Bearing capacity of unsaturated expansive soils

It is difficult to determine the bearing capacity of a foundation in unsaturated expansive soil, although this is most important. The bearing capacity of unsaturated expansive soil is related to the drying and wetting environment. Swelling pressure occurs when the soil volume change is constrained as an expansive soil is inundated. The expansive lateral pressure, induced by the swelling pressure is similar to the passive earth pressure. By considering the effect of the expansive lateral pressure in Terzaghi's bearing capacity formula, the bearing capacity of unsaturated expansive soil is derived. Because it is very difficult to measure suction in situ, the bearing capacity is expressed using the expansive lateral pressure offers a feasible approach to calculate the bearing capacity of a foundation in unsaturated expansive soil, when suction is not measured. Plate load tests to measure the bearing capacity in situ were performed for the foundation in natural soil and saturated soil immersed by water. The verification of the bearing capacity formulae presented in this paper is conducted by comparing the predicted results with the results of the plate load tests on unsaturated expansive soils in Handan and Bingxia, China.     

Weights of Evidence Modeling of Mineral Potential: A Case Study Using Small Number of Prospects,Abra, Philippines

Weights of evidence (WofE) modeling usually is applied to map mineral potential in areas with large number of deposits/prospects. In this paper, WofE modeling is applied to a case study area measuring about 920 km² with 12 known porphyry copper prospects. A pixel size of 100 m × 100 m was used in the spatial data analyses to represent in a raster-based GIS lateral extents of prospects and of geological features considered as spatial evidence. Predictor maps were created based on (a) estimates of studentized values of positive spatial association between prospects and spatial evidence; (b) proportion of number of prospects in zones where spatial evidence is present; and (c) geological interpretations of positive spatial association between prospects and spatial evidence. Uncertainty because of missing geochemical evidence is shown to have an influence on tests of assumption of conditional independence (CI) among predictor maps with respect to prospects. For the final predictive model, assumption of CI is rejected based on omnibus test but is accepted based on a new omnibus test. The final predictive model, which delineates 30% of study area as zones with potential for porphyry copper, has 83% success rate and 73% prediction rate. The results demonstrate plausibility of WofE modeling of mineral potential in large areas with small number of mineral prospects.     

灌溉后的黄土剪切特征变化

在中国甘肃省的黑方台阶地上从上世纪60年代开始出现人类定居和开垦活动,并自1968年发展为灌溉农业。随着灌溉的进行地面已出现沉陷和滑坡。地表沉陷是由灌溉水的充填引起黄土结构崩塌造成的。然而崩塌和湿润化对剪切特征的影响目前还不清楚。为了研究湿化后的黄土剪切特征的变化,进行了对马兰黄土未经扰动和重塑土样的直接剪切盒测试。结果显示未扰动土样的粘合力和内摩擦角在湿润化后都下降了,而所观察到的重塑土的弹度参数只有少许变化。未扰动土的不饱合粘合力,据认为其受胶结物质的影响,在饱合后消失了。经灌溉的土的不饱合强度参数与未灌溉土相比表现出差异,它们可能受土壤水分的强烈影响。     

Estimating severity of liquefaction-induced damage near foundation

An empirical procedure for estimating the severity of liquefaction-induced ground damage at or near foundations of existing buildings is established. The procedure is based on an examination of 30 case histories from recent earthquakes. The data for these case histories consist of observations of the damage that resulted from liquefaction, and the subsurface soil conditions as revealed by cone penetration tests. These field observations are used to classify these cases into one of three damaging effect categories, ‘no damage’, ‘minor to moderate damage’, and ‘major damage’. The potential for liquefaction-induced ground failure at each site is calculated and expressed as the probability of ground failure. The relationship between the probability of ground failure and the damage class is established, which allows for the evaluation of the severity of liquefaction-induced ground damage at or near foundations. The procedure presented herein represents a significant attempt to address the issue of liquefaction effect. Caution must be exercised, however, when using the proposed model and procedure for estimating liquefaction damage severity, because they are developed based on limited number of case histories.     

Effects of inertial and kinematic interaction on seismic behavior of pile with embedded foundation

Effects of inertial and kinematic forces on pile stresses are studied based on large shaking table tests on pile-structure models with a foundation embedded in dry and liquefiable sand deposits. The test results show that, if the natural period of the superstructure, T_b, is less than that of the ground, T_g, the ground displacement tends to be in phase with the inertial force from the superstructure, increasing the shear force transmitted to the pile. In contrast, if T_b is greater than T_g, the ground displacement tends to be out of phase with the inertial force, restraining the pile stress from increasing. With the effects of earth pressures on the embedded foundation and pile incorporated in, pseudo-static analysis is conducted to estimate maximum moment distribution in pile. It is assumed that the maximum moment is equal to the sum of the two stresses caused by the inertial and kinematic effects if T_b<T_g or the square root of the sum of the squares of the two if T_b>T_g. The estimated pile stresses are in good agreement with the observed ones regardless of the occurrence of soil liquefaction.     

Analytical exploration of γ-function explicit method for pseudodynamic testing of nonlinear systems

It has been well studied that the γ-function explicit method can be effective in providing favorable numerical dissipation for linear elastic systems. However, its performance for nonlinear systems is unclear due to a lack of analytical evaluation techniques. Thus, a novel technique is proposed herein to evaluate its efficiency for application to nonlinear systems by introducing two parameters to describe the stiffness change. As a result, the numerical properties and error propagation characteristics of the γ-function explicit method for the pseudodynamic testing of a nonlinear system are analytically assessed. It is found that the upper stability limit decreases as the step degree of nonlinearity increases; and it increases as the current degree of nonlinearity increases. It is also shown that this integration method provides favorable numerical dissipation not only for linear elastic systems but also for nonlinear systems. Furthermore, error propagation analysis reveals that the numerical dissipation can effectively suppress the severe error propagation of high frequency modes while the low frequency responses are almost unaffected for both linear elastic and nonlinear systems.     

Pseudo‐dynamic seismic response of reinforced concrete frames infilled with non‐structural brick masonry

This paper presents pseudo‐dynamic test results on the in‐plane seismic behaviour of infilled frames. Thirteen single‐storey, single‐bay, half‐size‐scale, reinforced concrete‐frame specimens, most of which infilled with non‐structural masonry made of perforated bricks and cement mortar are tested. The infills are in contact with frames, without any connector; openings are not covered. The frames are different in their strength and details, reinforcement grade, and aspect ratio. Seismic input is the 1976 Tolmezzo (Friuli, Italy) ground acceleration, to which specimens are subjected two times: virgin and damaged by the previous test. The global seismic response of initially virgin infilled specimens considerably differs from that of bare specimens. This follows a dramatic change of properties: compared to a bare frame, the initial stiffness increases by one order of magnitude, and the peak strength more than doubles. The peak drift lessens; however, the displacement ductility demand does not. The energy demand is greater. Nevertheless, the influence of infill decreases as damage proceeds. Displacement time histories of damaged specimens are quite similar. At the local level, infill causes asymmetry and concentration of the frame deformation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

桩底注浆钻孔灌注桩承载力的研究

通过天津地区几例钻孔灌注桩桩底注浆的静载荷试桩结果 ,分析天津地区钻孔灌注桩桩底注浆单桩竖向极限承载力标准值的估算方法     

程裕淇主编《中国地层典》记失

文章列数了《中国地层典》5个方面的重要失误:不是中国地层名称全览性的工具书,急于采用处于争议中的术语,大量地层单位名称的出处因考证不到位而形成张冠李戴,采用的历史优先律不是国际共识,在编撰过程中建立新名称。文章用选出的泰山杂岩、滹沱系、秦岭片岩和仑山石灰岩4个名称为例说明《中国地层典》对其出处的考证不到位,进而论证《中国地层典》的诸多解释可信度低。文章严肃地指出“历史优先律”给中国地层学造成的不良后果:它破坏了地层命名法的标准性,颠倒了中国地层命名史,干扰了中国地层名称的管理。