Undrained creep failure of a drainage canal slope stabilized with deep cement mixing columns

This paper presents an analysis of the slope failure of a Suvarnabhumi drainage canal during construction. The Suvarnabhumi drainage canal project includes a large drainage canal with a road on both sides. The width of the bottom of the drainage canal is 48.0 m, the depth of the drainage canal is 3.0 m, and the length of the drainage canal is 10.5 km. Because the project was constructed on very soft Bangkok clay, deep cement mixing (DCM) columns were employed to increase the stability of the excavated canal. The failure of the drainage canal slope occurred 25 days after the end of excavation. The field monitoring data show that lateral movement of the canal slope continuously increased with time, which caused failure due to the instability of the canal slope. The time-dependent deformation and undrained creep behavior of very soft clay was suspected to be the cause of the canal failure. A laboratory investigation of undrained creep behavior and a finite element analysis (FEA) using the soft soil creep (SSC) model were performed to confirm the causes of the canal failure. The results indicate that very soft clay specimens that are subjected to deviator creep stress levels of 70 and 100 % of the peak strength failed by creep rupture within 60 days and 8 min, respectively. The factor of safety for the canal slope, which was obtained from the FEA, shows significant reduction from the initial value of 1.710 to 1.045 within 24 days after the end of excavation due to the effect of undrained creep. This paper also describes a solution method that is applied to a new section of the canal. Field monitoring and an FEA of the new trial section were performed to prove the effectiveness of the solution method.     

A public Cloud-based China’s Landslide Inventory Database (CsLID): development,zone, and spatiotemporal analysis for significant historical events, 1949-2011

Landslide inventory plays an important role in recording landslide events and showing their temporal-spatial distribution. This paper describes the development, visualization, and analysis of a China's Landslide Inventory Database (CsLID) by utilizing Google’s public cloud computing platform. Firstly, CsLID (Landslide Inventory Database) compiles a total of 1221 historical landslide events spanning the years 1949-2011 from relevant data sources. Secondly, the CsLID is further broken down into six zones for characterizing landslide cause-effect, spatiotemporal distribution, fatalities, and socioeconomic impacts based on the geological environment and terrain. The results show that among all the six zones, zone V, located in Qinba and Southwest Mountainous Area is the most active landslide hotspot with the highest landslide hazard in China. Additionally, the Google public cloud computing platform enables the CsLID to be easily accessible, visually interactive, and with the capability of allowing new data input to dynamically augment the database. This work developed a cyber-landslide inventory and used it to analyze the landslide temporal-spatial distribution in China.     

An approach to determination of phenolic compounds in seawater using SPME-GC-MS based on SWCNTs coating

Phenolic compounds have become one kind of the important pollutants of the marine environment. Single-walled Carbon nanotubes, as one-dimensional nano materials, have light weight and perfect hexagonal structure of connections, with many unusual mechanical, chemical and electrical properties. In recent years, with the research of carbon nanotubes and other nano materials, the application prospect is also constantly discussed. In this paper, homemade single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs) coating was used for establishing an analytical approach to the determination of five kinds of phenolic compounds in seawater using SPME-GC-MS. Optimal conditions: After saturation was conducted with Na Cl, and p H was adjusted to 2.0 with H_2SO_4, the extract was immersed in a water bath at 40 for GC℃-MS determination through 40-min agitating extraction at 500 rmin~(-1) and 3-min desorption at 280℃. The liniearities ranged between 0.01-100 μg L~(-1), and the determination limits ranged between 1.5-10 ngL~(-1). The relative standard deviation(RSD, n = 5) was less than 6.5%. For the phenolic compounds obtained from the spiked recovery test for actual seawater samples, the rates of recovery were 87.5%-101.7%, and the RSDs were less than 8.8%, which met the requirements of determination. Due to its simplicity, high efficiency and low consumption, this approach is suitable for the analysis of trace amounts of phenolic compounds in marine waters.     

Study on biogenic amines in various dry salted fish consumed in China

This study was carried out to investigate the biogenic amines（BAs）, physicochemical property and microorganisms in dry salted fish, a traditional aquatic food consumed in China. Forty three samples of dry salted fish were gathered from retail and wholesale markets and manufacturers, which had been produced in various regions in China. Cadaverine（CAD） and putrescine（PUT） were quantitatively the most common biogenic amines. About 14% of the samples exceeded the histamine content standards established by the FDA and/or EU. The highest histamine content was found in Silver pomfret（Pampus argenteus）(347.79 mg kg^-1). Five of forty three samples exceeded the acceptable content of TYR(100 mg kg^-1), and 23.26% of dried-salted fish contained high contents of biogenic amines(above 600 mg kg^-1). In addition, species, regions, pickling processes and drying methods made the physicochemical property, microorganisms and biogenic amines in dry salted fish to be different to some extents. The total plate count（TPC） was much higher than that of total halophilic bacteria in all samples. The biogenic amines, physicochemical property and microbiological counts exhibited large variations among samples. Furthermore, no significant correlation between biogenic amines and physicochemical property and TPC was observed. This study indicated that dry salted fish may still present healthy risk for BAs, depending on the processing methods, storage conditions among others.     

Rank-size distributions of Chinese cities: Macro and micro patterns

A large number of studies have been conducted to find a better fit for city rank-size distributions in different countries. Many theoretical curves have been proposed, but no consensus has been reached. This study argues for the importance of examining city rank-size distribution across different city size scales. In addition to focusing on macro patterns, this study examines the micro patterns of city rank-size distributions in China. A moving window method is developed to detect rank-size distributions of cities in different sizes incrementally. The results show that micro patterns of the actual city rank-size distributions in China are much more complex than those suggested by the three theoretical distributions examined(Pareto, quadratic, and q-exponential distributions). City size distributions present persistent discontinuities. Large cities are more evenly distributed than small cities and than that predicted by Zipf′s law. In addition, the trend is becoming more pronounced over time. Medium-sized cities became evenly distributed first and then unevenly distributed thereafter. The rank-size distributions of small cities are relatively consistent. While the three theoretical distributions examined in this study all have the ability to detect the overall dynamics of city rank-size distributions, the actual macro distribution may be composed of a combination of the three theoretical distributions.     

Experimental study of the mechanical properties of expansive soil with added nanomaterials

The main purpose of this paper is to describe ways to improve the microstructure of expansive soil by adding nanomaterials. Mechanical tests were done to explore the changes in shear strength and compression index of expansive soil that was modified by adding different amounts of two kinds of nanomaterials (nano-alumina and nano-silica). The test results show that adding 1.2% nano-alumina and about 2% nano-silica to expansive soil provides the optimal compression index. The test results show that adding 1.2% nano-alumina and about 1.5% nano-silica to expansive soil provides the optimal unconfined compression stress. Scanning electron microscopy of the microstructure of expansive soil modified by nanomaterials provided a deeper understanding of the effects of nanomaterials on improving expansive soil.     

河套盆地北缘色尔滕山河流地貌参数特征及其成因分析

地貌形态是构造和地表过程相互作用的复杂产物,主要通过构造活动和岩石的抗侵蚀能力等来调节。构造活动相对较弱的古老造山带往往可以忽略构造驱动的岩石抬升,使得研究岩石抗侵蚀能力对其地貌雕刻的贡献成为可能。但是目前大多数活动造山带地貌研究的结果显示地貌主要受控于活动构造,关于岩性对地貌演化影响的报道较少。色尔滕山山前断裂为河套盆地北缘的一条重要控盆断裂,全新世以来该断裂的活动性较强,曾发生过两次较大震级地震（M6. 4和M5. 9）。前人活动构造研究表明该断裂的活动性具有空间差异,中部乌加河镇活动性最强,两端逐渐减弱。但相对河套盆地北缘其他大型断裂（如狼山山前断裂、乌拉山北缘断裂和大青山山前断裂）,该断裂的地貌参数研究较少。同时其地貌演化特征及发育机理仍然不清楚,这些均制约了对该断裂的变形动力学理解。本文基于30 m分辨率的DEM数据对该断裂进行详细的河流地貌学参数研究,包括使用Arcgis和Matlab脚本提取色尔滕山山前33条河流的子流域盆地面积 高程积分（HI）和相应河道陡峭指数（Ksn）、河道纵剖面及其裂点等地貌学参数。结果表明研究区河流HI值大部分处于0. 40~0. 66之间,其中乌加河镇附近具有高值,流域盆地处于发育的壮年期。瞬态河道和稳态河道均沿着色尔滕山山前断裂走向分布,可能表明色尔滕山山前大部分河道目前处于瞬时地貌向均衡地貌演化阶段,并且通过对比发现瞬态河道裂点成因存在岩性和构造共同控制的现象。河道陡峭指数空间分布差异性较大,乌加河镇附近（S13~S20）陡峭指数较大,向两边陡峭指数逐渐减小,在S8河流以西又有增大的趋势。通过结合岩性和降雨情况分析发现,河道陡峭指数除了受岩性抗侵蚀能力影响外,其分布还与色尔滕山山前断裂垂直滑移速率分布和垂直位错分布基本一致。综合来看,地貌参数的空间分布是岩性差异和色尔滕山山前断裂活动分段差异性共同控制的结果,表明该地区岩性和构造对地貌的协同塑造作用。