Evaluation of a nonlinear seismic geotechnical site response analysis method subjected to earthquake vibrations (case study: Kerman Province, Iran)

Equivalent static load and dynamic analyses methods are usually used for designing structures under and subjected to earthquake excitations. Estimation of site response from an earthquake is fundamental step to anticipate the possible damages and then to try to mitigate them. In this paper, the effect of nonlinearity on site response analyses summarized and evaluating ground surface response taking into account the local soil and subsurface soils properties for the proposed bridge over the river at Sirdjan Boulevard road subjected to earthquake vibration and provokes with assumption of rigid (viscoelastic) and elastic half space bedrock and quantify the site effect on the surface over a number of geotechnical areas has been notified. First, by field investigation, the required data were collected and by primary processing the acceptable data were selected. Then, in nonlinear analysis, for elastic and rigid half space bedrock, standard hyperbolic model was selected and executed, and then the results were compared to each other. The critical point of this work was to develop and use a computer code by the authors, named the “Abbas Converter”, with several advantages, such as work and quick installation, operating as a connecter function between the used softwares and generating the input data corresponding to defined format for them. Its output results can easily be exported to the other used softwares in this study. This code can make and render this study more easily than the previous softwares have done, and take over the encountered problem. This study clearly showed the applicability of the “Abbas Converter” for evaluation of site response with bedrock-type assumption on soil behavior under the earthquake excitations. The proposed scheme is used to analyze the ground motion data from the Bam earthquake in Kerman Province, Iran (2003, M_w 6.5).     

A proposed geotechnical-based method for evaluation of liquefaction potential analysis subjected to earthquake provocations (case study: Korzan earth dam, Hamedan province, Iran)

During the earthquakes, a number of earth dams have had severe damages or suffered major displacements as a result of liquefaction, thus modeling by computer codes can provide a reliable tool to predict the response of the dam foundation against earthquakes. These modeling can be used in the design of new dams or safety assessments of existing ones. In this paper, on the basis of the field and laboratory tests and by combination of several software packages a seismic geotechnical-based analysis procedure is proposed and verified by comparison with computer model tests and field and laboratory experiences. Verification or validation of the analyses relies to the ability of the applied computer codes. By using the Silakhor earthquake (2006, M _s 6.1) as a basis in order to check the efficiency of the proposed framework, the procedure is applied to the Korzan earth dam of Iran which is located in Hamedan Province to analyze and estimate the liquefaction and safety factor. Design and development of a computer code by the authors which was named as the ??Abbas Converter?? with graphical user interface which operates as logic connecter function that can compute and model the soil profiles is the critical point of this study. The results confirmed and proved the ability of the generated computer code on the evaluation of soil behavior during earthquake excitations. Also, this code was able to facilitate this study better than previous ones have, taking over the encountered problem.     

The relations between land use and karst rocky desertification in a typical karst area,China

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is one major type of desertification which is under irrational human impact on the vulnerable eco-geo-environment. In this study, Zhudong fengcong rocky desertification landscape was selected to investigate the land use types distribution law in different rock types and the KRD land in different land use types. KRD data was determined by user–computer interactive interpreting method from Aster images in 2004, according to the exposed ratio of rock, the coverage of vegetation and soil in 0.2 km² unit, integrating with land utilizing present situation map, hydrogeology map, relief map, vegetation map, soil distribution map, as well as the practical investigation and the population census datum in 2002. Results showed that the occurrence ratio of KRD land is different in land use types and rocky assemblages obviously; land cover has a strong impact upon KRD. The sloping cropland distributed in homogenous limestone has a higher occurrence ratio of light KRD, secondly, is in the limestone interbedded with clastic rock. Light KRD land was dominated by shrubland, and sloping cropland accounts for 11.67% of it, moderate KRD land was dominated by moderate coverage grass slopes, strong and extremely strong KRD was dominated by rocky dry land which is difficult to use.     

偏压隧道偏压应力比特征分析

偏压隧道是公路和铁路建设中经常遇到的隧道类型,由于其受力的不对称性及设计、施工的特殊性,一直是隧道施工研究的热点。以往针对偏压隧道的研究主要集中在偏压隧道的成因、围岩稳定性、应力应变分布规律及施工影响等方面,但缺少对偏压隧道偏压应力比以及公路、铁路设计规范给出条件的偏压应力比的研究,而且公路和铁路设计规范中给出的偏压隧道对应的坡面倾角和隧道埋置深度缺少相关理论来支撑。本文针对铁路双线隧道设计规范给出的临界坡度和覆盖层厚度条件,采用数值模拟的方法,求出地形偏压隧道对称位置的应力比值,定量分析了规范给定条件下偏压应力比的特征值。结果表明：在保证安全的前提下,当Ⅲ级围岩拱肩应力比大于7.45、Ⅳ（土）级围岩拱肩应力比大于2.23、Ⅳ（石）级围岩拱肩应力比大于3.34、Ⅴ级围岩拱肩处应力比大于1.06时,可将隧道考虑成偏压隧道,从而为定量判别偏压隧道提供理论依据。     

母岩类型对土壤和沉积物镉背景的控制: 以贵州为例

镉是土壤和沉积物中最受关注的重金属污染物之一,合理确定其自然背景对于环境管理具有重要意义。然而,由于不同基岩中该元素含量差异很大,且在风化成壤过程中元素也可能发生富集或贫化,造成该元素具有很大的空间变异,甚至可以超出筛选值和管制值。本文从基岩-土壤地球化学元素迁移规律出发,以基岩类型较复杂、镉空间变异较大的贵州省为例,基于土壤和沉积物调查数据,建立基岩与土壤或沉积物中镉含量的对应关系,筛选合理的岩性类型端员和背景区域划分方法,为环境管理确定基础背景。研究结果显示,岩性类型是造成土壤镉空间变异的重要因素,石灰岩(排除白云岩)、玄武岩、辉绿岩和碳质页岩等是造成土壤高镉背景的重要岩石类型。相对母岩类型,岩石所在地层时代对土壤镉背景的影响不太明显。本文通过大量数据统计,给出了相对较纯的岩性发育土壤的镉背景值和变异区间,不纯岩性或地质单元发育土壤的镉背景值可能受多个岩性端员的影响。     

基于天然红层材料的软岩成型模拟研究

岩石模拟是岩土工程模型试验、地质岩芯模拟试验等研究的核心。但目前基于人工材料的模拟制备受限于现有相似理论与技术手段,成岩结果与实际岩性差异较大,特别是软岩的成型模拟问题尤为突出。以天然红层材料为原料,改进传统的成岩模拟系统,考虑成岩过程中温度、孔隙流体压力及上覆压力的分阶段影响,模拟红层软岩从松散岩土颗粒到岩石的形成过程,得到工程标准尺寸软岩岩芯。通过与天然红层软岩进行成岩过程、物理性质、化学性质及力学性质的对比研究表明,以天然红层为原料的软岩岩芯与天然红层软岩性质相似。该研究突破了人工材料配制、3D打印等方法一般只能满足某一方面性质的局限,为大量不同功能需求的软岩岩芯研究提供了新的制作思路与方法。     

考虑前期降雨的边坡稳定降雨阈值曲面

在经验性降雨阈值和边坡稳定性数值分析两大类研究的基础上,考虑了降雨入渗和非饱和土性质,使用岩土有限元软件Plaxis高级模式对滑坡预警降雨阈值进行研究分析。算例表明,将降雨量在降雨时间范围内分成2段后,得到的边坡稳定性变化与实际情况更接近,重新定义前期降雨为在给定初始条件下引起边坡最危险滑裂面到坡面之间土体吸力分布发生变化的降雨。前期降雨时长与潜在滑裂面最大深度成正比,与饱和渗透系数成反比。将前期降雨量引入到降雨强度—持时曲线中作为第三个空间坐标轴,将该曲线拓展为前期降雨量-降雨强度-持时曲面。通过一基岩型边坡算例展示了阈值曲面的建立方法,并通过与模型试验数据的对比验证了其可靠性。     

Stability Analysis of Rock Slopes Against Block-Flexure Toppling Failure

Block-flexure is the most common type of toppling failure in rock slopes. In this case, some rock blocks fail due to tensile bending stresses and some overturn under their own weights. In this paper, first, a literature review of toppling failures is summarized. Then, a theoretical model is proposed for rock slopes with a potential for block-flexure toppling instability. Next, a new analytical approach is presented for the stability analysis of such slopes. Finally, a special computer code is developed for a quick stability assessment of the failures based on the proposed method. This code receives the rock slope parameters from the user as the input data and predicts its stability, along with the corresponding factor of safety against the failure, as the output. In addition, two case studies are used for practical verification of the proposed approach and the corresponding computer code as well.     

Probabilistic block theory analysis for a rock slope at an open pit mine in USA

A new formulation is given to conduct a probabilistic block theory analysis. A new computer code (PBTAC) is developed to perform both deterministic and probabilistic block theory analysis. The variability of the discontinuity orientation and shear strength is incorporated in the probabilistic block theory analysis. Discontinuity orientation is treated as a bivariate random variable including the correlation that exists between the dip angle and dip direction. PBTAC code was applied to perform both deterministic and probabilistic block theory analyses for a part of an open pit mine in USA. Needed geological and geotechnical data for the analyses were obtained from field and laboratory investigations. The variability of the discontinuity orientations resulted in important differences between the probabilistic and deterministic block theory analyses results. The results confirmed that the design value selected for the maximum safe slope angle (MSSA) for a particular region in the open pit mine based on the deterministic block theory analysis can be on the unsafe side. In summary, the results showed clearly the superiority of probabilistic block theory analysis over the deterministic block theory analysis in obtaining additional important information with respect to designing rock slopes. The calculated values agree very well with the existing almost stable bench face angles reported by the mining company.     

Modeling pressure pipe embedded in two-layer soil by a half-plane BEM

In this paper, an elastostatic half-plane boundary element method (BEM) formulation was applied to analyze the stress behavior of underground pressure pipes, embedded in two-layer soils. In the use of this method, only the boundary of pipe and interfaces were required to be discretized. In this regard, first, a computer code was prepared based on a multi-region substructuring process in the BEM scheme. Then, the efficiency and applicability of the method as well as the prepared algorithm were verified by solving some practical examples and comparing the results with those of the published works. Finally, a parametric study was done to evaluate the effect of pipe depth and determine the soil stress distribution. The studies showed that the half-plane BEM was in good agreement with the existing solutions and its capability was very favorable for elastostatic problems including semi-infinite domain. It is obvious that this method can be practically used to analyze the geotechnical underground buildings in substituting the full-plane BEM formulation.     

蚀变矿物的遥感信息提取研究——以北山方山口为例

北山地区植被稀疏、地势平坦,而且基岩出露好,是遥感地质研究的理想区域。文章利用ASTER数据,采用主成分分析法对北山方山口地区的铁染与羟基蚀变矿物信息进行了提取研究。结果表明,提取结果中蚀变矿物的属性特征能够较好地与实际地质属性相符,且通过野外实地验证蚀变矿物信息发现了矿化点,即利用ASTER数据进行蚀变矿物信息提取可为北山地区矿产资源勘查提供有效的矿化指示遥感信息。     

Verification of a new method for evaluation of liquefaction potential analysis

The seismic response of existing earth dams in Iran is important after an earthquake both to provide emergency supplies and to society as well as to ensure structural safety in engineering terms. Better seismic capacity of earth dam results in less structural damage and reduced impacts following an earthquake disaster. Indirect as well as direct costs following earthquakes have gained much attention from both the engineering and socioec onomic research communities in the last few decades. This study is a valuable tool used to study the response of geotechnical structures to infrequent or extreme events such as earthquakes. The Avaj earthquake (2002, Iran) was applied to a series of model tests which was conducted to study the response of soil profiles under seismic loading. The acceleration records at different locations within the soil bed and at its surface along with the settlement records at the surface were used to analyze the soil seismic response. A combination of several software packages with a generated visual user interface computer code by authors named as “Abbas Converter” were employed to evaluate the variation of shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain amplitude to assess their effects on site response. The proposed method was applied to the Korzan earth dam of Hamedan province in Iran. Site response analysis using the measured shear wave velocity, estimated modulus reduction, and damping ratio as input parameters produced good agreement with the computed site response in this study.     

Parallelization of the distinct lattice spring model

The distinct lattice spring model (DLSM) is a newly developed numerical tool for modeling rock dynamics problems, i.e. dynamic failure and wave propagation. In this paper, parallelization of DLSM is presented. With the development of parallel computing technologies in both hardware and software, parallelization of a code is becoming easier than before. There are many available choices now. In this paper, Open Multi‐Processing (OpenMP) with multicore personal computer (PC) and message passing interface (MPI) with cluster are selected as the environments to parallelize DLSM. Performances of these parallel DLSM codes are tested on different computers. It is found that the parallel DLSM code with OpenMP can reach a maximum speed‐up of 4.68× on a quad‐core PC. The parallel DLSM code with MPI can achieve a speed‐up of 40.886× when 256 CPUs are used on a cluster. At the end of this paper, a high‐resolution model with four million particles, which is too big to handle by the serial code, is simulated by using the parallel DLSM code on a cluster. It is concluded that the parallelization of DLSM is successful. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of biogeochemical prospecting methods in the search for sulfide deposits in the Appalachian piedmont, Virginia, U.S.A.

Soil and stream sediment sampling have been the primary geochemical exploration tools in the Appalachian piedmont to date. However, the great thicknesses of soil and saprolite found in the region coupled with the dense vegetation frequently encountered favor biogeochemistry as an alternative or supplemental method since deep-rooted plants sample closer to bedrock. To evaluate this method, an orientation survey was performed in which soils and vegetation at 17 sites north of Mineral, Virginia, were sampled and analyzed for Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The traverse included stations over the host rocks of massive sulfide mineralization, as well as over apparent “barren” country rock. Samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry using standard digestion and analytical techniques.Both A- and B-horizon soil metals generally appear to be reliable indicators of mineralization, with soils developed over sulfides showing up to three-fold enrichment in metal content relative to the average soils developed on the country rock. Correlation of metal concentrations in vegetation to soil metal concentrations reveal plant concentrations expressed on a dry-weight basis correlate stronger and more frequently to soil metals than do ash-weight concentrations. Copper shows some promise in selected organs and species, Ag appears fair but data are limited to one organ of one species, and plant Pb seems totally unresponsive to soil metal concentrations perhaps because foliar absorption is an important plant uptake mechanism here. However, Zn and Cd in organs of the oak group, especially mature leaves and twigs of the current year's growth show the greatest promise as prospecting tools. They correlate well with soil metals and when compared directly to the geology they reliably reflect mineralization. Although results using White oak were slightly less profound than those obtained from the Black-Red oak group, White oak may be preferred as it is a single, more widespread, easily-identifiable species. Copper and especially Zn although essential elements to plants, do not appear to be “difficult” elements for biogeochemical prospecting in the Appalachian piedmont.     

Water source partitioning among trees growing on carbonate rock in a subtropical region of Guangxi, China

It is not clear how the water sources are used by trees in typical karst areas of Guangxi, China. Trees growing on rigid carbonate rock can primarily use spring water, precipitation-recharged soil water or a mixture of the two. In this study, the Nongla karst dynamic monitoring station in the southwest of Guangxi, China, was observed. To determine the water sources accessed by trees growing on rigid carbonate rock, seasonal change of isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O and δ D) in twig sap, soil water, rainfall and spring water were measured. Stem water samples plotted to the right of the meteoric water line indicates utilization of water sources subject to evaporative isotopic enrichment. Trees growing on rigid carbonate rock in the southwest of China used rainfall directly in the rainy season. Adult trees tended to use deeper water stored in the epikarst zone, while the young ones used soil water when precipitation decreased. In the dry season, all trees sampled depend mostly on water stored in the epikarst zone. Spring water was the major water source for all of the tree species investigated in the dry season. In conclusion, these data indicate that trees growing on rigid carbonate rock in southwest China depend mostly on water stored in the epikarst zone. Therefore, water storage in the epikarst zone is the essential water source for trees growing on carbonate rock in southwest China.     

微机自控钻进系统的技术分析

微机自控钻进系统是自动化钻井设备的核心,也是钻进技术科研的高级设施。 微机自控钻进系统主要由数据采集系统—计算机（决策系统）—控制执行系统组成对对象的闭环控制回路。这种系统可按人们在软件中规定的各种模式自动完成钻进。并具有自动数据处理、打印绘图、存贮资料及自动报警等一系列丰富而优异的功能。 数据采集系统必须具有既符合钻探需要又满足计算机接口要求的传感器。完成这一系统设计的关键在于恰当设计前放及采样滤波器,以保证良好的信噪比。另外是正确决定采样速率。 计算机决策系统的正确设计关键在于搞清自控钻进基本特性,及控制所遵循的原则和方法。 建立适应各种钻进方法的数学模型,不断丰富钻井数据库的研究,将是这一课题前进的重要领地。在此基础上按优化钻速划分岩层和自控钻进,是这个领域进一步发展的方向之一。 做为自控钻进控制执行系统的设计,主要是研究钻压、转速及泵量的控制方法。     

Shawinigan nickel-copper property — A case history of a reconnaissance geochemical discovery in the Grenville Province of Quebec,Canada

Study of an area in the southern Grenville of Quebec, by a stream sediment reconnaissance survey, outlined a previously unknown nickel-copper occurrence. Both reconnaissance and detail soil surveys were employed to define the sources of the stream sediment anomalies. A rock geochemical survey was carried out along with the detail soil survey. Some of the soil and rock geochemical anomalies were drilled and in all cases low-grade nickel-copper mineralization was encountered.     

基于TM数据的土壤湿度指数预测半干旱地区浅层地下水的研究——以朝阳地区为例

为更方便、有效的勘察干旱半干旱地区的浅层地下水信息,以辽宁省朝阳市区域为研究区,以2004~2010年TM多光谱数据为基础,利用修正归一化水体差异指数提取了多年的地表土壤湿度信息。通过对土壤湿度信息分级并对植被、岩石以及地表水体进行掩模处理,得到了土壤湿度信息的分级图。同时,为了比较土壤湿度较大地区地下水的赋存信息,进行了实地考察并对比水文地质资料,认为基本与遥感所得结论一致,证明了该方法在半干旱地区的可行性与有效性。     

九江地区网纹红土的时代

长江中下游地区广泛发育网纹红土。本文对九江长虹大道剖面进行了初步研究。该剖面地层自下而上可分为河流相冲积砂砾石、以发育水平状网纹为特征的铁质网纹红土、以垂向网纹为特征的网纹红土、红色粘土和风成下蜀黄土,分别厚3.3、4.5、5.9、3.6和4.1m。磁性地层研究结果,布容正向极性带/松山反向极性带的界限出现于网纹红土层中部,距顶深部12.9m处;贾拉米洛正向极性亚带出现在铁质网纹红土层中,距顶深度15.1-16.1m处。根据CandeandKent古地磁极性年表的模式年龄和热释光年龄,计算出沉积速率,进而计算出各层的界限年龄。结果表明,铁质网纹红土沉积于1232-869kaBP;网纹红土大约沉积于869-392kaBP;红色粘土沉积于392-101kaBP。九江长虹大道剖面代表了该地区从河流沉积、铁质网纹红土、网纹红土、红色粘土到风成黄土沉积的演变过程,并显示出准0.4 Ma的周期变化。这与黄土高原、青藏高原构造层和地球公转轨道偏心率变化所反映的准0.4 Ma构造气候旋回基本一致。      

Numerical Simulation of Bed Separation Development and Grout Injecting into Separations

In this paper, the Cosserat theory that has been incorporated into a three dimensional finite element code COSFLOW, is applied to analyze the development of bed separations in the layered overburden and grout injection into the bed separations. The mechanism of bed separation development during the longwall mining is investigated. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of major factors including hard rock grade, panel height and panel weight on bed separation development. Based on the modeling, a conceptual model to describe the development process of bed separation is proposed. The effect of grout injecting into the bed separations on subsidence reduction is also studied and the conclusion agrees well with the common realization.