Evaluation of Plasticity Models’ Ability to Analyze Typical Earth Dams’ Soil Materials

The selection of the constitutive laws reproducing the response of geomaterials usually becomes a very complicated procedure; especially during the analysis of geostructures containing coarse grained materials. The objective of this study, is the evaluation of models based on the perfect and hardening plasticity theory, regarding their ability to analyze the behaviour of soil materials, used for the construction of earth dams. The evaluated constitutive laws are the elastic–perfect plastic model based on the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion and the isotropic hardening CAP model based on the same criterion. The data used for the evaluation of the models, originate from the body of the Sfikia earth dam. This dam is considered suitable, because of the specialized laboratory tests’ available data, regarding the materials of every zone. The availability of those data, as well as the variety of the construction geomaterials, allows the deduction of generalized conclusions, concerning the ability of the specific models to simulate a variety of similar earth constructions.     

Residual and Fully Softened Strength Evaluation of Soils using Artificial Neural Networks

A backpropagation artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed to predict the secant friction angle of residual and fully softened soils, using data reported by Stark et al. (J Geotech Geoenviron Eng ASCE 131:575–588, 2005). In the ANN model, index properties such as liquid limit, plastic limit, activity, clay fraction and effective normal stress are used as input variables while secant residual friction angle is used as output variable. The model is verified using data that were not used for model training and testing. The results also indicate that the secant residual friction angle of cohesive soils can be predicted quite accurately using liquid limit, clay fraction and effective normal stress as input variables with R ² = 0.93. The sensitivity analysis results indicate that plastic limit and activity have no appreciable effect on ANN predicted secant friction angles. The secant friction angle predictions of the ANN model were also compared with those of Stark’s et al. (2005) curves and the empirical formulas suggested for the same data sets by Wright (Evaluation of soil shear strengths for slope and retaining wall stability with emphasis on high plasticity clays, 2005). The comparison shows that the ANN model predictions are very close to those suggested by the Stark et al. (2005) curves but much better than the prediction of Wright’s (2005) empirical equations. The results also show that ANN is an alternative powerful tool to predict the secant friction angle of soils.     

Utilizing computational neural networks for evaluating the permeability of compacted clay liners

The design of lined waste-storage facilities is significantly influenced by the permeability of the liner. The permeability of compacted clay liners, in turn, is influenced by factors such as clay type and composition, compaction type and effort, and operating conditions. The complexity of the permeation process makes it difficult to predict analytically the permeability from these factors. As a result, empirical regression models are frequently used to predict permeability. In this paper, permeability prediction models are developed using computational neural networks (CNNS). The developed CNN models are used to predict the permeability of compacted clay for a known set of soil properties and field and laboratory conditions. Moreover, the models are used to determine the relative importance of the various input parameters to the model output. Also, a comparison between regression models and neural networks for predicting permeability is presented and the advantages of utilizing CNN methodology over regression techniques in model development are highlighted.     

山东半岛沿岸泻湖粘土矿物及其来源

对山东半岛沿岸7个泻湖的表层沉积物中的细颗粒成分中的粘土矿物进行了定性和半定量分析，并描述了矿物特征，发现粘土矿物的百分含量判别很大，其中蒙皂石的含量在地域上由西向东规则递减。泻湖与海水的交换状况对粘土组分有相当的影响，不久前封闭的泻湖的粘土矿物成分与未封闭的泻湖不同，显示了物源、物源成分的搬运距离及水体交换等因素的明显影响，表明了泻湖沉积物与环境动力及物源有密切关系。     

Improvement of a hypoplastic model to predict clay behaviour under undrained conditions

A shortcoming of the hypoplastic model for clays proposed by the first author is an incorrect prediction of the initial portion of the undrained stress path, particularly for tests on normally consolidated soils at isotropic stress states. A conceptually simple modification of this model, which overcomes this drawback, is proposed in the contribution. The modified model is applicable to both normally consolidated and overconsolidated soils and predicts the same swept-out-memory states (i.e., normal compression lines) as the original model. At anisotropic stress states and at higher overconsolidation ratios the modified model yields predictions similar to the original model.     

Experimental Study of the Subsidence Characteristics of Clayey Loess

Presented in this paper are the results of experimental study and analysis of the subsidence characteristics obtained from soil samples with different contents of clay particles though laboratory dynamic triaxial test, Laser particle size analysis, chemical analysis and electronic microscope scanning. By comparison of the obtained data, the following conclusions are drawn out:(1)The stability of the loess varies with different content of clay; (2) The relation between the dynamic shear strength and the clay particles is not monotonous, but parabolic; (3) In the same consolidation ratio, the clayey loess is the weakest subsidence-resistant when the clay particle content is between 16%～17%.     

粘性土物理力学性质与超声波波速关系的试验研究

含水量W和压缩系数α是粘性土的主要物理力学性质指标。运用HTY-C型超声波参数测定仪,测定了南京市河西地区不同状态粘性土的超声波波速值,对比得到其与含水量W和压缩系数α变化关系。试验研究结果表明:粘性土的纵波波速值随含水量的增大而增大;而横波波速值与含水量的相关性较差;在相同含水量下粘性土的纵横波波速值的比值之间呈线形关系;一定含水量条件下,粘性土的纵波波速与压缩系数之间呈指数函数关系,横波与压缩系数之间呈线性关系。     

解决江苏窑业发展瓶颈问题初探

砖瓦用粘土分布广泛,但因其矿产和土地的双重属性而特殊;江苏省窑业是数量最多的矿业,所开发的固体资源量也是最多的矿种。长期以来,由于保护耕地复垦等原因,粘土资源匮乏成为制约窑业发展的瓶颈问题。通过调研发现,近年来各地积极探索、拓展土源、开源节流,有效地保障了窑业的可持续发展。     

The use of ultra-sound in the preparation of carbonate and clay sediments for chironomid analysis

Initial investigations of Holocene carbonate sediment from Hawes Water, Northwest England, yielded lower numbers of chironomid head capsules than anticipated. Standard techniques used to prepare sediment for chironomid analysis were ineffective in breaking up the coarse crystalline sediment structure sufficiently. This led to large amounts of sediment being retained and increased sample processing times. The low yield of head capsules also meant that more sediment was needed to produce adequate numbers of head capsules for analysis. The use of ultra-sound as part of the sediment processing was investigated. This technique reduced the amount of sediment left for sorting and yielded significantly more head capsules which were of equivalent structural condition and cleaner than those produced by conventional methods. The technique was extended to clay samples where similar results were obtained although shorter treatment times are recommended. The proportion of Tanytarsini and Tanypodinae heads increased significantly in carbonate and clay samples, respectively; both sediment types showed a significant decline in the proportion of Chironomini. The results indicate that ultra-sonic preparation of samples will yield a more accurate representation of chironomid assemblages in sediments leading to greater sensitivity and reliability in analysing past environmental conditions.     

辽阳市区软土的工程地质特征

辽阳市区地表浅部呈透镜状断续分布的松软土体———淤泥质粉质粘土为静水或缓慢流水环境沉积,经生物化学作用而形成的。本文对其分布、形成、物质结构及工程地质特性进行了较系统的描述。并依据大量现场测试及室内土工试验成果,分析论述了该层软土天然独特的含水量高,孔隙比大,强度低,压缩性高,具触变性及承载力低的工程地质特性对勘察施工及建筑物稳定性的不良影响,提出了避让、挖除、选择合适桩型等科学合理的工程处理建议。