Effect of Inter-Column Spacing on Soil Stresses due to Vibro-Installed Stone Columns: Interesting Findings

This paper reveals the interesting relation between the inter-column spacing and the corresponding alteration of soil state of stresses due to the vibro-installation technique. This relation is inferred from analyses for load settlement records of various field load tests, performed for stone columns arrangements with different inter-column spacing values. In order to have adequate confidence in the findings, a well-documented case history, involving three columns patterns along with their relevant field and laboratory test results, is utilized for this study. Moreover, a well-tested finite element model, capable of simulating both elasto-plastic and time dependent soil deformations as well as pore water pressure building and dissipation, is employed in the analysis. Instead of determining the soil response to the test load, based on known initial soil stresses and material properties, the analysis is inversely posed to determine the soil initial stresses, based on the recorded settlements and the post-installation material properties. The alteration in the soil state of stress is represented by the increase in the post-installation horizontal to vertical stress ratio, K*, as a function of the inter-column spacing. It is found that this alteration experiences a systematic decrease in its magnitude as the inter-column spacing increases.     

Design of efficient base isolation for hammers and presses

Foundations supporting hammers and presses have to withstand powerful short-period impact loads. When designing these foundations, their vibration amplitudes and the forces transmitted to the supporting piles or soil medium must be reduced to meet serviceability and stability requirements. Mounting systems are often used to achieve this goal. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the efficiency of mounting systems for different foundation configurations and to provide practical guidance for their design. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted and the results were used to establish a set of charts for the design of efficient mounting systems.     

One-dimensional consolidation of soil under multistage load based on continuous drainage boundary

In engineering practice, a rapid loading rate can result in ground failure when the strength of soft soils is relatively low, and a multistage loading scheme is always utilized to deal with this situation. Firstly, under a multistage load and the continuous drainage boundary, an analytical solution of excess pore-water pressure and consolidation degree is obtained by virtue of the superposition formula of excess pore-water pressure, and a more general continuous drainage boundary under arbitrary time-dependent load is developed. Then, a comparison with existing analytical solutions is conducted to verify the present solution. A preliminary attempt on applying the continuous drainage boundary into the finite element model is made, and the feasibility of the numerical model for the one-dimensional consolidation under the continuous drainage boundary is verified by comparing the results calculated by FEM with that from present analytical solution. Finally, the consolidation behavior of soil is investigated in detail for different int erface parameters or loading scheme. The results show that, in land reclamation projects, a horizontal drain should be placed close to the boundary with a smaller interface parameter to improve the consolidation efficiency. The degree of consolidation is also related to the applied time-dependent load and interface parameters.     

Field study on the behavior of pre-bored grouted planted pile with enlarged grout base

This paper presents the results of field tests performed to investigate the compressive bearing capacity of pre-bored grouted planted (PGP) pile with enlarged grout base focusing on its base bearing capacity. The bi-directional O-cell load test was conducted to evaluate the behavior of full scale PGP piles. The test results show that the pile head displacements needed to fully mobilize the shaft resistance were 5.9% and 6.4% D (D is pile diameter), respectively, of two test piles, owing to the large elastic shortening of pile shaft. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the PHC nodular pile base and grout body at the enlarged base could act as a unit in the loading process, and the enlarged grout base could effectively promote the base bearing capacity of PGP pile through increasing the base area. The normalized base resistances (unit base resistance/average cone base resistance) of two test piles were 0.17 and 0.19, respectively, when the base displacement reached 5% D_b (D_b is pile base diameter). The permeation of grout into the silty sand layer under pile base increased the elastic modulus of silty sand, which could help to decrease pile head displacement under working load.

     

Effect of clayey media parameters on the negative response of a coincident loop1

The aim of this work is to consider the phenomenon of negative response and its detectability in a polarizable half-space formed of Clay-water mixture which commonly exists in water aquifers and which can be used as a simple indicator of the presence of Underground water. We make use of an analytical treatment for the transient voltage induced in a coincident loop lying on a half-space as a basis for our computations. A Cole-Cole model is used to represent the Clay with appropriate parameters. As saturated Clay is characterized by high conductivity and moderate chargeability, it is hardly detectable relative to the practical noise level. However, there are optimum Clay parameters that offer a maximum negative response. It is also observed that for a very short time constant τ in the Cole-Cole model, the amplitude of the negative response decreases with the decrease of the time constant due to the fast decay of the polarization current. Finally, it is found that there is an optimum value for the loop radius which gives the largest value of the negative response and this loop radius depends on the model parameters.     

Effect of seabed instability on fixed offshore platforms

Storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes may cause seabed instability, especially if the seabed is weak. The seabed instability, manifested in movement of soil layers, exerts lateral forces that may cause large stresses in offshore foundations. The induced stresses may compromise the stability of the foundation and supported structure. The effect of seabed instability on a fixed offshore structure is examined in this study. The method used accounts for soil nonlinearity, dynamic soil resistance, and pile–soil–pile interaction within the stable soil layer. Dynamic p–y curves, dynamic t–z curves and q–z curves have been used to simulate the soil resistance in the lateral and axial directions. The effect of different parameters that influence the response of offshore structures to seabed instability is evaluated. The parameters considered include the value of soil movement, the sliding layer depth, the wave loading, the pile flexibility, the soil movement profile, and the axial loading at the pile head. The response predicted using the proposed analysis compared well with that calculated using a boundary element solution for a case history of a failed offshore platform.     

Mineral processing and extraction of rare earth elements from the Wadi Khamal Nelsonite Ore, Northwestern Saudi Arabia

A technological sample (50 kg) from Wadi Khamal Nelsonite ore was subjected to magnetic and flotation concentration techniques. Excellent recovery percentages of 72.95% and 71.22% were achieved by the dry/wet magnetic and flotation concentration techniques, respectively. The weight of the apatite concentrate reached a reasonable percentage of approximately 23.5% with an overall 40.23% P₂O₅ total content. Analytical data of the apatite concentrate after digestion in concentrated sulfuric acid revealed that the total content of the rare earth elements (REE) constitutes about 0.2% of the total apatite content. The REE content (0.2%) was partitioned between phosphoric acid liquor (65%) and gypsum precipitate (36%). The extraction of the REEs from the phosphoric acid liquor using oxalic acid and sodium carbonate–bicarbonate mixture (1:10?w/w) yielded the RE oxide cake which constitute about 1.2% (w/w). The produced rare earth oxide cake contains traces of various metal oxides, e.g., SrO, Na₂O, etc. in addition to rare earth oxides. Attempts to determine quantitatively the constituents of the cake will be considered in future work.     

Design and commissioning of a laminar soil container for use on small shaking tables

This paper describes the design, fabrication and commissioning of a single axis laminar shear box for use in seismic soil–structure interaction studies. A laminar shear box is a flexible container that can be placed on a shaking table to simulate vertical shear-wave propagation during earthquakes through a soil layer of finite thickness. The laminar shear box described in this paper was designed to overcome the base shear limitations of a small shaking table at The University of Western Ontario. The design details of the box are provided in addition to results of dynamic tests performed to commission the box. A synthetic clay comprising sodium bentonite mixed with diluted glycerin was used as the model soil and 1-G similitude theory was employed to maintain model to prototype similarity. The model soil was compacted into the container in lifts to achieve soil stiffness that increased with depth. A series of shaking table tests and numerical analyses that were performed to study the performance of the laminar box and non-linear seismic behavior of the model clay are described. The results of this study show that the laminar box does not impose significant boundary effects and is able to maintain 1-D soil column behavior. In addition, the dynamic behavior of the model clay during scaled model tests was found to be consistent with the behavior measured during cyclic laboratory tests.     

Response of fixed offshore platforms to wave and current loading including soil–structure interaction

Fixed offshore platforms supported by pile foundations are required to resist dynamic lateral loading due to wave forces. The response of a jacket offshore tower is affected by the flexibility and nonlinear behaviour of the supporting piles. For offshore towers supported by clusters of piles, the response to environmental loads is strongly affected by the pile–soil–pile interaction. In the present study, the response of fixed offshore platforms supported by clusters of piles is investigated. The soil resistance to the pile movement is modelled using dynamic p–y curves and t–z curves to account for soil nonlinearity and energy dissipation through radiation damping. The load transfer curves for a single pile have been modified to account for the group effect. The wave forces on the tower members and the tower response are calculated in the time domain using a finite element package (ASAS). Several parameters affecting the dynamic characteristics of the platform and the platform response have been investigated.