Application of micropolar plasticity to post failure analysis in geomechanics

A micropolar elastoplastic model for soils is formulated and a series of finite element analyses are employed to demonstrate the use of a micropolar continuum in overcoming the numerical difficulties encountered in application of finite element method in standard Cauchy–Boltzmann continuum. Three examples of failure analysis involving a deep excavation, shallow foundation, and a retaining wall are presented. In all these cases, it is observed that the length scale introduced in the polar continuum regularizes the incremental boundary value problem and allows the numerical simulation to be continued until a clear collapse mechanism is achieved. The issue of grain size effect is also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preliminary organic petrography of Palaeozoic rocks from the Grand Banks,Newfoundland

Samples of lower Palaeozoic bedrock from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland were examined using reflected light microscopy and Rock-Eval pyrolysis. These samples contained organic material which included bitumen (structureless organic material), acritarchs, chitinozoa, scolecodonts and graptolites. The reflectance of the organic material increased from acritarchs towards graptolites with bitumen showing a wide range of reflectance. Multiple phases of oil migration through one sample were inferred by examination of the bitumens: the lowest reflecting being more recent than the highest reflecting bitumen. Combined reflectance and Rock-Eval analysis indicate that these samples are mature to overmature. The two oldest samples (Arenig-Llanvirn, Ordovician) are assessed as mature and as having potential for generation of liquid hydrocarbons, but must be considered as mainly gas prone.     

SANICLAY: simple anisotropic clay plasticity model

SANICLAY is a new simple anisotropic clay plasticity model that builds on a modification of an earlier model with an associated flow rule, in order to include simulations of softening response under undrained compression following K_o consolidation. Non‐associativity is introduced by adopting a yield surface different than the plastic potential surface. Besides, the isotropic hardening of the yield surface both surfaces evolve according to a combined distortional and rotational hardening rule, simulating the evolving anisotropy. Although built on the general premises of critical state soil mechanics, the model induces a critical state line in the void ratio–mean effective stress space, which is a function of anisotropy. To ease interpretation, the model formulation is presented firstly in the triaxial stress space and subsequently, its multiaxial generalization is developed systematically, in a form appropriate for implementation in numerical codes. The SANICLAY is shown to provide successful simulation of both undrained and drained rate‐independent behaviour of normally consolidated sensitive clays, and to a satisfactory degree of accuracy of overconsolidated clays. The new model requires merely three constants more than those of the modified Cam clay model, all of which are easily calibrated from well‐established laboratory tests following a meticulously presented procedure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organic petrography of graptolite fragments from Turkey

The reflectance and bireflectance of graptolite fragments (Silurian-Ordovician) from southeast Turkey were examined and the morphology was described using reflected light microscopy. The dispersion of maximum and minimum reflectance of graptolites sectioned parallel and perpendicular to the bedding was also determined. The graptolites were anisotropic and the anisotropy was stronger for sections perpendicular to the bedding. The graptolite fragments show two types of surface morphology: granular and non-granular. The granular type had a rough surface and granular anisotropy, the non-granular fragments showed a smooth surface and basic anisotropy. The fine internal structure of graptolite was evident under crossed-polars. The reflectance of graptolite increased with depth and was higher than other organic material, e.g. bitumen, found in the same sediment. The present study indicates that the reflectance of graptolite in sediment can be used to determine the maturity of the dediment.     

Comparison of source rock geochemistry of selected rocks from the Schei Point group and Ringnes formation, Sverdrup basin, arctic Canada

Organic-rich from the Schei Point group (middle to late Triassic in age) and the Ringnes formation (late Jurassic) from the Sverdrup basin of the Canadian arctic archipelago have been geochemically evaluated for source rock characterization. Most samples from the Schei Point group are organic-rich (> 2% TOC and are considered as immature to mature oil-prone source rocks [kerogen types I, I–II (IIA) and II (IIA)]. These kerogen types contain abundant AOM1, AOM2 and alginite (Tasmanales, Nostocopsis, Leiosphaeridia, acritarch and dinoflagellate) with variable amounts of vitrinite, inertinite and exinite. Samples from the Ringnes formation contain dominant vitrinite and inertinite with partially oxidized AOM2, alginite and exinite forming mostly immature to mature condensate- and gas-prone source rocks [kerogen type II–III (IIB), III and a few II (IIA)]. Schei Point samples contain higher bitumen extract, saturate hydrocarbons and saturate/ aromatic ratio than the Ringnes samples. Triterpane and sterane (dominant C₃₀) distribution patterns and stable carbon isotope of bitumen and kerogen suggest that the analyzed samples from the Schei Point group are at the onset of oil generation and contain a mixture of sapropelic (algal) and minor terrestrial humic organic matter. Sterane carbon number distributions in the Ringnes formation also suggest a mixed algal and terrestrial organic matter type. There are some variations in hopane carbon number distributions, but these are apparently a function of thermal maturity rather than significant genetic differences among samples. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of the two samples with similar maturity shows that the Schei Point sample generates three times more pyrolyzate than the Ringnes sample. Both samples have a dominant aliphatic character, although the Ringnes sample contains phenol and an aromaticity that is higher than that of the Schei Point sample.     

A study of crude oil‐degrading bacteria from mangrove forests in the Persian Gulf

Mangroves are coastal ecosystems, found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. They are found in the transitional zones between land, sea, and rivers. Petroleum hydrocarbons are the most common environmental pollutants, and oil spills pose a great hazard to mangroves forests. This research was focused on the isolation and characterization of crude oil‐degrading bacteria from mangrove ecosystems at the Persian Gulf. Sixty‐one crude oil‐degrading bacteria were isolated from mangrove samples (plant, sediment, and seawater) that enriched in ONR7a medium with crude oil as only carbon source. Some screening tests such as growth at high concentration of crude oil, bioemulsifier production, and surface hydrophobicity were done to select the most efficient strains for crude oil degradation. Molecular identification of strains was carried out by amplification of the 16S rRNA gene by PCR. The results of this study were indicated that the quantity of crude oil‐degrading bacteria was higher in the root of mangrove plants compare to other mangrove samples (sediment and seawater). Also, identification results confirmed that these isolated strains belong to Vibrio sp. strain NW4, Idiomarina sp. strain BW32, Kangiella sp. strain DP40, Marinobacter sp. strain DW44, Halomonas sp. strain BS53, and Vibrio sp. strain DS35. The application of bioremediation strategies with these bacteria can reduce crude oil pollution in this important marine environment.     

Numerical evaluation of mean-field homogenisation methods for predicting shale elastic response

Homogenisation techniques have been successfully used to estimate the mechanical response of synthetic composite materials, due to their ability to relate the macroscopic mechanical response to the material microstructure. The adoption of these mean-field techniques in geo-composites such as shales is attractive, partly because of the practical difficulties associated with the experimental characterisation of these highly heterogeneous materials. In this paper, numerical modelling has been undertaken to investigate the applicability of homogenisation methods in predicting the macroscopic, elastic response of clayey rocks. The rocks are considered as two-level composites consisting of a porous clay matrix at the first level and a matrix-inclusion morphology at the second level. The simulated microstructures ranged from a simple system of one inclusion/void embedded in a matrix to complex, random microstructures. The effectiveness and limitations of the different homogenisation schemes were demonstrated through a comparative evaluation of the macroscopic elastic response, illustrating the appropriate schemes for upscaling the microstructure of shales. Based on the numerical simulations and existing experimental observations, a randomly distributed pore system for the micro-structure of porous clay matrix has been proposed which can be used for the subsequent development and validation of shale constitutive models. Finally, the homogenisation techniques were used to predict the experimental measurements of elastic response of shale core samples. The developed methodology is proved to be a valuable tool for verifying the accuracy and performance of the homogenisation techniques.     

Prediction of ground vibration due to quarry blasting based on gene expression programming: a new model for peak particle velocity prediction

Blasting is a widely used technique for rock fragmentation in opencast mines and tunneling projects. Ground vibration is one of the most environmental effects produced by blasting operation. Therefore, the proper prediction of blast-induced ground vibrations is essential to identify safety area of blasting. This paper presents a predictive model based on gene expression programming (GEP) for estimating ground vibration produced by blasting operations conducted in a granite quarry, Malaysia. To achieve this aim, a total number of 102 blasting operations were investigated and relevant blasting parameters were measured. Furthermore, the most influential parameters on ground vibration, i.e., burden-to-spacing ratio, hole depth, stemming, powder factor, maximum charge per delay, and the distance from the blast face were considered and utilized to construct the GEP model. In order to show the capability of GEP model in estimating ground vibration, nonlinear multiple regression (NLMR) technique was also performed using the same datasets. The results demonstrated that the proposed model is able to predict blast-induced ground vibration more accurately than other developed technique. Coefficient of determination values of 0.914 and 0.874 for training and testing datasets of GEP model, respectively show superiority of this model in predicting ground vibration, while these values were obtained as 0.829 and 0.790 for NLMR model.