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.     

Effects of Enclosure on Plant and Soil Nutrients in Different Types of Alpine Grassland

Enclosure is one of the most widely used management tools for degraded alpine grassland on the northern Tibetan Plateau, but the responses of different types of grassland to enclosure may vary, and research on these responses can provide a scientific basis for improving ecological conservation. This study took one site for each of three grassland types (alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert) on the northern Tibetan Plateau as examples, and explored the effects of enclosure on plant and soil nutrients by comparing differences in plant community biomass, leaf-soil nutrient content and their stoichiometry between samples from inside and outside the fence. The results showed that enclosure can significantly increase all aboveground biomass in these three grassland types, but it only increased the 10-20 cm underground biomass in the alpine desert. Enclosure also significantly increased the leaf nutrient content of the dominant plants and contents of total nitrogen (N), total potassium (K), and organic carbon (C) in 10-20 cm soil in alpine desert, thus changing the stoichiometry between C, N and P (phosphorus). However, enclosure significantly increased only the N content of dominant plant leaves in alpine steppe, while other nutrients and stoichiometries of both plant leaves and soil did not show significant differences in alpine meadow and alpine steppe. These results suggested that enclosure has differential effects on these three types of alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau, and the alpine desert showed the most active ecological conservation in the responses of its soil and plant nutrients.     

Limitations of suction‐controlled triaxial tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils

Behavior of unsaturated soils is influenced by many factors, and the influences of these factors are usually coupled together. Suction‐controlled triaxial (SCTX) tests are considered to allow researchers to investigate influences of individual variables on unsaturated soils under specified stress path with controls of stresses, pore water, and air pressures. In the past 50 years, SCTX testing method has been established as a standard approach to characterize constitutive behavior of unsaturated soils. Most important concepts for modern unsaturated soil mechanics were developed upon results from the SCTX tests. Among these, one of the most important contributions in the constitutive modeling of elasto‐plastic behavior for unsaturated soils is the Barcelona basic model (BBM) proposed by Alonso et al. in 1990. The BBM successfully explained many features of unsaturated soils and received extensive acceptance. However, the SCTX tests are designed based upon the divide‐and‐conquer approach in which an implicit assumption is used: soil behavior is stress‐path independent. However, it is well‐established that unsaturated soil behavior is elasto‐plastic and stress‐path dependent. It is found that the SCTX tests in fact cannot control the stress path of an unsaturated soil during loading. This incapability, in combination with complicated loading/collapse behavior of unsaturated soils, makes the SCTX tests for characterizing unsaturated soil questionable. This paper discusses the limitations of the SCTX tests in the characterization of unsaturated soils. A possible solution to the problem was proposed based on a newly developed modified state surface approach. The discussions are limited for isotropic conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

联合GPS和GRACE数据分析陕甘宁地区地表垂直形变

采用甘肃省CORS网和中国大陆构造环境监测网络中共48个台站的GPS观测数据，解算得到观测台站的垂直位移，并与GRACE时变重力场Mascon模型解CSR RL05M数据计算得到的垂直形变进行比较，分析区域地表垂直形变特征。结果表明，研究区内台站垂直形变存在局部特征，甘肃庆阳和平凉地区垂直形变与其他地区存在明显差异，相关系数、均方根减少量和周年信号减少量均高于其他地区；扣除趋势项后，观测台站GPS垂直位移与GRACE垂直形变时间序列相关系数均值为0.72，GPS和GRACE周年信号振幅均值分别为6.00 mm和3.70 mm，周年信号减少量和均方根误差减少量均值分别为0.51和0.29；研究区内GPS垂直位移和GRACE垂直形变时间序列一致性较强，GRACE垂直形变能有效解释50%以上的GPS垂直位移周年信号，GPS垂直位移时间序列包含的非构造形变中平均约29%来源于环境负载变化所引起的负荷形变。     

Rainfall partitioning through a mixed cedar swamp and associated C and N fluxes in Southern Ontario,Canada

Partitioning of rainfall through a forest canopy into throughfall, stemflow, and canopy interception is a critical process in the water cycle, and the contact of precipitation with vegetated surfaces leads to increased delivery of solutes to the forest floor. This study investigates the rainfall partitioning over a growing season through a temperate, riparian, mixed coniferous‐deciduous cedar swamp, an ecosystem not well studied with respect to this process. Seasonal throughfall, stemflow, and interception were 69.2%, 1.5%, and 29.3% of recorded above‐canopy precipitation, respectively. Event throughfall ranged from a low of 31.5 ± 6.8% for a small 0.8‐mm event to a high of 82.9 ± 2.4% for a large 42.7‐mm event. Rain fluxes of at least 8 mm were needed to generate stemflow from all instrumented trees. Most trees had funnelling ratios <1.0, with an exponential decrease in funnelling ratio with increasing tree size. Despite this, stand‐scale funnelling ratios averaged 2.81 ± 1.73, indicating equivalent depth of water delivered across the swamp floor by stemflow was greater than incident precipitation. Throughfall dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) averaged 26.60 ± 2.96 and 2.02 ± 0.16 mg L^?1, respectively, which were ~11 and three times above‐canopy rain levels. Stemflow DOC averaged 73.33 ± 7.43 mg L^?1, 35 times higher than precipitation, and TDN was 4.45 ± 0.56 mg L^?1, 7.5 times higher than rain. Stemflow DOC concentration was highest from Populus balsamifera and TDN greatest from Thuja occidentalis trees. Although total below‐canopy flux of TDN increased with increasing event size, DOC flux was greatest for events 20–30 mm, suggesting a canopy storage threshold of DOC was readily diluted. In addition to documenting rainfall partitioning in a novel ecosystem, this study demonstrates the excess carbon and nitrogen delivered to riparian swamps, suggesting the assimilative capacity of these zones may be underestimated.     

ISA model: A constitutive model for soils with yield surface in the intergranular strain space

In this article, a new constitutive model for soils is proposed. It is formulated by means of plasticity, but in contrast to the precedent works, it presents a yield function describing a surface within the intergranular strain space. This latter is a state variable providing information of the recent strain history. An expression for the plastic strain rate has been proposed to guarantee the stress rate continuity. Under the application of medium or large strain amplitudes, the constitutive equation becomes independent of the intergranular strain and delivers a mathematical structure similar to some Karlsruhe hypoplastic models. Some simulations of monotonic and cyclic triaxial test are provided to evaluate and analyze the model performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soil‐pile interaction in the pile vertical vibration considering true three‐dimensional wave effect of soil

The dynamic response of an end bearing pile embedded in a linear visco‐elastic soil layer with hysteretic type damping is theoretically investigated when the pile is subjected to a time‐harmonic vertical loading at the pile top. The soil is modeled as a three‐dimensional axisymmetric continuum in which both its radial and vertical displacements are taken into account. The pile is assumed to be vertical, elastic and of uniform circular cross section. By using two potential functions to decompose the displacements of the soil layer and utilizing the separation of variables technique, the dynamic equilibrium equation is uncoupled and solved. At the interface of soil‐pile system, the boundary conditions of displacement continuity and force equilibrium are invoked to derive a closed‐form solution of the vertical dynamic response of the pile in frequency domain. The corresponding inverted solutions in time domain for the velocity response of a pile subjected to a semi‐sine excitation force applied at the pile top are obtained by means of inverse Fourier transform and the convolution theorem. A comparison with two other simplified solutions has been performed to verify the more rigorous solutions presented in this paper. Using the developed solutions, a parametric study has also been conducted to investigate the influence of the major parameters of the soil‐pile system on the vertical vibration characteristics of the pile. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improved assessments of wave-induced fatigue for free spanning pipelines

For subsea pipeline projects, the costs related to seabed correction and free span intervention are often considerable. Development of reliable methods for fatigue analyses of pipelines in free spans contributes to minimize costs without compromising pipeline integrity. Assessment of wave-induced fatigue damage on multi-span pipelines is investigated, and improved analysis methods are suggested in this paper. A time-domain (TD) algorithm is developed, which accounts for non-linear hydrodynamic loading and dynamic interaction between adjacent spans. The proposed TD approach is employed to evaluate linearized frequency-domain (FD) solutions from recognized design standards and to study the dynamic response of multi-span pipelines to direct wave loading. Differences between multi- and single-span analyses are described for the first time, and the common assumption that the main fatigue damage contribution comes from the fundamental mode is demonstrated not to hold for multi-spans. An improved FD solution capable of predicting multi-mode response is derived and demonstrated to give accurate fatigue life estimates for multi-span pipelines.     

Residual compressive strength of inclined steel tubular members with local corrosion

In jacket-type offshore structures, corrosion damage affects the structural performance under compressive loading, which is created by the working and design loads of the main system. In this study, the effects of corrosion damage on the compressive structural behavior and strength of steel tubular members were investigated. Artificial corrosion damage was applied to the tubular specimens via mechanical processing and hand drilling to replicate the inclined nature of jacket-type offshore structures. The damage was applied to either half or all of the circumference of the specimens. The compressive failure modes of the artificially corroded tubular members were affected by the corrosion conditions. The compressive strengths were also affected by the level of corrosion. From the results of this study, the residual compressive strengths of corroded tubular steel members can be estimated based on the condition of the damaged sectional areas.