Parametric study for optimal design of large piled raft foundations on sand

In designing piled raft foundations, controlling the total and differential settlements as well as the induced bending moments of the raft is crucial. The majority of piled raft foundations have been designed by placing piles uniformly. In such a design method, the settlements of the piled rafts are likely to be large, which leads to an increase of the pile length and/or number of piles required to reduce the settlements. However, this increase does not satisfy the requirement for economical design. On the basis of a parametric study, this paper contributes a framework for considering an economical design methodology in which piles are placed more densely beneath the column positions when the piled raft is subjected to column loads. The analysis uses PLAXIS 3D software, and the validity of the parametric study is examined through the results of centrifuge model tests conducted by the authors. The study shows that the concentrated pile arrangement method can help to considerably reduce the total and differential settlements as well as the induced bending moments of the raft. Moreover, the effects of parameters, such as pile length, pile number, raft thickness and load types, on the piled raft behavior are investigated. This study can help practicing engineers choose pile and raft parameters in combination with the concentrated pile arrangement method to produce an economical design.     

Cosmological Constant, Minimal Mass and Electroweak Interaction

A lower bound for the mass of a rotating body is derived in the general relativity theory with positive cosmological term Λ. The bound suggests a neutrino rest mass ∼1 meV and a neutrino magnetic moment of 10⁻⁴¹ erg/gauss ∼ Planck's magnetic moment. A connection between gravity and electroweak interaction is suggested.     

矩谱法求磁性体质心的若干问题

B K Bhattachryya(1975)推导的求磁性体质心的矩谱公式理论严谨,计算速度快,并且有不需要预先知道磁性体磁化率的特点。在该公式的基础上,本文对求质心的各种影响因素作了细致讨论,推导出了提高求解质心精度的改正公式。     

Eulerian spatial moments for solute transport in three-dimensional heterogeneous,dual-permeability media

A Eulerian analytical method is developed for nonreactive solute transport in heterogeneous, dual-permeability media where the hydraulic conductivities in fracture and matrix domains are both assumed to be stochastic processes. The analytical solution for the mean concentration is given explicitly in Fourier and Laplace transforms. Instead of using the fast fourier transform method to numerically invert the solution to real space (Hu et al., 2002), we apply the general relationship between spatial moments and concentration (Naff, 1990; Hu et al., 1997) to obtain the analytical solutions for the spatial moments up to the second for a pulse input of the solute. Owing to its accuracy and efficiency, the analytical method can be used to check the semi-analytical and Monte Carlo numerical methods before they are applied to more complicated studies. The analytical method can be also used during screening studies to identify the most significant transport parameters for further analysis. In this study, the analytical results have been compared with those obtained from the semi-analytical method (Hu et al., 2002) and the comparison shows that the semi-analytical method is robust. It is clearly shown from the analytical solution that the three factors, local dispersion, conductivity variation in each domain and velocity convection flow difference in the two domains, play different roles on the solute plume spreading in longitudinal and transverse directions. The calculation results also indicate that when the log-conductivity variance in matrix is 10 times less than its counterpart in fractures, it will hardly influence the solute transport, whether the conductivity field is matrix is treated as a homogeneous or random field.     

Capability of constitutive models to simulate soils with different OCR using a single set of parameters

Incorporation of void ratio as a state variable into constitutive models allows, in principle, to use a single set of parameters for soils with different OCRs. Two sets of experimental data on reconstituted clays are used for evaluation of three constitutive models of different complexity (Modified Cam clay model, 3SKH model, hypoplastic model for clays). Although all the models predict the influence of OCR correctly from the qualitative point of view, quantitative comparison using a suitable scalar error measure reveals merits and shortcomings of different models.     

Winkler model for dynamic response of composite caisson–piles foundations: Seismic response

A simplified method with a dynamic Winkler model to study the seismic response of composite caisson–piles foundations (CCPF¹) is developed. Firstly, with the dynamic Winkler model, the kinematic response of the CCPF subjected to vertically propagating seismic S-wave is analyzed by coupling the responses of caisson part and pile part. Secondly, a simplified model for the foundation–structure system is created with the structure simplified as a lumped mass connected to the foundation with an elastic column, and through the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) this model is enabled to solve transient seismic problems. Thirdly, the proposed method for the seismic response of CCPF-structure systems is verified by comparison against 3D dynamic finite element simulation, in which the Domain Reduction Method (DRM²) is utilized. Lastly, the mechanism and significance of adding piles in improving the earthquake resistance of the foundation and structure is analyzed through an example with different soil conditions. Discovered in this study is that adding piles under the caisson is an efficient way to increase seismic resistant capability of the soil–foundation–structure system, and the main mechanism of that is the elimination of the pseudo-resonance.     

用不完整的地震资料估计地震矩年变化率

在充分考虑现有地震资料的不完备性和震级服从两端截去泊松分布的条件下,建立了用历史地震资料和现代地震资料及考古地震资料计算地震矩年变化率的方法。计算了西南地区几个地震带的地震矩年变化率,并与地质资料得到的结果进行了比较,结果表明该方法是切实可行的