Soil–rock-forming processes and engineering mechanical properties of the ancient gravel stratum near Nanjing, China

The ancient gravel stratum near Nanjing, China, is a major stratum of Cenozoic age along the middle–lower reaches of the Yangtze River. This paper first presents a typical geological profile and material composition of the ancient gravel stratum, and then discusses its geologic origin, soil–rock-forming processes, engineering mechanical properties, and their relations. These analyses are useful for city planning, geotechnical engineering, construction, and characterization of the geological environment in the Nanjing area.     

土钉与锚杆联合支护在深基坑工程中的应用

结合深圳市星海阁办公楼的工程实例,从周边环境对深基坑支护的特殊要求及复杂的地质条件出发,论述了采用土钉与锚杆联合支护形式的依据.介绍了在深基坑支护施工中采取的具体措施后期效果.同时分析了这种联合支护结构形式的力学特点,通过将两者联合使用,可实现锚杆支护结构水平侧移小和土钉支护结构受力合理的优点.且土钉与锚杆联合支护,使得上部锚杆和中下部的土钉墙两者形成了统一的受力整体,共同抵抗荷载和变形.     

Mixing of event and pre‐event water in a shallow Entisol in sloping farmland based on isotopic and hydrometric measurements,SW China

Water percolation and flow processes in subsurface geologic media play an important role in determining the water source for plants and the transport of contaminants or nutrients, which is essential for water resource management and the development of measures for pollution mitigation. During June 2013, the dynamics of the rainwater, soil water, subsurface flows and groundwater in a shallow Entisol on sloping farmland were monitored using a hydrometric and isotopic approach. The results showed that effective mixing of rainwater and soil water occurred in hours. The rebound phenomenon of δD profiles in soils showed that most isotope‐depleted rainwater largely bypassed the soil matrix when the water saturation in the soil was high. Preferential‐flow, which was the dominant water movement pattern in the vadose zone, occurred through the whole soil profile, and infrequent piston‐flow was mainly found at 20–40 cm in depth. The interflow in the soil layer, composed of 75.2% rainwater, was only generated when the soil profile had been saturated. Underflow in the fractured mudrock was the dominant flow type in this hillslope, and outflow was dominated by base flow (groundwater flow) with a mean contribution of 76.7%. The generation mechanism of underflow was groundwater ridging, which was superimposed upon preferential‐flow composed mainly of rainwater. The quick mixing process of rainwater and soil water and the rapid movement of the mixture through preferential channels in the study soil, which shows a typical bimodal pore size distribution, can explain the prompt release of pre‐event water in subsurface flow. Water sources of subsurface flows at peak discharge could be affected by the antecedent soil water content, rain characteristics and antecedent groundwater levels. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing regional‐scale spatio‐temporal patterns of groundwater–surface water interactions using a coupled SWAT‐MODFLOW model

Interaction between groundwater and surface water in watersheds has significant impacts on water management and water rights, nutrient loading from aquifers to streams, and in‐stream flow requirements for aquatic species. Of particular importance are the spatial patterns of these interactions. This study explores the spatio‐temporal patterns of groundwater discharge to a river system in a semi‐arid region, with methods applied to the Sprague River Watershed (4100 km²) within the Upper Klamath Basin in Oregon, USA. Patterns of groundwater–surface water interaction are explored throughout the watershed during the 1970–2003 time period using a coupled SWAT‐MODFLOW model tested against streamflow, groundwater level and field‐estimated reach‐specific groundwater discharge rates. Daily time steps and coupling are used, with groundwater discharge rates calculated for each model computational point along the stream. Model results also are averaged by month and by year to determine seasonal and decadal trends in groundwater discharge rates. Results show high spatial variability in groundwater discharge, with several locations showing no groundwater/surface water interaction. Average annual groundwater discharge is 20.5 m³/s, with maximum and minimum rates occurring in September–October and March–April, respectively. Annual average rates increase by approximately 0.02 m³/s per year over the 34‐year period, negligible compared with the average annual rate, although 70% of the stream network experiences an increase in groundwater discharge rate between 1970 and 2003. Results can assist with water management, identifying potential locations of heavy nutrient mass loading from the aquifer to streams and ecological assessment and planning focused on locations of high groundwater discharge. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multi‐proxy record of changing environments from ca. 30 000 to 9000 cal. a BP: Onepoto maar palaeolake,Auckland, New Zealand

We present a high‐resolution record of lacustrine sedimentation spanning ca. 30 000 to 9000 cal. a BP from Onepoto maar, northern North Island, New Zealand. The multi‐proxy record of environmental change is constrained by tephrochronology and accelerator mass spectrometric ¹⁴C ages and provides evidence for episodes of rapid environmental change during the Last Glacial Coldest Period (LGCP) and Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT) from northern New Zealand. The multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental record from Onepoto indicates that the LGCP was cold, dry and windy in the Auckland region, with vegetation dominated by herb and grass in a beech forest mosaic between ca. 28 500 and 18 000 cal. a BP. The LGCP was accompanied by more frequent fires and influx of clastic sediment indicating increased erosion during the LGCP, with a mid‐LGCP interstadial identified between ca. 25 000 and 23 000 cal. a BP. Rapid climate amelioration at ca. 18 000 cal. a BP was accompanied by increased terrestrial biomass exemplified by the expansion of lowland podocarp forest, especially Dacrydium cupressinum. Increasing biomass production is reversed briefly by LGIT perturbations which are apparent in many of the proxies that span ca. 14 000–10 500 cal. a BP, suggesting generally increased wetness and higher in situ aquatic plant productivity with reduced terrestrial organic matter and terrigenous detrital influx. Furthermore, conditions at that time were probably warmer and frosts rare based on the increasing importance of Ascarina. The subsequent early Holocene is characterised by podocarp conifer forest and moist mild conditions. Postglacial sea‐level rise breached the crater rim and deposited 36 m of estuarine mud after ca. 9000 cal. a BP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling surface runoff to evaluate the effects of wildfires in multiple semi‐arid,shrubland‐dominated catchments

Wildfires change the infiltration properties of soil, reduce the amount of interception and result in increased runoff. A wildfire at Northeast Attica, Central Greece, in August 2009, destroyed approximately one third of a study area consisting of a mixture of shrublands, pastures and pines. The present study simultaneously models multiple semi‐arid, shrubland‐dominated Mediterranean catchments and assesses the hydrological response (mean annual and monthly runoff and runoff coefficients) during the first few years following wildfires. A physically based, hydrological model (MIKE SHE) was chosen. Calibration and validation results of mean monthly discharge presented very good agreement with the observed data for the pre‐wildfire and post‐wildfire period for two subcatchments (Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency coefficient of 79.7%). The model was then used to assess the pre‐wildfire and post‐wildfire runoff responses for each of seven catchments in the study area. Mean annual surface runoff increased for the first year and after the second year following the wildfires increased by 112% and 166%, respectively. These values are within the range observed in similar cases of monitored sites. This modelling approach may provide a way of prioritizing catchment selection with respect to post‐fire remediation activities. Additionally, this modelling assessment methodology would be valuable to other semi‐arid areas because it provides an important means for comprehensively assessing post‐wildfire response over large regions and therefore attempts to address some of the scaled issues in the specific literature field of research. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discrete element method modeling of inherently anisotropic rocks under uniaxial compression loading

A new numerical approach is proposed in this study to model the mechanical behaviors of inherently anisotropic rocks in which the rock matrix is represented as bonded particle model, and the intrinsic anisotropy is imposed by replacing any parallel bonds dipping within a certain angle range with smooth‐joint contacts. A series of numerical models with β = 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90° are constructed and tested (β is defined as the angle between the normal of weak layers and the maximum principal stress direction). The effect of smooth‐joint parameters on the uniaxial compression strength and Young's modulus is investigated systematically. The simulation results reveal that the normal strength of smooth‐joint mainly affects the behaviors at high anisotropy angles (β > 45°), while the shear strength plays an important role at medium anisotropy angles (30°–75°). The normal stiffness controls the mechanical behaviors at low anisotropy angles. The angle range of parallel bonds being replaced plays an important role on defining the degree of anisotropy. Step‐by‐step procedures for the calibration of micro parameters are recommended. The numerical model is calibrated to reproduce the behaviors of different anisotropic rocks. Detailed analyses are conducted to investigate the brittle failure process by looking at stress‐strain behaviors, increment of micro cracks, initiation and propagation of fractures. Most of these responses agree well with previous experimental findings and can provide new insights into the micro mechanisms related to the anisotropic deformation and failure behaviors. The numerical approach is then applied to simulate the stress‐induced borehole breakouts in anisotropic rock formations at reduced scale. The effect of rock anisotropy and stress anisotropy can be captured. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validating the ability of the discontinuous deformation analysis method to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures

The effects of fractures on wave propagation problems are increasingly abstracting the attention of scholars and engineers in rock engineering field. This study aims to fully validate the ability of discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) to model normal P‐wave propagation across rock fractures. The effects of a single fracture and multiple parallel fractures are all tested. The results indicate that DDA can accurately reflect the fracture effects, including the fractures stiffness, the fracture spacing and the fracture number, and the effects of incident wave frequency on one‐dimensional P‐wave propagation problems. Thus, DDA is able to deal well with normal incident P‐wave propagation problems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐analytical solution to one‐dimensional consolidation for unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loading

This paper presents semi‐analytical solutions to Fredlund and Hasan's one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with semi‐permeable drainage boundary under time‐dependent loadings. Two variables are introduced to transform two coupled governing equations of pore‐water and pore‐air pressures into an equivalent set of partial differential equations, which are easily solved by the Laplace transform. The pore‐water pressure, pore‐air pressure and settlement are obtained in the Laplace domain. Crump's method is adopted to perform the inverse Laplace transform in order to obtain semi‐analytical solutions in time domain. It is shown that the present solutions are more general and have a good agreement with the existing solutions from literatures. Furthermore, the current solutions can also be degenerated into conventional solutions to one‐dimensional consolidation of unsaturated soils with homogeneous boundaries. Finally, several numerical examples are provided to illustrate consolidation behavior of unsaturated soils under four types of time‐dependent loadings, including instantaneous loading, ramp loading, exponential loading and sinusoidal loading. Parametric studies are illustrated by variations of pore‐air pressure, pore‐water pressure and settlement at different values of the ratio of air–water permeability coefficient, depth and loading parameters. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit integration under mixed controls of a breakage model for unsaturated crushable soils

This paper discusses a series of stress point algorithms for a breakage model for unsaturated granular soils. Such model is characterized by highly nonlinear coupling terms introduced by breakage‐dependent hydro‐mechanical energy potentials. To integrate accurately and efficiently its constitutive equations, specific algorithms have been formulated using a backward Euler scheme. In particular, because implementation and verification of unsaturated soil models often require the use of mixed controls, the incorporation of various hydro‐mechanical conditions has been tackled. First, it is shown that the degree of saturation can be replaced with suction in the constitutive equations through a partial Legendre transformation of the energy potentials, thus changing the thermomechanical state variables and enabling a straightforward implementation of a different control mode. Then, to accommodate more complex control scenarios without redefining the energy potentials, a hybrid strategy has been used, combining the return mapping scheme with linearized constraints. It is shown that this linearization strategy guarantees similar levels of accuracy compared with a conventional strain–suction‐controlled implicit integration. In addition, it is shown that the use of linearized constraints offers the possibility to use the same framework to integrate a variety of control conditions (e.g., net stress and/or water‐content control). The convergence profiles indicate that both schemes preserve the advantages of implicit integration, that is, asymptotic quadratic convergence and unconditional stability. Finally, the performance of the two implicit schemes has been compared with that of an explicit algorithm with automatic sub‐stepping and error control, showing that for the selected breakage model, implicit integration leads to a significant reduction of the computational cost. Such features support the use of the proposed hybrid scheme also in other modeling contexts, especially when strongly nonlinear models have to be implemented and/or validated by using non‐standard hydro‐mechanical control conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.