Effect of degree of saturation on mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils and its elastoplastic simulation

The two stress-state variable approach has been widely used in interpreting unsaturated soil behaviour. However this approach cannot take into account the effect of degree of saturation or water contents on the stress–strain behaviour and strength of unsaturated soils. The triaxial test results presented in this paper show that even if the same path of net stress and suction is followed, the stress–strain relation and strength are different due to different degrees of saturation. When other conditions are the same, the higher the degree of saturation for the soil sample is, the higher the stress ratio corresponding to a given axial strain will be. This effect can be modeled by using an elasto-plastic constitutive model coupling hydraulic and mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils. Comparisons between the predicted and measured results are presented, which demonstrate that the model can quantitatively simulate the influence of the degree of saturation on stress–strain behaviour and strength of unsaturated soils.     

Regular and chaotic orbits in a self-consistent triaxial stellar system with slow figure rotation

We created a self-consistent triaxial stellar system through the cold disipationless collapse of 100,000 particles whose evolution was followed with a multipolar code. The resulting system rotates slowly even though its total angular momentum is zero, i.e., it offers an example of figure rotation. The potential of the system was subsequently approximated with interpolating formulae yielding a smooth potential stationary in the rotating frame. The Lyapunov exponents could then be computed for a randomly selected sample of 3,472 of the bodies that make up the system, allowing the recognition of regular and partially and fully chaotic orbits. The regular orbits were Fourier analyzed and classified using their locations on the frequency map. A comparison with a similar non-rotating model showed that the fraction of chaotic orbits is slightly but significantly enhanced in the rotating model; alternatively, there are no significant differences between the corresponding fractions neither of partially and fully chaotic orbits nor of long axis tubes, short axis tubes, boxes and boxlets among the regular orbits. This is a reasonable result because the rotation causes a breaking of the symmetry that may increase chaotic effects, but the rotation velocity is probably too small to produce any other significant differences. The increase in the fraction of chaotic orbits in the rotating system seems to be due mainly to the effect of the Coriolis force, rather than the centrifugal force, in good agreement with the results of other investigations.     

Stress–strain behaviour of a loosely compacted volcanic-derived soil and its significance to rainfall-induced fill slope failures

The stress–strain behaviour of a soil is crucial to the recognition of the mechanism of slope failure. Triaxial tests, composed of isotropically consolidated drained (ICD) and undrained compression (ICU) tests and anisotropically consolidated constant deviatoric stress path (CQD) tests, were carried out with the aim of investigating the stress–strain behaviour of loosely compacted volcanic-derived soils. The fact that the critical states are the same for ICU, ICD and CQD tests may show that the critical state is independent of the above three stress paths. The critical state line, as defined in critical state soil mechanics, is obtained from the e–log p′ and q–p′ plots based on the results of the above tests. The initial state of the consolidated specimens at initiation of failure may be classified as dilative or contractive in the light of the locations of the soil state relative to the critical state line. For contractional soils, the increased pore water pressure generated by rainfall infiltration leads to a contractive failure in a drained manner, giving rise to high excess pore water pressure. The excess pore water pressure caused by contraction cannot be dissipated instantly, resulting in a decrease in the shear resistance of the soil. The failure process is rapid. The failed soil mass is prone to flow after failure under the action of gravity due to its high moisture content and inflow of surface runoff and rainwater. For dilational soils, the increased pore water pressure resulting from infiltration leads to dilation, which reduces pore water pressure and thus increases the shear resistance of the soil. However, continued rainfall infiltration may be able to equilibrate the reduction in pore water pressure caused by dilation and, therefore, the dilation or displacement can continue. In Hong Kong, volcanic-derived soil is characterized by high permeability. Both the high permeability of volcanic-derived soil and a shallow failure surface make it possible for the reduction in pore pressure to equilibrate relatively quickly. Therefore, the failure is also rapid, at least for poorly compacted fill slopes.     

三种红层岩石常规三轴压缩下的强度与变形特性研究

利用MTS815Teststar程控伺服岩石力学试验系统研究了川东地区一红层边坡中的砂岩、粉砂岩和泥岩围压为03MPa的应力-应变全过程曲线,建立了峰值强度、峰值强度前弹性模量以及峰值强度后的弹性模量和围压的关系。将低围压下红层的全应力-应变曲线概化成5个阶段,分别为压密段、弹性段、屈服段、应变软化段和塑性流动阶段。试验结果得出,红层弹性模量随围压的增加而提高且变化明显,砂岩和粉砂岩在此围压内为脆性破坏,泥岩为塑性破坏的规律。     

南京下蜀土结构强度研究

利用常规三轴试验,研究了南京下蜀土结构强度及其影响因素。结果表明,下蜀土存在明显的结构性。当应变小于屈服应变时,土体的结构强度迅速的发挥;当应变大于屈服应变时,土体结构发生破坏,结构强度逐渐降低;最终当各个结构单元重新排列稳定时,土体结构完全被破坏。讨论了围压和含水量对结构强度的影响,结果表明南京下蜀土土体的结构强度和围压无关,和含水量有良好的幂函数关系。结构强度与非饱和土中吸附强度有一定的关系,可以用结构强度代替吸力,从而简化非饱和土抗剪强度公式。      

冻土中几类力学试验方法的探讨

获取寒区工程设计中冻土的物理力学指标及冻土本构模型中的模型参数都离不开冻土的力学试验.随着对冻土力学性质研究的深入,需要考察更多加载路径下冻土的力学行为,这也是检验已有冻土本构模型的有效途径.因此,精确的冻土力学试验是认识冻土力学性质的基本手段.为进一步考察冻土的力学性质,提高冻土力学试验的精度,应用MTS-810低温...     

Free Wobble of the Triaxial Earth: Theory and Comparisons with International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) Data

Earth’s free wobble is often referred to as the Euler wobble (for the rigid case) or the Chandler wobble for the real case. In this study, we investigate the theory of the free wobble of the triaxial Earth and demonstrate that: (1) the Euler period should actually be expressed by the complete elliptic integral of first kind, and (2) the trace of the free polar motion is elliptic, with the orientations of its semi-minor and major axes being approximately parallel to the Earth’s principal axes A and B, respectively. Numerical calculations show that, due to the triaxiality of the Earth, the spin rate ω ₃ fluctuates with the semi-Euler/Chandler period, although its amplitude (about 10⁻¹⁹ rad/s) is rather small and beyond the present measurement accuracy; the tilt of the instantaneous spin axis (or the amplitude of the free wobble), θ, has a fluctuation whose amplitude is around 0.34 milli-arcsecond (mas), which could be detected by present observations. Thus, we conclude that the Earth’s triaxial nature has little impact on ω ₃, but has an influence on the polar motion which should not be ignored. On the other hand, our study shows that there is a mechanism of frequency–amplitude modulation in the Chandler wobble which might be a candidate to explain the correlation between the amplitude and period of the Chandler wobble. We compare the theoretical polar parameters (m ₁, m ₂) with the observed values for the Chandler components obtained from the data EOP (IERS) C 04, and find that they coincide with each other quite well, especially for recent years. In addition, a polar wander towards 76.7°W, which is in agreement with previous results given by other scientists, is also obtained.     

Effect of coherent noise on single-station direction of arrival estimation

Polarization analysis of multi-component seismic data is used in both exploration seismology and earthquake seismology. In single-station polarization processing, it is generally assumed that any noise present in the window of analysis is incoherent, i.e., does not correlate between components. This assumption is often violated in practice because several overlapping seismic events may be present in the data. The additional arrival(s) to that of interest can be viewed as coherent noise. This paper quantifies the error because of coherent noise interference. We first give a general theoretical analysis of the problem. A simple mathematical wavelet is then used to obtain a closed-form solution to the principal direction estimated for a transient incident signal superposed with a time-shifted, unequal amplitude version of itself, arriving at an arbitrary angle to the first wavelet. The effects of relative amplitude, arrival angle, and the time delay of the two wavelets on directional estimates are investigated. Even for small differences in angle of arrival, there may be significant error (>10°) in the azimuth estimate.     

分量质子旋进磁力仪定向方法的研究

根据分量质子旋进磁力仪补偿线圈电流允许误差 ,补偿线圈轴定向应满足的关系式和给出的允许误差 ,研究并给出了实现分量质子旋进磁力仪各定向标准的实用方法。     

卸荷状态下岩爆岩石变形破裂机制的实验岩石力学研究

岩爆是高地应力区地下工程中常见的一种卸荷破坏地质灾害现象。本文按照地下洞室开挖过程中围岩的实际受力状态,采用卸荷三轴试验方法,探讨了岩爆岩石的变形破坏特征和岩爆形成力学机制问题。