Pore Water Pressure Buildup Under Cyclic Rotation of Principal Stress and Stability Evaluation of Seabed Deposit

- The cyclic rotation of principal stress direction with a constant amplitude is the characteristics of cyclic stress in seabed deposit induced by travelling waves. Presented in the paper are the results obtained from tests simulating the cyclic stress characteristics, with emphasis laid on the buildup of pore water pressure in soil samples. Regression analysis of test data shows that the pore water pressure can be expressed as the function of the number of cycles of cyclic loading, or as the function of generalized shear strain. Using the results thus obtained, the possibility of failure of seabed deposit under cyclic loading induced by travelling waves can be evaluated. The comparison with the results of conventional cyclic torsional shear tests shows that neglect of the effect of the cyclic rotation of the principal stress direction will result in considerable over-estimation of the stability of seabed deposit.     

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.     

Analysis of wave-induced liquefaction in seabed deposits of silt

The dynamic stress introduced in half elastic space by wave loading is characterized by the equation between the magnitude of half cyclic axial stress and cyclic torsion shear stress and the principal stress,whose direction rotates continuously and compression stress on seabed can be calculated by the use of small amplitude wave theory.With relationship curves of saturated silt of liquefaction cycles and cyclic stress ratios obtained by cyclic triaxial-torsional coupling shear tests and curve fitting method to different data points of relative density,it is suggested that the cyclic stress ratio corresponding to constant liquefaction impedance be taken as the critical cyclic stress ratio which implies liquefaction.There exists a linear relationship between critical cyclic stress ratio and relative density under different relative densities.Empirical formula for critical cyclic stress ratios of seabed liquefaction induced by wave loading under different relative densities is established.The possibility of seabed silt liquefaction and its influence factors are analyzed based on the small-amplitude wave theory and the data acquired in laboratory tests.     

Experimental investigation on cyclic deformation behavior of soft marine clay involved principal stress rotation

To investigate cyclic deformation behavior of natural soft marine clay-involved principal stress rotation, a series of undrained tests were conducted by using GDS hollow cylinder apparatus. The principal stress rotates 5000 cycles while the deviator stress was kept at a constant level. The tests results show that the deformation behavior of the tested samples are significantly dependent on cyclic stress ratio (CSR). Furthermore, different type of generation of axial strains occur under different CSRs. With the same CSR, the type of axial strain is different between that considering and ignoring principal stress rotation. When CSR is larger than CSR = 0.42 under principal stress rotation, the axial strain grows rapidly after a few cycles. Compared with the results conducted by cyclic triaxial results, the effect of principal stress rotation on the axial strain is significant.     

Characteristics of Excess Pore Water Pressure of Nanjing Saturated Fine Sand Under the Interaction of Wave and Earthquake Loading

A stress path with continuous rotation of the principal stress direction and continuous alteration of amplitude of deviatoric stress difference under the interaction of wave and earthquake loading was proposed based on the characteristics of the stress path under wave and earthquake loading, respectively. Using a GDS dynamic hollow cylinder apparatus, a series of cyclic triaxial-torsional coupling shear tests were performed on Nanjing saturated fine sand via the stress path mentioned previously under different relative densities, effective initial confining pressures, plastic fines contents, and loading frequencies to study the development of excess pore water pressure (EPWP) of saturated sand under the interaction of wave and earthquake loading. It was found that the development of EPWP follows the trend of fast-steady-mutative-drastic, which is different from that under the cyclic triaxial test or wave loading. The number of cycles causing initial liquefaction (N_L) of saturated sand increases remarkably with relative densities. However, the relationships between N_L and effective initial confining pressures, plastic fines content, or loading frequencies are more complex.     

Stiffness Degradation of Undisturbed Saturated Soft Clay in Yangtze Estuary under Complex Stress Conditions

Stiffness degradation will occur due to the generation of accumulated pore pressure in saturated soft clays under cyclic loading. The soil static-dynamic multi-purpose triaxial and torsional shear apparatus in Dalian University of Technology was employed to perform different types of test on saturated soft marine clay in the Yangtze estuary. Undisturbed samples of the clay were subjected to undrained cyclic vertical and torsional coupling shear and cyclic torsional shear after three-directional anisotorpic consolidation with different initial consolidation parameters. Investigated were the effects of the initial orientation angle of the major principal stress, initial ratio of deviatoric stress, initial coefficient of intermediate principal stress and continuous rotation of principal stress axes on the stiffness degradation. It is found that the degradation index decreases (or degradation degree increases) significantly with increasing initial orientation angle of the major principal stress and initial ratio of deviatoric stress. Compared to the effects of the initial orientation angle of the major principal stress and initial ratio of deviatoric stress, the effect of initial coefficient of intermediate principal stress is less evident and this trend is more clearly reflected by the results of the cyclic torsional shear tests than those of the cyclic coupling shear tests. At the same cycle number, the degradation index obtained from the cyclic torsional shear test is higher than that from the cyclic coupling shear test. The main reason is that the continuous rotation in principal stress directions during cyclic coupling shear damages the original structure of the soil more than the cyclic torsional shear does. Based on a series of experiments, a mathematical model for stiffness degradation is proposed and the relevant parameters are determined.     

Dynamic characteristics of marine soft clay under variable phase difference and initial static shear stress

Abstract

Under seismic loading, the soil layer is subjected to multidirectional cyclic shear stress with different amplitudes and frequencies because of the coupling of multiple shear waves and the soil element within a slope or behind a retaining wall is subjected to initial static shear stress before subjected to cyclic loading. Due to the complexity of seismic loading propagation, a phase difference exists between the initial static shear stress and cyclic shear stress. To investigate the influence of the phase difference and initial static shear stress on cyclic shear strain, cyclic modulus, and cyclic strength, a series of laboratory tests are performed on Wenzhou marine soft clay by multi-directional simple shear system, which can simulate the actual state better by controlling the horizontal cyclic stress in the x and y directions simultaneously. As the phase difference varies from 0° to 90°, the dynamic shear modulus increases and cyclic strain accumulation decreases with an increasing number of cycles. The shear strain increases with the initial shear stress.     

考虑波浪引起的主应力轴旋转效应的砂土本构模型及其验证

Principal stress axes rotation influences the stress-strain behavior of sand under wave loading. A constitutive model for sand, which considers principal stress orientation and is based on generalized ...     

循环应力下饱和黏土剪切变形特性试验研究

针对饱和重塑黏土,利用土工静力-动力液压三轴-扭转多功能剪切仪,在不固结不排水(UU)条件下进行了应力控制式循环扭剪和竖向-扭转耦合试验,通过对试验结果的对比分析探讨了初始预剪应力和应力反向对应力-应变关系特性的影响,并阐述了不同加荷模式下孔隙水压力发展特性。以此为基础,综合考虑剪切变形和正向偏差变形的共同效应,同时为了能够反映平均残余变形和循环变形的影响,建议了一个综合应变破坏标准的算式。进而通过利用试验数据与目前常用的应变标准比较,表明这种破坏标准具有普遍适用性和较好的稳定性,适用于判定各种应力条件下黏土试样破坏及其强度。     

Influence of the earth rotation on the interfacial wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress in a twolayer fluid system

Interfacial waves and wave-induced tangential stress are studied for geostrophic small amplitude waves of two-layer fluid with a top free surface and a flat bottom. The solutions were deduced from the general form of linear fluid dynamic equations of two-layer fluid under the f-plane approximation, and wave-induced tangential stress were estimated based on the solutions obtained. As expected, the solutions derived from the present work include as special cases those obtained by Sun et al. (2004. Science in China, Ser. D, 47(12):1147-1154) for geostrophic small amplitude surface wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress if the density of the upper layer is much smaller than that of the lower layer. The results show that the interface and the surface will oscillate synchronously, and the influence of the earth''s rotation both on the surface wave solutions and the interfacial wave solutions should be considered.     

Influence of the earth rotation on the interfacial wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress in a two-layer fluid system

Interfacial waves and wave-induced tangential stress are studied for geostrophic small amplitude waves of two-layer .uid with a top free surface and a .at bottom. The solutions were deduced from the general form of linear .uid dynamic equations of two-layer .uid under the f -plane approximation, and wave-induced tangential stress were estimated based on the solutions obtained. As expected, the solutions derived from the present work include as special cases those obtained by Sun et al. (2004. Science in China, Ser. D, 47(12): 1147–1154) for geostrophic small amplitude surface wave solutions and wave-induced tangential stress if the density of the upper layer is much smaller than that of the lower layer. The results show that the interface and the surface will oscillate synchronously, and the in.uence of the earth’s rotation both on the surface wave solutions and the interfacial wave solutions should be considered.     

Seabed shear stress and bedload transport due to asymmetric and skewed waves

A simple conceptual formulation to compute seabed shear stress due to asymmetric and skewed waves is presented. This formulation generalizes the sinusoidal wave case and uses a variable friction factor to describe the physics of the boundary layer and to parameterize the effects of wave shape. Predictions of bed shear stresses agree with numerical computations using a standard boundary layer model with a k–ε turbulence closure. The bed shear stress formulation is combined with a Meyer-Peter and Müller-type formula to predict sheet flow bedload transport under asymmetric and skewed waves for a horizontal or sloping bed. The predictions agree with oscillatory water tunnel measurements from the literature.     

The influence of nonlinear hysteretic seabed interaction on slug-induced stress oscillations in steel catenary risers

Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are usually cost-effective solutions in the development of offshore fields and the transferring of the hydrocarbons from the seabed to the floating facilities. These elements are subjected to the fatigue loads particularly in the touchdown zone (TDZ), where the oscillating SCR is exposed to cyclic contact with the seabed. The slug-induced oscillation is a significant contributor to the fatigue loads in the TDZ. The cyclic seabed soil softening under the wave-induced riser oscillations and the gradual penetration of the SCR into the seabed are widely accepted to have a significant influence on SCR fatigue performance. However, this has never been investigated for slug-induced oscillations due to the lack of integrated access to comprehensive numerical models enabling the simulation of the riser slugging and nonlinear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction at the same time. In this paper, an advanced interface was developed and verified using the multi-point moving tie constraint in order to examine the influence of cyclic seabed soil softening on slug-induced oscillations of SCR. The interface was integrated with a pre-developed user subroutine for modeling of the nonlinear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction and incorporated into a global SCR model in ABAQUS. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of slug characteristics and nonlinear seabed soil model on slug-induced, wave-induced, and combined wave/slug induced oscillations of SCR in the TDZ. It was observed that the nonlinear seabed model could significantly affect the embedment of the SCR into the seabed under the slug-induced oscillations and consequently improve the fatigue life. The developed user interface was found to be a strong framework for modeling riser slugging.     

Characteristics of Pore Water Pressure of Saturated Silt Under Wave Loading

The characteristics of dynamic stress in the seabed under wave loading are constant principal stress and continuous rotation of the principal stress direction.Cyclic triaxial-torsional coupling shear tests were performed on saturated silt by the hollow cylinder apparatus under different relative densities,deviator stress ratios and vibration frequencies to study the development of pore water pressure of the saturated silt under wave loading.It was found that the development of pore water pressure follows the trend of "fast～steady～drastic".The turning point from fast to steady stage is not affected by relative density and deviator stress ratio.However,the turning point from steady to drastic stage relies on relative density and deviator stress ratio.The vibration cycle for the liquefaction of saturated silt decreases with increasing deviator stress ratio and increases with relative density.The vibration cycle for the liquefaction of the saturated silt increases with vibration frequency and reaches a peak value,after which it decreases with increasing vibration frequency for the relative density of 70%.But the vibration cycle for the liquefaction of saturated silt increases with vibration frequency for the relative density of 30%.The development of pore water pressure of the saturated silt is influenced by relative density and vibration frequency.     

Analysis of seabed instability using element free Galerkin method

Wave-induced seabed instability, either momentary liquefaction or shear failure, is an important topic in ocean and coastal engineering. Many factors, such as seabed properties and wave parameters, affect the seabed instability. A non-dimensional parameter is proposed in this paper to evaluate the occurrence of momentary liquefaction. This parameter includes the properties of the soil and the wave. The determination of the wave-induced liquefaction depth is also suggested based on this non-dimensional parameter. As an example, a two-dimensional seabed with finite thickness is numerically treated with the EFGM meshless method developed early for wave-induced seabed responses. Parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of wavelength, compressibility of pore fluid, permeability and stiffness of porous media, and variable stiffness with depth on the seabed response with three criteria for liquefaction. It is found that this non-dimensional parameter is a good index for identifying the momentary liquefaction qualitatively, and the criterion of liquefaction with seepage force can be used to predict the deepest liquefaction depth.     

现代黄河水下三角洲软土稳定性定量分析

由于黄河三角洲特殊的地质地貌及水动力特征,而在本区形成一种工程地交差的软土沉积,总观其自然环境,影响其稳定性的动力因素主要是地震和波浪。根据极限平衡理论,线性波动理论等,计算了地震设计烈度７度和８度地震作用时及５０年一遇的波浪作用时分别在软土土层中不同深度处产生的地震剪应力和波浪剪应力,与其相应软土层的不排水强度相比较可判断,本区软土在５０年一遇波浪和７度、８度地震作用时能滑动破坏。     

波致海床滑动稳定性计算方法及滑动失稳特征研究

波浪引起的海床不稳定性是海洋工程中需要考虑的重要问题。在对现有波致海床滑动稳定性计算方法进行分析的基础上,提出了一种波致海床滑动稳定性计算的全应力状态法,将其与现有计算方法进行了对比分析,并进一步研究了波致砂土海床和软土海床的滑动失稳特征。结果分析表明,全应力状态法在波致海床滑动稳定性分析中具有较好的适用性。对于砂土海床,其滑动稳定性受饱和度的影响较大,且当海床计算厚度约为0.2倍波长时对应的滑动深度最大。波浪作用下坡度不超过2°的均质软土海床,其最危险滑动面的位置仅与波长有关,其滑动深度约为0.21倍波长,滑动面半弦长约为0.33倍波长;海床表面的波压力数值只影响其安全系数的大小,而不影响其滑动深度。     

Experimental study on the cyclic behavior of loose calcareous sand under linear stress paths

Abstract

Hollow cylinder torsional shear tests on loose isotropically and anisotropically consolidated calcareous sand were conducted to investigate the cyclic behavior under three different linear stress paths, including horizontal line, oblique line, and vertical line stress paths, in a coordinate system of the normal stress difference and the horizontal shear stress. The dominant strain components of the isotropically consolidated specimens are affected by the stress paths. With increasing consolidation stress ratio, axial strain gradually becomes the dominant strain component under the three different stress paths. The cyclic strength of the isotropically consolidated specimens under the three different stress paths are almost the same, while for the anisotropically consolidated specimens, the cyclic strengths are strongly affected by the stress paths. These results indicate that conventional cyclic triaxial tests may overestimate cyclic strength in some cases. Irrespective of the stress paths and cyclic stress ratios, the terminal residual excess pore pressure ratio decreases with increasing consolidation stress ratio. Moreover, an empirical equation is proposed to describe the relationship between the normalized shear work and the normalized residual excess pore pressure ratio. The comparative study reveals that the relationship proposed for silica sand is not suitable for the dynamic analyses of calcareous sand.     

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 wave-induced soil response in a sloping seabed in the vicinity of a breakwater

In this study, a mathematical integrated model is developed to investigate the wave-induced sloping seabed response in the vicinity of breakwater. In the present model, the wave model is based on the Volume-Averaged/Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (VARANS) equations, while Biot's consolidation equation is used to govern the soil model. The influence of turbulence fluctuations on the mean flow with respect to the complicated interaction between wave, sloping seabed and breakwater are obtained by solving the Volume-Averaged k − ϵ model. Unlike previous investigations, the phase-resolved absolute shear stress is used as the source of accumulation of residual pore pressure, which can link the oscillatory and residual mechanisms simultaneously. Based on the proposed model, parametric studies regarding the effects of wave and soil characteristics as well as bed slopes on the wave-induced soil response in the vicinity of breakwater are investigated. Numerical results indicate that wave-induced seabed instability is more likely to occur in a steep slope in the case of soil with low relative density and low permeability under large wave loadings. It is also found that, the permeability of breakwater significantly affect the potential for liquefaction, especially in the region below the breakwater.