimensionless strength gradients and adhesion factors at the soil–footing interface were performed in the LB calculations. The results were verified by comparison with the available solution from the method of characteristics (slip-line analysis) for perfectly smooth and rough footings. The LB analyses were able to complete a prior solution of undrained bearing capacity with a linear increase in the strength profile by incorporating the influence of adhesion factor at the soil–footing interface. Based on the nonlinear regression to the computed LB solutions, an approximate expression of the LB solution regression was proposed, which is applicable to an accurate prediction of a safe load for offshore shallow foundations in clay with an arbitrary linear increase in strength and adhesion factor at soil–foundation interface in practice.     

深海能源土含气储层力学特性三轴试验研究

为研究深海能源土在负压开采过程中含气储层的力学特性,基于含气土赋存理论,提出一种能够控制含气量及气泡大小的制样方法,通过GDS标准应力路径三轴试验系统,开展深海能源土含气储层的固结排水试验研究,分析深海能源土在不同黏土含量及不同含气量下的力学响应规律。研究结果表明：围压变化对深海能源土含气储层的抗剪强度峰值大小影响显著,围压越大抗剪强度峰值越高;黏土含量是决定应力应变曲线变化趋势的关键影响因素,黏土含量越高试样抗剪强度越低,试样抵抗应变软化效应的能力越强;含气土比饱和土体承载能力更低,且承载能力随含气量的增大呈衰减趋势;黏土含量和含气量是深海能源土含气储层抗剪强度指标的重要影响因素,黏土含量、含气量越高,土体自身的总抗剪强度值越低。     

Primary yielding locus of cement-stabilized marine clay and its applications

ABSTRACT

Strength and stiffness properties of materials are widely studied and used in civil engineering practice. However, most studies are based on unconfined conditions, which are different from real status of soil. This study investigated the primary yielding and yield locus for cement-stabilized marine clay. In this study, two types of cement-stabilized soils were studied through isotropic compression, triaxial drained shearing, unconfined compression, and bender element testing. Specimens with 20–50% of cement content and 7–90 days of curing period were used for the tests. Stress–strain behavior and primary yielding were evaluated, followed by construction of the primary yield locus. The characteristics of the primary yield locus and its development with curing time then were studied. The results showed that the properties of the primary yield locus were dependent on the type of stabilized soil, but were independent of the cement content and curing period. Thus, the approach provides a way to estimate the primary yield stress and drained stress path before primary yielding for cement-stabilized soil under confined condition. An empirical function was used to fit the primary yield locus. The primary isotropic yield stress was correlated to unconfined compressive strength or maximum shear modulus. Three indirect methods were proposed to predict the primary yield stress for cement-stabilized marine clay. The results showed that the primary yield stress can be estimated with reasonable accuracy.     

Shear strength of soil berm during lateral buckling of subsea pipelines

The soil resistance developed during temperature- and pressure-induced large lateral movements of shallowly embedded subsea flowlines is an important input parameter for the structural design process. A major source of uncertainty in calculation of the soil resistance is the undrained shear strength of the soil berm produced as the flowline moves across the seabed, which is affected by the level of remoulding. To investigate the effect of pipeline embedment and displacement amplitude on the shear strength of the berm, a set of centrifuge model tests was conducted on kaolin clay, involving laterally moving pipelines with constant embedments in the range 5%–35% of the pipe diameter. Back-analysis of the test results, using finite element limit analysis, showed that the shear strength of the soil berm is a function of pipe displacement amplitude, pipe embedment, and soil sensitivity. On the basis of these results, we propose that the overall berm undrained shear strength may be determined as a convolution of the shear strengths of its constituent soil elements. Finally, a formula is presented for calculating the shear strength of soil elements within the soil berm, and this is used to back-analyse the overall soil berm resistance from the model tests.