Buildings Damages after Elazığ, Turkey Earthquake on January 24, 2020

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred on January 24, 2020, has been effective in Turkey’s eastern regions. The earthquake, with recorded peak ground acceleration (PGA) value of 0.292 g, caused the destruction or heavy damage of buildings, especially in the city center of Elaz?? province. The purpose of this paper was to share the results of detailed investigation in the earthquake-stricken area. Additionally, the causes of damages and failures observed in the buildings were compared to those that had occurred in previous earthquakes in Turkey. In this study, the damages observed in especially RC buildings as well as in masonry and rural buildings were summarized, the lessons learned were evaluated, and the results were interpreted with reference to Turkish earthquake codes. In the study, it was particularly emphasized why the building stock underwent such damage even though the buildings were exposed to earthquake acceleration well below the design acceleration values.

     

Correlations between Compression Index and Index Properties of Undisturbed and Disturbed Tehran clay

The compression index (Cc), which is used to calculate the consolidation settlement of fine-grained soils, can be determined through consolidation testing. Given that exploring the soil in a local region is highly important to determine the correlation between the Cc and other soil indices, the present study investigated these correlations in undisturbed and disturbed samples through 130 consolidation tests and determining the Cc of Tehran clay. The results are suggestive of the validity of the linear correlation between the Cc and the unit weight and initial void ratio of the soil, with several relations presented to estimate the Cc of Tehran clay soil. In contrast, the initial water content, liquid limit and the plasticity index do not produce reliable correlations with the Cc of the local clay soil, and a relation based on these index parameters cannot be recommended in this area. Further, the presented empirical correlations were compared with the existing ones. More over time-displacement and e-log σ’ graphs for undisturbed and disturbed samples are compared and stress history of the site are presented. The results are significant in terms of engineering applications, saving time and money and provides an initial estimation of compression index.

     

Prediction of Enhanced Soil–Anchored Geogrid Interactions in Direct Shear Mode Using Gene Expression Programming

Design of reinforced soil structures is greatly influenced by soil–geosynthetic interactions at interface which is normally assessed by costly and time consuming laboratory tests. In present research, using the results of large-scale direct shear tests conducted on soil–anchored geogrid samples a model for predicting Enhanced Interaction Coefficient (EIC) is proposed enabling researchers/engineers easily, quickly and at no cost to estimate soil–geosynthetic interactions. In this regard well and poorly graded sands, anchors of three different size and anchorage lengths from the shear surface together with normal pressures of 12.5, 25 and 50 kPa were used. Artificial Intelligence (AI) called the Gene Expression Programming (GEP) was adopted to develop the model. Input variables included coefficients of curvature and uniformity, normal pressure, effective grain size, anchor base and surface area, anchorage length and the output variable was EIC. Contributions of input variables were evaluated using sensitivity analysis. Excellent correlation between the GEP-based model and the experimental results were achieved showing that the proposed model is well capable of effectively estimating soil–anchored geogrid enhanced interaction coefficient. Sensitivity analysis for parameter importance shows that the most influential variables are normal pressure (σ_n) and anchorage length (L) and the least effective parameters are average particle size (D₅₀) and anchor base area (A_b).

     

Damage Estimation in Masonry Buildings Based on Excavation-Induced Ground Movements

Excavation-induced ground movements and the resulting damages to adjacent structures and facilities is a source of concern for excavation projects in urban areas. The concern will be even higher if the adjacent structure is old or has low strength parameters like masonry building. Frame distortion and crack generation are predictors of building damage resulted from excavation-induced ground movements, which pose challenges to projects involving excavations. This study is aimed to investigate the relation between excavation-induced ground movements and damage probability of buildings in excavation affected distance. The main focus of this paper is on masonry buildings and excavations stabilized using soil nail wall method. To achieve this purpose, 21 masonry buildings adjacent to 12 excavation projects were studied. Parametric studies were performed by developing 3D FE models of brick walls and excavations stabilized using soil nail wall. Finally, probability evaluations were conducted to analyze the outputs obtained from case studies. Based on the obtained results, simple charts were established to estimate the damage of masonry structures in excavation affected distance with two key parameters including “Displacement Ratio” and “Normalized Distance”. The results also highlight the effects of building distance from excavation wall on its damage probability.

     

Effect of Drain Pipes on Uplift Force and Exit Hydraulic Gradient and the Design of Gravity Dams Using the Finite Element Method

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - The effects of diameter and location of drain pipes on the uplift force and exit hydraulic gradient for a gravity dam are investigated. A numerical model...     

Constraints on unconsolidated pyroclastic flow sediments related REE enrichments originated from potassic-alkaline Gölcük stratovolcano: Darıdere-Direkli-Yakaören (DDY) table 4deposits,southwestern Anatolia of Turkey

Acta Geochimica - In the last five decades, Rare Earth Elements (REE) are mostly produced from carbonatite complexes and alkaline magmatic environments. In this respect, pyroclastic flows produced...     

Pore-water pressure development in a frozen saline clay under isotropic loading and undrained shearing

Acta Geotechnica - A systematical testing program on frozen Onsøy clay under isotropic loading and undrained shearing at different temperatures...     

An effective stress-based DSC model for predicting the coefficient of lateral soil pressure in unsaturated soils

Acta Geotechnica - In this study, an analytical model is developed to establish a framework for predicting the coefficient of lateral soil pressure in unsaturated soils. To this end, the disturbed...     

古尔班通古特沙漠地表辐射收支特征

古尔班通古特沙漠是中国最大的固定、半固定沙漠.利用2017年该沙漠克拉美丽站辐射资料,分析了古尔班通古特沙漠不同时间尺度和不同天气条件下的地表辐射变化特征.结果表明:(1)不同月份沙漠辐射收支各分量月平均日变化均呈单峰型,但极值大小及出现时间存在差异.各分量曝辐量季节变化明显:太阳总辐射表现为生长期(4-9月)＞积雪期...     

3D Static Modeling and Petrographic Aspects of the Albian/Cenomanian Reservoir,Komombo Basin,Upper Egypt

Natural Resources Research - The Albian/Cenomanian reservoir is one of the two main reservoirs composing the petroleum system in the Komombo Basin. However, these reservoirs have not previously...