An investigation of periglacial slope stability in relation to soil properties based on physical modelling in the geotechnical centrifuge

Results are presented from eight scaled centrifuge modelling experiments designed to investigate mass movement processes on thawing ice-rich slopes. Four pairs of simple planar slope models were constructed, one in each pair being of sufficient gradient to promote slope failure during soil thaw and the second having a gradient below the threshold for instability. Four frost susceptible soils were used, three were normally consolidated and had different clay contents (2%, 12% and 20%) and the fourth comprised the 20% clay soil, but was over consolidated prior to model testing. Modelling protocols included freezing from the surface downwards under an open hydraulic system, and thawing from the surface downwards under an enhanced gravitational field within the geotechnical centrifuge, thereby utilising scaling laws to simulate correct prototype self weight stresses during thaw. Slopes below the stability threshold gradient were subjected to between 2 and 4 cycles of freezing and thawing, simulating annual cycles. Those above the stability threshold were subjected to only one cycle, since they failed during the first thaw phase. Thermal conditions, pore water pressures, surface movements, and profiles of displacement are reported. Measured pore pressures are used in slope stability analyses based on a simple planar infinite slope model. Profiles of solifluction shear strain and mechanisms of slope failure are both shown to be sensitive to small changes in soil properties, particularly clay content and stress history. In all cases, pore pressures rose rapidly immediately following thaw, remained below the threshold for failure in low gradient models, but exceeding the threshold to trigger landslides on steeper slopes. Upward seepage of melt water away from the thaw front contributed to loss of shear strength. Mechanisms of slope failure differed between test soils, ranging from mudflow in non-cohesive silt to active layer detachment sliding in over consolidated silt–clay. During solifluction, shear strain was greatest at the surface in non-cohesive silt and decreased rapidly with depth, but in test soils containing clay, the zone of maximum shear strain was located lower in the displacement profiles.     

Application of Hilbert-Huang transform to characterize soil liquefaction and quay wall seismic responses modeled in centrifuge shaking-table tests

In this paper, a Hilbert-Huang Transform data-processing technique is successfully used to characterize the seismic responses of soil–quay wall systems using measured data in a series of geotechnical centrifuge shaking-table tests. The predominant frequency of a liquefied deposit shifts down to a low frequency level; however, “de-liquefaction” leads to frequent, local higher-frequency spikes in the time histories of predominant instantaneous frequency (PIF). A lower amount of seaward displacement was found if the combined translation and rotation modes resulted in lower excess-pore-water pressure when the wall accelerated seaward. Cyclic changes in the PIF of the wall during shaking are directly related to the stiffness of the soil in which the wall is embedded. Thus, PIF at any given instant provides a superior indicator for characterizing the occurrence of liquefaction and the time-varying soil dynamic property. This advantage assists in evaluating the degradation of soil dynamic properties at any given instant based on the acceleration time histories measured in model tests or even in the field.     

地震波振幅对黄土-泥岩边坡动力响应规律的影响

研究地震作用下黄土-泥岩边坡动力响应特征,对边坡的稳定性评价和抗震设计具有重要指导意义。基于边坡的离心机振动台试验和数值模拟分析,研究地震波振幅对边坡地震动响应的影响规律,结果表明：由坡体深部至浅表层,黄土-泥岩边坡的水平向和垂向加速度放大效应呈非线性增加,且水平向大于垂直向,在坡体顶部到达最大,表现为趋表效应和高程效应;在边坡内部岩性接触部位,黄土层内动力响应较大,泥岩中动力响应较小,表现为岩性效应;随着输入地震波振幅的增加,坡体动力响应表现为先增大后减小的趋势,当输入振幅达0.3g时,坡体动力响应最大。黄土-泥岩边坡的变形破坏过程为：随输入地震波振幅增加,坡顶逐渐形成拉张裂缝,不断扩展,坡体中上部溜土,产生向临空面方向的位移,坡体中部发生鼓胀隆起,局部坡体振动松散,岩土体滑落至坡脚堆积。     

我国土工离心模型试验技术发展综述

小尺寸物理模型试验是岩土力学与岩土工程研究的重要手段.常规小比尺模型由于其自重产生的应力远低于原型,以及原型材料明显的非线性,因而不能再现原型的特性.解决这一问题的唯一途径是提高模型的自重,使之与原型等效.提高模型的自重应力水平、增大材料自重的最简便的方法就是用离心机.本文在总结回顾大量文献资料的基础上,根据离心模型试...     

软土地基上土工结构物的离心模拟试验

由于离心模拟试验所提供的高加速度可以模拟重力加速度,而引起土工结构物的稳定性和地基变形问题,主要原因正是由于地基不能适应上部结构物的自重,因而土工离心试验能最大限度地逼近现场试验,试验结果已为设计工程师所采用。本文主要介绍4个沿海工程如何利用离心模拟试验来检验这些工程的稳定和变形。     

Dynamic Properties of Soft Clay and Loose Sand from Seismic Centrifuge Tests

Appropriate evaluation of shear modulus and damping characteristics of soils subjected to dynamic loading is key to accurate seismic response analysis and soil modeling programs. Dynamic centrifuge experiments were conducted at C-CORE (Memorial University of Newfoundland) centrifuge center to investigate the dynamic properties and seismic response of soft clay and dry loose sand strata. Soft clay with shear strength of about 30 kPa and well graded silica sand at about 35% relative density were employed in a rigid container to simulate local site effects. Several earthquake-like shaking events were applied to the model to evaluate variation of shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain amplitude and confining pressure, and to assess their effects on site response. The estimated modulus reduction and damping ratio were compared to the predictions of empirical formulae and resonant column tests for both soft clay and loose sand. The evaluated shear modulus and damping ratio were found to be dependent on confining pressure in both soil types. Modulus variation in both soils agreed well with the empirical curves and resonant column test results. However, the sand modulus values were slightly higher than the empirical relations and resonant column tests. This discrepancy is attributed to higher stress and densification of sand during large amplitude shaking applied to the model. The damping ratio at shear strains lower than 0.5% was in reasonable agreement with the empirical curves and the resonant column tests in both clay and sand models, but was generally higher at shear strain larger than 0.5%.     

Experimental developments for studying static and seismic behavior of retaining walls with liquefiable backfills

The effects of earthquakes on cantilever retaining walls with liquefiable backfills were studied. The experimental techniques utilized in this study are discussed here. A series of centrifuge tests was conducted on aluminum, fixed-base, cantilever wall models retaining saturated, cohesionless backfills. Accelerations on the walls and in the backfill, static and excess pore pressures in the soil, and deflections and bending strains in the wall were measured. In addition, direct measurements of static and dynamic lateral earth pressures were made. In some tests, sand backfills were saturated with the substitute pore fluid metolose. Modeling of model type experiments were conducted. The experimental measurements were found internally consistent and repeatable. Both static and dynamic earth pressure measurements were determined to be reliable. It was also observed that for the test configuration adopted, a special boundary treatment such as the use of duxseal is optional. Static and seismic modeling of models were also successful, which indicated that the assumed scaling relations were essentially correct.     

Soft-sediment deformation during thawing of ice-rich frozen soils: results of scaled centrifuge modelling experiments

The origin of periglacial involutions remains uncertain, largely because of the difficulties of field monitoring in modern permafrost regions. This paper describes an alternative approach, in which process studies are based on scaled centrifuge modelling of thawing ice-rich soils. Centrifuge scaling laws allow similitude in self-weight stresses between the model scale and the prototype (field) scale to be achieved. In these experiments, 120- to 130-mm-thick frozen models comprising a sand unit overlying ice-rich kaolinite clay (three models) or ice-rich silt (one model) were thawed under an acceleration of 20 gravities. The models were therefore equivalent to 2·4–2·6 m of frozen sediments (permafrost) at the prototype scale. Temperature profiles and porewater pressures during the thawing of each model are described. Porewater pressures significantly in excess of hydrostatic were not observed in the sand/silt model. In the sand/clay models, however, excess pressures developed rapidly after thawing, and observed fluctuations in pressure were interpreted as water-escape events. After thawing, careful sectioning of the models revealed small-scale deformation structures at the clay–sand interface, resulting from loading of the upper sand layer into very soft fluid-like clay and injection of clay upwards into the base of the sand. It is concluded that these experiments provide analogues for some Pleistocene involutions. Such involutions therefore mark phases of permafrost degradation when high porewater pressures caused loading and injection along sedimentary boundaries.     

Magma-induced strain localization in centrifuge models of transfer zones

Scaled centrifuge experiments have been used to investigate the dynamic relations between deformation and magma distribution in rift-related transfer zones. The physical models were built using suitable analogue materials, such as sand to represent the brittle upper crust, various kinds of silicone mixtures to simulate the lower crust and upper mantle and glycerol to reproduce magma. Models simulated the development of transfer zones across pre-existing glycerol reservoirs placed at the base of the analogue continental crust. In plan view, different geometries, dimensions and positions of subcrustal reservoirs were reproduced in three different sets of experiments; to compare results, models were also performed without magma-simulating glycerol.Set 1 experiments, incorporating a narrow rectangular glycerol reservoir, show that the low-viscosity material is able to localise deformation into the overlying crust, giving rise to discrete transfer zones. This concentrated surface deformation corresponds at depth to major magma accumulation. Set 2 experiments, with an initial wide squared glycerol reservoir, show instead that deformation is distributed across the whole model surface, corresponding at depth to relatively minor magma accumulation. Set 3 experiments explored various positions of a small squared reservoir that invariably localised faulting in the overlying analogue brittle crust at the onset of model deformation.The overall model behaviour suggests that magma distribution at depth can effectively control the strain distribution in the overlying crust and the deformative pattern of transfer zones. Strain distribution, in turn, may control magma emplacement as localized deformation would favour major accumulation of magma at transfer zones. Coupled to a strong thermal weakening of the country rocks, this process may ultimately lead to a positive feedback interaction between magma and deformation.     

Centrifuge modeling of seismic response of layered soft clay

Centrifuge modeling is a valuable tool used to study the response of geotechnical structures to infrequent or extreme events such as earthquakes. A series of centrifuge model tests was conducted at 80g using an electro-hydraulic earthquake simulator mounted on the C-CORE geotechnical centrifuge to study the dynamic response of soft soils and seismic soil–structure interaction (SSI). 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 soft soil seismic response. In addition, the records of acceleration at the surface of a foundation model partially embedded in the soil were used to investigate the seismic SSI. Centrifuge data was used to evaluate the variation of shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain amplitude and confining pressure, and to assess their effects on site response. Site response analysis using the measured shear wave velocity, estimated modulus reduction and damping ratio as input parameters produced good agreement with the measured site response. A spectral analysis of the results showed that the stiffness of the soil deposits had a significant effect on the characteristics of the input motions and the overall behavior of the structure. The peak surface acceleration measured in the centrifuge was significantly amplified, especially for low amplitude base acceleration. The amplification of the earthquake shaking as well as the frequency of the response spectra decreased with increasing earthquake intensity. The results clearly demonstrate that the layering system has to be considered, and not just the average shear wave velocity, when evaluating the local site effects.